posted 08 August 2012 17:13            

I seem to have missed out on knowledge of this machine.

What was its basis of synthesis?
From what I can find on the web it sound like additive and FM, a bit like the Synclavier II.

It sounds like the extra bit that the GDS has, is the ability to make the additive act like a VCF by complex variation of the partial levels. Is this correct?

The Synclavier II had only one FM modulator algorithm where a single modulator (which was a 64 sine wave additive signal) fed one carrier (which was another 64 sine wave additive signal). Un like the DX7 that had 6 single sine only operators, but these could be interlinked as carriers of carriers of carriers or paralleled up to give just a few sines of pseudo additive synthesis.

Where did the GDS sit in this regard?

The Synclavier had dedicated piece of digital hardware and DtoA convertor for every voice (mixed in the analogue domain), so the sample rate would vary with the pitch of each voice such that aliasing could never happened.

It seems that the GDS only had two DtoAs in the whole system. Is this correct?

They say it was Z80 based, but was that just one processor for the whole sound generating engine and if so did it have a single cycle multiply co processor to help it out?

I worked out a way of using a sine table offset and add to emulate a sort of fast attenuation (multiplication) with a Z80 and I wonder if they used this technique?

Listening to the examples it also sounded like a bucket brigade chorus was included, or was this added externally?

posted 08 August 2012 17:39            

As far as I know the GDS is known for its additive synthesis capabilities, programmable digital filters, and FM. The GDS produced some very nice sounds early on that the Synergy II tried to recreate albeit in a limited form. That's the extent of my knowledge, well short of answering your questions.