WALDORF... Ideas & things to remember

Soundprogramming...

how many voices can the microQ do and what about the DSP-power??.. go HERE!

> > yesterday I tried to create a bunch of sounds (drones) that share the characteristics of being 'airy'. The german word 'hauchend' might describe it quite well, though the similarly named preset is not really what I mean. I tried to use some noise as well as the wavetables with lots of higher harmonics - but it sounded to buzzy and to harsh to my ears. After some time time I thought I was quite close and created a bunch of similar timbres but today I checked back and found the sounds still to grungy. Any idea of how to put 'air' into the XT (apart from the ones I mentioned already)?
>
> Play sound #11 "Underwater MW" and move up the ModWheel, klingt doch einigermassen hauchend, oder ?

although I don't know what features the XT has, I'd start with a noise and use some formant filters(multiple parallel bandpasses) whose cutoff frequencies are controlled by the keyboard.
Appart from this I was able to create a breathy choir with the wavegen program by the use of multiple options. We'll see how long it takes until emagic has recoded this feature into the sounddiver ....

I spent 1/2 an hour making an airy patch on my MWII. You can get it at http://www.robotnik.com/the_lab/synths/MicrowaveII/microwaveII.htm Well I guess it is airy??? Play higher notes and it has a breathy sound.
web page: http://www.robotnik.com/the_lab /// email: mailto:thelab@sprint.ca

Philip has got a lot of cool Waldorf-Tools including sounds.. just have a look at his site! (can´t list them all here..)

Important Note: Anyone with Win95/98/NT not using the editor may just want the help file without the editor because it contains most of the Waldrof MWII/XT user's manual (Thanks Wolfram!) You can click on it and it will launch regardless of our editor being on your system. ie: you can use it along side SoundDiver.

There is just on big sad thing: Philips stuff is written for Windows.. so these problems come up if you try it on a real computer ;-)

Just wondering if anyone out there is running uWavEditor on a Mac with either Virtual PC, Softwindows, or Real PC? Any recommendations, info, or feedback would be much appreciated.
Neither VPC nor Softwindows (dunno about Real PC) support bi-directional MIDI which is something that the Editor needs. In fact, one of them doesn't support ANY MIDI to an external device at all.
A similar want exists with folks on the Nord Modular PC, but a user figured out a way to get Softwindows to pay attention to certain MIDI devices. The details are here:

http://www.midiwall.com/nordmodular/nmonmac.html

This may help out in running Philip's work as well.

some XT sounds for those who never have heard an XT (by Chad Gould):

Another lonely Saturday night... ho hum. (I do my partying Monday nights -
no freaks hang out on Saturday around here!) At any rate, I actually have
time for myself, so instead of cleaning the apartment (boring!) I decided to
make nice MP3s of some of the Microwave XT preset sounds as I promised.
Hopefully this will give some of you consumers out there a way to hear the
XT in action (since there's nothing really out there right now).

Unless otherwise noted, no external processing occured! The recording setup
was a Mackie 1402 mixer and a Darla soundcard, Cool Edit as the WAV
recorder. I tried to record in stereo until I fucked up after the 8th MP3.
<sigh> All MP3s are 128kbps recording off of 44.1kHz WAVs.

These are _ALL_ singles, not multis!

Note these are all presets too. I have yet to create my own sounds, which
should be fun. (:

At any rate, here are the sounds. See http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave/
for all of them, I'm not including all of them for the mono reason...
Eventually they'll end up somewhere else with a nice web page (Hi,
Anthony!), I just wanted to get them up ASAP.

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-1.mp3 - ULTRA WIDE PAD [1 meg]
This is the first Microwave XT preset I have - a nice, spacious pad
sequence. The beginning of the sound is normal, but then I throw in some
filter tweaking, some FM tweaking, and lots of other random knob spinning,
until it becomes mutated noise.

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-2.mp3 - CS-80 [377K]
Just a simple pad played, no tweaking or anything. A "normal sound".

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-3.mp3 - A Trip Mutation [1 meg]
A very good example of a trippy Microwave XT pad! This shows the power of a
effected Microwave XT (processed pre-fadered on a Lexicon MPX-1 multieffects
unit, set on 55, Rev Wahtouch). A lot of tweaking here in the filter and the
wavestart knob for both oscillators as well. Brian Eno could make a living
with this synth!

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-4.mp3 - Labertasche [444K]
This weird, voice-like mutation is very Microwave. Lots of playing around
with random knobs, though I can't recall which ones.

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-5.mp3 - Underwater [462K]
A very nice, floating pingy sound. The only tweaking here was with the mod
and pitch wheel.

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-6.mp3 - Rhythm Pad [786K]
A nice demonstration of the Waldorf Microwave's ability to create rhythmic
sequences. Some playing with the FM knob and filter was done here.

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-7.mp3 - Ben Hur [580K]
This patch is a nice, analog-like patch with some fast arpeggiation going
on. I got in my prog rock mode and did some fast finger work - this was a
very expressive patch! There is no tweaking - just me playing the keyboard.

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-8.mp3 - Tanz Bein-303 [1.4megs]
Depending on who you are, you will love or hate this sequence. The Microwave
was attached to a Turbo Distortion pedal, and the wave shapes were changed
to basic analog forms. Afterwards this shows filter tweaking, FM tweaking,
and distorted bandpass techno tweaking (!). It's not a TB-303 sound, but who
cares? (: All noise FYI comes from me failing to normalize it very well. ):
___________________________________________

For some reason, from this point on (9-17), I recorded all the sounds in
_mono_. ARGH! For that reason, I am including only the ones in the message
that do show something different about a Microwave than standard synth
stuff... <knocks head against the wall> You may download the rest if you
wish. Mono IMHO does not do the XT justice.

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-12.mp3 - D Bells [836K] [mono]
This is an example of a Microwave power bass. I took D-Bells, changed the
filter to the waveshaper, and got a rougher sound. That tweaking in the
middle is cranking FM up for an even rougher sound. Nice.

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-15.mp3 - Mello Choir [918K] [mono]
This is an example of how an ordinary pad can be radically transformed by
using the startwave and filter knobs.

http://tilt.largo.fl.us/uwave/uwave2-16.mp3 - FM Test [302K] [mono]
Microwave weirdness. Tons of tweaking here, lots of random knob spinning.
Which is incredibly fun to do BTW.

> Does the Microwave produce a wide palette of sounds based on FM amount and source pitch?

Can't comment on the Virus but the MWII's creates quite a broad sonic
sprectum. In fact the MWII has OscB>OscA FM AND OSCB>FilterFreq.

The Osc FM creates the standard bell/metalic sounds heard on most
Rolands with OSC FM (JP-6/8 Jx-3p/8p/10p(MKS70wmf:)) however if OSC B's
waveform is tri or Sin then it has a less harsh more musical effect.
Harsh Osc FM effects are usefull for cymbal sounds and such.

The Filter FM is my favourite. It can add a buzz or brightness to a
sound or it can give you wild and agressive "Shortwave Radio" flavours
if the Resonance is up. Filter FM is also great for those percussive
sounds similar to claping the end of a metal pipe or bottle with your
hand however the dia of the pipe and hand can be "modelled" from 1cm to
1m!!! Also if you want to create the sounds of "whappping" sheet metal
then Filter FM is needed.

Finally the Osc Sync feature can be used with the above FM routings to
give even further variety....quite a bi really in one little box.

It's also good for making voices.
Make the FM-Filter amount 127.
Put OSC1 at OCT0
Put OSC2 at OTC2-4
Crank the Resonance and sweep the cutoff down low.

some about aliasing / digital crunch
The time quantization parameter is helpful, but this discussion inspired
me to try a couple other ways to get aliasing effects, both of which give
you quite a bit more control and range of sound. One is to run one
oscillator at a really high pitch and mix the other osc and the ring mod
to taste. So let's say you have osc 1 as a saw wave at octave -1, and osc
2 as a sine wave at octave +4. Turn up osc 1 and ring mod, and you'll get
the saw plus two aliased images of it way up high -- which are just the
sum and difference tones of the sine wave and the saw wave.

Another way to get aliasing effects is obviously to use the S/H filter
with the S/H rate up pretty high, in the low 100s, say. But then all your
notes use the same 'sample rate'. For a different effect, route
keytracking to S/H rate (f1 extra). A +50 mod value is a good starting
point. This way you get something like the transposition effect of the
VS, because as you play up and down the keyboard the S/H rate changes. Of
course, the 'image tones' in the first method also change with the
changing pitches of osc 1 and 2, but the sound is a bit different.

Both methods have their disadvantages: with the first you can't detune
your oscillators, with the second you can only use the 12 db filter that
goes with the s/h.

Neither of these effects seem to work for more than a couple octaves, but
they can sound great over a limited range if you tweak them carefully.
Furthermore, I think they may get pretty close to the breathy/airy sounds
someone was asking about a few weeks ago.

Oh, by the way, n adjustable center frequency on the flangers would be
great, wouldn't it?

Put more bite into XT sounds... Although the XT can get some nice analog sounds, its
strength is in its wavetables and routing.

1: Increase amplitudes of waves 1 and 2 in the mixer
2: Crank up the ringmod
3: Turn up the FM until detuning sets in, then back off
4: On the Quality page, experiment with TimeQuant and Clipping (overflow!)
5: Try these Filters: Sin(x), WaveShpr, and FM-Filter
6: Detune OSC 1 and 2 (best to have one around +6 and the other around -6,
this will insure a rich sound without straying to far from the tuning
center)
7: In the sound edit pages find 'Assign' and try experimenting with dual
and unisono. There are some additional detuning options as well.
most of these work fine in the Q: then you can: crank up drive (not to max!!).. use FM of each voice, add a little bit of noise (maybe put an ENV on noise volume to do so!.. and try FM on the OSCs..(route them to another OSC before or to itself)

The Hammond site of the XT (sort of....) : How ???
-Init Voice
-choose FatOrgan wavetable
-Startwaves OSC 1,2 30
-Keytrack wavetables 100%
Add some panning modulation or chorus : Fat Organ indeed !

If you want to give up one oscillator you already can use a wave/wavetable as LFO (XT):
Oscillator 2 : keytracking off
Tune it all the way down :
put in the modmatrix MAX to frequency of OSC2 : amount -64
Use FM ( for Pitch ) or FM Filter (for cutoff)

give me some examples how to use (with some sense !) things like 'parameter1 increment' or 'waves 600-660' in the upaw parameter matrix ??

OK, the incrments/indeces are the basic concept of UPAW, I will try to explain in simple words:
Each parameter has a number in the range 0-60 and a predefined label, the numbers and labels are listed here:
ftp://ftp.waldorf-gmbh.de/pub/waldorf/microwave/upaw/upaw.description.txt

The Parameter 1 index adresses one of those if it is in the valid range 0-60.
The Parameter 1 increment will added to the indicated parameter for each wave.
Example:

P1 = 26 ; Parameter 1 index adresses Parameter 26 which is Wave A (WA)
I1 = 2 ; Inrement by two
WA = 100 ; Current value of Parameter #26 Wave A (WA)

After a wave is genmerated according to the Parameters, parameter 26 is
incremented
by two, so you get this:

P1 = 26 ; Parameter 1 index adresses Parameter 26 which is Wave A (WA)
I1 = 2 ; Inrement by two
WA = 102 ; Incremented value of Parameter #26 Wave A (WA)

Again, a wave is contructed, and again increments occur:

P1 = 26 ; Parameter 1 index adresses Parameter 26 which is Wave A (WA)
I1 = 2 ; Inrement by two
WA = 104 ; Incremented value of Parameter #26 Wave A (WA)

And so on for all waves.
Now the fun is that also Increments and indices can be incremented. Look at
this:

P1 = 26
I1 = 499
P2 = 35
I2 = 100
P3 = 26
I3 = 1
WA = 100

A wave is done according to all parameters, and now this happens:

P[P1]+=I1;
P[P2]+=I2;
P[P3]+=I3;

Because P2 addresses P1, the resulting in:

P1 = 126
I1 = 499
P2 = 35
I2 = 100
P3 = 26
I3 = 1
WA = 600 ; incremented by 499 (P1/I1) and 1 (P3/I3), addresses previously
calculated wave

P1 is now invalid because it is no longer in the valid range 0-60, the effect is
that
nothing will be incremented. Again, a wave is done, and after the update it
looks like this:

P1 = 226
I1 = 499
P2 = 35
I2 = 100
P3 = 26
I3 = 1
WA = 601 ; incremented by 1 (P3/I3), again addresses previously calculated wave


Here we also have the special cases of waves 600-660, which simply represent the
positions of the current wavetable, so in our case 600 addresses the position 0,
which has been created using wave 100. if the first wave would be created using
wave 600-660, the source would be undefined or random.

Hope this makes things more clear.

comb filter is simply a delay with feedback, the delay time adjusted by cutoff and the feedback adjusted by resonance. Cutoff/delay is adjusted in a way that the delay length is increased in semitones.

I made some nice xperiments with one feedback'ed delay (made some strings) in earlier time when I had no money for samplers etc..
and it was basically the same..(some of us know Karplus Strong!!..) same (principle!) in Z1, Prophecy

But how can a delay length be tuned ? Some might ask, so here the answer: A delayline with feedback set to unity will produce a periodic output, the period length is the same as the length of the delayline. So tuning the daly requires setting the delaylength to the desired wavelength.

The term "comb" filer comes from the frequency domain representation of this, the fundamental and all harmonics are amplified, with notches in between.

Comb- is the same except the delayline output is negated, this results in twice the period length and annother filter characteristic. Fundamental and all odd harmonics are amplified with notches in between.

What can you do with comb filters ? Of course those who have a Q know, but for the others:

- use as filter just as any other filter, simply adjust parameters until you like what you hear.

- use as chorus/phaser/flanger:
Resonance off or low, Modulate cutoff with slow sine LFO, depending on delay, speed and mod depth you get one of the above effects PER VOICE. Since you can have two comb filter per voice, you can also chain two of these.

- use it as an oscillator:
Set resonance very high, apply 100% keytrack and send some noise into it, or just a short excitation signal at the start. You'll get soemthing similar to a plucked/bowed string. Or input a slightly out-of-tune sine osc and you get the nice sound of fingernails scratching on a chalkboard.

> > This is possibly the most staggering thing I've ever heard in any synth. It's the filter that ate my brane.

It is such a very primitive thing, compared to the other filters...

technically? it is a very short delay with a feedback..
you could roughly say it is the base for physical modeling.. modulated it could sound like "bending" pitch or morphing noise into a base waveform so you could do plucked strings, flutes (the cool ones!!!), and everything like those chorusses flangers etc.. based on short fb delays.. that isn´t all.. but imagine what you can do with it..

phaser: is a short feedback delay too, but I can´t be tuned fine enough
for purposes like in the Q or Korgs Z1/Prophecy etc..
it´s simple: and Stefan meantioned it in some way..
the delay must have a fine resolution!!
just try a normal delay on your FX proc.. and set it to short time / with feedback..then turn the delay (I hope its possible.. with yours..)
its something like a robot, a flanger.. (depends on the time! below 20ms) .. ok this is basic.. there´s some more..

c u conseQuence

*One* comb filter isn't multitapped. A flanger is one comb filter, a chorus usually is two comb filters, one on the left and one on the right output, with phase shifted LFO and a phaser is up to 8 comb filters in parallel.

Does the Q glitch when sending it patch changes while a sequence is playing? It does on the MWII :(

It doesn't produce the glitch that is caused by the wavetable upload because it has no wavetables. This is what takes the most time in the MWII.

>need another LFO or AM? Try this :
>
>Osc2 : keyboardtracking 0%, transpose -4 octaves, -12 semitones. Mod matrix : Maximum to Osc2 patch , start with amount about -50. Now apply FM (for pitch Osc1 , or use the FM filter (cutoff freq mod)).
>Now it is an LFO ! ("loosing" on OSC of course!)

And when you use Ringmod, the other oscillator's volume changes so that you
have volume mod (different to AM, but same audible effect)... also good for emulating eg. the SQ80's AM!! (It works!).. did it with some "hard to convert" SQ80 and ESQ Sounds...!!!

If you change the amount from minus a lot to positive you can sweep all the
way from real LFO to audiofrequency Want another LFO shape: choose another wavetable/wave ! Want LFO madness ??
Sweep the table ! (-----> thanks to Hans)

You could use the Wave Env as a "shape-programmable" LFO.. simply loop it..!!
> true, but pretty slow..
Infact it is fairly fast if you use just a small T total for the Wave
Env Time parameters ...as well, I have found that fast LFO's are really
only useful when they are >500Hz (for nice bright audio FM effects),
however it's complexity is what makes it interesting.

some words about basses..

1) Right now, it's implemented as a pure scaling between the numeric values of
each variable in a patch. But, for things like waveform settings and filter
types, this is a small range, and the results will be "different" - there
is currently no way to smoothly morph between a Comb and a Low Pass filter.
At some point in the transition, the filter type will simply do a hard
switch from one to another.

It might not be possible if Waldorf is doing filter modeling like they are
on the OSCs. LFO waveforms are also in this category.

2) On the Amp Envelope, set the sustain at about 1/2 (or less) and the
attack, decay & release at 0. Add decay for extra "bite". This also
works well on a filter, especially with moderate resonance. You can add a
lot of definition to the sound (specifically the beginning and end) with
this kind of envelope.

Use the waveshaper filter for character, then drop the filter freq (use
the 2nd filter also) to take away some of the harshness. Don't forget to
experiment with different wave#2 shapes, since this has a huge effect on
the sound when you use the waveshaper filter! This is set on the second
page of filter #1.

4a) The only tip I can give is not to use wavetables on the MWII if you want
analog sounds. (use sqr,saw, tri ..etc) If you want punchy DX-7 fm bass then
use wavetables.

Using the FM filter can create interesing sounds. Especially if the res is
up and you have only Wave1 assigned in the Mixer. Wave2 will be used to
modulate the filter so envelope sweeps of it's frequency and making it
really high are fun for non-standard but cool bass sounds..often described
as "rip your face off"

4b)>I'll get my MWI to MWII patch converter going then breed new sounds. If you
>can handle clicks from the MWII's "mono decay click problem" then try the
>sh-101 bank. It has lots of pretty simple bass sounds.
>
>The only tip I can give is not to use wavetables on the MWII if you want
>analog sounds. (use sqr,saw, tri ..etc) If you want punchy DX-7 fm bass then
>use wavetables.

In general, that's correct. But there are a couple of wavetables I like to
use when making "analog" sounds. E.g.:
Wavetable 001 Resonant
This wavetable consists of sine waves that are ordered like this:
wave 00 1st harmonic
wave 02 1st + 2nd
wave 04 2nd
wave 06 2nd + 3rd
wave 08 3rd
and so on
You can use wave 00 to add a deep warm bass end to the tone you're creating.
Or, when you want to create sub bass sounds, you should use the wavetable
with a slight negative keytrack so that an ultra-low bass doesn't use the
first wave but wave 04 or 08 or 12. Then the fundamental is missing but
there is still a very strong low osc signal while your brain "adds" the
missing fundamentals.
When you play higher, the waves are decreased so that e.g., one octave
above, wave 00 is played again.

some Keytrack & Mod Ideas..:
For FM Filter lead or bass sounds :
Set LFO1 to modulate the FM Filter at a slow speed (say 16) and set LFO 2 to modulate panning at twice or four times the speed (32 or 64).

You could also modulate the wave start position with keytrack - if you wanted to get perverse. Then use the overdrive effect, plenty of aliasing and time quant, plus ring mod. Set a quick arpeggiator pattern on 16ths. Aural mud!

2:)
One of my fave uses for keytracking is to route two different things to it (I tend to use an osc level, pulsewidth, and, yes, cutoff). The idea is to get widely different sounds on the upper and lower registers. I usually aim for something thin and sharp in the treble and big and hefty in the bass.
Then, play an arpeggio that uses two or three bass notes, and five or six treble notes. Add a little portamento and a biting VCA attack. You'll end up with something that sounds like two different parts that are sort of dancing together. Toss in a soft clocked delay, and you're halfway to a great track.

3:)
I don't use keytrack much to tell you the truth... but for a traditional "rock solo squirt" it'd be kind of cool to route keytrack to LFO speed, then route that LFO speed to your favorite noise of choice (VCA's one that can produce a cool effect that not many use). That way, as your solo squirts upward, your sound starts vibrating faster, and faster, and faster... till it gets insane at the top. (:

Keytrack determining the wavetable # would be kind of interesting too (especially on wavetables with huge amount of waves)...

I added something to my want list last night.... When it comes to using modulation sources, I'm starting to visualize something more than just the two tiered source->destination.
I'm thinking that you have a number of sources, such as LFOs, ENVs, VCOs, etc; then depth controllers, such as Mod Wheel, Velocity, Pressure, Keytrack; and THEN you have destinations...

This way, you could set up things like:

LFO1 -> Velocity -> OSC1 Pitch
ENV1 -> {direct} -> F1 Freq
Keytrack -> Pressure -> ENV1 Attack
LFO3 -> Mod Wheel -> F1 Resonance

It would make modulation paths a bit more complex to setup, but then you
wouldn't be "locked" into using LFO1 when you wanted Mod Wheel control of
an LFO.

Did I miss something? Is this part of the modifier stuff that is yet to go in?

What about the following?

1. Velocity --> LFO1
2. LFO1 --> OSC1Pitch
3. ENV1 --> F1 Freq
4. Mod Wheel --> LFO3
5. LFO3 --> F1 Resonance

Yes you do loose slots this way. This can be done using modifiers:!!! this is how the modifiers work (got 4 of them on board!!!(XT)) you can do magic with them!! and use them in the mod matrix!!!..!!!! (eg like I posted lately 2 LFOs mod'ing more comlex rhythms.. etc..) are they hidden in the Q.. they are next to the mod matrix in the XT ...
an interesting thing may be the 4 modifiers where you can define a "submodulator".. or easier: something that lets you set eg. a mod wheel that can ctrl the amount of LFO Modulation on Pitch (that is a simple example!!)..

I like something like this with it:

LFO x --> LFO y --> cutoff
LFO w --> LFO y --> filter extra (BPF or Waveshaper)

you can use the modifiers adding some ctrl's like modwheel for ctrl of this shwurbl sound (shwurbl = original german traditional wuerstl word?)
then integrate RES with not too much amount mod'ings
(LFO -> ENV -> Res) or ENV -> LFO -> makes sense!)

Lets make things fatter
> Warming up the low ends with EQ'ing is also another possibility.

this should be the last idea after you had optimized you sound.. I recommend always program your sounds as well as possible..you might

what is important.. watch the OSC do not influence in a "negative" way.. most poeple think it'S enough to put up 2 OSCs.. SAW & Pulse.. thats it.. it's not!..(interference!!!)

the coolest / interesting basses etc.. need some modulations..(less interferences)
ok the Q has 3 OSCs.. it must be harder to make thin sloppy sounds for that reason above..

I had some nice xperience with MW I , XT & Xpander moding one Pitch fast but low amount (with keytrack..)..

and ramps on one or both OSCs.. if the OSCs are synched.. you can put them, down much more..
(or short decaying ENVs).. (possible without Sync,too.. tune the ramp! carefully! its somewhere between "not hearable" & "zzzappp"..

another thing: it is simple & silly but some people still do not watch the ENVs of Amp % Filter.. and the Cut & Res plus ENV AMOUNTS vs Cutoff / Res.<----!!!!
sometimes a question of incresing +1 or s.th...

add :) Ah, but there's always routing a fast LFO to pan (for that groovy buffeting
effect). Or fast S&H LFO to oscillator pitch - only a LOW amount though like 1 or 2.
(This can help achieve a "fatter" sound that so many desire.)

what to do with the Q comb filters: .. there are two of them in the Q...

Try setting up F1 with a COMB +, and F2 with COMB -. Set the Cutoff of the
filters to about the same, and dial in a good dose of resonance (about 50).
Set Routing to F1:40 or so, and then modulate Routing from LFO3 set to
Random. This will bounce the mixer output from F1 to F2.

Now modulate F1 frequency from Keytrack +50, and F2 freq from Keytrack -50.

Use Filter ENV to modulate F1&F2 Resonance.

Modulate F1 Pan position from Velocity, +40; and F2 Pan position from Velocity, -40.
Watch out for the woofers. :)

OR this one:
Yeah, the comb filters have *teeth*! Try setting a comb filter with a
decent amount of resonance, cutoff freq around 65, Cutoff Mod to +30 or -30
with a slow (3-8 speed) LFO for modulation. The resonance will really pick
out those comb harmonics as they sweep along the cutoff mod. :) And of
course some panning and delay= Orca!

I tried to emulate the Nord Leads synched Noise.. here are my thoughts:
consequence/Moogulator wrote:
please find the result in the patches/download/sounds section!!

I tried to emulate the Nord Leads "synched noise" by an XT.. and I am
now very near.. it's like a Wavetable made of 8 "noisy" waves..
the XT is always souding a bit harder ("wired").. but it is possible..
choose one of the "distorted" Waves or Karplus Strong 1..

perhaps I'll try some own WT's .. I just wanted to check if it's
working.. It does.. if you do not need more than 93.32%!(?)
(of course it is always differnt.. like a P5 differs from a Moog and a Korg..)..

if the XTs LFOs were a bit faster it would be better..
but ok.. it's enough for a huge range..

Hans Heerooms wrote:
> Synced Noise on XT , Interesting....>
> One thing you probably need is 'real' sync and not the kind of master/slave sync that is available on the MWII (is cool anyway). It seems that the MW oscillators use a kind of Master/slave configuration , the wavetableoscillator being the slave. If you push the syncbutton than masterosc II will be synced to masterosc I. This means that zerocrossings of wavetable osc 1 (being a slave) won't reset oscillator pair II (as in 'classic' sync) , synced noise will be difficult in this way. Did you try to use the upaw syncmodel ??
>
> Hansh

yes I know of these difficulties here,
thats's why I tried it..;-)
c b.low!!

I tried to find a wavetable that fits.. at least the synch.noise is
nothing more than
8 Waves that are modulated (in my emulation it's the only why to bring
back the dirt by some workaround..
because it's not really sync!)..

I came near the sound of it using LFOs and a distorted (better: high
harmonics) WT/Wave

(I made some --- but some ROM WT did work quite good,too!!)

If I have time I want to make some Waves that fit best..
(If I'm not seduced by other things like making a track or other sounds..;-)

I did not see a better way..

the LFOs are slow.. so there's no chance (the Q, maybe???) of a real syncnoise..
but with symmetry I got a bit "nearer"..

another things to try:
using the Waveshaper (I wanted to keep the filters free.. otherwise a
Nord Sound would not be emulateable!!)

any kind of noise producers like Ringmod, Clipping, etc..

intelligent Sync & Wave combinations (sure this will never sound like NOISE!!)

but the synched noise in the nord always reminded "Wavetables" inside of me!!..

what the XT & Q cant do..:

real noise FM the second OSC (saw)..

this is something like continously morphing from noise to tonal noise..
I love it!.. (just turn the FM!)

still waiting for other ideas on that..

on both: XT and Q !!
(hmm synched noise sim. without Wavetables will need other basic
workaround.. but it may be possible..!!)

maybe the LFOs / FM.. (I only have some theoretical ideas but I'll try
it if I have killed my grandma or sold something and got the rest by
some wonder.. ;-)
.. but it'll happen!.. (?)..

btw; the NL provides the Master / slave thing, too
(!!!!means IN THIS CASE(!!!): only one direction Master --syncs-> Slave)

the MW/XT will do it by Wavetables.. finding 0 Xing / Startpos...
but I find it very cool! one of the coolest features as it was new in
some OS..!!

Hans, did you tried something? or was it new as I posted this..?
I don't find the UPAWs very handy.. in SD..
but it's worth some experiments..!!

the sample analyse will not work here (as always)..
I guess.. ;-)

I mostly use the additive mode.. and put them in a WT manually..

other things did not satisfiy me..
(if I sampled something and let SD create a WT it always sounded
the same (yes I would not expect wonders).. blabla..

love to push it to it's limits anyway!!
(hope to push the Q to its limits.. the sooner the better!!)

does anyone know Milka Knister Q (german chocolate)!! no joke!!!
free merchandizing!!
must be Knister XT OS 2.17 now!! ;-)
(german "Knister" = english "crackling")

sorry this was quite long but VERY ON TOPIC!!

replies & solutions & babble very appreciated!!

<commercial><silly>
(if it's becoming too silly for the list we can go to my forum..:)..
</commercial></silly> <--

c u
conseQuence

atm we are fooling around with it... maybe I put it here (maybe including my first patch that is ready / I've made before the first posting above!!) well, you can find the final works under patches/download/sounds

>Why do some sounds click at lower attack levels? Will this problem ever be fixed?
It was never a problem (although there is/was(!) a bug when mono mode is active)
so it will never be fixed. The reason is very simple:
All Waldorf synthesizers have ***very fast*** envelopes. The envelopes are
so fast that they change the shape of a single waveform. E.g., on the
Microwave II/XT/XTk, Attack 0 means 0ms. 0ms is equivalent to 20kHz. When
you now have a sound with a sine wave whose phase is running freely, it
might be that the sine wave is started with its full positive portion
(90°). Now, when it is blended it with 0ms, this means that it comes in
>from 0 to full in one sample. Doesn't that look like the beginning of a
square or sawtooth waveform? And it does the same: For one cycle, the sine
wave has looks and sounds like a brillant waveform and this creates the
click.
What can you do: just increase the attack rate to about 5 or 6 and the
problem is gone. Then the attack speed is around 4ms or so which is
equivalent to 250Hz.

>Another problem occurs, when I use 909 like sounds. The same sound does
>always sound different, when it is repeat.

If you want the same sound character on each new note, you need a sample
player. The behaviour you notice is the beauty of real synthesis.
However, you can do some things to lower the differences:
* set Accuracy to On
* set the start phases of the waves to a value other than "free".
* don't use very short noise clicks, because noise always sounds different.

>Question on the Q vs. Matrix12\Xpander. Turning up VCA2 on the M12 creates a
>totally lush backdrop to an existing sound that is as thick as Pea Soup or
>the foggiest of foggy days. When you hold a note or chord down and start
>tweeking the fillter, (changing filter types as well), it literally sounds
>as if you are in some sort of sonic equivalent of a Nebula in which your
>twiddling affects color and density. Is the Q capable of such lush, organic
>sounds that seem to breath alive? I haven't found any synth other than the
>M12\Expander that is really capable of it. Most others I've tried just
>sound too 2-dimentional compared to the M12.

If it is just a second VCA as its name says, you could create a similar
character in the Q by using the comb filter. Set up filter 1 with a comb+
type with relatively high cutoff (a short delay) and feed it with 50% of
the oscillator signal. This filter and the other 50% oscillator signal go
into the second filter which should be setup as a 24dB or better 12dB lowpass filter.

After some thinking about a vocoder on a MWII have this suggestion for a
new filter :

The 'Wavetable harmonics filter' WHF is a filter with N multiple bands. The
centerfrequencies of the bands are calculated by the following method :

- Get the wave X from the active wavetable ( X is the 'F1 parameter' of this
filter)
- Apply FFT to this wave, and get the N strongest harmonics and there
amplitudes
- Normalise the amplitudes of these N harmonics to 100%
- Calculate a multiband filter with bands =harmonic x 'cutoff frequency'.
Bands of which the amplitude of the harmonic is higher should also result in
higher troughput.

The number of bands depends on DSP power (I guess). It would be nice if
resonance would control the bandwidth of the bands

I suggested this idea a while ago but no one tried it :( I can't cause I
dont have an XT with ext audio in.

1. Enter multi-mode
2. Set all 8 instruments to same midi channel
3. Make 8 patches all identical except with different ceneter
frequencies of the filter.

Each patch should just pass external audio through the bandpasss filter.
No osc signals.
Each flter will be setup as bandpass with 100% key tracking
Each filter will have a different center frequency
Chorus and panning should bring life to the patch.

In general this will be like a quasi-8 band vocoder sort of like a
Roland VP-70

some vocoder-Ideas using fairly high Res...
no 16 multi patch.
all osc. off

ext imput in to the filter1,
and filter1 routed completely in to the
filter2.

filter1: comb+ , cutoff=47 or 59 (for stay in tune)
res=110 to 127 , keytrack=100% (for keep it in tune)

filter2: 24db hipass (for cut unwanted low frequencies)
and keytrack =-50% see the sound/patch/download area for demo patch and audio-demofiles!!!

REMEMBER: if you find some modulation in the matrix is not hot enough simply use another slot with the same routing.. they are STACKABLE!!

on the Oberheim Xpander, there is a filter called "phase shift" ....altering the cutoff doesnt filter out
anything, it changes the phase of the harmonics in the sound. Resonance affects how deep the shift is... Imagine a phaser you can tie to an envelope, LFO, velocity, etc and you have an idea of what it sounds like...

This is something you can easily do with the Q's comb filter. Just set the
oscillators to feed both filters equally and set one filter to comb and the
second one to bypass. The comb filter now controls the phase relation where
high cutoff settings deliver almost no phase shift while low cutoff
settings provide a high phase shift by several milliseconds. However, the
result will be very subtle and you can achieve the same behaviour with a
chorus effect whose modulation depth is set to 0.