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Chapter 22 ES2 299
Try a careful, very slow movement of the modwheel, and you’ll hear drastic changes
within the wave configuration. Each incremental position of the wheel offers a different
complete digital pad sound. No frantic movements, please, otherwise this will sound
like an AM-radio.
Another potential modification procedure is hidden in the modulation intensity of
Oscillator 1, 2, and 3 wave’s parameter. As already mentioned with the Stratocaster
patch, the value of this intensity parameter assigns step width and direction through
the wavetables. You may try modifications to the amount and positive or negative
values.
We also discovered an interesting side-effect of FM assignment to Filter 2 (Modulation
4/Lowpass Filter FM). Moving to higher positions of the mod wheel, we increased the
frequency modulation on the filter, causing all cyclical “beats” (vibrating pitches,
detunes, pulse width) to be emphasized. This also results in a rough and hissing touch
to the overall sound character.
FM offers vast scope for experimentation, and you can decide between:
• An initial FM, using Filter 2’s FM parameter, which you can “redraw” (set a negative
modulation amount for Modulation 4’s maximum) by moving the mod wheel to its
top position.
• Or you may have permanent FM (and another modulation setup, saved for a different
assignment). You can also switch off FM, if you consider its effect too “dirty”
sounding.
Real-time control is via pressure for a vibrato (Modulation 10), and also for a slight
opening of the Cutoff to emphasize the modulation (Modulation 9).
-5- Another approach to “Crybaby” (Wheelsyncer)
Never obsolete—and undergoing a renaissance in new popular electronic music: Sync
Sounds
The technical aspects of forcing an Oscillator to sync are described in “Sync” on
page 237. Here’s the practical side of the playground.
Wheelsyncer is a single-oscillator lead sound, all others are switched off.
Although Oscillator 2 is the only one actively making any sound, it is directly
dependent on Oscillator 1.
If you change Oscillator 1’s pitch or tuning, the overall pitch of the sound will go out of
tune, or will be transposed.
The pitch of Oscillator 2 provides the tone-color (or the harmonics) for the sync sound.
Pitch changes are controlled by modulation 7’s setup, where we assigned Oscillator 2’s
pitch to the mod wheel.