The ES1 features a primary oscillator and a sub-oscillator. The primary oscillator generates a waveform, which is then sent to other parts of the synthesizer for processing or manipulation. The sub-oscillator generates a secondary waveform one or two octaves below that of the primary oscillator.
The following table outlines how the oscillator waveform affects your synthesizer sound.
Waveform | Basic tone | Comments |
---|---|---|
Sawtooth | Warm and even | Useful for strings, pads, bass, and brass sounds |
Triangle | Sweet sounding, softer than sawtooth | Useful for flutes, pads |
Square | Hollow and “woody” sounding | Useful for basses, clarinets, and oboes |
Pulse | “Nasal” sounding | Great for reed instruments, synth blips, basses |
You can freely set any pulse width in-between the square wave and pulse wave symbols of the Wave knob. The pulse width can also be automatically modulated in the modulation section (see Using the ES1 Router). Modulating the pulse width with a slowly cycling LFO, for example, allows periodically mutating, fat bass sounds.
The sub-oscillator provides the following waveform options:
A square wave that plays one or two octaves below the frequency of the primary oscillator.
A pulse wave that plays two octaves below the frequency of the primary oscillator.
Variations of these waveforms with different mixes and phase relationships. Their use results in different sounds.
White noise which is useful for creating percussion sounds, as well as wind, surf, and rain sounds.
You can also completely disable the sub-oscillator by choosing OFF.
The sub-oscillator of the ES1 allows you to run an external channel strip signal through the ES1 synthesizer engine, by using a side chain.
Set the Sub knob to EXT.
Choose the side chain source channel strip from the Side Chain menu at the top of the plug-in window.