I was born in 1958, and was around 13 or 14 years old when I first heard synthesizer sounds on the album ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ from ELP. I was totally blown away with the plethora of sounds it could make! I played guitar at that time and started fiddling with guitar effects, sticking wires into the electronics to get ‘similar sound effects’ to what I heard on that album. After listening to albums from Wendy Carlos, Jean Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Klaus Schulze and many others, I was hooked on synthesizers.. I had to own one! Around 1977 the electronics magazine Elektuur published a series for a DIY synthesizer – the Formant. With electronic help from a friend of mine I built that modular and loved its workflow, and of course had to learn how to play the keyboard in the meantime. But then came preset polyphonic synthesizers and I got ‘spoiled’ by the use of presets… The modular, that was way more labour-intensive was forgotten… When programs like Reaktor and MAX/MSP came, they allowed me to rebuild that synth using a programming language AND save patches!! Especially in Reaktor I had great results, but there was no proper way of ‘marketing’ it. Then – a couple of years ago – I found Cherry Audio’s Voltage Modular – I started building my own synth modules, as usual so far, for my own use but again WITH the option to save patches. Voltage Modular did/does however have a large marketing platform and I started selling the modules because there seemed to be interest in them. In the middle of Januari 2024 I started programming modules to recreate the Formant for use in Voltage Modular, after discussing that modular synthesizer with a friend of mine, who also built and still has the original Formant. Now, slightly over 2 months and 29 modules later, I have built a complete system that is close to the sound and workflow that I loved so many years ago…
To draw it more into the current age, I did however program quite some modules that were not available in the original version but I felt were missing.
It is quite possible that the amount of modules in the bundle will grow, as will the collection of ‘factory presets’ that I am creating, which contains already more than 250 sounds.. I hope you enjoy F-SYN (my complete bundle) as much as I do!
Oscillators
Sound in a modular synthesizer is created by Oscillators. Oscillators can produce different waveshapes that each have their own timbre.
Familiar waveshapes are sine-waves, triangle-waves, sawtooth-waves and square-waves. F-SYN allows you to have multiple wave types switched on simultaneously. This results in different shapes.
The width of the square-wave or pulse-wave can be modulated so the timbre changes. The Squarewave then changes from a narrow pulse to a wide pulse and back if modulated and when this is done with a frequency of ca 1 Hz you’ll hear a pleasing ‘swirling’ tone.
Using two Oscillators that are slightly detuned will also give some broad ‘swirling’ sound, a lot ‘thicker’ than one Oscillator. Using Sawtooth waves give a very recognizable distinct sound for lead or bass.
Sound
Every waveshape has its own distinct sound and use. Waves can contain harmonics or ‘overtones’, multiples of the fundamental frequencies – those come in ODD and EVEN harmonics. Those harmonics have lower amplitude (volume) than the fundamental following sort of mathematical rules.
SINE wave Only contains the ‘fundamental’ frequency, meaning that if you set it to 200 Hz it only has that frequency available in the audio-spectrum. Use the sine wave to create whistles and organ sounds – for an organ, use a couple of sine wave oscillators tuned as the ones in for instance a Hammond.
TRIANGLE wave Only contains ODD harmonics that makes it perfect for flute sounds. The volume ratio for each harmonic is 1/n^2 where n is the number of the harmonic. That means that the level of higher harmonics decreases fast so the sound is warmer than a SAWTOOTH, lacking higher frequencies.
SAW wave This contains all harmonics in a ratio of 1/n, this means that the harmonics don’t get weaker as fast as in a TRIANGLE WAVE, giving it a much wider frequency spectrum. Often used to create string sounds or the typical fat synth sound, by using multiple slightly detuned oscillators.
SQUARE wave This, like the TRIANGLE wave, contains only ODD harmonics, but in a 1/n ratio like the SAWTOOTH. This results in a more ‘hollow’ sound. The ‘pulse width’ is the ratio, or the amount of time the wave is positive and the time it is negative. By changing that pulse width the sound changes when there is for instance 5% positive over 95% negative when compared to 50% positive and 50% negative. Modulating this pulse width makes the sound ‘broader’ and is very often used (PWM).
SPACED SAWTOOTH wave The Formant had an extra wave that took the SAWTOOTH as basis, clipped up parts and amplified it. It is real hard to get exactly that wave because it does not follow the same kind of mathematical rules that the other wave shapes do, but sound wise I have been able to come close and the sound is very useable to create brass sounds.
In the Formant (so also in F-SYN) all those waves can be switched ON or OFF simultaneously to create new sound scapes. The level of the waves for one VCO can not be changed except using the overall output level.. If you want mix different shapes in different levels, simply add a next VCO and set shape, level and frequency differently for much more control.
Filters
Next step in the sound-chain is the filter or VCF (Voltage Controlled Filter) module. The Oscillator output is connected to the filters’ input.
The filter has a cutoff frequency that can be dialed in with a knob (OCTAVES on the F_VCF). Every synthesizer has its own filters and characteristics – no 2 minimoogs will sound exactly the same – also 2 Formants will never sound the same depending on electronic parts and so on… Even now the settings themselves (the patches) can be equal but using a different audio-interface and different speakers and/or headphones will result in different sound.
