Unit \U"nit\, n. [Abbrev. from unity.]
* (Math.) A single thing, as a magnitude or number, regarded
as an undivided whole.
[1913 Webster]
Generator \Gen"er*a`tor\, n. [L.]
* One who, or that which, generates, begets, causes, or
produces.
[1913 Webster]
* (Mus.) The principal sound or sounds by which others are
produced; the fundamental note or root of the common
chord; -- called also generating tone.
[1913 Webster]
* (Math.) a mathematical entity which, when subjected to an
operation, yields another mathematical entity; also, a
generatrix.
[PJC]Undivided, producing, fundamental, mathematical, musical: all of these words describe a "unit generator", an undivided whole which produces music, and which may, via mathematical operations, be combined with others to produce new generators. Simply put, unit generators are the things that make sound in soundscrape. They are analogous to analog synthesizer modules such as oscillators, filters, envelopes, and so on. Because they operate in the digital domain, they can also implement other operations that are not possible in the analog world. *FIXME ref to some examples*
There are many classes of unit generators. Most of them are specially adapted to soundscrape, but some of them are taken as they are from GStreamer. For specific documentation on all of the unit generators, see top. For a list of all the unit generators on your system, type (help ss-all-ugens) at the ss> prompt. Because soundscrape adds a unit generator for each LADSPA plugin that you have on your system (mostly; for more details, see LADSPA Integration), precisely which unit generators are available to you depends on the plugins you have installed.
A unit generator has a number of inputs, a number of outputs, and a set of properties. This is how the generator interacts with the world. You can get a list of which inputs, outputs, and properties a unit generator has by using the runtime help facility described in the previous chapter.