ALPHA RAY Manual English

8/9/2019 ALPHA RAY Manual English

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TubeOhm

ALPHA- RAY virtual analog synthesizer

English manual

V 1.

Translation ! "avier

© TubeOhm 2012


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ach ,O/O ca geerate differet waveshapes* ie& sius* sawtooth* ramp*suarewave* triagle ad oise&

ach of these waveshapes cotais more or less harmoics* ad souds differetly& A ,3 ca ifluece more or less the harmoic cotet ad shape the soud accordigly&

VCF/DCF

The filter is oe of the most importat compoet of a sythesi%er&,3 meas !voltage cotrolled filter"* /3 is therefore a !digitally cotrolled filter" &)hether voltage cotrolled or digitally cotrolled* the cotrol refers to the filter(s cutofffreuecy&The cutoff freuecy is the freuecy at which a filter begis to atteuate& )e(re talkighere about a 45 filter* ie& a lowpass filter* meaig that the higher freuecies areatteuated&The specificatio give i d6 refers to the slope of the filter&The slope is a measure of the filter(s atteuatio whe freuecy is doublig* ie peroctave&

)e are dealig here with '76'TRAT., '89T:'.'* sice the filter ca be cotrolledto atteuate more or less certai freuecies&

The filter atteuates part of the total harmoic cotet of the sigal&

Filter Q or filter resonance

.f a filter is looped back* meaig its resoace is icreased* it will evetually begi tooscillate* ad the as such it ca be used as a soud geerator&The filter(s toe becomes harsher whe its gai at cutoff freuecy is icreased& As sooas ;


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VCF / VCA / PITC AD!R

The filter ca be cotrolled by e&g& a evelope geerator or a 43O* i order to obtai adyamic chage i the sigal(s spectral cotet* i which case the filter(s cutoff freuecyis cotrolled&

The cutoff freuecy is periodically swept by a 43O& A evelope geerator cotrols the overall filter process as soo as a key is pressed utilit is released&

The en"elope #enerator$ or en"elope$ or AD!R #enerator

,irtually every sythesi%er uses evelope geerators to produce dyamic souds& A evelope cosists of several time ad amplitude -segmets&The most commo ist he so-called A/'R geerator&

The evelope geerator starts its ATTA= phase #A$ as soo as a key is pressed* util itreaches a ma+imum& Oce the ma+imum is reached* the amplitude decreases with

/A8 time #/$ to the '7'TA.9 level #'$* ad maitais this level util the key isreleased& As soo as the key is released* the amplitude decreases to 0 i the time set by R4A'


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#R$&

>A> stads for the time reuired to go fro 0 to the evelope(s ma+imum level&>/> is the time reuired to go from the ma+imum level to the '7'TA.9 4,4&>'> sets the '7'TA.9 4,4>R> is the time reuired by the evelope to decrease to 0 whe the key is released&

??ATTA=* /A8* '7'TA.9* R4A'@@

A sythesi%er uses A/'R geerators for several tasks* ad usually several of them areavailable&

A A/'R geerator cotrols the cutoff freuecy of the filter A secod oe cotrols the volume Aother oe ca cotrol the 5) or the ,O pitch&

P% an& P%'

5) meas 5ulse )idth* ad sets the pulse shape of a suare wave&

5) is 5ulse )idth odulatio& The pulse width* or pulse phase behavior of a suarewave* is modulated by a 43O or a A/'R&

F' or Fre(uency 'o&ulation

Alpha-Ray allows the ,O 1 freuecy to be modulated by the ,O 2 freuecy* so thatew harmoics are geerated by ,O 1&


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Osc !)*C or Oscillator !ynchroni+ation,

very time ,O 2(s sigal crosses %ero* the phase of ,O 1 is resetted& :owever thisoly works if ,O 1 freuecy is higher or eual to ,O 2 freuecy& . this case ,O 2sychroi%es ,O 1&

PA!

4et(s cosider a sius wave& A whole period covers BC0 degrees&

5hase 0 meas that the sius is startig with 0 amplitude& .ts ma+imum is reached at D0degrees* the e+t %ero crossig is at 1E0 degrees* the ma+imum egative at 2F0 degrees

ad the e+t %ero crossig at BC0 degrees&

)he 5:A' is o* the ,O wave starts with phase < 0 ad amplitude < 0&

)e have a so-called predefied trasiet&


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'OD0.ATIO* odulatio is the ifluece of freuecy* amplitude or harmoic cotet of a soudgeerator buy aother compoet such a 43O

)e talk about ,.6RATO whe the freuecy of a oscillator is modulated* ad aboutTRO4O whe its amplitue ie& its volume is modulated&

/epedig o the oscillator waveform* e&g& a suarewave* it is possible to dyamicallymodulate the pulse width by a 43O&

. which case we talk about 5) or 5ulse )idth odulatio&

.FO

A 43O is a low freuecy oscillator* ie& a slow beatig oscillator&.ts freuecy rage is typically 0&01&&& K0 :%& A 43O is used typically to modulate compoets such as ,O/O* ,3/3ad ,A/A

F-AD!R

3-A/'R sets the magitude of the filter cutoff freuecy modulatio by the A/'R&


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1-TRAC1

=-TRA= moves the filter(s cutoff freuecy accordig to the ote played&:igher otes would always soud more muffled without =-TRA=* sice the filter(s cutofffreuecy would have bee fi+ed&

V.OCIT)

,4O.T8 allows cutoff freuecy or volume to be cotrolled&:igher velocity meas higher freuecies i the spectrum or higher sigal volume&

VCF I/II

#$it%hes bet$een a la&&er-net$or' (ilter )LP* or a state variable (ilter )LP*.

They soud differetly&

P-'o& 2ulation3 or VCO pitch 4o&ulation

The ,O pitch is dyamically cotrolled&The modulatio source ca be 43O 1* 43O 2 or 5itch A/'R&

5-O/ sets the magitude of the pith modulatio&=eywordJ sire effects H


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P%' 'o&ulation 2P%'3

5) sets the magitude oft he the pulse width modulatio H

All B ,Os ca geerate a suarewave& The suarewave ca be pulse-modulated&3irst i a static way by the 5) cotrol&Techically it chages the harmoic cotet of the soud& A pulse width of M0N producesa rather !bassy" soud& A pulse width of D0N geerates a asal* medium-coloured soud&

:armoic cotet


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:armoic cotet

Than's to P+, )Pulse +i&th ,o&ulation* it is ossible to &ynami%ally %ontrol the ulse $i&th

ratio $ith L/O 1 L/O 0 or pitch evelope&

43O 1 2 periodically chage the harmoic cotet of the sigal accordig to theirrespective freuecies&

The pitch evelope chages the harmoic cotet of the ,Os accordigly&&

P%5 Pulse %i&th'ets a predefied pulse width ratio of a suarewave&This pulse width ratio ca be modulated with 5)


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O"er&ri"e 2poly3 an& the 6&7 P Filter

Techically speakig* ,O sigals are mirrored through a o-liear characteristic&This results is a distortio of the sigals &g& J if a sius wave is distorted* it will cotai harmoics

'ius wave without distorsio

:armoic cotet

/istorted sius


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:armoic cotet

The sigal icludes more or less harmoics accordig to the level of distorsio& A sawtooth is perceived more clearly with some added harmoics&The optimal /R., settig is B0&&F0 N& Too much /R., ca sigificatly distort thesigal which the ca be perceived as !upleasat" distorsio& . cotrast to a light!cruchy" distortio which slightly roughe the soud&

The 6&7 hi#hpass filter

atteuates low freuecies ad is clearly a beefit to the soud& +treme settigs removethe complete lower spectrum* ad the istrumet gais a strog medium toe colour&)hile workig with Alpha-Ray(s mai filter* we oticed that lower freuecies remai

stable i amplitude& 'ettig the cutoff freuecy oly affects more or less higherfreuecies&


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9oise without highpass filter 3reuecy respose

9oise with highpass filter 3reuecy respose

The Cd6 highpass filter has a secod mode i order to itroduce more dyamic i thelower part of the spectrum& This mode ca be set with 4.9= ,3&

. (4.9=-,3> mode* the Cd6 :5 filter is coupled to the actual cutoff freuecy cotrol ofthe mai filter&)ith actual we mea cutoff* ,elo* =-Track* 43O modulatio&


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)hat does this couplig e+catly do G

A smal cosideratio here&&Actually the Cd6 :5 filter is before the mai 45 filter &

+plaatio of termsJ

#.P 5 lo8pass filter & A lowpass filter allows all freuecies below the cutoff freuecy topass through& 3reuecies above the cutoff freuecy are atteuated with a 12&&2Kd6octave #freuecy doublig$ slope&


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P 5 hi#hpass& This :5 filter allows oly freuecies above the cutoff freuecy to passthrough& 3reuecies below the cutoff freuecy are atteuated with a C d6oct slope&

:ighpass behavior

9ow let(s cosider our Alpha-Ray filter&

4ower freuecies are atteuated thaks to the C d6 :5 filter& :igher freuecies are

atteuated by the mai #45$ filter&

)e get a arrower freuecy bad depedig o the settig of the mai filter(s cutofffreuecy ad the settig of the C d6 filter HThis combiatio allows the creatio of a badpass filter with adustable badwidth&

A simplified e+ampleJThe :5 filter oly allows freuecies above 1000 :%* the master 45 filter cuts off overM000 :%&. this case* the badwidth is K000 :% #M000-1000$&


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:5 plus 45 combiatio < 65

e$are the tra here!

2( (or e3amle the HP (ilter %uts o(( (re4uen%ies belo$ 5 Hz an& the LP (ilter above 5 Hz$e

simly hear .. nothing.

2t shoul& no$ be %lear $hy. 2( the HP (ilter asses (re4uen%ies that are attenuate& by the LP (ilter the

resultig sigal becomes more ad more atteuated&

3urthermore* if the cotrol of the cutoff freuecy is ow completly sychoi%ed to thecutoff freuecy of the Cd6 filter* we obtai a badpass filter cotrolled by ,4O* ,3 A/'R I through the complete soud freuecy rage&

As we are dealig ow with a badpass filter* lower freuecies are ow atteuateddepedig o how the 65 filter moves accross the freuecy rage&The soud thus seems more preset* ad the filter modulatio more effective&

.FO 9 an&

Alpha-Ray features 2 43Os for differet modulatio tasks&


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43O 1 ad 2 feature 11 differet waveforms&Thaks to the '89 butto* both ca be sychroi%ed to the keyboard to start with aiitial 0 5hase&ach time a key is pressed* the 43Os begi to oscillate startig withe phase < 0&.f the 65 butto is set* the the freuecies of the 43Os are sychroi%ed to the ,'T:ost program&

&g& if set to 120 65* the freuecies of the 43Os ca be adusted to 11C*1E*1K*12*1*2*K of the host clock freuecy&

The -43O2 cotrol allows the modulatio of 43O 1 freuecy by 43O 2&43O 2 cotrols the freuecy of 43O 1 i this case&

43O 2(s Radom fuctio geerates a radom value evolvig accordig to the freuecyset&This radom value ca be routed to all destiatio modules&)A, sets the desired waveform&

PITC an& 'OD0.ATIO*! ;oystic<

There are more cotrol ad modulatio fuctios with a modulatio-oystick i order tomodulate ad play the istrumet i real time with added fle+ibility&The P directio cotrols the pitch* ie& the freuecies of the ,Os&The 8 directio cotrols the modulatio&5itch modulatio icludes its ow 43O which freuecy is set by 3R;&

The magitude of the pitch modulatio of the 43O is cotrolled by the 8 directio ad by-)& -) sets the ma+imum modulatio that ca be reached at 8 ed stop&


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3.P sets the magitude of the basic modulatio&

The mo&ulation o( the ,Os by the 43Os ca also by set by A3TR TO7:&

P-+ means Pit%h-+heel an& sets in " &ire%tion the ma3imum number o( semitones transose& by

the V6Os $hen moving the 7oysti%'.

The ,3 cotrol sets the cutoff freuecy by A3TRTO7:&)he 3 is set* the cutoff freuecy is modulated by the 43O ad A3TRTO7:&&

5ortameto has 2 fuctios as well&)he 5ortameto is set* the pitch glides to the e+t key pressed&The 2d mode is called A7TO-5ORTA* ad is operatig oly whe Alpha-Ray is set tomoo A7TO 5ORTA is set by the switch ust left to the 5orta cotrol&

. A7TO-5ORTA9TO mode* each idividual ote is geerated without portameto&)he a further ote is played while the curret is still active #key still pressed$* theportameto kicks i ad the pitch the glides from ote 1 to ote 2& The O9O-5O48 switch sets Alpha-Ray i 10 voices mode or i moophoic #1 voice$mode&


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The effect section

The effect sectio icludes K differet effects which are coected i serie at the output ofthe sythesi%er&

O,R/R.,?? :OR7'??/4A8??R,R6

The overall sigal first passes through a 2-stage* moophoic overdrive&.ts effect is similar to a guitar distorsio bo+& /rive 1 geerates moderate distorsio* /rive2 harder distorsio& .P sets the distorsio factor&


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The B-stage chorus !phattes" the soud& horus is set to the Brd mode whe bothbuttos :OR7' 1 ad :OR7' 2 are O9&&3R; cotrols chorus modulatio* ad .P mi+es origial ad chorused sigals&

8elay %an oerate either in R-L mo&e #stereo delay$ or i ormal mode&/elay times are set to the host syc clock with 65-'89&

/4A8 a 3/6A= set the delay time ad feedback&.P mi+es origial ad delayed sigals&

The fial soud is polished by a R,R6&. order to e+ted the soud capabilities* it is possible to use the reverb as a kid of echo*where idividual reflectios ca be clearly distiguished& This depeds o the settigs&

#29E sets the Predelay* the reverbed sigal beig actually delayed& This is called5R/4A8&ROO chages the room si%e* /A8 the overall time for the reverbed sigal to fadeaway&

3/6A= ad /.337'.O9 affect reverb desity&5RQ/5 ad /5 are 2 lowpass filters& 5RQ/5 is located before the actual reverb*


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/5 after& 6oth filetrs somehow atteuate higher freuecies&.t is thus possible to achieve the oil takS effect&

'IDI .AR*

Almost all Alpha-Ray(s cotrols ca be hardware remote-cotrolled H A popup meu appears whe right-clickig a cotrol&

)he ./.-4AR9 is selected* the cotrol waits for icomig ./. data from the

hardware cotroller&8ou ust have the to tur a kob o the hardware cotroller& 9ormally ./. iformatio are set that actually move the kob o the syth&

Alpha-Ray receives all data icludig keyboard iformatio basically o chael 1H

PATC an& 7A*1$ an& !AV an& .OAD

A patch is a sigle soud program& All the settigs of a idividual soud are saved i apatch&The patch file suffi+ is & 3P5>5> for 5rogram

A bak is a soudbak cosistig of 12E idividual souds or patches&The bak file suffi+ is &3P6>6> for 6ak

The followig is to do if you wat to save your ow soudsJ

1J the soud should have its ow ame i order to be retrieved later&2J it should be saved i a folder

5atchame J

4eft-clickig the field cotaiig the ame allows to type i the ew ame of the patch&


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That(s it&&

Another tip:

)hile holdig the trl key pressed whe tweakig a Alpha-Ray kob* it is possible to fietue the selected kob&

Internal patchbro8ser

Le(t-%li%'ing the uer &islay $in&o$ )re& &ot* $ill oen the internal bro$ser. 2t $ill &islay all

the at%hes in%lu&e& in the %urrent ban'.

8ou ca ow easily fid a patch&lickig a patch directly will load it&


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That(s all* eoy Alpha-Ray H

Final 8or&:

Oly Alpha-Ray* the sythesi%er itself* is freeware& 8ou ca use the souds withoutrestrictio&:owever* the cost to ulock the effects sectio is K&DMV&)e thik it(s a very fair price for a fie istrumet&:ey* we live from the sale of our istrumets ad it>s ot that easyIK&DMV is your support so that we ca cotiue our work* ad we cosider it as a !Thakyou"

)ith this mid* we wish you much fu with this istrumet H

TubeOhm

0D&01&2012

ALPHA RAY Manual English

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