Synclavier V

How it works

Three techniques in one

Additive: each waveform is built by summing up to 24 harmonics (integer multiples of the fundamental), each with its own amplitude and phase. Raising only the odd harmonics gives a clarinet-like or square-like timbre, all harmonics falling off progressively a sawtooth, a few high harmonics a glassy timbre. FM: in each partial a carrier waveform is frequency-modulated by a modulator waveform at a given ratio (FM Ratio); the amount (FM Amount) and the harmonic envelope decide how many sidebands are generated, that is, how bright or metallic the sound is. With non-integer ratios the spectrum becomes inharmonic (bells, gongs). Timbre Frames (temporal resynthesis): each partial can have up to 100 frames on a timeline; each frame contains a different setting of carrier and modulator harmonics, volume, modulation amount and pitch, and the sound moves from one frame to the next with crossfades of a chosen length. The timbre therefore evolves like a film.

Partial Timbres

A sound (Timbre) is the sum of several independent partials (4 in the original, 12 in Synclavier V): each has its own carrier, modulator, amplitude envelope, harmonic envelope (which controls the FM over time, like a filter envelope), vibrato, stereo, keyboard zone and pitch. Combining partials means layering acoustically recognizable components of the sound: a percussive attack, a body, a metallic harmonic, an octave above, and so on.

Resynthesis

Synclavier V2 can analyze a sample and translate it into a series of additive frames: the spectrum of the real sound becomes editable harmonic by harmonic (but the envelope has to be recreated by hand).

Bit depth and noise floor

The original worked at 8 bits: quantization adds a slight distortion and a hiss that Synclavier V reproduces and makes adjustable.

Character and tone

A noble, polished and very well-defined digital sound, with 8-bit grain and a background hiss (noise floor) that give it warmth. It excels at bells, gongs, mallets and long metallic timbres, but also at pads that transform over time thanks to the Timbre Frames. The 24-harmonic additive engine gives clean, organ-like tones; FM adds controllable brightness and inharmonicity. Precise upper mids, sharp transients, clean but less physical bass than an analog. Compared with DX7 V it is more flexible (additive waveforms for both carrier and modulator, 12 independent layers, evolution by frame) but with only one carrier/modulator pair per partial, so the FM is simpler; compared with CMI V it is synthesis rather than sampling (although V2 has sample playback and resynthesis). Limits: no subtractive filter, deep and slow programming, sounds that can come across cold or thin without chorus, stereo and more partials.

Architecture

Original New England Digital Synclavier

• Born at Dartmouth College (1972–1977) from Jon Appleton, Sydney Alonso and Cameron Jones; Synclavier I in 1977, Synclavier II in 1980 with a 5-octave ORK keyboard, a 16-bit ABLE computer, monitor and floppy drives.
• 8-bit FM/additive voices on dedicated boards; 4 partial timbres per sound, each with 24 harmonics for the waveform, FM with one carrier and one modulator, volume and harmonic envelopes, Timbre Frames (resynthesis over time), vibrato, stereo and a 16-track Memory Recorder sequencer (32 later).
• Developments: VPK 6-octave keyboard with velocity and pressure (1984), disk sampling (16-bit, 50 kHz) and then Polyphonic Sampling in RAM, Direct-to-Disk, 9600 and PostPro models; costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars for complete systems.
• The FM was licensed from Yamaha/Stanford, applied with selectable waveforms.

Synclavier V (Arturia, 2016; later updated to version 2)

• DSP engine developed with Cameron Jones (the original designer) that reproduces the 8-bit FM boards down to the noise floor.
• 12 partials per timbre; for each partial a carrier and modulator with 24 harmonics and phase, or preset Sine, Ramp, Square, Triangle shapes (the original modulated only with sine).
• Up to 100 Timbre Frames per partial with Delay, Fade, Transpose (±48 semitones) and Tuning in cents, Volume and Modulation; looping between frames (forward or bidirectional) and sync to the DAW tempo.
• Sample playback in the carrier (WAV up to 30 s) with loop, trim, alias filter, autotune; spectral resynthesis to carrier, modulator or both.
• DAPDSR amplitude and harmonic envelopes per partial with global offsets; vibrato (6 shapes, carrier/modulator, bias, quantize) and stereo/tremolo per partial; key zones with fade; 16-slot MODS matrix (8 sources, 30 destinations) with parallel routing per partial.
• Bit depth from 4 to 24 bits, oversampling 1×–64×, adjustable noise floor, Timbre Normalize; octave ratio and per-note tuning (±125 cents) for microtonal scales.
• Three effect channels: Flanger, Phaser, Chorus, Delay, Reverb, Dub Delay.

The controls, one by one

Standard Panel — Timbre Settings (global)

Volume

Timbre volume from 0 dB to −50 dB (off).

Pan

Global stereo shift (−63/+63), relative to the partials' pans.

Transpose

Transposition ±24 semitones.

Tuning

Fine tuning ±125 cents.

Voice Chorus

Adds a duplicated voice at a frequency ratio (0–16): 1.000 = no voice, 0.500 = octave below, 1.500 = fifth above, 2.000 = octave, 3.000 = twelfth… Values like 1.005 or slightly off the integers create beating (a true chorus).

Chorus Fine

Fine adjustment ±0.100 between the Voice Chorus steps: small offsets = slow beating and width.

F.M. Modulation

Global FM amount (0–1) for all partials: the brightness macro. It works only if the partial has a carrier and modulator and an FM amount > 0.

Bit Depth

Timbre resolution from 4 to 24 bits (or Default). 8 bits = grainy original; 4–6 bits = digital distortion; 16–24 = clean.

Standard Panel — Amp Env Offset and Harm Env Offset

Amp Attack / Decay / Release

±1.00 offsets added to the amplitude envelopes of all partials: they make the whole sound faster or slower while keeping the differences between partials.

Harm Attack / Decay / Release

±1.00 offsets on the harmonic (FM) envelopes of all partials: they speed up or slow down the evolution of the brightness.

Standard Panel — Repeat/Arpeggio

Repeat

Repeats held notes at the Rate speed (even several keys with delays between them).

Arpeggio

Arpeggiates the held notes; with Repeat it continues them.

Sync

Syncs to the DAW: Rate becomes a multiplier of the BPM (from BPM/8 to BPM×8).

Rate

0–50 Hz free-running or tempo multiplier.

Pattern

Performance order, Keyboard Up, Down, Up/Down with repeat, Up/Down without repeat, Random.

Standard Panel — Polyphonic Mode and Portamento

Poly Normal

Each note uses a new voice; long tails of the same note add up (risk of cancellations or clipping).

Poly Retrig

Default: repeating a note that is still ringing retriggers its envelopes; ideal for bells and gongs.

Mono Porta

Monophonic single-trigger: legato without retriggering the envelopes (wind-instrument style).

Mono Retrig

Monophonic multi-trigger: each note retriggers the envelopes, more percussive.

Portamento On

Turns on glide (even in polyphony).

Log/Lin

Glide curve linear (off) or logarithmic (on, more natural).

Portamento Rate

Duration 0 ms–30 s.

Bend Wheel / Mod Wheel

Bend default ±2 semitones (up to 25 in FX/MASTER); Mod Wheel 0–1 assignable in the MODS (typically to vibrato).

Extended Panel — Partial Select

Partial 1–12

Selects the partial to edit (Shift for a range, Cmd/Ctrl for scattered selections).

Copy / Paste

Copies all the parameters of one partial to another.

Solo (S) / Mute (M)

Listen to the partial alone or mute it: essential for understanding the structure of the timbre.

Extended Panel — Partial Settings

Volume

0 to −50 dB for the partial.

Pan

−63/+63: spreading the partials is the first step toward a wide stereo image.

Pitch Track

Off = the partial always plays at the same frequency (A440 or the one you set) across the whole keyboard: noises, clicks, formants, drones.

Octave

Nine values from 6.875 Hz to 1760 Hz (the A reference): shifts the partial by octaves; extreme low values produce creative aliasing.

Transpose

±24 semitones per partial (e.g. +12, +19 for added harmonics).

Tuning

±125 cents: fine detuning between partials for beating.

Voice Chorus and Chorus Fine

Same as the global ones but for the individual partial.

F.M. Ratio

Modulator/carrier ratio 0–16: integers = harmonic, non-integers = inharmonic (bells).

F.M. Fine

±0.100 around the ratio: small deviations create slow beating and lively timbres.

F.M. Amount

FM amount of the partial (0–1): the cutoff of the timbre.

Frame Speed

Speed of the frame timeline (0–2.5, 1 = original).

Extended Panel — Amplitude Envelope

Delay

Entry delay of the partial 0–30 s: useful for layering (e.g. a partial that enters after 300 ms).

Attack

Rise to the Peak (default 3 ms); the actual time gets shorter if Peak is low.

Peak

Level reached after the attack (0–100).

Decay

Fall from the Peak to the Sustain (or rise if Peak = 0).

Sustain

Held level (0–100).

Release

Tail after release 0–30 s.

Extended Panel — Harmonic Envelope

Delay, Attack, Peak, Decay, Sustain, Release

Envelope of the FM amount (equivalent to the filter envelope): high Peak and short Decay = bright attack that darkens; slow Attack = timbre that opens gradually.

Extended Panel — Vibrato

Wave

Sine, Triangle, Ramp, Inverted Ramp, Square, Random.

Sync

Locks to the DAW tempo.

Rate

0–50 Hz (default 5 Hz; 5–6 Hz for natural vibratos).

Carrier

Vibrato depth on the carrier 0–25 semitones (natural vibratos 0.1–0.3).

Link

Links the modulator depth to the carrier depth.

Modulator

Vibrato depth of the modulator (independent if Link is off): creates cyclic timbral variations.

Attack

Delay/entry of the vibrato 0–30 s.

Bias

The vibrato oscillates only above the note (as on the violin or in the voice in certain styles).

S-Curve

Smoother vibrato entry.

Quantize

Quantizes the vibrato to semitones (with depth > 1 semitone: arpeggios and trills).

Invert

The vibrato starts by going down instead of up.

Extended Panel — Stereo

Wave

Sine, Triangle, Square for autopan or tremolo.

Sync, Rate

0–50 Hz or synced.

Depth

Width of the autopan or depth of the tremolo (0–100%).

Attack

Gradual fade-in of the effect.

Phase

180° = full autopan; 0° or 360° = tremolo without pan; intermediate values = mixed.

S-Curve, Alternate, Invert

Soft entry; each note starts from the opposite side; initial direction inverted (useful for separating partials in stereo).

Graphic Screen — ENGINE (Timeline and Frame Edit)

Partial list with Solo/Mute

Selection of the partial to edit.

Timeline

Click on the line to add a frame (up to 100), drag to move (Shift to move only that one), Alt/Option to duplicate, right-click to delete; the purple cursor shows the playback position.

Frame Selector

Steps through the frames (Basic Partial = frame 0).

Delay Time

Delays the start of the transition to the frame (0–30 s).

Fade Time

Duration of the crossfade from the previous frame (0–30 s): short = clean switch, long = morphing.

Transpose and Tuning

Frame pitch ±48 semitones and in cents: melodies, glissandos and microtonality inside the timeline.

Volume and Modulation

Level and FM amount of the frame (0–100); Reset sets all frames back to 100.

Loop (Off, Forward, Bi-directional) and Release

Loop between start and end frames; with Release the loop continues even after the release.

Sync, Grid, Frame Speed

Locking of the frames to the DAW tempo grid; speed of the partial's timeline (and global Frame Speed Offset).

Graphic Screen — ENGINE (Harmonics Editor and samples)

Carrier and Modulator (24 harmonics)

Upper columns = harmonic amplitude, lower columns = phase (−179/+180°); horizontal dragging for multiple harmonics.

Coefficients Restriction

Limits editing to All, Odd, Even, Octaves or Fifths.

Preset waveform

Sine, Ramp, Square, Triangle as a starting point; Apply to all frames copies the harmonics across the whole timeline.

Tools: Pencil, Line, Eraser, Offset, Multi

Freehand drawing, lines, erasing, proportional shifting, combined shortcuts.

Sample (Carrier)

Loads a WAV (max 30 s) as the carrier: Loop Start/End, Loop, Release, Start/End (trim), Alias filter, reference Key and Tuning, Autotune.

Resynthesis (Analyse to Carrier/Modulator)

Analyzes the sample from the chosen position and converts it into additive frames; Send Results writes them to the timeline. Envelopes must be recreated by hand.

Graphic Screen — MIXER

Volume, Pan, Tuning, Transpose, Octave

The same partial parameters in mixer form, to see all 12 partials together.

Chorus, Fine, FM Mod, FM Ratio, Fine

Voice chorus and FM parameters per partial.

Pitch Track

Keyboard tracking per partial.

Chained Editing

One primary partial and secondary ones (Shift or Cmd/Ctrl): changes to the primary are copied to the secondaries.

Graphic Screen — ENV/LFOs

Global offsets

Copy of the Amp and Harm offsets from the standard panel.

Graphic Amplitude and Harmonic Envelope

Delay, Attack, Peak, Decay, Sustain, Release editable by dragging the points.

Vibrato and Stereo

Same controls as the extended panel; chained editing to apply them to multiple partials.

Graphic Screen — KEY DYNAMICS

Input Source Assign

Keyboard, Velocity or Mod Wheel as the source of the zones; Assign to Volume uses them for volume.

Key Range

Start and end note of each partial: splits and layers (e.g. a bass partial only below C2).

Fade Up / Fade Down

Volume fade over a group of keys for smooth crossfades between partials (or between velocity levels).

Graphic Screen — MODS

16 slots (1–8, 9–16)

Source on top, destination below, amount per partial −1/+1.

Sources

Pitch Bend, Sustain, Velocity, Modwheel, Aftertouch, Expression, Release velocity, Key Dynamics, plus per-partial sources (envelopes, LFOs) with SELF mode for parallel routing.

Destinations (30)

Volume, Pan, Tuning, Chorus, FM Ratio, FM Amount, Frame Speed, Frame Tuning, Portamento Rate, Repeat, Note Sustain, Stereo Rate/Depth/Attack/Phase, Vibrato Rate/Depth/Attack, all stages of the harmonic and amplitude envelopes.

Graphic Screen — FX/MASTER

3 FX channels

Flanger (Delay Time, Depth, Rate, Feedback, Wet/Dry); two-stage Phaser (Sine/Noise, Rate, Feedback, Depth, Sync, Dual Mode); Chorus (Type, Stereo Width, Stereo Rate, Chorus Rate, Amount, Delay); Delay (Sync, L/R times, Link, Feedback L/R, Ping Pong, Damping); Reverb (Gain, Material, HF Damping, Brightness, Shape, Diffusion, Decay, Pre-delay, Feedback, Time); Dub Delay (Delay Time, Feedback Tone, Feedback Amount, LFO Depth, LFO Rate).

Animations

Panel-switch animations.

Timbre Normalize

Lowers the volume when the sum of the partials would exceed 0 dB: leave it on unless the mix requires otherwise.

Noise Floor

Shaped background noise (filtered pink) from off to −20 dB, default −90 dB: adds ambience and realism.

Oversampling

1×–64× (default 4×): higher = less aliasing, more CPU.

Bit Depth (global)

4–24 bits for the timbres set to Default.

Octave Ratio

Spacing between keys: 1 = chromatic, 0.5 = quarter tones, 2 = whole tones, 0 = all keys on the same note.

Pitch Bend Range

0–25 semitones.

Scale Tuning C–B

Tuning of each of the 12 notes ±125 cents: historical temperaments and non-Western scales.

Bottom bar

MIDI Channel, Panic, CPU

Channel (All or 1–16), note reset, CPU load; on the left the value of the parameter being edited.

Sound design tips

Build in acoustic layers

• Think of each partial as a recognizable component: attack (noise or fixed-frequency click with Pitch Track off), body (simple additive), brightness (FM), air (high partial at low volume). Use Solo/Mute to evaluate each one.
• Differentiate the envelopes between partials: one partial with a 1–3 ms attack and 80 ms decay for the transient, one with a 20–50 ms attack for the body. Realism comes from diversity.

FM in the Synclavier

• The harmonic envelope is your filter: a high Peak with a 100–400 ms Decay gives bright attacks (piano, mallet); a slow Attack gives brass and strings that open up.
• Integer FM Ratios for pitched instruments, non-integer (1.41, 2.76, 3.5) for bells; FM Fine ±0.005–0.02 gives very nice slow beating on bells and pads.
• With rich modulating waveforms (saw or square or drawn harmonics) small FM Amounts are enough: beyond 0.4–0.5 the sound becomes noisy.

Additive

• Reduce the amplitude of the high harmonics progressively: a flat spectrum sounds harsh and digital. For warm tones follow a slope similar to 1/n.
• Odd harmonics = hollow timbre (clarinet); added even harmonics = more open and vocal; octaves and fifths = organ.
• The phase of the harmonics changes the static timbre little but changes the waveform and the peaks a lot: useful for managing headroom and transients.

Timbre Frames

• Use a few well-spaced frames with long Fades for pads that breathe; close frames with short Fades for rhythmic effects. With Sync on and a loop you get tempo-synced timbral sequences.
• Copy the same timeline to two partials and offset loops of different lengths: timbral polyrhythms that never repeat the same way.

Frequencies and mix

• The Synclavier's FM bells have a lot of energy between 2 and 8 kHz and long tails: set Poly Retrig, shorten the releases and cut below 200–300 Hz if you don't need bass.
• Several partials in parallel add up energy: leave Timbre Normalize on and watch the peaks; use pan and Stereo to separate them instead of raising volumes.
• Bit Depth 8 and noise floor give authenticity but build up across many tracks: in dense mixes use 12–16 bits or lower the noise floor.

Velocity and expression

• Assign Velocity to FM Amount (not only to Volume) for sounds that brighten with dynamics; Aftertouch to Vibrato Depth or Harmonic Sustain for expressive leads.

Common mistakes

• Drawing the modulator and hearing nothing: you need FM Amount > 0 in the mixer and Modulation > 0 in the frame.
• Forgetting that Voice Chorus 1.000 = no voice: values like 2.000 add an octave, not a chorus.
• Resynthesis without rebuilding the envelope: the resulting sound has the right spectrum but the wrong dynamics.
• Pitch Track turned off by mistake: the partial always plays the same note.

Presets to recreate

In genres and records

• '80s pop: the gong hit that opens Beat It by Michael Jackson is the Phased Gong preset of the Synclavier II; documented users include Stevie Wonder, Sting, Paul Simon, Foreigner, Kim Wilde and The Cars.
• Synthpop and new wave: Depeche Mode, New Order, The Cure, Soft Cell, Kraftwerk, Geoff Downes.
• Progressive rock and art rock: Genesis; Frank Zappa makes almost all of Jazz from Hell (1986) on the Synclavier, to play rhythms impossible for a human performer.
• Jazz and fusion: Pat Metheny and George Duke.
• Film scores, TV and sound design: Alan Silvestri among the users; the Synclavier becomes a standard for film and television effects and sound design, starting with the Glen Glenn Sound studios.
• New age, ambient and experimental electronic music: additive pads and evolving timbres.
• Modern pop and R&B, synthwave: bells and digital EPs with the sound of an expensive '80s studio.
• Trap and melodic hip hop: additive and FM bells.
• Contemporary and microtonal music: free tunings and complex rhythms.