Falcon’s modulation engine provides endless opportunities for customizing and modifying sounds. Let’s create a wobble bass that we can tweak in realtime from our MIDI controller.
- As with the previous examples start with a clean patch, create a new Synth Template keygroup and change the Analog oscillator to Wavetable.
- We also want this sound to be monophonic, so in the Layers section, change the Play Mode from Poly to Mono Retrigger.
- To change the wavetable, press on the menu above the waveform and choose from the menu. Let’s choose Multi > Bass > Insect.
Play and hold a note to audition the wavetable. While holding the note, adjust the Wave Index to change the active waveform within the wavetable. This is a good control to adjust in realtime while playing, so let’s assign the Mod Wheel as a modulator.
- Right-click the Wave Index knob and choose Add Modulation > Modulation Wheel.
- The new modulation assignment now appears in the Modulation Editor – if you do not see the Modulation Editor, make sure that its toggle button is enabled at the top of the Edit view, and that it is expanded with the arrow next to its name.
- Each modulation assignment has a ratio slider that defines how the modulation source maps to its assigned parameter. By default the full range of the mod wheel will map to the full range of the Wave Index knob, but in this case we would like the mod wheel to sweep over only half of the Wave Index range. So, to halve the range, adjust the MIDI CC 1 Ratio Slider to 0.5.
- Now let’s add a low pass filter. To add a filter, go to the Keygroup > Effects Lane and press the + button, and choose Filter > LowPass 12.
- To create the wobbling effect, we can modulate the cutoff frequency with an LFO. Set the CutOff parameter near the upper end of its range, then right-click, choose Add Modulation, and add a new LFO.
- On the new LFO, uncheck its Bipolar option, then set its modulation ratio to -0.5. A unipolar LFO will modulate in only one direction, and a negative ratio means that direction will be downward.
- Play a note, and you will hear the cutoff frequency sweeping downward with the LFO. The LFO is applied as a constant modulation. However, to apply the LFO modulation selectively with the modulation wheel, add the mod wheel as a sub-modulation source. Right-click on the Sub menu and choose Modulation Wheel.
Play a note now, and you will not hear the LFO applied any more. As you raise the mod wheel, the LFO modulation will be increasingly applied, along with the Wave Index modulation we assigned to the mod wheel earlier.