What are you favourite LFOs, how do they work? Tempo-synced? Modulated?

Or do you prefer host automation? Maybe flexible looping envelopes?

I use regular triangles about 90% of time, so please enlighten me on the joys of low-frequency oscillators.

I really like delay start time and fade in/fade out LFO parameters, which are seen on so few synths (Roland JV/XV/Fantom, some of the modular VST's with a health mod matrix or built in feature like z3ta+, etc.) It gives better control to bringing life and movement to a patch, especially done on a per-layer basis. Tempo synched is certainly preferred for modulation speed. As for shape, it depends what I want it to do.

Devon

LFO's are incredibly useful and not just for wubstep

Some things I like to do:

-A slow, sweeping LFO over several bars, routed to filter cutoff to bring movement to a song or arrangement

-Fast (near audio-rate) triangle lfo routed to pitch to add grit to a sound

-Slightly slower but still quite fast triangle LFO - > pitch for lively sounds

-S&H LFO in 1-shot mode -> filter, to make each note sound slightly different

-One separate triangle LFO routed to pitch and/or pulse width of each oscillator, one with negative and one with a positive amount to make patches less static and more "analog".

The delay and fade combination can make a big difference. If I remember correctly all my digital hardware (inc. a DX21 FM synth) had these controls. Personally I love a good sine wave LFO and square wave pitch modulation. More interesting chaotic generators to add interest and variation to sounds is something I'd like to see more of.

AudioSpillage

Also, mixing multiple LFOs and modulating the frequency of one LFO with another can yield interesting results.

As know as LFO FM Pretty rad.

http://vimeo.com/4870569

I personally consider the sync LFO to tempo option a must.

I like a nice triangle LFO routed to filter cut off but I use Alchemy and you can go nuts with LFO's. I also like routing an LFO to fine pitch to create a moving almost chorus effect.

The props just announced their LFO-based rack extension Pulsar. It's a wacky LFO + LFO + Env module + wave asymmetry (shuffle). Definitely interesting at the very least. http://bit.ly/oqJSiw

On the vst side of things I really like the step mode in Zebra's LFOs and they have a quantize 12 option, allowing it to be used as a step sequencer.

I used to use LFO Tool a lot, but then I discovered this bad boy about a week ago... total game changer;




http://www.cableguys.de/midi-shaper.html


The possibilities of this plug-in are really, really impressive.

Use it as a simple LFO, or a drawable Envelope/Looping Envelope.

Basically you can keep stacking these up giving you virtually unlimited modulation to any parameter that has MIDI-learn, or a CC chart in it's documentation.

You can take a synth like DIVA, and apply modulation to the tuning of the individual voices, max detune knob, stacked voices, or modulation to even things like the wet/dry of the plate reverb or the speed of the chorus. Opens up a whole new can of worms with patch design. I highly prefer using this to any built in LFO's of synths.

I use the VST hosted in Bidule with it's data routed back into Logic, because the AU version is missing MIDI input and beat retrig functionality. This way I can also "print" the midishaper's data to a track in Logic.

My only complaint with Midishaper is it's own MIDI-learn is a bit dodgy, and it could use it's own little sub-mod matrix to make things like using the modwheel and aftertouch to effect it's own parameters. As it is now simply MIDI-learning parameters in Midishape like modwheel works, but default to values undesirable.



Best of all, it's only 30 bucks!

-B

What a wiiiiide open subject!

I also really like delay/fade/power type controls, Im happy to see them mentioned so quick. They are implemented differently in a couple things I use, but just a simple envelope control opens things up so much.

The shape for me is pretty dependent on the purpose, but 90% of the time I am starting with a sine. The other 10 is a square or step. I think mostly they are hybrids though.

Being able to mod an lfo with another, or with anything else, is super important, but that is almost taken for granted with todays crazy beasts. Now we want to mod everything with everything, and automate the mix.

I think generally everyone has a use for synch. I do to, but its very important to have an 'off' option too-
Someone mentioned using very very long lfos. I do this a whole lot for subtle variation of various parameters. If I couldnt 'unsynch' it in this case it would not be as useful for creating offtime events over longer time spans.

Also, an lfo that had super fine grained and deep controls on its speed controls would be interesting. Like dynamics controls built in. For example I sometimes imagine something like an 'inertia' parameter on an lfo speed if that makes any sense.

And, I use the host LFO in FL a whole lot. Like, ten per project.
It is yet another of the things that I would have a hard time going without in another host.
Fwiw, the lfo controls in FL's channel window are extremely basic, extremely fast to play with, and they work for nearly everything.
(The only wonkyness is ironically if you want a fade in from 0% mix. Its bipolar and using the built in envelope control in the playlist makes what would be "0%" equal "-100%" on the lfo. If anyone knows how that is supposed to work, pm me. Im sure gol has a logical reason why it makes sense. )

Woah, yeah-
++1 for MidiShaper and LFOTool.
Incredibly useful tools.
(Even if you have FL)
Last edited by highkoo on Tue May 22, 2012 7:45 am; edited 1 time in total

Whoa, thanks for pointing that out, it looks pretty sweet. Demoing now..

Do mean chaotic in the sense of truly random, or something that still repeats predictably (either over a time period or based on song position or something)?

+1

Lfo where you can move phase or just invert (with phase reset on note).
Lfo+flip-flop combo.

Also when sin calculated per sample, without lookup tables.

I like the Step LFO's in Synthmaker. Almost like a mini sequencer.

these^
also nice sometimes to have per note/ global switch,
and modulation depth set by velocity.

But I much prefer host automation for anything irregular or very long. I don't "develop" sounds with LFOs if that makes sense. For that I use the host.