User Guide / Owners Manual

ARTURIA – Matrix-12 V – USER MANUAL 47
4.2.1.5 VCO Volume
This governs the output level of the oscillator. And it’s equipped with a Mod button
so the VCO can fade in and out as desired. This effect can cause a subtle tremolo
or an intermittent chorusing, for example, depending on how the two VCOs are
interacting. It can also cause subtle or radical timbral shifts if VCO 2 is also synced
to the frequency of VCO 1. More about that in the next section.
4.2.1.6 Sync (VCO 2 only)
Sync stands for "synchronize", and when this button is pressed the relationship of the
two VCOs changes drastically. Rather than being completely independent, the
Sync button slaves the waveform(s) of VCO 2 to VCO 1 and forces them to output
a single, complex waveform.
Lower the frequency of VCO 1 to zero and experiment with changing the frequency
of VCO 2, either manually or by means of a mod routing (envelopes can be loads
of fun here). The resultant timbral shifts are unlike anything else a synthesizer can
produce, ranging from a controlled scream or an aggressive, biting tone to a subtle
shimmer, depending on the mod source and amount.
4.2.1.7 VCO Page 2
There are other, less “glamorous” parameters available for the VCO parameter
groups. To access these, press the Page 2 button in the nameplate. The bottom
panel will show the Page 2 parameters for six different parameter groups, two of
which are identical (VCO 1 and 2). We’ll cover only those parameters in this section;
the rest will be covered with their own parameter groups.
Keyboard: This decides whether the VCO frequency will change when different keys
are played.
Lag: When enabled, the VCO frequency will respond to the settings of the Lag
generator. This is what enables “glide”, or portamento. It can be cool to have one
VCO “scoop” while the other is static, so try enabling Lag for one and disabling it for
the other.
Pitch bend: If you want the VCO frequency to ignore lever 1, disable this switch.
Vibrato: Same thing: if you want a VCO to ignore lever 2, switch off this parameter.
These seem like simple parameters, being only on/off switches. But as you can see,
their settings can have a huge impact on the overall sound and behavior of a Voice.
4.2.2 FM
FM is an abbreviation for “Frequency Modulation.” Did you know analog synthesizers
were doing this form of synthesis long before those famous Yamaha synths? The
concepts are very similar: the FM parameters in Matrix-12 V can put VCO 1 and VCO
2 into a carrier/modulator relationship, or do a similar thing to VCO 2 and the Filter.
The FM parameter group contains the following parameters: