Generally, a synthesizer uses oscillators to make sounds. An oscillator is an electronic circuit which creates a frequency. In a synthesizer, these oscillators may create frequencies which the human ear can detect (ie, 20-20000hz). A frequency in this range is called a "musical pitch" by a musician. For example, the A below middle C has a frequency of 440Hz. Other musical notes have different frequencies (and each has a unique frequency). These oscillators may be adjusted by a musician to output any frequency within human hearing. In other words, the oscillator can play ANY pitch. One control that a human might use to adjust the oscillator is the musical keyboard (ie, piano keyboard). This has a separate key for each of the pitches in the western scale. When the musician presses down the A key below middle C, an oscillator is turned on (so that it starts making noise), and it is adjusted so that it creates a frequency of 440hz. Viola! The A pitch is heard. Pressing a different key will cause the oscillator to produce the frequency for that particular musical pitch. Modern synthesizers usually have numerous oscillators so that a musician can play chords (ie, several notes simultaneously). Each oscillator plays one of the pitches of the chord.

What will it sound like? Well, that depends upon the shape of the waveform that the oscillator produces. An oscillator can play that A (440hz) frequency with one of a variety of waveforms. Some common ones are: Sine, Square, Sawtooth, and Triangle waveforms. Each has a different "tone" to the human ear. (This tone is determined by the harmonic structure of the waveform. Each of these waveforms has a unique harmonic structure, so we hear each as being different than the others). Furthermore, some oscillators can be used to electronically modify other oscillators, thus affecting the sound. Lastly, there are such things as voltage controlled filters (VCF) and voltage controlled amplifiers (VCA) which are extremely important devices capable of modifying the sound.

Synthesisors are very good at creating artificial sounds (ie, sounds that don't resemble any known acoustic instruments). This is because it is relatively easy to electronically manipulate oscillators to produce effects that aren't easy to duplicate on acoustic instruments, such as a very wide and deep vibrato effect, or ring modulation, etc. On the other hand, synthesizers can also be used to mimic real instruments. But, an oscillator usually produces a very simple, repetitive waveform which lacks the complexity of real instruments' waveforms with their harmonic and inharmonic overtone structures. So, it requires elaborate and costly circuitry (in the form of VCFs, VCAs, and VCOs) to synthesize most acoustic instruments well.

Examples of synthesizers are the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Yamaha DX7, and Roland MT-32. Although these keyboards may use vastly different circuitry to produce oscillations, they all have circuits that do that (as opposed to sampling). The Commodore 64 used a chip that was akin to a synthesizer. Many computer cards have FM synthesis, which is another method of synthesizing sound comparable to having oscillators controlling other oscillators.

A sample player uses a DAC instead of an oscillator to make its sound. A DAC is a Digital to Analog Converter. This converts digital values (representing some waveform) into the analog signals that feed an audio speaker (so that we can hear the waveform). In other words, the DAC and its sample data replace the synthesizer's oscillators. Where do those digital values come from? They must either be calculated or sampled. Some software algorithm could do the former, but it would require some dedicated (and usually expensive) hardware to perform fancy waveform calculations at CD sampling rate (44KHz). On the other hand, a software program could calculate the data BEFORE playback provided that the computer has enough RAM to store the data. Alternately, an ADC (Analog To Digital Converter) can be used to create the sample data. This is the opposite of a DAC. A musician takes some real sound source (perhaps someone playing a note on a trumpet), places a microphone near that sound source, and samples it (ie, records a short "excerpt of sound" just like a tape recorder might record that trumpet) using an ADC. Of course, it takes a large amount of memory to store all of the data of even a few seconds of that trumpet sample. For example, to store a mere 2 seconds of a trumpet sound at a 16-bit, 44Khz sample rate would require about 176K of RAM. Now, in order to get that sound to sustain for longer than 2 seconds (with only 2 seconds worth of data), part of the data must be looped; that is, the playback hardware (DAC) keeps repeating part of the data again and again while the musician holds down a key. To get different pitches, the sample data is played slower or faster (ie, data is sent to the DAC slower or faster) depending upon whether the musician wants a lower or higher pitch. Usually, a single pitch is sampled, for example, a musician samples a trumpet player sustaining only a middle C note. Then, using the voice architecture of the sampler, simultaneous, multiple playbacks of that one looped waveform can be played, with each instance being at a different pitch. In this way, for example, the musician can play a C Major chord (ie, C, E, and G notes) using that one looped waveform of the middle C note. Here's how that works: when the musician presses the middle C key, one of the sampler's "voices" (ie, the hardware that handles playing back digital audio data to a DAC) is put into action, and it starts playing back the waveform at the originally sampled speed, thus giving that middle C pitch. When the musician presses the E key, while still holding the C key, a second "voice" in the sampler is put into action, and that voice plays the waveform at a faster rate so that the middle C waveform is transposed up to an E pitch. Pressing the G key, while holding the other two, brings a third voice into action, in which the waveform is transposed all the way up to a G pitch. Now you have 3 different pitches derived from that one looped waveform of a middle C note, all playing polyphonically.

A Sampler excels at reproducing the sounds of real acoustic instruments since it uses those very sources to obtain its waveform data. On the negative side, the complexity of these waveforms makes the process of looping them very difficult. Often, one can hear the telltale "thunk" of mismatched loop points or the "thin tone" of a too tight loop (ie, all of the "human" variances in volume and timbre that can typically be heard while a real musician sustains a note can't fit into a too short loop. That gives the loop an artificial, boring, sterile sound). Synthesizers don't have that problem. Also, samplers require large amounts of memory to store sample data. Finally, transposing a sample (ie, playing it at pitches above or below the original, recorded pitch) can produce unnatural effects with the waveform's envelope and pitch, although most samplers allow "multi-sampling" so that you can use several different waveforms recorded at various pitches to cover the MIDI note range, rather than trying to transpose a single waveform all the way up and down the entire keyboard.

Examples of samplers include most of the keyboards made within the past few years such as EMU Emax and Proteus, Korg M1, Prophet 2000, Roland S770, and AKAI S1000. Also, many computer cards have "Wavetable synthesis" which means that the card has samples burned into a ROM chip inside of it, and these are played via a DAC.

Furthermore, cards with digital audio tracks are a form of sampling. The main difference between MIDI samplers and digital audio cards is that the latter aren't designed to play looped waveforms. The digital audio card simply plays a WAVE file once from beginning to end at the rate at which it was originally sampled. This data is usually recorded directly to a Hard Drive, and then played back likewise. In other words, the card records/plays digital audio analogous to how a cassette tape recorder records/plays audio -- but the card uses a Hard Drive to store the audio data whereas the cassette player uses magnetic tape.

NOTE: The distinction between MIDI samplers and computer audio cards is becoming less distinct with newer cards that support "sample loading" whereby the GM sound module can load a short, looped WAVE file, usually of a single-pitch, and just like a MIDI sampler, play it polyphonically with transposition based upon which MIDI note triggers the playback. In essense, these new cards are like stripped-down MIDI samplers... but very stripped-down in terms of features that modify the playback in realtime.

With MIDI samplers, each waveform is usually a single pitch which is then looped in order to allow the musician to sustain it as long as desired, and then its playback rate is transposed depending upon which musical note the musician presses on the keyboard.