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You are here: Electronic Musician » Tutorials » Twelve Under a Hundred

Twelve Under a Hundred

Mar 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Len Sasso

The Electronic Century Part 4

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Sonic Charge

MicroTonic ($89, Mac/Win, VSTi/AU)
No plug-in library is complete without a drum machine. With the availability of excellent sampled drum libraries of every stripe, a high percentage of drum machine plug-ins are specialized sample players with built-in step sequencers. Synthesized drum machines are harder to find, and despite its modest price, MicroTonic is one of the most versatile. It also comes with a huge collection of drum patches and programs (patches for each pad with accompanying sequences).

FIG. 11: MicroTonic is a classic synthesized drum machine featuring a 12-pattern 16-step pattern sequencer to play its oscillator and noise sound generators.

MicroTonic is an 8-pad drum synthesizer with a built-in pattern sequencer capable of holding 12 patterns (see Fig. 11). Patterns have from 1 to 16 steps, and you can chain adjacent patterns together to create longer patterns (see Web Clip 11). Step size ranges from eighth to 32nd notes, triples are included, and you can use the Swing slider to shift even-numbered steps. Each step has accent and fill buttons; the fill button creates a flam at from one-half to one-eighth the step size. A context menu allows patterns to be copied, pasted, and automatically altered in various ways. You can export pattern chains as either MIDI or audio files. Exporting MIDI is especially handy for dequantizing your drum patterns.

MicroTonic's drum synth has eight pads, which can be triggered by MIDI with or without the pattern sequencer. You can, for example, create basic drum parts in the pattern sequencer, then spice them up with long, nonlooping MIDI parts. With the multioutput version of the plug-in, you can route each pad to its own output for individual processing.

Each of MicroTonic's drum pads has an identical synthesis engine consisting of an oscillator section, a noise section, and a mixer for balance, EQ, and distortion. The oscillator section has a 3-mode oscillator (sine, triangle, or sawtooth), a bipolar pitch modulator with random, sine-wave LFO, or decay envelope as sources, and an AD volume envelope. The modulator is the key here, providing everything from naturally falling drum pitch to rattle- and shaker-style percussion. The noise section feeds white noise through a multimode resonant filter. The level is controlled by an AD envelope with exponential, linear, and retriggering decay modes. Retriggering is useful for stuttering sounds like handclaps.

U-he

Zoyd (free, Mac, AU)
Zoyd is a prototype for the commercial (not free) plug-in synths subsequently released by U-he. Consequently, it suffers a few limitations such as no further development, monophonic operation, minimal documentation and preset library, limited optimization, and occasional unexpected clicks and pops. So why include it? Because it sounds different, is different, and offers a lot to play with.

Zoyd's sound generators are two oscillators and a noise generator. The oscillators have three waveforms and unique Morphology and Variance controls whose effect depends on the selected waveform. Waveform Saw o/e is the most interesting; Variance detunes the odd versus the even harmonics, and Morphology adjusts their volume (amplitude) ratio.

FIG. 12: Zoyd’s two oscillators are followed by filters, waveshapers, and a mixer whose signal routing can be reconfigured.

Zoyd's signal path splits after the sound generators and thereafter is somewhat configurable — you can choose from nine configurations. These arrange a pair of filters, a pair of waveshapers, and a mixer in various ways. For example, each oscillator can feed its own filter, after which the signal is mixed and sent through the waveshapers in series, or oscillator 1 can feed a waveshaper and filter in series, then be mixed with oscillator 2 to feed the second waveshaper and filter in series. The signals appearing at the mixer can be added, subtracted, or ring-modulated. Along the way, you can modulate most parameters with any of three ADSR envelope generators and two LFOs (see Fig. 12).

Being monophonic and aggressive-sounding, Zoyd is best for leads and basses. It can also have a decidedly vocal quality, which is evident in many of the factory presets (see Web Clip 12). You may not use this synth in every piece, but when you do you'll get the listener's attention.

More Is More

It's tempting to say that this roundup covers the Alpha to Zoyd of budget virtual synths, but in truth it barely scratches the surface. A little exploration will turn up dozens of picks in every category, and most of them have something unique to offer. Beyond that, they're usually underexposed and therefore not overused. A little time on the Web instead of leafing through your existing preset library might just turn up that perfect sound.

Len Sasso is an associate editor of EM. For an earful, visit his Web site at www.swiftkick.com.