Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

I'm hearing things.

It appears that the ring modulator employs some mock-analog or pseudo-
analog trickery that goes beyond providing a sum and difference of
signals.

Try this: initialize a patch (130) then select option 1 (init). For
good measure bypass the effects so that you are listening only to the
synth engine. Now make this one change: reduce oscillator 1 volume to
zero and increase ring modulator volume to 127.

Now tap the keyboard and listen to the attack of each note. You will
hear that each attack is unique, as though the oscillators are going
in and out of phase. If you just hold down a key, you will hear
various harmonics shifting (like drifting oscillators. However if you
try this with just osc 1 (and or osc 2), you won't hear this. It will
sound the same each time.

Seems to me the ring mod has a 'random fluctuation'programmed into
it. It may be a better tool for creamy pads than the oscillators
themselves. !!!!

Anybody else hear this? Do genuine analog ring mods introduce pitch &
phase fluctuations in this manner? Why oh why didn't Yamaha use this
technique when programming the oscillators?

Cheers,

Jerry