Elektron Sidstation - Manual (Page 17)

SIDSTATION
Owners Manual
17
This is a three note polyphonic mode. In this mode up to three notes can be played
simultaneously or in sequence without interrupting notes playing. This allows you to form three-
note-chords and other polyphonic musical structures. To edit the oscillator simply move the
cursor to the GoEdit sub-menu and press [ENTER]. A poly-sound is made from only one
oscillator with three-note polyphony.
Note: In the following text we use single mode as basis for our discussion as the difference
to poly mode when editing is very small. In single mode we edit up to three oscillators but
in poly mode only one.
Oscillators
The oscillator edit menu is shown below:
To determine the oscillator currently being edited please look at the underlined number in the
upper left corner of the screen. In the case above we are editing oscillator 1. Every oscillator has
6 sub-menus with parameters. We will now explain them one at a time:
Waveform (Wave)
This is where you select the waveform for the current oscillator and edit related parameters:
The first parameter is the waveform. The available waveforms are:
• Triangle (Tri)
• Sawtooth (Saw)
• Pulse (Puls)
• Mixed (Mix)
• Noise (Nois)
The waveform is the essential building block of the synthesis in SidStation. Every type of
waveform has its own distinctive timbre.
For all waveforms, synchronisation and ringmodulation can be selected to make the current
oscillator coupled to the previous one. We call the previous oscillator the carrier.
Synchronisation is an effect better experienced than explained. It restarts the modulated
waveform every time the carrying waveform crosses zero. This however says nothing about
what it really sounds like. Try it out by enabling the switch Sync.
Ringmodulation is the product of two signals, the carrier wave and the modulator. If the switch
Ringm is set the current oscillator will modulate the previous one. So if ring-modulation is
switched on for oscillator 2 then it will ring-modulate oscillator 1. Oscillator 1 modulates oscillator
3. Please see the figure in the “Anatomy of the synthesis in SidStation” section above to find out
how the oscillators are connected.