One Synth Challenge #119: Waverazor 2 by Tracktion (Jasinski Wins!)

[Taron]

I'm starting to get a hang of it, while it still remains the clunkiest UI there is and the synthesis idea has some inherent quality challenges along with plenty of crackling parameters, if you're either not careful or you might even enjoy the dirt, 'tis possible. But, yeah, at the end it's a sound source and there are some great things that can be achieve with it. I also begin to dive into more parameters, finding them necessary and am happy to find them, such as routing both filters into the third to automate that one, helping to some really complex subtleties for pads, for example. I've updated my little test track with a bit more stuff... s.a.

[jasinski]

Here's my walk thru for hooking up Filter Cutoff of FIlter 1 to an ENV.
Start with an INIT patch.

[Taron]

The most important hint is the MATRIX tab, since all modulation are routed through there, not just lfo and envelopes, but also those MACRO knobs and vector matrix. That's kind of another mildly weird thing, but if that was properly conveyed, people would have a much easier time to get into this without diving into despair.
I don't even want to know what it's like to have more than 7 or 8 modulators, because you'll always have to scroll down until you find the one you're looking for, haha...that's another extra joy. Guess, if collapsing/expanding would work, this might help.

[jasinski]

@Taron. The ui needs to be entirely re-thought. But yes... currently, it's punishing to have more than 2-3 modulators. Sadly if you switch pages and switch back, it doesn't remember where you were scrolled to before and you have to rescroll. Programming is not enjoyable as it is. Maybe I'll write a breakdown on what could be improved.

[Taron]

Hey, thanks for putting that little tutorial together, by the way, Jas!
Anyway, I would put the routing matrix into the left column, since it really only has a dial and a source/targets. I'd also get rid of the 1x1 and only have 1xN. That way you could have the MODs in the center with all their dials and gadgets and the routing left next to it. No need to change tabs. However, remembering scroll positions would still be a good call.

[ontrackp]

If you put a modulation target in the focus area (center) then select Matrix on the left it will show a subset of just the mods that afffect any parameter within of that target (I.e. Filter or OSC).

[Taron]

Yeah, but most often you want to adjust the modulation itself while testing its affect on the target/targets and dialing up percentages, but this way around doesn't exit. To me it seems like this would have higher priority. I know it is when I'm editing.

[ontrackp]

Yep. I have been “anticipating “ settings while opening new Env and LFO then going back and forth to fine tune. Not at all intuitive!

[TheNeverScene]

I can't figure out how to change the pitch of a basic sine wave :/ The octave, semi and cents don't do anything, at least in the oscillator "R" window, which I'm assuming stands for "root"?

And how do you load up a full wave cycle? I have to be missing something because I can only piece together a saw, square, etc.

So far, nothing but glitch

[] Peter:H []

I can't figure out how to change the pitch of a basic sine wave :/ The octave, semi and cents don't do anything, at least in the oscillator "R" window, which I'm assuming stands for "root"?

And how do you load up a full wave cycle? I have to be missing something because I can only piece together a saw, square, etc.

So far, nothing but glitch

No, R stands for "Razor" - I think it's in the manual. The manual can by opend via the "question mark" icon.

BTW 1:the Icon with lookslike it means "settings" on top of each of the modules brings that module into focus only, so for instance if you apply that on a matrix element then only this matrix element will be displayed in the center and only the "connected" elements to the left and right.
This allows to fine tune modulations to some extent without going back an forth. Ithink that was in one of the videos.

BTW 2: Learning from OSCs and transfering knowledge from one synth to another. In Fathom I have learnt a Oscillator approach, that was somehow called "leave one out" where every other cycle received a different wave, i.e. allowing to mix harmonics in in a way ears cannot tell that this was actually two different wave forms.
It can be done with waverazor as well, you can for instance combine a SAW with octave setting -1 and one with Setting 0 in one oscillator...I leave it up to you to get the step number and size for that.

[] Peter:H []

Here's my walk thru for hooking up Filter Cutoff of FIlter 1 to an ENV.
Start with an INIT patch.

Regarding point 11. From my rtfm session, cutoff(s) and cutoff(f) -Pages 61 and 62 for instance, quote:
cutoff(s) - This is the filter cutoff frequency scaled with a natural feeling curve. Setting  this parameter overrides and updates the Tune Note and Tune Cents parameters. 
cutoff(f) - Allows non-scaled direct modulation of frequency. 

[] Peter:H []

TL:DR; This whole challenge is a lot simpler if you let the things that come naturally to Waverazor guide your music rather than trying to force it to fit your genre.
My moment of philsophy for those struggling to get music out of WaveRazor.

Well said, Leonard, thanks.

[] Peter:H []

Trick: For Traditionalists seeking something like "unisono". No, it's not there, but you can emulate it to some extent.
Use any Oscillator, set it to 3 steps with slightly detuned saws for each step, step size 1 or 2. Add a second osc with another three slightly detuned saws...may be you can vary the step size.

I have added a kind of "unisono" patch with filter and fx-chain. It's three oscilators, each contains up to 3 detuned saws. Osc1 and Osc2 are paned left and right respective. Osc3 is in the middle. Please save the file. Remove the ".zip", just leaving the name "PHU_UNISONO_SAW.1.wraz". Then goto "disc" icon and import the patch

I would highly recommand everybody to investigate some time into the mixers. You can for instance use my template and change pan for the oscillators in the mixer page. It's important here to understand that there's "sends" and "returns" - only if both are set appropriately you get the sound.

[Taron]

Hahaha, I held back going crazy about that one, NeverScene! Yeah, you do have a PERFECT example right in the Init patch, actually. Go to the MOD page and look at the routings. You'll see the first 1xN routing for Vibrato. It shows what it has to do to actually let any oscillator vibrate in pitch. Any existing wave segement has to get tuned individually. If you, like me, think this is madness and almost rings "lazy", if it wasn't the opposite of it, then we both would tell Taiho to consider making this a top secret internal macro for when you actually use "tuning" on the oscillator, which somehow sometimes seems to do something, but not without keeping the original pitch as like a second component. SO, under the hood it might do the wicked "tune all segements"(relative to their patch designed tuning) thing, but one should not have to do that manually.
You can, however, work with only one wave segment! Works kinda for kicks. But it's just as dirty as it would be to basically pitch a sampling segment, really, or any sample based waveform.

[Taron]

Here's a super simple kick example, using one slope modulator and one 1x1 routing.