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Table Of Contents
ES2 Sound Design from Scratch, Filter Settings, Digiwaves
The Analog Saw Init tutorial setting is designed to be used as a starting point when you
are programming new sounds from scratch.” When programming entirely new sounds,
professional sound designers like to use this type of setting, which has an unfiltered
sawtooth wave sound without envelopes, modulations, or any gimmicks. This type of
setting is also useful when you are getting to know a new synthesizer. It allows you to
access all parameters without having to consider any preset values.
Start with the filters, the heart of any subtractive synthesizer. Check out the four lowpass
filter types—12 dB, 18 dB, 24 dB, and fat (Filter 2)—with different values for Cut (Cutoff
Frequency) and Res (Resonance). Define Env 2 as the filter envelope. This modulation
wiring is preset in the Router.
Set Filter Blend to its leftmost position, which will allow you to listen to Filter 1 in
isolation. In many circumstances, you’ll probably prefer Filter 2, but Filter 1 has its
advantages. In addition to the lowpass filter with 12 dB/octave slope (Lo), Filter 2 also
offers a highpass, peak, bandpass (BP), and band rejection (BR) mode. Filter 1’s lowpass
sounds softerwhen compared with Filter 2. It is best-suited to sounds where the filter
effect is or should be less audible, such as with Strings and FM sounds. Distorted
TB-303-style sounds are more easily achieved with Filter 1.
This setting is also ideal for checking out the oscillator waveforms. The analog waveforms
can be set in the Editor view. To select the Digiwaves, set Osc 1 Wave to Digiwave.
Creating Fat ES2 Sounds with Oscillator Detuning and Unison Mode
“Fat” synthesizer sounds have always been popular and are likely to remain so, given their
use in modern trance, techno, R & B, and other styles. The Analog Saw 3 Osc setting features
three detuned oscillators, and sounds fat as it is. The following will introduce you to some
additional tools to fatten the sound even more.
Check out the 3-oscillator basic sound with different filter and envelope settings.
Check out the chorus effect at different Intensities and speeds.
Engage Unison mode and select a higher setting for Analog. Because the sound is
polyphonic, each note is doubled. The number of notes that can be played
simultaneously will be reduced from 10 to 5. This makes the sound rich and broad.
Combining Unison and higher values for Analog spreads the sound across the stereo
spectrum.
In many factory settings, the Unison mode is active. This demands a lot of processing
power. If your computer isn’t fast enough, you can switch off the Unison mode and insert
an Ensemble effect in a bus, for use with several plug-ins. This will save processing power.
You can also save CPU resources by freezing or bouncing several software instrument
tracks.
112 Chapter 5 ES2