are "sawtooth" and "ramp" different terms for the same wave?

[chimney chop]

are they?

(asking this in reference to the roland sh-2 and roland sh-5)

thanks

[rschnier]

Yes.

[chimney chop]

Yes.

cool, thanks

[c-level]

i thought that ramps reached their duty cicle at the end ie: /| and the sawtooth in the middle ie /|/ ? thus exciting different overtones? maybe im trippin tho...

[Bitexion]

More or less, they're just turned the "other way". Sounds the almost same no matter what way it is turned, but it interacts a bit different when you add a ramp and a saw together, more "grindy and glitchy" since they're not in phase with eachother.

[Solderman]

To add to the confusion, I thought ramp waves reset to minimum and increased in voltage while sawtooth waves reset to maximum and dropped to minimum. ie. always 180 degrees out of phase when they are the exact same frequency and reset simultaneously, and not at the midpoint.

[Bitexion]

Add two sawtooth together at the exact same volume and pitch, one saw and one ramp, and it sounds like they're fighting against eachother. I can do it on my modular. The battle of the saws!

[condit79]

Yeah, mixing them both together shows you that they are definitely NOT the same. It sounds super rad. I also use saw and ramp vs each other to get some crazy lfos for modulation. Reason 586 to get yourself a modular

[Zamise]

Saw = straight

Ramp = curved

Maybe?

[meatballfulton]

Maybe?

BZZT, no just the polarity/phase/whatever is different.

Often seen on LFOs but not too often on VCOs except modulars

[Automatic Gainsay]

Saws are the ones that go from zero to whatever and drop off. Ramps are the ones that increase and then drop to zero. Think of it as if you're coming from the left. Saw is the one that would stop you. Ramp is the one that would make you do jumps.
There are minor audible differences... but very minor. I mean, I don't actually know... I'm just going by the Minimoog. The ramp and saw sound slightly different in comparison, but almost identical without comparison. The important difference is when they're treated as modulation sources. A ramp and a saw sound completely different in an LFO. And that's the most important part.
P.S. I recently did a shitload of videos for video education site, which are coming out soon. In them I discover that a lot of vintage synths portray their saws as ramps and ramps as saws! I can't remember which, though. Also, square waves are not square on a lot of synths.

[Zamise]

Huh?

Like this:



I agree on the squares, even digital ones they seem to wobble a bit at the edges of the plateaus and troughs.

[chimney chop]

There are minor audible differences... but very minor. I mean, I don't actually know... I'm just going by the Minimoog. The ramp and saw sound slightly different in comparison, but almost identical without comparison. The important difference is when they're treated as modulation sources

that's exactly what i needed to know.

thanks Gainsay!

[Automatic Gainsay]

Huh?

Like this:



I agree on the squares, even digital ones they seem to wobble a bit at the edges of the plateaus and troughs.

The upward saw is a ramp.
The reverse/down/backward saw is a saw.
Everything else is CRAZYTIME.

[Stab Frenzy]

Huh?

Like this:



I agree on the squares, even digital ones they seem to wobble a bit at the edges of the plateaus and troughs.

The first wave you drew is a ramp, the second is a saw. The third is a ramp again. The others aren't relevant to the discussion.