Published 18/9/06
Additive and Wavetable Synthesis in the same box
When Analogue Systems released the RS370 additive synthesiser module in early 2005, it caught many people by surprise. (See SOS, June 2005 or click here.) After all, a digital, six-voice polyphonic sound generator with software envelopes and LFOs did not seem to fit the philosophy of what had until then been a fairly conventional analogue modular synthesiser. But fit it did, and when coupled with the RS375 and RS376 ‘knobby’ controllers and a selection of AS’s analogue filters, it turned the RS Integrator into a powerful, hybrid polysynth adopted by no less than Radiohead and Goldfrapp.
Not content with this, Analogue Systems has expanded the RS370 further, and the latest RS370 v3 now boasts full wavetable synthesis as well as 32-harmonic additive synthesis.
There are sixteen wavetables, the first of which provides the usual ‘analogue’ waveforms. Using this table, layering four detuned wavetable oscillators and adding ‘analogue drift’ allows the creation of thick, evolving sounds that were quite unobtainable from early wavetable synthesisers.
The other fifteen tables are based on the revered PPG 2.0 of the early 1980s. Each of these holds 256 waveforms and you can move forward and backward through a table in conventional fashion using a selection of MIDI controllers and the module’s internal LFOs and envelopes. This enables the creation of the classic brittle and ‘glassy’ digital sounds of that era, as well as much thicker and more involving sounds, courtesy again of multiple oscillators, detune, and analogue drift.
Moreover, and again unlike previous wavetable synthesisers, the RS370 v3 also responds to analogue CVs, so sound designers and players can modulate the position within the wavetable using all manner of external voltage sources. This means that you can control the fundamental nature of a sound using conventional synthesizer modules such as analogue oscillators, contour generators, pitch-to-CV converters, and envelope followers as waveform controllers.
Alternatively, you can modify the timbre using esoteric instruments such as the finger wire on Analogue Systems’ French Connection, thus marrying the playing technique of an Ondes Martenot with the synthesis of a PPG2.0!
Alongside the new RS370, Analogue Systems has added the RS420 Octave Controller to the range, as well as a revised analogue oscillator, the RS95e, and an improved low-pass filter, the RS100 Mk2. All four modules are available immediately from stock. Gordon Reid
Analogue Systems +44 (0)1726 850103
www.analoguesystems.co.uk
Not content with this, Analogue Systems has expanded the RS370 further, and the latest RS370 v3 now boasts full wavetable synthesis as well as 32-harmonic additive synthesis.
There are sixteen wavetables, the first of which provides the usual ‘analogue’ waveforms. Using this table, layering four detuned wavetable oscillators and adding ‘analogue drift’ allows the creation of thick, evolving sounds that were quite unobtainable from early wavetable synthesisers.
The other fifteen tables are based on the revered PPG 2.0 of the early 1980s. Each of these holds 256 waveforms and you can move forward and backward through a table in conventional fashion using a selection of MIDI controllers and the module’s internal LFOs and envelopes. This enables the creation of the classic brittle and ‘glassy’ digital sounds of that era, as well as much thicker and more involving sounds, courtesy again of multiple oscillators, detune, and analogue drift.
Moreover, and again unlike previous wavetable synthesisers, the RS370 v3 also responds to analogue CVs, so sound designers and players can modulate the position within the wavetable using all manner of external voltage sources. This means that you can control the fundamental nature of a sound using conventional synthesizer modules such as analogue oscillators, contour generators, pitch-to-CV converters, and envelope followers as waveform controllers.
Alternatively, you can modify the timbre using esoteric instruments such as the finger wire on Analogue Systems’ French Connection, thus marrying the playing technique of an Ondes Martenot with the synthesis of a PPG2.0!
Alongside the new RS370, Analogue Systems has added the RS420 Octave Controller to the range, as well as a revised analogue oscillator, the RS95e, and an improved low-pass filter, the RS100 Mk2. All four modules are available immediately from stock. Gordon Reid
Analogue Systems +44 (0)1726 850103
www.analoguesystems.co.uk
