Scythe Synthesizer for iphone

Transcription

1 Scythe Synthesizer for iphone

2 Scythe is a polyphonic wavetable synthesizer which can load custom sounds and has a Wavetable Creator tool. Wavetable synthesis is a way of synthesizing sound using a series of individual waves. The sonic possibilities are virtually limitless due to the transformation of sound when moving through the wavetable. Sound can be synthesized from a single waveform or from a chosen range of the wavetable, which is comprised of individual waveforms combined in an order. There are a number of factors that influence the sound being synthesized. The original audio content that the wavetable was generated from. The speed of movement through the wavetable. The frequency generated from the pressed note/notes. The direction of movement through the wavetable. The range of movement within the wavetable. Scythe has the following main components Wavetable Oscillator Envelope Generator 3 Low Frequency Oscillators Modulation Matrix Polyphonic Keyboard with up to 8 active voices Filter Delay effect units Wavetable Creator The Control Bar The Control Bar is for managing the global state of the synth. It controls the following actions from left to right.

3 Saving a preset. This allows you to save the current state of the synth for recalling in the future. Displays the name of the currently loaded preset. Tap the preset title to open the presets view to manage and load presets, which are files that store the state of the synth. Open the store view which hosts the available in app purchases. Open this user manual. Switch between the modulation sources view and the keyboard view. Open/Close the filter view. Open the Wavetable Creator. Control the tempo of the session - This is what synchronizes the modulation sources with the synthesis. Export the recorded audio file using ios share methods. Export the recorded audio file using AudioShare. For more information on AudioShare please visit The Oscillator The oscillator is the core of the synth. Scythe contains a wavetable oscillator that can be independently controlled using modulation, which will be covered later on in this manual. Each parameter of the oscillator can be linked to a modulation source that can be controlled with different speeds, depths and direction. The oscillator can be turned on and off using the power button in the top left of the view.

4 The oscillator view is split into 3 sections. The title of the loaded wavetable and the wavetable display helps visualize the wavetable and shows where in the table the active notes are at any point in time. Released notes will remain visible inside the wavetable until they are no longer audible. The wavetable management for the oscillator. This controls the following from top to bottom o Open the wavetable selector to load from the factory wavetables, purchased wavetable packs and saved wavetable packs. The wavetable selector view will be covered later on in the manual. o Open the audio file selector view. This is where you can load audio files added via itunes File Sharing to generate a wavetable from the audio file. o Import an audio file from AudioShare. This allows you to save audio in other apps to then load into Scythe to generate a wavetable. o Save the loaded wavetable. This function was added to save wavetables that were generated from an audio file, it can also be used to save a wavetable with another name if required. o Clear the loaded wavetable from the oscillator. This also retains the oscillator settings across wavetable loads. The oscillator controls o Index: The starting index within the wavetable, either an individual waveform or the start within a range. o Pan: The pan control sets the position of the sound within the stereo field, -50 (left), 0 (center), 50 (right). o Amp: The amplitude control sets the amplitude of the synthesized sound. The loudness will vary based on the generated wavetable. o Uni: The unison control sets the number of sub-signals in unison with the original. You can think of this as an additional duplicate sub-signal to the synthesized signal that can be detuned and blended to create richer, fuller sounds. This can be used on high frequency sounds as well as low frequency sounds to add depth and body to the sound. o Detune: The detune control works with the unison control to detune the signals in unison from one another.

5 o Blend: The blend control works with the unison and detune controls by blending the additional signals with the main signal. This determines how loud the duplicate signals are in comparison to the main signal of the oscillator. o Oct: The octave control sets the octave offset of the oscillator. This helps to quickly change octaves to adjust a sound when the keyboard is in hold mode playing a continuous sound. o Semi: The semitone control sets the semitone offset of the oscillator. This helps to quickly change semitones (individual keys on the keyboard) when the keyboard is in hold mode playing a continuous sound. Each of the oscillator controls can be modulated and the modulation box below each control can be used to drag up and down from within the box to set the modulation depth, or how much the modulation effects the control. Modulation Modulation is one of the keys to wavetable synthesis, which powers how the sound is transformed from the source. Scythe for iphone contains 4 modulation sources, each with draggable modulation link controls that can be dragged and dropped on any control with the modulation box present, e.g. the oscillator controls. Once the modulation link is dropped on a control, it will change to the color of the source. The color coding helps to identify what is being modulated and from where. Active modulation is displayed on the modulation ring as a white dot and is active when a voice or key is pressed. Each modulation link between a source and a destination is added to the modulation matrix on the right of the oscillators.

6 Dropping a modulation source on a destination with an existing modulation link will override the modulation link in the modulation matrix and disable the previously active link. The modulation matrix will be covered later on in this manual. Each modulation source can be independently turned on/off using the power button next to the modulation link. The Envelope Generator The envelope generator is a modulation source and is automatically mapped to the oscillator. The envelope generator uses what is called an ADSR envelope due to the stages present in the envelope. Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. Attack: The time it takes the envelope to reach full amplitude on a key press. Decay: The time is takes to drop from full amplitude to the sustained amplitude. Sustain: The amplitude to sustain when the key is held. Release: The time it takes to drop from the sustain amplitude to silence when the key is released. These time values are all in milliseconds. The envelope generator controls: ADSR control view has glowing control dots that can be moved by dragging them around the view.

7 The individual A, D, S, R controls can be used independently from the control view itself. Analog/Digital setting determines how the envelope generator s curves operate. Digital is a linear ramp, while analog is exponential, as displayed on the graph. Reset is used to reset the envelope on a key press. Legato mode keeps the envelope active across key presses. The Low Frequency Oscillator The LFOs are a modulation source and the main way to modulate parameters. The LFOs output a smooth continuous modulation synchronized to a beat division of the session s tempo, whereas an envelope is more a segmented or staged modulation source. Each LFO can be turned on/off using the power button. As the name suggests an LFO is an oscillator running at very low frequencies compared to an oscillator synthesizing sounds across the full frequency range. This allows parameters to be controlled by other oscillators with different speeds, amplitudes, directions and run modes. The LFO controls: The wave selector chooses different waveforms for the oscillation.

8 o Sine: A modulation that runs from start index to the end of the range, reversed to the start of the range and back to the start index. o usaw: Upward saw runs from the start of the modulation range to the end of the range and then restarts from the start of the range. o dsaw: Downward saw runs from the end of the modulation range to the start of the range and then restarts from the end of the range. This is the opposite of the upward saw. o Tri: A triangle wave that ramps up on speed as it reaches the center and then slows towards the end. o Squ: A square wave that jumps between the start and end indexes of the modulation range. o Expo: An exponential wave that modulates from the end of the modulation range to the selected index. o Rsh/QRsh: Random sample and hold. This randomly jumps to an index in the modulation range and holds until the next jump. This is used for noise generation. The rate control sets the modulation speed in beat divisions or number of bars. For more rhythmic sounds like techno layers or effects a higher division of e.g. 1 bar, 1/2 bar, 1/4 bar can be used. For longer pads and drone sounds setting this to a long modulation time of 8, 16, 32 and even 64 bars can have amazing effects on the sound. The Modulation Matrix The Modulation Matrix holds all linked modulation, where each modulation shows the source and the destination. Modulation destinations can have multiple sources, with one active source

9 at a time. Active modulation links are displayed in the color of the modulation source, while inactive modulation links are faded out. Each link has a cell in the matrix view and each cell can control the depth of the modulation. This slider has the same control as the modulation box below a control, e.g. on the oscillator view. Each cell also has a power switch to activate or deactivate the link. Activating a link to a destination that already contains a link will disable the existing link. This allows links to be recalled and switched as needed without having to reapply the link. It can also be used to quickly switch between modulation sources on a specific destination to hear the effect. To remove all modulation links, there is a X button on the top of the view. The MIDI Input sources view Scythe can connect to MIDI devices for MIDI input. This allows the synthesizer to be controlled using MIDI controllers or other apps. This view will display the available sources and the active source. MIDI is available via CoreMIDI and through Inter-App-Audio, Audiobus, AUM etc. Please note that midi channels are not supported currently, only omni mode.

10 The Presets View The presets view displays library presets that are included with Scythe as well as your saved presets. Within the library presets there is the default preset, which can be used to reset the oscillators and modulation back to the initialized state. Scythe autosaves the existing session when the app enters the background and it is saved as auto save. Saved presets can be renamed by tapping the name of the preset and they can also be deleted by selecting the edit button which enables the delete button on each cell. Preset overwrite checks are done to avoid presets being saved over existing presets.

11 The Store View The store view is where you can manage your In-App-Purchases. The restore purchases button will sync with any previous purchases to make the content available again. This is useful when you reinstall the app on a device. The reload button will fetch the available In-App-Purchases and will update the available items to display any description or price changes. The store will contain additional components for Scythe such as the Wavetable Creator, Filter Delay effect and wavetable packs for different kinds of sounds.

12 The Keyboard View The keyboard view can be accessed using the keyboard icon on the control bar. This switches visibility between the keyboard view and the modulation sources view. The keyboard can be scrolled using the scroll area above the keyboard. Dragging through the scroll area will move up and down the keyboard across octaves. The glowing control in the scroll area displays the lowest visible octave and acts as a switch for hold/latch mode for the keyboard. When hold mode it activated it will glow and display a lock icon. Pressing the hold button will switch states. When the keyboard is not in hold mode the lock will display as open and the control will no longer glow. Hold mode is useful when you are tweaking parameters and working towards the sound you are after. Pressing a key or keys with hold mode activated means you can then switch to the modulation, oscillator or filter delay sections and tweak parameters to hear the effects. Disabling hold mode leaves the keyboard free to be playable as normal. The keyboard also contains a split button which will split the keyboard and make room for the modulation sources view in a scrollable state. The modulation sources view can then be scrolled behind the keyboard to reach the LFOs. This allows the modulation parameters to be tweaked and the sound heard without using hold mode. The split button switches between the split keyboard and back to the full keyboard as needed.

13 The Filter Delay Effect View The filter delay is added to the oscillator s signal. The effect contains a bandpass filter and delay for each of the left, center and right stereo field sectors. This allows the oscillator signal to be split into individual parts and delayed and mixed back into the original signal. The filter view s <X,Y> coordinates control the bandwidth and frequency band. Double tapping the filter view switches between on and off states of the filter. This allows the delay effect to be applied without any filtering. The L, C, R buttons can be used to enable or disable processing off a stereo field sector. The Filter Delay controls

14 Feedback controls how much of the signal is sent back into the signal path. Delay controls the time it takes the feedback signal to reach the signal path and is measured in beats. Pan controls where in the stereo field sector the sound is positioned. Volume controls the volume of the feedback signal. The Filter Delay view has a mix control which sets how much of the effect is mixed with the signal path. Each filter delay can be turned on or off using the power button. The Wavetable Creator The Wavetable Creator was designed to create wavetables for the synthesis engine, to be loaded into the oscillator. This is an integrated component that allows the created wavetable to be previewing within the session by overriding the oscillator directly, maintaining the modulation

15 and settings currently applied. You can save and load individual waveforms to apply to a wavetable. The view is split into a number of sections The wavetable selection view where you can load library or saved wavetables. Purchased wavetable packs can be found under the library segment. The wavetable display view displays the wavetable being created or edited as well as the selected index. This section contains the reinitialize, save and close window buttons. o This section contains the button to toggle the keyboard visibility. o On the bottom right of the view you can see the overrides buttons. These allows the wavetable to temporarily override the selected oscillators. These buttons act as a toggle for overriding the oscillators. This allows previewing your wavetable in an integrated manner. The overwrite section which is used to control how changes are applied to the wavetable. o The range slider selects a range within the table. o The range/selected switch controls whether the changes are applied to the chosen range or to the selected waveform, which is selected in the right- hand table. o The replace/merge switch controls whether the applied waveform is replacing or merging with the selected range or index. The draw waveform view allows a custom waveform to be drawn into the view and applied to wavetable. The next section is where you can generate a basic waveform into the wavetable, either replacing or merging with the selected range or index. o Sine, Saw, Square, Triangle, White Noise and Pulse waves are available.

16 o The frequency can be set as well as the amplitude of the waveform to generate. Please note that the frequency setting does not add harmonics. Harmonics are a planned feature for a future update to the Wavetable Creator. The sorting section is a collection of functions to sort the wavetable in different orders. o Mean: Sort the wavetable by the highest to lowest average value in a waveform. o Highest peak: Sort the wavetable by from highest to lowest based on the highest peak inside a waveform. o Reverse: Reverses the contents of the wavetable. This is good for applying after randomizing and tweaks to achieve new orders. o Randomize: Randomize the content of the wavetable. o Similarity to 1st: Sort the wavetable using cosine similarity in comparison to the first index of the table. o Similarity to selected: If a waveform has been selected, this will sort the table according to the cosine similarity with the selected waveform. The top right section is the wavetable split into individual cells. This is for direct access to waveforms at specific indexes, which would not be possible with gestures interacting with the wavetable display itself. The save functions saves the selected waveform to your collection of waveforms. The bottom right section lists your collection of saved waveforms, where you can select and apply a waveform to the wavetable. Selecting edit allows waveforms to be deleted. Please see the manual on the website for an example.

17 The Wavetable Selection View The wavetable selection view helps to select and manage wavetables. It can filter wavetables by factory, saved and purchased wavetable packs. Saved wavetables can be deleted similar to how presets are deleted. The End

18 Thank you for supporting Scythe and its further development. If you have any questions or would like to get in contact, please to