Shortcut Function
[Panel left arrow] + [Preset] Initialize Patch
[Panel left arrow] + Master Cutoff Reset Master Cutoff
[Panel left arrow] + Amount Knob Reset Mod Level to 0
[Panel left arrow] + Mods button. Clear the Modulation Matrix
[Panel left arrow] + Assign Button Delete Mod Destination
[Settings] + Morphée Controller Morphée Settings: Tap/Hold/Scan/HoldScan
[Settings] + Morph Knob Morph Pitch Quantize: Continuous/Chromatic/Intervals
[Settings] + VCF/VCA/MOD Attack/Decay Set Attack: Default/Quick & Decay: Default/Percussive
[Settings] + VCF/VCA Velo slider Env Mode: Amt/Net/Short/Extend/Single/x2/x3/Loop
[Settings] + Mod Env Delay Env Loop Mode: Single/x2/x3/Loop
[Settings] + Stereo knob: Voice pan /Voice + Filter pan, Distribution: Centered/Gradual
[Settings] + VCO1 Tune Tune Modulation Intervals
[Settings] + VCO2 Tune Tune Knob & Modulation Intervals
[Settings] + VCO1 Metalizer Mode: Triangle or ALL waves
[Settings] + VCO2 Sub Sub Level Crossfade or Level
[Settings] + LFO3 Curve Rise: Standard/Inverted
[Settings] + Fine Tune Analog Accuracy Pitch/Others: Off/Mild/Medium/Wild
[Settings] + Modulation Intensity EQ Presets: Bypass/7 Other Presets
[Settings] + Delay Time Time Modes: Hz/Sync-Bi/Sync-Tri/Sync-Dotted
[Settings] + Delay Type Delay 7 Additional Presets
[Settings] + Delay Regeneration Delay Filters: 4 HP & 4 LP choices
[Settings] + Reverb Damping Reverb HP Filters: Bypass/Lo/Mid/Hi Cutoffs
[Settings] + Glide (Glide Settings: Time/Sync/Rate & Continuous/Chromatic
[Settings] + Pitch Wheel Bend Range: +/- 1/2/3/4/5/7/12/24 steps
[Settings] + Ribbon Control Modes: Tap/Hold/Scan/SlowScan
[Preset] + Most Front Panel Knobs/Sliders Displays current values for both A + B Sounds
[HOLD] Morphée Button Morphée Settings: Tap/Hold/Scan/HoldScan
[HOLD] Wheel Button Vibrato Options: Range & Source
[HOLD] LFO1/LFO2 Mode Global Retrig: Mono:On/Off, Polarity:Unipolar/Bipolar
[HOLD] LFO3 Retrig LFO3 Polarity: Unipolar/Bipolar
[HOLD] LFO1/LFO2/LFO3 [Sync] Divisions: Binary/Triplet/Dotted
[HOLD] Polyphony Button [Uni/Mono] Uni/Mono Allocation: Priority/Legato
[HOLD] Polyphony Button [Poly] Poly Allocation: Note & Steal Options
[HOLD] Timbrality Button Polyphonic Allocation (Lower)
[Settings] + [Save] Recall a Snapshot
[Save] three times Save to current location
[Save] + [Assign 1-8] +Press Matrix A1-L8 Save preset to other location
Right + Left => delete character at cursor
Left + Right => insert space after cursor
One press of Save => save snapshot
General Sound Design tips collected from around the other forums (mostly Gearspace):
Metalizer doesn't default to all waves.
The metallizer at about 1-2 o’clock on a sawtooth wave gets hairy quick.
Setting the metalizer to affect all waves and turn it up just a tiny bit. A lot of that top end, at least on Roland synths comes from imperfect saw and square waves. The metalizer helps to mimic that. Another easy way to add more sizzle is to motion record subtle movements of the master cutoff knob, between around plus 4 to minus 4.
Four poly voice allocation modes that all give a unique flavor, especially when used in conjunction with the voices mod destination.
There are quantized modulation options on the VCOs.
Very slowly modulate the BBD delay's rate with an LFO for super bleary.
There's a "Natural" setting on envelope velocity, to replicate a piano / acoustic hammer response curve.
Can use the voice target in matrix for tuning and panning offsets to create superSAWs from unison.
Modulate the stereo spread knob with aftertouch, to have a sound get wider towards the end with a hard press.
Parallel filtering modulation is another way to have the voices squirm around in stereo.
Envelopes that loop and an LFO (#3) with a one-shot mode basically give you an extra envelope or custom shape LFO when needed.
Velocity sliders for the amp and filter envelopes with curve and behavior options. Certain far more expensive synths use on/off switches for velocity.
The motion recorder is perfect for adding aperiodic modulation for Boards of Canada vibes. It's even more powerful combined with the ribbon. Set the ribbon to modulate global pitch in the matrix and then record your ribbon doing a wow and flutter thing or PWM or anything else on the front panel.
The mixer and filter sections allow for a degree of gain staging not usually found on a synth (mixer levels, filter levels, brute factor, routing options) and this gets even more interesting and sometimes unpredictable when you bring resonance and filter FM on the Steiner Parker filter into play.
When you're just using the Steiner filter, you'll get a pretty big boost in sound by making sure the filters are in series.
The init patch defaults to parallel (it also defaults to the ladder filter which doesn't make sense as it's second in the path). You should hear an increase in sound just by turning that knob to the left, and if you don't want to shape the sound with the ladder, just leave the filter wide open. You can also use the distortion for a little added grit if you like.
Steiner too pristine?
Put the filters in series, turn the Steiner to High Pass (or something with high pass mixed in), turn down the cutoff and crank the resonance and brute factor until you hear the partial you want being accentuated. If you want to then get rid of the highs, just use the ladder to filter them out! This will leave you with a much fuller tone than what you start out with.
Steiner as an EQ/low-end boost.
Route both oscs to the Steiner. Set mode to Series (in series mode, the oscs will get sent to the ladder even if not explicitly routed, and the steiner output level has no effect). Because you usually want to boost the low end, set Steiner to HP. This allows you to set the cutoff in the bass range while preserving the high end. Turn up the Steiner resonance, and sweep the cutoff until you find the band you want to boost. Then set the Ladder cutoff to taste. Negative VCF Env amounts on the Steiner can give a low-end boost to the attack which then fades out. You could also set the Steiner to notch mode (mid-way between LP and HP) if there's a band in the mids that you want to cut, to create more clarity or reduce muddiness.
Steiner as bright air/sizzle/texture/fizz.
create the top-end fizz that is characteristic of OB-X or Solina strings. This is for sounds that combine dark and bright timbres in parallel. Route both oscs to both Steiner and Ladder, OR tune each osc differently and route each osc to different filters. Set mode to Parallel. Set Steiner to HP or BP, increase Resonance, and raise cutoff until just the top end is heard. This can sound harsh at high gain, so may want to lower the Steiner output level, or set the mode part way between Parallel and Series to darken the tone a bit. Negative VCF envelope amounts on the Steiner can give a fuller attack with a thinner sustain.
Now turn down the Ladder cutoff to create a dark undercurrent. Noise>Vcf2 with a dark noise color can work well here to create some low gurgling.
Resonance, Brute, and VCO2>VCF1 can add saturation and vibrancy to the top end. Also works well with PWM.
One filter self-oscillating. Another good way to get bright and dark timbres together. Set mode to Parallel, route all osc’s to the non-resonant filter (usually the Steiner since the Ladder has more accurate keytracking). Full keytracking and full resonance on the self-oscillating filter. Tune the self-oscillating filter to the oscillators with the Cutoff. Can use lfos or envelopes to control the self-oscillating filter's pitch.
Also experiment with modulating the Series-Parallel and Steiner mode controls for some interesting effects!
To use the envelope with short times without losing brightness, just set the filter env in the mod matrix to cutoff and double the original amount. That seems to work just fine and gets you back the top sizzle.
Mixer levels + 2 filters + Brute Factor + Ladder distortion + Filter level controls can add up and smear that top end sizzle. Just too many overlapping harmonics makes a result like overmixing colors to brown, and takes away the PolyBrute's edge. It's complex synth, and for purity can sometimes reward restraint more than trying to use every tool in the box on a given patch.
The front panel allows you bypass the effects and erase all the modulation. Some of the presets will sound even better if you re-work these areas.
In serial, with 2 low pass filters, with ladder distortion and brute factor turned up, and some sine wave sub on VCO, it’s going to be super warm and downright Moogy. On the PolyBrute, The Brute factor actually softens the harsher edges on the Steiner Parker filter so the overall result is this thick, warm sound. But at the extremes of The Brute Factor knob and with resonance up, it turns into a polyphonic MS 20.
But in parallel mode, you might be using the SP as a band pass or notch filter and that will definitely not sound warm. And you could easily set up an AB patch where patch A is the warm one and Patch A is the parallel one with a sizzly band pass sound.
It can sound very Memorymoog like if you just use the ladder filter, like a Matrix 12 using combined filter modes or like a Jupiter 8 if you use the Steiner Parker at lower resonance.
The ribbon and aftertouch, with some classic modulations like pitch and EFX depth, can sound close to a CS-80.
General tips for FM on the PolyBrute:
- Let the synth warm up and run a calibration to get the oscillators as stable as possible.
- VCO FM only affects VCO 1's sound. Sine is DX7'ish... everything else is probably going straight out of tune and way too fuzzy from the compounding harmonics, but try lower values on the other VCO waveforms.
- For the most predictable and harmonic results, use triangle waves for both the carrier and modulator, and set FM 2-1 to around 50%. Above 50% it starts to go out of tune, a byproduct of exponential FM.
- Better yet, use the sine sub on Osc2 to modulate the Steiner in self-resonance mode to get true sine-on-sine FM. Turn keytracking to 100% and tune the Steiner carefully (PB Connect gives more precision) to make it behave like an oscillator.
- The sub oscillator is an integral part of VCO 2. Specifically, when you FM VCO 1 with VCO 2, the sub is part of that modulation.
- In operator-based FM, each modulator has its own envelope. This can be simulated by using an envelope to modulate FM 2-1 or Vco2-Vcf1.
- Add velocity to all envelopes using the Amt+Times Natural setting for realistic mallet strikes.
- Mod Env to Metallizer can be used almost like an extra operator, to create short bright attacks.
- At audio rates, the Lfos can be used as fixed-frequency mod sources (I've tried keytracking the Lfo rates, but it doesn't work very well).
- FM sound design is very additive. Think about decomposing the sound you want into transient, attack, and body, each with its own timbre and envelope. Oscillator Sink's OpSix videos are amazing sources of inspiration.
- Small tuning ratios (1:1, 2:1) give metallic timbres, higher ratios give glassy timbres. Slight detuning of the carrier and modulator creates bell-like inharmonics.
- You can create a 'Coarse Ratio' control to help dial in FM 2-1 timbres. Set Vco1 Tune Mod to Octaves/Fifth, setting Vco2 Tune Modulation to 'Follows Vco1', and then making Mod Env modulate Vco2's pitch (try +36st to start). With the Mod Env ADR set to zero, the sustain slider now acts somewhat like a coarse ratio control for the modulator.
There’s a pretty big gain difference between 50% mixer levels and 100% (about 11dB, with no distortion of the waveform out of the filter). Try a patch with triangle waves on both oscillators and listen to how different they sound at 50% and 100%. Same goes for filter levels.
Brute factor and ladder distortion add a lot of post filter drive as well. Brute factor actually saturates quite nicely if you keep resonance below halfway and keep the envelope amount low. Use the SP filter as a gain stage/preamp before the ladder filter in serial mode with the VCOs routed to both filters, and envelope amount and resonance at or close to zero. Then roll off the filter a bit in low pass or a little in high pass to tighten up the low end. That’s ton a of pre-filter drive. For even more weight, try the presence EQ preset.
Aber die neue Tastatur ist schon klasse!
