Scanned synthesis is a technique for animating wave tables and controlling them in real-time [citation needed].
Developed by Bill Verplank, Rob Shaw, and Max Mathews between 1998 and 1999 at Interval Research, Inc., it is based on the psychoacoustics of how we hear and appreciate timbres and on our motor control (haptic) abilities to manipulate timbres during live performance [1] Scanned synthesis involves a slow dynamic system whose frequencies of vibration are below about 15 Hz [citation needed].
So, to make audible frequencies, the "shape" of the dynamic system, along a closed path, is scanned periodically.
The "shape" is converted to a sound wave whose pitch is determined by the speed of the scanning function.
The model can be compared to a slowly vibrating string, or a two dimensional surface obeying the wave equation.