Waveshaper
The Waveshaper adds harmonics to a sound, and you choose which ones: a warm octave, a hollow fifth
above it, a bright reedy top, or a blend. It goes in any effects rack, most often as an insert on a
bass, a pad, a lead or a voice that needs more body or more edge.
It adds the harmonics you choose, and they stay the same at any level: a quiet note gets the same
colour as a loud one. It never clips.
It loads doing nothing (Amount 0 %): the sound passes through untouched. Turn Amount up to hear the
harmonics come in.
Harmonics
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1Amount | How loud the added harmonics are, against the sound. 0 % as it loads: the sound as it came in. |
| 2Height | How far up the harmonics reach, from the 2nd to the 8th. 50 % as it loads. |
| 3Even/odd | Which harmonics: Even (+100 %), Odd (−100 %) or Both (0, as it loads, a click-stop on the knob), and every blend between. |
Height: darker to brighter. At 0 % the sound gains only the 2nd and the 3rd harmonic; turn it up
and the higher ones join, in pairs.
Even/odd: warm or hollow. What each harmonic adds:
| Harmonic | Sounds like | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd | the octave above: fuller, warmer | even |
| 3rd | an octave and a fifth: hollow, woody, like a clarinet | odd |
| 4th | two octaves: brighter, still sweet | even |
| 5th | two octaves and a third: reedy | odd |
| 6th | two octaves and a fifth: bright | even |
| 7th | two octaves and a slightly flat seventh: buzzy, a little sour | odd |
| 8th | three octaves: airy top | even |
The even harmonics are octaves and fifths of the note, so they thicken it without changing its
character, like a tube amp. The odd ones give the hollow, square-wave colour of a clarinet or an
overdriven reed. Turn Even/odd to the even side for warmth, to the odd side for bite.
Output
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| 4Dry/wet | Balance between the dry and the shaped sound. 100 % as it loads; lower, the harmonics come in lower (Amount still sets how loud they are at 100 %). |
| 5Level | The module's output level, dry included. |
The harmonics add to the level; pull Level down if the next effect gets too hot.
On a MoonAn Orbiter body that works as a send and return: the World is sent to it, and it returns only its effect, which the Main mix adds to the dry sound. it returns only the harmonics; the Moon level sets how much you hear
(see Audio effects).
Best on one voice
On one note at a time (a bass, a lead, a pad's single voice) you hear exactly the harmonics you chose.
On a chord or a full mix the notes' harmonics rub against each other and turn rough. On a mix, keep
Amount low and lean to the even side.
The screen
6A flytrap. Seven leaves fan out from the ground, one per harmonic, each ending in a trap: the 2nd and
3rd stand nearly upright, the 7th and 8th lean out widest; the even harmonics lean left, the odd ones
right.
- How wide a trap opens is how loud its harmonic is. Amount opens them all; at 0 % they are
shut and the picture turns grey: Off · 0 %. Height opens the outer traps, Even/odd one side. - The flies come while sound plays, and fly to the most open trap, which shuts on them.
- The word says what the harmonics sound like: Warm (towards even) or Hollow (towards
odd); near Both, Bright, Round or Rich.
Try it
- A warmer bass. On a bass with one note at a time: Amount 40 %, Height 0 %, Even/odd all the way to Even. It gains the octave above and is easier to hear on small speakers.
- A hollow, reedy lead. Amount 60 %, Height 50 %, Even/odd all the way to Odd: the clarinet colour.
- Air on a pad. Amount 25 %, Height 100 %, Both. Keep Amount low on chords, so the notes' harmonics don't turn rough.
Mapping
Every control can be mapped to the Orbiter's axesOne of an Orbiter's three performance controls: X, Y and Z.: see Edit.