Signal generator - Definition and Overview

A signal generator is a box that usually includes one or more of: a variable frequency dial, a waveform selector, an attenuator, and a least one signal output. See the diagram on the right.

It contains an electronic oscillator, an electronic circuit that is capable of creating a repetitive waveform. The most common waveform is a sine wave, but sawtooth, step (pulse), square, and triangular waveform oscillators are commonly available as are arbitrary waveform generators (AWGs). If the oscillator operates above the audio frequency range (>20KHz), the signal generator will often include some sort of modulation including one or more of amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), or phase modulation (PM) as well as a second oscillator that provides an audio frequency modulation waveform.

In musical sound synthesis, oscillators conventionally form the most fundamental synthesis building block. With analog synthesizers, they are realized as electronic oscillators and with digital or software synthesizers they are generated algorithmically. Modern software synthesis environments such as Csound have generalized the oscillator as a type of unit generator (UG), where UGs are primitive modules that produce, modify or acquire audio or control signals.

Example Usage of generator