*shortly*...
Very nice first attempt. But I do have some changes I'd suggest.
- First, you sort of made an ARP Odyssey 2600, since the Odyssey only has two oscillators. To be true to the Odyssey, OSC 3 should only produce noise, but it does need this third source for noise to remain authentic. Also, the oscillators are based on the 2600 and don't feature Hard Sync, which the Odyssey does. So if you want to make another instrument with hard sync patches, you have to use the Origin or Jupiter Oscillators. The Jupiter's might sound more authentic.
- The way the Ring Modulator is wired in is just about right. I wasn't sure the Origin would allow us to use it as you did, because sometimes you can't send audio or control signals to multiple destinations. However, the output is unfortunately a little too buzzy for my tastes, which is why I decided to make separate Ring Mod templates. To use the Ring Modulator most distinctly the way you have it wired, turn down the Oscillator volume 1 and 2 on your mixer, then turn up the Ring Modulator which I believe is number 4. Turn Depth most or all the way up, then play with the Rate slider. Since the changes jump a lot, I recommend using the Fine button, though it means a lot of knob turning. It's rather hard to get a satisfying "ringing" tone out of it, so you have to play up and down the keyboard while trying different Rate settings. You could also add in some of OSC2 to add some natural tonality. I think it sounds a little better using the output of filtered oscillators, rather than your way which is how the ARP does it, which is why using it requires a little patch juggling, and in my case, a completely separate patch for it.
Memo to the Origin Team:
pleeeease either add in the CS-80 Ring Modulator module soon, or add a modulator input to the existing Ring Mod's Rate parameter.
- You used a CS-80 filter for the High Pass Filter. The one on the Odyssey is a light 6db per octave, and the only filter which has this setting is the Origin Filter. The Odyssey highpass filter doesn't have any resonance or modulation inputs, but there's nothing that says you have to be completely authentic. But to be true, turn any Resonance and Modulation amounts to zero.
On the subject of filters, the original white panel Odyssey has a 12db per octave lowpass filter, while later models have a 24db/octave version. In fact, for a year or two, ARP made an Odyssey - and some 2600s - with a filter based on the MiniMg design, so if you wanted to swap that filter in for a few patches, that wouldn't be out of the question. Anyway, to be consistent with most Odysseys, the filter to use is the ARP 4 Pole LP Filter.
- You used the CS-80 ILAL Envelope Generator, and only gave it one. This is a bad choice, because it behaves a little strangely. The first slider, the Initial Level, pulls the module's parameter it's modulating
down from its current setting. The second slider, the Attack Level, pushes the parameter
up from this setting. Both of these are controlled with the Attack slider. The Decay slider controls how fast the envelope drops to the original parameter value, then the Release slider controls how quickly it descends to the level of the Initial Level slider. This is very different from the usual ADSR and a bit confusing till you get used to it, and is also only really useful with filters and oscillators. Besides, the Odyssey does use the traditional ADSR. The other envelope is a simple AR, attack-release design, but again, there's nothing that says you have to keep it to that. But if you want to be true to the Odyssey, set Sustain all the way up on one envelope. Because the ADSR is more expressive, most programmers used the ADSR on the LP Filter and AR on the Output, or used the ADSR on both.
- One more thing is I'd suggest going to the Program page, the one with the gray-green mixer and mono LFOs, and set polyphony to 2. The Odyssey was slightly duophonic, as the second oscillator could play a second note.
Other than these niggles, great job! Now, for some pointers.
On modulation and audio routing, I hope no one feels I'm talking down to them, but it might help to think of it like plumbing. Say the audio path is the hot water and the control modulator signals are the cold. To add things like vibrato, tremolo, envelopes, pitch bend and such, you would route these "cold water" signals to the inputs of "warm water" objects like oscillators, filters, outputs and LFOs.
Suppose you want to add some vibrato to our two oscillator Odyssey. As kidharpoon discovered, the LFO produces a pretty high output. I believe every modulator can have six destinations. This would be like adding six valves to plumbing. To start with, go to the Output box of our LFO, hit Enter or push the Arturia knob, and select Add Connection. Enter again, and select Oscillator 1, enter again to select FM, enter again to finalize your routing. Hit Add Connection again and do the same thing for OSC 2. Play a note, and you hear that it's sweeping about
two octaves! This is way too much. Arrow over to the knob beside the Output box and select it, and turn it down to the lowest point, which should be 0.041. This is likely still too strong, so hit the Fine button next to the Save button and adjust it down to say 0.030 or whatever sounds good to you. You still have to adjust your second connection to OSC 2, so arrow over to the Output box again, select OSC2 FM and enter, then arrow back to your knob and adjust it the same way. You also want the rate to be about 5-6 hz to sound musical, unless you want to do something unorthodox but cool, so set the Rate to your taste.
The Shape also makes a difference. The Sine wave is a more natural vibrato type to use with acoustic instruments, but a Triangle wave is a little more even to use with electronic sounds. Try both to see which you prefer. For trills, select a Square wave. For burbling effects, pick Random or Noise.
Okay, but suppose you want vibrato controlled by your synth's Mod Wheel or Joystick, not on all the time. Arrow up to the Input section to the AM box, and enter. On the list, scroll down to the Mono list and hit Keyboard. In that list, select Mod Wheel, which is the same as Joystick up for us KORG and Roland guys. Now when you play, there's no vibrato until you push up your synth's mod wheel or joystick. If you want a little more or less, go back down to the Output knob and play with
both OSC 1 and 2 sends, since you have to adjust them separately. If you have a keyboard that sends pressure, you can have this connection at the same time. Just repeat twice more, but use Pressure as the Keyboard source, adjust it, and now you can add vibrato with either the mod wheel or pressure, either one. Nifty, huh?
You do the same thing with the Envelopes, routing them to filters and the Outputs. Using velocity to control them is a little tricky, since you basically only have velocity on or off, and scaling requires using the CVMod module, which is rather involved. I'll get to that when I have more time, as well as the Galaxy modulator which, if you'll pardon my pun, is a whole other universe.
Anyway, this is how you make connections in the Origin's modules, and gets to be a breeze as you play with it more.
*Whew*... this took a while. Hopefully this is instructive to you guys wanting to try your hands at making not just sounds, but designing your own instruments in The Big O. Or since the OASYS is generally referred to as The Big O, maybe I should say The Little O.
