USER GUIDE
A brief overview of the Monowave II (v1.20)
Paul Maddox
20.12.2003
(For technical information about the code and structure, read the technical guide to
the Monowave II, coming Jan 2004.)
INDEX:
About Monowave II 3
The basic structure 4
The Oscillators 4
The LFOs 5
The Mixer 5
The Filter 5
The Envelopes 6
The Modulation Routing 7
The Delay Effect 8
Storing a Patch 8
Global Parameters 8
Other Functions 9
And Finally… 10
Monowave II parameter list 11/12
2
About Monowave II:
Monowave II is a fat and dirty monosynth for the Chameleon
DSP platform. The initial starting point for the underlying
code is the simple monosynth example code bundled free
with the Chameleon Software Development Kit. It has been
hacked, modified and adapted to create a grungy little
monosynth for you to play with…
My background is in building hardware such as the
Monowave I, pictured below. It is a digital/analogue hybrid.
It has 2 DCOs with 256 waveforms (more than the original
modular), two sub-oscillators, a Moog ladder filter and two
Envelope Generators (EG’s). The first module was very well
received and I have had excellent feedback on its sound and
originality, enough to persuade me to do a limited run of
them. All 25 of the original hand-built Monowaves have now
been sold.
However, my current project, the Monowave II for the
Chameleon, is now totally DSP based. Now I don’t have to
solder endlessly and waste time and resources trying things
out on dead end ideas! :)
It builds on the success of the hardware predecessor,
offering increased functionality, improved modulation routing,
patch memory and some exciting new features.
For those of you who are coders, you will be interested to
know that it will become an open source project (as of Jan
2004). This is to encourage others to modify it to their own
taste as I did to the basic Soundart Code, but I also want to
show that you really don't have to be a DSP/Maths guru to
write skins for the Chameleon.
3
The Basic Structure:
The voice structure is very typical of many monosynths and
there are a few extras to give it a unique sound.
For the moment, consider it as a classic “analog” three-
oscillator subtractive monosynth, with 2 LFOs, 3 ADSRs, a
filter, VCA and stereo delay.
Though, as you will see from the complete list of the
parameters at the end of this guide, its much more than that.
The Oscillators:
Firstly though, let’s look at the Oscillators:
Press EDIT and you should start at the oscillator menu.
Pressing GROUP selects which oscillator’s parameters you
are about to edit. Notice that oscillators 2 and 3 have an
extra parameter which oscillator one does not. Here is what
you find:
Oscillator 1 has the following:
- Wavebank – four banks of waveforms to choose from
- Wavenumber – each bank holds 64 waveforms (0 – 63)
- De-Res – A ‘unique’ function that lowers the quality of the
sample to give extra old school and ‘grungy’ sounds
- Transpose – You can change the oscillators pitch, up or
down in semitones
- Key Reset – Resets the oscillator each time a key is
pressed
Oscillators 2 & 3 have the same controls as oscillator 1, but
with an extra ‘detune’ parameter allowing the oscillators to be
slightly detuned, giving a more ‘natural’ sound to your patch.
4
The LFOs
There are 2 LFOs. Each LFO has the following parameters;-
- Rate – A log scaled rate allowing a good range of LFO
speeds
- Range – High or Low speed, so can get some weird
FM effects.
- Waveform – 64 to choose from: along with the
conventional sine/square/saw you have some other
weird and wonderful waveform shapes to try!
- Reset on Key – Restarts the LFO when you hit a new
note
LFO1 is routable to many sources, LFO2 is dedicated to
Modwheel control of the oscillator pitch. LFO2 also has two
extra parameters
- MW->Depth, selects how much the Mod Wheel affects
the Depth of LFO2
- MW->Rate, controls how much the Mod Wheel affects
the rate of LFO2
The Mixer
The mixer is straight forward, it has five elements to mix:
- Oscillator 1
- Oscillator 2
- Oscillator 3
- Noise
- External Input – this allows you to process external
audio via the Chameleons inputs with the
MonoWaveII’s filter.
The Filter
The filter has another unique function, it’s called
‘PoleSweep’. This allows you to smoothly change the
response curve of the filter from 4-Pole ladder though
Bandpass down to 1-Pole for those ‘fizzy’ sounds.
A further unique feature is the ability to route the filter
envelope generator (EG) to the resonance,
5
Why? We all know and love the sound of big filter sweeps,
yes? Well one thing you’ll notice is that as you turn up the
resonance amount, the signal gets quieter and loses some
‘bottom’. So the trick to getting a really big juicy filter sweep
is to modulate the resonance depth with the filter envelope,
so as the filter sweeps the resonance changes. Give it a go,
try the patch called ‘Plucky Res’ and see what I mean.
The following parameters are available for the filter:
- Cut-off – Filter cut-off setting
- Filter Envelope Depth – How much the filter ADSR
sweeps the cut off
- Key Track – this increases the filter cut-off
frequency as you play higher notes on the keyboard
- PoleSweep – That unique function outlined above: 0
= 1 Pole, 63 = Bandpass and 127 = 4 Pole
- Resonance – how much ‘squelchyness’ the filter has
- Filter Env to Resonance – the second unique
feature of the MonoWaveII filter, this sets how much
the envelope generator (EG) adds to the resonance
setting
The Envelopes
The Envelopes are standard ADSR types, there are three of
them:
- one for the Filter
- one for the VCA
- one ‘free’ EG for routing to other parameters (see
below)
All three have the same Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release
parameters plus a ‘retrigger’ which will restart the EG when
you press a new note. If you have a note held already and
press another note, the old note is ‘remebered’ and the new
note will also cause a retrigger.
6
The VCA
The ‘VCA’ section is fairly straight forward, just two
parameters;-
- Envelope Depth – Changing this enables you to
make your patch louder or quieter without using the
volume knob
- Velocity Depth – How much the velocity affects the
output level, this actually also controls Envelope
Depth.
Modulation routing
Next the modulation section, this comprises of two sources
each with their own destinations, we’ll tackle them one
source at a time:
LFO1 Destinations –
- Osc1 pitch – controls the pitch of oscillator 1
- Osc2 pitch – controls the pitch of oscillator 2
- Osc3 pitch – controls the pitch of oscillator 3
- Filter Cutoff – again variable from –63 to +63
- PoleSweep – Variable from –63 to +63
EG3 (the free EG) Destinations –
- Filter resonance – For those nice big sweeps
- Filter slope – Allowing you to change the filter
‘shape’ in realtime
- LFO1 Rate – for all kinds of ‘wierdness’
- Osc 1 Pitch – to ‘bend’ notes as you play
- Osc 2 Pitch
- Osc 3 Pitch
Velocity Destinations –
- Filter Cutoff
- Filter EG depth
- Filter Resonance
- Free EG Depth
- Osc1 Wave
- Osc2 Wave
- Osc3 Wave
- VCA EG Speed
- Filter EG Speed
- Free EG Speed
7
Channel Pressure (After touch) Destinations –
- Filter Cutoff
- Amplitude
- LFO2 Depth
- Resonance
As you can see this gives you plenty of options for control
and generating some unique sounds, not possible on many synths.
The Delay effect:
The effects section has been kept deliberately simple, I’ve
not added reverbs/chorus/flangers/phasers/etc as I believe
that a good sounding synth should be able to ‘hold its own’.
The minor concession in Monowave II is a delay. Most
people when they start playing a monosynth instantly want a
delay effect (for those OTT solos or TD impressions), so a
simple stereo delay is included. There are the following
parameters for both LEFT and RIGHT delays:
- Delay Level – how loud the effect is
- Delay time (in mS) – how long the delay is
- Delay Feedback – how many ‘repeats’ the delay
gives.
Storing a Patch:
All the above parameters are stored ‘per patch’ this means
that they change each time you recall a new patch.
Each time you exit EDIT mode MonowaveII will prompt you
into naming and saving your creation. The options are the
same as the Soundart Chameleon skins.
Here you have the option to scan through the patchs before
deciding where you wish to save your new patch.
Global parameters:
The following parameters are ‘GLOBAL’, meaning they
remain the same regardless of which patch you have loaded.
8
- Input Thru
- Midi Channel – 1 to 16 (no surprise!)
- Midi Thru – Allows the Chameleons MIDI Out port to
be a ‘THRU’ port instead
- MIDI Device ID – If you’re lucky enough to have
more than one MonoWaveII and want to start
sending SYSEX data then you’ll need to set these
differently for each one.
As you can see I have tried to keep things simple. Many of
the features haven’t changed from the original Soundart
monosynth example that this is based upon (the Delay effect
for example) but some features have been developed quite a
bit (Oscillators/Filter).
Other Functions
Also, whilst you’re editing a patch you can assign any of the
3 realtime controllers to change a parameter. Simply goto the
parameter you want to assign to a controller, hold ‘Shift’ on the
front panel and turn the controller you wish to assign it to.
If you forget which parameter you’ve assigned to each
controller, you can show what it assigned to by doing the following,
Make sure you’re not in edit mode (just ‘preset’ mode, where you
choose a patch) press either of the ‘Parameter’ buttons. A ‘Sh’ will
appear in the top right of the LCD for 1 second, turn the controller
during this time and it will show the parameter it is assigned to and
also the current value, but it will not change it.
9
And Finally…
Monowave II is now finished, as of V1.20f. In January 2004
the source code will be put up so that people can make
changes and ‘personalize’ it. I would like to hope that some
extra features could be added to create a ‘monster’
Monosynth!
Most of all, enjoy the MonoWaveII, it’s a great sounding little
synth and it has some truly great and unique features (even
if I say so myself!) It’s provided me with hours of fun to play
with and countless weeks in coding. If you like it, then your
contribution is most welcome. Even if you create any
patches you’d like to share, feel free to e-mail me and I’ll put
them on the webpage.
Best wishes
Paul Maddox
[email protected]
for more info about the Chameleon visit ;-
Www.SoundArt-Hot.Com
For MonoWaveII sounds visit ;-
Www.Modulus.Synth.Net
10
MonoWaveII Parameters (V1.20)
GROUP PAGE Parameter
Oscillator Osc1 WaveBank
Waveform
De-Res
Transpose
Reset on Key
Osc2/3 WaveBank
Waveform
De-Res
Transpose
Detune
Reset on Key
LFO LFO1 Rate
Range
Waveform
Reset on Key
LFO2 Rate
Range
Waveform
Reset on Key
MW->Depth
MW->Rate
Mixer Osc1 Level
Osc2 Level
Osc3 Level
Noise
External Input
Filter Cut off
Filt Env Depth
Note Follow
PoleSweep
Resonance
Filt Env to Resonance
AMP Amp Env Depth
Velocity Depth
11
GROUP PAGE Parameter
Modulation LFO Dest Osc1 pitch
Osc2 pitch
Osc3 pitch
Filt Cutoff
PoleSweep
EG3 Dest Resonance
PoleSweep
LFO Rate
Osc1 pitch
Osc2 pitch
Osc3 pitch
Velocity Dest Filter Cut Off
Filter EG
Resonance
EG3 Depth
Osc1 Wave
Osc2 Wave
Osc3 Wave
Amp EG Rate
Filter EG Rate
Free EG Rate
Chan Press Filter Cutoff
Amplitude
LFO2 Depth
Resonance
EFX Delay Left/Right Level
Time
Feedback
Global input Thru
Midi Channel
Midi Thru
Midi Device ID
12
