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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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,
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•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
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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
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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 -
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Front Panel
Display
At the top of Oberon's front panel lies a hu e display. This is where all the curves, for envelopes, waves,
bend, morph and filter responses, are edited. Switchin from one curve to another is done by activatin the
correspondin button underneath the display. From the left to the ri ht lie the buttons for editin :
•Oscillator 1 bend curve,
•Oscillator 1 morph curve,
•Wave 1 start and end waveform curve,
•Wave 2 start and end waveform curve,
•Amplitude envelope,
•Modulation envelope 1,
•Modulation envelope 2,
•Modulation envelope 3,
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•Filter 1 “X” curve,
•Filter 1 “Y” curve,
•Filter 2 “X” curve,
•Filter 2 “Y” curve,
•Oscillator 2 bend curve,
•Oscillator 2 morph curve.
Common controls
All curves share a common set of controls for edition. Specific controls are listed in curve specific
para raphs.
Curve display
At the center is displayed the
currently edited curve.
Circular handles on the curve
correspond to the curve points and
can be clicked and dra ed.
Between each point lies a diamond
shaped handle that lets you, by
clickin and dra in vertically, adjust the shape of the se ment from linear to accelerated or decelerated.
Underneath the curve lie other circular handles which, a ain, correspond to the curve points but let you
move the point only in the horizontal direction.
Above the curve representation are a number of controls to adjust the view of the curve. The first button at
the left, labeled “Zoom fit”, when clicked, will adjust the zoom and scroll position of the view so as to have all
the curve points visible in the view.
Followin to the ri ht is a scrollbar linked to the zoom of the view. You can either click and dra the zoom
handle or click the left and ri ht arrows located around the scrollbar. Controllin the scroll position, or center
of the view, follows the same method as the zoom, with a sli htly lar er scrollbar.
Finally, two checkboxes let you, when checked, limit the movement of the curve points to an invisible coarse
rid, independently in the horizontal (X) or vertical (Y) direction. The resolution of the rid depends on the
edited curve. This is referred to as “Snappin ”.
Edit Panel
To the ri ht of the curve display lies a panel of buttons dedicated to the lobal edition
of the curve. The exact buttons are context sensitive and will depend on the edited
curve. They are mainly copy buttons to copy one curve to another.
At the bottom of this panel you will find two buttons to add or delete a curve point.
Pressin one of these buttons will switch point edition from move to the respective
function. For instance, if “Add Point” is activated, clickin on the curve display will
add a point at the clicked location. If you have exhausted the maximum number of
points allowed for that curve, the “Add Point” button will disappear. Likewise, if
“Delete Point” is activated, clickin on a point handle will remove that point. If the minimum number of curve
points has been reached, this button will disappear.
Template Panel
To the left of the curve display are listed all the available curve templates for the currently edited curve.
Curve templates, or curve presets, let you quickly set a curve to a predefined shape.
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Envelope controls
Envelope curves have four specific
controls. The first one, “Lock” at the ri ht
of the snap controls chan es the way the
curve is adjusted when a point's
horizontal position is chan ed.
Except for envelopes, movin a curve
point doesn't have any effect on all the
other points. For envelopes, the default
behavior when movin a point is to
translate horizontally the points located to
the ri ht of the moved so as to keep the se ment durations constant. In this way, the envelope curve edition
is similar to the traditional Attack, Decay and Release controls. When “Lock” is checked, the behavior will
revert to the standard method.
Finally, underneath the curve display you will find the buttons to active Mono Trigger,Loop and Tempo
Synchronization for this envelope. When tempo synchronization is activated you will notice the horizontal
scale labels of the curve chan e to three numbers separated by points. The first number is the bar number,
the second quarter note number and the third sixteenth notes.
Waveform controls
When either Wave 1 or Wave 2 is selected for editin , you will notice two new
buttons underneath the curve display. These “Shapes” button lets you pick which
waveform of the wave sequence you wish to edit. Shape 1 is the waveform output
when an oscillator's wave start control is 0% and 100% while Shape 2 is the
waveform output when this same wave start control is at 50%.
In the edit section you will also see some new actions to create random shapes or
add symmetrical points.
Filter controls
The filter response curve display adds a number of controls. The first one is a “Repeat” button that lets you
to le your filter response to repeat (see Response Curve para raph). The repeat control is common for
both X and Y filter curves.
In the edit panel, two “Decrease Amplitude” and “Increase Amplitude” buttons let you squeeze or expand the
vertical amplitude of the filter
curve around the 0 dB middle
value. Likewise, the “Decrease
Gain” and “Increase Gain” will
decrease or increase the vertical
values of all points above the
middle 0 dB line.
Morph and bend controls
Morph and bend curves do not have a shape control handle. All se ments are linear.
Performance
Pitch Bend and Modulation wheel
The ran e of the pitch bend can be adjusted with a maximum ran e of 2 octaves (24 semitones).
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Keyboard Mode and Glide
There are four keyboard modes:
•Polyphonic – Key Pressed: the default mode where each new pressed key creates a new voice.
•Polyphonic – Note : voices are allocated to notes. If you press a key twice on the same note and
the previous voice for that note is still playin , this previous voice will be killed and restarted. This is
the case for piano like sounds when repressin a note has the effect of killin the previous sound for
that note.
•Mono Retrigger : when pressin a key, the synth retri ers the envelopes and chan es the pitch if
a previous key is pressed.
•Mono Legato : this is the same as mono-retrigger but the envelopes are not retri ered.
By chan in the Glide duration, you can add portamento effect that will make the pitch lide from the
previous note to the next. This also works in polyphonic mode but in this case the portamento will take place
only if you press a new key while previous notes are in release mode.
You can increase or decrease the lide duration based on the velocity with the dedicated knob underneath
the lide control.
Oscillators
Tuning
There are three knobs to define the basic pitch of the oscillator. The first one at the left is used to adjust the
pitch in octaves. The second one in semi tones and the last one lets you finely tune the oscillator in cents or
hundredth of semi tones.
Keyboard Tracking
When set to 100 (the default), the pitch of the oscillator follows the note pressed on the keyboards. When set
to 0, the pitch is constant across all keys.
Filters
The central knob of each filter section controls the filter's frequency parameter. The
smaller knob to the ri ht Labeled “X > Y” is used to morph between the X filter response
curve and Y filter response curve.
Modulation
Filter 1 and Filter 2 have predefined modulation paths between Modulation Envelope 1 and Modulation
Envelope 2, respectively. The amount of this respective modulation can be controlled via a dedicated knob.
In the same manner, velocity modulation intensity of the filters' frequency parameter can be controlled with a
knob.
Keyboard Tracking
This controls how the filter frequency parameter is adjusted for each note. By default, the value is 0, in which
case the filter frequency is identical alon all the note ran e. At 100%, the frequency parameter is increased
alon with the note. Finally at 200%, the frequency parameter increases twice as fast as the note.
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Back Panel
The back panel exposes the input / output CV and audio output sockets.
CV Inputs
Some of Oberon's parameters can have their values modulated by control volta e si nals comin from other
devices. Trim knobs let you control the amplitude of the modulation. Five special CV inputs (labelled CV 1, 2,
3, 4 and 5) are by default not routed to a specific parameter. It is up to you, throu h the modulation matrix, to
route them to a particular modulation destination.
CV Outputs
Oberon exposes five internal parameter to CV outputs:
•LFO 1 & 2 : this the value of the LFO if it were not key synced.
•Modulation envelope 1, 2 & 3 : the value of the modulation envelope of the first pressed voice is sent
to this output.
There are also 8 special “note ates out” CV outputs that are explained in the Separate outputs para raph.
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Audio Outputs
Mixed outputs
The stereo output is sent to the left and ri ht mixed audio socket. If only the left socket is connected to
another device, Oberon sends the mixed mono si nal to the left socket.
Separate outputs
Oberon can output individual voice stereo
outputs separately from the mixed stereo
output. There are 8 stereo pair outputs with
correspondin CV note ate output.
How voices are distributed amon these
outputs is determined by the voice output
Mode. Oberon will automatically detect
outputs that are connected to cables and only
connected outputs are taken into account in the voice output Mode. The order of the outputs are from left to
ri ht.
Here are the four possible modes:
•Cycle: the default mode will send the first voice played to the first connected output (on the far
left). Subsequent played voices will be sent chronolo ically to increasin connected outputs.
When all outputs are used, the next voice is sent and mixed to the first connected output. On the
ima e above, separate audio outputs number 2, 4 and 5 are connected. If five notes are activated,
then the first voice will be sent to output 2, the second to output 4, the third to output 5, the fourth
to output 2 (and mixed with the first voice) and finally, the last voice will be sent to output 4 (and
mixed with the second voice).
•Note: the distribution of voices amon the separate audio outputs is done accordin to the MIDI
note number of each voice. There are 128 possible MIDI notes. If there are three connected
outputs (as in the example above), the lower third of MIDI notes (here, notes 0-42) are associated
with the first connected output (here output 2), the middle third (here, notes 43-85) to the second
connected output (here output 4) and finally the upper third (here, notes 86-127) to the last
connected output (here output 5).
•Velocity: the distribution of voices is done accordin to the voice velocities. Lower velocity voices
are sent to lower numbered connected separate outputs and, lo ically, hi her velocity voices are
sent to hi her numbered connected outputs.
•Pan: the distribution of voices is done accordin to the voice stereo pan at the moment the voice
is activated. The voice pan is estimated as the mean of each oscillator pan. If the pan chan es
durin the lifetime of a voice, throu h modulation, this will not chan e the audio output to which it
is sent.
Note gates out
When a voice sent to a separate output is activated (on a Note On) a ate si nal will be sent to the
associated note ate output, above the audio output, as a CV si nal with amplitude proportional to the
velocity of the last activated voice of the output.
If no separated outputs are connected, no ate outs are sent.
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A brief introduction to Additive Synthesis
A majority of synthesizers are based on a particular form of synthesis called “subtractive synthesis”. It
consists in producin a spectrally rich wave form, such as sawtooth, square or noise and applyin a filter on
these wave forms to remove, or subtract, parts of their spectrum. By varyin the types of filters and their
parameters, they can produce a fairly wide variety of sounds.
Additive synthesis works the other way around. It consists in buildin this rich spectrum from scratch by
addin up individual sinusoidal oscillators, called partials in Oberon. Sine waves have the particularity of
producin sound in a sin le frequency band of the spectrum. By addin up multiple sine waves of different
frequency, we can, in theory, reproduce any frequency spectrum. In fact, science demonstrates that any
sound of any len th can be created with an infinite number of sine waves, properly tuned and equalized. This
of course isn't practical and in reality additive synthesis constrains you to a finite number of sinusoidal
oscillators but with controllable pitch and level. Typical sounds consists of hundreds of sine waves so
controllin each one of them is a bit of a challen e. We will see how Oberon handles the problem later on
but in the mean time, let us see how typical sounds are built from these individual partials.
Harmonic sounds
Musical harmonic sounds, such as created by acoustic instruments or analo subtractive synthesizers, are
produced by periodic wave forms. The frequency of these wave forms determine the pitch of the note.
Typical periodic wave forms in subtractive synthesis include sawtooth, trian le and square waves. They are
all made up of sine waves of frequencies multiple of the wave form's note frequency. This note frequency is
called fundamental frequency in additive synthesis. For example, if you hit the A4 key on your keyboard,
which corresponds to a frequency of 440 Hz, and produce a saw tooth wave form, this saw tooth is in fact
made up of sine waves of frequency 440 Hz, 880 Hz, 1320 Hz or 1760 Hz (or 1 x 440Hz, 2 x 440Hz, 3 x
440Hz and 4 x 440Hz). The multiples of the fundamental frequency are called harmonics. The sine waves
also have a particular amplitude but these amplitudes only chan e the timbre of the wave, not its note
frequency or harmonicity. This difference in amplitude is what makes a sawtooth sound different from a
square wave.
Waves 1 & 2, in Oberon are naturally harmonic as they are totally periodic.
Inharmonic sounds
The vast majority of sounds are not harmonic or tuned. Percussion or noise sounds for instance don't have a
clear pitch and thus don't have partials tuned so simply as harmonic sounds. In fact most inharmonic sounds
have partials tuned with no relation between one another. In reality, acoustic instruments are not totally
harmonic in the pure sense of the term but are almost harmonic. Their partials are not strictly tuned to
multiples of the fundamental frequency and this is what ives their richness as this introduces some sli ht
chorus / beatin effects. Typical inharmonic sounds are metallic sounds, such as mistuned bells or ri id
strin s, and these can be easily built from harmonic sounds by detunin some of their partials.
In Oberon, inharmonic sounds can easily be created with the Bend parameter or by usin naturally
inharmonic waves like “Metal”, “Noise”, “Water” or “Crowd”.
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ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
MIDI Implementation Chart
MIDI Controller # Parameter
4-5 Oscillator 1-2 Pan
7-8 Oscillator 1-2 Width
10 & 12 Oscillator 1-2 Pitch octaves
13-14 Oscillator 1-2 Pitch semi-tones
15-16 Oscillator 1-2 Pitch cents
17-18 Oscillator 1-2 Pitch keyboard trackin
19-20 Oscillator 1-2 Harmonicity
21-22 Oscillator 1-2 Harmonicity limit
23-24 Oscillator 1-2 Harmonicity octave
25-26 Oscillator 1-2 Bend
27-28 Oscillator 1-2 Unison mix
29-30 Oscillator 1-2 Unison pitch
31 & 33 Oscillator 1-2 Unison voice count
34-35 Oscillator 1-2 Unison phase lock
36-37 Oscillator 1-2 Unison phase random
39-40 Oscillator 1-2 Octave copy level
41-42 Oscillator 1-2 Partial clip
43-44 Oscillator 1-2 Level
45 Oscillator 2 On/Off
46-47 Oscillator 1-2 Morph tar et
48-49 Oscillator 1-2 Morph position
50-51 Oscillator 1-2 Morph tar et transpose
52-53 Oscillator 1-2 Wave
54-55 Oscillator 1-2 Wave sequence start
56-57 Oscillator 1-2 Wave sequence motion tempo sync.
58-59 Oscillator 1-2 Wave sequence key start reset
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ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
60-61 Oscillator 1-2 Wave sequence motion – free runnin
62-63 Oscillator 1-2 Wave sequence motion – synced
65 Amplitude Envelope – Point Count
66 Amplitude Envelope – Sustain Point Index
67-82 Amplitude Envelope – Point Levels 1-16
83-95 Amplitude Envelope – Section Durations 1-13
102-103 Amplitude Envelope – Section Durations 14-15
104-105 Filter 1-2 Frequency
106-107 Filter 1-2 X to Y
108-109 Filter 1-2 Frequency keyboard trackin
110-111 Filter 1-2 Frequency envelope modulation stren th
112-113 Filter 1-2 Frequency velocity modulation stren th
114-115 LFO 1-2 Key reset
116-117 LFO 1-2 Rate tempo sync.
118-119 LFO 1-2 Rate – free runnin
128-129 LFO 1-2 Rate – synced
130-131 LFO 1-2 Shape
132 Volume
133 Volume velocity modulation stren th
134 Voice mode
135 Glide
136 Glide velocity modulation stren th
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ZVORK OBERON - User Manual
Remote Map Templates
English
Scope Zvork fr.zvork.Oberon
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Stereo - Pan
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Stereo - Pan
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Stereo - Width
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Stereo - Width
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Pitch - Octave
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Pitch - Octave
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Pitch - Semitones
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Pitch - Semitones
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Pitch - Cents
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Pitch - Cents
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Pitch - Kbd. Trackin
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Pitch - Kbd. Trackin
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Harmonize
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Harmonize
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Harmonize Limit
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Harmonize Limit
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Harmonize Octave
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Harmonize Octave
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Bend
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Bend
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Unison - Mix
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Unison - Mix
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Unison - Pitch
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Unison - Pitch
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Unison - Voice Count
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Unison - Voice Count
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Unison - Phase Lock
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Unison - Phase Lock
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Unison - Random Phase
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Unison - Random Phase
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Octave Copy Level
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Octave Copy Level
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Partial Saturation
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Partial Saturation
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Filter Mode
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Filter Mode
//Map _control_ Osc. 1 - Level
//Map _control_ Osc. 2 - Level
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