Download Navigation
 
Home | Support | Tech Notes | Tech Tips | MachFive 3 | Drum Oscillator
Document Actions

Tech Tips | MachFive 3 | Drum Oscillator

View More MachFive 3 Tips »

For more Tech Tips...

MachFive 3 Drum Oscillator

MachFive 3's Drum Oscillator is a powerful drum synthesis engine, tailored for programming high quality drum grooves.

To access it, click the Browse menu in MachFive 3's Main view. Then click the Oscillator Browser button (the waveform icon, second from the left in the Browse tab). Under the Synthesis section, drag "Drum" into the Oscillator Editor of your Edit page (above the MF3 keyboard).

The Drum Oscillator is split into two sections, "OSC" and "Noise", with a "Mix" knob to blend the two together. To start, dial the Mix knob to 100% OSC and hone in on the Oscillator Frequency for your chosen Waveform. If you want to add Pitch Modulation, notice the Depth knob may be set to 0 by default (in which case, you won't hear any modulation initially). Adjust this, and the Rate setting, to craft your drum tone. Next, focus on the Attack and Decay settings to define the envelope of the drum you are creating.

Turn the Mix knob all the way to 100% Noise to craft the percussive onset of your sound. Filter your sound to emulate the attack of a kick drum, or the snap of a snare hit.

The Noise and Oscillator generators each have their own Attack and Decay settings, which allows you to creatively adjust their relative timing. Set a long Attack for the OSC to delay its onset until after the Noise's Attack, or create unusual sounds with a long Noise Attack setting, so it is delayed until after the Decay of the OSC.





Want to see your tip as a MOTU Tech Tip? Is there a feature, technique, or configuration you would like to learn more about? Send us your tips, or topic suggestions »