Unit generator

Unit generators (or ugens) are the basic formal units in many <a href="/facts/MUSIC-N/MqIaLX5w">MUSIC-N</a>-style <a href="/facts/Computer_music_programming_languages/fYAnqH3w">computer music programming languages</a>. They are sometimes called <a href="/facts/Opcode/UaLMp56C">opcodes</a> (particularly in <a href="/facts/CSound/SWFhJBnw">Csound</a>), though this expression is not considered accurate in that these are not written directly as <a href="/facts/Machine_code/bgdQ1Fxf">machine-level instructions</a>. 
Unit generators form the building blocks for designing <a href="/facts/Sound_synthesis/NrmdVrPa">synthesis</a> and <a href="/facts/Signal_processing/Npaja6zb">signal processing</a> <a href="/facts/Algorithm/fnl5NmRt">algorithms</a> in software.
The unit generator theory of sound synthesis was first developed and implemented by <a href="/facts/Max_Mathews/oBCBqPYK">Max Mathews</a> and his colleagues at <a href="/facts/Bell_Labs/fKP5Gk0H">Bell Labs</a> in the 1950s.

Unit generator open-in-new

Unit generator