User Guide

Chapter 21 ES2 307
Clean Bass Settings With One Oscillator Only
Not every sound needs to comprise of several oscillators. There are numerous simple,
effective, sounds which make use of a single oscillator. This is especially true of
synthesizer bass sounds, which can be created quickly and easily with the basic “Analog
Bass clean” setting.
The basic sound is a rectangular wave, transposed down by one octave. The sound is
filtered by Filter 2. What’s special about this sound is its combination of Legato and
Glide (portamento). When you play staccato, no glide effect will occur. When you play
legato, the pitch will smoothly glide from one note to another. All keys must be
released before striking a new key, in order to retrigger the envelopes.
 Check out different filter and envelope settings.
 Replace the rectangular wave with a sawtooth.
 Vary the Glide settings.
It’s best to make your edits while a bass line is playing. Create a monophonic MIDI
region, with most notes played staccato, but some legato. This can provide some
interesting results with very long Glide values.
Distorted Analog Basses
In the “Analog Bass distorted” setting, Filter 1 is engaged, with high settings for Drive
and Distortion. This filter is better suited to the creation of distorted analog sounds
than Filter 2.
 Check out Filter 2 by setting Filter Blend to its right-most position. You’ll hear that
Filter 1 works better with distorted sounds.
 In order to control the filter modulation, move the green sliders of the first
modulation channel in the Router. This controls the modulation intensity.
FM Intensity and Frequency
The FM Start setting is great for familiarizing yourself with linear Frequency Modulation
(FM) synthesis. You’ll hear an un-modulated sine sound, generated by Oscillator 1.
Oscillator 2 is switched on, and set to produce a sine oscillation as well, but its level is
set to 0: Just push the cursor in the triangle in the uppermost corner.
In the ES2—Oscillator 1 is always the carrier, and Oscillator 2, the modulator. IN other
words, Oscillator 2 modulates Oscillator 1.
 Adjust the intensity of the frequency modulation by slowly moving the wave selector
from Sine to FM. You will hear a typical FM spectrum, with the carrier and modulator
set to the same frequency.