3.5

574MainStage Instruments
Use MainStage Ultrabeat oscillator 2 model mode
This oscillator 2 mode employs a method of synthesis known as component modeling.
This tone generation technique mimics the physical properties of an object, such as a
guitar string. Further objects are used to stimulate the string, emulating the way that it is
played:plucked, bowed, and so on. Although the term string is used, model mode enables
you to create sounds that don’t sound like traditional stringed instruments.
The string is the element that is responsible for the basic tone. Ultrabeat offers parameters
that enable you to adjust its material—what it’s made of, in other words.
The exciters make the string vibrate (move) in different ways. The string itself doesn’t
make a sound unless it is stimulated, or excited.
The signal of the vibrating string is sent to the filter, amplifier, and so on, in the Synthesizer
section.
Model mode parameters
• Exciter buttons: Select one of the two contrasting exciters. Each offers different sound
characteristics.
Note: In this context, an exciter is the agent or triggering device used to initiate the
vibration of the string. Don’t confuse it with the effect plug-in of the same name.
• Material Pad: Determines the basic tone of the string with the string Stiffness and
damping (Inner Loss) parameters.
• Inner Loss: Emulates damping of the string, as caused by the string material—steel,
glass, nylon, or wood. These are frequency-dependent losses that cause the sound
to become more mellow during the decay phase.
• Stiffness: Sets the rigidity of the string. In reality, this is determined by the string
material and diameter—or, to be more precise, by its geometrical moment of inertia.
Stiffer strings exhibit an inharmonic vibration, where overtones are not integer
multiples of the base frequency. Rather, they have higher frequencies, which can
make upper or lower notes sound somewhat out of tune with each other.
• Resolution slider: Determine the precision of the calculation. High values produce extra
harmonics. Low values produce fewer harmonics, or inharmonic spectra.