Guide 06 / 16
The layers’ second pages
Each layer has two pages on EDIT: the first its level and main character, the second its source and what shapes it after.
×7
The seven pagesLink to this section
Press EDIT again for its next page. The first is the whole drone’s, then each layer’s two.
| Page | K1 | K2 | K3 | K4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DRONE PARAMS | TIMBRE all three layers’ brightness | SPACE the reverb’s share | MOTION the drift’s depth | BODY 100 %: as set; down: thinner |
| CHOIR | CHOIR level | DETUNE 0 to 40 cents | FILTER follows the note | WARMTH |
| CHOIR II | SHAPE saw, square, narrow pulse | INTERVAL the centre saw: UNISON, −12, +7, +12 | RESONANCE the filter’s peak, Q 0.5 to 20 | TYPE the filter: LOW, BAND, HIGH |
| PARTIALS | PARTIALS level | TILT bright to dark | ODD odd harmonics | STRETCH toward a bell |
| PARTIALS II | EVOLVE how deep and quick their levels wander | BEAT each one pulsing, 0.15 to 7 Hz | FORMANT its place, H1 to H8 | PEAK the formant’s strength, up to one overtone alone |
| BREATH | BREATH level | RESONANCE air to glass | COLOR harmonic, odd, bell | SPREAD the voices’ width |
| BREATH II | GRAIN a hiss to sparse grains | PITCH the resonators: −12, UNISON, +12, +19, +24 | TONE the noise darker or brighter | AIR the noise itself, beside them |
DRONE PARAMSLink to this section
TIMBRE makes all three layers brighter or darker, SPACE sends more or less of the drone to the reverb, MOTION sets how far it drifts. BODY, at 100 % (the default), leaves the drone as its settings make it. Turned down, it thins it out without changing them: the choir closer and quieter, fewer partials, little breath, narrower, less warmth, its low body high-passed. ALGORITHM turns it too, on every page. A preset sets this page but BODY (see the drone’s presets).
CHOIR IILink to this section
SHAPE takes each saw toward a square at the middle: hollow, woody, the even harmonics gone. Past it come narrower pulses: bright, nasal. The pulse’s width sways on its own, as an old synthesizer’s does, more so toward the narrow end, and the voice is as loud all the way. INTERVAL moves the centre saw an octave down, a fifth up or an octave up, under or over its two detuned neighbours.
RESONANCE gives the filter a peak, from none (Q 0.5) to a whistle (Q 20); at the middle it is already clearly resonant. TYPE chooses the filter: LOW, a low-pass; BAND, a band-pass, nasal, vocal; HIGH, a high-pass, thin, airy. Each is levelled so the voice stays about as loud.
PARTIALS IILink to this section
EVOLVE sets how the partials’ levels wander. At 0 they wander only as MOTION has them; turned up, much deeper and up to four times quicker: partials come and go, and the spectrum changes colour on its own. BEAT makes each partial pulse at its own pace, from slow (about 0.15 Hz) to quick (about 7 Hz), deeper and quicker as it rises: a shimmering, beating texture, its loudness kept.
FORMANT and PEAK lift the partials around one harmonic, as a vowel does. FORMANT says where, H1 to H8 (H4 by default). PEAK lifts the partials near it, narrower as it rises; at the top only that harmonic sounds, the rest down to −30 dB: the drone sings one overtone, as in overtone singing. Sweep FORMANT with PEAK up, by hand or with one of the LFOs.
BREATH IILink to this section
GRAIN turns the hiss into grains, sparser as you turn it up: the resonators then ring like ice ticking, or rain on glass, more so with RESONANCE high. PITCH moves the resonators an octave down or up, a twelfth or two octaves up: an airy halo over the drone. TONE makes the noise darker (turned left) or brighter (right) before it reaches them. AIR adds the noise itself, beside the resonators: breath, or with GRAIN, crackle.
The processorLink to this section
They all start where the sound was before them. SHAPE, RESONANCE, TYPE, BEAT and AIR take more of the processor; with many voices and several of them up, FRASIL thins out the partials, then the voices, to keep the sound going.