Zvork Oberon User manual

ZVORK
OBERON
User Manual
version 1.0.0

ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
Table of Contents
First Contact.....................................................3
Multi-point loop-able envelopes...................3
Editable waves..............................................3
Editable Filter response curves.....................4
X-Morph between oscillators........................4
Unison and Octave copies.............................4
Timbre bend..................................................4
Separate voice audio and ate outputs..........4
The Oberon engine...........................................5
Oscillators.....................................................5
Waveforms...............................................5
Motion..................................................5
Bend..........................................................5
Partial Clip................................................6
X-Morph...................................................6
Harmonize................................................6
Filters.............................................................6
Response Curve........................................6
Frequency Parameter................................6
X > Y Parameter.......................................6
Unison...........................................................7
Octave Copy..................................................7
Mixer.............................................................7
Stereo control...........................................7
Modulation....................................................7
LFO..........................................................7
Envelopes.................................................8
Tempo synchronization.......................8
Loop.....................................................8
Mono tri er........................................8
Sources.....................................................8
Destinations..............................................9
Front Panel.....................................................11
Display........................................................11
Common controls...................................12
Curve display.....................................12
Edit Panel...........................................12
Template Panel..................................12
Envelope controls...................................13
Waveform controls.................................13
Filter controls.........................................13
Morph and bend controls........................13
Performance................................................13
Pitch Bend and Modulation wheel.........13
Keyboard Mode and Glide.....................14
Oscillators...................................................14
Tunin ....................................................14
Keyboard Trackin ............................14
Filters...........................................................14
Modulation.............................................14
Keyboard Trackin .................................14
Back Panel......................................................15
CV Inputs....................................................15
CV Outputs..................................................15
Audio Outputs.............................................16
Mixed outputs.........................................16
Separate outputs.....................................16
Note ates out....................................16
A brief introduction to Additive S nthesis. .17
Harmonic sounds.........................................17
Inharmonic sounds......................................17
MIDI Implementation Chart........................18
Remote Map Templates.................................20
En lish.........................................................20
Français.......................................................24
Pa e 2

ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
First Contact
The Oberon synthesizer has two oscillator sections and two filters. Each oscillator can be fed to one of the
two filters or to both, in serial or parallel mode. These filters enable you to alter the timbre of your sound but
are not the only mean to do so.
Each oscillator can enerate a number of different waves, from simple sawtooth and square to more
complex metallic or robotic sounds. Each of these waves is in reality a wave sequence that can be played at
different speeds. All this could seem very classic if it wasn't for these followin features.
Multi-point loop-able envelopes
Each of Oberon's four envelopes are defined by a user editable curve, with up to 16 points. These envelopes
are furthermore loop-able, between the start and sustain point, with a tempo synchronization option.
Editable waves
There are two editable waves, or wave sequences, that the user can customize. For each of these wave
sequences, two editable curves let you draw the shape of the start and end waveforms of the sequence.
Pa e 3

ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
Editable Filter response curves
In Oberon, the filters don't have predefined modes such as low pass, hi h pass or comb. Instead you define
the filter response yourself, a ain with an editable curve. Each filter response can morph between two
curves for even more dramatic and chan in effects.
-Morph between oscillators
This special feature lets you smoothly morph between two sound sources, potentially of different pitches and
timbre. Morph between a pitch downed version of the same oscillator or between oscillator 1 and oscillator 2
for ori inal transitions. The morphin effect can also be masked for certain portions of the spectrum if, for
instance, you want to apply the character of one sound source solely to the hi h frequencies.
Unison and Octave copies
To fatten your sounds, each oscillator can be virtually duplicated up to 8 times with a pitch detune. After that,
if this isn't enou h, another virtual copy of the resultin sound can be added to your final sound mix at an
octave hi her. As the term “virtual copy” coins, all this is extremely efficient on your CPU.
Timbre bend
If you are in need of metallic inharmonic sounds, this is the functionality you need. With it you can quickly
bend your sound to mimic hi hly ri id strin s, bells or quirky buzzes, in a predictable way.
Separate voice audio and gate outputs
On the back panel you will find 8 separate outputs for both stereo audio and CV ate. Individual voices can
be distributed amon these outputs.
Pa e 4

ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
The Oberon engine
Under the hood of Oberon lies an efficient additive synthesis
en ine. If you don't know what additive synthesis is, don't
worry as Oberon masks all the complexity of it in a simple
paradi m. All you need to know is that with it, Oberon lets you
sculpt your sound in a very precise way. If you are of the more
curious type, you can take a look at the “A brief introduction to
Additive Synthesis” chapter for some eneral presentation and
terminolo y.
Oscillators
These are the sources of your sounds and Oberon offers two
of them. By default, only the first oscillator is enabled. Both
have the same functionalities, startin with a choice of basic
wave sequences.
Waveforms
These wave sequences are made up of waveforms that are
not necessarily of a determined pitch, which is what you find in
most synthesizers. Oberon can produce inharmonic wave forms as well:
•Wave 1 and 2 : these are two editable wave sequences that produce user defined periodic
waveforms.
•Oberon : as the name su ests, this is Oberon's presentation phrase in a heavily robotic fashion.
•Metal : look no further for metallic sounds. When in motion, this wave sequence is fin er nails on
board metal heaven.
•FM 1 and 2 : two wave sequences that span two or three operator FM waveforms.
•Water : when in a motion, a ur lin noise sound. If not, this is a source of low frequency inharmonic
waves.
•Noise : a classic white noise, when in motion.
Each oscillator has a wave start and wave motion parameter to control the playback of theses wave
sequences.
Motion
Wave motion can be synced to the son s tempo. At speed 1/1 the wave sequence duration is one bar.
Furthermore, the wave start can be reset at each note on.
Bend
An oscillator produces a particular sound spectrum that can be “bent” with this specific tool. By default, the
bend parameter stretches the sound spectrum towards the hi h frequencies. This is the same effect as a
uitar strin bein ti htened more and more, while keepin the same note. As the strin ti htness increases,
it becomes more ri id and radually becomes inharmonic.
But the bend operator is much more powerful than that. Each oscillator has a user editable bend curve
associated with its bend control. From low frequencies at the left, to the hi h frequencies at the ri ht, the
curve determines if the spectrum around the curve point should be pitched up or down dependin on the
vertical position of the point.
Pa e 5

ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
Partial Clip
Each waveform produces a complex spectrum with hi hly varyin levels for each frequency. By applyin
partial clippin , you will be able to flatten out these levels. Partial clippin has the effect of applyin a ain
value to each spectrum levels and clippin them to a maximum value. This is a very rapid mean of
enhancin hi h frequencies as this is frequently the part of the spectrum of low level.
-Morph
Cross morphin is the tool to continuously morph between two spectrums. An oscillator is the morph source.
The destination, or tar et, can either be the other oscillator or itself. Of course, morphin an oscillator to itself
doesn't do much, unless you decide to morph an oscillator to a detuned version of itself. The morph tar et
has a detune control, with semitone steps. Morphin with a detuned tar et yields an interestin “ rowlin ”
effect completely dissimilar to plain pitch bendin .
Furthermore, the cross morphin can be limited to certain parts of the spectrum. Once a ain, this is achieved
throu h an editable morph curve.
Harmonize
The harmonize control lets you bend an inharmonic spectrum towards a harmonic one. On harmonic sounds
such as a sawtooth wave, this has no effect. This is mostly useful when you have bent heavily or morphed
your sound and still wish to keep it musical.
The harmonize parameter can be limited to only the lower part of the spectrum throu h the limit parameter.
At hi h values, all the spectrum is harmonized while at low values only the low part is.
Furthermore, you can choose to which octave the harmonization should apply. The default value is 0,
meanin the spectrum is harmonized to the current played note. At values -1 and -2, the spectrum is
harmonized one octave or two octaves under the played note, respectively. This is useful if you wish to keep
some low frequencies after harmonization.
Filters
Oberon possesses two filters which can be confi ured in series or parallel. Each oscillator can bypass the
filters or be routed to one or both of them.
Response Curve
The filters in Oberon are in fact akin to raphical equalizers. You draw the frequency response with a multi-
point curve. By default, this curve is defined around a central frequency and ran es ei ht octaves below to
ei ht octaves above this central frequency.
The filters can be set in “repeated” mode, in which case the curve defines the response from 0 to a maximum
in linear frequency. Above the maximum frequency, the curve is repeated, as a comb filter.
Frequency Parameter
The Frequency parameter of a filter controls the central frequency, or the maximum frequency in repeat
mode. It is similar to the traditional “frequency” parameter in classic filters of subtractive synthesizers. You
can also see this parameter as a frequency scale value on the filter curves.
> Y Parameter
Each filter has two response curves, X and Y. When the X/Y parameter is 0, the X response curve is used.
At its hi hest value, 100, the Y response curve is used. In between, the response curve is morphed between
the two.
Pa e 6

ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
By default, the filters are confi ured with a low pass filter response and the hi h Y curve has a resonance at
the central frequency. Chan in the X/Y thus adds some resonance to your low pass filters.
Unison
Unison can be disabled (the default) or set to 2, 4 or 8 voices. This has the effect of addin sli htly detuned
copies of the oscillator sound after the filterin sta e. The start phase of these copies is controlled with the
Phase Lock and Phase Random parameters. Phase Lock resets the phase to the same value at each note
tri er to have a consistent sound.
Phase random randomizes the phase of the detuned copies for each partial of the spectrum. This, on
periodic sounds, has the effect of ivin a harsher metallic character to your sound.
The final mix of these unison copies as well as the detune spread are controlled in the mixer sta e.
Octave Copy
Like the Unison effect, the Octave Copy adds a copy of the oscillator sound after the unison sta e, but this
time detuned a whole octave above the ori inal sound. This is reat to fatten and double bass sounds for
instance or enrich your pads.
The final mix of the octave copy for each oscillator is controlled in the mixer sta e.
Mixer
At this final sta e, you can control the overall output ain of each oscillator as well as the ain of its virtual
octave hi her copy. In all, Oberon can output four sound sources.
The mix between the dry oscillators and the unison si nal is controlled with the Unison Mix parameters, one
for each oscillator. The amount of unison detunin is controlled, a ain individually for each oscillator, with the
Unison Pitch.
Finally, the overall volume, modified by the amplitude envelope is applied, alon with velocity modulation.
Stereo control
By default, the oscillators are mono but a Width parameter enables you to spread their output in stereo, for a
wider field. This result can then be panned from left to ri ht, per oscillator.
Modulation
A modulation matrix lets you route modulation sources to modulation destinations. Each line of the matrix
offers one source, two destinations and a scalin source. Each destination as well as the scalin source
have a stren th value to control the amount of modulation.
LFO
There are two LFO's in Oberon. Both of them can be synced to the son tempo and reset at each note on.
Each LFO can be confi ured to produce a certain wave form amon the followin list:
•Triangle : a basic trian le wave with initial rise,
•Triangle 4, 8 and 16 : same trian le as above but sampled and held at ¼, 1/8 and 1/16th of the
wave period,
•Sine : a basic sine wave with initial rise,
Pa e 7

ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
•Saw : a classic saw wave with initial hi h value then fall,
•Saw 4, 8, and 16 : same saw wave as above but sampled and held at ¼, 1/8 and 1/16th of the
wave period,
•Parabolic Saw : a saw wave but instead of a constant linear fall features a steep startin fall
radually deceleratin .
•Soft Saw : a saw with a soft filtered attack,
•Square : classic square wave startin with a hi h value,
•Soft Square : a square with softened rises and falls,
•Pulse : same as a square wave but with a reduced hi h value duration,
•Soft Pulse : same as above but with softened rises and falls,
•Random : a smoothly varyin random wave,
•Sample and hold : a sample and held version of the above, sampled at the LFO's rate,
•Random Pulses : randomly occurrin hi h value pulses,
•Random Soft Pulses : same as above but with softened rises and falls,
•Random Signed Pulses : randomly occurrin pulses of random hi h or low value,
•Random Signed Soft Pulses : same as above but with softened rises and falls.
Envelopes
The four envelopes (Amplitude and Modulation 1 to 3) all share the same features. They are each defined by
a curve, with up to 16 points. One of these points can be set to the sustain value. Before this sustain point is
the attack section. After this sustain point is the release section.
When a note is played, the envelope follows the curve up to the sustain point. When the note is kept
pressed, the sustain point value is held if the envelope has reached the sustain point. When the note is
released, the envelope proceeds to follow the release section usin the current envelope value as the start
value of the release. Each se ment of the envelope curve has a duration of up to 10 seconds.
Tempo synchronization
Envelopes can be synced to the tempo. In this case, the se ment durations are not defined in seconds but in
note durations. In this case, the maximum duration of a se ment is 5 bars.
Loop
An envelope can be set to “loop” mode in which case, when a note is held and the envelope reaches the
sustain point, it will jump back to the start of the curve.
Mono trigger
When this option is activated, the envelope will tri er on the “note on” event of the first note played. If this
note is held and another note is pressed, this second note will use the same envelope value as the first one.
The envelope is reset once all the notes usin this envelope are released.
Sources
Name Description Polarity
Velocity Note on velocity value Unipolar
Pa e 8

ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
Amplitude Envelope - Unipolar
Modulation Envelope 1 to 3 - Unipolar
LFO 1 and 2 - Bipolar
LFO 1 and 2 note on value The initial value of the LFO is sampled at note on and held
throu hout the key press. This is mostly useful when the LFO
is not key synced.
Bipolar
A tertouch Also called pressure Unipolar
Modulation Wheel - Unipolar
Keyboard Tracking - Bipolar
Sustain Pedal - Unipolar
Expression - Unipolar
Breath Control - Unipolar
CV input 1 to 5 Any si nal from other devices can be plu ed in Oberon and
used as modulation sources with these inputs.
Bipolar
Note On random value 1 and 2 At a each “note on” event, a random value is enerated and
held throu hout the key press.
Bipolar
Pitch Bend Wheel - Bipolar
Destinations
Name Description
Global Level Final volume
Oscillator 1 or 2 mixer levels -
Filter 1 or 2 Frequency value -
Filter 1 or 2 X > Y value -
Oscillator 1 or 2 pitch -
Oscillator 1 and 2 pitch Both oscillators receive the same amount of modulation.
Oscillator 1 or 2 semitones This is similar to the oscillator pitch destination but only the
semitone parameter is modulated, in discrete values.
Oscillator 1 or 2 pan -
Oscillator 1 and 2 pan Both oscillators receive the same amount of modulation
Oscillator 1 or 2 width Stereo width
Pa e 9

ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
Oscillator 1 and 2 width Both oscillators receive the same amount of modulation
Oscillator 1 or 2 morph position Controls the amount of morphin
Oscillator 1 or 2 morph target
transpose
The pitch transpose value of the morph tar et.
Oscillator 1 or 2 wave start -
Oscillator 1 or 2 wave motion -
LFO 1 or 2 rate -
Amplitude Envelope attack scale This will shorten the duration of the amplitude envelope's attack
section (see the Envelopes para raph) if the modulation is ne ative
or len then it if it is positive.
Modulation Envelope 1 to 3 attack
scale
Same as above but for the modulation envelopes.
Amplitude Envelope release scale This will shorten the duration of the amplitude envelope's release
section (see the Envelopes para raph) if the modulation is ne ative
or len then it if it is positive.
Modulation Envelope 1 to 3 release
scale
Same as above but for the modulation envelopes.
Oscillator 1 or 2 harmonicity -
Oscillator 1 or 2 harmonicity limit -
Oscillator 1 or 2 bend -
Oscillator 1 or 2 unison mix -
Oscillator 1 and 2 unison mix Both oscillators receive the same amount of modulation
Oscillator 1 or 2 unison pitch The amount of unison detune
Oscillator 1 and 2 unison pitch Both oscillators receive the same amount of modulation
Oscillator 1 or 2 octave level -
Oscillator 1 or 2 partial clip -
Pa e 10