Synth

HotSawz

Just like a synth, HotSawz is a musical palette for creating interesting sounds. HotSawz is based around classic subtractive synthesis using saw waves for all oscillators. We’re using 6 oscillators that follow a mono pitch tracker. The filter type is low pass.

HotSawz has three modulation sources: LFO, Envelope Follower, and a Gate, as well as four assignable modulation destinations: Filter Cutoff, Volume, Pitch, and Oscillator Depth. Each source can be assigned to any destination at a given time, so multiple sources can modulate the same destination. There are 64 combinations of source to destination assignments.

• Mix: Knob has four ranges, each 0 to 100. Each range mixes the dry signal with various oscillator combinations.

  • Sub Mix: Mixes in lower octave oscillators only.

  • S + R Mix: Mixes in lower octave and current register oscillators together.

  • All Mix: Mixes in lower octave, current register, and octave above oscillators together.

  • R + U Mix: Removes sub octave oscillators. Mixes in current register and upper oscillators together.

• Osc Depth: Mixes in 2nd oscillators for each register and adds detuning. Also spreads the oscillators across the stereo field. Modulation sources assigned to Osc Depth are additive.

• Cutoff: Controls the cutoff frequency of the low pass filter. Filter is in series with wet signal. Modulation sources assigned to Cutoff are additive.

• Resonance: Controls the low pass filter’s resonance.

• Speed: Controls LFO’s wave shape and speed. This parameter has four ranges, each 0.1 Hz to 20 Hz or Whole note to 1/16 note divisions. Each range switches the LFO wave shape.

  • Tri Spd: Triangle.

  • Square Spd: Square.

  • Ramp Dn Spd: Decaying Ramp.

  • Ramp Up Spd: Rising Ramp.

• LFO Amount: Assigns LFO destination and controls amount of modulation. Knob has four ranges. Each range assigns the LFO to a different destination for modulation.

  • Cutoff: Assigns LFO to modulate Cutoff frequency.

  • Volume: Assigns LFO to modulate wet output level.

  • Pitch: Assigns LFO to modulate pitch +/- 3600 cents.

  • Depth: Assigns LFO to modulate Oscillator Depth.

• Attack: Gate Attack speed from 0 to 3000ms. When the Gate Sustain/Range knob is set to OFF, Attack knob has no effect.

• Decay: Gate Decay speed from 0 to 3000ms. When the Gate Sustain/Range knob is set to OFF, Decay knob has no effect.

• Gate: Assigns gate destination and controls amount of either Sustain or Range of the Gate. Knob has four ranges. Gate Sustain level occurs after both Attack and Decay of the Gate (There is no release in the Gate). Gate Range (for Pitch as destination) is how far from 0 pitch modulation is allowed to go at the end of Gate attack.

  • Off: Disconnects the Gate. Attack and Decay control will have no affect on signal.

  • Cutoff: Assigns the Gate to modulate Cutoff frequency.

  • Volume: Assigns Gate to modulate wet output level.

  • Pitch: Assigns Gate to modulate pitch Range +/-3600 cents. Returns to 0 modulation after Gate Decay.

  • Depth: Assigns Gate to modulate Oscillator Depth.

• Envelope: This Envelope is triggered and drawn by dynamics of input level. This parameter assigns Envelope destination and controls amount of modulation. It has four ranges, each 0 to 100. Each range assigns the Envelope to a different destination for modulation.

  • Cutoff: Assigns the Envelope to modulate cutoff frequency.

  • Volume: Assigns the Envelope to modulate wet output level.

  • Pitch: Assigns the Envelope to modulate pitch.

  • Depth: Assigns Envelope to modulate Oscillator Depth.

Performance Parameters

• Retrigger: Retriggers the LFO to the beginning of the cycle. Useful for re-syncing during playback, or creative effects.

Factory Presets

Analog-ish Lead Camino Choo Choo Dark Castle Bass Drop Out of Warp Faux Horns Funky Sauce Hot Bass Knife Walker

Knife Walker 2 Laser Gun Major HotSwitch Melting Tones Mtumeday Pass Out Bass Peppery Rezo Bass Picante Pluck

Pitchup Synth Poblano Peril Pulsar Sahuaro Staccato Serrano Sub Seventies Spicy Lead Siren Sonic Boom

Space Chihuahua Synth Filter Bass Synth Surfing Synth Wah Bass Tabasco Top Gumdrop Venus Attacks Wasabi Lead

PolySynth

Did anyone order extra Sawz? Using our new SIFT technology found in the Polyphony, Prism Shift, and PolyFlex algorithms, and building on the earlier work done for our HotSawz algorithm we’ve created PolySynth - a fully polyphonic Guitar to Synth transformer. With up to 3 voices, multiple modulation options, and envelope control of the filter cutoff you can add just a drop of synth tone, or layer it on extra thick.

• Mix: Controls the amount of dry and pitch shifted signal. 0 to 100.

• Attack: Controls the Attack time of the generated synth sounds. 5 to 1000 ms or Tempo Based.

• Resonance: Controls the resonance of the filters after each synth voice. 0 is no resonance, 100 is very resonant. 0 to 100.

• Cutoff: Controls the cutoff frequency of the filter. 0 to 100.

• Env Amount: Sets the maximum amount the filter cutoff will open or close to (start is always what is set by the Cutoff knob). -100 to 100.

• Env Sense: Adjusts the sensitivity of the envelope or how hard do you need to play to get it to hit the value set by Env Amount. 0 to 100.

• LFO Destination: Sets what parameter the LFO is modulating:

  • Cutoff

  • Volume

  • Pitch

  • PWM

  • Detune

• LFO Amount: Controls the amount of modulation the LFO applies. -100 to 100.

• LFO Rate: Sets the speed of the LFO. 0.01 to 20.0 Hz or Tempo Based.

• LFO Shape: Sets the shape of the LFO:

  • Sine

  • Triangle

  • Square

  • Peak

  • Ramp Up

  • Ramp Down

  • Random

  • Sample & Hold

• Detune: Controls the detuning of all three voices. Adds a variable amount to each such that modulation is still heard even with two voices. -100 to 100.

• Spread: Pans Voice 1 and Voice 3 to opposite sides while keeping Voice 2 in the middle. -100 to 100.

• Freeze Release: Determines the release time after a sound is un-frozen. NOTE: It is intended that no new notes are played during a freeze release, but as they say - all rules are made to be broken.

• Pitch Wheel: A parameter designed to be mapped to an external controller (MIDI, Exp Pedal, etc). Mimics a pitch wheel on an actual keyboard and modulates the pitch +/- 1200c.

• Playstyle: Tunes the algorithm to either monophonic or polyphonic playing (or somewhere in between). Monophonic will result in the purest synth tones, Polyphonic will result in better tracking.

  Tip

  In addition to adjusting the Playstyle parameter, tracking is generally improved when using the neck pickup.

The following parameter apply to each voice:

• Level: Level of each oscillator. 0 to 100.

• Shift: The shift amount of the oscillator voice given in musical intervals. -Oct, -M7, -m7, -M6, -m6, -P5, -Tri, -P4, -M3, -m3, -M2, -m2, Uni, m2, M2, m3, M3, P4, Tri, P5, m6, M6, m7, M7, Oct

• Shape: The waveform for the oscillators:

  • Saw

  • Square

  • Triangle

  • Narrow Pulse

  • Wide Pulse

Performance Parameters

Freeze: Performance parameter which freezes the current synth sound.

LFO Retrig: Momentary performance parameter which retriggers the LFO.

Synthonizer

Synthonizer tracks the pitch of the note that you’re playing and generates a synthesized tone at the same pitch. Voice A is an additive synthesizer useful for creating organ or Theremin-style sounds; Voice B is a subtractive synthesizer for creating classic analog-style synth sounds.

• Mix: Wet/dry mixer, 100% is all wet signal.

• Vox Mix: Controls the ratio of the two synthesized voices A and B.

• Wave Mix A: Controls the mix of the various added waveforms to control the tone and perceived pitch of voice A.

• Octave B: Controls the blend between unison, 1 octave down, and 1 octave up synth voices to control the tone and perceived pitch of voice B.

• Attack A: Controls the attack time for synthesized voice A.

• Attack B: Controls the attack time for the filter on synthesized voice B.

• Verb Level: Sets the reverb level.

• Verb Decay: Sets the reverb decay time.

• Shape A: Selects voice A waveshape:

  • Sine

  • Triangle

  • Sawtooth

  • Organ 1

  • Organ 2

• Sweep B: Controls the sweepable filter on voice B. Values from 0 to 50 sweep a low-pass filter, values from 50 to 100 sweep a high-pass filter.

Performance Parameters

Flex: Shifts both voices up one octave.

Factory Presets

• Bassic Synth

• FluteFactor

• Motorbike Lead

• TromboneFactor

• Welcome To The Machine