1.
Manufacturing
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Manufacturing is the value added to production of merchandise for use or sale using labour and machines, tools, chemical and biological processing, or formulation. Manufacturing engineering or manufacturing process are the steps through which raw materials are transformed into a final product, the manufacturing process begins with the product design, and materials specification from which the product is made. These materials are modified through manufacturing processes to become the required part. Manufacturing takes turns under all types of economic systems, in a free market economy, manufacturing is usually directed toward the mass production of products for sale to consumers at a profit. In a collectivist economy, manufacturing is more directed by the state to supply a centrally planned economy. In mixed market economies, manufacturing occurs under some degree of government regulation, modern manufacturing includes all intermediate processes required the production and integration of a products components. Some industries, such as semiconductor and steel manufacturers use the term fabrication instead, the manufacturing sector is closely connected with engineering and industrial design. Examples of major manufacturers in North America include General Motors Corporation, General Electric, Procter & Gamble, General Dynamics, Boeing, Pfizer, examples in Europe include Volkswagen Group, Siemens, and Michelin. Examples in Asia include Sony, Huawei, Lenovo, Toyota, Samsung, in its earliest form, manufacturing was usually carried out by a single skilled artisan with assistants. In much of the world, the guild system protected the privileges. Before the Industrial Revolution, most manufacturing occurred in rural areas, entrepreneurs organized a number of manufacturing households into a single enterprise through the putting-out system. Toll manufacturing is an arrangement whereby a first firm with specialized equipment processes raw materials or semi-finished goods for a second firm, manufacturing provides important material support for national infrastructure and for national defense. On the other hand, most manufacturing may involve significant social and environmental costs, the clean-up costs of hazardous waste, for example, may outweigh the benefits of a product that creates it. Hazardous materials may expose workers to health risks and these costs are now well known and there is effort to address them by improving efficiency, reducing waste, using industrial symbiosis, and eliminating harmful chemicals. The negative costs of manufacturing can also be addressed legally, developed countries regulate manufacturing activity with labor laws and environmental laws. Across the globe, manufacturers can be subject to regulations and pollution taxes to offset the costs of manufacturing activities. Labor unions and craft guilds have played a role in the negotiation of worker rights. Environment laws and labor protections that are available in developed nations may not be available in the third world, tort law and product liability impose additional costs on manufacturing
2.
Oberheim Electronics
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Oberheim Electronics, is a manufacturer of audio synthesizers and a variety of other electronic musical instruments. Founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim, Oberheims Two-voice TVS-1, Four-voice FVS-1 in 1975, and Eight-voice in 1977, were among the first commercially available polyphonic synthesizers. Configurations were based on the SEM, the Two-voice synthesizer included a two channel voltage controlled sequencer, and the Four-voice and Eight-voice machines included a rudimentary Programmer, capable of recalling sound settings. Oberheims later synths like the OB-X and OB-Xa abandoned the relatively bulky SEMs in favor of individual or compact voice cards, Oberheim continued to make synthesizers until the late 1980s. Other notable Oberheim synthesizers include the OB-1, the OB-8, the Xpander, the Matrix-6, the Matrix-12, and the Matrix-1000 marketed after the acquisition by Gibson. Oberheims DMX drum machine, a staple of early music, lent its name to the Producer Davy DMX, electro musician DMX Krew. Oberheim went bankrupt and was acquired in 1985 by a group of lawyers who changed the name to Oberheim ECC, Tom was creatively still at the helm, although he left the company within a couple of years to start a new venture called Marion Systems. Ironically, Gibson had split away from its parent company, Norlin, in 1986, Norlin handled distribution for Oberheims major competitor, Moog Music. The trademark was licensed to Viscount International, an Italian digital-organ producer. In 2009, Tom Oberheim announced that he was manufacturing a new version of his classic analog SEM, in 2011–2012, Tom Oberheim announced a four-voice SEM called Son Of 4 Voice, as well as an updated version of the classic Two-Voice known as the Two-Voice Pro. The Son Of 4 Voice, also known as SO4V, the Two Voice Pro started shipping in 2014
3.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
4.
Polyphony and monophony in instruments
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Polyphony is a property of musical instruments that means that they can play multiple notes simultaneously. Instruments featuring polyphony are said to be polyphonic, instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophonic or paraphonic. A monophonic synthesizer or monosynth is a synthesizer that produces one note at a time. Well-known monosynths include the Minimoog, the Roland TB-303, and the Korg Prophecy, duophonic synthesizers, such as the ARP Odyssey and Formanta Polivoks built in the 1970s and 1980s respectively, have a capability to independently play two pitches at a time. These synthesizers have at least two oscillators that are controllable, and a duophonic keyboard that can generate two control voltage signals for the lowest- and highest-note. When two or more keys are pressed simultaneously, the lowest- and highest-note will be heard, when only one key is pressed, both oscillators are assigned to one note, possibly with a more complex sound. The earliest polyphonic synthesizers were built in the late-1930s, but the concept did not become popular until the mid-1970s, harald Bodes Warbo Formant Orguel, developed in 1937, was an archetype of a voice allocation polyphonic synthesizer. Novachord by Hammond Organ Company, released in 1939, is a product of frequency divider organs. It uses octave divider technology to generate polyphony, and about 1,000 Novachords were manufactured until 1942, using an octave divider a synthesizer needs only 12 oscillators - one for each note in the musical scale. The additional notes are generated by dividing down the outputs of these oscillators, to produce a note one octave lower, the frequency of the oscillator is divided by two. Polyphony is achieved so long as one of each note in the scale is played simultaneously. One notable early polyphonic synthesizer was the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, six-voice polyphony was standard by the middle 1980s. With the advent of synthesizers, 16-voice polyphony became standard by the late 1980s. 64-voice polyphony was common by the middle 1990s and 128-note polyphony arrived shortly after, there are several reasons for providing such large numbers of simultaneous notes, Even with only ten fingers, it is possible to play more than ten notes at once. Notes may continue to sound even after a key is released, the synthesizers resources may still be in use to produce the sound of the previously struck notes tapering off, especially when a sustain pedal is used. A sound may be generated by more than one oscillator or sound-source to allow more complicated sounds to be produced, a synthesizer with 16 oscillators may be capable of 16-note polyphony only when simple, single-oscillator sounds are produced. If a particular patch requires four oscillators, then the synthesizer is only capable of four-note polyphony, synthesizers may be configured to produce multiple timbres, particularly necessary when sounds are layered or sequenced. Multitimbral instruments are always polyphonic but polyphonic instruments are not necessarily multitimbral, some multitimbral instruments have a feature which allows the user to specify the amount of polyphony reserved or allowed for each timbre
5.
Timbre
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The physical characteristics of sound that determine the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope. Singers and instrumental musicians can change the timbre of the music they are singing/playing by using different singing or playing techniques, for example, a violinist can use different bowing styles or play on different parts of the string to obtain different timbres. On electric guitar and electric piano, performers can change the timbre using effects units, in simple terms, timbre is what makes a particular musical sound have a different sound from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness. For instance, it is the difference in sound between a guitar and a playing the same note at the same volume. Experienced musicians are able to distinguish between different instruments of the type based on their varied timbres, even if those instruments are playing notes at the same pitch. Tone quality and tone color are synonyms for timbre, as well as the attributed to a single instrument. However, the texture can also refer to the type of music, such as multiple. The sound of an instrument may be described with words such as bright, dark, warm, harsh. There are also colors of noise, such as pink and white, in visual representations of sound, timbre corresponds to the shape of the image. The Acoustical Society of America Acoustical Terminology definition 12, Timbre has been called. the psychoacousticians multidimensional waste-basket category for everything that cannot be labeled pitch or loudness. Many commentators have attempted to decompose timbre into component attributes, the richness of a sound or note a musical instrument produces is sometimes described in terms of a sum of a number of distinct frequencies. The lowest frequency is called the frequency, and the pitch it produces is used to name the note. The dominant frequency is the frequency that is most heard, for example, the dominant frequency for the transverse flute is double the fundamental frequency. Other significant frequencies are called overtones of the frequency, which may include harmonics. Harmonics are whole number multiples of the frequency, such as ×2, ×3, ×4. There are also sometimes subharmonics at whole number divisions of the fundamental frequency, most instruments produce harmonic sounds, but many instruments produce partials and inharmonic tones, such as cymbals and other indefinite-pitched instruments. When the tuning note in an orchestra or concert band is played, each instrument in the orchestra or concert band produces a different combination of these frequencies, as well as harmonics and overtones. The sound waves of the different frequencies overlap and combine, the timbre of a sound is also greatly affected by the following aspects of its envelope, attack time and characteristics, decay, sustain, release and transients
6.
Electronic oscillator
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An electronic oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a periodic, oscillating electronic signal, often a sine wave or a square wave. Oscillators convert direct current from a supply to an alternating current signal. They are widely used in electronic devices. Oscillators are often characterized by the frequency of their output signal and this term is typically used in the field of audio synthesizers, to distinguish it from an audio frequency oscillator. An audio oscillator produces frequencies in the range, about 16 Hz to 20 kHz. An RF oscillator produces signals in the frequency range of about 100 kHz to 100 GHz. Oscillators designed to produce a high-power AC output from a DC supply are usually called inverters, there are two main types of electronic oscillator, the linear or harmonic oscillator and the nonlinear or relaxation oscillator. The harmonic, or linear, oscillator produces a sinusoidal output, when the power supply to the amplifier is first switched on, electronic noise in the circuit provides a non-zero signal to get oscillations started. The noise travels around the loop and is amplified and filtered until very quickly it converges on a wave at a single frequency. RC oscillators are used to generate lower frequencies, for example in the audio range. Common types of RC oscillator circuits are the phase shift oscillator, in an LC oscillator circuit, the filter is a tuned circuit consisting of an inductor and capacitor connected together. Charge flows back and forth between the plates through the inductor, so the tuned circuit can store electrical energy oscillating at its resonant frequency. There are small losses in the circuit, but the amplifier compensates for those losses and supplies the power for the output signal. Typical LC oscillator circuits are the Hartley, Colpitts and Clapp circuits, in a crystal oscillator circuit the filter is a piezoelectric crystal. The crystal mechanically vibrates as a resonator, and its frequency of vibration determines the oscillation frequency, crystals have very high Q-factor and also better temperature stability than tuned circuits, so crystal oscillators have much better frequency stability than LC or RC oscillators. Crystal oscillators are the most common type of linear oscillator, used to stabilize the frequency of most radio transmitters, crystal oscillators often use the same circuits as LC oscillators, with the crystal replacing the tuned circuit, the Pierce oscillator circuit is also commonly used. Quartz crystals are generally limited to frequencies of 30 MHz or below, other types of resonator, dielectric resonators and surface acoustic wave devices, are used to control higher frequency oscillators, up into the microwave range. For example, SAW oscillators are used to generate the signal in cell phones
7.
Low-frequency oscillation
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Low-frequency oscillation is an electronic signal which is usually below 20 Hz and creates a rhythmic pulse or sweep. This pulse or sweep is often used to modulate synthesizers, delay lines, audio effects such as vibrato, tremolo and phasing are examples. The abbreviation LFO is also often used to refer to low-frequency oscillators themselves. Low-frequency oscillation as a concept was first introduced in the modular synths of the 1960s and 70s, often the LFO effect was accidental, so there were myriad configurations that could be patched by the synth operator. LFOs have since appeared in form on almost every synthesizer. More recently other electronic instruments, such as samplers and software synthesizers, have included LFOs to increase their sound alteration capabilities. The primary oscillator circuits of a synthesizer are used to create the audio signals, a LFO is a secondary oscillator that operates at a significantly lower frequency, typically below 20 Hz. This lower frequency or control signal is used to modulate another components value, like a standard oscillator, this usually takes the form of a periodic waveform, such as a sine, sawtooth, triangle or square wave. Also like an oscillator, LFOs can incorporate any number of waveform types, including user-defined wavetables, rectified waves. Using a low-frequency oscillation signal as a means of modulating another signal introduces complexities into the resulting sound, the specifics vary greatly depending on the type of modulation, the relative frequencies of the LFO signal and the signal being modulated, et cetera. An LFO can be routed to control, for example, the frequency of the oscillator, its phase, stereo panning, filter frequency. When routed to control pitch, an LFO creates vibrato, when an LFO modulates amplitude, it creates tremolo. Electronic musicians use LFO for a variety of applications and they may be used to add simple vibrato or tremolo to a melody, or for more complex applications such as triggering gate envelopes, or controlling the rate of arpeggiation. Differences between LFO rates also account for a number of commonly heard effects in modern music, a very low rate can be used to modulate a filters cutoff frequency, thereby providing the characteristic gradual sensation of the sound becoming clearer or closer to the listener. Alternatively, a high rate can be used for bizarre rippling sound effects, due to the popularization of these genres, the LFO wobble is now being found in other forms of electronic dance music such as house music. The British electronic music group LFO take their name directly from the low-frequency oscillator
8.
Synthesizer
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A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates electric signals that are converted to sound through instrument amplifiers and loudspeakers or headphones. Synthesizers may either imitate instruments like piano, Hammond organ, flute, vocals, natural sounds like ocean waves, etc. or generate new electronic timbres. Synthesizers without built-in controllers are called sound modules, and are controlled via USB, MIDI or CV/gate using a controller device. Synthesizers use various methods to generate electronic signals, synthesizers were first used in pop music in the 1960s. In the 1970s, synths were used in disco, especially in the late 1970s, in the 1980s, the invention of the relatively inexpensive, mass market Yamaha DX7 synth made synthesizers widely available. 1980s pop and dance music often made use of synthesizers. In the 2010s, synthesizers are used in genres of pop, rock. Contemporary classical music composers from the 20th and 21st century write compositions for synthesizer, the beginnings of the synthesizer are difficult to trace, as it is difficult to draw a distinction between synthesizers and some early electric or electronic musical instruments. One of the earliest electric musical instruments, the telegraph, was invented in 1876 by American electrical engineer Elisha Gray. He accidentally discovered the sound generation from a self-vibrating electromechanical circuit and this musical telegraph used steel reeds with oscillations created by electromagnets transmitted over a telegraph line. Gray also built a simple loudspeaker device into later models, consisting of a diaphragm in a magnetic field. This instrument was a remote electromechanical musical instrument that used telegraphy, though it lacked an arbitrary sound-synthesis function, some have erroneously called it the first synthesizer. In 1897, Thaddeus Cahill invented the Teleharmonium, which used dynamos, and was capable of additive synthesis like the Hammond organ, however, Cahills business was unsuccessful for various reasons, and similar but more compact instruments were subsequently developed, such as electronic and tonewheel organs. In 1906, American engineer, Lee De Forest ushered in the electronics age and he invented the first amplifying vacuum tube, called the Audion tube. This led to new entertainment technologies, including radio and sound films, ondes Martenot and Trautonium were continuously developed for several decades, finally developing qualities similar to later synthesizers. In the 1920s, Arseny Avraamov developed various systems of graphic sonic art, in 1938, USSR engineer Yevgeny Murzin designed a compositional tool called ANS, one of the earliest real-time additive synthesizers using optoelectronics. The earliest polyphonic synthesizers were developed in Germany and the United States, during the three years that Hammond manufactured this model,1,069 units were shipped, but production was discontinued at the start of World War II. Both instruments were the forerunners of the electronic organs and polyphonic synthesizers
9.
Analog synthesizer
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An analog synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of vacuum-tube, after the 1960s, analog synthesizers were built using operational amplifier integrated circuits, and used potentiometers to adjust the sound parameters. Analog synthesizers also use low-pass filters and high-pass filters to modify the sound, the earliest synthesizers used a variety of thermionic-valve and electro-mechanical technologies. Another notable early instrument is the Hammond Novachord, first produced in 1938, early analog synthesizers used technology from electronic analog computers and laboratory test equipment. Synthesizer modules in early synthesizers included voltage-controlled oscillators, voltage-controlled filters. Additionally, they used envelope generators, low-frequency oscillators, and ring modulators, some synthesizers also had effects devices, such as reverb units, or tools such as sequencers or sound mixers. Because many of these modules took input sound signals and processed them, famous modular synthesizer manufacturers included Buchla & Associates, Moog Music, ARP Instruments, Inc. and Electronic Music Studios. Moog established standards recognized worldwide for control interfacing on analog synthesizers, using a logarithmic 1-volt-per-octave pitch control and these control signals were routed using the same types of connectors and cables that were used for routing the synthesized sound signals. A specialized form of analog synthesizer is the analog vocoder, based on equipment developed for speech synthesis, vocoders are often used to make a sound that resembles a musical instrument talking or singing. Patch cords were expensive, could be damaged by use, and made complex patches difficult, thus, later analog synthesizers used the same building blocks, but integrated them into single units, eliminating patch cords in favour of integrated signal routing systems. The most popular of these was the Minimoog, though less flexible than a modular design, normalization made the instrument more portable and easier to use. This first pre-patched synthesizer, the Minimoog, became highly popular, the Minimoog also influenced the design of nearly all subsequent synthesizers, with integrated keyboard, pitch wheel and modulation wheel, and a VCO->VCF->VCA signal flow. In the 1970s, miniaturized solid-state components let manufacturers produce self-contained, portable instruments, Electronic synthesizers quickly become a standard part of the popular-music repertoire. The first movie to use music made with a synthesizer was the James Bond film On Her Majestys Secret Service in 1969, after the release of the film, composers produced a large number of movie soundtracks that featured synthesizers. Notable makers of analog synthesizers included Moog, ARP, Roland, Korg. Because of the complexity of generating even a single note using analog synthesis, polyphonic analog synthesizers featured limited polyphony, typically supporting four voices. Oberheim was a manufacturer of analog polyphonic synthesizers. The Polymoog was an attempt to create a polyphonic analog synthesizer
