u-he Beat beatzille User manual

beatzille
modular FM & PD synthesizer
user guide
version 1.0.2, 22. July 2021!
u-he • Heckmann Audio GmbH • BERLIN

Introduction 4
Bazille vs BeatZille 4.................................................................
Resources 5..............................................................................
GUI Components 5...................................................................
MIDI Specialities 7....................................................................
The Control Bar 8.....................................................................
The Oscilloscope 9...................................................................
GUI Size 9................................................................................
Preset Browser 10
Overview 10..............................................................................
Directory Panel 11.....................................................................
Presets Panel 14......................................................................
Preset Info 16...........................................................................
Installing Soundsets 16.............................................................
Search 17.................................................................................
Oscillators 18
Pitch 19.....................................................................................
Phase / FM 20..........................................................................
Phase Distortion 21..................................................................
Fractal Resonance 22...............................................................
Outputs 22................................................................................
LFO 23
Filter 25
Envelopes 26
Outputs 27
Processors 28
Quantizer 28.............................................................................
Sample & Hold 28.....................................................................
Inverter 28.................................................................................
Rectifier 28................................................................................
Lag Generators 28....................................................................
Voice, Pitch and Glide 29
Voice 29....................................................................................
Pitch 30.....................................................................................
Glide 31....................................................................................

Mapping Generator 32
Multiplex 34
MIDI & More 36
Modulation Sequencer 37
Divide, Time and Trigger 37......................................................
Snapshot Dial / Rotate 38.........................................................
Snapshot Values 39..................................................................
How to Trigger Envelopes 40....................................................
Delay 41
Configuration 42
MIDI Control 42.........................................................................
Preferences 44.........................................................................
Tips & Tricks 46
General Tips 46........................................................................
Oscillator Tricks 46....................................................................
Filter Tricks 47...........................................................................
Mapping Tricks 48.....................................................................
Processor Tricks 48..................................................................
Multiplex Tricks 49....................................................................
Sequencer Tricks 50.................................................................

INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Bazille vs BeatZille
BeatZille is a functionally reduced ‘magware’ version of the mighty Bazille, courtesy of the German
music technology magazine BEAT (see link on the next page). Here are the main differences
between the full version available from the u-he website, and BeatZille:
Note: BeatZille presets can be loaded into Bazille, but not the other way round.
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 4
Bazille
BeatZille
Oscillators
4
2
Filters
4
1
LFOs
2
1
Envelopes
4, with Fall / Rise range control
2, no F/R range
Ramp Generators
2
0
Modulation Mapper
2
1
Dual Lag Generators
2
1
Effects
Distortion, Delay, Phaser, Spring Reverb
Delay only
HQ mode
YES
NO
Multicore mode
YES
NO
Maximum polyphony
16
8
Stacking
up to 8 voices
NO
Microtuning
.TUN and MTS-ESP
MTS-ESP only
Preset Tagging
YES
NO
Preset Favourites
8 colour coded ‘Favourites’ smart folders
Favourite 1 only

INTRODUCTION
Resources
Beat magazin https://www.beat.de/thema/magazin
u-he online
•For downloads, news articles and support, go to the u-he website
•For lively discussions about u-he products, go to the u-he forum
•For friendship and informal news updates, go to our facebook page
•For video tutorials and more, go to our youtube channel
u-he team 2021 (Q3)
•Urs Heckmann (boss code, concepts)
•Jayney Klimek (office management)
•Howard Scarr (user guides, presets, necessary grump)
•Rob Clifton-Harvey (IT admin, backend development)
•Sebastian Greger (GUI design, 3D stuff)
•Jan Storm (framework, more code)
•Alexandre Bique (all things Linux)
•Oddvar Manlig (business development)
•Viktor Weimer (support, presets, the voice)
•Thomas Binek (QA, bug-hunting, presets)
•Henna Gramentz (office supervision, support)
•Frank Hoffmann (framework, new browser)
•Alf Klimek (tagging, rock-stardom, studio)
•Sebastian Hübert (media, synthwave)
•David Schornsheim (more code)
•Stephan Eckes (yet more code)
•Luca Christakopoulos (communication design)
GUI Components
Knobs and sliders
There are two types of controls: unipolar and bipolar. Unipolar knobs and sliders only allow
positive values, while the bipolar knobs and sliders allow negative values, often within a range
of -100 to +100. In the above image (the oscillator tuning controls) you can easily see that the
Tune knob is unipolar (it starts at zero), while the Modify knob is bipolar. Note: while envelope
sliders are unipolar, the sequencer sliders are bipolar.
All knobs and sliders react as follows:
•Coarse control: Click+hold with the left mouse button, then drag up or down.
•Fine control: For 0.01 steps, hold down one of the SHIFT keys beforehand.
•Mouse wheel: If your mouse has a scroll wheel, you can hover over the knob/slider and roll
the wheel. For finer control, hold down a SHIFT key. If your mouse wheel has noticeable
‘grains’ when rolled, set the Mouse Wheel Raster option in the Configuration page to ‘on’.
•Reset to default value: Double-clicking a knob reverts to a useful default value, often zero.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 5

INTRODUCTION
Selectors
The orange-on-black text fields contain a list of options. Click on a selector to open the list, or
roll your mouse wheel to scroll through the values or options.
Sockets and cables
BeatZille modules are connected together (‘patched’) using virtual cables. The sockets are
colour-coded: inputs are grey while outputs are red – worth remembering!
To make a connection, drag and drop between an output and an input socket (either direction
will work). Outputs will happily accommodate several cables, while inputs will accept just one –
the new connection will simply replace the existing one.
As a rule, you can’t connect two inputs together, but there’s actually an exception: Dragging a
cable from an unused input to another that is already in use creates a so-called ‘daisy chain’ –
the source is patched to both inputs, the signal is passed on from one input to the next. Try it!
Click on a socket / the end of a cable for the following functions:
•move inputs – drag+drop from the used input to a different socket.
•duplicate cable – as above, but shift+drag+drop: creates a new cable from the same output.
•move the output – right-click on the output end, drag+drop onto a different output. "
Note: While dragging you will see a straight line connected to the original output sockets.
•remove cables – either double-click the input end, or drag+drop away from the input socket.
•change cable colour – click repeatedly (but slowly) on the input end until the cable has the
colour you want. Take care not to double-click, as this will remove the connection.
Right-click on any input socket, even if it is unused, to change the opacity and style (thickness)
of all cables. Note: These options are also available in the Preferences page.
Parameter locking
Lock any parameter by right-clicking on the knob / slider / selector. Important: You can still
adjust the value! The lock simply ensures that it won’t change when you switch presets. To
unlock again, right-click and untick ‘Locked’.
While the current implementation of parameter locking is useful for retaining e.g. Microtuning or
Fine tuning while changing presets, it is less suitable for values in the modulation sequencer, as
locking each one individually means working with up to 8 x 16 = 128 locks!
GUI size
Right-clicking anywhere in the background opens a context menu containing the user interface
size options as percentage and width x height in pixels. Please note, however, that setting the
size here is only temporary: To specify a default GUI size for each new instance of BeatZille, go
to the Preferences.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 6

INTRODUCTION
Computer keyboard
The following modifier keys are used in the mapping generators and the patch browser:
MIDI Specialities
Multichannel MIDI
This feature supports a growing class of expressive ‘performance’ instruments that can send
each note via a separate MIDI channel. For Beatzille to respond correctly, the host application
needs to route multiple MIDI channels to a single instance of Beatzille. Each voice will then
react individually to the performance controls pitch bend, aftertouch, mod wheel, Control A and
Control B.
While multichannel MIDI is being received, voice modes Poly, Mono and Legato are practically
identical: Beatzille behaves like (up to) 16 mono synths with the same sound. Note that the
maximum number of Voices (see TWEAKS) still applies as voices can still be stolen across
multiple channels. The Duo mode is not channel-aware i.e. all MIDI channels are merged.
Single trigger modulation sources (e.g. LFOs with Phase mode set to ‘single’) will listen to the
channel of the first voice being played.
Poly pressure (polyphonic aftertouch)
As well as regular channel aftertouch, Beatzille also recognizes and reacts appropriately to
polyphonic aftertouch – each note within a chord will receive separate aftertouch data.
MTS-ESP
Beatzille now supports Oddsound MTS-ESP, a system for microtuning multiple plug-ins within a
DAW environment. The freeware ‘Mini’ version is all you need to get started. In the full version
of Bazille, MTS-ESP can be overridden by activating Bazille’s own microtuning, for instance with
the .tun file Default Scale.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 7
Mac / macOS
PC / Windows
shift = shift, ⇧
shift = shift, ⇧
opt = option, ⌥, alt, alternate
ctrl = control
cmd = command, ⌘, apple…
alt = alternate

INTRODUCTION
The Control Bar
Along the top and in both side panels are several ‘global’ elements…
Page switches
In the lefthand side-panel are two vertical buttons used for selecting the following views:
SYNTH for sound design, with access to all parameters on a single page........................
PRESETS for loading / marking / moving presets, and for selecting the ‘current folder’...................
Note: The words ‘patch’ and ‘preset’ mean practically the same thing in this user guide!
MIDI
At the top left is an indicator which flashes whenever MIDI data is received.
Data display
The data display has several duties: It normally shows the name of the current patch. Clicking
on the triangles to the left and right steps backwards and forwards through all patches, and
clicking on the middle of the display lets you select a patch from the current folder.
While BeatZille is being edited, parameter names and values are displayed here. Whenever you
stop editing for a few seconds, the patch name reappears.
Initialize
To load a simple template, right-click on the data display and select init (initialize). If you want to
start from scratch every time you open an instance of BeatZille, save this under the name
default in the Local root directory.
Undo / redo
To the right is a pair of undo and redo buttons. Although the number of steps in the buffer is
limited, you can even undo a change of preset. Inadvertently switching presets doesn’t mean
that your work is lost – simply ‘undo’ the change!
Save
See Save in the section about the preset browser (two pages down).
Output
The main volume control and signal level / overload indicator. The indicator glows red if your
output signal is too loud (causing unwanted digital distortion).!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 8

INTRODUCTION
The u-he badge
Clicking on the u-he badge at the top right opens a popup menu containing direct links to this
user guide, to our homepage, to our support forum, and to various social networks.
The Oscilloscope
Check and adjust waveforms, monitor the effects of modulation or filtering, view envelope shapes
etc.. Or just watch it for the entertainment value!
The scope displays a mono sum of the output, before the Delay effect. The Frequency knob on the
left adjusts horizontal resolution, while the Scale knob on the right adjusts vertical resolution.
Right-click in the scope to select visual effects: glow, fire and wind add different fade-out effects at
the cost of some extra CPU. These modes are also a bit more sluggish than fast or eco.
GUI Size
Right-click anywhere in the background to adjust the size of BeatZille’s window in 10% steps. Note
however that setting the size here is only temporary: To specify a default GUI size for every new
instance of BeatZille, go to the Preferences.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 9

PRESETS
Preset Browser
Overview
You can load presets in the current folder by clicking on the data display and selecting from the
menu, and step through them by clicking on the triangles next to the data display. However,
BeatZille also has a powerful browser – click the vertical [PATCHES] button on the far left…
Most of the GUI is replaced by a set of three connected panels: Folders appear on the left, presets
in the centre and information about the currently active preset on the right. If you can’t see the
folders 01 to 10, click on the triangle to the left of Local. If you can’t see the PRESET INFO pane at
all, click on the [≡]button in the top right and activate Show Preset Info.
The Local root directory contains a representative selection of presets copied from the subfolders.
Immediately after loading a preset (by clicking on its name) you can step through all the others
using your computer’s cursor keys.
Close the browser by clicking on the vertical [SYNTH] button on the far left.
Default preset
Whenever BeatZille starts it checks whether the Local root contains a preset called default, which
is then loaded instead of the demo preset. Note that default will not appear in the browser.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 10

PRESETS
Directory Panel
Local
BeatZille’s factory presets are sorted into 5 category folders. We recommend that you don’t add
to or remove any presets from Local, but save all your creations in the User folder (see below).
MIDI Programs
Local also contains a folder called ‘MIDI Programs’. All presets (up to 128) present in this folder
will be loaded into memory when the first instance of BeatZille starts. MIDI Programs can then
be switched via MIDI Program Change. As the MIDI Programs are accessed in alphabetical
order, it’s best to prefix each name with an index ‘000 rest-of-name’ to ‘127 rest-of-name’.
Unlike regular presets, MIDI Programs cannot be added, removed or renamed on the fly.
Changes will only take effect after the host application has been restarted.
The MIDI Programs folder can contain up to 127 sub-folders of 128 presets, switched via Bank
Select messages (CC#0) preceding the Program Change message. The MIDI Programs folder
itself is bank 0, sub-folders are addressed in alphabetical order starting with bank 1.
When BeatZille receives a program change it will display the bank and program numbers to the
left of the preset name e.g. ‘0:0’ for the first preset in the first bank (in certain hosts the first
bank/preset is designated ‘1’ instead of the correct ‘0’).
To avoid another possible source of confusion: Make sure that there are no junked presets in
the MIDI Programs folder. All files there will be adressed, even those that are hidden.
User
This is the best place for your own creations as well as third party soundsets. You can either
select the ‘User’ folder immediately before saving the preset, or set a global preference which
ensures that it will always be saved there – see the Preference Save Presets To.
Tip: To find out where the User folder resides on your computer, hold down option (Mac) or ctrl
(Windows), right-click on the User folder and select Show in Finder / Explorer.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 11

PRESETS
Smart Folders
The other folders do not contain files, but display the results of querying a database of presets.
The content is therefore dynamic i.e. it will change whenever the underlying data changes.
Search History
Click on this folder to display the results of past searches (maximum 10). If you want the search
results to be more permanent, right-click and select Save Search... – see below. To remove all
searches from the list, right-click on the ‘Search History’ folder and select Clear.
Saved Searches
This folder contains searches that have been saved via right click from the Search History. To
remove individual saved searches, right-click on the search and select Delete.
Banks
These smart folders reference metadata about preset origin – the version of the factory library
or the name of the soundset with which the preset was installed. See Preset Info a few pages
down. Banks are (or will be) predefined for factory presets as well as u-he soundsets.
You can even create your own custom banks: Drag & drop one or more presets onto the ‘Bank’
folder then enter a suitable bank name into the dialogue box.
To remove Bank attributes from selected presets, either drag & drop them onto the ‘no Bank’
folder you will see at the bottom of the Bank list, or right-click on the Bank and select Remove
Presets from Bank. Empty Banks will disappear.
Favourites
Presets dropped onto the ‘Favourite 1’ folder will be marked as such. The Favourite status can
be removed from all presets by right-clicking on ‘Favourite 1’ and selecting Remove All
Favourite 1 Marks – see Presets context menu a few pages down.
Junk
A smart folder pointing to junked presets (see ‘Presets context menu’ on the next page). Files
dropped onto this folder will normally disappear from the browser, but you can select Show Junk
in the Presets context menu.
Like Favourites, Junk can even be exported/imported (as Junk.uhe-fav).
Junk marks can be removed globally by right-clicking on the Junk folder and selecting Remove
All Junk Marks. If hidden, all junked presets will reappear in the browser.
Author
Smart folders for each Author. Tip: Instead of signing each of your creations, you could sign just
one of them, then select them all and drag onto ‘Author/(You)/’. As the process cannot be
undone, please use this feature with caution! See also the section Internal Drag & Drop a few
pages down.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 12
You can drag & drop any smart folder content onto e.g. ‘User’ or the desktop (see
External Drag & Drop) to create folders containing real copies of those presets!

PRESETS
Directory context menu
Right-click on any folder within ‘Local’ or ‘User’ to open this menu:
Refresh
Update the contents of the browser.
Create New…
Insert an empty subdirectory.
Rename…
Edit the folder name.
Open in Finder / Explorer:
Opens a system window for the currently selected folder. If you hold down the option key (Mac)
or ctrl key (Windows), this entry will change to Show in Finder / Explorer and the folder will be
highlighted instead of opened.
Move to Trash / Recycle Bin
Moves the selected folder and all its contents to the trash.
On Open Expand to
The options here determine how deeply the browser will open any sub-directories whenever the
GUI is opened or the Refresh function is called. The first option (none) collapses all folders,
while the final option (all levels) reveals all nested folders.
Show Folder Icons
Unselecting this hides all icons in the directory except the Junk symbol.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 13
Refresh
Create New…
Rename…
Open in Finder *
Move to Trash
On Open Expand to
Show Folder Icons

PRESETS
Presets Panel
The central, unlabelled area of the browser displays all presets in the current folder. Click to select.
Presets context menu
Right-click to open a menu containing functions that can be applied to individual presets.
Mark as Favourite
Choose as a ‘Favourite’. The entry will be replaced with Unmark as Favourite. The index ‘1’ is
for compatibility with the full version of Bazille, which offers 8 colour-coded Favourite options.
Mark as Junk / Show Junk
Instead of deleting presets, you can mark them as ‘junk’ so that they disappear from the
browser. Activate Show Junk to display junked files and mark them with a STOP symbol.
Select All, Deselect
See ‘Multiple Selection’ on the next page.
Rename…
Use this function to change the name of a preset.
Copy to User Folder / Duplicate
The entry here depends on the status of the Save Presets To preference as well as on the
location of the source preset(s) i.e. whether they are in the Local or the User folder. Selected
presets are copied with a number appended to the name, which increments (just like the Auto
Versioning option) so that no preset can be overwritten by mistake.
Show in Finder / Explorer
Opens a system window for the right-clicked file. In smart folders only, holding down an option
key (Mac) or ctrl key (Windows) replaces this entry with Show in Browser, which shows the
currently selected file in its original location within Beatzille’s browser.
Convert to native / h2p / h2p extended
This resaves selected presets in the format specified by right-clicking on the [SAVE] button.
Move to Trash / Recycle Bin
Immediately moves the selected preset(s) to the system trash.
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 14
Mark as Favourite 1
Select All
Deselect
Show Junk
Rename…
Copy to User Folder *
Show in Finder *
Convert to h2p *
Move to Trash *
Mark as Junk

PRESETS
Restore
While in the browser you can audition presets without losing track of the one that was previously
loaded: Click the [RESTORE] button to get back to where you were before entering the browser.
Scan / ready
In the top right of the presets panel is a dark rectangle normally labelled ‘ready’. Whenever you
use the refresh function (see the Directory context menu on the previous page), this turns into a
progress indicator while the preset database is being refreshed. The process should only take a
few seconds, even for a very large preset library.
Multiple selection
A block of adjacent presets can be selected via shift+click, and individual presets can be added
to the selection via cmd+click (Mac) / alt+click (Windows). Presets can be moved to a different
folder via drag & drop (see below). To deselect, either click on an unselected preset or choose
Deselect from the context menu.
Internal Drag & Drop
You can drag and drop single or multiple files from the preset panel onto any folders in the
directory panel. Files dragged onto regular folders will be moved unless you hold an option
(Mac) or ctrl (Windows) key, in which case they will be copied instead.
Files dropped onto smart folders will adopt the attribute of that folder: For instance, you can set
the Author for several presets at once.
External Drag & Drop
To manage your preset library externally you can drag presets and folders between BeatZille’s
browser and your desktop or any system window.
On the Mac most Finder operations will automatically update the browser. Updating might not
be immediate when using multiple formats or multiple host applications, but all it usually takes is
a click on the GUI or in the directory tree (sets focus to the clicked instance of BeatZille).
On Windows systems, a manual Refresh (see Directory context menu) will be required before
changes to the contents of the browser appear.
Another little helper: If you drag a Beatzille preset from e.g. your desktop and drop it onto the
Data Display, it will be loaded but not automatically saved.
Exporting smart folders
Drag any smart folder onto the desktop to create a new folder containing those presets. Drag an
entry from your Search History, or the Category ‘Duo’, Favourite 1 or one of the Authors.
Exporting favourite / junk status
You can export Favourites or Junk status: Shift+click and drag the ‘Favourites’ folder onto e.g.
the desktop to create a file called Favourites.uhe-fav. Such files can then be imported into
BeatZille’s browser on a different computer, via drag & drop onto the Favourites folder.
Note that importing .uhe-fav files from another computer will only work 100% correctly if all
preset names and locations are identical on both computers.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 15

PRESETS
Preset Info
The panel to the right displays information about the selected preset. If you can’t see this panel,
click on the ‘triple bar’ [≡] button in the top right corner and tick Show Preset Info. If you prefer to
see more presets and less information, hide the PRESET INFO panel.
Below the preset name you should see its path (from /Local or /User), the Bank and the Author
(which also appear as Smart Folders). The DESCRIPTION and USAGE text is entered
immediately before saving a patch.
Installing Soundsets
Any soundsets we distribute ourselves will be available in .uhe-soundset format. Third parties are
also encouraged to use this package format for their own commercial soundsets (for details please
contact our support team).
Standard Method
To install, drag & drop the .uhe-soundset file into Beatzille – anywhere will work. The soundset
should appear in the ‘User’ folder. If a soundset with the same name already exists in that location,
any modified files will be backed up and the location of the backup file will be displayed.
Alternative Method
Soundsets in .uhe-soundset format can also be installed by clicking on the u-he badge, selecting
Install Soundset… from the menu and navigating to the .uhe-soundset file. This option is especially
useful for Linux, as the browser version for that platform does not support drag & drop.
Regular Folders
Folders containing Beatzille presets can be manually copied or moved into the ‘User’ folder. You
might have to refresh the browser (see Directory context menu) before they appear there. A refresh
is generally necessary in Windows but not in macOS.
Note: As .uhe-soundset files are basically ZIP-compressed folders, you can rename them i.e.
replace the long file extension with ’zip’, then extract the presets as well as the accompanying
documentation.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 16

PRESETS
Search
The field at the top of the Directory panel lets you find presets according to a text string. The
search normally looks into the preset name, author name, DESCRIPTION and USAGE (see the
PRESET INFO panel). The search is not case-sensitive. Quotes are not required unless you need
to include spaces. After entering some text, hit [Return].
To restrict the search to a particular search path, double-click that folder. This path will appear
beneath the Search field instead of the preset folders, and you will only see smart folders. If the
specified path contains sub-folders, these will also appear.
The [^] button to the left moves the search path up one level. The [X] button to the right sets the
search path to the default Local plus User (i.e. all BeatZille presets), and the preset folders
become visible again. Alternatively, you can navigate to any higher level by right-clicking the
search path, which opens a little menu.
Try this: Enter three or four letters then hit Return. For instance, star will find all files containing the
text string star (e.g. mustard or starters). Entering "star wars" (with the quotes) would find e.g.
Battlestar Warship, if such existed in the presets.
Scope
You can limit the scope of the search to just the preset name or specific parts of PRESET INFO by
using name (preset name), author, desc (description) or use (usage) followed by a colon. For
instance, author:the finds all presets by sound designers whose author names contain ‘the’.
Similarly, desc:space will find all presets with the word space in the description.
Logic
AND requires that presets contain both words. The AND is implicit, but can be written explicitly if
you prefer: For example, entering ‘star AND wars’ is the same as entering ‘star wars’.
OR means that presets must contain at least one of the words."
NOT excludes the following word e.g. star NOT wars would find ‘star’ but not ‘star wars’.!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 17

OSCILLATORS
Oscillators
Although the filters are traditional analogue models, the oscillators are unashamedly digital: They
combine two technologies that made digital synthesis affordable in the 1980s – FM (frequency
modulation, more correctly ‘phase modulation’) and PD (phase distortion).
Also included is another unusual process we call Fractalize (fractal resonance), which can create
very ‘cutting’ sounds from relatively tame waveforms, with a similar result to the classic sync effect.
5 different types of modulation, one for each of the 5 sections
The main oscillators are very powerful signal generators which can even be used as LFOs as the
frequency range starts at zero Hertz. It can take a while to get comfortable with them, but that’s the
price you pay for such flexibility!
The oscillator panel has five distinct sections, each with a modulation input. The next few pages
deal with each of these sections separately – let’s start at the top, with PITCH...!
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 18
PITCH
PHASE / FM
PHASE DISTORTION (PD)
FRACTAL RESONANCE
AM and OUTPUTS
PITCH MODULATION
PHASE MODULATION = "FM"
PHASE DISTORTION
DEPTH MODULATION
FRACTAL RESONANCE
DEPTH MODULATION
AMPLITUDE MODULATION
MODULATION INPUTS SECTIONS

OSCILLATORS
Pitch
Together, the knobs labeled Tune and Modify control the oscillator’s basic pitch. Both have mode
selectors that make the oscillators suitable for a wide variety of functions e.g. as FM operators,
undertone generators or even as host-synchronized LFOs…
Tune
A value between 0.00 and 24.00 – the selector determines how this value is interpreted. The
first 3 modes are for generating regular notes, as they automatically switch ‘key follow’ on:
Semitone maximum 24 semitones above standard pitch..........
Overtone the first 24 harmonics in the overtone series. Note that octaves are not evenly..........
spaced, they are at precisely 1.00, 3.00, 7.00 and 15.00.
Undertone the first 24 undertones (sometimes called ‘subharmonics’). For further details,.......
see the Wikipedia article about the undertone series.
In the last two modes, the frequency isn’t affected by which MIDI notes you play, as ‘key follow’
is disabled. If you need an LFO with more modulation options, use oscillator 2 in either Hertz or
Clocked mode instead of the regular LFO…
Hertz 0 to max. 48Hz, but can be greatly extended via ‘Multiply’ – see modify below..................
Note that the rate is usually doubled (1.00 is 2Hz and 24.00 is 48Hz) if the
second PD wave is the same as the first.
Clocked sync-to-host ‘division factor’. 1.00 mean a whole note, 4.00 a quarter note etc..............
For technical reasons the synchronization isn’t 100% perfect, so you might
have to retrigger the notes every now and again.
Modify
A value between -50.00 and 50.00. The selector specifies how this is interpreted. The Modify
knob can affect oscillator tuning in one of four ways:
Cents detune by +/- 100 cents (each integer step is actually 2 cents).................
5 Hz detune by +/- 5 Hertz (tuning is independent of the MIDI note)....................
Beats similar to 5 Hz, but host-synced e.g. +4.00 = one extra cycle per quarter note..................
Multiply multiply or divide by a constant (e.g. -8.00 will divide the frequency by 8).".............
Values between -1.00 and -0.01 are interpreted as 1.00.
Tune modulation (unlabeled)
The amount of pitch modulation from a signal connected to the socket. The range of the
modulation knob is selectable, with the following options:
Cents +/- 50 x 2 cents i.e. plus or minus a semitone................
5 Semi +/- 5 semitones..............
50 Semi +/- 50 semitones!............
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 19

OSCILLATORS
Phase / FM
BeatZille’s oscillators are capable of all kinds of ‘FM’ sounds by plugging an audio-frequency
source into the phase modulation input. ‘FM synthesis’ is a bit of a misnomer, as this technology
was actually based on phase modulation (see Wiki articles about FM synthesis and Yamaha DX7).
With its 4 oscillators and 4 filters, the full version of Bazille is capable of 8-operator FM. BeatZille’s
2 oscillators plus single filter give you 3-op FM – enough for many typical FM sounds.
Phase
The righthand knob adjusts the basic phase position i.e. where in its cycle the waveform will
start whenever a note is played. The range is usually 720° i.e. 2 cycles, but this is reduced to
360° when different waves are combined (the pitch drops an octave). The value of Phase is
irrelevant when the mode is set to random, as in the above image.
The oscillators in most analogue synths are free running i.e. the phase is never reset. Because
the oscillators in digital synths aren’t computed until a note is played (otherwise the CPU would
be busy computing inaudible sounds), the initial phase needs to be defined:
random Resets the oscillator to a random phase each time a note is played................
gate Resets to the value of Phase each time a note is played so that all notes....................
start with the same phase (assuming Phase isn’t being modulated).
catch Each oscillator gets its phase from where the most recent voice left off – for...................
a better ‘free running’ effect despite voice rotation (‘round robin’).
Phase modulation (with mode selector)
The bipolar knob on the left adjusts the amount of phase modulation (or frequency modulation,
depending on the modes) from a signal connected to the socket. Connect another audio-rate
oscillator here for classic ‘FM’ sounds (both should be sine waves).
The first 3 options are for regular phase modulation with different depth ranges. As modulation
in these modes only affects phase, the overall pitch of the oscillator is preserved:
PM fine for subtle phase modulation...............
PM medium for typical ‘FM’ uses, including self-modulation (‘operator feedback’)........
PM coarse for maximum phase modulation..........
The next two options offer linear FM in two frequency ranges. With linear FM, modulation adds
to the frequency – the overall pitch is only preserved if the modulating waveform is symmetrical:
lin 100Hz linear FM, 0 to 100Hz............
lin 1kHz linear FM, 0 to 1000Hz...............
The last two options offer relative FM. In this mode, modulation multiplies the frequency. Again,
the overall pitch is only preserved if the modulating waveform is symmetrical:
rel fine relative FM: oscillator frequency * ( 1 +/- 0.5 * modulation).................
rel coarse relative FM: oscillator frequency * ( 1 +/- 5 * modulation)............
The linear and relative modes are unusual in that they offer ‘through-zero FM’. If a 100Hz
oscillator is linear frequency modulated with -1000Hz, it will run ‘backwards’ at 900Hz.
TOC INTRO PRESETS OSC LFO FILTER ENV PROC MIDI+ MULT SEQ MAP DELAY CONF TRIX 20