Introduction

Thank you very much for using Triangle I! We are very pleased to count you between the users of our products.

 

We crafted this instrument with the real performance in mind, either from a external MIDI keyboard or from any alternative controller.

As you will see in this manual, this software synthesizer has a lot of parameters to tweak. The visual interface was designed to get intuitive and quick results with it, but for the most advanced results we suggest to take a look at this guide.

Triangle I was extensively tested under Steinberg Cubase VST5, Steinberg Cubasis InWire, Sonic-Syndicate Orion Pro and FASoft n-Track, but it might be used in other VST2 host as well. Please email us if youÆd like to use it on other host and you have any problem.

Oscillator 1 - 2

Triangle I has two oscillators, plus a noise generator. The waveform and volume level of each oscillator can be adjusted individually, as well as the detuning and note interval between them.

The waveforms were assigned to a knob instead a switch, to allow fast and useful real-time control. The sequence of the waves assigned to the knobs is as follows:

0    =    Saw

Square

Harmonics 2.5

Harmonics 3

Harmonics 4

Harmonics 5

1    =    Sine

Harmonics ônö are waveforms that contain only every nth harmonics. Those are mathematically generated waveforms that bring a lot of creative potential, not commonly found in software synthesizers.

Waveforms are in order of harmonic contents, and RMS normalized, allowing quick sweeps of waveforms type.

TIP: Assign OSC1~OSC2 controls (#20~#21) to a real-time controller and tweak it while playing!

Detune control (#22) creates a slight frequency variation between the two oscillators (0 ~ 2%), while Transpose control (#23) allows to get a whole note interval (-12 ~ +12 semitones) between them.

Tune control, allows tuning Triangle I with other instruments on the set.

Pitch Envelope Generator

Pitch Envelope section controls how the pitch evolves on time. It consists of five knobs: Start Level, Attack Time, Attack Level, Release Time and Release Level, plus a overall control: Envelope Control.

Envelope control sets the maximum amount of the envelope applied to the oscillators. The Pitch Envelope generator equally controls both OSC1 and OSC2.

Start Level: The pitch start point. At center, pitch is normal note pitch. Values from 0 ~ 50% means starting at lower pitch, and from 50 ~ 100% are higher,

Attack Time: The time it takes to the pitch to go from Start Level to Attack level.

Attack Level: The pitch the sound reaches after Attack stage. Values from 0 ~ 50% means finishing at lower pitch, while from 50 ~ 100% ending pitch will be higher,

Decay Time: The time it takes to the pitch to go from Attack Level to normal note pitch level.

Release time: The time it takes to the pitch to go from normal note pitch to Release Level pitch. Notice that if the Amplifier Release is set faster than this one, you wonÆt hear the whole pitch release stage.

With the Envelope control at maximum, the range for Pitch Envelope Control is  ▒1 octave.

Pitch Envelope Velocity controls how the velocity controls the envelope generator. Higher settings mean big differences when you hit notes soft and hard.

Pitch LFO

Pitch LFO (LFO1) is a low frequency oscillator that can be applied as modulation to both OSC1 and OSC2. The Pitch LFO can be disabled clicking on the light when not used, to fully disable itÆs processing on the sound, reducing Triangle I CPU usage.

Speed (#24) controls the frequency of the sinusoidal oscillator (0.05 Hz ~ 12 Hz).

Depth (#25) controls the fixed amount of modulation applied to both OSC1 and OSC2.

Aftertouch controls the amount of modulation applied when receiving Aftertouch MIDI events.

Modulation controls the amount of modulation applied when receiving a Modulation Wheel or Breath Controller MIDI event.

Random Pitch and Portamento

Random Pitch knob controls how much the normal note pitch is shifted every time you press it. Higher settings mean higher variation in the pitch randomness.

Portamento is a gliding effect between two consecutive notes. It can be enabled clicking on the light (#65) while the knob (#5) controls the time for the gliding.

The filter used in Triangle I is a 64-bit high quality analog modeled filter. Normal roll off for this filter is 12 db/Octave, and it features a very musical resonance mode. We at rgc:audio think that in the filter resides most of the warmness of the Triangle I sound.

This filter isnÆt, as in many VST instruments, gain normalized, which means that if you hit a note in the boundaries of the cutoff frequency with a high resonance setting, the audio output will clip. This is the default-working mode, as it resembles exactly the behavior in early analog subtractive synthesizer, and it allows getting very wild resonance sweeps, used by many musicians as a very creative effect,

To get the best results with this setup, we suggest the use of a high quality limiter as insert effect in the Triangle I channel, like the Waves L1« or similar.

 

If for some reason is needed to have a normalized output, this can be changed at Triangle I editing the FilterNorm parameter at the host. Any value different than zero will force the instrument to normalize the filter output. A dramatic gain loss will be inserted at high resonance settings in normalized mode, due no waveshaping of any class is being used, but the output will never clip.

The filter in Triangle I is in fact a multimode filter, allowing Low Pass, High Pass, and Band Pass configuration. As the most common use for a multimode filter is Low Pass, there is no control to change the mode in the front panel and itÆs fixed to Low Pass. It is possible to change the mode through host automation, sending a Type event, with following values:

 

0~0.33:            Low Pass Filter

0.34~0.66         High Pass Filter

0.67~1             Band Pass Filter

As quick reminder, we suggest to send 0 for Low Pass, 0.5 for High Pass, and 1 for Band Pass.

Within the included presets there is ôHPF ?ö, that could be used as template to create new HPF filter presets.

Cutoff (#74) controls the filter cutoff frequency.

Resonance (#71) controls the amount of boost applied to the frequencies at the cutoff frequency boundaries

 

Filter Envelope Generator

The Filter Envelope Generator allows creating precisely controlled filter cutoff sweeps.

The Envelope knob controls the amount of the filter envelope generator that will be applied to the filter cutoff.

Attack Time: The time it takes to the filter to reach itÆs maximum cutoff frequency.

Decay Time: The time it takes to the cutoff to reach the value set by cutoff knob.

Sustain Level: The value added to cutoff setting, which will start after decay and last until note off event.

Release Time: The time it takes to the cutoff to go from sustain level value to the value set by cutoff knob after note off.

Keyboard controls how the cutoff varies with the note number. Higher settings mean higher notes will receive a higher cutoff setting.

Velocity knob controls how much higher note velocities affect the filter envelope generator. Higher settings mean higher variation between soft and hard notes.

Aftertouch controls how much the cutoff is affected by Aftertouch MIDI events.

Modulation controls how much the cutoff is affected by Modulation Wheel MIDI events.

Filter LFO

The filter LFO (LFO2) allows applying a cyclical cutoff variation to the filter. This LFO can be disabled/enabled clicking the light to save CPU cycles. Of the three LFOÆs, the filter is the one that has the most dramatic effect on the CPU utilization; so if you arenÆt using it, just turn it off instead of setting depth to 0.

Speed: controls the frequency of the sine oscillator.

Depth: controls the fixed amount of modulation applied to the cutoff frequency.

Aftertouch: controls how much the MIDI Aftertouch events will affect the modulation depth.

Modulation: controls how much the MIDI Modulation Wheel and Breath Controller events will affect the modulation depth.

The amplifier section is the easiest link in Triangle I. It just allows mixing the oscillators and noise generator, adjusting their levels and the modulation for that level.

Volume (#7) controlsàwellàthe main volume.

OSC1 level (#32), OSC2 level (#33) and Noise level (#34) controls allows the level mix of those generators. A word about the noise generator: it takes a little CPU overhead, then be sure to have it fully at 0 value if you donÆt use it.

Stereo Spread controls how the sound is spread through stereo channels. We suggest setting it at low values to get bass sounds punchier, and to high values for lead sounds as a guideline. Of course, use your ears. The effect is dramatically more perceived on headphones.

Amplifier Envelope Generator

As in the Filter Section, a normal ADSR envelope generator has been implemented.

As all envelope generators in Triangle I, amplifier stage uses linear type and the time parameters and knob variation has been choose to get the maximum musical range available in a virtual instrument.

Attack Time (#73): The time it takes for the sound to reach full volume.

Decay Time: The time it takes for the sound for going from full volume to sustain level after attack.

Sustain Level: The volume setting that will start after decay and will last to note off.

Release Time (#72): The time for the sound to fully vanish (0 volume).

Velocity controls the velocity sensitivity of Triangle I. Setting it to 0, all notes will sound the same level. Setting it to maximum will give the maximum variation between soft and hardly pressed notes.

We suggest using values around 50% when using the Full Legato mode (see below) and to 100% when using Fingered mode to get the maximum expressive control.

Aftertouch controls how MIDI Aftertouch events will affect the overall volume.

Amplifier LFO

The amplifier LFO (LFO3) is a dedicated LFO for the amplifier stage. As the others in Pitch and Filter section, is a sine oscillator.

Speed (#28): Frequency of the sine oscillator.

Depth (#29, #92): Fixed amount of modulation applied to the amplifier.

Aftertouch: Amount of modulation applied when receiving MIDI Aftertouch events.

Modulation: Amount of modulation added when receiving MIDI Modulation Wheel or Breath Controller MIDI events.

Pan (#30): Stereo phasing effect between Left and Right channels.

A Delay effect is a must in any synthesizer. Of course it is possible to add a delay plug-in after in the chain, but we feel that recalling presets at the same time for the sound and the delay settings is a very useable feature. ItÆs a low CPU consuming effect, so we added it to Triangle I.

As the LFOÆs, it can be disabled to save every CPU cycle when not using.

Delay Level (#91): Amount of delay effect.

Delay Time L, R: Delay times for left and right channels. Setting the times slightly different increases the stereo spread of the sound.

Feedback: The amount of regeneration of the sound.

Triangle I supports three different keying modes, which can be changed only through host automation:

 

Fingered mode: Every note played will stop last note, but the note off event wonÆt retrigger hold notes.

High Note Priority Legato mode: Every note played will sound only if there is no notes hold, or if the note number is higher than hold note. Note off will retrigger hold notes.

This mode is used in some hardware monophonic synthesizer, and in a superb and very known software synthesizer.

Full Legato Mode: Last note played will sound. Note off will retrigger hold notes. This is the default mode in Triangle I, and itÆs the mode more widely used in contemporary hardware mono synthesizers.

 

To get any mode, following values should be used.

0~0.33:            Fingered mode

0.34~0.66         High Note Priority Legato mode

0.67~1             Full Legato mode (default)

Again, as a quick reminder we suggest to use 0 for Fingered, 0.5 for High and 1 for Full Legato mode.

 

To increase the warmness on Bass and other patches without external eq, Triangle I has a built-in bass reinforcement ôcircuitryö. ItÆs only controllable via MIDI, with assigned controller #70.

 

Basic Events

Note On Velocity           0 ~ 127*

Note Off Velocity           0 ~ 127

Program Change            0 ~ 32

Controllers

#01                             Modulation Wheel

#02                             Breath Controller

#05                             Portamento Time

#07                             Volume

#20                             OSC1 Waveform

#21                             OSC2 Waveform

#22                             Detune

#23                             Transpose

#24                             LFO1 Speed

#25                             LFO1 Depth

#26                             LFO2 Speed

#27                             LFO2 Depth

#28                             LFO3 Speed

#29                             LFO3 Depth

#30                             LFO3 Pan

#31                             OSC1 Level

#32                             OSC2 Level

#33                             Noise Level

#64                             Sustain Switch

#65                             Portamento On/Off

#70                             Bass Boost

#71                             Filter Resonance

#72                             Amplifier Release Time

#73                             Amplifier Attack Time

#74                             Filter Cutoff

#91                             Delay Level

#92                             LFO3 Depth

#126                           Legato Mode (0 = Fingered, 63 = High Note Priority, 127 = Full (default)

*Note On with Velocity = 0 is interpreted as Note Off starting with version 1.002