Using the "Partials" waves as inputs instead of using a sine gives you the same effect as two modulators into the same carrier, using only a single layer. Of course you don't have independent control of their levels but you can get close by using LOPASS (or HIPASS) in place of GAIN.
I think that would be cool, I personally like the way it's done currently because you can "split" an "operator" and play around with the insides. But for straight DX-7 style programming, an "FM" block would be fun. The main issue is cents vs hz, namely that Yamaha-style FM has all the "ratios" set up correctly (from a mathematical point of view), and you can control frequency directly instead of having to translate from hz to cents. So, I'd imagine a Kurzweil-style "FM" block would have Src1 and Src2 in units of hz, rather than cents.
Great videos - makes me really want a pc3! I just have a question: if you feed a signal into the saw+shaper, the signal is mixed with the SW+SP signal - but where does the fm modulation come in? Does the input to every block also modulate the pitch? So you have sine mixed with the SW+SP sine, which is also modulated by the sine sent in? Thanks for your help.
SHAPER is like a sine wave lookup table -- you send in a sawtooth, and it will "read" back the sine wave (with amt set to 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.00, etc). Now, if you combine that sawtooth with a sine wave, you are essentially modifying the DC component of the sawtooth, causing it to rise/fall faster and slower depending on the pitch of the mixed-in sine wave. As this happens, it causes the sine wave to be "read" out of the table faster or slower too, which gives us frequency modulation. What the sine wave is doing, essentially, is modulating the "phase angle" of the sawtooth, hence this method of doing FM is sometimes called "phase modulation" or "phase distortion". SAW+SHP combines the first two items (the sawtooth and the sinewave lookup table) into a single block, so now all you have to do is send in another sine wave. If you mix two sine waves together and send those in, you'll get a more complex result as now you have two different waves modifying the DC component of the sawtooth wave. Now, as you increase the gain of the signal going into SHAPER, you will cause the table to "skip" as the incoming waveform starts to "clip", and this results in a sharper sound that roughly corresponds to what happens when increasing amplitude from Op1 into Op2 in normal Yamaha-style FM. To do this, you may have SINE -> GAIN -> SAW+SHP, then use something to control the GAIN block.
Yes, indeed! That's the really fun part IMO -- you can "split" an FM "operator" and mess around with its internals (it's fairly similar to other waveshaping, but VAST connects waveshaping and FM in a more straightforward way). The "TWO PARAM SHAPER" is not to be missed, as you can mess with the balance between even/odd harmonics. In another video (tutorial #21) I use SHAPER with some other bits to do a "Supersaw" sound, which makes me think Roland did something similar in the JP8000/8080. So, run all the things through SHAPER and see what pops out. It is "sensitive" to gain, but also DC offset (which video #21 demonstrates) and is neat in conjunction with WRAP, which is also sensitive to gain and DC offset.
I have plans to get into that, but for the basics I recommend the Kurzweil tutorials. You can see all of them here: kurzweil.com/product/pc3k6/video/. This video talks about effects basics: 9 Kurzweil PC3 Series: FX Basics My tutorials are generally aimed at those who've watched the Kurzweil videos and are ready to move on to more advanced topics, but I may do a few in the future that focus on some of the basic aspects, such as assigning effects and using the sequencer.
poserp Thanks. I've learn quite a bit since I wrote that comment. I can easily edit all effects now. I do have 1 question though & I'm really hoping you can help? You know when you're editing effects & you go deeper into the effects parameters, well there doesn't seem to be any way to go BACK, unless you SAVE your changes first. Like once your into the parameters, you can't go back & edit filters, layers, keymaps, pitch, envelopes, etc, unless you SAVE the effects. Weird! I've never seen that on ANY other keyboard. It's a very odd & inconvenient user interface. Unless I am doing something wrong?
Can i please ask you where you get the table of harmonics , how to you compute these , formula ? :-) I liked the video verry much thnx a lot for the effort.. warm regards :-)
Using the "Partials" waves as inputs instead of using a sine gives you the same effect as two modulators into the same carrier, using only a single layer. Of course you don't have independent control of their levels but you can get close by using LOPASS (or HIPASS) in place of GAIN.
Fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to explain this. I'm a competent PC3 programmer, but this taught me a lot.
thanks for these great tutorials poserp. really useful even for a k2600 owner. all the best.
Would be interesting if Kurzweil implemented a DX7-style Operator block.
I think that would be cool, I personally like the way it's done currently because you can "split" an "operator" and play around with the insides. But for straight DX-7 style programming, an "FM" block would be fun. The main issue is cents vs hz, namely that Yamaha-style FM has all the "ratios" set up correctly (from a mathematical point of view), and you can control frequency directly instead of having to translate from hz to cents. So, I'd imagine a Kurzweil-style "FM" block would have Src1 and Src2 in units of hz, rather than cents.
Or maybe a complete DX7-style algorithm including operators in a block. :P
Great videos - makes me really want a pc3! I just have a question: if you feed a signal into the saw+shaper, the signal is mixed with the SW+SP signal - but where does the fm modulation come in? Does the input to every block also modulate the pitch? So you have sine mixed with the SW+SP sine, which is also modulated by the sine sent in? Thanks for your help.
SHAPER is like a sine wave lookup table -- you send in a sawtooth, and it will "read" back the sine wave (with amt set to 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.00, etc). Now, if you combine that sawtooth with a sine wave, you are essentially modifying the DC component of the sawtooth, causing it to rise/fall faster and slower depending on the pitch of the mixed-in sine wave. As this happens, it causes the sine wave to be "read" out of the table faster or slower too, which gives us frequency modulation. What the sine wave is doing, essentially, is modulating the "phase angle" of the sawtooth, hence this method of doing FM is sometimes called "phase modulation" or "phase distortion".
SAW+SHP combines the first two items (the sawtooth and the sinewave lookup table) into a single block, so now all you have to do is send in another sine wave. If you mix two sine waves together and send those in, you'll get a more complex result as now you have two different waves modifying the DC component of the sawtooth wave. Now, as you increase the gain of the signal going into SHAPER, you will cause the table to "skip" as the incoming waveform starts to "clip", and this results in a sharper sound that roughly corresponds to what happens when increasing amplitude from Op1 into Op2 in normal Yamaha-style FM. To do this, you may have SINE -> GAIN -> SAW+SHP, then use something to control the GAIN block.
Thanks for the reply - I was a bit puzzled about that! So what does the shaper on it's own do? Can you send any wave to read the lookup table?
Yes, indeed! That's the really fun part IMO -- you can "split" an FM "operator" and mess around with its internals (it's fairly similar to other waveshaping, but VAST connects waveshaping and FM in a more straightforward way). The "TWO PARAM SHAPER" is not to be missed, as you can mess with the balance between even/odd harmonics. In another video (tutorial #21) I use SHAPER with some other bits to do a "Supersaw" sound, which makes me think Roland did something similar in the JP8000/8080. So, run all the things through SHAPER and see what pops out. It is "sensitive" to gain, but also DC offset (which video #21 demonstrates) and is neat in conjunction with WRAP, which is also sensitive to gain and DC offset.
Gotta watch these on 50-75% speed!
Could you PLEASE do a short tutorial about EFFECTS? I just want to adjust the reverb & delay on a program, but I can't figure out how to do it.
I have plans to get into that, but for the basics I recommend the Kurzweil tutorials. You can see all of them here: kurzweil.com/product/pc3k6/video/. This video talks about effects basics: 9 Kurzweil PC3 Series: FX Basics My tutorials are generally aimed at those who've watched the Kurzweil videos and are ready to move on to more advanced topics, but I may do a few in the future that focus on some of the basic aspects, such as assigning effects and using the sequencer.
poserp Thanks. I've learn quite a bit since I wrote that comment. I can easily edit all effects now. I do have 1 question though & I'm really hoping you can help? You know when you're editing effects & you go deeper into the effects parameters, well there doesn't seem to be any way to go BACK, unless you SAVE your changes first. Like once your into the parameters, you can't go back & edit filters, layers, keymaps, pitch, envelopes, etc, unless you SAVE the effects. Weird! I've never seen that on ANY other keyboard. It's a very odd & inconvenient user interface. Unless I am doing something wrong?
Can i please ask you where you get the table of harmonics , how to you compute these , formula ? :-)
I liked the video verry much thnx a lot for the effort.. warm regards :-)
+Geert Verstraete Sure, I got the values from the Harmonic Series entry in wikipedia -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_(music)
My brain just exploded.
Thnx a lot . altough i don't really understand it completely.... :-) Warm regards