Oscillator Help.

[X-Trav]

How do I use those damn things?

[Versilaryan]

...Any particular synths you need help with, or any other kind of oscillator? >.>

[bartekko]

anything in particular?

[Whitetail]

Set square, saw, triangle, noise or sine
Set envelop to the sound you're going for
Profit

yeah, the waveform should be too difficult so the only tough part really is the envelope:
-Attack: how long the "intro" of the sound is, basically the higher this is, the longer it will take for the full sound
-Decay: how long it holds out the loudest part of the sound, increase this to reduce the amount of time the sound is full
-Sustain: how long it holds out the sound, leave it at the lowest value for infinite sustain
-Release: how long it holds the sound after the note is no longer held down, basically think of how when you pluck a string it keeps playing after you pluck it


The more oscillators it has, the more fun it is
Try detuning two laid over each other for different sounds
Layer a whole bunch of the same slightly detuned for "super" sounds, (think supersaw - that sound is made by layering a bunch of sawtooths slightly detuned).

Also you can use noise for percussive sounds, but it normally has no tonal value.


Some settings I like:
-infinite sustained sawtooth/square - you just can't go wrong here, it's basic but it sounds nice
-Double detuned Sawtooth - it gives a wider sound, good for melodies or simple background parts - the wider you detune them, the thicker the sound becomes but the more annoying it becomes on sustain.
-Triangle - seems to work best for either bass, or leads depending on the register. Works really well with glissando, especially lead parts - it gives you this trailing sound that is really glitchy so to speak if you wander a bit with it.
-Bass Sawtooth - apply distortion and it makes a great bass sound, maybe side chain it for some more character. I don't suggest detuning bass sounds though since it gets muddy down there
-Quick attack Square - by decreasing decay and sustain you can set this up with a really quick plucking type sound, increase there release you can get a harp type sound.

Also, using single oscillators and basic envelops you can make a fakebit sound with just about any oscillator synth.

Hope this helps

[bartekko]

Also you can use noise for percussive sounds, but it normally has no tonal value.

unless you take z3ta+, add a band-pass filter, mess with resonance, and set the note # to modulate cut-off.

more the filter's resonance, the less frequencies pass thru, the more tonal the voice gets, but at about 120db/octave it becomes pretty much a sine wave

[X-Trav]

Thanks for the help guys~