GENERATORS

Sytrus - The Main Module

Master Levels

• Master Level (VOL) - Sets the master volume level of the patch.
• Master LFO (LFO) - Sets the master LFO influence level. Notice that the property range is -128 to 128, so to effectively disable all the LFO-s across the patch, position the slider at the middle (or Alt+click to reset to the neutral value).
• Master Pitch (PITCH) - Sets the master pitch of the patch. The range of this property is -2 octaves to +2 octaves (to use the original pitch, position the slider in the middle or Alt+click).

Global Volume Envelope Levels

These properties allow you to define global offsets to the volume envelopes of all modules in the patch. Please note that if the patch does not use ADSR Vol parameters these will have no effect.

• Attack (ATT) - Defines the attack length/speed.
• Decay (DEC)- Defines the sustain section length/speed.
• Sustain (SUS) - Defines the sustain section slope ('decay' amount).
• Release (REL) - Defines the release length/speed.

Global Filter Envelope Levels

These properties allow you to define global offsets to the cutoff/resonance filter envelopes in the patch. Please note that if the patch does not use ADSR filter parameters these will have no effect.

• Attack (ATT) - Defines the attack length/speed.
• Decay (DEC)- Defines the sustain section length/speed.
• Sustain (SUS) - Defines the sustain section slope ('decay' amount).
• Release (REL) - Defines the release length/speed.

Unison Mode

The highly customizable unison mode is a great feature of Sytrus which allows you to quickly add depth and texture to even simple sounds.

Unison works by triggering a user-defined number of "subvoices" for each actual voice in your sequence. Each subvoice can have slightly varied panning, volume, pitch, phasing etc. which generates a softer sound with rich stereo panorama.

The global unison settings are:

• Unison Order (ORD) - Sets the number of voices in the unison (drag up-down). Drag down until the indicator disappears to turn the effect off (default).
• Unison Mapping (PN) - Sets the panning variation across the unison voices.
• Unison Volume (VL) - Sets the volume level variation across the unison voices (the closer to the center a voice is, the louder it is).
• Unison Pitch (PT) - Sets the pitch variation (detune) across the unison voices.
• Unison Sub-Level (SB) - If this parameter is set higher than zero, a duplicate for each unison voice is created, with a pitch offset of -1 octave. The parameter sets the volume of the sub-level voices.
• Unison Phase (PH) - Sets the initial oscillator phase variation across the unison voices.
• Envelope variation (EV) - Sets the amount of variation added to the attack and decay of the filter cutoff, resonance and volume envelopes of each unison voice.

Additional to the global settings in this section, unison is completely programmable via the unison mapping available in the articulation section for each module.

You can load several presets for the unison settings by clicking the Options button on the Sytrus interface () and pointing to the unison submenu.

Note: Keep in mind that unison triggers actual voices instead of simulating the effect via processing an audio signal (such as the available chorus effect in the effects section). The polyphony of Sytrus in unison mode is multiplied by the number of unison voices (in the case of sub level higher than zero, additional copy of each subvoice is generated). This can take a lot of CPU if not used carefully, so use unison mode with moderate number of voice and try to use the integrate chorus effect if you don't want to use any of the advanced features of the unison mode.

Modulation (X/Y Controller)

The modulation interface represents two adjustable controllers (horizontal and vertical direction). These controllers have no standalone effect over the patch sound and parameters. They are provided only by mean for easy control of key properties by mapping their values to certain controllable parameters in the articulation section for each of the modules.

You set the values of both controllers by dragging inside the controller screen or via directly adjusting the knob values provided for the X and Y values.

You can also set the initial Mod X/Y values for each individual note via the Piano Roll properties (in the note properties menu you will find two additional entries: Mod X and Mod Y).

The Smooth option can be enabled if gradual smooth changes are preferred over quick changes for the linked properties and articulators.

For more information on the Mod X/Y mappings, check the envelope editor page.

Equalizer (EQ)

Sytrus includes a parametric 3-band equalizer, which can filter the effects module signal and/or the output signal.

• Scheme Selection (LED check boxes) - Allows you to select how the equalizer is processed in the synth's mixing chain. OFF: disables the equalizer; OUT+FX: Filters both the effects module signal and the main output signal; OUT - Filters only the main output signal; FX - Filters only the FX module signal;
• Equalizer Bands - The equalizer has 3 bands with adjustable range and frequency. By default the first band is low shelf, the middle is peaking band and last is high shelf. However, by Left-clicking on the EQ type icon above the sliders and dragging up and down, each band can be changed to one of the other two types. Using these three bands you can achieve all basic flavors of frequency filtering you may need - low pass, high pass, band pass, peaking, notch filter, bass boost etc.
• Frequency Knobs - These knobs let you adjust the frequency of each corresponding EQ band (turn to right to increase frequency).
• Range Knobs - These knobs let you adjust the range (width) of each corresponding EQ band (turn to right to increase band range). Bands with wider range have more impact over the filtered signal.

Misc Settings

• Random - This option enables the random mapping in the articulation sections of each module (see the envelope editor page for more information on random mapping). If you use slight property variations via random mapping to introduce more inaccurate performance (to simulate a live performance or the slight inaccuracy of old analogue synths), this option allows you to quickly turn the randomness off and get "perfect" output without braking your settings.
• Mono Key - Enable this option to limit the number of voices per key to one (unison voices are still generated if unison is enabled). Depending on the kind of patch created it may be more appropriate to leave this option on or off. For example, you might want to turn it on for a guitar patch, and leave it off for a pad synth patch.
• Soften - This feature allows Sytrus to apply softening filter to the attack of voices with velocity less than the default (100 for MIDI input/importinput/import). Turning the knob to right increases the effect while turning it max to left disables this feature.
• Global Pitch - Enable this option to make the pitch articulation of Operator1 global, so that all other operators use it as a base from which to offset their own pitch settings.
• Center - Enable this switch to remove the DC offset from the final Sytrus output. This switch needs to be enabled of DC offset is present which affects the sound quality.
• Attenuate Gibbs Phenomenon (GIBBS OFF) - This option attenuates an unwanted side-effect of synthesis called the 'Gibbs phenomenon' that describes unwanted low level oscillations (ringing) around the point of sharp transitions in output amplitude (discontinuous line). You can learn more about Gibbs phenomenon on the internet. Alternatively you may choose to use the (per operator) version of this command in the Harmonics Editor. Note: The Gibbs attenuator will not be needed with 2X oversampling or more in use.
• Portamento (PORTA) - This switch enables pitch-envelope controlled slides or 'glissando' (in addition to the usual Piano Roll based slides possible with the native version of Sytrus). To activate envelope based portamento: enable a pitch envelope with an attack segment and define the envelope for the main operator in global mode (to affect all operators). To gain familiarity with this function load the 'Porta - basic.fnv' in the pitch envelope and examine how the duration of the attack portion of the (flat) pitch envelope controls the portamento duration/speed (see Options -> Porta for more details).

Quality Settings

The quality settings are split into two sections - draft (real-time) and rendering, thus allowing you to optimize Sytrus for real-time performance and for high-quality output during rendering.

• HQ Envelopes - Increases the envelope accuracy at the cost of higher CPU usage. In many cases turning this option is not needed, as the default quality proves sufficient for most settings.
• Oversampling Factor - Enable oversampling to increase the accuracy of the Sytrus rendering engine thus smoothing out potential aliasing and interference problems. It is recommended to use oversampling only during rendering, unless the patch complexity and your CPU allow for higher quality real-time performance. Note: oversampling might slightly alter the sound of the FM feedback and the filter sections in some cases, so it's advised to test how your patch sounds with oversampling in realtime if you plan to use oversampling for your final output.

Info / Comments

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