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Key follow:  These sliders affect the intensity of the envelope generators according to how high up
the keyboard a particular key is pressed. High settings will cause higher keys to follow a more intense
envelope profile.

CAUTION: If you reduce the SJ-2 envelope’s SUSTAIN amount, the peak of the envelope’s output can actually
rise - the SJ-2 attempts to recover overall volume level .  This helps to offset any loss of volume which the 
patch might incur due to the reduced sustain setting. 
 
However, at very low sustain settings, the effect can be quite dramatic. 
 
If an envelope which is controlling volume is subject to a reduction in sustain level, 

PLEASE PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY 

in order to protect equipment and prevent ear damage.

Self-Compensating Sustain Level

Please note that the maximum output from either of the SJ-2’s envelopes exceeds the highest cut-off frequency
setting (all frequencies allowed through) by a wide margin. This is deliberate and can be used to refine a
cut-off envelope profile around its peak, as shown below: 

Max cut-off

Max cut-off

Envelope to filter slider set so that the
maximum envelope output is less than
max cut-off (all frequencies allowed through)

Envelope to filter slider set so that the
maximum envelope output exceeds
max cut-off.

I

n the second example, because the peak is ‘clipped’, the filter remains fully open for a longer period

and this will have a dramatic effect on the sound.

Please note that adding filter cut-off manually, in addition to envelope output, will further intensify this
effect since the two sources (cut-off slider & envelope output) are simply added together.

15 Programming -Envelopes

ENVELOPE TO FILTER CLIPPING

Summary of Contents for SJ-2

Page 1: ...SJ 2 Version 1 3 ...

Page 2: ... 11 Envelopes 13 LFO 17 Oscillator mix 17 SJ 2 Control panel Programmer portamento bend range 19 Unison Mode LFO 2 Arpeggiator 20 Continuous Control Midi Learn 21 Zoom out 21 Appendices Appendix One Audio Filters 23 Appendix Two Troubleshooting 26 Appendix Three Info for users 27 1 Contents User Guide last updated 03 04 2015 ...

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Page 4: ... 2 can now excel Please note that the SJ 2 does not attempt to model any particular hardware instrument down to the finest detail but we have tested it alongside audio examples of the awesome MKS 80 all the way through development and the SJ 2 programming functionality is rather similar to that of the hardware beast Please note that if you are new to synthesis parts of this user guide may appear t...

Page 5: ...4 Getting Started ...

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Page 7: ...opriate octave for oscillator 2 but this arrangement is handy when the two oscillators are synchronized see below for details WAVE SHAPE AND TUNING 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 6 Programming Oscillators When playing a guitar the sound produced originates from the strings In the case of a synthesizer the basic sound comes from a section called the oscillator section Just as a guitar can have twelve strings instea...

Page 8: ...mpered by the slider whilst setting the switch to off will cause both oscillators to follow the keyboard normally Use the key tracking facilities however you like but please note that this can be a really useful feature if the oscillators are synchronised The important characteristic of oscillator synchronising is that changing oscillator 2 s pitch will change the timbre of the oscillator section ...

Page 9: ...se other factors are said to modulate the oscillators pitch modulate simply means change and while the keyboard could certainly be described as a modulator the term is more commonly reserved for other parts of the synth s architecture which can affect pitch lfo s and envelopes in particular these will be defined later in the user guide The SJ 2 works as follows parts of the SJ 2 architecture which...

Page 10: ...this using a parameter known as pulse width Pulse Width Pulse Width increased This is a superb feature for two reasons Firstly one wave shape pulse becomes an infinite number of wave shapes all pulse waves with different pulse widths The second reason is even more useful Because pulse width is a continuous variable we can modulate it vary it in real time using either LFOs envelopes see later secti...

Page 11: ...n That is set by the slider labelled SPD and the switch next to it THE SWITCH Please refer to later sections on LFOs and envelopes Each of the SJ 2 s oscillators has a dedicated LFO specifically for pulse width modulation With the switch set to LFO the dedicated LFO will modulate the pulse width at a speed set by the SPD slider With the switch set to EV1 envelope 1 will modulate the pulse width Wi...

Page 12: ...other subtractive synthesizer if you re familiar with synthesis you won t need to spend a long time reading this section If you are not already familiar with synthesis I have provided a brief introduction to the subject in Appendix 1 Before that here s a summary of the SJ 2 filter controls HIGH PASS FILTER 1 This cannot be modulated by other parts of the synth the high pass frequency setting will ...

Page 13: ...er on in the user guide FILTER KEY FOLLOW 8 This is similar to key tracking discussed in the oscillator section earlier When set to zero the keyboard will not influence the filter s cut off at all but at higher settings higher keys will sound brighter than lower keys CAUTION Turning up the resonance can lead to a profound increase in sound volume perhaps unexpectedly Please consider both your spea...

Page 14: ...file defined by the user using controls in the envelope section The configuration of these controls varies from one instrument to another but a popular standard which emerged early on is to have four controls Attack Decay Sustain Release The following graph shows how these four controls operate on the envelopes output ATTACK DECAY RELEASE SUSTAIN OUTPUT TIME holds this level indefinitely until key...

Page 15: ...ut off and or other attributes such as pitch while envelope 2 is used exclusively to control volume However by switching to envelope 2 in the filter section you can have envelope 2 control both volume and filter cut off whilst reserving envelope 1 for other purposes VELOCITY CONTROL Velocity how hard a key is struck can be used to scale the envelopes in both axis the amount of intensity scaling is...

Page 16: ...ompensating Sustain Level Please note that the maximum output from either of the SJ 2 s envelopes exceeds the highest cut off frequency setting all frequencies allowed through by a wide margin This is deliberate and can be used to refine a cut off envelope profile around its peak as shown below Max cut off Max cut off Envelope to filter slider set so that the maximum envelope output is less than m...

Page 17: ...lope Attack Decay Volume envelope Even in the case that the filter envelope s attack is set to zero adding a small amount of attack to the volume envelope can significantly increase a sounds punch because the volume s peak lingers for more time overall whilst the decay is still abrupt and dramatic Again if sustain is set to high or decay is slow then the effect described above will not be noticeab...

Page 18: ...tput to build from nothing to its full amount over a period of time rather like the attack control in an envelope generator The SJ 2 actually has two flexible LFO s the second one appears in the SJ 2 Control Section described later In addition there are dedicated LFOs for each oscillator s pulse width bringing the total to 4 The SJ 2 s second LFO can only provide a sine wave and has no delay funct...

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Page 20: ...k as discrete files on your hard drive Patch display displays the currently selected patch Value display displays the value of the current or last adjusted parameter setting There are no facilities on the SJ 2 to layer two patches together or split the keyboard between two patches However you can achieve these configurations by launching 2 instances of the SJ 2 in your host program and controlling...

Page 21: ...an zero in this mode Unison Detune ʹ allows stacked voices to be detuned Hold Switch This will hold notes currently being played until the switch is reset LFO 2 The SJ 2s second LFO is briefly described in the programming section of this guide Note that this LFO only kicks in when modulation wheel is applied ARPEGGIATOR The SJ 2 s arpeggiator switches are not marked up but they are very simple the...

Page 22: ...he SJ 2 and propagated across all of the patches in the SJ 2 ʹ you can not have controllers assigned differently for different patches When you open a new song and launch the SJ 2 the default factory bank is automatically loaded which doesn t contain any controller assignments at all But you can then load up a preset which you saved previously which has the controller assignment configuration that...

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Page 24: ...fully open Tone control set to minimum Graphic view of the action of a synthesizer low pass filter Cut off set just up from midway no resonance cut off set just up from midway with resonance applied Cut off Cut off Please note that a little way beyond the cut off point frequencies are removed entirely Please note that this type of EQ cannot remove any frequencies entirely The last of the graphs ab...

Page 25: ...can clearly hear square or sawtooth shaped waves coming out of a synthesizer And although they don t commonly occur in nature you can hear these waves coming off of electrical installations and other machinery as well How is this so The answer lies in adding sine waves together in other words hearing more than one sine wave at the same time Consider the diagram below which graphically illustrates ...

Page 26: ...h is not a sine wave begins to emerge It turns out that when many different sine waves are added together the resulting wave shape can be anything at all In complex cases such as speech you are still hearing a chorus of sine waves but in this case the relative volumes and pitches of those wave would be constantly If we add yet another sine wave higher pitched and quieter than the others we get thi...

Page 27: ...ost program will ensure that the SJ 2 returns to where you left it Alternatively you can apply the following work around 1 ʹ copy the patch you are working with into patch 1 memory slot using the SJ 2 s patch menu button 2 Save your song When you reopen it later if the SJ 2 defaults to patch 1 its no longer a problem and everything will be just as it was when you saved Unison mode no stacking If u...

Page 28: ...ovided you do not directly profiteer from the distribution and credit the SJ 2 as a Manx product You must agree to the following terms and conditions before installing and using the Manx SJ 2 retail version After purchasing the SJ 2 retail version you are licensed to use this on up to a maximum of 3 computers provided that you are the sole owner and user of these computers You may not attempt to d...

Page 29: ...3D Anaglyph representation of the Manx SJ 2 Synthesizer ...

Page 30: ...Other Manx Instruments Thanks for going with the SJ 2 Bit 100 v2 MM 2 XS 4 Destiny v2 Gigmate v2 http www manxsynthesizers com ...

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