Future Retro Revolution Owner Manual - Manual (Page 8)

INTRODUCTION TO ANALOG
ANALOG CONTROLS
The Revolution is a true analog monophonic synthesizer, designed to accurately recreate the
classic sounds of the original TB303 Bassline and more. All of the elements of a sound can be
changed instantly by the dedicated control knobs and switches.
These controls are not digitized in any way for the storing of sound patches or transmitting knob
movements as MIDI CC messages. Instead we have chosen to keep these controls true analog just as
the original TB303. This prevents problems such as stair-stepping and jumping of parameters
common in most of today’s digital synthesizers. After all it’s analog, and its controls should be as
smooth as the sound it creates. You should find the unit is very simple to use, and is just begging to
be tweaked live.
The analog control locations should be very familiar to those who have already used a TB303, as we
kept the layout of the original controls and added our own little twist to things. Those who are not
already familiar with using a TB303, will be up and running in no time.
The analog section of the Revolution contains a voltage controlled oscillator capable of generating
both sawtooth and square waveforms over a 5 octave range. This oscillator, an external audio source,
or both, can be connected to the input of the 18db 3pole resonant low pass filter. The filter is used to
shape the overall tone of the sound. The filter’s frequency can be adjusted manually with the cutoff
control, swept by the dedicated filter envelope, modulated by the internal control voltages (generated
by the sequencer) or any external control voltage source, as well as the unique brightening effect that
accent has on the filter. Once the sound passes through the filter, it can then be overdriven and gated
by the amplifier section. Accent will also affect the overall volume of the Revolution’s amplifier.
And finally the sound can be processed by the internal DSP effects, before being sent to your audio
system.
These analog switches are located on the rear of the unit.
WAVEFORM SELECT
When this switch is pressed in, the square wave shape will be selected for the oscillator.
When this switch is in the out position, the sawtooth wave shape will be selected for the
oscillator. The square waveform contains only odd harmonics, and has a very hollow
sound. The sawtooth waveform contains all harmonics creating a very full and sometimes
raspy sound.
OVERDRIVE OFF/ON
When this switch is pressed in, the internal audio signal will be overdriven by an analog
distortion stage. When this switch is in the out position, overdrive will be turned off, and
the original clean signal will be heard. The overdrive stage is a nice way to add
harmonics to a sound. This distortion will provide an aggressive edge to the sound.
You may notice that there is no overdrive amount control. The overdrive stage in the
Revolution is dynamic, in the sense that the amount of resonance in the filter determines
how overdriven the sound will be. At lower resonance settings, sounds will be mildly
clipped. Higher resonance settings will cause the sound to become more distorted with
emphasis on the high end for clarity and cutting through.
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