EDM: Electronic Dance Music Production – Oscillator Waveforms
EDM: Electronic Dance Music Production – Oscillator Waveforms:
Here’s part two of my 6 one hour scheme of work I wrote for a teaching course I was on a while back. This is on the Oscillator and waveforms and I built on this when I wrote the Electronic music production course at GSS.
Objectives and outcomes: Understand the oscillator in detail, have a basic understanding of the principles. The learners will know about the four most common waveforms used in electronic and dance music production, how they differ in sound and what waveforms are most commonly used for certain elements of music. They will know how to layer more than one oscillator. Learners will have an understanding of how Absynth works and will at least be able to operate it as much as they’ll need to in this course.
Activities: Recap on previous session. Talk about the oscillator; what it does, where it fits in – ie its the foundation to the sound – you start with the oscillator and build from there. The principles of oscillation: the periodic fluctuation of two things based on changes of energy vibe. Listen to some well known records with oscillators easily audible. 4 most common waveforms; sine, sawtooth, triangle, square. I show learners how to operate Absynth in their preferred DAW and learners get experimenting auditioning different waveforms and hearing how they differ in sound. I show them how to draw their own waveform in Absynth combining a sine wave with a square wave. Learners experiment drawing waveforms and hearing how they sound. Learners layer up 2 or more oscillators using different waveforms as they are now beginning to build their unique own sound.
