WHAT LFOs DO, WHAT ARE THEY FOR
An LFO is a Low Fequency Oscillator, contrary to audible frequency wave generators. The Low Fequency is mostly used to slightly vary certain parameters, make them less predictive, give your synths a more natural feel.
An LFO always has a frequency/rate and usually it's got a depth/modulation amount for each parameter. Most LFO's use sine wave modulation, some have different options, just like the basic wavs of synths: Sine/Triangle/Square/Saw Up,Down/Random/...
Some LFO's run sync to your BPM or are switcheable. For example: A 1/4 measure LFO on filter could act as a wah wah, while a .05Hz LFO on AMP will make your synth more silent/loud every 20 seconds.
It's very common on filters to use LFO, like you don't have to keep tweaking the cutoff knob yourself during the song.
Some LFO's can be triggered per note, some just run independent from the notes, they keep going no matter what line you play. The 'triggered per note' is fun if you work with sampled loops or pads, but on arpegg's you'd want LFO's that keep running freely.
I like some LFO on some filters, or on pan. I use them to modulate them a little, to give a more natural (or less monotone) feel, cos usually I prefer to tweaks my knobs manually. I prefer to manually slide faders or draw LFO's, cos then I'm more sure that ie. the filter will be screaming on the next break. On an LFO which is not sync or regtriggered, it's hard to predict where your AMP/filter/pan's setting will be if you want it to have some specific value at a certain time in your song.
Well, that's what jumped in my mind for now, hope it gives you some idea... enjoy,
at0mic.
An LFO always has a frequency/rate and usually it's got a depth/modulation amount for each parameter. Most LFO's use sine wave modulation, some have different options, just like the basic wavs of synths: Sine/Triangle/Square/Saw Up,Down/Random/...
Some LFO's run sync to your BPM or are switcheable. For example: A 1/4 measure LFO on filter could act as a wah wah, while a .05Hz LFO on AMP will make your synth more silent/loud every 20 seconds.
It's very common on filters to use LFO, like you don't have to keep tweaking the cutoff knob yourself during the song.
Some LFO's can be triggered per note, some just run independent from the notes, they keep going no matter what line you play. The 'triggered per note' is fun if you work with sampled loops or pads, but on arpegg's you'd want LFO's that keep running freely.
I like some LFO on some filters, or on pan. I use them to modulate them a little, to give a more natural (or less monotone) feel, cos usually I prefer to tweaks my knobs manually. I prefer to manually slide faders or draw LFO's, cos then I'm more sure that ie. the filter will be screaming on the next break. On an LFO which is not sync or regtriggered, it's hard to predict where your AMP/filter/pan's setting will be if you want it to have some specific value at a certain time in your song.
Well, that's what jumped in my mind for now, hope it gives you some idea... enjoy,
at0mic.
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King of Snake
- Posts: 1544
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also a handy trick is to use the modulation matrix of your synth (Lightwave, Prisma) to connect envelopes to LFO's. This way you can have LFO's fading in for instance, and generally have their amplitude or their speed controlled by the contour of the envelope.
LFO's connected to the pitch of your oscillators will generally create pretty heavy detuning of the oscillator for whacked out effects, but it's worth to try using an LFO with only very little amplitude on the oscillator pitch to create some not-so-obvious variations in pitch and generate spacy UFO sounds.
LFO's connected to the pitch of your oscillators will generally create pretty heavy detuning of the oscillator for whacked out effects, but it's worth to try using an LFO with only very little amplitude on the oscillator pitch to create some not-so-obvious variations in pitch and generate spacy UFO sounds.
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Ben Walker
- Posts: 824
- Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2001 4:00 pm
- Contact:
...and of course, with J9k's free <a href="http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... orum=16&14" TARGET="_blank">FOAM</a> device , you can now apply LFO's to any parameter of any device.
This is a great tool with which to experiment with the effect that LFO's can have on different synth or effect parameters. Now we're no longer limited to using the LFO's that are (mostly) hardwired to various synth controls, but can use them wherever we like, just like on the best modular systems!
Ben
_________________
<a href="http://www.modularsynth.co.uk" target="_blank">www.ModularSynth.co.uk</a>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ben Walker on 2002-07-01 11:00 ]</font>
This is a great tool with which to experiment with the effect that LFO's can have on different synth or effect parameters. Now we're no longer limited to using the LFO's that are (mostly) hardwired to various synth controls, but can use them wherever we like, just like on the best modular systems!
Ben
_________________
<a href="http://www.modularsynth.co.uk" target="_blank">www.ModularSynth.co.uk</a>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ben Walker on 2002-07-01 11:00 ]</font>
hello pulsarians,
i've used modular's multi lfo as a common oscillator in a patch (phrazer), and i found it great in that role.
if you feed it's freq.in with the freq.out of mvc it just plays the notes, and then you can send pitch sequences or get altered intervals feeding frq.mod inputs and note inputs too.
and you can shift phase, delay and fade in!
and it sounds nice and phat!
alfonso.
i've used modular's multi lfo as a common oscillator in a patch (phrazer), and i found it great in that role.
if you feed it's freq.in with the freq.out of mvc it just plays the notes, and then you can send pitch sequences or get altered intervals feeding frq.mod inputs and note inputs too.
and you can shift phase, delay and fade in!
and it sounds nice and phat!
alfonso.