A
synthdef is a description of an audio signal-flow graph, written as ordinary
Tzopilotl code, that the synthdef compiler turns into an optimized native plugin the audio engine
can instantiate as nodes. This guide covers the whole authoring surface: the graph-construction
model, signal rates, element types, channel counts and broadcasting, controls and note
parameters, delays, buffers, control flow, polyphonic voicers, and a reference for the three
modules involved —
synthdef (the building blocks),
common_ugens
(unit generators built from them), and
filters (biquad filters).
For a task-oriented introduction with engine and scheduling recipes, see the
Music Cookbook. For the compiler internals
(the 14-pass pipeline, codegen, SIMD) see synthdef-compiler/ARCHITECTURE.md in the
repository.