The MuZynth

The MuZynth is a top-quality, fully integrated, powerful 32 bit synth-sampler engine that will bring you to a wide world of sonic possibilities.

The MuZynth Patch Editor is used to create & edit MuZynth Patches.
A "Patch" is the total collection of parameters that make up a sound.

At the left of the Patch Editor, you have the Patch pool from which you can immediately select any Patch within your current Project. To quickly monitor Patches, use the little speaker icon at the right of their name.

You can also right-click/command-click in the Patch pool for a quick contextual menu containing basic functions like New, Rename, Duplicate, Delete. This menu also allows you to group Patches; For more info about grouping, click here.

You can change the Patch pool's width by dragging the dividing line at the right border of the pool.

The button below the Patch pool "Set selected Part(s)" allows you to immediately choose a Patch for the selected Part(s) in the current Composition. This is very handy when you quickly want to browse for the right sound.

When the Patch Editor has the keyboard focus, you can also press [Arrow Left/Right] to scroll thru the Patches.

In fact, the MuZynth editor has 2 faces : Easy Mode and Expert Mode.

In Easy Mode, you only see the basic Patch controls (5 MetaKnobs, main Volume and Balance), and so this mode is best if you want to keep things easy and just want to tweak ready-to-use Patches.

If you're not into heavy synth programming, just stay in the MuZynth's Easy Mode and you'll be fine. (and then you even don't need to read all the expert info below)

You can tweak the available knobs in realtime, and just by clicking the Record button, or pressing the appropriate FastKey, everything is recorded as a new Sequence !

By right-clicking/command-clicking on a MetaKnob, you can easily assign a MIDI Controller to that knob, or write the knob's value into a Part in the current Composition. Read more on this in Controlling Knobs and Faders.

By clicking the Options button or by double-clicking the editor background, you can switch to Expert Mode.

Remember : You can always add new sounds via the Add-A-Sound button on the Sound window, or via the Choose-A-Sound option while choosing a Player.

In Expert Mode, you can edit every little detail of a MuZynth Patch, and create totally new sounds !



Expert Mode : The MuZynth Architecture

Here is a basic scheme of the MuZynth architecture :

MuZynth Overview

Now let's have an overview :

The MuZynth starts generating sound in the 3 Generators.

Each of these Generators can be in one of the following states

Each output of these Generators - which can be mono or stereo - is routed thru 2 DSP Blocks, which can be a Lowpass Filter, a Shaper, or any other of the 16 available DSP algorithms. We'll go into detail on these DSP Blocks below.

After these DSP Blocks, the outputs of the 3 main generators is fed into the sub-mixer.

But each of the main generator signals can also go to a Combinor, which combines two signals in various ways like Mixing or Ring Modulating them. Then the output of both Combinors is also fed thru a separate DSP Block and finally goes into the sub-mixer.

So 3 + 2 = 5 signals that come into the sub-mixer, which has a gain and balance knob for each of its source signals.

Finally, the output signal of the sub-mixer goes thru a final DSP Block whereafter it passes the Main Volume and Main Balance knobs.



About the Oscillators

An Oscillator has these parameters :



About the Simple Wave Players

A Simple Wave Player has these parameters :



About the WaveMap Players

A WaveMap Player is very similar to the Simple Wave Player, except that it plays a WaveMap.

A WaveMap can combine multiple Waves, or can combine multiple sections of the same Wave; or it can do both.

This is especially interesting for creating so called "multi-samples".

Multisampling explained
When you sample a piano, and pitch that sample up or down a lot, that sample doesn't sound like the original piano anymore.

That is because pitching a sample pitches all frequencies in that sample, while a real piano sound is much more complex.

A real piano sound has frequencies that go up and down according to the key you play (the pitch), but it also has frequencies that are fixed, like the resonant frequency of the wooden body.

That's why a piano is best sampled at multiple keys i.e. it's best "multi-samplep" that the authentic frequency spectrum per key is preserved as much as possible.

In an extreme case, we would multisample a piano at every key, but this would take a lot of memory of course. So most of the time a compromise is made.

Another application of the MuZynth's WaveMaps is to split up a drumloop into multiple slices, and combine these slices in a WaveMap.

This way you have tight control of each individual slice of that drumloop, and you can even totally re-arrange the drumloop. More info on slicing drumloops can be found at The Wave Labo.

A WaveMap Player has these parameters :

At the right of the WaveMap field, you have an Edit button which will popup the WaveMap editor. The WaveMap editor works very much the same way as the MultiPlayer editor, except that the zones have a set of parameters that define a Wave.



About the DSP Blocks

The Dsp Blocks transform their input signal via a certain algorithm into their output.

Currently there are 16 types of such DSP algorithms :

Of course, every DSP Block can also be bypassed so that the signal goes thru it without being processed.

Some extra notes on the DSP Blocks :



About the Combinors



About the Modulators

A Modulator is a hybrid combination of a classic envelope and LFO.

A Modulator can be set to "Sustain" mode, in which case it functions as an envelope; Or it can be set to "Loop", in which case it functions as a LFO.

A Modulator can be time-synced ("Microseconds") or tempo-synced ("TempoTics"). The latter will make your Modulator dependent on the current Tempo.

You can create the shape of a Modulator by using up to 32 points, each of which can have its own curve type.

The MuZynth has 7 Modulators, one of which gets a special treatment : Modulator 7, labeled "A.Mod". This Modulator is "hard-wired" to control the overall amplitude of the Patch, and when this Modulators reaches its end, the entire Patch ends. Modulator 7 can only be in unipolar Sustain mode.

The best way to start creating a curve is by choosing one of the built-in preset curves like "ADSR Envelope", "Sine LFO" etc ... You can find these preset Curves under the "Curves" button.

A right-click (MacOS : command-click) in the background adds a point.

A right-click (MacOS : command-click) on a point allows you to delete a point.

By clicking on a point in the curve area, you can drag that point to another position, thereby changing the Modulator shape. By holding [Alternate], editing is snapped to a grid.

Clicking+dragging in between two points lets you change the curve slope.

Eventually you can restrict your edits to "Times only" or "Levels only" via the "Edit" field.

Below the curve area, you can see and edit the details of the last clicked point.

At the bottom of the Modulator editor, there are 5 knobs :

Note that these 5 parameters do not redraw the actual curve but are rather realtime parameters for interpreting the curve. Except for Fade In, they can be modulated via the Modulation Matrix so that their actual value change over time.

For example, you could use Modulator 2 as a simple ramp-up envelope that controls the amount of Level Random in Modulator 3.

The Modulators are so flexible that they can even generate random envelopes or little step-sequences !

Note that the maximum Pitch modulation is 12000 cents, which is 10 octaves. So if you set the modulation depth to 0.1, that will give a 1 octave deep modulation. If you then make Modulator curves with levels that match the 1/12 values (because there are 12 semitones in an octave), you can make musical sequences !

Here are the level values that you can use to make melodic Modulator curves :

So these are the 12 semitone values IF the pitch modulation depth (in the Modulation Matrix) is 0.1 which results in exactly 1 octave.

But if the modulation depth is 0.2 (thus 2 octaves) then these values should be halved to match the same semitones. (though musically it's not a MUST to do that, since it could just be an interesting effect )

Note that holding down [Alternate] while dragging a point will snap the level to these values, so that's more easy.

You can also load and save individual Modulator curves.



About the Modulation Matrix

The Modulation Matrix is a table of 16 entries where you can choose what modulation source will modulate what destination parameter.

Each of these 16 lines has these parameters :

It's good to know that we always work with values between 0.0 and 1.0 for unipolar sources, and between -1.0 and +1.0 for bipolar sources.

Here are some graphs that show how it works :

Now here is a detailed example :

Suppose Modulator 1 is a simple envelope that decays from +1.0 to 0 in 1 second time. And suppose we have a Sine Oscillator as Generator 1.

Now we can choose that Modulator 1 as the modulation source, open the Minimum Depth knob to 0.5, and choose "Generator 1:Pitch" as the destination. This will make the pitch of Oscillator 1 ramp down.

Source = Modulator 1
Min.Depth = 0.5
Depth Control = None
Curve = Linear
Destination = Pitch

When a note is pressed, Modulator 1 starts at its first point, and runs thru its curve over time; So suppose that - at a certain moment - its value is 0.7.

This makes 0.7 * 0.5 = 0.35. Thus the Pitch of Oscillator 1 will be increased by the uniform value 0.35, which translates into 0.35 * 12000 cents = 4200 cents, or about 3 and a half octaves.

OK, now let's do it yourself :

1) Start with a new Patch (click the Options button in the MuZynth Patch editor)
2) Make a simple Patch with a SAW oscillator
3) Install a Lowpass in DSP A1, and lower the Cutoff
4) Open Modulator 1, and choose the ADSR preset; put the sustain to zero
5) Goto the Mod.Matrix and locate an empty line
6) Now put that Modulator 1 as the source Modulator
7) Set Min Depth to 0 (Alt+click on it)
8) Choose "Metaknob 1 (Unipolar)" as the Depth control source
9) Turn Max Depth full open
10) Choose "DSP A1 : Cutoff" as the target for this modulation

All this together will make that Modulator 1 is controlling the cutoff frequency of the lowpass filter with an amount controlled by Metaknob 1.

Have a look at some existing Patches that come with Muzys 3. It will help you understand how the Modulation Matrix works.

Extra notes



About the Sub-Mixer

The Mixer mixes all possible 5 signals coming from the 3 Generators and 2 Combinors.

Each signal can be gained and balanced in the stereo image. Both parameters are fully modulatable, so you can eventually apply individual amplitude envelopes for each of the generators.



About the MetaKnobs

The MetaKnobs are general purpose "continuous" dials that can be used to tweak any combination of Patch parameters.

The creator of a Patch can choose what the MetaKnobs will do by using them as sources and/or depth controllers in the Modulation Matrix.

They are meant to bring the most important parameters of a Patch to the top, for direct and easy access !

You can give a label to each of this Metaknobs by clicking the little label field below each knob.

So for example, a MuZynth Patch can be programmed so that MetaKnob 1 will open a lowpass filter on Oscillator 1, lower a hipass filter on Oscillator 2, and meanwhile sweep panning of both Oscillators from left to right.

Yep, a lot of possibilities



The Options button

The Option button contains these options :

New Patch Creates a new Patch
Duplicate Patch Duplicates the current Patch.

Note for Patches using a Wave/WaveMap :

Be aware that duplicating a Patch doesn't duplicate any used Waves.
On the contrary, a duplicated Patch uses the same Wave as its original !
So be aware that when editing a Wave in The Wave Labo, every Patch that uses that Wave will be affected. If you really want to duplicate a Wave, use "Wave Labo:Dsp Funx:Copy To ...".

Rename Patch Renames the current Patch
Delete Patch Deletes the current Patch
Initialize Patch Initializes the current Patch
Randomize Patch Randomizes the current Patch.

The randomize algorithm will only randomize the currently used Generators and its modulations ie. it won't add new Generators. This way you still have a control over the randomize process. For example : If you have a simple Patch with one Oscillator using a single DSP Block, which is modulated by Modulator 1, then the randomize function will only affect these elements.

Another important thing to know is that the randomize function will always choose between a Oscillator and a Simple Wave Player IF there is at least 1 Wave in the current Project. If there are no Waves in the Project, the randomizer will always take an Oscillator. Once you know this, you have even more control on what type of results may come out of the randomizer.

Open Patch Allows you to open a single Patch file (IPA file).
Save Patch Allows you to save a single Patch file (IPA file).
Open Patch Library Allows you to open a Patch Library file (IPL file).

A Patch Library is a file that can contain multiple Patches together with any Waves and WaveMaps they use. This is a handy format to store, for example, 20 Patches that are based on the same "Grand Piano" WaveMap.

Save selected Patches as Library Allows you to save the currently selected Patches as a Patch Library file (IPL file).

You can select Patches via the Patch pool at the left of the Patch editor; Right-clicking/command-clicking the Patch pool also allows you to "Select All" and "Select None".

Set Output for selected Patches This 'power function' can be used when you want to change the Output for multiple Patches.

For example, if you want to change the output parameter of a group of Patches, first select some Patches in the Patch pool at the left, and then use this function to set a new output for all these selected Patches.

Note also the MultiPlayer editor's 'power function' "Select these Patches" which selects all Patches of a MultiPlayer
So, that's handy in combination with this function.

Preferences Allows you to set some Preferences :

  • Velocity Sense
    Defines how sensitive this Patch is for velocity : 0 is no sense, 127 is most sensitive, -127 is reversed sensitivity.
  • Velocity Sense
    Defines the curve how this Patch responds to velocity.
  • Interpolation
    Here you can set the interpolation type range for this Patch.
    Interpolation is a technical term which is used when pitching a Patch.

    There are different algorithms to do that :

    • None : Very fast, but lower quality.
    • Linear : A bit slower, but better quality.
    • Cubic Hermite : Slow, but very good quality.
    Note : This parameter is only available if the Interpolation in Musical Preferences is set to "Set by Patch".
  • Autostop on idle generators
    This is a very advanced preference which only should be disabled if you hear clicks at the end of a Wave processed by a lowpass filter with a low cutoff frequency and a high resonance. Because in this case, the filter might need more time to fade out than the Wave itself. When this parameter is disabled, the voice will end when Modulator 7 has reached its end point, even if the Wave has already ended.
  • Show inactive element labels
    Defines whether the MuZynth editor displays the element labels like "Generator 2", "Mod4", "Dsp A2" etc... Once you know the MuZynth, you may whish to have a cleaner view and thus hide these labels.
Easy Edit Switches the MuZynth editor to Easy mode.



Miscellaneous MuZynth Tips & Tricks



Compatibility with the Muzys 2 Patch system

Firs of all we must admit that the MuZynth does use more CPU cycles than Muzys 2.0. No way around this.

But you do get a lot more possibilities and an improved soundquality !

Of course there is a difference in sound between Muzys 2 and Muzys 3, at least because the Muzys 2 Patch filter has been replaced. But we tried to convert your Projects as good as possible.

Because importing a Muzys 2 project adds some lines in the Modulation Matrix of each Patch, this conversion does cost extra CPU cycles. But not all of these modulations may be really necessary; It depends on your song.

If your song does not automate the filter of a Patch, then you can omit the modulation line in the Mod.Matrix, thereby sparing CPU cycles.

Muzys 2 used these controllers to automate the old Patch Parameters :

Controller 0 = Pitch
Controller 5 = Portatime
Controller 7 = Volume
Controller 10 = Panning
Controller 12 = Release
Controller 24 = Filter

So if your Project did not automate one of these parameters, it's best to kill these lines in the Mod.Matrix of each Patch. Note however that if you kill the Volume or Panning modulations, you'll have to retweak the Volume or Panning in the MuZynth editor.

And a last important note : NEVER overwrite your Muzys 2 projects with its Muzys 3 version since you may want to relisten to the old version while finetuning things in the new version.

Next : The MultiPlayer Editor Table Of Contents