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Appendix B Synthesizer Basics 490
Global controls
Global controls aect the overall output signal of your synthesizer.
Common global controls
•
Level: Sets the overall loudness of your sound. This control is the master output volume control
of your synthesizer.
•
Glide (portamento): Sets the amount of time that it takes for one note pitch to slide up or down
to another note pitch. This control is useful for emulating wind instruments that slide from
note to note, rather than move directly to another clear and distinct pitch.
•
Bender/bend range: Bends the pitch—the oscillator frequency—up or down. This control is
generally hard-wired to a pitch bend wheel on a keyboard. As the name suggests, moving the
wheel up or down from its centered position bends the pitch up or down. The Bender/Bend
Range parameter usually has an upper and lower limit of one octave but is typically set to
around three semitones up or down. This setting is ideal for emulating small (or extreme) pitch
uctuations that occur in some instruments—such as when moving between notes with a
trumpet, or bending the strings during a guitar solo.
•
Voices: Sets an upper limit to the number of notes that can be played at a given time.
Producing notes simultaneously is known as the polyphony—literally, “many voices”—of the
instrument. The Voices parameter sets an upper limit to the number of notes that can be
produced simultaneously.
•
Unison: Used to “stack” voices—with the unison voice being heard one octave above the
frequency of the played note. Because two voices are being used when you play a note,
unison has two eects—it makes the sound richer and fuller, and it halves the polyphony.
•
Trigger mode: Determines how the polyphony of the instrument is handled when the number
of notes played exceeds the number of available voices. Trigger mode also allows you to
assign legato mode. Essentially, this control changes the way the synthesizer responds to your
playing technique and is invaluable when you are emulating monophonic instruments, such
as utes, clarinets, and trumpets. When you use the trigger mode control and assign a last
note priority, a playing note will be cut o by playing another note.
•
Last note priority: When new notes are triggered while all voices are playing, the synthesizer
frees up polyphony (voices) by ending the notes played earliest. This is the default trigger
mode of Logic Pro synthesizers when in a monophonic mode.
•
First note priority: Notes played earlier are not stopped. In this mode you need to stop playing
notes in order to play a new one after you have reached the limit of the polyphony (voices)
of the instrument.
Note: The Trigger Mode parameter can also allow you to set priorities for lower- or higher-
pitched notes when playing monophonically (one voice at a time) in some synthesizer designs.
There are many other global controls found on dierent synthesizer models that have an impact
on your overall sound.