Lessons
Course Introduction
04:57 2The FM Concept
09:50 3Operator Fundamentals
10:16 4FM Pro Tips
11:14 5Classic Subtractive Techniques
08:15 6FM Monophonic Bass
11:32 7FM Polyphonic Leads
18:49 8Drum and Percussion Overview
11:26Lesson Info
Advanced Modulations
All right, So now that we're kicking off the beginning of level four, we're gonna be talking about advanced modulations. So advanced modulations is kind of Ah, we just say basically, how to evoke more intricate life and animation to our sounds that especially that have a lot of sustained. So for things that are like textures and pads and anything that's really going to kind of grow and evolve over time or just have a lot of notes and pitching this to them, we're gonna wanna let allow for some extra kind of action and motion as the notes are played. So to start this off with this first demonstration, the first thing I'm gonna go over with you is ah, is glide the glide for the operator is right inside of the pitch envelope section. You do not have to have the pitch envelope even turned on its turn on glide on. What it's gonna do is it's going to evoke port aumento, which is like a slow bend between the pitches of the notes played when you play llegado. So what I did to demonstrate this w...
as I took our sketch. We're working on in our drums lesson and I added our baseline from level two and are probably lead also from level two. Let's see where we're at on this sketch. Quick, you hear the idea? Here? We've got this lead. You kind of swing along in here. It's kind of a bit of a proof librato. It's definitely played in llegado. The llegado meeting with notes overlap. Whenever you're in that kind of situation, you can actually totally employ glad. And it's awesome, especially in the operator, cause where most instruments Onley evoked. Glad when you're in mono phonic settings like one voice operator handles. Probably funded. Glad really Well, So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna, um, get rid of the llegado on this step just so you can hear how the non llegado note does not glide whereas the previous notes and sequence too. So that's pretty powerful. I think that in conjunction with some Albarado goes a long way. Now the librato section the advanced modulation I want to demonstrate is actually called second order modulation. Second order modulation is a concept that goes all the way back to the original analog synthesizers. Early moken booklet days where we take one modulator and connected into another maybe like an envelope into an LFO and then into its target. So demonstrate that we have a couple of options for second order modulation. It's really cool. Turn off these targets for this modulations. Just gonna goto operator A So we're just modulating the carrier in our series, right? What I'm gonna do is I'm that with LFO on, I've got lfo mount right here. Rate right here. So the straight vibrato would happen this way where we just have a pitch modulation happening right away. It's only turned up 2%. Let's listen, Teoh, Turn that glad down a little bit. I went way overboard just for fun. So listen how the Tambor changes verse when you're modulating just one of the oscillators and just the carrier versus some of the modulators as well. I think it's pretty nerdy sounding when you modulate all of them. But when you just modulate want it actually is a kind of nice little protein gives it a little bit of subtlety. So what I'm gonna do now is invoked the second order aspect. So I have a couple of options here If I want to use the simple a TSR envelope built into the LFO. Aiken say, Okay, let's not have vibrato in the beginning. And then after a while, maybe we'll wait like, um, half a second. And then after about 1/2 2nd the vibrato will slowly kick in Over the course of two ways, you can hear that librato slowly attack will even increase the depth. Really accentuate that. It's probably a little too much. Another thing we could do with this function is we can trigger mode just like we did with our previous envelopes and drum synthesis that way. So that's kind of fun. Eso that second order modulation. But another really cool way you can do this Second order or even third order modulation is this. Ox envelope can not only go to pitch, but it also can go straight to the LFO rate, or I'll also depth. Let's do it to L. A. For a just for fun. So we'll say you are also going to trigger just what stays synchronized with our 80 s are for the depth of the LFO and this is our pitch LFO pitch envelope. So I'm gonna do is all just a okay over time, you're gonna get faster and faster. 60 seconds is probably too long. What happens here Like it's starting to even FM. It starts to almost modulated self reading audio modulation way. So as it is, that is, you know, can see how we have second order modulation to the depth of the LFO as well as to the read. And I was pretty strong amounts. I'm gonna back this off, even back this off and maybe just let it be really subtle. Pull this down just to give it a little bit of change and even top things off. We could even loop this envelope for more complex city. To essentially turn this envelope into a complex LFO. Let's go ahead and also modulate filter cut out for a little tonal control that will link up and will make this third order and second order modulation to the LFO. Even more interesting filter cut off. Or I could issues the hardwired destination right here a little bit of so there's an example of some nice advanced modulations that are taking advantage of the ox envelope. It's multiple targets as well as the LF owes multiple targets, all with their own unique depths. Is they all really to filter, cut off and vibrato? That's kind of an intricate combination of patch cables. We just connected. But really, when you play along nicely, it's not too complex. Let's try this thing in polyphonic mode, huh? All right, so this is James Patrick, but let's make sure we stay connected. Www dot slam academy dot com Yes, Tom, thanks for your time.
Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
People complain about Abletons "uninspiring" synth presets, and Operators businesslike interface doesn't scream "fun". It is however, an insanely fun and powerful instrument once you get your head around it. This class is perfectly formulated to turn anyone into an FM super-ninja in no time. It starts with the basics - perfectly explained, and delves deeper at a nice pace. I've been using Operator for years but still picked up a few tips in the later lessons. Taking this class will empower you to stop worrying about having the latest, greatest third party VST. Operator is a beastly synth. I rarely use any other synth because of the sheer sonic capability, and tight integration with Live.