Making The First Sound
Now that you have completed the audio and MIDI devices setup let's try to get some sound out of the program. Actually we are going not just to make any sound but to built a decent synthesizer patch, though not at once.
To create a sound we need to have some structure which creates that sound. We will be creating this structure in the Ensemble (Structure) window of the SynC Modular. If you have accidentally closed that window just select Window->Show Ensemble from the menu. In this window you can see three modules which are always there (they cannot be deleted): PartBox, WaveOut and VR. We are not going to use the PartBox until we get to the multitimbrality. We will need the VR module later in our tutorial, when we introduce the amplitude ADSR envelope. And we will need the WaveOut right now.
Most sources on subtractive synthesis (and we are going to do the subtractive synthesis since it is the most common synthesis type) say that first, you should take a waveform which is harmonically rich, e.g. sawtooth. Let's do literally that. Right-click the ensemble structure window's empty space and select Standard->Oscillators->Saw AA from the menu that appears. This creates a sawtooth oscillator in the structure. (AA stands for antialiased, and we do not want the aliasing phenomenon to spoil our saw, sounding bad enough even without that. Well, that's all too complicated, forget about aliasing, just insert the antialiased sawtooth, OK?).
On the left side of the sawtooth module are its inputs: F and S. On the right side is the output: O. That's a general rule - the inputs are always on the left side of the module, the outputs are always on the right side.
Now let's find out what are you to do with this sawtooth module. Right-click it with the mouse and what the popup menu appearing on the screen. Most of the commands in this menu deal with editing the sawtooth module, but you don't want them, you are not going to corrupt the (presumably) fine-working sawtooth, are you? So just select the Module Description command. This won't do any harm.
In the module description you can read that F input is for frequency and O output is for sawtooth oscillating signal. S is for sync, but we are not going to sync the oscillator this time, so just leave it. OK, we need to find some source signal for the frequency input. Right-click the empty space again and select Basic->Const. This is going to create a constant signal producing module. You can see '0' labeled upon it. This should tell you that this module is going to produce a constant signal equal to zero. But you don't want zero, you want some audible frequency value. Let's take 440Hz (MIDI note A4).
OK, right click the constant module and select Value from the menu that appears. This brings up a dialog box letting you to specify the desired output value. Enter 440 and click OK. Now the module is labeled '440' and as you expect it is going to produce a constant output value of 440 units.
Let's connect its output to the sawtooth's F input. To do that, first position the mouse cursor over the constant's output pin. Now left-click, hold the mouse button and drag the cursor. An inverse color line should stretch out from constant's output to the mouse cursor. Position the cursor over the sawtooth's F input pin (the mouse cursor should turn to cross with an arrow, indicating you are over an acceptable input pin) and release the mouse button. Congratulations, you've just done your first connection.
By the way, later you are going to need not only to connect the modules but also to break the existing connections. The simplest way to do that is to click on the input pin of the connection (e.i. the pin on the left side of the module and usually at the right end of the connection line) and drag to the empty space, releasing the mouse button there. Alternatively you can click on either of the pins and drag to the other pin of the connection to be removed. We suggest that you try at least one of these variants, so that later you feel no difficulty connecting or disconnecting modules.
OK, back to our sawtooth. Now the sawtooth module is supposed to oscillate at 440Hz. To hear it you should connect the sawtooth's output to the WaveOut module. You'll need two connections, to the L and R inputs of the WaveOut module, since you want to hear the sawtooth in both left and right stereo channels (nevertheless it's OK to connect only to the left or to the right input). Make these connections the same way you connected the constant module to the sawtooth (you are not hearing the sawtooth yet, unless you pressed the Play button, we are going to do it a bit later).
That's all with the structure. Let's save it (it is always good to save your work after completing some part of it). Click button on the toolbar, or select File->Save from the window menu bar. Since you have no name for your project (ensemble) yet, a dialog box appears, allowing you to select the name and directory for the file. Enter the file name and click OK. (Further in this tutorial we are not going to remind you to save the project, leaving it to your decision).
And last. Let's listen to the sawtooth. Are you ready? Click the (Play) button on the toolbar, or select Sound->Run from the menu bar, or just hit 0 on the numpad. A sharp, buzzy sawtooth sound should emerge from the speakers. If somehow it does not, check your soundcard volume control, soundcard mixer wave output level, your audio connections, etc.
Watch the consumed CPU time shown by green digits in the small indicator window on the toolbar. The format of the info in this window is SS+WW%. SS is the CPU time percentage used for synthesis. WW is the CPU time percentage used for writing to the audio output device (and some other system tasks, but they usually do not take more than 1%). WW may be irrelevant in VST2 mode or under BeOS.
To stop the sound click the (Stop) button on the toolbar, or select Sound->Stop or hit numpad Enter.
Alternatively, the SynC Modular allows you to preview the created signal. Click the (Oscilloscope) button on the toolbar, or select Sound->Run Oscilloscope from the menu bar. You should see the sawtooth wave in the oscilloscope window that appears. Close the oscilloscope window by clicking the
button it it's upper-right corner.
By the way there is also a Panic command in the Sound menu. Select this command (or just press F2) when there are stuck notes or the synthesizer has gone into some non-functional state (e.g. because the positive feedback was too high in the feedback loop).
Not too much impressive, is it? It's gonna take some more work than just a single sawtooth to create a decent sounding structure.
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