EXi: MOD-7 Waveshaping VPM Synthesizer
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Individual oscillators and subtractive synthesis
Each of the six VPM Oscillators can be used on its own, to
generate sine, saw, triangle, or square waveforms, plus
timbres created by waveshaping. You can layer multiple
VPM Oscillators together, modulate their volumes, and
process them through filters for standard subtractive
synthesis.
Layering six saw oscillators
Let’s start by creating a simple sound with six layered
sawtooth oscillators.
1. Follow the instructions under “Creating an initialized
MOD-7 Program,” above.
2. Press the PAGE button, and then press the MOD-7
tab.
The MOD-7’s tabs will appear on the right.
3. Press the Patch Panel button.
The Patch Panel will appear. This shows all of the basic
building blocks of the MOD-7, including all of the
oscillators, filters, mixers, and so on.
The Algorithm name is shown in the upper left-hand corner.
By default, it’s set to Blank Patch.
4. Open the Algorithm pop-up, and select 05: All
carriers -> 4-pole.
5. Press OK to confirm the selection and close the
popup.
As a shortcut, you can also select the Algorithm name on the
Patch Panel page, and then enter the Algorithm number from
the dial, or +, – buttons.
Notice that the lines on the Patch Panel have changed. These
show the normalled connections between the various blocks.
(“Normalled” is a term used in patchbays and modular
synths, meaning the default internal connections between
patch points.)
05 All carriers -> 4-pole has outputs from all six VPM
Oscillators mixed into a single filter.
The VPM Oscillators are shown as a line of six boxes,
running from 1 at the top to 6 at the bottom. The boxes are
labeled simply with the numbers 1 through 6. Each has two
input jacks, colored red, and one output jack, colored blue.
6. Touch the blue circle (the output) on VPM Oscillator
1.
A yellow highlight box will appear around the output jack, to
show that the jack is selected.
Look in the upper right-hand corner of the page. This is the
Parameter Details area; it shows additional information
about the selected item. In this case, it will show that you’ve
selected the output of VPM Oscillator 1, along with the
output level and the inputs to which it is connected (if any).
It also has two buttons: Jump and Disconnect.
7. Press the Jump button.
This takes you to the selected block’s page–in this case, the
VPM Oscillator 1 page. You can use this shortcut with any
of the blocks on the Patch Panel.
8. On the VPM Oscillator 1 page, set the Mode to Saw.
This controls the basic timbre of the oscillator.
9. Set the Ratio Fine to +0.004.
This causes the pitch to be very slightly higher than nominal.
We’re going to detune all six oscillators, to create a fat,
stacked sawtooth timbre.
10.Using the tabs, select each of the other VPM
Oscillators in turn. For each one, set the Mode to Saw,
and set the Ratio Fine as noted below.
• Osc 2: –0.004
• Osc 3: +0.008
• Osc 4: –0.008
• Osc 5: +0.014
• Osc 6: –0.014
Now, try playing the keyboard. It should sound like a thick,
detuned sawtooth timbre, with a “digital” tone quality.
To warm it up a bit, let’s make it so each oscillator starts with
a random phase.
11.For each of the VPM Oscillators, set the Phase Sync
(in the Oscillator section) to Random.
Notice how this makes the sound more full and rounded.
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