Out of all the effects in the Q and Blofeld (in the 5 FX and Triple FX sections respectively), I quite like the S&H effect, which is a frequency reducer or decimator like effect. Being that I haven't owned a Q or Blofeld, I'm wondering if the S&H these synths have has any special character compared to other software decimators or if you think there is no special character. If the later, do find it sounds similar to a particular software decimator?

S&H is supposed to be "sample and Hold" its a type of lfo. its basically a "random" modulation

however u need to assign it to something.

it is generally assigned to the Filter.

but u can assign it to whatever that synth lets u assign as Modulation.

i guess it depends on a particular patch you heard.

no, as he says, there's a sample-rate reducer called 'Sample & Hold' in the effects section. Its not the same as the 'S&H' which appears in the modulation sources.

FWIW, sample-and-hold isnt necessarily a kind of LFO. you can sample-and-hold the output of an LFO, but that doesnt mean it is one. a sample-and-hold usually has an LFO clocking it, but that doesnt mean it is one either.
sometimes S&H appears in the LFO section of a synth but it has to be sampling and holding 'something' and that something can be an LFO. Or noise.
That still doesnt really mean S&H is a type of LFO though, despite often being a random modulation source (ie fake clocked sampling of noise).

a proper sample and hold is sampling a signal at a specific clock rate; in a digital system if that clock rate is slower than the system clock rate you effectively have sample-rate reduction on the signal. That's what we're talking about here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sample_and_hold


stikygum : Ive never used a Blofeld, but I like the sample-rate reducer in ToneBooster's free TimeMachine. It also gives you bit-reduction and even aliasing artfacts.

http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-timemachine/

If you have Zebra (& Zebrify) the VCF filter module has an SR Decimate mode which is designed for aliasing type effects. I assume it's loosely based on the Waldorf series of synths.

You can route audio from an oscillator to VCF / SR Decimate and hear the output directly, or route the output to an XMF filter module to modulate the filter cutoff. This can be quite musical, or totally destroy audio.

Peace,
Andy.

Glad you mentioned that one. I wrote it off since you have to download the whole bundle, but I decided to check to download it finally. Good explanation on the S&H. It's a common mix up because so many people associated the commonly seen LFO waveform called S&H, as what S&H means. But in fact S&H isn't an LFO. It's good to distinguish the different uses and what it is, because it does different things than say what a Saw wave does to an LFO.

I'm looking to buy Zebra, so thanks for the suggestion there. Very cool indeed if they did base some of it on Waldorf synths.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgZj-AEyX30

BTW, with Zebra you get Zebrify, which means the s+h and all other filters can be put on any audio source, then there's a pretty good envelope and pitch follower, etc. Pretty fun stuff.

waldorf dpole plugin. I would guess it's similar since it was coded by waldorf. It sounds mostly like every other s/h thing. One good feature of that one is it smoothly reduces the rate rather than steping through clock divisions.

Sorry if I've misunderstood.
Are you using a PC?? BitCruncher

Sometimes I wish I had a PC for some of these plugins. But no, I'm on Mac. I'm going to load up SM Pro Audio's software soon, and hopefully I'll be using some PC stuff on my Mac with that.

I didn't know that the DPole had a S&H with it. Was thinking it's only a filter.

my Microwave xt has a s&h filter type (which is a s&h "circuit" in front of a 12 dB LP filter) which lowers the sample rate. i'm guessing DPole has this same filter type.

For the Xt S&H filter, can you edit the S&H parameters (how many does it have) besides the usual filter parameters?

That's all explained in the manual...

This is basically what the Zebra filter I mentioned does. Passing audio through the SR Decimate filter, using cutoff to control the "rate" of audio sampling. This output can be routed to the XMF filter type to modulate the filter cutoff.

Check out the demo ...

Peace,
Andy.

other than the usual filter parameters, just one ( s&h rate )