oscillator help

C

cartwheel1984

New member
iv been watching a few tutorials learning synths and get a bit lost when they start detuning synths, anyone explain it a bit easier? whas like the common amounts you detune it by? 3,5,7,12?
and if u detune one oscilator plus 7 for example do I have to detune another oscilator minus 7?
cheers
 
the numbers you use to detune are cents or 1/100th of a semitone: it is not a fixed amount of frequency deviation, as different semitones have different absolute widths in terms of frequency.

the best way to think of it is like tuning the top 2 pairs of strings on a 12 string guitar or all the strings on a mandolin. when in tune the strings sound the exact same pitch and there is no discernible wobble to the combined sound; detune one of the strings in the pair and you start to hear a wobble that becomes more and more pronounced the more you detune the string.

Most chorus pedals work on this basis: take the original sound source and split it into many sound paths and pitch shift them up or down slightly using an lfo to determine how fast the pitch change occurs. The depth on most chorus pedals is how much of the altered sound gets added back to the original signal

as for detuning synths, the numbers used are about obtaining the specific sound that you want: one person may want a pronounced effect and so goes for something like +15 - +30, someone else may desire a very subtle effect and so goes for +2 - +7. using positive numbers pushes the fundamental frequency upwards; using negative numbers simply shifts the pitching downwards. You might use both positive and negative shifts on two oscillators to create a wider pitch valley for your desired sound; this in effect gives you a central pitch that both deviate from. the negative number may be larger simply to compensate for the fact that the size of a single cent will be smaller on the negative side than on the positive side
 
In other words, use a value that sounds good, but it's of course a good thing to understand what exactly is going on. Most of those tutorials could probably say "detune to taste" just as well.
 
mightnt be a great explanation but to me oscillators kinda work like chords except you are making the chord before you put in your midi. use a +/-5 for example and youll get a 5th type sound, +/-7 is a 7th, +/-12 and its an octave. you can make leads or pads sound really powerful by setting oscillators to different values then setting the levels for each. regular detune just makes the sound a bit wider but on a smaller scale than adjusting semitones. unison detune is another one should read up on.
 
you are talking about detuning at the semitone level not the cent level: most oscillators allow you to do coarse tuning (semitones) and fine tuning (cents)

i.e.
+5 semitones is a 4th not a 5th -5 semitones is a 4th below which is equivalent to the 5th
+7 semitones is a 5th -7 semitones is a 5th below which is equivalent to the 4th

+3 semitones for a minor 3rd (-9 for it to appear below)
+4 semitones for a major 3rd (-8 for it to appear below)
+8 semitones for a minor 6th (-4 for it to appear below)
+9 semitones for a major 6th (-3 for it to appear below)

+1 semitones for a minor 2nd (-11 for it to appear below)
+2 semitones for a major 2nd (-10 for it to appear below)
+10 semitones for a minor 7th (-2 for it to appear below)
+11 semitones for a major 7th (-1 for it to appear below)

+6/-6 for an augmented 4th/diminished 5th above or below
 
cheers everyone for the input! appreciate all the help! yes I sort of had the same idea rayzer had +7 is a 7th etc.

cheers for clearing it up a bit bandcoach and ill keep an ear our krushing to what sounds good aswell! :-)

nice 1!
 
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