Two oscillators played from a keyboard or MIDI, each with its own waveform, octave, detune, level and stereo position. It is the simplest source in the catalog and a good place to learn what each of those settings does.
The idea
Two oscillators run at the note you play and are mixed together. There is no unison stack and no filter: two voices, honestly counted. The interest comes from how they relate. A few cents of detune between them makes a slow beat, and that beat is most of what people mean when they call a synth fat. Pan them apart and the same beat becomes width instead of a pulse.
Controls
For each of Osc 1 and Osc 2:
- Wave: sine, square, sawtooth or triangle. Sawtooth has every harmonic and is the usual starting point; sine has none.
- Octave transposes in whole octaves, up to three either way. Osc 2 one octave down is the classic sub.
- Detune offsets the pitch by up to a semitone either way, in cents.
- Level sets its share of the mix. Keep Osc 2 under Osc 1 and it thickens the sound; match them and you hear two voices.
- Pan places it in the stereo field.
- A power switch mutes it without losing its level.
The voice controls choose Polyphonic, Monophonic or Mono Legato playing, which held note wins in mono modes (last, lowest or highest), and a glide time up to two seconds. Polyphonic is the default.
Getting started
Play a few notes on the default patch: a sawtooth and a square, the second detuned by seven cents. Then try turning Osc 2's Detune to zero to hear the two merge into one, and pan the oscillators apart to hear the beat turn into width.
