9

Using the Ultrabeat Material Pad
The combination of the Inner Loss and Stiffness parameter positions determine the string
material and, therefore, the general timbre of your sound. Both parameters are
simultaneously controlled by dragging the ball (which correlates to the x and y
coordinates) within theMaterial Pad. The default pitch of the string is C3 (middle C).
In general synthesizer terms, this could be viewed as being similar to the waveform
selector/generator in the oscillator section.
Note: Option-click the ball to reset all string parameters to their default values.
• Inner Loss: Emulates damping of the string, as caused by the string material—steel,
glass, nylon, or wood. These are frequency-dependent losses that cause the sound to
become more mellow during the decay phase.
• Stiffness: Sets the rigidity of the string. In reality, this is determined by the string material
and diameter—or, to be more precise, by its geometrical moment of inertia.
Stiffer strings exhibit an inharmonic vibration, where overtones are not integer multiples
of the base frequency. Rather, they have higher frequencies, which can make upper or
lower notes sound somewhat out of tune with each other.
How Inner Loss and Stiffness Settings Can Change Ultrabeat’s Tonal
Color
Low Stiffness values, combined with low Inner Loss values, lead to metallic sounds.
Increasing the Stiffness makes the sound become more bell-like, or glass-like. Extreme
Stiffness values turn the string into a solid metal rod.
Increasing the Inner Loss value, while maintaining a low Stiffness level, corresponds to
nylon or catgut strings.
High Stiffness values, combined with high Inner Loss values, simulate wood-like materials.
264 Chapter 11 Ultrabeat