AdSynth, a primarily additive synthesis engine, is one of the three major synthesis engines available in Zyn-Fusion. The basic concept of this engine is the summation of a collection of sin waves.
We call these sin waves "voices" and can use up to 8 with ADDsynth.
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Note
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Additive Synthesis
Very briefly, additive synthesis is multiple sin waves added together (but we use complex maths to calculate the relationship between waves).
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You can consider each voice another stage/step in the process of building your sound.
We can modify the output of each voice using LFOs, envelopes, and filters.
We can set global LFO, envelope, and filter settings, as well as individual settings per voice.
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Note
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Basic Flow
The output of ADDsynth will always include a combination of individual Voice settings being applied on top of Global settings. Global settings will be applied to an active voices before any individual voice settings are applied.
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"LFO" means Low Frequency Oscillator. These oscillators are not used to make sounds by themselves, but they change some parameters (like the frequencies, the amplitudes, or the filters).
The LFOs have some basic parameters:
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Delay: This parameter sets how much time takes since the start of the note to the start of the LFO
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Start Phase: The position that a LFO will start at
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Frequency: How fast the LFO is (i.e. how fast the parameter’s controlled by the LFO changes)
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Depth: The amplitude of the LFO (i.e. how much the parameter’s controlled by the LFO changes)
Zyn-Fusion includes the following LFOs globally and per voice: Amplitude LFO, Frequnecy LFO, Filter LFO.
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Note
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27 possible LFOs
You will find 3 global as well as 3 individual LFO settings (per voice), one in each of the Amplitude, Frequency, and Filter tabs for a possible total of 27 LFOs. (8 voices x 3 LFO per voice = 24 + 3 global = 27)
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Freq: LFO Frequency
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Depth: LFO Depth
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Start: LFO Start Phase - If this knob is at the lowest value, the LFO Start Phase will be random.
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Str.: LFO Stretch
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Delay: LFO Delay
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LP: Cutoff frequency of the lowpass filter applied to the lfo output. (i.e. how much the output is smoothed)
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F.In: Time it takes to fade in the lfo amplitude up to depth after the delay time
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F.Out: Time it takes to fade the amplitude out after key release.
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A.R.: LFO Amplitude Randomness
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F.R.: LFO Frequency Randomness
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Sync: If this option enabled the LFO oscillates in the same phase for all notes (given the LFO frequency is the same)
Zyn-Fusion offers several different types of filters, which can be used to shape the spectrum of a signal. The primary parameters that affect the characteristics of the filter are the cutoff, resonance, filter stages, and the filter type.
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Cutoff: This value determines which frequency marks the changing point for the filter. In a low pass filter, this value marks the point where higher frequencies are attenuated.
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Resonance: The resonance of a filter determines how much excess energy is present at the cutoff frequency. In Zyn-Fusion, this is represented by the Q-factor, which is defined to be the cutoff frequency divided by the bandwidth. In other words higher Q values result in a much more narrow resonant spike.
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Stages: The number of stages in a given filter describes how sharply it is able to make changes in the frequency response.
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Cutoff: Cutoff frequency.
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Q: Level of resonance for the filter.
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F.Track: Frequency tracking amount. When this parameter is positive, higher note frequencies shift the filter’s cutoff frequency higher.
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Scale: Velocity sensing amount
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Sense: Velocity sensing shape. with higher values the sensivity is shifted towards low velocities
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Stages: Filter stages.
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Class: Category of synth.
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Type: Type of filter to use.
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Gain: Additional gain/attenuation for filter.
Zyn-Fusion includes the following global and per-voice envelopes: Amplitude, Frequency, and Filter.
Envelopes control how the amplitude, frequency, or filter changes over time.
The Envelopes share the same basic parameters:
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Attack: Begins at the Note On. The volume starts from 0 to the maximum. In Zyn-Fusion, the attack is always linear.
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Sustain: The volume remains constant until the key is depressed (Note Off). After this, the last stage take place.
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Release: The volume drops to zero
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Decay: The volume drops from the maximum value to a level called "Sustain level"
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Stretch: How the envelope is stretched according to the note. On the higher notes the envelopes are shorter than lower notes.
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Forced release: If this option is turned on the release will go to the final value, even if the sustain stage is not reached.
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Repeat: If this option is active the envelope is started again when reaching release
Amplitude envelopes control the amplitude of the sound.
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A.DT: Attack duration.
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D.DT: Decay duration.
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R.DT: Release duration.
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S.VAL: Sustain value.
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Stretch: In the leftmost value, the stretch is zero. The rightmost use a stretch of 200%; this means that the envelope is stretched about 4 times/octave.
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FRCR: Forced release. Usually, this must be set.
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LIN/LOG: If this option is set, the envelope is linear, otherwise, it will be logarithmic.
Filter envelopes control the cutoff frequency of the filters. They share the same configuration options as the Amplitude envelopes while introducing the following new ones:
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A.VAL: Attack value.
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D.VAL: Decay value.
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R.VAL: Release value.
These settings will be applied to all voices.
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Vol: Controls the overall output volume of the synth.
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Sense: Velocity sensing. (100% to the right to disable).
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Pan: Panning. (100% to the left is random).
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Stretch: Punch effect stretch according to frequency. On lower notes the punch effect lasts longer.
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Stregth: Punch effect strength.
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Time: Punch effect duration (from 0.1 ms to 100 ms on A note- 440Hz).
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Stereo: when disabled all voices will have panning disabled.
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RND GRP: Enable/disable harmonic amplitude randomness of voices with a common oscllator.
The Voice settings allow you to modify settings per voice. These options include all of the Global Settings we covered above as well as new ones such as the modulator, oscillator, and unison features.
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Note
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Helpful Tip
The output of any single voice will always include a combination of individual Voice settings being applied on top of Global settings. Global settings will be applied to an active voices before any individual voice settings are applied.
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Vol: Controls the overall output volume of the voice.
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Sense: Velocity sensing. (100% to the right to disable).
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Pan: Panning. (100% to the left is random).
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Delay: delay before the voice starts.
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Bypass GL Filter: If the voice signal bypasses the global filter.
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F. Ctl Bypass: If the voices filter is not affected by cutoff midi CC
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RESON: Enable/Disable the resonance of the voice.
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Fine: Fine detune; amount of detune of all voices
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Octave: Raise/lower the octave note offset.
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ET: when disabled the synth will use Equal Temperament 12 notes/octave.
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Type: Detune scaling type; sets "Fine" and "Coarse" detune behavior.
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Coarse: Coarse detune.
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Fixed: Enable if frequency is fixed.
This is your oscillator and modulator-oscillator. Full documentation available here
Mix is actually not a modulation type but something like wave morphing or one dimension of a vector synthesis. The modulation amount set with the "Vol." knob and the Amp envelope represents the mixing ratio between "modulator" and "carrier" oscillator.
Ring modulation was used in the Roland D50 but also in many classic analog synthesizers for example from Oberheim. The values of modulator and carrier are simply multiplied. Used with sine oscillators for both modulator and carrier that adds the sum and the difference of their frequencies to the spectrum. It can be used to create inharmonics for metallic or bell like sounds.
The value of the modulator is applied as phase offset. That’s what Yamaha called FM in the famous DX7. By modulating the phase angle of the oscillator, phase modulation alters the frequency content of the sound, allowing for the creation of complex, evolving timbres and textures.
The value of the modulator is applied as frequency offset.
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Warning
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Aliasing |
Because of the wide applicable range it is nearly impossible to prevent aliasing at high FM amounts.
The AA button enables the anti aliasing sampling filter. Can be useful when using high range frequency LFOs or FM.
The resonance is a spectral modification of the oscillator that is applied "offline" while constructing the waveform.
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Warning
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Resonance in frequency modulated Oscilators |
When the frequency is modulated the resonance spectrum is shifted, too.
In the plot the spectral fingerprint can be drawn by hand or generated by random generators with fine, medium or large granularity. The curve can also be smoothed. The resulting diagram can be shifted or scaled with respect to the full spectrum.
