Sample-based Synthesis - Advantages of Sample-based Synthesis

Advantages of Sample-based Synthesis

Sample-based synthesis' principal advantage over other methods of digital synthesis such as physical modelling synthesis or additive synthesis is that processing power requirements are much lower. This is because most of the nuances of the sound models are contained in the pre-recorded samples rather than calculated in real-time.

In a contrast to analog synthesizers, the circuitry does not have to be duplicated to allow more voices to be played at once. Therefore the polyphony of sample-based machines is generally a lot higher. A downside is, however, that in order to include more detail, multiple samples might need to be played back at once (a trumpet might include a breath noise, a growl, and a looping soundwave used for continuous play). This reduces the polyphony again, as sample-based synthesizers rate their polyphony based on the number of multi-samples that can be played back simultaneously.