S610 Aliasing Triple Wave Folder

Product Description

 

(This module is included in the System B)

 

A wave folder literally folds input audio into itself when parts of the incoming waveform crosses a certain threshold. The S610 utilizes 3 wave folders connected in SERIES. So by default, the input of folder 2 is taken from the output of folder 1 (i.e Normaled from folder 1). And the input of folder 3 is taken from the output of folder 2 (i.e Normaled from folder 2). You can break this normalization by connecting inputs to In2 and In3. This series configuration allows you to create extremely complex waveforms from fairly simple ones. Or you could use the 3 folders seperatly if you like.

 

Each of the 3 folders have their own Fold knob/CV and Bias knob. Fold simply amplifies the input to push it beyond the set Thresh level to force it to fold. Bias is an offset voltage added to the input that causes none symmetric folding. There is also a global Bias knob/CV that affect all three folders. The Thresh knob has CV input, when used, the knob becomes an attenuator for it. The Auto/Off switch enables automatic threshold. This means that the module will sense the input level at In1 and set the threshold so that the audio will begin to fold just above zero Fold1 amount. Notice that no auto sensing is applied on In2 and In3. (There is only one threshold setting shared by all folders).

 

Setting the threshold to Auto is useful if you don’t want the character of the output to be affected by the dynamics of the input. While this can be useful. Setting the threshold manually can also be useful to trigger the folding only when the input dynamics are high. Say for example when a guitar player is strumming hard vs when he is playing mellow.

 

Each folder has a Max fold knob to control the maximum number of foldings done. If the maximum is exceeded, no more folding is done, so the audio is allowed to grow louder and louder as the Fold knob/CV increases until the clipping level is hit*. A Smooth knob is provided that helps in reducing aliasing in a CPU lite manner. Note that this involves some quick and nifty guess work which may or may not work depending on the complexity of the waveform. At worst, it should give a different flavor of the sound. A DC blocker Knob is also provided which will center the three outputs around zero volts. This is necessary because the Bias controls can cause DC offsets in the output. The higher the DC blocker Knob you set, the faster it eats DC but the more lower/bass frequencies you loose.

 

There is an auxiliary Mix output that provides several quick mixes of the folders. These are not further affected by more Smooth or DC Blocker. It is just a quick mixer for convenience.

 

The Clip LED here will indicate clipping in any of the three folders. So if your getting your output from Out2 but Out3 is actually clipping, the clip LED will still indicate that even though you’ll not hear the clipping. The Smooth will also smooth the clipping. The Mix output is not clipped further more than whats already done in the folders (Even if the Mix exceeds the clipping level set in the right click menu). Notice that the default clipping level for this module is +3db (Not +12db) because clipping can actually be useful in this case and gives some saturated distortion sounds if desired, also because this module is meant to exploit aliasing. As always, aliasing can be controlled with oversampling.

 

Tip: There is no separate CV control of Bias per folder. There is only a global CV bias control. So if you want, you can still achieve individual bias CV control by mixing the input of a folder with the CV modulator you want using a mixer module.

 

 

*You can set the clipping level by right clicking on the module.