What is Spectral Synthesis?

Spectral synthesis is a lot like wavetable synthesis (of PPG and Waldorf fame) in that it presents a space of harmonically adventurous sounds to scan over, creating unusual timbres. But it actually shares most of its DNA with (frequently misunderstood) additive classics like the Fairlight CMI or Synclavier II. In this post we’ll unpack a bit of that heritage to build up an intuition for what spectral synthesis is and how to use it effectively.