Subtractive Synths Explained

Every time you play a note, its fundamental and harmonics are produced as a single packaged sound and the differing oscillator types allow you to hear what those different packages might be. Sonically, the most basic oscillator choice is a sine wave, which is a fundamental frequency without any harmonics at all (a sound no acoustic instrument can produce) but the other choices will all provide harmonics on top of a fundamental frequency. Logic’s ES1 is a classic subtractive synth and you can see below how each section matches the Olympic rings analogy with Oscillator, Filter and Amplifier sections across the top, the LFO in the bottom left-hand corner and two envelopes in the bottom right.

Source: www.residentadvisor.net