The sawtooth wave is a kind of basic waveform. It is named a sawtooth based on its resemblance to the teeth on the blade of a saw.
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A sawtooth wave's sound is harsh and clear and its spectrum contains both even and odd harmonics of the fundamental frequency. Because it contains all the integer harmonics, it is one of the best waveforms to use for constructing other sounds, particularly strings, using subtractive synthesis.
A sawtooth can be constructed using additive synthesis. The infinite series
An audio demonstration of a sawtooth played at 220 Hz (A2) and 440 Hz (A3) is available below. Both bandlimited (non-aliased) and aliased tones are presented.
- {220 Hz bandlimited, 220 Hz aliased, 440 Hz bandlimited, 440 Hz aliased}
See also