The Unofficial Access Virus & Virus TI Forum - since 2002 - Question about the oscillator wave menu option.

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Question about the oscillator wave menu option.

How does this option interact with the selection made using the shape and wave sel/pw knobs? The manual says it should be identical to wave sel/pw when the shape knob is at 64 or lesser. Then they go on to say that, unlike wave sel/pw, the wave menu option is always available regardless of the shape setting. So, if I have the shape knob set to 64 or below, the wave selection in this menu option should reflect whichever wave I dialed in using the knobs, right? But, if I go over 64 (using the shape knob) and start using the pulse wave, does the wave in this menu option have any effect on the sound or the oscillator that I've already selected? For example, if I dial in the pulse wave but then use this menu option to select a saw wave, will that hold precedence? Thanks beforehand.

No takers on this one?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Remedial (Post 292825)

Any help would be appreciated.

An Osc Shape value of 0-64 will blend from PCM Wave to Sawtooth.

An Osc Shape value of 64-127 will blend from Sawtooth to Pulse.

The Wave Sel/PW knob is dual function and depends on the above Osc Shape value as to what mode is used.

With an Osc Shape value of 0-63 or less, the Wave Sel/PW knob will assume "Wave Select" mode and you will be able to select which PCM wave the Sawtooth oscillator will blend with. When in this mode, the Wave Sel/PW knob lets you choose from 128 different PCM waveforms.

With an Osc Shape value of 64-127 however, the Wave Sel/PW knob will assume "PWM" (Pulse Width Modulation) mode and you can use this to specify a pulse width value of the pulse waveform. When in this mode, a Wave Sel/PW value of 0 will give you a 50:50 pulse waveform (effectively a regular square wave) through to a value of 127 which will give you a 0:100 pulse waveform (effectively silence) for blending with the Sawtooth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timo (Post 292906)

An Osc Shape value of 0-64 will blend from PCM Wave to Sawtooth.

An Osc Shape value of 64-127 will blend from Sawtooth to Pulse.

The Wave Sel/PW knob is dual function and depends on the above Osc Shape value as to what mode is used.

With an Osc Shape value of 0-63 or less, the Wave Sel/PW knob will assume "Wave Select" mode and you will be able to select which PCM wave the Sawtooth oscillator will blend with. When in this mode, the Wave Sel/PW knob lets you choose from 128 different PCM waveforms.

With an Osc Shape value of 64-127 however, the Wave Sel/PW knob will assume "PWM" mode and you can use this to select a Pulse Width value of the Pulse. When in this mode, the Wave Sel/PW knob will let you choose a pulse width of 0 (Square) to 127 (0:100 Pulse [effectively silence]) for blending with the Sawtooth.

So, when using values of 0-63 or less, I am literally dialing in how much of the sawtooth wave I am blending with the PCM wave selected using the Wave Sel/PW knob? So, at 0, I should be getting the pure PCM wave, while, the higher I dial up to 63, the more of the sawtooth wave I'm getting? And, from 64 to 127, I'm dealing with a pulse wave and then the Wav Sel/PW knob now controls the pulse width? So, getting back to the Oscillator Wave menu option, it "should" reflect whatever PCM wave I dialed in using the Wave Sel/PW knob "before" exceeding the value of 64, correct? So, I'm guessing when they say that "the wave menu option is always available regardless of the shape setting", they're saying that I can change the oscillator using this menu option, thus overriding whatever setting I previously set using the shape knob? I'm still a little confused as to the purpose of this menu option, as you can tell, but, thanks for all the great insight, as always, Timo. I still say, w/o this forum, it would take me a good year to wrap my head around my Virus C's functions and capabilities. Access really should be paying guys like you to write their manual, honestly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Remedial (Post 293283)

Quote:

And, from 64 to 127, I'm dealing with a pulse wave and then the Wav Sel/PW knob now controls the pulse width?

Yes. In these instances, the "WaveSel/PW" knob determines the pulse width of the pulse waveform itself (before it's blended with the sawtooth).

Quote:

So, getting back to the Oscillator Wave menu option, it "should" reflect whatever PCM wave I dialed in using the Wave Sel/PW knob "before" exceeding the value of 64, correct?

So, I'm guessing when they say that "the wave menu option is always available regardless of the shape setting", they're saying that I can change the oscillator using this menu option, thus overriding whatever setting I previously set using the shape knob?

If the Osc Shape knob is between 0 and 63, the WaveSel/PW will state the PCM waveform used for blending with the sawtooth.

You can change the PCM waveform using the WaveSel/PW knob at any time while the Osc Shape knob remains between 0-63.

However when the Osc Shape knob exceeds 64, the PCM waveform is no longer needed as it becomes inaudible... The Osc Shape knob starts to blend the pulse waveform with the sawtooth instead, so the WaveSel/PW knob switches to "pulse-width" mode to control the pulse element.

Let's start afresh. Ignore the sawtooth by setting Osc Shape to a value of 127. You will hear 100% pulse waveform and nothing else. Use the WaveSel/PW knob to directly control the pulse width of this pulse waveform...

... Now simply use the Osc Shape value to blend the sawtooth back in (if desired). If you don't want any sawtooth, keep Osc Shape at 127.

The WaveSel/PW knob will never affect the sawtooth waveform. The sawtooth is always static. The WaveSel/PW knob only affects the PCM wave, OR the pulse width of the pulse, depending on which range the Osc Shape value lies (0-63, or 64-127).

And the Osc Shape knob is nothing more than a mixer.

HTH

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timo (Post 293286)

Yes. Imagine the Osc Shape knob as a mixer. That's all it does. It blends between PCM <> Sawtooth <> Pulse waveshapes.

At an Osc Shape value of 0, you have 100% PCM waveform, and nothing else. The PCM waveform itself is determined with the "WaveSel/PW" knob.

With an Osc Shape of 0 > 63 you are fading the PCM waveform out, and the sawtooth in. An Osc Shape value of 64 (middle) would be 100% sawtooth and nothing else.

From 64 > 127 you are fading the sawtooth out and the pulse waveform in. At 127 you will have 100% pulse and nothing else.

So an Osc Shape value of 32 (a quarter) for example would be blending 50% PCM wave with 50% sawtooth.

Or, an Osc Shape value of 95 (three quarters) you would be blending 50% sawtooth with 50% pulse.

[Incidently, you can never blend PCM with Pulse unless you bring a second oscillator into play.]

Yes. In these instances, the "WaveSel/PW" knob determines the pulse width of the pulse waveform itself (before it's blended with the sawtooth).

If the Osc Shape knob is between 0 and 63, the WaveSel/PW will state the PCM waveform used for blending with the sawtooth.

You can change the PCM waveform using the WaveSel/PW knob at any time while the Osc Shape knob remains between 0-63.

When the Osc Shape knob exceeds 64, the PCM waveform is no longer needed as it becomes inaudible... The Osc Shape knob starts to blend the pulse waveform instead, so the WaveSel/PW knob switches to "pulse-width" mode to control the pulse element.

Let's start afresh. Ignore the sawtooth by setting Osc Shape to a value of 127. You will hear 100% pulse waveform and nothing else. Use the WaveSel/PW knob to directly control the pulse width of this pulse waveform...

... Now simply use the Osc Shape value to blend the sawtooth back in (if desired). If you don't want any sawtooth, keep Osc Shape at 127.

The WaveSel/PW knob will never affect the sawtooth waveform. The sawtooth is always static. The WaveSel/PW knob only affects the PCM wave, OR the pulse width of the pulse, depending on which range the Osc Shape value lies (0-63, or 64-127).

And the Osc Shape knob is nothing more than a mixer.

HTH

Thanks again, Timo. So, basically, you can get 2 waves out of each of the oscillators at any given time? That would basically make the Virus C an eight oscillator synth at any given time (including the suboscillator and the noise oscillator). Also, I realize that I was asking the question entirely incorrectly. What I meant originally was "What are the functions of the Oscillator-1 Wave and Oscillator-2 Wave menu options in the Oscillator EDIT Menu?" Under the paragraph describing Oscillator-1 Wave, the manual states: "Selects among of 64 spectral waveshapes. This parameter is identical to WAVE SEL/PW (see appropriate section) when SHAPE (see appropriate section) is set to the left half of its control range. However, in contrast to WAVE SEL/PW, WAVE is always available regardless of the current SHAPE setting." The last sentence is what I'm not entirely clear about. What use is it to have "WAVE" always available when, let's say, I've already passed +64 and am now mixing a pulse and saw waves? Let me say once again, though, NO WHERE IN THE MANUAL does it teach any of the stuff that you have revealed to me in this post. Honestly, maybe it does, but in it's own cryptic way that I couldn't understand.

My apologies, now I get you.

It seems the priority lies with whatever you changed last.

If you changed the PCM wave via the WaveSel/PW knob whilst the Osc Shape knob is <64, then that method of selecting a PCM wave will take priority (and it will also alter the same PCM wave value in the edit menu accordingly to reflect the new value at the same time).
However if you dived into the menus and altered the PCM wave value that way last (even if the Osc Shape 64>), then that would steal priority.

To get to the crux of it: the latter is to assign PCM wave selection to its own MIDI control, which is ideal if you wanted to change the PCM remotely (via MIDI) when the Osc Shape is 64> in order to prime the PCM waveform ready for a seamless blend if you happen to decide to sweep the Osc Shape value back into PCM realm (Osc Shape <64). Otherwise there'd be an audible glitch or two as you suddenly start messing around with sending WaveSel/PW values when the Osc Shape was suddenly back in range just in order to select a new PCM wave.

You can already modulate PWM via MIDI, so you don't need a dedicated sub menu option for PWM alongside PCM wave selection too.