more stuff about the ES2

20/06/2012 22:10

 

SAMPLE 1

1) Go to the oscillator section and set osc 1 to a sawtooth, osc2 to a square wave and osc 3 to a sine wave.

2) Go to the mixer and balance all three oscillators so that they are approximately equal in volume.

3) Route the oscillators through just Filter 2 so that Filter 1 isn't heard and set the resonance to 12 o'clock. (Click all routes off)

4) In the modulation matrix route LFO1 to change the pitch of all three oscillators. Set the amount of modulation to a tasteful amount of vibrato. Set the LFO rate to 5.5Hz (click on window below low to do this)

5) Using the amplifier envelope set it so that each note fades up to full volume over 500 ms and once you release the note it fades out over 1 sec.

6) Route Envelope 2 to the Cutoff of Filter 2  and set it so that once a note is play the filter cutoff goes from zero to its full amount in approximately 700ms.

 

SAMPLE 2

1) choose the usual Analog saw init patch

2) turn off all the cells in the modulation matrix (Router)

3) Go to the oscillator section set Osc 1 to - saw and the coarse pitch to +24, set Osc 2 to triangle and the coarse pitch to +7, set Osc 3 to sine and leave the pitch at its default value of 0

4) In the Vector set it to the MIX setting leaving the XY unselected.

5) In the Vector make sure there are four points 

6) Set point one so that you hear just osc 1, point 2 so that you hear just osc 2, point 3 so that you hear just osc 3 and point four to a mix of all three.

7) set the Vector loop mode to forward and the Loop Rate to a 1/4 note.

8) Lastly add chorus and a small amount of the ES2's soft distortion effect.

SAMPLE 3

1) choose the usual init patch

2) turn off all the cells in the modulation matrix

3) go to the oscillator 1 and choose a square wave

4) turn the Unison mode on, make the patch Monophonic and then set the voices box to 6

5) Go to the Filter section and set it so that only Filter one is heard.

6) Set Filter One to a bandpass filter.

7) Modulate the filter cutoff of Filter 1 with envelope 2 so that it is initially at its maximum value and then over a period of 1 second the filter cutoff drops to approx 50%

8) Go to the Glide control and set it to 200ms

 

 

And now something different

Starting off by loading the Analogue Saw Init patch and then clear each cell in the modulation matrix so that each Target,Via and Source section is empty.

Now create the following patch

 

1) Make the patch monophonic.

 

2) Turn the Unison function on and set the ES2 so that it layers 16 voices in unison. 

 

3) Set all 3 of the ES2's oscillators to sawtooth waveforms, ensure that you do not use the oscillator sync waveforms.

 

4) Make sure that all three oscillators are mixed at equal volume.

 

5) Detune the oscillators so that the patch is thickened but the patch does not stray from concert pitch.

 

4) Set the ES2's sub oscillator labelled Sine Level to 12 o'clock to thicken the patch and strengthen the fundamental pitch.

 

5) Add a small amount of subtle distortion from the output stage of the synth.

 

6) Pass the oscillators through only a high pass filter with the resonance set to the mid point. Make sure you set the filter section correctly so that only the output of the high pass filter is heard and that no other filtering takes place.

 

7)  Modulate the Cutoff of the high pass filter so that when a note is held down on your keyboard the filter cutoff of the high pass filter rises from a minimum value to a maximum value over 200ms and falls back to the original minimum value after 2400ms. This should all happen whilst a note is being held down.

 

7) Add a small amount of pitch vibrato using an LFO set to a triangle wave. The vibrato should be a tasteful amount similar to that of the amount a violinist would add. Ensure that the vibrato is on permanently and cannot be varied by other control sources.

 

8) Set the patch so that the volume of each note increases to maximum amplitude over approximately 100ms and then once the note is released if fades out to nothing over approximately 980ms.

 

9) Lastly add a small amount of the ES2's inbuilt phaser effect to further thicken the sound.

 

Within an envelope the parameters attack, decay, sustain and release are defined as:

 

Attack: Is the time taken from zero amplitude to 100%, full amplitude. Low attack will make the sound plucky, whilst a long attack may sound like a glide, handy though for a gradually rising and falling sound effect.

Decay: Is the time it takes to fall from 100% amplitude to the sustain level.

Sustain: Is the steady amplitude level produced when a key is held down.

Release: Is the time taken for the sound to decay from the sustain level to zero amplitude when the key is released.

 

With the ES2, we are attempting to copy the Attack, Delay, Release and Sustain that would be characteristic of a real musical instrument, such as a snare drum that has a fast peak level with no sustain and the sound decaying rapidly, compared with say that of a violin where the sound slowly builds up to a peak as the bow is drawn across the strings and is sustained for a while as the bow pressure on the string reduces, then stops when the bow is lifted.  A piano keyboard could have a fast attack and decay and sustain, but holding down the key and using a pedal will prolong the sustain.  As you can see, these three sounds have very different characteristics over time, and whilst you may not want your sound to mimic a snare drum or grand piano, it is necessary to have a concept of the sound you would like to produce and how to create its qualities using these ES2 settings.

 

A sustain level of zero would be similar to a piano played without holding the key down and without a pedal;  percussive with no continuous steady level, even when a key is held. With pianos and plucked string instruments, high notes decay quicker than low notes.

 

The most significant difference between envelope 3 and envelope 2 in the ES2 is that ENV 3 is hard wired to the amplitude, whereas the ENV2 is assignable to anything. Both are velocity sensitive.

The differences between Filter 1 and Filter 2 in the ES2 are that Filter 1 can operate as a lowpass, highpass, bandpass, band reject, or peak filter.

Filter 2 is a lowpass filter that offers variable slopes (measured in dB/octave).

Filter 2 offers three different slopes:  12 dB, 18 dB, and 24 dB per octave. The steeper the slope, the more severely the level of signals below the cutoff frequency are affected in each octave.

The Fat setting also provides 24 dB per octave of rejection but features a built-in compensation circuit that retains the “bottom end” of the sound. The standard 24 dB setting tends to make lower end sounds somewhat “thin.”

 

Most filters do not completely suppress the portion of the signal that falls outside the frequency range defined by the Cutoff parameter. The slope, or curve, chosen for Filter 2 expresses the amount of rejection below the cutoff frequency in decibels per octave. Use the 12 dB slope if you want to get a gradual reduction, and still be able to hear some of the frequencies past the crossover point.