Partikl Tone Generator Unit: Particle
Tip: You can use an audio junction unit to add together sounds from multiple tone generators to make even richer sounds!
Overview
This effect unit is an example of Granular Synthesis, which although is often used to do time-stretching of samples, is used for a completely different purpose here - that of creating rich layered sounds ranging from ambient forms to plopping sounds and twinkling chimes. The particle system incorporates octave, semitone and micro tonal offsets. It also has a checkbox that allows it to use the default volume envelope for amplitude shaping.
The Particle System synthesizes tones from a number of sine waves. This is really granular "additive synthesis". The unit works by streaming-out grains up to a maximum of 20 at any one time. These are randomly offset from each other to blend well. When the effect decides to generate a new grain, it takes its information from the dialog values. If the grains are reasonably large then the harmonics come in and out giving a full sound.
The main controls in this unit are:
Freq: This controls the frequency of the internal high-frequency LFO, which is is used to modulate the "harmonics", giving a tone that is rich with harmonic information. Only used if "Use Notes?" is not set.
Harmonics: Defines the range of multiples of the selected frequency present in the Particle System's output. What this means in plain English :) is that if you (say) have a frequency of 400Hz, and you define the Harmonic to be 3, then you may find grains with frequencies of 400, 800, and 1200 Hz in the generated waveform. The higher this value, the richer the harmonic output!
Velocity: this scrollbar controls the change of frequency within any one grain. Try moving this a small bit and you will find the tones start to dive or soar - good for creating horror effects!
Elements: The "number of elements" - the maximum number of grains present at any one time. The higher this value, the richer the output!
Notes?: This Checkbox determines whether the Particle System will use notes composed by the music engine, to override the Frequency control. The default is that the checkbox is set: i.e. the composed note pitches determine the frequency of the Particle System.
Amp: Defines the overall amplitude of the generated waveform.
Attack / Sustain / Decay / Pause: Changing these settings modifies an internal envelope generator, which is used to alter the shape and duration of the grains. It is easy to get twinkling effects just by making the attack small (say 1) and the decay longer (say 200). The pause determines the gap between grains. Modulating harmonic, attack, and pan position gives a nice full sound that alternates between twinkling and blending.
Ove: This combo-box allows you to specify the octave offset from the voice's pitch (only used if "Use Notes?" is set).
Semi: This allows you to select the semitone offset from the voice's pitch (taking into account the octave offset above) (only used if "Use Notes?" is set).
Micro: This allows you to specify the the microtonal offset in order to 'detune' the Particle System. -1.0 is the equivalent to one half of a semitone down, and +1.0 is one half semitone up (only used if "Use Notes?" is set).
