Karplus–Strong string synthesis

At first glance, this technique can be viewed as subtractive synthesis based on a feedback loop similar to that of a comb filter for z-transform analysis.

However, it can also be viewed as the simplest class of wavetable-modification algorithms now known as digital waveguide synthesis, because the delay line acts to store one period of the signal.

The original algorithm used equal weighting on two adjacent samples, as this can be achieved without multiplication hardware, allowing extremely cheap implementations.

Holding the period (= length of the delay line) constant produces vibrations similar to those of a string or bell.

[2] He later derived the KS algorithm as a special case of digital waveguide synthesis, which was used to model acoustic waves in strings, tubes, and membranes.

[4][clarification needed] The first musical use of the algorithm was in the work May All Your Children Be Acrobats written in 1981 by David A. Jaffe, and scored for eight guitars, mezzo-soprano and computer-generated stereo tape, with a text based on Carl Sandburg's The People, Yes.

Hardware components capable of Karplus-Strong style synthesis include the Moog Clusterflux 108M, Mutable Instruments Elements and Rings, 4ms Company Dual Looping Delay, 2HP Pluck, Make Noise Mimeophon, Arturia MicroFreak, Non Linear Circuits Is Carp Lust Wrong?, and the Strymon Starlab.