User Manual

14
SPECTRALIS 2
2.4.6 Pattern:
Consists of up to 17 parallel parts. Patterns can be changed in real-time
sonically and musically by selecting and swapping songs, motifs and
drum-grooves.
The pattern is also the most important storage level of the Spectralis.
When you add a new motif to a part, the contents of the motif will be
automatically copied to the Pattern Slot. In short the Spectralis
automatically creates a copy of the motif. The same applies for the sound
parameters. Rather than administering a program number in the pattern,
the pattern always contains the complete set of parameters for the sound.
Due to this form of storage management you never run the risk to lose a
setting for instance in pattern ”xy” when making changes in pattern ”yz”.
2.4.7 Song:
You can combine up to 32 Patterns in a song, which can be played back
either in a predetermined order which can be accessed, changed, varied
or transposed during LIVE operation.
2.4.8 Sequence:
With the Spectralis a ”sequence” is a succession of notes or sound-
parameter changes, which are generated by the internal ”quasi-analog”
step-sequencer. This means you can not only control the note-output but
also the sound of the Spectralis rhythmically. Contrary to the data of the
drum-grid and the realtime sequencer the settings of the step-sequencer
are stored within an "analog-synthesizer"-sound.
2.4.9 Fixed Filterbank:
In recent years it’s become a bad habit to refer to any instrument with
more than one filter as a filterbank. This can be rather confusing for the
user, which is why we would like to describe what actually constitutes a
fixed filterbank. There are very few musical instruments which don’t
have at least some kind of filter. Most feature a lowpass filter, which cut
off overtones upward of a predetermined frequency more or less steeply.
You may be used to decreasing or increasing the cutoff-frequency to
create the typical synthetic sounds. However, it is not possible with this
kind of filter, to selectively boost multiple different frequency bands
simultaneously, while other bands above, below or in between these bands
are being limited. In nature this kind of behavior is quite common.
Your oral cavity serves as a prime example. Different vocal sounds can
be shaped by unconsciously changing your oral cavity’s shape to form
different types of resonance bodies which will emphasize some
frequencies and dampen others. The fixed filterbank of the Spectralis
can effectively do the same thing. For this reason they consist of multi-
ple, parallel bandpasses, fed thru amplifiers allowing you to emphasize
or limit selected frequencies.
These levels of these amplifiers can be controlled by the step-sequencer
of the Spectralis. This set-up allows you to create quite unusual sounds,
which far exceed the sound-repertoire of a normal ”subtractive”
synthesizer.
The Step Sequencer
originated at a time
when the possibility
of recording musical
Motifs simply by
playing them was
just a fantasy. The
classical Step
Sequencer consisted
of one or more rows
of potentio-meters
which were read in
sequential order -
sending an indi-
vidual value per
step.
If you applied the
control frequency to
the pitch modulation
input of
an VCO, the Sequen-
cer changed the
pitch ac-cording to
the potentio-meter
Settings.
Explanations of terms