Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument that generates sound electronically rather than from strings, air or acoustic vibration, then shapes that sound using components like oscillators, filters and envelopes. Synths can imitate other instruments or, more excitingly, create entirely new and otherworldly tones, which is why they define the sound of so much modern music from pop and hip-hop to film scores and dance. They come as hardware keyboards and modules or as software 'soft synths' running inside a DAW. Although the range of controls can look daunting, the core synthesis concepts are consistent across instruments, so understanding one synth makes every other far easier to grasp.