ATMOTION

Atmosphere and Pad Synthesizer

Atmotion was designed to create moving sounds like pads, atmospheres, and special effects.
Osc amplitude, FM modulation amount, and filter cutoff are controlled by LFOs and
sequencers to be modified rhythmically. Many different types of sounds are possible in
addition to atmospheric sounds, such as percussive sounds, pads, and leads with slight and
subtle LFO / sequencer modulation.

Signal Flow and Overview

Atmotion consists of two identical oscillator->filter->flanger sections. Each section has three
step sequencers, which are hard wired to oscillator level, frequency modulation (FM) amount,
and filter cutoff. After the flangers, the two sections are mixed, put through a traditional ADSR
amplitude envelope, then sent through a chorus and dual-band delay effect:

[osc1]-[filter1]-[flanger1] |
|-[envelope]-[chorus]-[dual-band delay]-[out]
[osc2]-[filter2]-[flanger2] |

There is also a lfo modulating the fm depth and the pulse width; its controls are to be found in
instrument panel. All modulation sources are monophonic, so all voices are modulated the
same. Each of the 6 event sequencers are followed by an envelope and an event feedback
delay that modify the modulating signals, using a structure as follows. It s important to
remember that the envelope and delay only operate on the EVENTS that the sequencers
output.

[sequencer]-[envelope]-[delay]-[oscillator level]
[sequencer]-[envelope]-[delay]-[FM depth]
[sequencer]-[envelope]-[delay]-[filter cutoff]

The envelope is triggered if the difference between to consequent sequencer steps is greater
than the threshold set by the "thrsh" knob. Before, the sequencer output can be smoothed
using the "Glide" knob. Both signals - the one modified by the envelope and the smoothed
one - can be mixed using the "envd" knob. The pattern length of each sequencer can be
adjusted with the slider below its display. These controls can be found on the Instrument
panel.

The "tmod" and "lmod" sliders fade the modulation of the seqeuncesr (tmode) and the lfos
(lmod) in and out to softly control their effect on the sound. They are also controlled by midi.

Programming new sounds, some things sould be kept in mind:

Use the "pat" knob to select a new and empty row in the seqeuncer tables. If you modify
the existing table values, also the sound of the old snapshots (that use that data) will be
modified.
The sequencers are controlled by the global clock that has to be running to start the
seqeuncers.

Sequencers
Each of Atmotion s six sequencers operates identically.
<Table> Displays the modulation data. Data can be graphically edited.
<Slider> Sets the length of the modulation data sequencer, in 16th notes.
<Glide> Smooths the modulation data.
<Env> Controls the mix between the triggered envelopes and raw modulation data.
<Del> Controls the mix between the we/dry event delay. Left is the dry signal, and right is
the wet (delayed) signal.

Further sequencer parameters can be found in the Instrument panel (double click on
Atmotion s title bar to go to the instrument panel): The <Env> and <Del> controls appear in
both the Ensemble (main) view and Instrument panel.
 <Thrs> Sets the envelope trigger threshold (the difference between two sequence steps)
<A> Sets the triggered envelope attack time.
<D> Sets the triggered envelope decay time.
<Ste> Sets the delaytime of the event delay, in 16th notes.
<FB> Sets the feedback of the event delay.
<C/Dv> 1/96 clock divisor. Reaktor s internal clock sends out values every 1/96th note. A
<c/Dv> value of 6 would therefore correspond to 1/16th notes. A value of 12 corresponds
to 1/8th notes, etc. This control is useful for odd-time sequences.

Oscillators
Atmotion s two oscillators are identical. They feature a choice of four waveforms,
transposition, detuning, and have an FM operator as well.
<Transpose> Transposes the oscillator against the MIDI pitch.
<Detune> Sets the detuning of the oscillator, in cents.
<Sin> Selects a sine wave as the oscillator waveform.
<Tri> Selects a triangle wave as the oscillator waveform.
<Pls> Selects a pulse wave as the oscillator waveform, with pulse width modulateable by
the LFO.
<Saw> Selects a sawtooth wave as the oscillator waveform.
<Mod Amt> Sets the amount of FM modulation by the event table sequencer.
<FM Offset> Sets the transposition of the FM operator in semitones.
<FM Det> Sets the detuning of the FM operator, in cents.
<Width> Sets the pulsewidth of the pulse wave.

LFOs
Further oscillator parameters can be found in the Instrument panel (double click on Atmotion s
title bar to go to the instrument panel). These three parameters control an LFO, which is
hardwired to pulse width modulation and/or vibrato
<Freq> Sets the speed of the LFO in 16th notes.
<WM> Sets the LFO pulsewidth modulation depth
<Vbr> Sets the LFO vibrato depth.

Filters
The filters comprise band-pass, high-pass, and low-pass modes, with five types of low-pass
filter to round things out. The dbl filter engages two serially-connected low-pass filters; Cut2
and Res2 adjust cutoff and resonance offset for the second filter. The fb mode allows you to
control filter feedback with the FB knob. From the main ensemble panel, the following
parameters can be adjusted:
<Mod Amt> Sets the amount of filter cutoff modulation by the event table sequencer.
<Cutoff> Sets filter cutoff.
<Res> Sets filter resonance.
<lp> Selects lowpass filter mode. Actual filter type is set from the Instrument panel.
<bp2> Selects a 2-pole band pass filter.
<hp2> Selects a 2-pole high pass filter.
<bp4> Selects a 4-pole band pass filter.

From the Instrument panel, the following additional controls are available:
<LPType> Selects which lowpass filter to use in <lp> filter mode:
<cs> Lowpass filter with a characteristic that resembles the Yamaha cs-15 filter
<dbl> Distorting 24dB/oct filter.
<fb> Lowpass Filter with feedback
<p52> Pro-52 filter.
<2pol> 12dB/octave standard lowpass filter.
<Cut2> Sets second filter s cutoff. Only active in <dbl> lowpass filter mode.
<Res2> Sets second filter s resonance. Only active in <dbl> lowpass filter mode.
<FB> Sets feeback of <fb> filter.
<KTrk> Sets filter keytracking. Value = 0: cutoff frequency not affected by note pitch; Value
= 1: cutoff frequency tracks note pitch exactly
Dual Band Delay
The two oscillater/filter/flanger chains are merged and then sent through a dual-band delay.
The dual band delay effect first divides the sound into two frequency bands: Low and High.
Each band has separate delaytime and feedback contols. Two LFOs modify the resonance
and cutoff of the splitting filter.
<Res> Sets the resonance of the filter that divides the sound into two bands.
<Res Depth> Sets the depth of the LFO that modulates the resonance of the splitting filter.
<Res Spd> Sets the speed of the LFO that modulates the resonance of the splitting filter.
<Split Freq> Sets the middle frequency that divides the sound into two bands.
<Split Depth> Sets the depth of the LFO that modulates the cutoff of the splitting filter.
<Split Spd> Sets the speed of the LFO that that modulates the cutoff of the splitting filter.

Each band of the delay operates identicaly:

<Feedback> Sets amount of feedback for the frequency band.
<Time> Sets delay time of the frequency band, in 16th notes.

Credits
Instrument: Martin Brinkmann (modifications by Erik Wiegand/Cornelius Lejeune/Jake
Mandell)
Presets: 1-34: Martin Brinkmann, 35-63: Eric Young
Documentation: Martin Brinkmann, Cornelius Lejeune, Jake Mandell
2002 Native Instruments GmbH