Instruments
An instrument makes the sound. It sits at the head of a World dimensionUna de las tres cadenas de Mundo de un Orbiter, I, II y III, cada una con sus propios módulos y su manera de mapear X, Y y Z.'s chain: whatever comes
after it (audio effects, the StarEl cuerpo del Orbiter donde se junta el sonido: su mezclador combina el Mundo y el retorno de la Luna, y sus propios efectos suenan sobre todo.'s mixer, a MoonUn cuerpo del Orbiter que funciona como envío y retorno: el Mundo se envía a ella y solo devuelve su efecto, que el mezclador de la Estrella suma al sonido seco.) hears it, and whatever comes before it (a
generator, MIDI effects) tells it which notes to play.
Move over the rack: the left half plays the audio, the right half plays the notes.
| On the rack | In an Orbiter |
|---|---|
| The box with two reels | an Audio instrument: it plays the audio you choose |
| The box with a keyboard | a Notes instrument: it plays the notes that reach it |
| The small screen on each lid | the screen every instrument has in its panel |
| The lit box | the one that plays. An Orbiter is Audio or Notes, never both |
Audio or Notes
What World I holds decides what kind of Orbiter you are building:
| World I plays… | World II and III | Instruments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audio Orbiter | the audio you choose, on the Audio player or Granular | audio effects that shape it | one |
| Notes Orbiter | a notes instrument, such as the Sampler, the Subtractive synth or the FM synth | one more notes instrument each, if you like | up to three |
An Orbiter is one or the other. Replacing World I's instrument with one of the other kind switches the Orbiter, and the Studio asks first. See Multiple MIDI instruments for how a Notes Orbiter plays two or three instruments side by side.
What every instrument shares
- It is built in the Studio. Pick it in the Instrument step, or from the module picker of a
World dimension. - Its knobs map to the Orbiter. Any knob or switch can follow an axisUno de los tres controles de interpretación de un Orbiter: X, Y y Z. (X, Y, Z) or a toggle, with
its own minimum, equilibriumEl valor que toma un control mapeado mientras su eje descansa en el centro, entre su mínimo y su máximo. and maximum. See Edit. - It shows its sound on a screen. Each instrument has a small screen in its panel; what it draws
is described on the instrument's page. - A notes instrument plays whatever notes reach it, from the keys, MIDI, the piano roll or a
sequencer. In the chain it sits after any generator and MIDI effects, and before the audio effects.
Envelopes
An envelope is drawn above its knobs: Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release. Drag a
point, or type a value under it. Attack, Decay and Release can each be bent: the small hollow
handle in the middle of a sloped segment is its curve. Drag it across the segment, from −100 % to
+100 %: + is fast at the start (a quick rise, a quick drop and a long tail), − slow (a
swell, a fall that holds before it goes). Double-click a handle to straighten it. A curve can be
mapped to an axis like any other control.
LFO and Voice
Most notes instruments have these two groups, folded at first:
- LFO: a slow wave that moves things by itself, one of the Orbiter's
LFOs. The menu on the tab picks which one (the
instrument's dimension's X as it loads; a second LFO, the Y), the hexagon on the tab switches it on
and off. Rate in (Hz, Beats or a value of the World), Rate, Shape and Depth are that
LFO's own: turn them and everything reading it changes too, an axis included. Amount is the
instrument's: how much of it gets through. What it moves is set in the Matrix. - Voice: Voices (how many notes sound at once, 1 … 16), Mono (one note at a time) and
Legato (with Mono, a note played over a held one slides there without a new strike, over
Glide).
In a room
Everyone in a room hears the same notes and the same sound, the LFOs included: they are the
Orbiter's, on the same phase for everyone. Only noise can differ a little between players. The pitch bend, the
pressure and the mod wheel stay on the device that plays them.
Every instrument
The Matrix
The Matrix is where you say what moves a knob: velocity, the mod wheel, an LFO. The Sampler, the
Subtractive synth, the FM synth, the Analog synth, the Wavetable synth and Pitched percussion share
it: a group in the panel that starts folded. It is a grid: what moves things across the top, what is
moved down the side, an amount in each cell.
It has two tabs:
- Modulation: the instrument's LFOs and own envelopes across the top. An instrument with none
(Pitched percussion) has no such tab. - MIDI: what you play, the same six columns in every instrument.
| Column | What it reads |
|---|---|
| Vel | The note's velocity. |
| Key | Where the note is on the keyboard, around C3. |
| PB | The pitch bend wheel. |
| Press | The keyboard's pressure (channel aftertouch). |
| Mod | The mod wheel. |
| Rand | A value drawn once for each note. |
A cell. A dot means nothing is routed. Drag a cell left or right to set an amount from
−100 % to +100 % (hold Shift for finer steps), or use the arrow keys; double-click puts it
back. The arrow in the cell points the way the amount goes. Key › Cutoff at 100 % follows the
keyboard exactly. Every cell of a row adds to its knob, and the result never leaves the knob's range.
The rows. A tab opens short: the instrument's few main rows, and every row that has an amount.
Turn one of the instrument's knobs while the Matrix is open and its row comes in, if it has one. A
row you leave empty is gone the next time you open the Orbiter. A row's label fills up to where its
knob stands, so you can read the starting point beside the amounts.
Three kinds of row are in the MIDI tab only (the Wavetable synth has no Vibrato or Level row: its LFOs and Gain rows do that work):
- Pitch holds the pitch bend: PB › Pitch rests at 16.7 %, two semitones. Set it to 0 and
the wheel stops bending the pitch; another PB cell makes it move something else. - Vibrato is the instrument's own vibrato, a fixed 5.5 Hz. Mod › Vibrato rests at 50 %, so
the mod wheel does something on a fresh instrument. Level is the note's level. - LFO (or LFO 1 and LFO 2) is that LFO's Amount knob, which scales everything the LFO
moves. Amount at 0 % with Mod › LFO at 100 % is the wheel bringing the LFO in. Only PB, Press
and Mod reach an LFO row.
Like any number, a cell can go on an axisUno de los tres controles de interpretación de un Orbiter: X, Y y Z. in the Studio's Map mode: the axis then sets how
much the source moves its row.