Editing Additive synthesis (section)

{{Short description|Sound synthesis technique}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Listen
| filename      = Additive_synthesis_bell.ogg
| title         = Additive synthesis example
| description   = A bell-like sound generated by additive synthesis of 21 inharmonic partials
| pos           = right
}}
'''Additive synthesis''' is a [[sound synthesis]] technique that creates [[timbre]] by adding [[sine]] waves together.<ref name="JOS_Additive">
{{cite web      
 | author       = Julius O. Smith III
 | title        = Additive Synthesis (Early Sinusoidal Modeling)
 | url          = https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/sasp/Additive_Synthesis_Early_Sinusoidal.html
 | quote        = The term "additive synthesis" refers to sound being formed by adding together many sinusoidal components
 | access-date   = 14 January 2012
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite journal  
 | author       = Gordon Reid
 | title        = Synth Secrets, Part 14: An Introduction To Additive Synthesis
 | url          = http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun00/articles/synthsec.htm
 | journal      = Sound on Sound
 | issue        = January 2000
 | access-date   = 14 January 2012
}}</ref>

The timbre of musical instruments can be considered in the light of [[Fourier series|Fourier theory]] to consist of multiple [[harmonic]] or inharmonic ''[[Harmonic series (music)#Partial|partials]]'' or [[overtone]]s. Each partial is a sine wave of different [[frequency]] and [[amplitude]] that swells and decays over time due to [[modulation]] from an [[ADSR envelope]] or [[low frequency oscillator]].

Additive synthesis most directly generates sound by adding the output of multiple sine wave generators. Alternative implementations may use pre-computed [[Wavetable synthesis|wavetables]] or the inverse [[fast Fourier transform]].