I was just checking up to see if you had any further questions about the Synclavier.

Hi Brandon:

I really appreciate your kindness and attention. I am writing (in
portuguese) about the different methods of synthesis, and I remember having
discussed it with a fellow of mine which worked (and teached) with the
Synclavier at USC - and I think he told me that the Synclavier is able of
perform analysis of a sample, and then allow us to process the analysis
file, or just resampling it with different rates, and/or durations, etc.
This was, I suppose done with the additive synht part of the machine.

I just would like you to tell me if it was able to did this (when it was
available, and as a standard feature, not as a techno freak trick, and not
now, with all the fancy hardware and software updates that fortunately,
Synclavier users are still able to get.

If you want, and have time, to go a little deeper in your answer (specially
describing what kind of FM did it do, after all, and how did it compare with
the traditional DX series kind), i also would be deeply thankfull. Regards.

The Synclavier II began it's life with FM/Additive Synthesis,FFT analysis,
convolution, sample manipulation, re-synthesis, building of filters, etc.
Nothing new has really been added at all (except for a card that adds Time
Compression/Expansion and Sample Rate Conversion in the mid-80s)!  Real Time
Processing does not exist on the machine the way most people think.

The Synclavier's synthesis, although very easy to maniputlate, is very limited
especially concerning FM synthesis.  Unlike a Yamaha DX-7 which has 6 
FM operators running at 12 bit synthesis, the Synclavier starts out as 
2 operator sound at 8 bits.  You can also have Timbre Frames.  This is 
achieved through segments of sound that are spliced together to create a sound
that changes over time.  A neat trick involved splicing various pitches
that were based on 12 tone music.  Neat little melodies could be performed!

The Synclavier also had the abiliy to perform resynthesis.  By analyzing
certain characteristics of sampled sound, the synthesizer could recreate those
segments to produce a fairly decent representation of an actual recorded sound.
A great way to fatten up sampled patches.

The Synclavier always offered a great deal of control over it's synthesis parameters.
Through Script (a musical programming languages), the Real Time Package and 
the buttons on the keyboard, sounds are easily manipulated.  

Brandon Amison 
Synclavier Guru 
Yaking Cat Music Studios 
and Synclavier Assistance 
http://home.earthlink.net/~yaking/ 
THE source of Synclavier information