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310 Chapter 23 Ultrabeat
The curved slider to the left of the Volume knob controls the pitch of the oscillator in
half step intervals. If you press Shift, you can adjust the pitch of Oscillator 1 in cent
intervals.
The pitch value is displayed numerically to the left of the slider. You can change the
displayed value by click-holding directly on the value field, and moving the mouse
vertically.
Pitch can be modulated by the sources found in the Mod and Via menus. If sources are
selected, small blue (Mod) and green (Via) sliders appear beside the pitch control. These
allow control over the effect of the Mod and Via modulation routing. The range affected
by parameter modulation is colored blue and green, and runs alongside the pitch slider.
Oscillator 1 can be switched between two different types of synthesis engines: Phase
Oscillator and FM. This can be done by clicking the appropriately labeled buttons at the
upper edge of the Oscillator 1 section.
Phase Oscillator
The waveform of the Phase Oscillator can be “twisted” with the Slope, Saturation, and
Asymmetry parameters, and shaped into almost any basic synthesizer waveform. The
effects of these three parameters are graphically illustrated in the waveform display
within the oscillator section. Setting all three parameters to zero values will cause the
oscillator to produce a sine wave.
The Slope parameter determines the slope or steepness of the waveform. The higher
the Slope value, the steeper the waveform. The resulting sound takes on an increasingly
nasal character as steepness is increased.
Increasing Saturation values clip the waveform, gradually molding its shape towards a
rectangular waveform. This results in a corresponding increase in odd numbered
overtones.
Sine and rectangualar waves (and all variations in-between) are achieved with the Slope
and Saturation parameters. Asym (Asymmetry) “tilts” the waveform in the direction of a
sawtooth wave, making the sound more edgy.