Ring modulator
2001-12-27 by tuskermusic
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