synthesiser

[frank1]

Showing my ignorance here but could someone please explain to me what a synthesiser is and what it is used for?  I am a self-taught a little better than beginner (around level 3/4).  How is a synth different than a keyboard and would it be of any use to me?  Thanks a million!
frank

[Bob]

A synthesizer creates sounds digitally.  It doesn't even have to be a keyboard (I think).  I could just be a little box that synthesizes sound.  And then that synthesizer box could be controlled by a keyboard (a controller keyboard).  I think that's the general idea.

I think it's possibly an older term, more from the 1980s?  Synthesizers could create any sounds.

Now we have digital pianos, attempting to recreate an acoustic piano using synthesizers....

Hmm... I'm not sure where sampling comes in, if that's a synthesizer thing or not.  Would a synthesizer create sound from scratch and not use samples of sound at all?

It's something along those lines.

[quantum]

Synthesizer, piano, harpsichord, organ, clavichord.  All of these are types of keyboard instruments.  What they have in common are the black and white (or white and black) keys which the performer interacts with.  Where they differ is in the production of sound.  The act of pressing a key by itself doesn't create any sound, as the key is part of a system of levers connected to something that does produce sound.  It is what is on the other end of that key where the differences begin.

There are several types of synthesizers, but in general sound is generated using electrical signals.

Not all synthesizers use keyboards however.  Many different control devices can be used with synthesizers.  

[richard black]

Synthesisers are not necessarily digital. Indeed many of the most famous were analogue. The key thing is that they all 'synthesise' sound electronically. Examples include the Theremin, the Ondes Martenot, the Moog, the Fairlight, the Yamaha DX-7 (which was, IIRC, the first mass-market digital synth), the various incarnations of the Clavinova, etc .etc.

[nystul]

The early synths were long before the digital technology of today's musical instruments, and used creative techniques to manipulate voltage and create new sounds.  Hence, synthesis, because new sound was created not through vibrations but in an artificial manner.  Each type of synthesis created a new flavor of sounds that is different from anything you hear in the acoustic realm.    Once sampling technology came into play, the lines kind of become blurry.  Some people do not consider an instrument a synth if the main feature of the sound creation is using recorded note loops sampled from other instruments.

[Bob]

Is there a term for it if it's sampler?  A sampler?

I remember hearing something about computer programs that simulate a physical instrument and produce sound that way.  Just to throw in another kind of sound production "instrument."