User's Manual

465 Live Instrument Reference
Of course, to program unrealistic sounds, anything goes:
•try using the Noise excitator, particularly with long envelope times, to create washy, quasi-
granular textures. These parameters can also be used to simulate special acoustic effects
such as bowed vibraphones or crystal glasses.
•experiment with the resonators in parallel (1 + 2) configuration.
•use the LFOs and MIDI controllers to modulate Collision’s parameters.
A word of caution: in many ways, Collision’s models are idealized versions of real-world ob-
jects. Consequently, it is very easy to program resonances that are much more sensitive to input
than any physical resonator could be. Certain combinations of parameters can cause dramatic
changes in volume. Make sure to keep output levels low when experimenting with new sounds.
24.3 Electric
The Electric Instrument.
(Note: the Electric instrument is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)
Electric is a software electric piano based on the classic instruments of the seventies, and devel-
oped in collaboration with Applied Acoustics Systems. Each component of these instruments has
been modeled using cutting edge physical modeling technology to provide realistic and lively
sounds. Physical modeling uses the laws of physics to reproduce the behavior of an object. In
other words, Electric solves, in real time, mathematical equations describing how its different
components function. No sampling or wavetables are used in Electric; the sound is simply cal-
culated in real time by the CPU according to the values of each parameter. Electric is more than
a simple recreation of vintage instruments; its parameters can be tweaked to values not possible