ARTIPHON 1500000323221 Orba Synthesizer User Manual
- June 5, 2024
- ARTIPHON
Table of Contents
ORBASYNTH
USER MANUAL
V. 1.2
Welcome
With the Orbasynth app, you can now connect your Orba and quickly see how expansive your instrument becomes. Tweak sounds or completely reinvent instruments to your liking. You’ll be able to map Velocity, Press, Radiate, Tilt, and Move to control multiple synth parameters at once. Because Orba is an MPE controller and Orbasynth is an MPE synth, every pad you tap can independently control several MIDI CCs for any of Orba’s three melodic modes: Bass, Chord, and Lead.
Compatible with Mac and Windows.
Getting Started
- Connect your Orba to Orbasynth via Bluetooth or USB.
- To connect via Bluetooth click on the gear icon in the upper left corner, then click “Bluetooth MIDI” at the bottom.
- Make sure your output is set to the desired output source. We recommend using your built-in output of your computer or audio interface
- Turn your Orba volume all the way down. Sounds from Orbasynth will be coming from your desired output.
The Oscillators
Orbasynth’s two oscillators can produce two different morphing wave shapes at the same time. Each oscillator can be set to either produce a sawtooth/ triangle and a rectangle/ pulse or sync shape with varying harmonics with an adjustable start, end, and time ramp.
Per oscillator:
The first morphing shape is always a triangle/ sawtooth The second morphing
shape can be set with the mode switch at the top right to either a
rectangular/ pulse shape or to a sync- like shape that can morph through
different harmonics.
OSC 1 & OSC 2
DETUNE
Adjust the pitch per oscillator by small amounts to change the character of
the overall sound.| FREQUENCY MULTIPLIER
Set the oscillator pitch to the harmonics of the musical
note.| VIBRATO
Amount of vibrato at the LFO speed.
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Saw/ Triangle
MODE
Change the second morphing wave shape between rectangle/ pulse and sync/
harmonic.| START
Wave shape at the start of the morphing (sawtooth or triangle).| EF
Wave shape at the end of the morphing.| TRANSITION TIME
Time ramp for morphing from start wave shape to end wave shape.
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Pulse Width
START
Wave shape at the start of the morphing (rectangle/ pulse or sync/ harmonic
depending on mode switch).| END
Wave shape at the start of the morphing (rectangle/ pulse or sync/ harmonic
depending on mode switch).| TRANSITION TIME
Time ramp for morphing from start wave shape to end wave shape.
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Pulse Mix
START
Start mix between amount of morphing shape one (saw/ triangle) and morphing
shape two (rectangle/ pulse or sync/ harmonics).| END
End mix between amount of morphing shape one (saw/ triangle) and morphing
shape two (rectangle/ pulse or sync/ harmonics).| TRANSITION TIME
Time ramp to go from the start mix to the end mix.
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Tip:
The time ramp is a visual representation of the time it takes for the wave
shape to transition from its starting shape to its end shape.
Globals
LFO, Mixer, and Octave
GLOBAL LFO
LFO RANGE
Switches the LFO (affecting vibrato) between a slow and a fast range.| LFO
RATE
Adjust the LFO speed (affecting vibrato and waveguide chorus).
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OCTAVE & MIXER
OCTAVE
Set the overall octave for all oscillators.| OSC 1 LEVEL
Oscillator 1 mix level.| OSC 2 LEVEL
Oscillator 2 mix level.
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VCA SWITCH
Select VCA 1 or VCA 2 for each oscillator, the ring modulator, and the noise
generator.| RING MOD
Ring modulator mix level.| RING MOD
Ring modulator mix level.
Voltage Controlled Amplifier (VCA)
The VCA determines how a sound’s level changes at the beginning or how soft or hard it starts (attack), how long it takes to go down to a sustained level (decay) how loud the sustained level is (sustain) and how long it takes to fade out when the pad is released (release) There are two envelopes (VCA 1 and VCA 2) that can be assigned per oscillator in the globals module. Orbasynth’s VCA’s have an added feature that allows you to control the shape by velocity (how hard or soft you press or release a pad).
|
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ENVELOPE 1 & 2
ATTACK
How long it takes to reach the peak level.| DECAY
How long it takes to reach the sustained level.| SUSTAIN
How loud the sound is as a note is held.
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RELEASE
How long the sound takes to fade out after a note is released.| VELOCITY
PEAK
Depending on how hard or soft a note is played, the peak after the attack gets
louder for dynamic playing.| VELOCITY SUSTAIN
Depending on how hard or soft a note is played, the sustained level gets
louder for dynamic playing.
VELOCITY RELEASE
Depending on how fast the note is released, a peak before the release gets
louder for dynamic playing.| ENVELOPE
2: A second, different VCA envelope curve that can be assigned per oscillator
in the GLOBALS Mixer settings.|
Tip:
Visualizer: Shows the ADSR (attack, decay, sustain, release) envelope with the
dynamic ranges
Resonant Filter
The resonant filter applies either a lowpass or high-pass filter to the signal. The frequency of the filter can be modulated with its own dynamic envelope.
Low Pass / High Pass Switch
Sets the filter mode between a low pass and a high pass filter
CUTOFF
Sets the cutoff frequency for the resonant filter.| CUTOFF KEY
Scales the cutoff frequency with note frequency. At max, high notes have a
higher cutoff than low notes.| RESONANCE
Controls the resonance of the filter.
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RES VCA2 MODULATION
Set how much the VCA2 curve modulates resonance.| ENVELOPE VISUALIZER
Displays the shape of the envelope.| VELOCITY SUSTAIN
Depending on how hard or soft a note is played, the sustained level gets
louder for dynamic playing.
ENVELOPE MODULATION
Sets how much the envelope curve affects the filter.| ATTACK
How hard or soft the filter comes in when a note is pressed.| DECAY
How long it takes to go to the sustained level.
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SUSTAIN
How high the filter frequency is continued after the decay phase.|
RELEASE
How long the filter takes to return to the default after a note is released.|
VELOCITY SUSTAIN
Depending on how hard the pad is played, the sustained filter frequency gets
higher or lower
for dynamic playing.
DYNAMIC ENVELOPE
VELOCITY PEAK
Depending on how hard or soft a note is played, the peak after the attack gets
higher for dynamic playing.| VELOCITY RELEASE
Depending on how fast a note is released, a peak before the release gets
higher for dynamic playing.
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Waveguide
The waveguide adds a physical modeling module that uses both oscillators, noise, and the ring modulator to stimulate a resonating waveguide. The character of these sounds is more acoustic-like.
String/ Pipe Switch
Selects the physical modeling mode
DRY MIX
Adjusts how much of the signal enters the waveguide.| DRY MIX
Adjusts how much of the signal enters the waveguide.| REGENERATION
Adjusts the waveguide’s tendency to resonate.
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HOLD DAMP
Controls the amount of high-frequency damping applied while a note is held.|
RELEASE DAMP
Controls how much high-frequency damping is applied after the note is
released.| CHORUS DEPTH
The LFO controls the Waveguide’s delayed output, and this controls how much
the LFO modulates the delay time.
CHORUS MIX
Controls how much of the waveguide’s delayed output is fed back into itself.|
VELOCITY RELEASE
Depending on how fast a note is released, a peak before the release gets
higher for dynamic playing.|
Gesture Mapping
Here you can map the four different gestures to the parameter of your
choosing.
You can map a total of three parameters to one gesture. When the slider is in
the middle, the gesture will not affect the parameter. Moving the slider to
the right will adjust the parameter in a positive direction, and moving the
slider to the left will adjust the parameter in a negative direction.
PRESS
Select to assign gesture mappings.| RADIATE
Select to assign gesture mappings.| TILT
Select to assign gesture mappings.
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MOVE
Select to assign gesture mappings.| DESTINATION
Select which synth parameters will be controlled by the selected gesture.|
Tip:
Set how much this synth parameter is controlled by the selected gesture. The
modulation can be positive or negative, with the middle position being zero.
Output
The output mixer for Orbasynth. Effects and the overall volume can be adjusted.
REVERB
Add reverb effect.| DELAY
Add delay effect.| GAIN
The overall output volume level of Orbasynth.
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Saving / Exporting Presets
To save a preset into your Orba app, just click Save to Orba library. And
you should see that preset next you open the Orba app.
To save a preset to a folder to share with your friends, click Export and
select desired location.
Loading Presets into Orbasynth
The Load button allows you to load any preset directly from the Orba app.
The Import button lets you upload any .orbapreset file from your computer.
Loading a preset onto your Orba
Say your friend sends you their new preset over Discord. To load their preset from your computer onto your Orba:
- Download their preset
- Load the preset into Orbasynth
- Save it to Orba Library
- Open Orba app
- Select the new preset
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Get in touch, stay in touch!
Got questions? We love answering them. Reach out any time at
support@artiphon.com.