Template talk:Infobox synthesizer

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1 Usage
2 Talk area

[edit] Usage

[edit] Syntax

{{Infobox_synthesizer 
| image =
| image_caption =  
| synth_name =  
| synth_manufacturer =
| synthesis_type =
| polyphony =
| vco =
| timbral =
| vcf =
| vca =
| lfo =
| keyboard =
| left_control =
| ext_control =
| memory =
| fx =
| dates =
| price =
}}

[edit] Syntax Guide

Many features of synths (synthesis types, oscillators, filters, etc.) can be analog or digital. Please specify when describing (i.e. digital low-pass)

Synthesis Types

What type(s) of synthesis are used?

Additive (Casio FZ-1)

Frequency modulation

Phase distortion (Casio CZ series)

Phase modulation (Yamaha DX synths, mistakenly called FM)

Physical modelling (Maybe Nord Modular?)

Sampling (Mirage, Emulators, etc)

Subtractive (Moogs, etc)

Wavetable (CS1x, etc)

Polyphony

How many voices does it have?

Oscillators

How many and what kind of oscillators are used?

DCO

White noise

VCO

How many and what kind of filters are used?

How many and what kind of amplitude envelope generators are used?

ADSR envelope generator

How many and what kind of LFOs are used? What waveshapes can be used?

Keyboard

How many keys does the keyboard have?

Are the keys velocity or aftertouch sensitive?

Can the keyboard be split into 2 or more parts? If multitimbrality is 1 then answer is probably no.

Left hand control

What kind of left hand control?

Mod wheel

Pitch bend

Ribbon controler

External control

What kinds of external controls are supported?

MIDI

Memory

How many preset (read-only) and user (writable) patches? How many per cartridge, floppy disk, etc?

xx presets

xx user

Onboard effects

What kinds of effects are included?

Date produced

What years was the unit originally produced from, or what decade?

Original price

What was the original list price when the machine was launched?

[edit] Example

{{Infobox_synthesizer |
image = Minimoog.JPG |
image_caption =  |
synth_name =  Minimoog|
synth_manufacturer = [[Moog Music]]|
synthesis_type = [[analog synthesizer|analog]] [[subtractive synthesis|subtractive]]|
polyphony = none|
vco = 3 [[Voltage-controlled oscillator|VCO]]s, [[white noise|white]]/[[pink noise]]|
timbral = 1|
vcf = 24dB/oct, 4-pole [[lowpass filter]]<br> with cutoff, resonance, <br>[[ADSR envelope]] generator, <br>keyboard tracking|
vca = ADSR envelope generator|
keyboard = 44-note, low-note priority|
left_control = [[Portamento|pitch bend]] and [[modulation|mod]] wheels|
lfo = oscillator 3 can function as LFO |
ext_control = [[Control voltage|CV]]/gate|
memory = none|
fx = [[frequency modulation]]<br> using oscillator 3/noise|
dates = [[1970]] - [[1982]]|
price = US$1495|
}}

[edit] Talk area

[edit] Memory

The current description of memory, above, pertains to patch storage. Samplers have a different dimension: the size of RAM available for samples. ROM-based sample playback synths also have ROM. Some (such as Emu samplers, Roland Fantom, Yamaha Motif, and Korg Triton) may support both ROM and RAM samples. To further complicate things, many ROM-based synths use data compression, and only express the size in terms of its "linear equivalent" - i.e., the size when expanded to uncompressed data. It seems like it might make sense to separate these three items clearly, as in:

Patch memory: 4 banks of 128 Programs each, 128 Multis

ROM sample memory: 128MB (compressed data; stated size is linear equivalent)

RAM sample memory: 2MB stock, expandable to 32MB

Daniel Alan Phillips 19:10, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] VCF and VCA

The "V" in these acronyms stands for "Voltage." They apply to analog synthesizers, but not to digital synthesizers (including "virtual analog" synths). Also, VCF ("Voltage Controlled Filter") is currently defined as filter type, while VCA ("Voltage Controlled Amplifier") is defined as amplitude envelope type. These two terms both refer to audio-path components (filter and amp, respectively), and so should be parallel items; currently, VCF refers to an audio component, and VCA refers to a control component. I'm not sure how best to approach this without disrupting existing articles. Some suggestions:

1. LFOs currently have their own line item. So should envelopes.

2. If there is to be a single line item for filter, it should be renamed in a way that applies to both digitial and analog synthesizers. "Filter" would suffice.

I'm not as certain about this next item:

3. VCA could be retained in its current state to refer to the ability to control amplitude in analog synths, and for modular synths to indicate the actual number of VCAs provided (since some may have multiple modulatable amplitude components; the MS-20, for instance, has two). For instance, some synths have a dedicated ADSR; some allow a switch between an envelope and the note gate; etc. This might be a good way to preserve existing articles. To make this apply to both analog and digital synths, it might be renamed "Amplitude" or "Amplitude Control."

Daniel Alan Phillips 18:49, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Column width?

I don't know much about editing templates, but can something be done so that this info about Minimoog doesn't fill up the whole page:

-- Krash 14:40, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Sure, just use breaks to put info on the next line.fataltourist 15:54, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

This is a line break: <br>


Minimoog by Moog Music
Synthesis type:		analog subtractive
Polyphony:		none
Oscillators:		3 VCOs, white/pink noise
Multitimbral:		1
VCF:		24dB/oct, 4-pole lowpass filter with cutoff, resonance, ADSR envelope generator, keyboard tracking
VCA:		ADSR Envelope generator
LFO:		oscillator 3 can function as LFO
Velocity sensitive:		No
Aftertouch:		No
External control:		CV/gate
Memory:		none
Onboard effects:		frequency modulation using oscillator 3/noise
Produced:		1970 - 1982
Original price:		???

[edit] Picky stuff

Is there a long-but-not-very-tall lipsum image that could be substituted for No_image.png so there's not all that pesky white space when we don't have a real pic?

Oddly enough, I had been thinking about a Moog info box and I, yesterday, stumbled across this one quite by chance. I've been trying to come up with what parameters might be included so it was interesting to get to compare with someone else's good idea. I thought manufacturer, dates produced, and original price were important, so I added them. But before this template gets dropped into too many more articles, I got a couple more mods to consider.

I don't understand why "Keyboard" gets its own little section at the bottom. All info about the keyboard could easily cram into a single section. I was thinking about a "Left hand control" section as well. Some that I've considered but don't really seem like a good idea after extensive thought include inputs/outputs, specal features (too similar to "Onboard effects"), quantity produced...I'm sure I'll keep thinking of them. Below is an example of what the modified template might look like. I think it's worth picking at this thing if it's going to go into a number of articles.-- Krash 00:20, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

I can whip up blank image with a short height.

Yeah, we can trash the Keyboard section. Will be easier, especially for synths with odd keyboards or rackmount stuff. Another thing I was thinking about was how some synths simply have envelope generators that can be assigned to anything (VCO,VCF,VCA). But I guess specific things like that should be in the article text. Routing and modulation would take up too much room in an infobox as well. fataltourist 19:58, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


Minimoog by Moog Music
Synthesis type:		analog subtractive
Polyphony:		none
Oscillators:		3 VCOs, white/pink noise
Multitimbral:		1
VCF:		24dB/oct, 4-pole lowpass filter with cutoff, resonance, ADSR envelope generator, keyboard tracking
VCA:		ADSR Envelope generator
LFO:		oscillator 3 can function as LFO
Keyboard:		44-note, low-note priority
Left hand control:		pitch bend and mod wheels
External control:		CV/gate
Memory:		none
Onboard effects:		frequency modulation using oscillator 3/noise
Produced:		1970 - 1982
Original price:		???