Waldorf MicroWave II User Manual

Contents

Waldorf MicroWave II User Manual Manual pdf 47 page image

QualityThe quality parameters control the input stage of the Mixer. They determine the amount ofAliasing and Time Quantization applied to the sound as well as the type of distortiongenerated when the signal raises the clipping level.QualityAliasingoff / 1…5Aliasing is a digital artefact that is audible as soon as a wave has harmonics higher thanhalf the sampling frequency. Usually, aliasing is reduced to a minimum by some magicalmathematics, but here you can override this and listen to aliasing distortion just like in thedawn of the first digital musical instruments like the PPG Wave or the first MicroWave. Usea setting other thanoff for sounds that expressionally should have a "digital" character.TimeQuantoff / 1…5With a wave, 64 harmonics including the fundamental frequency can be represented, and aclever interpolation algorithm makes sure only these 64 harmonics are generated, even atlow pitches. However, sometimes one might wish to add additional harshness at the lowerend, just like the first MicroWave did, and this is what Time Quantization is for: The waveinterpolation is overridden in five steps to get this extra fizziness. Note that pitch accuracyis a bit diminished when using a value other than "off". The audible result of TimeQuantization is a very sharp sound character when playing at low pitches. Use this e.g. forsawtooth based sounds.Accuracyoff / onIf disabled, voices are detuned very slightly to give more vivid sound, especially whenplaying chords or sounds with long release. If enabled, the tuning is done as accurate aspossible.Clippingsaturate / overflowSelects the type of distortion that is applied when the signal raises the clipping level.Clipping is always generated when the sum of all mixer input volumes (i.e. Wave 1, Wave 2Noise and Ringmodulation) exceeds 128.• Ifsaturate is selected for this parameter, the signal will be limited to the maximumlevel. This is the kind of distortion classic analog circuits will generate.• Ifoverflow is selected, distortion is proceeded in the same way as a numericaloverflow in a digital system: The polarity of the signal’s part above the maximumlevel will be negated.TimeLeveloverflowTimeLevelsaturatemaxminmaxminAliasing |TimeQuant|Accuracy |Clipping3 | off | off |saturateUser’s Manual MicroWave II • MicroWave XT • XTk 47