This is what you use to turn waves into plucks, kicks, claps, strings, and anything else you can think of.ДЈ: Most synths have at least 2 LFOs, or low frequency oscillators. The Attack, Sustain, Delay, and Release settings affect length and volume over time. So, for example, if you wanted to make a bassy instrument, you'd filter out most of the high frequencies. Most synths have 2-5 oscillators (they produce the waves), often with each having different controls.Дў: The filter constrains the sound. No synth starts out with a pure form of these waves. Here's a rough crash course from someone who also struggled to get started:ДЎ: You start out with a wave (sine, saw, pulse, etc). Try Helm (free and open source) or Serum (not free) and you might have more luck. The display view is where you will find the envelope and waveform settings.A lot of synths are painfully unintuitive because they try (and fail) to replicate hardware synth interfaces. The Freq knob maxes out at 2000Hz so to get to 20,000Hz set the Multi knob to 10 (10Г—2000=20,000Hz). Multi вЂ“ Select higher or lower (mostly lower) frequencies in fixed mode. Fixed tuning is usually best when creating drum sounds.ДЇreq вЂ“ This knob chooses the frequency the oscillator will play in fixed mode. In fixed tuning the oscillator will play the selected frequency regardless of what note if being played.

In variable tuning the oscillator will play the pitch of the notes you play on the keyboard. If the operator is working as a modulator then the level knob will control the amount of modulation on the carrier.ДЇixed вЂ“ The tuning of each oscillator can be set to either variable or fixed. Level вЂ“ This controls the output level of the oscillator. If the coarse knob is set to 0.5, the output is 220Hz.ДЇine вЂ“ The fine knob will tune the oscillator to a note within the current octave as set by the coarse knob. When the coarse knob is set to 2, the output is 880Hz. If we are playing 440Hz and the coarse knob is set to 1, then the output will play 440Hz. On/Off вЂ“ The coloured square button on the right-hand side turns the oscillator on or off.Д¬oarse вЂ“ This knob sets the octave range of the oscillator, expressed as a multiplier. The image below shows a very high level representation of how each of the section in Operator interact with each other. Once the bulk of the sound design is done, the signal is passes through the filter section and then onto the Global section. The pitch section is where you will find the pitch envelope and other pitch related settings. The LFO can be assigned to many different parameters within the operator. There is also an LFO section that can be used to create more movement. The algorithms determine which operators are carriers and which are modulators. These operators can then be вЂњmixedвЂќ together using preset algorithms that define how each operator is routed. AbletonвЂ™s Operator has 4 of these oscillator envelope pairings A, B, C, and D. How Ableton Operator WorksДЄt the heart of this FM instrument are the operators, which are oscillators paired with a dedicated amplitude envelope. The instrument is available with Ableton Suite edition or as an add on pack available from AbletonвЂ™s online store.

AbletonвЂ™s Operator is a native instrument plugin capable of FM, Subtractive, and Additive synthesis.

Additive vs subtractive synth