User`s Manual - Synapse Audio Software
Contents
1. Magnitude gt Frequency l Cutoff frequency The Bandpass filter attenuates the frequencies around cutoff by 12 dB per octave The high pass filter attenuates all frequencies be low the cutoff frequency and passes the higher frequencies unchanged Magnitude I I I l gt Frequency Cutoff frequency The Highpass filter attenuates the frequencies below cutoff by 12 dB per octave e Diode Ladder This filter is a special kind of low pass filter which models analog filter circuits based on diodes or transistors hooked up as diodes The response and the resonant tuning of such filters differs from the standard low pass filters and is useful to recreate some vintage analog sounds Of the above filter types the low pass filter types are the most common as they fully preserve the bass fre quencies and allows the natural progression from a bright to a dark timbre when being modulated To modulate the cutoff frequency and produce a dy namically changing timbre the LFOs and filter enve lope can be used Both options will be discussed later in this chapter 11 Antidote User s Manual RESO If the output of a filter is fed back to its input reso nance occurs which is a sinusodial oscillation near the cutoff frequency see fig 3 4 The RESO knob con trols the depth of this effect At lower settings reso nance can be used to add presence to a sound Using higher settings the2. Changes the spread parameter value Phaser Feedback Changes the feedback value Phaser Mod Changes the amount of modulation Phaser Dry Wet Changes the dry wet parameter SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 31 Antidote User s Manual Chorus Depth Changes the chorus depth Chorus Feedback Changes the chorus feedback Chorus Dry Wet Changes the chorus dry wet parameter Delay Feedback Changes the feedback parameter of the delay unit Delay Mod Amt Changes the modulation amount of the delay unit Delay Dry Wet Changes the overall effect amount of the delay unit Reverb Time Changes the reverb time Reverb Mod Amt Changes the amount of reverb modulation Reverb Dry Wet Changes the dry wet amount of the reverb Comp Threshold Changes the compressor threshold Comp Dry Wet Changes the dry wet amount of the compressor SYNAPSE 32 AUDIO SOFTWARE Antidote User s Manual 5 Arpeggiator An arpeggiator short ARP is a module that gen erates monophonic melodic and rhythmical patterns from sustained MIDI notes The available modes can be chosen from a drop down list and are described in the following paragraphs e Off The arpeggiator is off and has no effect This is the default setting e Up All MIDI notes currently sustained are tra versed from the lowest to the highest note e Down All MIDI notes currently sustained are traversed from the highest to the lowest not
3. The accent signal is by default in low state as well and goes high on every accented step Usually ev ery note is accented but some of the preset patterns contain separate note and accent data The most im portant difference between Gate and Accent is their shape however The accent shape has a soft slope which is useful for growling bass sounds The gate has a more abrupt shape and is useful to chop a sustained sound into a rhythmic pattern Amount Note On Gate Note Off Time LE Amount Accent Time Figure 5 1 Gate and Accent 34 Antidote User s Manual 6 Back Panel The back panel hosts the audio and CV connections for Reason A good understanding of how CVs work in Reason will enable you to obtain mind blowing re sults with Antidote and is obligatory to build complex patches which would otherwise exceed the functional ity provided A simple example is a patch requiring a third LFO You can add one easily by connecting an external LFO to one of Antidote s CV inputs then as sign this CV input via Antidote s modulation matrix CV Inputs Antidote RE has four CV inputs which can be freely used as modulation sources in the modulation matrix Modulation CV Inputs Standard Reason CV inputs which are fixed to Pitch Bend Modulation Wheel and Amplitude Reason will automatically connect those CV inputs in some cases Sequencer In Allows to connect Reas
4. which can modulate almost any sound parameter adds the necessary depth to realize complex sounds The output of the synthesis stage finally passes through a massive effect chain com prising EQ Distortion Phaser Chorus Delay Reverb and a Compressor effect All effects can be enabled and used simultaneously The back panel allows to connect Antidote RE to other devices to add extra modulation via CV Inputs to feed the effect chain with the outputs from other instruments and to connect Reason s step sequencers In contrast to conventional plugin standards there is little difference between using Antidote RE as an instrument and as an effect Both is possible and in tended and the vast modulation options apply equally well in both cases SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE Antidote User s Manual 2 Basic Operation 2 1 Patch Controls The patch operation in Antidote RE is the same as in any other Reason device To select a patch either click on the patch name the folder icon or the arrow buttons To save a patch click on the disk icon 2 2 Polyphony Each key that you press triggers a voice with a pitch determined by the key number As each voice requires CPU time the total number of available voices is lim ited The maximum number of available voices can be adjusted by changing the POLY parameter in the top left Note that two special modes exist Mono and Mono Legato In both modes only a single voice is audib
5. Frequently used amounts for this parameter thus in clude 25 one octave and 50 two octaves Pitch Fine Use this destination to change the fine tuning in cents cents are the fraction of a semitone Filter Cutoff The filter cutoff frequency perhaps the most impor tant destination Modulating the filter cutoff fre quency will largely shape the timbre of a sound Filter Resonance The filter resonance Filter Resonance The filter envelope amount SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 27 Antidote User s Manual Filter Keytrack The filter keytrack value Modulate this parameter with a constant source to set negative values Osc 1 Semi Same as Pitch Coarse but only affecting the first os cillator bank and its sub oscillator Osc 1 Fine Same as Pitch Fine but only affecting the first oscil lator bank and its sub oscillator Osc 1 Detune Changes the value of the Detune knob Osc 1 Spread Changes the value of the Spread parameter Osc 1 Modifier Changes the value of the Modifier knob Osc 1 Pan Changes the panorama of the oscillator bank Note that this is a bipolar destination to sweep from left to right and back be sure to center the knob Osc 1 Volume Changes the volume of the first oscillator bank Osc 2 Semi Same as Pitch Coarse but only affecting the second oscillator bank and its sub oscillator Osc 2 Fine Same as Pitch Fine but only affecting the second os
6. Note that when SUSTAIN is set to zero the RELEASE param eter may have no effect if the envelope has previously reached zero already 3 7 LFOs Using oscillators the filter unit and envelopes it is possible to control the basic properties of a sound such as timbre volume and pitch For many bass and per cussive sounds this is enough to get good results but for pad or lead type sounds the sustain stage may still SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 15 Antidote User s Manual sound dull This is because the pitch filter cutoff and volume are steady in this stage and do not change This is where LFOs low frequency oscillators come into play LFOs work just like ordinary oscillators generating a periodic signal using similar waveforms see fig 3 8 They are inaudible however and their only purpose is to continually change one or more as pects of the sound The most typical applications are modulating the volume cutoff or pitch resulting in a vibrato or tremolo effect Antidote s two LFOs are much more capable than that however as almost any parameter discussed so far can be used as a modu lation destination Additionally LFOs can modulate each other in volume or frequency to obtain yet more interesting variations A Sawtooth Pulse gt Sine t Noise A M A Ma a pr VY Y PAY Figure 3 8 Basic LFO waveforms The two LFOs are controlled by the sections labelled
7. Amount gt Frequency Cutoff frequency LO GAIN The first EQ in Antidote is a low shelf filter centered around 80 Hz The knob controls the cut or boost amount in decibels At center position there is no effect MID FREQ The second EQ in Antidote is a peaking filter for the middle frequencies This knob sets the operation fre quency of the EQ in Hz MID Q Adjusts the steepness of the Mid EQ Q settings be low 1 create broad peaks while higher settings create narrow peaks Magnitude dB 4 0 dB gt Frequency Peak frequency MID GAIN Specifies how much to attenuate or boost the chosen mid frequency At center position 0 dB the signal is not affected SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE Antidote User s Manual HI GAIN This EQ is a high shelf filter centered around 12 kHz The knob controls the cut or boost amount in decibels At center position there is no effect 3 8 2 Bass The bass effect is part of the EQ section It models a unique circuit found in some vintage analog synthe sizers which yields a particular frequency response in the low and low mid regions Using the bass effect will help emulate the sound character of such synthesizers BS FREQ Sets the center frequency of operation in the circuit The default setting yields the classic vintage sound but feel free to experiment with other settings Note that towards higher frequencies the effect will gradu a
8. are thus outside the MIDI range Antidote Parameter CC Polyphony 15 Master Volume 7 Glide 5 Ext Input Amount 4 Osc 1 Semi 78 Osc 1 Fine 79 Osc 1 Detune 80 Osc 1 Spread 81 Osc 1 Phase 82 Osc 1 Modifier 25 Osc 1 Key Track 36 Antidote Parameter CC Osc 1 Pan 37 Osc 1 Waveform 13 Osc 1 Voices 23 Osc 1 Dyad 33 Osc 2 Semi 83 Osc 2 Fine 84 Osc 2 Detune 85 Osc 2 Spread 86 Osc 2 Phase 87 Osc 2 Modifier 35 Osc 2 Key Track 76 Osc 2 Pan 77 Osc 2 Waveform 14 Osc 2 Voices 24 Osc 2 Dyad 34 Osc 1 Volume Osc 2 Volume Sub 1 Volume 10 Sub 2 Volume 12 Drift 70 Filter Type 44 Filter Cutoff 74 Filter Resonance 42 Filter Envelope Amount 43 Filter Key Track 46 Filter Envelope Attack 47 Filter Envelope Decay 48 SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 37 Antidote User s Manual Antidote Parameter CC Filter Envelope Sustain 49 Filter Envelope Release 50 Mod Envelope Attack 26 Mod Envelope Decay 27 Mod Envelope Sustain 28 Mod Envelope Release 29 Mod Envelope Target 30 Mod Envelope Target Amount 31 Amp Envelope Attack 73 Amp Envelope Decay 75 Amp Envelope Sustain 71 Amp Envelope Release 72 Lfo 1 Rate 19 Lfo 1 Rate Sync 18 Lfo 1 Shape 20 Lfo 1 Sy
9. back side of the device just to do level corrections SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE Antidote User s Manual 3 Sound Parameters This section describes how an Antidote patch is con structed as well as the operation of all front panel knobs and switches except the arpeggiator and mod ulation matrix which are covered in chapters 4 5 3 1 Patch Structure The structure of an Antidote patch is shown in fig 3 1 The block diagram shows the basic working principle of the entire synthesizer Figure 3 1 Patch Structure External i Input f Oscillator 1 Filter Env Amp Env Se Sub Osc 1 Le Fite Amp Effects OutL R Oscillator 2 v io 7 Sub Osc 2 Mod Eny LFO 1 2 Whenever a MIDI note is played a voice is trig gered to synthesize that note Each voice comprises three major building blocks the oscillators the filter and the amplifier The blocks emulate the three ba sic properties of a sound Pitch Timbre and Volume The oscillator block controls the pitch and basic timbre of a sound by generating one or more periodic wave forms The resulting signal is typically very bright To further refine the timbre the signal is processed by the filter block which attenuates frequencies speci fied by the user usually high frequencies are removed Hence this type of
10. dom phases This is the default behavior and strongly recommended when using more than one or two oscil lators in the bank Otherwise strong beating will oc cur when all oscillators in a bank start from the same waveform position MODIFIER See WAVEFORM and MODIFIER above KEYTRACK When triggering a note usually its MIDI key number will tune the oscillators to the proper frequency for SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE Antidote User s Manual this key With semi and fine tune at their default po sitions pressing MIDI note A4 would set an oscillator base frequency of 440 Hz for example In some cases however it can be useful to change this key tracking When creating percussive sounds it is often preferable to turn off key tracking completely This is accom plished by setting key track to zero which means the key number has no effect on the pitch of the oscillators PAN Adjusts the panorama position of the entire oscillator bank from left to right The default is center 3 2 2 Sub Oscillators and Mixer The levels of both oscillator banks as well as their re spective sub oscillators can be adjusted by using the faders in the mixer section The first sub oscillator labeled SUB 1 emits a square wave Its pitch is tuned precisely one octave below oscillator bank 1 The sec ond sub oscillator labeled SUB 2 emits a sawtooth wave pitched one octave below oscillator bank 2 Sub oscillators are often used to add more bo
11. give best results for synthetic sources which are often more difficult to process than natural sounds PREDELAY Adjusts the onset of the reverberated signal When set to zero the reverberated signal commences almost im mediately Higher settings delay the signal which can be useful to change the perception of the room size TIME Sets the reverb time in seconds HF DAMP Using the high frequency damp parameter the simu lated room s wall materials can be adjusted Higher settings correspond to reflective walls lower settings to very absorbent ones Lower settings will cause the reverb trail to become dark more quickly LOW CUT The low cut filter in the reverb effect can be used to remove unwanted low frequencies from the processed signal This is useful for sounds containing strong bass frequencies such as bass drums etc Note that the dry signal is not affected by this only the reverberated signal HIGH CUT Use the high cut filter to remove unwanted high fre quencies from the processed signal The dry signal is not affected by this only the reverberated signal MOD In a real environment the sound of reverb is always alive Synthetic reverbs on the other hand sound dull if they process the signal in a strictly linear fash ion Using synthetic sounds as input the situation is even worse as synthetic sounds may sound dull to be gin with Modulation is the cure and with the MOD knob you can specify how
12. sinusodial oscillation gets strong enough to use the filter in a similar fashion as an oscil lator try setting the low pass filter to maximum reso nance with Key Track set to 100 and Cutoff to 0 This property is furthermore useful to create special effect sounds such as laser guns electronic bass drums etc Magnitude 4 gt Frequency Cutoff frequency Figure 3 4 Response of a resonant low pass filter ENV This knob controls how much the filter envelope de scribed later in this chapter affects the cutoff fre quency Set to zero the filter envelope has no effect on the cutoff frequency At 100 the envelope spans the entire cutoff range from the minimum to the maximum value Most sounds will use a low pass filter with an enve lope amount setting in between the two extremes and the envelope attack and sustain set to their minimum values This creates the most common timbre which is a bright start followed by a darker sustain stage a property shared by many acoustic instruments In rare cases you may also want to set the envelope amount to a negative value This can be helpful to create sounds which become bright when releasing a key A negative envelope amount can be set using the modulation matrix with the envelope amount knob set to zero KEY TRACK The key track parameter determines how much the cutoff frequency is affected by the MIDI key note Set to zero all notes share the very same cutof
13. synthesis is commonly called sub tractive The third block controls the volume of the sound On their own the three basic building blocks syn thesize a completely static sound This is in contrast to acoustic sounds where pitch timbre and volume change over time In order to obtain this possibility in a synthesizer envelopes and low frequency oscilla tors are used to add dynamic variation to a sound The most important envelope is the amplitude enve lope Amp Env which is essential to fade in and fade out notes and thus to make a synthesizer playable like a real instrument in the first place Also important is the filter envelope Filter Env which dynamically controls the brightness and thus the timbre of a sound over time The modulation envelope Mod Env can be freely assigned to any sound parameter Antidote User s Manual 3 2 Oscillators An oscillator generates a periodic waveform and forms the basic building block of the majority of synthesiz ers the most common waveforms are illustrated in fig 3 2 Antidote offers two banks of oscillators plus two sub oscillators Both oscillator banks allow you to instantiate between 1 and 24 oscillators with the same waveform shape but with a different tuning each The sub oscillators are sawtooth and pulse waveforms and play one octave below oscillator bank 1 and 2 respec tively Sawtooth Pulse Sine Triangle Figure 3 2 Ba
14. 3 3 Filter 10 3 4 Modulation Envelope 13 3 5 Filter Envelope 14 3 6 Amplitude Envelope 15 A A 15 3 8 Effects 17 dE coa a oo ee es 17 3 8 2 Bass 19 6 7 3 8 3 3 8 4 3 8 9 3 8 6 3 8 7 3 8 8 Distortion Phaser Chorus Flanger Delay Reverb Compressor Modulation Matrix 4 1 List of Sources 020 4 2 List of Destinations Arpeggiator Back Panel MIDI Reference Credits 33 35 37 40 Antidote User s Manual 1 Introduction and Overview Thank you for choosing Synapse Audio Antidote Antidote RE is a virtual analog synthesizer for Pro pellerhead Reason Antidote combines high audio quality flexibility and a fast work flow in an easy to use plugin It was specifically developed to com plement Reason and to yield the best possible sound integration and user experience Antidote RE comes feature packed with two stereo oscillator banks each emitting a stack of up to 24 high quality virtual analog oscillator waveforms The oscillators pass through the filter stage which employs the latest zero delay feedback designs This recent technology is quickly gaining a lot of popular ity as it is able to mimic the behavior of analog filters much better than previous designs Envelopes and LFOs further shape the sound and the modulation matrix
15. 5 and DYAD is set to 24 Antidote would play back 10 oscillators in total The Antidote User s Manual first 5 oscillators would run at their regular pitch the extra 5 oscillators two octaves higher This feature is useful to build chord stabs It can also come in handy if one oscillator bank is set to noise and additional tuned oscillators are needed SEMI The SEMI control adjusts the primary tuning of the oscillator bank in semitones The range spans 24 semitones A larger range can be obtained by using the modulation matrix if required FINE This parameter adjusts the fine tuning of the oscilla tor bank in cents A value of 100 corresponds to a semitone DETUNE This parameter adjusts the detune of all oscillators in the bank Higher values corresponds to stronger de tuning Note that more than one oscillator needs to be chosen in the COUNT field for this parameter to be audible Detune works on all oscillator types except noise SPREAD This parameter spreads the oscillators in the stereo field from monophonic to full stereo Note that more than one oscillator needs to be chosen in the COUNT field for this parameter to be audible PHASE Whenever a note is triggered all oscillators need to start at a certain position within the waveform cy cle PHASE sets this initial starting phase from 0 to 359 degrees Turned fully clockwise the oscillators are in free run mode which means they start at ran
16. ANTIDOTE HE A N T DIOST E JE z AN SINAPSE Eo NOTE ON 8k Pad RH m 10000 PB MW POLY VOLUME OSCILLATOR 1 OSCILLATOR 2 1 o MODIFIER Q 9 PHASE MOD FIER KEYTRK E off lore Digital Saw aware COUNT DYAD OSC1 OSC2 SUBI SUB2 DRIFT DYAD FEA WAVEFORM FINE DETUNE O I SEMI FINE DETUNE SPREAD OFF ON OFF ON MODULATION MATRIX 7 OFF ON OFF ON LFO1 Mw SYNC FREE RUN e EA MODE FREERUN SYNC Sine a Sine SHAPE e PATTERN SHAPE e fine fa TARGET SOURCE AMT DESTINATION __RATE OCTAVE TARGET FILTER FILTER ENVELOPE AMPLITUDE ENVELOPE LEV VISE VES eee Y CUTOFF RESO ENV KEYTRK ATK DEC sus REL ATK DEC sus REL ATK DEC sus REL Lowpass 4 pole J f TYPE Pad TARGET AMT LO GAIN MIO FREQ MIDQ MIDGAIN HIGAIN BSFREQ BS AMT DRY WET ACTIVE ACTIVE ACTIVE ACTIVE ACTIVE ACTIVE ACTIVE EXT IN gt EQ BASS gt DIST gt PHASER gt CHORUS P DELAY IS COMP AMOUNT User s Manual SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE Contents 1 Introduction and Overview 3 2 Basic Operation 4 2 1 Patch Controls 4 2 2 Polyphony 444544684344 4 2 3 Pitch Wheel 4 2 4 Modulation Wheel 4 2 5 Aftertouch o 5 2 6 Using Antidote as an effect device 5 3 Sound Parameters 6 3 1 Patch Structure 6 3 2 Oscillators 7 3 2 1 Oscillator 1 2 6 245 7 3 2 2 Sub Oscillators and Mixer 10
17. LFO 1 and LFO 2 on the left and right side of the user interface The LFO can target an arbitrary sound pa rameter which can be chosen by clicking on the drop down list box Sometimes it is desirable to control more than just a single target in this case the modu lation matrix can be used which is covered in a later chapter of this manual Shape Use the drop down list to select one of the available waveform shapes see fig 3 8 Sawtooth Ramp Tri angle and Sine are periodic waveforms S H Noise Sample and Hold Noise is a random signal It can be used for special effects or to simulate the behavior of old analog hardware RATE By default LFOs run at a constant rate specified in Hz independent of the MIDI note played Typical set tings are between 3 6 Hz for vibrato or tremolo effects When the SYNC switch is enabled the rate is speci fied in units of the current song tempo such as quar ters eights or sixteenths notes with either their stan dard durations or in triplet T or dotted form Examples e 1 4 specifies the duration of a quarter note Antidote User s Manual e 1 8 sets the modulation rate to a dotted eight note e 1 16T sets the modulation rate to a sixteenth triplet e 1 1 sets the modulation rate to span one bar e 2 1 sets the modulation rate to span two bars FREE RUN When free run is enabled the corresponding LFO runs continuously independent of whether any keys are pres
18. R Offset 150 Phaser Dry Wet 151 Chorus Delay 152 Chorus Rate 153 Antidote Parameter CC Chorus Depth 154 Chorus Feedback 155 Chorus LR Offset 156 Chorus Dry Wet 157 Delay Type 158 Delay L Rate 159 Delay R Rate 160 Delay Color 161 Delay Feedback 162 Delay Mod Rate 163 Delay Mod Amount 164 Delay Dry Wet 165 Reverb Pre Delay 166 Reverb Time 167 Reverb HF Damp 168 Reverb Low Cut 169 Reverb High Cut 170 Reverb Mod 171 Reverb Dry Wet 172 Compressor Ratio 173 Compressor Threshold 174 Compressor Attack 175 Compressor Release 176 Compressor Dry Wet 177 39 Antidote User s Manual Credits Copyright Synapse Audio Software 2012 All rights reserved Concept Daniel Thiel Programming and Manual Richard Hoffmann Graphic Design Marcin Lezak Sound Design The last two characters of every patch name are the author s initials The following table lists all sound designers who contributed patches to Antidote and a website where you can learn more about their work Ab Author Name Website EX eXode Daniel Thiel www soundcloud com exodesound KD Koshdukai Marco C www KoshdukaiMusicReason blogspot com MG Mike Gorman www combinatorhq com MK Michael Kastrup ww
19. Sus Changes the value of the sustain level of the amplitude envelope This parameter can be used for amplitude modulation commencing with the onset of the sustain stage Amp Env Rel Changes the amplitude envelope release time SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 30 Antidote User s Manual Mod Env Curve A special destination not related to any front panel control The mod envelope curve parameter tweaks the shape of the modulation envelope from a linear at tack to logarithmic exponential shapes This is useful when programming kick sounds where the modulation envelope is targeting pitch The shape of the modula tion envelope is critical to the sound in such situations so being able to change the curve shape allows for a wider range of sounds Arp Gate Length Changes the value of the Arpeggiator s Gate knob Ext In Amount If you connect an external input signal its level can be modulated with this destination EQ Mid Freq Changes the value of the EQ s mid frequency control This can be useful to create phaser like sounds by us ing large gain amounts and applying a LFO to this destination which will then cause the EQ to sweep through a wide range of the frequency spectrum Dist Tone Changes the value of the Distortion s tone parameter Dist Dry Wet Changes the value of the Distortion s dry wet param eter Phaser Freq Changes the value of the Phaser s frequency parame ter Phaser Spread
20. Wheel The value of the modulation wheel PWheel The value of the pitch wheel Note that this is a bipo lar source which can have positive or negative values Also note that this source reflects the state of the pitch wheel directly independent on the up down settings on the back panel ATouch The amount of aftertouch applied Constant Constant means the source is a constant 100 and does not vary Use this to change the operation range of sound parameters For example you can program a negative filter envelope this way choose Constant as source set a negative amount then Filter Envelope as a destination SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE Antidote User s Manual Random A random value which changes with every Note On You can use this for random modulation related to the onset of a note For instance you could have random volume each time you press a key Mod Env The current state of the modulation envelope Filter Env The current state of the filter envelope Amp Env The current state of the amplitude envelope CV 1 2 3 4 The CV Input signals coming from the back panel Key Follow Yields a value proportional to the frequency of the current MIDI key pressed This source can be used to shorten the envelopes for high notes in order to mimic the properties of some acoustic instruments e g gui tar 4 2 List of Destinations Pitch Coarse The coarse pitch ranging from 48 to 48 semitones
21. after the decay stage ends The sustain stage lasts as long as a key is pressed RELEASE The final release stage is triggered whenever a key is released The RELEASE parameter specifies the du ration it takes the envelope to hit zero Note that when SUSTAIN is set to zero the RELEASE param eter may have no effect if the envelope has previously reached zero already 14 Antidote User s Manual 3 6 Amplitude Envelope Located next to the Filter envelope the amplitude envelope controls the progression of the volume of a sound see fig 3 7 It works in the same manner as the filter and modulation envelopes Level i i i l l I l l l l l l Sustain a l l l gt Time l l l l l l l l Attack Decay Release l l l l l Key pressed Key released Figure 3 7 The amplitude envelope ATTACK The ATTACK parameter specifies the duration it takes for the amplitude envelope to go from zero to its maximum level with a linear slope DECAY The DECAY parameter specifies the duration of the decay stage i e how long it takes the amplitude to fall back to the sustain level SUSTAIN This parameter specifies the sustain level that is reached after the decay stage ends The sustain stage lasts as long as a key is pressed RELEASE The final release stage is triggered whenever a key is released The RELEASE parameter specifies the du ration it takes the envelope to hit zero
22. cillator bank and its sub oscillator Osc 2 Detune Changes the value of the Detune knob Osc 2 Spread Changes the value of the Spread parameter SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 28 Antidote User s Manual Osc 2 Modifier Changes the value of the Modifier knob Osc 2 Pan Changes the panorama of the oscillator Note that this is a bipolar destination to sweep from left to right and back be sure to center the knob Osc 2 Volume Changes the volume of the oscillator Sub 1 Volume Changes the volume of the first sub oscillator Sub 2 Volume Changes the volume of the second sub oscillator Mix Volume Mix Volume is a special destination parameter not re lated to any of the front panel controls It adjusts the global volume of the synth prior to the effect chain This is used for global amplitude modulation either via one of the two LFOs or via the Gate Note that the Mix Volume destination is generally not useful for other purposes For instance it should not be used to fade in or fade out a sound Use Osc 1 or Osc 2 Volume for such purposes which work on a voice level LFO 1 Amount The amount of LFO 1 modulation LFO 1 Rate Changes the LFO 1 rate LFO 1 Phase Sets the inital phase of LFO 1 ranging from 0 to 359 degrees If the LFO free run mode is turned off the LFO will reset whenever you press a key The default phase is zero but by using this destination you can specify other values Th
23. dy to a sound When a fader is set to zero that oscillator is inaudi ble The DRIFT parameter adjusts the tuning drift of all oscillators over time a property known of vin tage analog synthesizers To have perfect and stable oscillator tuning the fader should be at zero 3 3 Filter The raw oscillator sound is typically too bright to be useful Furthermore the periodic nature of the oscila tors results in a dull timbre Many natural instruments like a flute or piano feature a short bright transient behavior and then decay to a more steady darker tim bre This behavior can be modeled by using a time varying filter The filter section is located below the first LFO CUTOFF Perhaps the most important filter parameter is the CUTOFF knob It sets the corner frequency where the filter operates Its meaning depends on the filter type chosen e For the low pass filter types frequencies above the cutoff frequency are damped Magnitude A gt Frequency Cutoff frequency SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 10 Antidote User s Manual Antidote features four lowpass filter types which differ in how strong the damping is per oc tave The one pole filter will attenuate frequen cies above the cutoff by 6 dB the two pole by 12 dB the three pole by 18 dB and finally the four pole by 24 dB per octave The band pass filter damps frequencies around the cutoff frequency As a result bass and treble get attenuated
24. e e Up Down All MIDI notes currently sustained are traversed from the lowest to the highest note then back e Down Up All MIDI notes currently sustained are traversed from the highest to the lowest note then back e Random All MIDI notes currently sustained are played back in random order e Gate Acc A special mode which does not gener ate any note sequence but merely transmits the Gate and Accent signals to the modulation ma trix Read the GATE ACCENT section below for more information on this topic OCT When octave is set to 1 the sequence generated by the arpeggiator matches the sustained MIDI keys More variation is obtained by increasing the number of oc taves which will cause the arpeggiator to extent the note sequence additional octaves above the pressed keys PAT The arpeggiator can use one of 20 different patterns to create a rhythmic feel and make the generated note sequences more interesting The first pattern which is default consists of sixteenth notes only Use this set ting if you do not want to enforce a particular rhythm LENGTH This control changes the length of all notes in the pat tern currently selected from half to twice the length At center position the pattern remains unchanged 33 Antidote User s Manual GATE ACCENT The arpeggiator constantly emits a gate and an accent signal The Gate signal is by default in low state and goes high for the duration of a note
25. f frequency as specified by the CUTOFF parameter Nonzero values move the cutoff according to the key pressed with higher keys corresponding to higher cutoff fre quencies Antidote User s Manual 3 4 Modulation Envelope An envelope is used to model the progression of timbre volume or pitch of a sound from start to finish An envelope is triggered whenever a key is hit The mod ulation envelope can be assigned to almost any sound parameter via the modulation matrix All envelopes in Antidote can be described by four stages called At tack Decay Sustain and Release ADSR see fig 3 5 Level I l I I I l l l Sustain l l l l l l gt Time I l I I I I I I Attack Decay i Release I I I I I Key pressed Key released Figure 3 5 The modulation envelope ATTACK The ATTACK parameter specifies the duration it takes for the envelope to reach its maximum value When set to zero the envelope immediately starts at the peak value The slope of the attack stage is linear DECAY After reaching the peak the decay stage commences During the decay stage the envelope falls back to a lower level the sustain level The DECAY control specifies the duration of the decay stage i e how long it takes to fall back to the sustain level The slope of the decay stage is logarithmic SUSTAIN This parameter specifies the sustain level that is reached after the deca
26. idote User s Manual type effects To do this use LFO1 MW or LFO2 MW in the modulation matrix source column which multi plies the current LFO state with the modulation wheel value see chapter 4 for a more detailed description of the modulation matrix 2 5 Aftertouch Aftertouch is another common way to add expressive ness to a sound Aftertouch measures the pressure ap plied to all keyboard keys as a whole When holding down a chord for instance then increasing pressure you can add a vibrato effect to the sound The after touch programming is identical to how you program the modulation wheel Using the previous example choose LFO1 AT or LFO2 AT as a source then any arbitrary sound parameter from the destination list to get a vibrato type effect Note that aftertouch is available in many but not all MIDI keyboards Consult your MIDI keyboard man ual to find out if your keyboard supports aftertouch 2 6 Using Antidote as an effect device Antidote RE can be used as a killer effect unit and was designed with this application in mind Use the Init Patch from the root folder as a starting point for effect work This patch sets all parameters to their default values including all effect parameters Connect your audio input signal to Antidote by using the EXT IN jacks on the back side If you want to adjust or au tomate the input level use the red EXT IN knob on the front This avoids having to flip between the front and
27. is is useful whenever the mod ulation is strong enough to impact the transients of your sounds LFO 2 Amount The amount of LFO 2 modulation SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 29 Antidote User s Manual LFO 2 Rate Changes the LFO 2 rate LFO 2 Phase Sets the inital phase of LFO 2 ranging from 0 to 359 degrees If the LFO free run mode is turned off the LFO will reset whenever you press a key The default phase is zero but by using this destination you can specify other values This is useful whenever the mod ulation is strong enough to impact the transients of your sounds Filter Env Atk Changes the value of the attack time of the filter en velope Filter Env Dec Changes the value of the decay time of the filter enve lope Filter Env Sus Changes the value of the sustain level of the filter en velope This parameter can be used for filter cutoff modulation commencing with the onset of the sustain stage Filter Env Rel Changes the value of the release time of the filter en velope Amp Env Atk Changes the value of the attack time of the amplitude envelope A useful destination to make the attack time dependent on velocity for instance with lower veloci ties generating a slower and thus softer attack An other option is to slightly randomize the attack time to make repeated notes sound more interesting Amp Env Dec Changes the value of the decay time of the amplitude envelope Amp Env
28. le at a time When multiple keys are pressed in succession and sustained the one hit last is audible Release it to snap back to the previous key make sure this one is still pressed This permits a unique style of playing which is particularly useful in combination with the Glide knob You can smoothly glide from one note to another in this way The difference be tween Mono and Mono Legato is that the Mono mode retriggers all envelopes whenever you press a key while the Legato mode will not change the envelope states during a slide from one note to another 2 3 Pitch Wheel The pitch bend wheel changes the pitch of the current sound The minimum and maximum settings can be changed on the backside of the device in semitones There is two separate controls one for up and one for downwards motion By default the pitch bend ranges from 2 down to 2 up semitones 2 4 Modulation Wheel The modulation wheel changes one or more sound pa rameters in real time and adds expressiveness to your performance The parameter to change can be speci fied in the modulation matrix by selecting Mod Wheel in the source column then choosing an arbitrary sound parameter to modify from the destination list Move the corresponding AMT knob to the right to specify how strong the modulation should be at most A common application of the modulation wheel is to open the filter with it or to add vibrato tremolo SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE Ant
29. lly vanish and become less pronounced BS AMT Adjusts the magnitude of the bass effect When set to zero it is completely bypassed DRY WET Blends between the dry and processed signal Note this includes both the EQ and Bass section 3 8 3 Distortion A distortion effect changes the signal in a nonlin ear fashion thereby introducing additional overtones This results in a rather harsh sound especially at ex treme settings using high amplification factors TYPE Three different distortion modes are available in An tidote Overdrive Grunge and Rate Crush The first two modes are emulations of classic guitar stomp boxes The third mode Rate Crush reduces the sam pling rate of the signal by employing a sample and hold circuit DRIVE Adjusts the gain applied to the signal when entering the nonlinear distortion stage Higher settings cause more distortion SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 19 Antidote User s Manual SYMMETRY Offsets the signal before the distortion stage This will introduce even order harmonics and change the timbre of the sound Note that changing symmetry can result in silence if the signal level is too low Increase the drive knob in such cases TONE The tone control processes the signal after it has been distorted It changes the mid frequencies of the dis torted sound and thus the overall timbre of the effect LOW CUT Use the low cut filter to roll off low frequencies to rem
30. much modulation to apply With enough modulation even a plain sawtooth will sound great when reverberated in Antidote 23 Antidote User s Manual DRY WET Blends between the dry and processed signals 3 8 8 Compressor A compressor changes the dynamics of a signal It is usually applied last in a signal chain to make the sig nal louder or more punchy When Antidote s delay and reverb units are enabled it is particularly easy to hear the difference with and without compression applied RATIO and THRESHOLD The compressor monitors the peak of the incoming sig nal then reduces the level above the specified thresh old in the ratio you specify For instance if the thresh old is 10 dB and the compression ratio is 2 1 every decibel above the threshold is cut in half so a 8 dB signal becomes 9 dB etc When set to 100 1 the com pressor acts like a limiter not allowing levels above the threshold ATTACK The attack time specifies how quickly the compressor will react to peaks that exceed the threshold The at tack can be set down to the microsecond range which essentially gives instant response For special effects or to shape transients higher values can be used RELEASE Use the release time knob to set the time it takes the compressor to go from compression to idle state Typ ical values range from 50 200 ms Often you ll want to set the fastest attack and release times you can get away with As soo
31. n as you hear disturbing artifacts however increase the attack or release time or alter natively lower the threshold or ratio for a more gentle compression DRY WET Blends between the dry and processed signals Often a compressor is used 100 wet but other values per mit the so called parallel compression which gives yet more freedom in shaping the sound SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 24 Antidote User s Manual 4 Modulation Matrix One of the biggest strength of subtractive synthesizers is their ease of use The pitch timbre and volume of a sound and its progression over time can be controlled in a simple and straightforward way The simplicity is achieved by employing a fixed structure with a limited set of parameters however In order to create more complex patches modern synthesizers offer a modulation matrix where you can choose from a set of sources and link them to almost any sound parameter see fig 4 In Reason the con cept of a modulation matrix becomes yet more pow erful as you can connect CV cables from other Rea son devices and modulate Antidote s sound parameters with them MODULATION MATRIX SOURCE AMT DESTINATION Figure 4 1 Modulation matrix The modulation matrix in Antidote is located in the center of the interface It comprises 5 rows with source amount and destination controls The modulation en velope and both LFOs have one additional destination available After choosing a so
32. nc 16 Lfo 1 Free Run 17 Lfo 1 Target 21 Lfo 1 Target Amount 22 Lfo 2 Rate 52 Lfo 2 Rate Sync 51 Lfo 2 Shape 53 Lfo 2 Sync 56 Lfo 2 Free Run 57 Lfo 2 Target 54 Lfo 2 Target Amount 55 Arp Mode 68 Arp Hold 69 Antidote Parameter CC Arp Pattern 60 Arp Octave 61 Arp Rate 62 Arp Gate 63 MM Slot 1 Source 105 MM Slot 1 Amount 106 MM Slot 1 Destination 107 MM Slot 2 Source 108 MM Slot 2 Amount 109 MM Slot 2 Destination 110 MM Slot 3 Source 111 MM Slot 3 Amount 112 MM Slot 3 Destination 113 MM Slot 4 Source 114 MM Slot 4 Amount 115 MM Slot 4 Destination 116 MM Slot 5 Source 117 MM Slot 5 Amount 118 MM Slot 5 Destination 119 EQ Bass Active 93 Distortion Active 94 Phaser Active 124 Chorus Active 125 Delay Active 126 Reverb Active 127 Compressor Active 94 EQ Low Gain 129 SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 38 Antidote User s Manual Antidote Parameter CC EQ Mid Freq 130 EQ Mid Q 131 EQ Mid Gain 132 EQ High Gain 133 Bass Freq 134 Bass Amount 135 EQ Bass Dry Wet 136 Distortion Type 137 Distortion Drive 138 Distortion Symmetry 139 Distortion Tone 140 Distortion Low Cut 141 Distortion High Cut 142 Distortion Level 143 Distortion Dry Wet 144 Phaser Freq 145 Phaser Spread 146 Phaser Feedback 147 Phaser Rate 148 Phaser Mod 149 Phaser L
33. on s step sequencers such as Matrix RPG 8 or Thor s to trigger monophonic note sequences using Gate CV signals Make sure to con nect both the gate and CV cable Arp Out Sends notes from Antidote s arpeggiator to other Rea son devices in the Reason specific Gate CV form Ext Input A pair of audio inputs which allow you to connect other stereo devices to Antidote and take advantage of Antidote s superior quality effect chain The input signal is mixed with Antidote s synthesizer output just before the first effect EQ Bass The input level can be controlled and automated on the front side of the plugin Output Antidote s stereo output SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 35 Antidote User s Manual Configuration The configuration section sets the pitch wheel up down range as explained in the second chapter Furthermore the MIDI key velocity can be routed to the volume panorama and filter cutoff parameters While this could be done via the modulation matrix using the knobs is faster and saves modulation slots for other purposes 36 Antidote User s Manual 7 MIDI Reference Most knobs and buttons on the front panel can be remote controlled via MIDI Antidote s default con troller assignments follow common conventions and the MIDI standard as much as possible The num ber of sound parameters Antidote offers however is higher than the amount of available MIDI controllers Effect parameters
34. ove any mud in the bass region HIGH CUT Use the high cut filter to roll off high frequencies often useful to reduce the harshness of the distortion effect DRY WET Blends between the dry and processed signal Com bined with the Drive knob the distortion can be tamed where needed 3 8 4 Phaser A phaser modifies a signal with a series of filters and then mixes it with the dry signal The cutoff frequency of the filters is continuously varied STAGES Sets the number of phaser stages 2 4 or 6 More stages result in a more distinct phasing sound while less stages sound more subtle FREQ Adjusts the bottom frequency for the phaser This is the lowest frequency the phaser will sweep to SPREAD Use this parameter to spread the filter poles which will change the overall timbre of the phasing effect FEEDBK The output of the phaser can be fed back into the input making the overall phasing effect a lot more pronounced Both positive and negative feedback is allowed SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE 20 Antidote User s Manual RATE The rate of the filter modulation relative to the cur rent tempo see the LFO section for a description of the available modes MOD Sets the amount of filter modulation When set to zero the phaser acts as a static filter with the fre quency determined by the FREQ knob LR OFFSET Offsets the modulation between left and right chan nels This makes the phaser sound
35. r the left and right channels It is always locked to the host tempo and is thus specified in quarters eights sixteenths etc optionally in triplet T or dotted form Examples e 1 4 specifies an echo duration of a quarter note e 1 8 sets the duration to a dotted eighth note e 1 16T sets the duration to a sixteenth triplet e 1 1 sets the duration to span an entire bar COLOR The echoes can be processed by a 6 dB oct lowpass or highpass filter making each subsequent echo darker or brighter than the previous one Negative values cor respond to darker echoes positive values to brighter echoes at zero the echo timbre remains identical FEEDBACK The feedback parameter allows you to adjust how of ten the echoes are repeated The percentage specifies the level change from one echo to the next so 100 creates an infinite series of echoes 50 cuts the level of each subsequent echo in half etc MOD RATE The L R delay times can be modulated to obtain a full lush stereo sound This knob sets the rate of mod ulation in Hz MOD AMT The amount of delay line modulation Set this knob to zero to turn off modulation entirely DRY WET Blends between the dry and processed signal 22 Antidote User s Manual 3 8 7 Reverb A reverb effect is used to create the illusion of a sound being played back in a spatial environment such as a living room hall or cathedral The reverb effect in Antidote is designed to
36. rols the pulse width the center position of 50 corresponds to a square wave y 25 50 75 Figure 3 3 Pulse Width Sine Triangle This oscillator blends seamlessly between sine and triangle waveform shapes The MODIFIER knob controls the mix ratio Turned fully to the left a pure sine wave is created Turned to the right only the triangle is audible Saw Triangle Same as above except that this oscillator mixes a sawtooth and a triangle wave form Noise Generates random white noise Use MODIFIER to filter the noise in order to obtain different timbres Note that the tuning parame ters have no effect on this oscillator type since white noise has no pitch e Ringwave Synthesizes bell type waveforms us ing ring modulation Use MODIFIER to change the timbre of the sound e WT Wavetables A selection of wavetables each containing a number of distinct waveforms with a smooth blend between them Use the MODIFIER knob to set the position in the wavetable Modulate the modifier knob with an envelope or LFO to obtain typical wavetable sounds COUNT This parameter specifies the number of oscillators to use per bank Set to OFF the entire oscillator bank is turned off and will not consume any CPU resources DYAD The DYAD parameter allows to double the entire bank with all its oscillators and their settings and transpose it up by a selectable number of semitones For exam ple if COUNT is set to
37. sed The LFO is thus global and shared by the entire machine When free run is disabled the LFO is reset each time a key is pressed In this mode each voice has its own LFO and its initial starting phase can be set via the modulation matrix if desired 3 8 Effects Antidote offers eight effects units to further enhance the sound coming from the synthesis engine All of them may be used simultaneously It is important to note that the effects are global that is all voices are first summed and then processed by the effect section A selection of effect sound parameters can be modu lated via the modulation matrix The effects are processed from left to right in the order they appear The equalizers EQs are applied first Compressor is processed last 3 8 1 EQ An equalizer EQ is used to boost or attenuate a cer tain frequency range There is three basic types Type e Peaking amplifies or attenuates the region around the chosen frequency Magnitude dB Amount 0 dB Amount N A aly Frequency Peak frequency e Lo Shelf amplifies or attenuates frequencies be low the chosen frequency SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE Antidote User s Manual Amount 0 dB Amount gt Frequency Cutoff frequency e Hi Shelf amplifies or attenuates frequencies above the chosen frequency Magnitude dB Amount 0 dB
38. sic oscillator waveforms 3 2 1 Oscillator 1 2 WAVEFORM and MODIFIER Each oscillator bank allows you to choose between six different oscillator types Each oscillator type has a unique property which is controlled by the MODIFIER knob All other parameters work in the same way re gardless of which type is chosen Exception Noise e Sawtooth A high quality analog style sawtooth oscillator Each sawtooth in the bank has a vir tual master oscillator which allows to hard sync the sawtooth to the frequency of the master os cillator When set to zero the master oscilla tor has no effect resulting in a regular sawtooth waveform output As the MODIFIER knob is increased however the master frequency is pro gressively lowered relative to the specified pitch producing the well known oscillator sync sound e Digital Saw A basic sawtooth waveform fol lowed by a highpass filter The digital sawtooth oscillator generates a lot of aliasing noise which is particularly audible at high frequencies This is useful as a creative effect for instance to syn thesize noisy high string notes as popularized by older digital gear The MODIFIER knob adjusts the frequency of the highpass tracking filter pro gressively increasing its relative frequency As a Antidote User s Manual result the first overtones of the sawtooth get at tenuated Pulse A pulse waveform with adjustable pulse width see fig 3 3 The MODIFIER knob con t
39. stereo even when its input signal is monophonic Use this parameter to create wide stereo effects DRY WET Blends between the dry and processed signal 3 8 5 Chorus Flanger Summing a signal with a time delayed copy of itself creates a chorus effect if the time delay is continu ously varied as well When choosing small delay times and applying feed back the classic flanger effect is obtained DELAY Sets the base delay time in milliseconds RATE Sets the modulation rate in Hz DEPTH Sets the modulation depth from 0 to 100 FEEDBACK Feeds the delay output back to the effect input creat ing resonances Both positive and negative feedback is possible in Antidote s chorus LR OFFSET Offsets the modulation phase between the left and right channels This makes the chorus sound stereo even when the input signal is monophonic Use this parameter to create spatial effects DRY WET Blends between the dry and processed signal SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE Antidote User s Manual 3 8 6 Delay A delay effect produces a series of echoes The dura tion of the echoes is always locked to the host tempo in order to guarantee a musically useful result Two different delay types are available TYPE e Simple creates a series of echoes centered in the stereo field e Ping Pong creates echoes alternating between the left and right channels RATE L R The delay time can be specified independently fo
40. urce and a destination the AMT knob specifies how much to modulate the destination parameter The modulation is bipolar both positive and negative values are permitted This is often useful for example you can create the classic inverted filter envelope this way Destinations can be modulated more than once For instance the filter cutoff frequency can be modulated with a LFO and an envelope simultaneously 4 1 List of Sources Velocity The velocity of the note ie how hard you press the key Arp Accent and Gate The accent and gate signal coming from the arpeggia tor See chapter 5 for a more detailed description of the arpeggiator s accent and gate signals Antidote User s Manual LFO 1 The output of the first LFO LFO 1 MW The output of the first LFO multiplied by the modu lation wheel Use this parameter to make the LFO amount dependent on the modulation wheel a fre quently used performance tool LFO 1 AT The output of the first LFO multiplied by aftertouch Use this parameter to make the LFO amount depen dent on aftertouch LFO 2 The output of the second LFO LFO 2 MW The output of the second LFO multiplied by the mod ulation wheel Use this parameter to make the LFO amount dependent on the modulation wheel a fre quently used performance tool LFO 2 AT The output of the second LFO multiplied by after touch Use this parameter to make the LFO amount dependent on aftertouch M
41. w xsynth com OR David Orbel www orbelmusic com RH Richard Hoffmann www synapse audio com SH Sasha Radojevic www phuturetone com SC Soundcells Harald Karla www soundcells de SYNAPSE 40 Antidote User s Manual AUDIO SOFTWARE
42. y stage ends The sustain stage lasts as long as a key is pressed RELEASE The final release stage is triggered whenever a key is released The RELEASE parameter specifies the du ration it takes the envelope to hit zero The slope of the release stage is logarithmic like the decay stage SYNAPSE AUDIO SOFTWARE Antidote User s Manual 3 5 Filter Envelope The filter envelope modulates the filter cutoff fre quency and thus the timbre of the sound Many sounds start with a bright timbre and then decay to a darker tone This behavior can be modeled with the filter envelope The depth of the effect is controlled with the ENV knob in the filter section The filter envelope has the same shape as the modulation envelope see fig 3 6 Level Sustain Attack Decay l l gt Time I I l I Release Key pressed Key released Figure 3 6 The filter envelope ATTACK The ATTACK parameter specifies the duration it takes for the envelope to reach its maximum value Most sounds use a setting near the minimum in order to start bright DECAY After reaching the peak the decay stage commences During the decay stage the envelope falls back to a lower level the sustain level The DECAY control specifies the duration of the decay stage i e how long it takes to fall back to the sustain level SUSTAIN This parameter specifies the sustain level that is reached
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