A sound synthesizer (often abbreviated as "synthesizer" or "synth") is an electronic instrument capable of producing a wide range of sounds.

Synthesizers may either imitate other instruments ("imitative synthesis") or generate new timbres. They can be played (controlled) via a variety of different input devices (including keyboards, music sequencers and instrument controllers). Synthesizers generate electric signals (waveforms), and can finally be converted to sound through the loudspeakers or headphones.

Oscilator is something that creates oscillation. Oscillation is just a fancy word for something moving back and forth.If you have a swing moving back and worth you can say that the swing is oscillating. Generally speaking you can tweak the frequency of any capacitor-base oscillator by changin the capacitor and resistor value. A key press will result in a MIDI note value which will be converted to a frequency value (Hz) that the oscillator will accept as its input, and the waveform period will repeat accordingly to the specified frequency. From here, the sound can be processed or manipulated in a variety of ways in the synthesizer or program to enrich or modify the sound further.