Operation Manual

Malström Synthesizer
121
The Oscillator section
The two oscillators (osc:A and osc:B) of the Malström are the actual sound gen-
erators, and the rest of the controls are used for modulating and shaping the
sound. The oscillators actually do two things; they play a graintable and gener-
ate the pitch:
• A graintable is several short, contiguous segments of audio (see above).
• Pitch is the frequency at which the segments are played back.
When creating a Malström patch, the fundamental first building block is usually
to select a graintable for one or both of the oscillators.
DD
DD
To activate/deactivate an oscillator, click the On/Off button in the
top left corner.
When an oscillator is activated, the button is lit.
An activated oscillator
DD
DD
To select a graintable, either use the spin controls or click directly in
the display to bring up a pop-up menu with the available grainta-
bles.
The graintables are sorted alphabetically into a number of descriptive cate-
gories, giving a hint as to the general character of the sound. Note that the
categories are only visible in the pop-up menu, not in the display.
Setting oscillator frequency
You can change the frequency - i.e. the tuning - of each oscillator by using the
three knobs marked “Octave”, “Semi” and “Cent”.
DD
DD
The Octave knob changes the frequency in steps of one full octave
(12 semitones).
The range is -4 – 0 – +4 where 0 corresponds to middle “A” on your key-
board at 440 Hz.
DD
DD
The Semi knob changes the frequency in steps of one semitone.
The range is -12 – 0 – +12, thus equalling one full octave down or up.
DD
DD
The Cent knob changes the frequency in steps of cents, which are
100ths of a semitone.
The range is -50 – 0 – +50, i.e. down or up by up to half a semitone.