LFOs and Freeze

Each engine has four LFOs, each with its own section on the Sound tab. LFO X and LFO Y are free sources you route in the Matrix. Mod A and Mod B move the macros.

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#One LFO for the whole engine

Each LFO is shared by all the notes of its engine and keeps running between notes. A chord moves together, and a new note joins the wave wherever it is.

#LFO X and LFO Y

LFO X and LFO Y are the Matrix sources X and Y: route them to anything (Modulation matrix). Here X and Y mean these LFOs, not the All page's XY pad.

#Mod A and Mod B

Mod A puts an LFO on Macro A: everything Macro A modulates moves on its own, around wherever the macro is set. Mod B does the same for Macro B (Macros and dice). Their Offset is not on the Sound tab: MIDI CC 26 (Mod A) and CC 29 (Mod B) set it, and it is saved with the sound.

#Controls

The four sections share one layout: a strip that draws the LFO's output (The strip), then the controls below. LFO X and LFO Y add Offset and the Freeze box.

All LFO settings are saved with the sound. Because an LFO is shared, pressure routed to an LFO row follows the hardest-pressed note.

#Depth and Offset

On the strip and in the Matrix, ±100.0 is full scale (±1). Depth 100.0 swings a bipolar shape from −1 to +1. Square, Trigs, Env and Geiger are unipolar, 0 to +1; a negative Depth turns them into 0 to −1.

Offset shifts the whole output. With Depth at 0.0, Offset is a constant. Init sets every Depth to 0.0, so X → Cutoff, +40 moves nothing until LFO X's Depth is raised.

#Rate

Rate shows a number, not Hz. Higher is faster:

#Warp

Warp sets the share of each cycle taken by its first half: 50% at 0.0, 99% at +100.0, 1% at −100.0. On Triangle the first half is the fall from +1 to −1, so ±100.0 turns it into a ramp. On Square and BiSquare, Warp sets the pulse width. On Env it sets the rise time against the fall time. On the random shapes it alternates long and short steps.

#Shapes

Shape steps through the shapes in this order. Each cycle has two halves; the random shapes take a new level every half cycle.

#The strip

The strip draws the section's output. The vertical line is now. Left of it is the output of the last 1.5 s as it played. It includes Depth, Offset, Freeze, any Matrix modulation of the LFO's own rows and, on Mod A and Mod B, the macro.

Right of it are the next 1.5 s, calculated from the current settings and joined to the output at the now line. Matrix modulation is not in this half; it appears on the left once it has played. The centre line is 0, the top +1 and the bottom −1; values beyond are drawn at the edge.

A fast LFO draws as a band. When audio stops, the strip stops.

A flat line means Depth is 0.0 or Freeze is holding. At Depth 0.0 the line sits at Offset, and on Mod A and Mod B at the macro.

#LFO Sync

A sound can sync each of its LFOs to the engine's tempo. LFO Sync is stored in the sound and set by no control on screen, in the Matrix or by CC. To get a synced LFO, start from a sound whose LFO Rate shows a division; several factory sounds have one. Saving keeps the sync with the sound.

A synced LFO's Rate shows a division instead of a number. From slow to fast: 8 bars, 4 bars, 2 bars, 1 bar, 1/2., 1/2, 1/4., 1/2T, 1/4, 1/8., 1/4T, 1/8, 1/16., 1/8T, 1/16, 1/32., 1/16T, 1/32. A dot marks a dotted value, T a triplet.

Rate picks the division nearest the free rate it would play at 120 BPM. Modulating Rate steps between divisions. The LFO follows the engine's clock: its tempo, a host or a MIDI clock (Clock and sync). Its phase locks to the beat, so it stays aligned with the arp, the pattern's steps and the transport.

The Sync switch on the Arp and Seq tabs is a different control: it belongs to the pattern and sets whether the engine follows the master clock (Arp rhythm and tempo).

#Freeze

Freeze holds the output of LFO X or LFO Y while notes sound, so each note or phrase keeps one value of the LFO. With a random shape, this is a sample and hold set off by the notes. Tick Freeze above the strip. Freeze is on LFO X and LFO Y, saved with the sound, and has no Matrix row or CC.

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When a note starts and nothing sounds, the output is held at its value in that moment, Depth and Offset included. Every destination receives the held value. Later notes and pattern steps take the same value.

Freeze lets go when no note is held and every voice has faded out, so a release tail keeps the value to its end. Delay and reverb tails do not count. When it lets go, the output jumps to the LFO's current value. The LFO keeps running underneath, so a synced LFO stays on the beat.

Ticking Freeze while notes sound holds the value of that moment. Clearing it frees the output at once.

With the arp on, held keys do not count; the arp's notes do. An arp note ends at Gate and then releases. With Gate under 100.0 and a short Release, the voices fall silent between steps and each arp note takes a new value (Arp). With Strum, held keys count, as with the arp off.