Instrument Terms Flashcards
13-pin
A type of connection found on guitars equipped with hexaphonic or “divided” pickup systems, specifically, those compatible with Roland equipment. The 13-pin output of the guitar can be connected to a guitar-to-MIDI converter, a guitar synthesizer, or a guitar modeling system.
3-way pickup selector
A switch found on Gibson Les Paul and other guitars with two pickups. The switch can select the neckpickup alone, bridge pickup alone, or both pickups together in parallel.
3-way toggle switch
3-way toggle switch was the standard pickup selector for dual-pickup Gibson guitars. most other manufacturers in the U.S. adopted the toggle. Even Fender chose the toggle switch on some models like the Jazzmaster and the hollowbody Coronado. PRS began production with rotary pickup selector switches, but by 1994, with the introduction of the McCarty, it began using toggle switches on some models.
4x10
A speaker cabinet containing four 10-inch speakers. A 4×10 cabinet may feature either an open-backor a closed-back design. A 4×10 cabinet may be intended for guitar or bass use, depending on the speakers used and the cabinet design.
4x12
A speaker cabinet, typically designed for electric guitar use, containing four 12-inch speakers.
6L6
“American” tube tone, start with 6L6 power tubes. typically provide a generous low end, a punchy yet well-behaved midrange, and glassy highs. Turn up the volume and you’re treated to harmonically rich tones that retain their high-end character. work great at all gain levels, but they excel at clean and “in-between” crunch tones.
Absorption
In acoustics the opposite of reflection. Sound waves are “absorbed” or soaked up by soft materials. they control the problem of reflections coming back to the engineer’s ear and interfering with the primary audio coming from the monitors.
Acoustic Treatment
Acoustically treating a room is necessary in audio production due to the fact that very few “spaces” have the physical qualities that make for accurate monitoring or desired recording. There are many things that can be done to a space before and during construction to optimize its acoustic behavior. These include the shape of the space, its isolation, and the surface materials. Once a room is already constructed, Acoustic Treatment mostly tends to consist of treating the surfaces. There are two primary elements to consider: absorption and diffusion. Acoustic foam is well suited to alleviate slap and flutter echo, the two most common problems in rooms not specifically designed for music recording and performance. In fact, foam can turn even the most cavernous warehouse or gymnasium into a suitable acoustic environment. Diffusion keeps sound waves from grouping, so there are no hot spots or nulls in a room. In conjunction with absorption, diffusion can effectively turn virtually any space into one that is appropriate and useful for the purpose of recording or monitoring sound with a high degree of accuracy.
Acoustic-electric
Often abbreviated A/E, an acoustic-electric guitar is a traditional acoustic guitar that has been outfitted with a pickup for easy amplification of the guitar’s signal. Piezo pickups are used in the bridge saddle on acoustic-electric guitars. Hybrid systems use both a piezo pickup and an internalmicrophone that can be blended.
Action
describes the way a musical instrument plays. Its refers to the playability of an instrument or how well it functions mechanically. It often specifically relates to how much force is required to play the instrument. “Piano action” or the more generic “weighted action” is used to describe some keyboards, for example, where it means that the keyboard itself feels sort of like a piano in its mechanical operation, as opposed to an unweighted synthesizer style action. You have to press harder on a piano to make sound, but this “feel” is very important to players. There is also the “hammer action,” which pertains to a keyboard that actually uses a hammer mechanism internally to more closely simulate the feel of a real piano keyboard. Hammer, weighted, and piano action are terms that tend to be used interchangeably even though they aren’t exactly the same thing. In guitars and basses the action again refers to how the instrument plays, and specifically to how much down force is required on the strings to properly press them against the frets. A lighter or lower (as in strings down closer to the frets) action is considered easier to play, but just like the piano some players don’t like it to be too easy. What constitutes a “good” action is very subjective and each player typically has his own tastes.
Active Pickup
A guitar pickup that requires powered electronics onboard the instrument in order to function. Active pickup/preamp systems may provide buffering, EQ, feedback control, filtering, and level boosting, as well as lower noise and hum thanpassive designs. Active pickups are popular on bass guitars and acoustic guitars, as well as certain types of solidbody electric guitars.
Additive Synthesis
The process of constructing a complex sound using fundamental frequencies (pure tones or sine waves). Each of the fundamental frequencies has its own amplitude envelope which allows independent control of each partial (harmonic). Pipe organs or Hammond organs are instruments based on additive synthesis. Some modern synthesizers have employed additive synthesis techniques, but other techniques such as FM and physical modeling have proven to be easier to develop and still very effective at producing a wide variety of sounds.
ADSR
Abbreviation for Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release. These are the four parameters found on a basic synthesizer envelope generator. An envelope generator is sometimes called a transient generator and is traditionally used to control the loudness envelope of sounds, though some modern designs allow for far greater flexibility. The Attack, Decay, and Release parameters are rate or time controls. Sustain is a level control. When a key is pressed, the envelope generator will begin to rise to its full I level at the rate set by the attack parameter, upon reaching peak level it will begin to fall at the rate set by the decay parameter to the level set by the sustain control. The envelope will remain at the sustain level as long as the key is held down. Whenever a key is released, it will return to zero at the rate set by the release parameter.
Aftertouch
Aftertouch is MIDI data sent when pressure is applied to a keyboard after the key has been struck, and while it is being held down or sustained. Aftertouch is often routed to control vibrato, volume, and other parameters. There are two types: The most common is Channel Aftertouch (also known as Channel Pressure, Mono Aftertouch, and Mono Pressure) which looks at the keys being held, and transmits only the highest aftertouch value among them. Less common is Polyphonic Aftertouch, which allows each key being held to transmit a separate, independent aftertouch value. While polyphonic aftertouch can be extremely expressive, it can also be difficult for the unskilled to control, and can result in the transmission a great deal of unnecessary MIDI data, eating bandwidth and slowing MIDI response time.
Amp Head
A dedicated amplifier in a 2-piece amp/speaker cabinet setup. The most famous heads were those built by Marshall, and they remain a staple for rock supergroups.
Amplitude Modulation
refers to any periodic change in the volume of a signal. When the modulating signal is in the audible range (above 20Hz), amplitude modulation can produce additional harmonics, somewhat like those produced by FM (frequency modulation). More often, the frequency of the modulating signal is below the audible range and with a sine or triangle wave, this produces the effect more commonly referred to as tremolo.
Archtop Guitar
steel string instruments, which feature a violin-inspired f-hole design in the top of the instrument, are carved in a curved rather than a flat shape. If you look across the top of the guitar, you’ll notice the wood arches in the middle and dips down where it meets the sides of the guitar. Not all archtop guitars have f-holes. Some, especially early Gibsons, have round or oval soundholes. The arch of the fine archtop guitar is carved from a thick plank, an expensive procedure that requires quite a lot of skilled handwork to do correctly. Guitars of lesser price and quality have laminated or plywood arched tops and backs, which are pressed into shape.
Arpeggiator
A device that electronically creates an arpeggio. An arpeggio is the playing of the tones of a chord in rapid succession rather than simultaneously. Many synthesizers over the years have had arpeggiators built in to them that have been used to create all manor of variations on the basic theme. Some merely do the arpeggio in ascending or descending order of notes, while some can employ very complex algorithms to the note order structure.
Aspect Ratio
This term is used to describe an image on a TV or movie theater screen, and is defined as the width of the image divided by the height. In the case of a standard TV with a full-screen image, it is 4:3 or 1.33:1 (once the mathematical division is calculated). Movie theater images are usually 1.85:1 or 2.35:1, sometimes called “widescreen” or “letterbox.” When the widescreen images are shown on a regular TV in their original aspect ratio, they leave a blank area at the top and bottom of the screen.
Bass Trap
A bass trap is a low frequency sound absorber used to reduce the effects of standing waves in a room. This device is used to help acoustically tune a room. They are usually placed in corners or along wall joints where low frequency energy tends to build up. The absorption qualities of bass traps prevent low frequencies from interfering with each other throughout the rest of the room, which results in much more accurate response in the listening area. Bass traps come in many shapes and sizes and employ a variety of construction techniques. Some are tuned to kill a narrow band of frequencies while others are designed to cover a broad range. Enclosed spaces all have resonant frequencies based upon the various dimensions of the space. As a room becomes energized with sound certain frequencies will build up or be cancelled at various locations around the room based upon its shape and dimensions.
B-Bender
The B-Bender for the Fender Telecaster was invented in the late 1960s by two guitarists, Gene Parsons and Clarence White. The B-Bender employs a system of levers inside the body of the gtr, which connects the bridge to the top strap button, just above the neck. When the player pulls down on the strap, the levers raise the pitch of the B-string, producing bends within chords to emulate sounds that are normally associated with the pedal steel guitar. A modified version of the bender, co-invented by Gene Parsons and Meridian Green, was used by Fender, and was known as the “Parsons/Green bender.”
Bigsby
This is a vibrato tailpiece developed by Paul Bigsby. Bigsby tailpieces were options on many Gibson guitars, while quite a few gretsch gtrs with Bigsby tailpieces as standard equipment. The design is quite basic, with the strings extending across the bridge, and attached to the Bigsby. A bar or handle is used to bend the pitch of anote or entire chord up or down. A heavy-duty spring inserted under the handle helps return the strings to proper pitch.
