In class I gave a quick rundown of how Poizone's two oscillators worked. If you missed it, or need a review, check out this quick video.
You should be able to:
1. Mix osc A with osc B
2. Change the wave shape of either oscillator.
3. Mix in noise.
4. Change the pitch of osc B
We also discussed the filter section. You should be able to:
1. Switch the filter type from LP, HP and BP modes.
2. Change the resonance of the cutoff frequency in LP and HP, and in BP mode change the band width of the filter.
3. Use keyboard tracking and velocity tracking to change the way the filter effects low/high and soft/loud.
Finally, we discussed unison mode. You should be able to:
1 Create multiple voices (up to 4.
2. Use detune to widen the unison effect
3. Use unison panning to make the synth spread out in the stereo field.
4. Shift all of the even numbered unison voices up an octave.
For a review of Filters and unison mode, check out this video.
Here's mine:
The opening riff is a default PoiZone in pulse wave mode with a 50% 50% mix of Osc A and B. Osc B is tuned down an octave and a little bit of noise is mixed in to rough up the sound a bit.
I'm using a LP filter with the resonance at about 65% and the velocity tracking all the way up. In the riff that I created in the piano roll, I emphasized the velocity of some of the notes to showcase this feature of the synth. I like how the accented notes get a dramatic filter treatment and the unaccented notes do not.
Unison mode is set to 2 and the unison panning it turned up a bit. Otherwise, it's a default synth.
The other synth which comes in after the 4th repeat is similar in design,but instead of tuning OSC B down an octave, I turned it up 2 octaves and mixed all of the noise out. You will probably notice the pitch automation clip on it and the snare drum with generous amounts of reverb and echo.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Sequence Synth
In this project, we will create a bass synth that rocks back and forth between two notes (octaves) while holding down one key on the keyboard. This is very useful for writing bass patterns (that repeat anyway) as once the synth is created, sequencing the song is a breeze. Plus, live performance becomes a real option too (for all of you D.J.'s out there.)
First, let's create the bass sound. We'll start with a default Sytrus.
1. Op.1 set to saw wave.
2. Drop the frequency ratio to 1.999 (more on this later)
3. Set phase to global.
4. Filter 1: SVFx1 (HQ) Env=50%, Cut=100%, Res=66%, Low=100%, Band=0%, High=100%, WS= off. There are some basic settings for a bass synth. You can play with them anyway you want.
5. Make sure everything is mixed into filter 1, and while you're in the matrix, turn on the chorus (order=2 D=29 S=50 everything else=0) and mix in the FX into filter 1.
We will modulate operator 1 with operator 2 to create a thicker sound.
1. Op. 2 Shape 65% everything else=0% Frequency ratio to 0% (Yes, this means that there will be no sound out of Op 2 because the wave will be infinitely long, but since we're modulating operator 1 with this frequency it's okay).
2. Set the frequency offset to 1.00HZ -this will make a big difference in the attack of our synth.
3.Modulate OP 1 with 13% of OP2 (Do this in the OP 1 Row)
4. Now we're going to send our filter 1 settings through filter 2. In Filter 1, crank the next control (It's the last control on the right side of the Waveshaper.) to 100%. This sends the Filter 1 output 100% to the next filter- which is filter 2.
5. In the matrix, set the output of filter 2 to 100%.
Now we have a cool sounding bass synth. Let's sequence it.
1. Go to Operator 1's pitch envelope and clear out the default.
2. Enable tempo mode
3. The origin point should be in the middle. Draw a diagonal line to the bottom two beats over (Right click to put in a point).
4. Play a note. Notice how it drops in pitch.
5. Right click the point you added and select "Hold". Notice how the shape changes.
6. Make a third point two beats later in the envelope back up on the same line that the first beat was on. Now the pitch goes back up. Experiment with different shapes by right clicking the last point. I like stairs.
7. On your last point, set it to "sustain loop end".
8. On the point of origin, select "sustain loop start". You have now established a loop. When you hold down a key, or trigger the synth in the step sequencer, the synth will play your envelope over and over.
This is a very simple 4 bar pattern that shows how useful a synth like this can be. I purposely made this loop short and sweet to demonstrate the seqnence capability of sytrus. Keep in mind I only entered in the drums and 4 notes (E B C# and A) in the piano roll of sytrus. The rhythm and the changing octave is generated by the sequence we programed.
First, let's create the bass sound. We'll start with a default Sytrus.
1. Op.1 set to saw wave.
2. Drop the frequency ratio to 1.999 (more on this later)
3. Set phase to global.
4. Filter 1: SVFx1 (HQ) Env=50%, Cut=100%, Res=66%, Low=100%, Band=0%, High=100%, WS= off. There are some basic settings for a bass synth. You can play with them anyway you want.
5. Make sure everything is mixed into filter 1, and while you're in the matrix, turn on the chorus (order=2 D=29 S=50 everything else=0) and mix in the FX into filter 1.
We will modulate operator 1 with operator 2 to create a thicker sound.
1. Op. 2 Shape 65% everything else=0% Frequency ratio to 0% (Yes, this means that there will be no sound out of Op 2 because the wave will be infinitely long, but since we're modulating operator 1 with this frequency it's okay).
2. Set the frequency offset to 1.00HZ -this will make a big difference in the attack of our synth.
3.Modulate OP 1 with 13% of OP2 (Do this in the OP 1 Row)
4. Now we're going to send our filter 1 settings through filter 2. In Filter 1, crank the next control (It's the last control on the right side of the Waveshaper.) to 100%. This sends the Filter 1 output 100% to the next filter- which is filter 2.
5. In the matrix, set the output of filter 2 to 100%.
Now we have a cool sounding bass synth. Let's sequence it.
1. Go to Operator 1's pitch envelope and clear out the default.
2. Enable tempo mode
3. The origin point should be in the middle. Draw a diagonal line to the bottom two beats over (Right click to put in a point).
4. Play a note. Notice how it drops in pitch.
5. Right click the point you added and select "Hold". Notice how the shape changes.
6. Make a third point two beats later in the envelope back up on the same line that the first beat was on. Now the pitch goes back up. Experiment with different shapes by right clicking the last point. I like stairs.
7. On your last point, set it to "sustain loop end".
8. On the point of origin, select "sustain loop start". You have now established a loop. When you hold down a key, or trigger the synth in the step sequencer, the synth will play your envelope over and over.
This is a very simple 4 bar pattern that shows how useful a synth like this can be. I purposely made this loop short and sweet to demonstrate the seqnence capability of sytrus. Keep in mind I only entered in the drums and 4 notes (E B C# and A) in the piano roll of sytrus. The rhythm and the changing octave is generated by the sequence we programed.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
SVF and XY Modulation in Sytrus
We've been doing a lot with filters and are familiar with their basic names and functions (LP= Low Pass, BP= Band Pass {for midrange frequencies}HP= High Pass), but what is up with that SVF filter that is the default when going to any of the 3 filter tabs in Sytrus? Well, those letters stand for State Variable Filter which means you can vary the state of the filter. You can make it a high pass, band pass or a low pass filter and change it from on to another by adjusting these parameters. Imagine a filter that can morph from a high pass filter to a low pass filter in real time. Cool eh?
Let's recreate one of the synths from the previous lesson. Open a default sytrus and go to the OSC tab in operator 1. Draw a downward slope and smooth it out. After you smooth the curve, be sure to boost the fundamental (the first bar) to 100%.
Add FX as you like, and them mix everything into filter 1.
In the Filter 1 tab, you'll see that the SVF is the default filter. Notice that there are the standard Env, Cut, and Res controls and there are also Low, Band and High sliders to the right of those controls just before the Waveshaper section. These controls go away when you switch from SVF to another kind of filter.
Apply these settings:
SVF X3 (HQ), ENV,CUT and RES @50% L 100% B 100% H 0% WS Enable WSAmp 150% WSMIX 66%
These settings basically eliminate all of the high frequencies. We'll play more with them later.
The XY controller
On the Main tab in Sytrus, you will see a modulation window with a control for the X axis and one for the Y axis. You can assign the XY controller to control any parameters you want in Sytrus. Try this:
In filter 1, go to CUT (because we are going to play with the cutoff frequency of the SVF- currently set at 50%) then MOD X. You'll notice that the envelope is a flat line, so no amount of tweaking the XY controller on the main tab will have any effect. To fix this, draw a line from the low left corner to the high right corner of the envelope window. Now try playing with the XY controller on the main tab. Wow!
For the Y axis, we can choose from Resonance, Low, Band, High or Waveshaper tabs. You can also map the Y axis to the last tab- WMIX. This is the Waveshaper Mix control that corresponds to the Mix control (currently set at 66%) in the waveshaper window. If we draw a similar envelope for this control at it's current setting, when we max out the Y axis, we will be hitting 66% of the waveshaper mix function. If we want more, we have to set the mix control in filter 1 to a greater value.
Be careful of mapping your Y axis to the Low, Band and High tabs. If you change filters to something other than a SVF, your Y axis won't work because L,B, and H are native to the SFV.
Go ahead and map the Y axis to whatever control you want. I mapped to WMIX by drawing the same shape I drew for MOD X.
Here's my little offering with this synth in mind:
The drums all came from the browser in drum kit #5. The bass is a default sytrus saw wave mixed in Filter 1 (SVF) with the frequency modulation lowered by 1. I used reverb and chorus on this synth as well. The lead synth is the one created but the above method and all of the automation is done by the internal XY controller. I added an automation clip to the pitch slider on the main sytrus tab, and had it gradually increase to 100% near the end. The result is a cool series of progressively higher pitches that sounds kind of random.
My source for the material in this lesson:
Let's recreate one of the synths from the previous lesson. Open a default sytrus and go to the OSC tab in operator 1. Draw a downward slope and smooth it out. After you smooth the curve, be sure to boost the fundamental (the first bar) to 100%.
Add FX as you like, and them mix everything into filter 1.
In the Filter 1 tab, you'll see that the SVF is the default filter. Notice that there are the standard Env, Cut, and Res controls and there are also Low, Band and High sliders to the right of those controls just before the Waveshaper section. These controls go away when you switch from SVF to another kind of filter.
Apply these settings:
SVF X3 (HQ), ENV,CUT and RES @50% L 100% B 100% H 0% WS Enable WSAmp 150% WSMIX 66%
These settings basically eliminate all of the high frequencies. We'll play more with them later.
The XY controller
On the Main tab in Sytrus, you will see a modulation window with a control for the X axis and one for the Y axis. You can assign the XY controller to control any parameters you want in Sytrus. Try this:
In filter 1, go to CUT (because we are going to play with the cutoff frequency of the SVF- currently set at 50%) then MOD X. You'll notice that the envelope is a flat line, so no amount of tweaking the XY controller on the main tab will have any effect. To fix this, draw a line from the low left corner to the high right corner of the envelope window. Now try playing with the XY controller on the main tab. Wow!
For the Y axis, we can choose from Resonance, Low, Band, High or Waveshaper tabs. You can also map the Y axis to the last tab- WMIX. This is the Waveshaper Mix control that corresponds to the Mix control (currently set at 66%) in the waveshaper window. If we draw a similar envelope for this control at it's current setting, when we max out the Y axis, we will be hitting 66% of the waveshaper mix function. If we want more, we have to set the mix control in filter 1 to a greater value.
Be careful of mapping your Y axis to the Low, Band and High tabs. If you change filters to something other than a SVF, your Y axis won't work because L,B, and H are native to the SFV.
Go ahead and map the Y axis to whatever control you want. I mapped to WMIX by drawing the same shape I drew for MOD X.
Here's my little offering with this synth in mind:
The drums all came from the browser in drum kit #5. The bass is a default sytrus saw wave mixed in Filter 1 (SVF) with the frequency modulation lowered by 1. I used reverb and chorus on this synth as well. The lead synth is the one created but the above method and all of the automation is done by the internal XY controller. I added an automation clip to the pitch slider on the main sytrus tab, and had it gradually increase to 100% near the end. The result is a cool series of progressively higher pitches that sounds kind of random.
My source for the material in this lesson:
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