Audio oscillators - waveform selection
On the Oscillator tab in music instrument tweak menus, there's a Waveform Shape slider that morphs the oscillator's waveform between different shapes (sine wave, sawtooth, square wave etc).
The slider is a % scale. 0% is a sine wave, and sawtooth is about 80%, for example.
Does anyone know the exact % value for standard waveform shapes (especially square wave) on the slider? The display looks like a square wave at 60%, but 40% sounds closer to square for me - however at 40% the display looks like a triangle wave.
I don't really trust my ears, so if anyone else is using the oscillators I'd love to hear your input!
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Im not a expert i just create sounds in ableton live & stuff.
To me a sine sounds pure, no clicks or abrupt changes from positive to negative,
a square wave is harsh & clicks twice per cycle, because of the abrupt & extent of changes
a triangle / ramp sounds less harsh & clicks just once per cycle, with a line between,
A pulse sounds more clicky because of the abrupt change but most of the cycle has zero amplitude so the click is emphasised.(dreams pulse looks different to say PWM so may sound less clicky)
My point, listen to how clicky as well as how tonal the sound is.
As for % Values, no clue , i just try it & listen, in context, for the most useable sounds i create,
I abandoned the notion of making instruments in isolation because when you come to use them they would be in the wrong space or frequency range so would take work to fix, killing the creative flow, just make it as i need it in context.
If you are trying to emulate some specific sound or instrument all i can really suggest is look at Mm included instuments, mostly or all made from samples, look at the samples, from the brief look i had it has classic synths, orchestra, organs, zoom in on the waveform in the slice editor,
In my experience a lot of a sound you hear is audio effects, & instrument, fx modulation. -
'@PassTheRizla Hey, thanks for the response! I'm making something that only uses oscillators and no samples (an experiment more than anything) but it's a good idea looking at some of Mm's sample based synths anyway.
I actually solved the problem - I was controlling the Wave Shape slider with logic, and the value wasn't scaling correctly. So their visual representation in the Oscillator tab is accurate:
0% - Sine
40% - Triangle (I think, not using it)
60% - Square
80% - Saw
I'm not actually sure what 100% is - it has a curves, but a sharp part too. Seems like a saw wave modulated by a sine wave or something?
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