Pharsing, Layers & Tuning
Pharsing, Layers & Tuning
Phrasing
Add variations to the envelopes (click to enlarge)
Next, let’s introduce some variation into the phrasing. Delete the second, fourth and sixth “pulses” in both envelopes (“oscil1 amp” and “oscil1 pitch”), by Option+click-ing (PC: righ-clicking) on the breakpoints at the top of each of them.
Click on the breakpoint at the top of the fourth remaining pulse in the “oscil1 amp” envelope, and set the value in the “amp” number box to “0.5000”. Reducing the volume of this pulse brings a little dynamic variation into the phrase – just like varying a MIDI note velocity when programming a drum part in your sequencer.
Hint: activating the “lock” (rather than “slide”) button in the Envelope window is a good idea, as this ensures that when one breakpoint in an envelope is moved, the others remain fixed in position. Also, holding down Ctrl while dragging a breakpoint forces its position to be “snapped” to the grid, keeping things nicely in time.
See “Step 5” in “Rhythmic Envelopes Examples”
Adding another layer
Let’s move on a stage, and add another “layer” to the Preset, by bringing another oscil module into play.
Open the patch window, and activate oscil 2, by clicking on its name. As before, we’ll start by transforming the default sine wave tone into something more rhythmic.
In the Envelopes window, select the “oscil2 amp” envelope, then open the “Transform Envelopes” dialog by choosing “generate AR pulse” from the “transform…” menu. Check that the correct tempo (110 bpm in this case) is entered in the “bpm” number box, then click “OK”. Finally, check that the new envelope is set to “retrgger” in the “mode” menu.
We now have a sine wave pulse sync’ed to our “bass drum” pulse. The next step is to change that familiar sine wave tone into something different.
Return to the Patch window, and from oscil 2’s “mode” menu, select “fm”. This changes the oscil module from a simple oscillator to an FM operator.
NI FM7, the most advanced FM synthesizer
Hint: an FM operator is a pair of oscillators that work together in a process called Frequency Modulation or “FM” synthesis. FM Synthesis was made popular in the 1980s by Yamaha’s range of “DX” keyboards, and has recently been brought right up to date by Native Instruments’ FM7.
When an oscil module in ABSYNTH is set to FM mode, you can use the illuminated tabs at the top of the module to switch between settings for the “main” (or “carrier”) oscillator and the “mod” (or “modulator”) oscillator. In FM synthesis, it’s the carrier that produces the sound you hear, while the modulator controls its frequency (and the hence the tonal character of the sound).
Switch over to the “mod” tab and, from the “wave” menu choose “factory” -> “noise 3”. Then enter “3.500” in the “fm index” number box. Now when you hit a key, you’ll hear that oscil 2 produces a more metallic, percussive sound, without such a clearly recognisable pitch.
Oscil 2 in the patch window
Once again, since we want this oscil to play an unpitched percussion part, we can fix the oscil at a suitable frequency. I chose 220 Hz for the “main” oscillator, and 200 Hz for the “mod” oscillator – but you should feel free to experiment with whatever you like the sound of.
Fine-tuning
We can fine-tune this new sound further by returning to Envelopes window, and using the “slope” number box to edit some of the pulses in the “oscil2 amp” envelope. The slope setting controls the shape of the envelope between two breakpoints. In other words, it lets you choose whether the breakpoints should be connected by a straight line, or by varying degrees of curve.
Hint: when editing slope values in the Envelopes window, it’s important to remember that it will be the portion of the envelope before the breakpoint you select that will be affected by the changes you make.
If you look at “Step 6” in “Rhythmic Envelopes Examples” you’ll see that I’ve edited all but the third and seventh pulses in the “oscil2 amp” envelope by entering “0.075” as the slope value for the breakpoint at the bottom of each one. This has the effect of deepening the envelope curves and “tightening up” the affected pulses. I’ve also added two extra breakpoints (by Command+click-ing) to allow more control over the “decay” of the pulses on the third and seventh pulses.
Hint: if you want to edit the slope values for every pulse in an envelope, you can save time by choosing “scale” from the “transform” menu, and entering a new slope value in the “Transform Envelopes” dialog. Using the maximum or minimum slope settings can result in almost square envelopes, yielding some interesting effects…
The "slope" parameter controls the envelope's shape
You’ll also notice that I’ve created a new envelope to drop “oscil2 pitch” slightly on these beats, while another reduces the FM index (“oscil2 mod index/bal”) at the same time. The “FM index” is the extent to which the carrier is modulated by the modulator in an FM operator. In this case, reducing it results in a less bright, more solid tone.
Audio example: To hear this, click
here...
