The two oscillators (osc:A and osc:B) of the Malström are the actual sound generators, and the rest of the controls are used for modulating and shaping the sound. The oscillators actually do two things; they play a graintable and generate the pitch:
A graintable is several short, contiguous segments of audio (see above).
Pitch is the frequency at which the segments are played back.
When creating a Malström patch, the fundamental first building block is usually to select a graintable for one or both of the oscillators.
To activate/deactivate an oscillator, click the On/Off button in the top left corner.
When an oscillator is activated, the button is lit.
To select a graintable, either use the spin controls or click directly in the display to bring up a pop-up menu with the available graintables.
The graintables are sorted alphabetically into a number of descriptive categories, giving a hint as to the general character of the sound. Note that the categories are only visible in the pop-up menu, not in the display.