Synthesized Musical Instruments

Musical sound synthesis has a long history spanning more than half a century [126,154,158]. Since the 1960s [74,131], various research threads have been aimed at developing sound synthesis algorithms based on the acoustics of traditional instruments. Since 1994, when the Yamaha ``Virtual Lead'' synthesizer was introduced [124], such synthesis techniques have been available commercially as well (principally from Yamaha and Korg). We begin with a general review of synthesis techniques, with emphasis on considerations pertaining to the synthesis of these instruments. Related overview publications include [26,82,154,158,171].