K404/K504 Assignment 1: Absynth

Review Assignment 8 from last semester. Make sure you know:

how to run Absynth and play it with the PC88 keyboard;
how to make a new, empty patch;
how to save and open patch files;
what modules (like filter) are available, and their basic purposes;
how to edit the oscillator waveform of a simple, one-oscillator patch; and
how to set up a filter to process a buzzy oscillator wave.

For this week's assignment, you'll start from scratch and make an original Absynth patch. As you're working, keep in the back of your mind that you can use these sounds as part of your final project.

In Assignment 8, you played around with one oscillator and the waveform window. For this assignment, your patch should use:

more than one oscillator module;
several envelopes to control amplitude, pitch, filter cutoff, etc.;
at least one LFO, controlling oscillator pitch, amplitude or filter cutoff; and
one of the effects available in the effects module.

You'll save this patch into an Absynth bank file (File > Save Sound).

There's a copy of the Absynth manual in the "Manuals and Demos" folder on your Desktop. Feel free to copy that onto a disk and take it with you to look at outside of your studio time.

Tips and Requirements

Start with a new, empty patch. Please do not build up your patch from one of the existing ones. You need to start from scratch! (Having said that, studying the factory patches is one of the best ways to learn how to make sounds.)
Try putting the oscillator module in Double mode. Choose a buzzy waveform for each oscillator (like "Square_fractal"), and then detune the second oscillator — that is, tune it so that it is just slightly off pitch, relative to the main oscillator. The second oscillator's controls are accessible by pressing the Mod button.) Put the second oscillator into Trans tuning mode, and set the transposition to some small number of semitones (like .005 to .02). Detuned oscillators produce a rich, swirling sound, due to constructive and destructive interference between waveforms whose periods are very slightly out of sync.
Use the envelope editor (Envelope button) to set the amplitude envelope for each of your oscillators.
This is where the manual is essential. You'll be able to figure out how to do a lot in this window just by mousing around, but the manual explains more obscure things like the various envelope types, how to change the curvature of the segments connecting envelope breakpoints (the little square boxes that you drag), creating and deleting breakpoints, setting which breakpoint marks the beginning of the sustain stage, making an envelope that loops, syncing the envelope breakpoints to a beat grid and tempo, how to control the position of a breakpoint using a MIDI controller, etc.
Use an envelope for something other than oscillator amplitude. Press the New button to add other envelope types to the list that already includes (at least) "Oscil A Amp." Depending on the oscillator mode (i.e., single, double, fm, ring modulate), different things can be affected by an envelope. In double oscillator mode, you can control the pitch of both oscillators independently. (The second oscillator is referred to as the "mod" oscillator.)
Try using an LFO to control something about the sound. LFOs can affect oscillator pitch, amplitude, the balance between the two oscillators of a double-mode oscillator module, filter cutoff frequency, effect master delay time, and pan. Press the A, B, and C buttons to say which oscillator channels the LFO should affect for each of the parameters. Use the % controls to specify how much the LFO affects a given parameter. (Use 0% if you want it to have no effect.) Change the speed of the LFO using the Sec control, which sets the period of the LFO waveform. The higher the period, the lower the LFO frequency. Experiment with different LFO waveforms (via the waveform popup menu). Try the Sample/Hold mode. (Click the triangle icon to change LFO modes.)
When you use many modules together, it's helpful to bypass some of them temporarily, so that you can isolate the contribution to the sound that just one or two modules makes. Bypass a module by clicking on its name in the Patch window. (Its outline will dim.)
Try using the Waveshaper module, with a waveform other than sine. Generally, a waveshaper adds distortion to the sound.
Use the Effect module. Different types of delay-based effect are available: Pipe, Multicomb, Multitap, etc. Just play around with them.
After you've made a patch you like, save it to disk (File > Save Sound).
While working, you're bound to become confused and frustrated at some point. Don't worry, it's not your fault! Just go on to some other aspect of the program and try to figure that out. Or go back to basics (one oscillator only, in single mode), and add complexity one step at a time, trying to understand each new thing that you change.