Nord User Forum

[Mr_-G-]

Does the beating frequency change as you go up in the scale?

[Mr_-G-]

I tried downloading it twice, under firefox (linux) and there is a red banner appearing from the right giving that error.
Same error given by the Chromium browser.

[Mr_-G-]

How long is the downloaded file? The one I downloaded is 592 bytes long.

[Mr_-G-]

Thanks. It gives the same error with the file you sent and it does not work with any .ns2p file I throw at it either.
I wonder if the site is trying to do something unusual with the browser and some safety feature is preventing it. Very odd that the same happens with both browsers...
This is the link I am using: https://ns3-program-viewer.herokuapp.com/

[CountFosco]

Oh, I just started everytime with a plain and empty program. There are not many parameters to set, goes pretty fast. Just switch on the synth, set to tri, turn to mix with saw, turn down saw to sub, turn mix to mainly tri and just a bit saw, filter full open, drive switch to 2. There you have it.

I tried the equivalent settings on the A1, I can't get the slow effect. I hesitate to call it a beat, it kind of sounds like an LFO affecting the wave shape, or phaser effect. Closest I could get to your sound (using only triangle wave with saw sub) was by adding phaser. No LFO action got me close.

Edit: I tell a lie. With triangle oscillator, Osc config: Saw sub, Osc ctrl set to about 0.2 ( ! ) LFO rate set to match what I hear in your recording, LFO amount (in oscillator section) set to 6ish, I think I have exactly what you have. Are you sure there is no active LFO?

[Mr_-G-]

@Mr_G Pretty sure the file is fine.
It works on my Mac with Firefox running florence's online viewer and also using my own Perl script.
Have you tried using my Perl script (as you're on Linux, you shouldn't have any issues with the script)?

re the original post.
The two oscilators do indeed beat but perhaps it's supposed to do that as part of the analog modelling...
The beating speed increases as you play further up the keyboard which reminds me of very slightly out-of-tune oscillators from the days I used to own a Prodigy and a Prophet 5 (rev2).
If you use config 4 Detune, then the two waveforms can be made to be exactly the same frequency but, of course, you can't then have two different waveforms.

[Mr_-G-]

Just tested it here on a NS3 and a NW2; what you hear is beating (or destructive interference) caused by intentional small differences in frequency. It probably restarts the phase somewhat randomly every time you hit a new key, and it also varies a bit over the keyboard.

I agree that it sounds a bit weird in the example you gave, but I also think it would sound similarly strange on real analog synths with different analog oscillators for each tone and sub.

As Hobster also suggested, if you want the sub to be in tune, use configuration 4 (detune) instead of 7 (MixSaw), and still select the sub and just apply no de-tuning. Then they stay in sync... of course you cannot then use the LFO to modulate the ratio between the two nor use two different waveforms -- but you may get something closer to what you want?

[FZiegler]

This is applied science for advanced scolars: Use detune to get the oscillators in tune... Great for synth newbies like me.

[CountFosco]

The beating speed increases as you play further up the keyboard which reminds me of very slightly out-of-tune oscillators

Yes that's telling. I suppose the mistuning is constant in terms of cents, so that the absolute frequency difference between the oscillators in Hz increases with higher pitch. Interesting that the effect is so similar to applying an LFO to the mix between (in my example) triangle and sawtooth waves. Because we have interaction of two different waveshapes, the amplitude modulation of the fundamental tone isn't really the interesting feature, it's the modulation of the upper part of the harmonic train. When the waveshape is dominated by the sawtooth we hear more of the upper harmonics than when the triangle dominates the upper harmonics are attenuated.

Just tested it here on a NS3 and a NW2; what you hear is beating (or destructive interference) caused by intentional small differences in frequency. It probably restarts the phase somewhat randomly every time you hit a new key, and it also varies a bit over the keyboard.

But what's also interesting is that this effect is not present in the A1. It must have been a design choice to introduce that mistuning in the Stage synth, which is, as I understand it, based on the A1 synth engine.

[Kaffimusic]

Going the path to use the "detune-zero" setting with two identical waveforms cancels out the shifting in sound, yes. But it does not sound the same. As it is now, the only solution I see is to waste another panel and mix a similar stage of synth. One is set to tri, one is set to saw, and both use the detune setting (with detune zero naturally). I already did and the two panels are in tune, no shifting audible. Trying to get that gnarly sound is obviously not possible with just one layer of synth. Nord should add an option to tune the sub with the "two waveforms"-setting. Maybe add just an on/off for detune or tuned. Because sometimes the detuning is nice. Sometimes it´s not.