Instruments and Effects

Chapter 21 ES2 317
Velocity is set up to be very responsive because many synthesizer players don’t strike
keys like a piano player would with a weighted-action “punch.” As such, you should
play this patch softly, or you may find that the slap tends to sweep a little. Alternately,
you can adjust the sensitivity of the filter modulation’s velocity value to match your
personal touch.
Also feel free to increase the Voices to maximum; six strings should be enough for a
guitar, but for held or sustained notes, a few extra voices may come in handy.
The Big Twirl, Basically (Wheelrocker)
This quite ordinary organ patch doesn’t hold any deep, high-end sound design
secrets: it is just a combination of three oscillators—with mixed wave levels. You’ll
probably find a different combination, which more closely matches your vision of what
an organ sounds like. Check out the Digiwaves.
Focus your attention on the mod wheel’s response: hold a chord, and bring the wheel
in by moving it slowly upwards, until you reach the top (maximum).
The intention behind the programming of this (mod wheel) modulation is to simulate
an accelerating Leslie rotor speaker.
The modulation routings do the following jobs:
 Modulation 1 (Cutoff 1) assigns envelope 2 to Filter 1 (the only one used for this
patch), and produces a little organ key click with the envelope. The filter is opened
slightly (with Keyboard as via) when playing in the higher keyboard range (with the
maximum value).
 Modulation 2 and 3 (Pitch 2/Pitch 3) bring in LFO 1 vibrato, and both Oscillators are
modulated out of phase.
 Modulation 5 reduces the overall volume—according to personal taste, the organ’s
level shouldn’t increase too drastically when all modulations are moved to their
respective maximums.
 Modulations 6 and 7 (Pitch 2/Pitch 3) detune Oscillators 2 and 3 against each other,
within symmetrical values (to avoid the sound getting out of tune, overall). Again,
both work out of phase with modulations 2 and 3; Oscillator 1 remains at a stable
pitch.
 Modulation 8 brings in LFO1 as a modulator for panorama movement—this patch
changes from mono to stereo. If you would prefer a full stereo sound, with a slowly
rotating Leslie in its idle position, just set an amount equal to the desired minimum
value, thereby achieving a permanent, slow rotation. Another modification you may
wish to try is a higher value, resulting in more extreme channel separation.
 Modulation 9 speeds up LFO 2’s modulation frequency.
 Modulation 10: A little Cutoff was added to Filter 1, increasing the intensity of the
big twirl.