SCM Waldorf Iridium Workshop: Video 2 - Waveform Oscillator (Virtual Analog)

[@CharlesFerraro]

I think a pertinent piece of information is that when detuning a symmetrical wave like a sine, you get full (or nearly full) phase cancellations. The waveforms volume sums to zero amplitude (no output). Asymmetric waveforms like a saw does not phase cancel against itself. A saw shifted in phase by half a cycle sums to a saw an octave higher. There is no full drop in amplitude. There are other things we could talk about like the difference between a phase shift and a polarity flip. Or other more esoteric concepts like DTMF signaling vs AM vs ring mod vs XOR etc etc etc.

[@BenjaminCarey]

yep all very true... the phase cancellations with a saw wave create ripples of course because some harmonics will phase cancel, but not the whole signal... in the context of this class for my students though, I didn't feel this level of detail was necessary, as I'm giving them enough to go on in order to make the most out of the creative options of the instrument.. we discuss theory like this in other contexts, but thanks for the comment.

[@CharlesFerraro]

@@BenjaminCarey Yeah great point about the spectrum ripples. In fact the beating sines themselves are a kind of spectral ripple since the different frequencies can never perfectly null. My comment was aimed moreso at your students which is why I over explained it a bit. The semi related topics were peppered in at the end to help them realize that no matter how much they think they know… there’s a lotttt more to know beyond that! You have to be well versed to understand how detuning creates DTMF, and how DTMF is related to AM, and then how AM is related to RM which is related to XOR… so on and so forth.

[@donkeevney]

Who are you talking to ?