Difference between "Sync" and "Hard sync"

stefan · 8 Mar 2007

That last picture seems to be hard sync. There's also soft sync, where the phase resets "smoothly" instead of abruptly. Both methods are different kinds of sync, where sync is just a name that can mean any kind of sync.

PaulRiedel · 8 Mar 2007

Wow thanks, I did not know this. Sorry to ask, but is that documented anywhere? I can't really mention "Stefan" as a book-source 😉

stefan · 8 Mar 2007

PaulRiedel wrote: Wow thanks, I did not know this. Sorry to ask, but is that documented anywhere? I can't really mention "Stefan" as a book-source 😉

I don't know. Google around....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscillator_sync

sambean · 8 Mar 2007

Here's a link to a journal paper that includes a description of hard-sync:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~eli/papers/icmc01-hardsync.pdf

Your tutors will love that in the reference list 😉

btw, you can use google scholar to look for academic papers, very useful for uni stuff..

Sam

PaulRiedel · 8 Mar 2007

Awsome, thanks a lot!I didn't even know about Google Scholar 🙂 seems pretty cool!

@Stefan: Thanks a lot, but we're not allowed to use Wikipedia as a reference 🙁

stefan · 8 Mar 2007

PaulRiedel wrote: Awsome, thanks a lot!I didn't even know about Google Scholar 🙂 seems pretty cool!

@Stefan: Thanks a lot, but we're not allowed to use Wikipedia as a reference 🙁

w00t? How ridiculously odd 🙂 FWIW: http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-5997332.html

However, there are of course other published works on the matter, like the one Sambean posted for instance (that one is kind of compulsory reading for people into digital oscillators 🙂)

ROMplERbuDE · 10 Mar 2007

Hi. Hardsync: The Synced Oscillator(2) is always reset if Oscillator(1) restarts (a new cycle). Softsync: Is a mix between the synced & the non-synced Oscillator.

PaulRiedel · 11 Mar 2007

ROMplERbuDE wrote: Hi. Hardsync: The Synced Oscillator(2) is always reset if Oscillator(1) restarts (a new cycle). Softsync: Is a mix between the synced & the non-synced Oscillator.

So OSC2 is actually 2 OSCs in Soft Sync? One being synced with OSC1 and one running freely?

I couldn't see that image if it cleared it up 😉

Cheers, Paul

Edit:

Now I see the picture, and ah! - That's great 😉 Thanks!

ROMplERbuDE · 12 Mar 2007

No only OSC(2) is running in sync mode. I will say that OSC2 Mixes the (190 Hz) Phase and the (333 Hz) Phase from the OSC1.

synchrony · 5 Feb 2011

I was also told that soft sync was when the sync occurred every few cycles rather than every one, rather than the sync being sudden. i think it came from analogue that was either random noise making sync irregular or a 3rd parameter making sync vary mathematically. I think analogue soft sync used random noise sync at a guess.

IMHO that can mean 4 types of soft sync:

you can modulate soft sync with a noise signal that is either static frequency or pitched you can modulate soft sync with any other voice or osc or signal, FM, or even a signal further along the line in a feedback loop. either static freq or pitched. obviously pitched would me the most pad like sounds.