Operation Manual

MALSTRÖM SYNTHESIZER
130
The Filter Envelope
This is a standard ADSR envelope with two additional controls; inv and amt.
The filter envelope is common for both filter:A and filter:B, and controls how the filter
frequency should change over time.
Inv (inverse)
This button toggles inversion of the envelope on and off. The Decay segment of the
envelope will for instance normally lower the frequency, but if the envelope is inverted
it will instead raise the frequency.
Amt (amount)
This controls to which extent the filter envelope affects the filters, or rather - the set fil-
ter cutoff frequencies. For example; if the cutoff frequency is set to a certain value, the
filter will already be opened by this amount when you hit a key on your keyboard. The
amount setting then controls how much more the filter will open from that point. Turn
the knob to the right to increase the value.
! For an overall description of the general envelope parameters (Attack,
Decay, Sustain, Release), please refer to the Subtractor chapter.
The Shaper
Before filter:A is an optional waveshaper. Waveshaping is a synthesis method for
transforming sounds by altering the waveform shape, thereby creating a complex, rich
sound. Or, if that’s more to your taste, truncating and distorting the sound to lo-fi
heaven!
A guitar distortion box could be viewed as a type of waveshaper for example. An un-
amplified electric guitar produces a sound with fairly pure harmonic content, which is
then amplified and transformed by the distortion box.
D To activate/deactivate the Shaper, click the On/Off button in the top left
corner.
When the Shaper is activated, the button is lit.
The Shaper activated
Mode
You can select one of five different modes for shaping the sound, each with its own
characteristics.
To select a mode, either click the Mode button in the bottom left corner or click di-
rectly on the desired mode name so that it lights up in yellow.
D Sine
This produces a round, smooth sound.
D Saturate
This gives a lush, rich character to the sound.
D Clip
This introduces clipping - digital distortion - to the signal.
D Quant
This lets you truncate the signal by bit-reduction, thus making it possible to
achieve that noisy, characteristic 8 bit sound for example.
D Noise
This is actually not strictly a shaper function. Instead it multiplies the sound with
noise.