user guide

CHAPTER 19 OF 54 · SHAPE THE SOUND

Sub oscillator

Each engine has one Sub: a sine-based oscillator that adds weight under the lowest held note. Like a monosynth's sub oscillator it doubles the note one or two octaves down, or in the note's own octave; on a polyphonic engine that means one Sub under a chord's lowest note, not one per note.

The SUB section follows OSC on the Sound tab on every generator, after PHASE on Phase.

The SUB section of the Init sound: Level 0.0, Shape 40.0, Octave −1.123
The SUB section of the Init sound: Level 0.0, Shape 40.0, Octave −1.
  1. 1Level
  2. 2Shape
  3. 3Octave
AT A GLANCESUB
  • LevelThe Sub's level. 0.0 to 100.0. Init: 0.0, so the Sub is off.
  • ShapeWaveform from a clean sine to near square, at the same peak level. 0.0 to 100.0. Init: 40.0.
  • OctaveThe Sub's octave against the note: −2, −1 or 0 (the note's own octave). Init: −1.

The SUB values are saved with the sound. Sounds made before the Sub load with Level at 0.0.

In the Matrix they are the rows Level, Shape and Octave of the SUB group. Octave is stepped: modulation moves it in whole octaves. The dice never writes cells in these rows, though a roll clears any cells already there (Macros and dice). They have no MIDI CC; play them from a controller through a macro (Play a control without a CC).

#Shape

The Sub's waveform at Shape 0.0, 40.0 and 100.0, at the same peak level.123
The Sub's waveform at Shape 0.0, 40.0 and 100.0, at the same peak level.
  1. 1Clean sine
  2. 2Flat top
  3. 3Near square

Shape drives the sine into a soft limiter and brings the result back to the same peak. It changes the waveform, not the level.

  • 0.0: a clean sine.
  • 40.0: a sine with a flattened top.
  • 100.0: close to a square.

Raising Shape adds odd harmonics (3rd, 5th, 7th). A phone speaker reproduces them where it cannot reproduce the fundamental, so a higher Shape keeps the Sub audible on small speakers.

#Which note the Sub plays

Three notes and the Sub at Octave −1. The Sub moves at every change of the lowest held note and stays with the last note through its release.123
Three notes and the Sub at Octave −1. The Sub moves at every change of the lowest held note and stays with the last note through its release.
  1. 1A lower note starts
  2. 2The lowest note is released
  3. 3Release of the last note

The Sub plays in the voice of the engine's lowest held note: a note under a finger, a latched note or a held MIDI note. It moves when a lower note starts or the lowest note is released.

  • A new lowest note. The Sub moves to that note's voice at once, without a click.
  • Releasing the lowest note. While other notes are held, the Sub moves to the lowest of them; the released note's tail has no Sub. When you release the last note, the Sub stays with it and rings through its release.
  • Pitch. The Sub follows its voice's note, the OSC Octave, Pitch, Glide and pitch modulation. It stays on the note itself at any Interval or Detune; on Phase, also at any B Pitch, Phase Detune or Drift.
  • Low notes. The Sub fades out as its own pitch falls from 30 Hz to 20 Hz and is silent below. At Octave −1 the fade starts on notes below B1, at Octave −2 on notes below B2.

#Where the Sub joins the voice

The Sub enters both channels of its voice equally, before Distort. It then passes that voice's Distort, low-pass gate and Filter, like the oscillators (Voice signal flow).

  • The amp envelope and pressure shape the Sub with its note: a soft lowest note gives a soft Sub.
  • Distort sets its gain with the oscillators'. At −100.0 the voice and its Sub are silent.

The Sub plays on every generator, the Granular sampler included.