Operation Manual

SUBTRACTOR SYNTHESIZER
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Legato
Legato works best with monophonic sounds. Set Polyphony (see below) to 1 and try
the following:
D Hold down a key and press another key without releasing the previous.
Notice that the pitch changes, but the envelopes do not start over. That is, there
will be no new “attack”.
D If polyphony is set to more voices than 1, Legato will only be applied
when all the assigned voices are “used up”.
For example, if you had a polyphony setting of “4” and you held down a 4 note
chord, the next note you played would be Legato. Note, however, that this Legato
voice will “steal” one of the voices in the 4 note chord, since all the assigned
voices were already used up!
Retrig
This is the “normal” setting for playing polyphonic patches. That is, when you press a
key without releasing the previous, the envelopes are retriggered, like when you re-
lease all keys and then press a new one. In monophonic mode, Retrig has an addi-
tional function; if you press a key, hold it, press a new key and then release that, the
first note is also retriggered.
Portamento (Time)
Portamento is when the pitch “glides” between the notes you play, instead of instantly
changing the pitch. The Portamento knob is used to set how long it takes for the pitch
to glide from one pitch to the next. If you don’t want any Portamento at all, set this
knob to zero.
Setting Number of Voices - Polyphony
This determines the polyphony, i.e. the number of voices a Subtractor Patch can play
simultaneously. This can be used to make a patch monophonic (=a setting of “1”), or
to extend the number of voices available for a patch. The maximum number of voices
you can set a Subtractor Patch to use is 99. In the (unlikely) event you should need
more voices, you can always create another Subtractor!
! Note that the Polyphony setting does not “hog” voices. For example, if
you have a patch that has a polyphony setting of ten voices, but the part
the patch plays only uses four voices, this won’t mean that you are “wast-
ing” six voices. In other words, the polyphony setting is not something
you need to consider much if you want to conserve CPU power - it is the
number of voices actually used that counts.
About the Low Bandwidth button
This can be used to conserve CPU power. When activated, this function will remove
some high frequency content from the sound of this particular device, but often this is
not noticeable (this is especially true for bass sounds).
External Modulation
Subtractor can receive common MIDI controller messages, and route these to various
parameters. The following MIDI messages can be received:
• Aftertouch (Channel Pressure)
• Expression Pedal
• Breath Control
If your MIDI keyboard is capable of sending Aftertouch messages, or if you have ac-
cess to an Expression Pedal or a Breath controller, you can use these to modulate pa-
rameters. The “Ext. Mod” selector switch sets which of these message-types should
be received.
These messages can then be assigned to control the following parameters:
|Destination |Description
F. Freq This sets External modulation control of the Filter 1 Frequency pa-
rameter. A positive value will increase the frequency with higher ex-
ternal modulation values. Negative values invert this relationship.
LFO 1 This sets External modulation control of the LFO 1 Amount parame-
ter. A positive value will increase the LFO 1 amount with higher ex-
ternal modulation values. Negative values invert this relationship.
Amp This let’s you control the overall volume of the sound with external
modulation. If a positive value is set, the volume will increase with
higher external modulation values. A negative value inverts this rela-
tionship.
FM This sets External modulation control of the FM Amount parameter.
If a positive value is set, the FM amount will increase with higher ex-
ternal modulation values. A negative value inverts this relationship.
Both oscillators must be activated for this to have any effect.