Full Bucket Music RAGNAROK User manual

RAGNARÖK
Custom-built Performance/Lead Synthesizer
Version 1.2
© 2014-2019 by Björn Arlt @ Full Bucket Music
htt ://www.fullbucket.de/music
Hans Peter Willems, CrimsonWarlock aka TechnoGremlin
VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Cor oration
The Audio Units logo is a trademark of A le Com uter, Inc.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................3
Oscillator Section.........................................................5
LFO Section.................................................................6
Voice Selection Panels...................................................7
Filter Envelo e & Volume Envelo e Sections.....................8
Dynamic Filter Sections...............................................10
Out ut Sections.........................................................12
Static 7-band Filter Section..........................................13
Performance Section...................................................14
Voices Sections..........................................................15
Patch Memory............................................................16
Settings....................................................................18
Skinning su ort........................................................20
INI-File.....................................................................21
Parameter List...........................................................23
Bitma Reference List.................................................24
Frequently Asked Questions.........................................25

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Introduction
RAGNARÖK... what it is, and what it isn't
RAGNARÖK is a software reincarnation for Microsoft Windows (VST) and A le macOS
(VST/AU) of an existing, custom-built (and therefore one of a kind) hardware analog
synthesizer.
RAGNARÖK is NOT the next big thing in digital synthesis, nor is it a faithfully
modeledequivalent of a real hardware analog synthesizer. The RAGNARÖK-synthesizer
is basically a standard architecture VA-synthesizer, consisting of an oscillator section
running into a dynamically controlled filter that is followed by an envelo e-controlled
am lifier or out ut section. It has some additional sound-sha ing o tions by means of
an overdrive on the filter out ut and an additional 7-band static filter (also known as a
Gra hic EQ).
Where RAGNARÖK shines is in it's combination of 3 stacked and (slightly) detuned
oscillators with a divide-down array that re licates these 3 oscillators over four
octaves. This means it can do 3 (slightly) detuned oscillators AND 4 octave-tuned
oscillators AT THE SAME TIME, the equivalent of 12 oscillators on one voice. The
oscillators offer square and ulse waves simultaneously, so even those can be mixed
u . In addition to this there is yet another array of square wave oscillators available
that are tuned to an interval (default set at a fifth).
Although the original RAGNARÖK was urely mono honic, modern software
technology has made it ossible to have a oly honic version now. This adds
tremendously to the usefulness of the instrument.
History
The hardware version of RAGNARÖK was build in the early eighties (by Hans Peter),
and solely aimed at using on stage. Hence the ' erformance/lead' designation on the
lugin instrument. In those days, Moog-sounds where still in high demand, and the
more oscillators you could stack for a solo-sound, the better it was. A DIY synthesizer
kit, called the Chorosynth, layed into this idea by delivering the combined stacked
and octaved oscillators into a retty chea ackage. However, to kee the rice low,
there was only an am litude envelo e and no filters whatsoever. It also had no real
keyboard but used a stylus on an etched circuit board. The first incarnation of the
RAGNARÖK synth was merely the Chorosynth with a bolt-on real keyboard.
After about two years use on stage, the first version was rebuild into a new case, and
augmented with several modules from the Elektor Formant Modular synthesizer. It got
a very com lete multi- ole filter section, real envelo e-generators and several other
goodies that where available as DIY-kits. Although the Formant Modular was, well…
modular, in the RAGNARÖK synthesizer everything was hard-wired for stage use.
After several years the synthesizer was decommissioned and re laced with a Teisco
110F (another beautiful instrument). The hardware RAGNARÖK is still in Hans Peter's
ossession, but (sadly) no longer in working order.

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Collaboration
When Hans Peter (known as CrimsonWarlock on the KVR-forum) asked on the KVR-
forum for a develo er who would be interested to bring this eighties rarity back to life,
secretly he was ho ing that Björn (Full Bucket) would take u the challenge. As a user
of VST-instruments, Hans Peter really liked the stuff Björn was doing, but additionally
it seemed that the RAGNARÖK synthesizer was really fitting into the line of stuff Björn
had made so far. To cut a long story short; Björn indeed saw this roject as a nice
o ortunity and the resulting collaboration delivered what you are now looking at.
•DSP-coding by Björn Arlt (Full Bucket Music).
•Synthesizer conce t, GUI-design and User-manual by Hans Peter Willems
(CrimsonWarlock aka TechnoGremlin).
•Additional functional conce ts by Björn Arlt.
•Patch- rogramming (default bank) by Hans Peter & Björn.
The original RAGNARÖK synthesizer – Image courtesy of Hans eter Willems.
hat’s New ith Version 1.2?
A art from being available now for both Windows and macOS, RAGNARÖK has got the
standard Full Bucket Start-u bank feature etc. and some minor fixes & u dates.

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Oscillator Section
The oscillators are actually found in the 'Voice Selection anels' (see next cha ter).
However, this section has some 'global' setting for the oscillators.
Source Mix
Besides the big stack of oscillators/waves in this synthesizer, there is additional white
noise available as a sound source. This caters to ercussion sounds, nature sounds
(water, wind, thunder), and can add some character to oscillator-based sounds when
mixed in subtly.
The 'Source Mix' knob will deliver only oscillator signal when set fully counter
clockwise, and only the noise signal when set fully clockwise. In between you can mix
both signals to the desired mix-ratio.
Pitch Modulation
This art of the oscillator section has the setting for modulating the oscillator itch
with an LFO (low frequency oscillator). Because the RAGNARÖK synth is aimed at
erformance lay and much less (or totally not, de ending on your view) at
ex erimental sounds and/or sound-effects, the LFO has only one waveform: sine-
wave. This is the traditional waveform used for vibrato.
LFO: This sets the amount of LFO signal, which is basically the 'de th' of the vibrato-
effect, also known as the modulation de th. Oscillator modulation de th can be set
from zero (no modulation) to +/- 12 semitones (one full octave u and down).

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LFO Section
Speed
This sets the frequency of the LFO. The s eed can be set between 0.001 Hz and 100
Hz.
Ramp
This is a delay time that makes the LFO-signal fade in after a short delay. This makes
it ossible to create mod-wheel like vibrato and wah-wah effects without actually
using a mod-wheel.
NOTE 1: As a side-note; the original RAGNARÖK did not have a mod-wheel and this
functionality was used as a substitute for that.
NOTE 2: The LFO signal is also available in the Filter-section for Filter Cutoff
modulation. Both 'Speed' and 'Ramp' are affecting the Filter modulation when used
there.
NOTE 3: When using the mod-wheel options (see Settings-section) the modulation
will take the ramp into account, so no modulation is heard when using the mod-wheel
before any set ramp-time.

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Voice Selection Panels
The voice selection anels is where the original architecture of the hardware (and the
underlying Chorosynth) is most visible, and s ecific for the sound character of
RAGNARÖK. There are se arate sections for the waveforms (square and ulse),
interval tones and multi-voice o tion.
Square ave & Pulse ave
There are four octaves available for both square waves and ulse waves. You can mix
both octaves and waves at will. Stacking the same octave for both square and ulse
gives a different timbre than either one of those a art.
Interval
The interval octave buttons add an additional (square) voice for the selected octave,
that is by default set to an interval of a 'fifth'. You can change the interval in the
'settings' section with the 'int' knob. The interval can also be set to (close to) the base
tuning, for additional chorus/ haser like effects.
Multi Voice
This is the most im ortant section of the voices: it handles RAGNARÖK's 3-voice
s read/detune o tion for all the square and ulse voices. By switching on an octave in
this section, it will set both the square and ulse for that octave (if in use) to 3
oscillators that are slightly detuned for a big chorus effect. The amount of detuning
can be set in the settings section with the 's r.' knob. This setting is atch de endent.

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Filter Envelope & Volume Envelope Sections
The filter envelo e generator and volume envelo e generator are identical and hard-
wired to their res ective destinations. The envelo e generators are of the traditional
ADSR-ty e, meaning Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. They can be switched from
ADSR to AD mode for ercussive sounds.
Attack
Sets the attack-time of the envelo e. This is basically the time it takes for the sound
to go to full volume and/or filter cutoff, from the start of a note.
Decay
The decay is the time it takes to 'fall back' to a lower level (of sustain), directly after
the 'attack' art reaches it's maximum level. Decay is used for exam le for ercussive
and brass-like sounds, or anything that needs some sort of ' eak' in the sound or
volume.
NOTE: This setting is obviously only 'doing something' if 'sustain' is set to less then
100% (full right). If sustain is set to full, there is no level to 'decay to'.
Sustain
The sustain level is the level where the envelo e will 'hold', after the two revious
stages, when a note is held for a longer time. You can set the sustain from 0%
(meaning 'no sustain' but sometimes useful) to 100% meaning the note is sustained
at it's maximum level of volume and/or timbre.
Release
The release time is the time it takes the envelo e to 'fall back' to zero, after the
release of the note. It is used when we want a sound to (slowly) fade away when the
keys are released, instead of abru tly being 'switched off' after the note ending.

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ADSR/AD switch
This switch sets the envelo e to either ADSR mode (default) or AD mode.
ADSR-mode: The envelo e behaves basically as described above. When combined
with a zero sustain level you can have a different release based on how long you hold
a note. Holding a note will give you the decay time, releasing the note before the
decay time is done will go to the release time.
AD-mode: This switches off the sustain level and gives you only the decay time.
When combined with a sustain level higher then zero, this switch let you move quickly
( erformance) between a ercussive or a sustained version of the sound.
The typical ADSR-envelope curve.

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Dynamic Filter Sections
The dynamic filter is a traditional multi- ole VCF architecture with several modulation
o tions and variable key-tracking. In addition the filter has an overdrive-stage on the
out ut, before going in to the 7-band static filter.
dB/oct. Switch
You can set the filter between 1 and 4 oles, meaning you can choose 6, 12, 18 or 24
dB slo e for the filter cutoff. The 24 dB filter sound was made famous mainly by the
Moog synthesizers, while 18 and 12 dB are more sounding like (old) Korg and Roland
synthesizers. Basically more oles gives a 'rounder' sound while less oles gives a
more aggressive and electronic sound.
NOTE: Mouse-action of this knob is horizontal, because the rotation spans only the
(somewhat) horizontal top part of the rotation scale. Addionally, you can click on the
'scale-part' for any option and the knob will jump to that setting.
HP/LP switch
You can choose between a high- ass filter and a low- ass filter (default). Both filter
ty es cater for com letely different sounds, es ecially in combination with the
envelo e generator.
Cutoff
The cutoff frequency determines the 'brightness' (or lack thereof) of the sound. In
combination with modulation by the envelo e and/or the LFO, all kinds of very
characteristic sounds can be made. The cutoff together with the envelo e modulation
basically define the fundamental character of a atch/sound.
Reso
Resonance (Reso) determines how much the frequency at the cutoff oint is hy ed.
High resonance settings gives very aggressive and electronic sounding effects.
NOTE: The filter is capable of self-oscillation.

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Key Track
This knob determines how much the cutoff frequency is 'tracking' with the keyboard.
When using 'key track', the filter will adjust the cutoff frequency when laying higher
or lower notes. This is mainly used for lead sounds, but can also be very effective
when laying oly honic with high notes and accom anying low notes that you want
to sound 'lower'.
Modulation
LFO: This knob sets the amount of LFO-modulation for the cutoff frequency. You can
use this for wah-wah effects and more subtle s ectral movement in a sound.
nvelope: This knob sets the amount of envelo e modulation for the cutoff
frequency. This knob has two directions: you can set the envelo e signal as normal or
as inverted. When the envelo e is inverted, all envelo e slo es move in o osite
direction (attack goes down, decay goes u , etc.).

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Output Sections
Overdrive
RAGNARÖK has a nice overdrive stage at the end of the filter, to add some grit and
dirt if needed. This gives traditional overdrive/distortion like sounds, but can also be
used to get even more aggressive, ring-modulator like sounds when combined with
the interval setting for the voice selection.
NOTE: There is only one overdrive that is shared by all voices. This is similar to
having an overdive-effect on the output of the synthesizer. The hardware-version of
RAGNARÖK was actually used in combination with an overdrive stomp-box.
Volume
This is just a final out ut level that sets the amount of signal that is coming out of the
synthesizer. With all the voice stacking, filter o tions and distortion, a sound can get
retty loud and you might want/need to dial it down to revent the in ut channel of
your DAW from cli ing.

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Static 7-band Filter Section
The static 7-band filter is basically a tuned 7-band EQ. Frequency bands are tuned for
sound sha ing as o osed to basic equalization duties, although it can obviously be
used that way as well.
The filter works and behaves as a 'normal' gra hic EQ. The frequency res onse is flat
when the sliders are at the mid- osition. Above the mid- osition frequencies are
boosted, while below the mid- osition they are dam ened.
NOTE¹: Although there are no modulation options for the 7-band filter within
RAGNARÖK, all parameters of the synthesizer are externally automate-able.
NOTE²: There is only one 7-band filter that is shared by all the voices.

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Performance Section
The erformance section holds all the settings for keyboard
erformance ( ortamento, legato and envelo e re-trigger) and
external trigger/re eat o tions.
Portamento
Speed: This knob sets the time it takes to 'glide' from one note to
another, when ortamento is active (de ending on the legato
switch, see below).
Legato: With this switched on, you only have ortamento when
laying 'legato', meaning 'holding the revious note while laying
the new note'. This is most obvious when laying mono honic or
with '1 voice' set.
NOTE: RAGNARÖK has polyphonic portamento. However, this is pretty hard to achieve
with more then 4 voices, so legato should better be switched off in that case.
Envelope
Mode switch: This sets the 'trigger behavior' of the synthesizer, meaning how the
envelo es are being triggered.
•Normal means that a note lays when a key is layed (or sequenced).
•Repeat sets the key-trigger in re eat from the LFO. The s eed of the re eating
notes is set with the LFO-s eed knob. The length of the re eated notes is set
with the 'len.' knob in the settings section.
•Host sets the re eat locked to the host tem o. Same as 're eat', the length of
the re eated notes is set with the 'len.' knob in the settings section. Also, the
host sync can be set to several time signatures with the … o tion in the settings
o u -menu (button besides the 'len.' knob in the settings section).
NOTE: The repeat and host sync options only sync the tempo of the repeated notes
but NOT the exact timing of the notes: this makes for the possibility of creating
arpeggiator-like patterns in a performance, based on the timing of the notes played
(or sequenced). Try this with any (slow) repeat or host sync and playing notes with
different timings (use polyphony) to hear the effect and experiment with the
possibilities.
NOTE: The mouse-behavior of this knob is similar to the Filter dB/oct. Switch.
Retrig switch (re-trigger): This switch determines if the envelo es are re-triggered
when a new note is layed in legato mode. Re-trigger 'on' means that any noted
layed will re-trigger the envelo es, off means that the envelo es will only re-trigger
when all revious notes are released.
NOTE: Retrig also works in polyphonic mode, but might be hard to use with more then
4 voices.

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Voices Sections
The voices section sets the amount of available voices for the synthesizer. Using less
voices means using less CPU for the synthesizer. Setting this to '1' voice means the
synthesizer behaves as a mono honic synthesizer, which activates all the ortamento,
legato and re-trigger o tions in the erformance section.
Voices amount can be set to several resets: 1 (mono honic), 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64.

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Patch Memory
The atch management section makes it easy to manage and organize atches inside
a (loaded) atch bank. Es ecially when doing sound-design or tweaks, having atch
management inside RAGNARÖK makes it sim le to name, rename and organize
atches.
Prev./Next buttons
Es ecially for auditioning atch banks, these buttons make it easy to quickly ste
through the available sounds in a (loaded) atch bank. Previous and Next are self-
ex lanatory.
File button
Copy Program: This o tion co ies the current atch to an internal cli board, so you
can aste it into another location in the bank. Handy for rearranging and if you want
to start a new atch based on an existing atch, without overwriting the existing
atch.
Paste Program: This o tion is only active if the 'co y' function was used and the
internal cli board holds a co ied atch. Using this o tion will write the co ied atch
into the currently selected slot.
NOTE: you get a confirmation warning, asking if you are sure to overwrite the
currently selected patch.
Load Program: If your DAW does not su ort atch management, you can use this
o tion to load an individual atch in FXP-format.
Save Program: This o tion let you save the currently loaded atch as an individual
FXP-file. Make sure to name the atch first; the FXP-filename is NOT the same as the
atch name (although you would robably name them similar).
Load Bank: This o tion will load a full RAGNARÖK atch-bank in FXB-format. This will
re lace the default atch-bank in the currently loaded instance only.
Save Bank: This o tion will save the com lete atch-bank from RAGNARÖK into a
standard FXB-file.
Init Program: This o tion will reset all controls to the default 'INIT' setting. The INIT-
setting is meant to hel when creating new sounds from scratch, and gives a 'clean
slate' to start from.

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Reload Configuration: RAGNARÖK comes with a INI-file that makes it ossible to
have a default ma ing for MIDI-controllers (also see the manual section: INI-file).
This menu-o tion will reload the INI-file in case you made changes to it and want to
use/test it right away.
Save Configuration: Save the RAGNARÖK’s INI-file (see section: INI-file)
Select Startup Bank: Select the bank file that should always be loaded when the
RAGNARÖK is started.
Load Startup Bank: Load the Startu bank file; can also be used to check what the
current Startu bank is.
Unselect Startup Bank: Unselect the current Startu bank
Check Online for Update: When connected to the Internet, this function will check if
a newer version of the RAGNARÖK is available at fullbucket.de.
Visit fullbucket.de: O en fullbucket.de in your standard browser.
Init. Button
This button initializes the current atch/ osition in the bank, so you can start a new
sound from scratch. All synthesizer settings are set to a default osition and the actual
atch is renamed to 'INIT'.
Renaming patches
You can sim ly rename a atch by clicking in the name-dis lay. ESC-key while editing
reverts to the name that was there, ENTER-key writes the changed name into the
atch-bank.
NOTE: Writing the patch name into the bank does not mean 'storing on disk'. You
need to save the patch/bank to store any changes (name and/or parameters) for later
retrieval.

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Settings
The settings section contains several o tions for erformance, host-sync and basic
settings for the synthesizer like itchbend-range and base-tuning. There are also
setting that influence the s read/detune and interval o tions in the voice-selection
anels.
Tun.
Tuning: This is the basic tuning of the instrument. Default tuning is A-440Hz. Tuning
is stored for each atch, so you need to (re)tune each atch that you want to use with
that tuning.
Len.
Trigger length: The knob sets the trigger length (duty-cycle) of the re eat function
in the erformance section. This is equal to the time a key is ressed if you would
re eat a note on a keyboard.
Int.
Interval: This knob sets the note-interval for the 'Interval' voices in the voice
selection anel. Default interval is a 'fifth'. You can tune the interval back to center
tuning (and both above or under that) for additional chorus-like effects in addition to
the 'S read' o tion (see below).
Spr.
Spread/Detune: This is where the RAGNARÖK magic ha ens: the knob sets the
s read/detune of the three oscillators (for each octave) that you can switch on in the
'multi-voice' section of the voice selection anels. Detune goes from 'exact tune' to 1
semitone detune where the three voices are detuned at equal distances between
-/+ 1 semitone.

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Settings-button [ … ]
The settings-button o ens a o u -menu with several o tions. These o tions are also
atch-de endant.
Sync-to-Host Rate: This sets the timing 'interval' in relation to the host-sync trigger
(if used). There are many o tions including tri lets. Pitch Bend Range: This sets the
maximum range of the itchbend wheel, in semitones. Available o tions are 2 (one
whole note), 3, 5, 7 and 12 (one full octave).
Mod Wheel Filter:→ This sets the 'amount' of how much the mod-wheel influences
the filter-cutoff frequency. The mod-wheel adds or subtracts from the value set by the
filter-cutoff knob and the other modulation signals (envelo e and LFO). There are four
slo es available: 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%.
Mod Wheel LFO to Osc:→ This switches the mod-wheel to control the LFO-to-
Oscillator behavior. This works in a s ecific way:
•If the ' itch modulation' amount is zero, the mod-wheel has no effect.
•If there is a certain amount of ' itch modulation' set, the mod-wheel modulates
between zero and the set amount.
•If there is a 'ram -time' set, the mod-wheel again will modulate between zero
and the set amount of ' itch-modulation'. However, the mod-wheel takes the
ram -time into account, meaning there is zero mod-wheel influence at the start
of the ram -time, going u to the full itch-modulation amount at the end of
the ram -time.
Mod Wheel LFO to Filter:→ This switches the mod-wheel to control the LFO-to-
Filter behavior. This works in a s ecific way:
•If the 'LFO modulation' (in the filter-section) amount is zero, the mod-wheel has
no effect.
•If there is a certain amount of 'LFO modulation' set, the mod-wheel modulates
between zero and the set amount.
•If there is a 'ram -time' set, the mod-wheel again will modulate between zero
and the set amount of 'LFO-modulation'. However, the mod-wheel takes the
ram -time into account, meaning there is zero mod-wheel influence at the start
of the ram -time, going u to the full LFO-modulation amount at the end of the
ram -time.

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Skinning support
RAGNARÖK has rudimentary skinning su ort; You can easily re lace the background
gra hic (the default gra hic is bundled in the download) and any of the gra hics for
the controls, without the need to actually 'hack' the lugin DLL-file.
NOTE: This functionality was implemented because several users wanted to alter the
color-scheme of the GUI. But using specific tools to replace the graphics in the DLL
isn't as easy and straightforward, and might damage the DLL and prevent it from
working.
IMPORTANT: as of now (release 1.1.0) it is no longer allowed to alter the DLL in any
way, simply because it is no longer needed. The prohibition of changing the DLL (from
now on) is meant to prevent from several hacked versions going around in any way or
form (which was prohibited anyway).
How does it work
You sim ly ut the edited gra hics in any folder of your choosing, so you know the
atch to where they are stored. Now by adding the s ecific ath for any GUI gra hics,
to the INI-file (see next section), Ragnarök will load this gra hic and overrule the
default one with it.
Important: The re lacing gra hics need to have the same size and control lacement
to work correctly. Also knob/slider gra hics need to have the exact same size and
number of frames to work correctly. It is not ossible to alter the lacement of
controls, as that is handled by code in the lugin.
The s ecific syntax for utting gra hic aths in the INI-file can be found in the section
below.