4ms Company Matthias Puech Ensemble Oscillator, User Manual

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Scale Groups and Learning
When you Learn a new scale with the Scale switch set to 12TET or Octave , the constraints described in the Scale Groups
section (page 13) will be applied automatically to the notes you enter.
To demonstrate how the choice of the Scale Group will effect a new scale, we’ll take a simple example of a scale and show
how it would behave differently if it were added using each of the three Scale Groups. You may want to follow along on your
Ensemble Oscillator. The notes that will be Learned are a C2, a G2, and a slightly flat A2 that’s between a G#2 and an A2,
but closer to an A2. (In case you're not familiar with this notation, C2 means a C note in the second octave of human
hearing.)
In the 12TET group, all notes are quantized to the 12-note per octave scale, so the slightly flat A2 will become an A2. This
means the intervals in the scale will be:
Fifth (C2 → G2)
Major second (G2 → A2)
(Repeat)
If you tune the root note to C0 (using the Pitch knob or jack), then the notes the oscillators are allowed to play will be:
C0, G0, A0, E1, F#1, C#2, Eb2, etc.
In the Octave group, the notes are not quantized, so the notes will stay C2, G2, slightly flat-A2. However, the Octave group
forces the intervals to add up to an octave (or a multiple of an octave), so a “hidden” C3 will be added at the end. Therefore
the interval sequence will be:
Fifth (C2 → G2)
Slightly-flat major second (G2 → A2-ish)
Slightly-sharp minor third (A2-ish → C3)
(Repeat)
If you tune the root note to C0, then the notes the oscillators are allowed to play will be:
C0, G0, slightly-flat-A0, C1, G1, slightly-flat-A1, C2, G2, slightly-flat-A2, C3, etc.
In the Free group, the notes are not quantized, and no extra intervals are added. Thus the interval sequence will be:
Fifth (C2 → G2)
Slightly-flat major second (G2 → A2-ish)
(Repeat)
If you tune the root note to C0 (using the Pitch knob or jack), then the notes the oscillators are allowed to play will be:
C0, G0, slightly-flat-A0, slightly-flat-E1, bit-more-flat-F#1, bit-more-flat-C#2, even-flatter-Eb2, etc.
It’s no longer practical to represent the allowed notes using the western system of notation.
Restoring a Factory Scale
If you want to restore a scale to the factory default, set the Scale knob and switch to the scale you wish to restore. Then
press and hold the Learn button for four seconds. The button will flash blue and the factory scale will be restored. This can't
be undone, any scale you had programmed into that slot in that group will be lost.
Shift Features
There are four features accessible by holding down the Shift ( Freeze ) button while turning a knob. These features are
called the Shift features:
Shift + Balance = Crossfading controls the steepness of the crossfading curve, from sharp to smooth.
Shift + Spread = # Oscillators sets the number of active oscillators, from one to sixteen.
Shift + Twist = Freeze Mode changes which subset of oscillators gets frozen: odds, lower half, or root.
Shift + Warp = Stereo Mode changes the way the oscillators are panned: even/odd, low/high, or root/others.
The # Oscillators , Freeze Mode and Stereo Mode features have a discrete number of values to choose from. When you
hold down the Freeze button and turn one of these knobs, the Freeze button will flash white whenever their values change.
When you’re done adjusting a knob, you can let go of the Freeze button. If the knob is now in a different position than it was
when you pressed Freeze , then the knob’s normal feature will still be set to the value it was before you adjusted the Shift
feature. That is to say, when you let go of the knob, the sound won’t immediately jump. Instead, the knob’s normal feature
will keep its old value until you turn the knob back to the position it was in before you pressed Freeze . Until you do this, the
Freeze button will flash to indicate that the knob is out of position. The more knobs are out of position, the faster the Freeze
button will flash. When you turn a knob back to its original position, the Freeze button will briefly flash green.
The values you set with the Shift features are saved across powering down and back up.
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