User Manual

36
SPECTRALIS 2
3.2.7 Velocity Sensitivity and adjusting the VCA-level
The maximum level depends on the VCA-level setting of the sound. You can
adjust the maximum level with the (VCA-Level)-encoder inside the "VCA"-
section. The level also can be controlled with the velocity sensitivity of your
keyboard. The amount of velocity dependent level control can be adjusted by
holding down the [Shift]-button and adjusting the amount with the (VCA-
Level)-encoder.
3.2.8 Using the digital multimode filter
The Spectralis provides a stereo multimode filter for each of its 32 stereo voices.
This filter can be used as a lowpass, highpass and bandpass filter. A filter is a
function which will let a frequency range of a sound pass through, while
suppressing another range of the frequency mix. Depending on the selected
basic tone color you can achieve dramatic results or subtle changes. The sound
character of a sinewave for instance will hardly be affected by turning down
the cutoff-frequency of the lowpass filter, it will just get quieter when you’re
turning the cutoff-frequency knob. This is because the sinewave has no overtones
and only makes the fundamental audible. The most dramatic effect of the Filter
can be heard when it is applied to a sawtooth or pulse-waveform. The
descriptions of these filter functions are pretty self-explanatary.
Lowpass
The lowpass filter only lets the overtones above the selected frequency
pass through. It is the most frequently used type of filter, as it offers the
most musical sound. The reason is that we have a tendency to feel sounds
as being ”warm” when they strongly emphasize the fundamental. The
sounds of course can be glisteningly bright when the filter is opened –
however the fundamental will always be clearly audible. The frequency
of the filter, at which the overtones of a tone colour are surpressed is
called the cutoff-frequency.
Highpass
This Filter cuts off all overtones below a set frequency. This results in a
somewhat unusual, ”hollow” sound. The highpass filter is very useful
when trying to make a sound fit into an arrangement. Once you start
layering a bunch of voluminous sounds on top of each other, you might
end up with sound-mush and some of the sounds start canceling each
other out. Using a highpass filter you can thin out sounds in the
problematic bass or lower midrange. With a high resonance setting though,
you can also implement a number of wonderful special effects.
Bandpass
With this Filter the frequencies above and below of the selected frequency
are dampened/limited, so that only a narrow frequency range remains
audible. This filter is also perfectly suited for the creation of special effects
and for proper layering of multiple sounds.
Note! If you are
playing a DSP Synth
that no Sample has
been assigned to, the
selected Part will
have no Sound or the
default sound only!.
We have described in
chapter 3.1.7 how to
assign Multisamples
to a Part.
Editing DSP-synth sounds - digital multimode filter