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Chapter 3 ES2 38
ES2 basic oscillator waveforms
All ES2 oscillators output a number of standard waveforms—sine, pulse, rectangular, sawtooth,
and triangular waves—or, alternately, any of 100 Digiwaves (see Use ES2 Digiwaves on page 42).
The following table covers the basic waveforms:
Waveform Basic tone Comments
Pulse/Rectangular Nasal sounding Great for reed instruments, synth
blips, and basses
Square Hollow and woody sounding Useful for basses, clarinets,
and oboes. The pulse width
of (oscillator 2 and 3) square
waveforms can be smoothly scaled
between 50% and the thinnest of
pulses.
Sawtooth Warm and even Useful for strings, pads, bass, and
brass sounds
Triangle Sweet sounding, softer than
sawtooth
Useful for utes and pad sounds
Sine A pure tone
The sine wave of oscillator 1
can be frequency modulated
by oscillator 2. This kind of
modulation forms the basis of
FM synthesis (see Use frequency
modulation in ES2
on page 40).
Oscillators 2 and 3 also oer the selection of:
•
A rectangular wave, synchronized to oscillator 1
•
A sawtooth wave, synchronized to oscillator 1
•
A ring modulator, which is fed by the output of oscillator 1 and a square wave from oscillator 2
•
Colored noise for oscillator 3. See Use the ES2 noise generator on page 42.
Oscillator synchronization and ring modulation allow for the creation of very complex and
exible harmonic spectra. The principles behind oscillator synchronization are described in
Synchronize ES2 oscillators on page 46. Ring modulation principles are described in Use ring
modulation in ES2 on page 41.