Synthesizers and Waveforms

Synthesizers use different waveforms to produce different sounds.  A sine wave produces smooth curves and only has the fundamental frequency present. A sawtooth wave has one side that is an angled ramp up and another side that drop straight down. A sawtooth wave has all harmonics present and it sounds very harsh and piercing.  A triangle wave only has odd harmonics present. An example of an instrument that produces a triangle wave is a clarinet. A square wave also only produces odd harmonics. It looks like a divided line.