Yes mul is just a bipolar vca - volume control of audio and control voltage. I tend to put it at the end of sounds and attach a barre to it for volume control.
I generally keep open the opcode definitions so i can remember what they do and work visually in Fish 1.3. Also because of random duplicate function and that you can see visually each bowl running along the top. These were removed in v2.0.
Summary
ADD is the same as the ADD that every (finite) opcode has at its tail.
;It superposes, or mixes sounds.
AND, a nut, processes two inputs
;As named, it ANDs the INN off the other.
;…waveshaping.
DIRAC and ARAB switch from
;signed to unsigned math, respectively.
;The default is DIRAC, so it is only used
;To switch back…
BAR is the four bar sensors on SHNTH.
;There are four [a-d], use it for pitch
BEND, along with JUMP
;is how to change SOUPs
;or presets. BEND is more raw and hackerly than JUMP
;BEND does nothing on zero INN
;Nonzero INN makes it go!
bend is like jump on steroids. instead of an orderly, triggered move to the next patch, bend changes patches all the time (well, at the sample rate) based on the data values its receving from its INN. try it with corp to get a feel for it, taring the corp with different amounts of flesh will also give different sounds. - - bend pairs nicely with randuplicate (make a lot of variations on a patch, then bend through them)
COMB [a-d] is a short delay.
;INN is the input
;NUME should be 1
;DENO is the pitch control (delay length)
;Put FB as a high number like 120
CORP is the antenna on the SHNTH
;There are two [a-b].
DIRAC and ARAB switch from
;signed to unsigned math, respectively.
DUST [a-h] is random pulses
small numbers are less dense, large numbers are very dense duststorm (to test, put dust as the trigger for water, try dust: 4 versus dust: 40)
FOG [a-d] is four triangular grains:
;A simple granular synthesis.
;TRIG fires off another one.
;SWNU is the speed of envelopes
;SWDE is the width of envelopes
;HONU is the speed of horns
;HODE is the DENO of horns.
HAZE [a-d] is four sawtooth grains:
;A simple granular synthesis.
;TRIG fires off another one.
;SWNU is the speed of envelopes
;SWDE is the width of envelopes
;HONU is the speed of horns
;HODE is the DENO of horns.
HORN is a triangle wave
;NUME is its harmonic speed
;DENO is its loudness and profundity:
;its UNDERTONE
HORSE, and this is not a granular assemblage.
;Rather, they are to emulate FOURSES, their boundaries contingent.
;Thus a horse has four inputs:
;Two for bounce speed up and down UPNU DNNU
;Two for bounds on the top and bottom UPDE DNDE
;To emulate FOURSES, the HORSES must be used as references,
;Within each other at the UPDE DNDE, the boundaries:
the thing to make sure of here is that the upper bound (3rd parameter) is higher than the lower bound (4th parameter)…as long as you do that you’ll be fine
JUMP, along with BEND
;is how to change SOUPs
;or presets. JUMP only jumps once per cycle, so it is easier to control.
;It does nothing on zero INN
;Nonzero INN makes it jump relative to the current preset.
;Multiply the TRIG by 1 to make it jump exactly one.
jump needs to have a mul in it to tell it how many bowls to jump.
- you can use any opcode to jump, even audio rate ones like horn or fog. you can also use a mount to clock your jumps, aka a patch sequencer
LEAK removes DC offset
;Like a very low freq HP filter
LEFT put sound out LEFT speaker!
MAJOR [a-d] are the lower buttons on SHNTH
MINOR [a-d] are the lower buttons on SHNTH
MODO is like MUL but makes things super loud!
;Also, when it goes past the boundaries, it RETURNs,
;So it is kindof like waveshaping.
MOUNT [a-h] is a slow triangle wave.
;NUME is how fast it rises and falls.
;DENO is how far it rises and falls.
a small nume and a large deno is a slower envelope (small nume = rises slowly, large deno = must cover a large distance to the bounds). if you want it even slower than that than put it in sauce
MUL is the same as the MUL that every (finite) opcode has at its tail.
;MUL by 128 and you get full volume, 1 is very quiet, and 0 is silent.
;Think of MIDI style, volume from 0-128.
;The phollowing are all equivalent:
NEGWON only outputs negative one!
PAN is like LEFT and RIGHT, a stereo output control.
;PLACE makes it PAN left and RIGHT.
PRESS is a compressor!
PULSE is kindof like the opposite of SLAVE
;TRIGger it to its DENO, and then it decays,
;It can be used as a trigger for something slower
REFLECT, a nut, processes two inputs
;As named, it bounces the INN off the other.
;…waveshaping.
the ‘other’ term is the threshold above which the waveshaping occurs so make sure this threshold is not higher than the range of the input sound or you won’t hear any effect…you can use the deno of the input sound as a guide as to where to set the threshold…ie try waveshaping a horn tuned to 48/64 with a corp with a mul of 32 and add of 64, you should hear it kick in as you touch more wire and the threshold falls below the horn’s frequency
RETURN, a nut, processes two inputs
;As named, it folds the INN off the other.
;…waveshaping.
the ‘other’ term is the threshold above which the waveshaping occurs so make sure this threshold is not higher than the range of the input sound or you won’t hear any effect…you can use the deno of the input sound as a guide as to where to set the threshold…ie try waveshaping a horn tuned to 48/64 with a corp with a mul of 32 and add of 64, you should hear it kick in as you touch more wire and the threshold falls below the horn’s frequency
RIGHT put sound out RIGHT speaker!
SALSA is like SAUCE, but you trigger the samples.
;Put it around something, and give it a TRIGGER.
;It will only calculate samples on the TRIGGER.
SALT [a-d] is the hi=pass version of WAVE, which is a wave equation resonant filter.
;So salt has a high spectrum.
;INN is obvious, so is Q, and rate is too!
a low value for Q is higher resonance (more wet, ringy). cutoff can be most anywhere (as long as not completely closed) for different kinds of effects
SAUCE is like a bubble of low sample rate.
;Put it around something, and give it a period…
;In sample ticks, so PER of 2 is twice as slow.
bigger period is slower (longer wait between samples)
SAW is a sawtooth wave
;It has more timbre than HORN
;NUME is its harmonic speed
;DENO is its loudness and profundity:
;its UNDERTONE
SHORT gives you fine control over numbers.
;A regular number is an 8-bit byte
SLAVE is for making drum machines?
;It counts TRIGs for as many ticks as DENO,
;then changes direction. Then,
;It can be used as a trigger for something slower
SLEW is just that, it relieves sharp direction changes.
;UPP is how fast to rise.
;DON is how fast to fall.
low values are more slewing (ie slower to reach the target value), higher values are less slewing
SMOKE [a-h] is noise.
SQUARE makes a square by comparation.
;Give it an INN and an OTH to compare to.
SRATE changes the global sampling rate!
[srate] normally only has one value
but inside of the [srate] above is a [short]
[short] is like a fine tuning opcode where (big) represents the coarse tuning and (small) represents the fine tuning
this works well in lots of opcodes
like I said normally even if you don’t have [srate] in your patch the default is 16
STRING [a-d] is Karpluss-Strong
;TRIG plucks it.
;NUME should be 1
;DENO is the pitch control (delay length)
;Leave out FB for infinite feedback.
this one can be a bit tricky at first but its actually just a nume/deno tuning in there. so to get a typical resonant pluck you want a small nume and a large deno, it will then be bassier… try a string triggered by majorbutt with nume of 4 and deno of 77 for example. if you want higher pitch strikes raise the nume value, if you want less resonance lower the feedback though i usually just delete the feedback parameter or set it very high (in the 120’s).
SWAMP [a-d] is four weird grains:
;A simple granular synthesis.
;TRIG fires off another one.
;SWNU is the speed of envelopes
;SWDE is the width of envelopes
;HONU is the speed of horns
;HODE is the DENO of horns.
SWOOP [a-h] is a rise and fall envelope shape.
;TRIG is its input
;NUME is how fast it rises and falls
;DENO is how far it rises to.
;SWOOP is a double shape in DIRAC, single in ARAB
a small nume and a large deno is a slower envelope (small nume = rises slowly, large deno = must cover a large distance to the bounds). if you want it even slower than that than put it in sauce
TAR gives you the TAR button;
;It is orange on SHNTH,
TOGGLE [a-h] is a triggered flip-flop
;TRIG is its input
TOGO [a-h] is a sequence.
;It has a trigger to make it advance,
;And also a trigger for retreat.
WATER [a-d], like fog, is a cluster of four…
;WAVES, or resonant filters.
;TRIG is obvious, so is Q, and rate is too!
a low value for Q is higher resonance (more wet, ringy). cutoff can be most anywhere (as long as not completely closed) for different kinds of effects
WAVE [a-h] is your basic resonant filter…
;A Wave equation!.. so Q is ringier when lower.
;INN is obvious, so is Q, and rate is too!
a low value for Q is higher resonance (more wet, ringy). cutoff can be most anywhere (as long as not completely closed) for different kinds of effects
WHEEL is a variable voltage reference,
;that you change by giving it UPP or DON
WIND is the microphone on the SHNTH
WORM is now a rectifier, analog to some diodes and a capacitor.
;simply INN MUL ADD. outputs the absolute value and has a decay.
;Note that finger means wind, as in put your mouth to the mike.
XOR, a nut, processes two inputs
;As named, it XORs the INN off the other.
;…waveshaping.
the ‘other’ term is the threshold above which the waveshaping occurs so make sure this threshold is not higher than the range of the input sound or you won’t hear any effect…you can use the deno of the input sound as a guide as to where to set the threshold…ie try waveshaping a horn tuned to 48/64 with a corp with a mul of 32 and add of 64, you should hear it kick in as you touch more wire and the threshold falls below the horn’s frequency
ZITHER [a-d] is, like fog, a cluster of four…
;Strings!
;TRIG is your plucking finger, DENO is the pitch!
is similar to string but just has a deno (nume is a constant) so try larger deno values for richer plucks. also its best triggered by dust for recurring plucks like a zither. try zither triggered by dust:15, deno:99 for example.
wind = microphone input
corp = the antennas on the bottom
bar = the wooden bars
major = the top row of buttons
minor = the bottom row of buttons
horn = triangle oscillator
saw = sawtooth oscillator
toggle = a toggle
togo = a sequencer
swoop = a triggered triangle envelope
mount = a slow lfo
smoke = white noise
dust = random pulses
fog = a granular oscillator (based on tri wave)
haze = another granular oscillator (based on saw wave)
swamp = animated grains
string = string synthesis
comb = comb filter
zither = trigger 4 strings at once
wave = lowpass filter
water = triggered filter pings
salt = hipass filter
horse = asymetric tri-wave oscillator
slew = a slew
wheel = accumulates values, used to make things scroll
sauce = slows things down
salsa = sample and hold
press = compressor
leak = noise gate
reflect = waveshaper, refelcts down at threshold
return = waveshaper, returns to 0 at threshold
and = waveshaper / logic
xor = waveshaper / logic
negwon = -1, not needed in Fish
left = left DAC
right = right DAC
square = comparator
modo = multiply w/o scaling
srate = sample rate
mul = multiply
add = add
tar = tare the antenna
bend = circuit bend through situations
jump = jump through situations
pan = stereo panning
short = specify w/ 16 bits (short data type)
dirac = signed chars
arab = unsigned chars
lights = leds
lights = LED’s
wind = microphone input
corp = the antennas
Oval section of crisscrossed wires on the bottom
tar = tare the antennae via depressing the orange button and touching the antennae simultaneously briefly and letting go of both at the same time
or… centering the corps’ value and Shnths output values (as previously programmed) with the your body’s electromagnetic resistance (as explained above)
Pitches to Shnth nume & deno conversions
note - srate (use ‘short’ for all )
C2 - short(67,24)
C#2 - 63, 53
D2 - 59, 110
D#2 - 56, 64
E2 - 53, 42
F2 - 50,43
F#2 - 47, 65
G2 - 44, 108
G#2 - 42,42
A2 - 39, 122
A#2 - 37, 91
B2 - 35, 76
C3 - 33,76
C#3 - 31,91
D3 - 29, 119
D#3 - 28, 32
E3 - 26, 85
F3 - 25, 21
F#3 - 23, 97
G3 - 22, 54
G#3 - 21, 21
A3 - 19, 125
A#3 - 18, 109
B3 - 17, 102
then halve for each additional octave using a limit of 128 (so C4 is 16, 102; D4 is 14, 123 etc.)
Parameter tips from Bartlebooth:
• tuning is pretty straightforward once you become familiar with just intonation…1:1 is the base frequency, 2:1 is the octave, 3:2 the perfect fifth,etc. note that there are several equivalent tunings for each note…ie 48/32 and 54/36 are the same pitch. the fundamental frequency is the current sampling rate as set by srate or defaults to 16 (approx. c#). use arab mode to get finer granularity in your tuning ratios.
• swoop & mount: a small nume and a large deno is a slower envelope (small nume = rises slowly, large deno = must cover a large distance to the bounds). if you want it even slower than that than put it in sauce
• dust: small numbers are less dense, large numbers are very dense duststorm (to test, put dust as the trigger for water, try dust: 4 versus dust: 40)
• string: this one can be a bit tricky at first but its actually just a nume/deno tuning in there. so to get a typical resonant pluck you want a small nume and a large deno, it will then be bassier… try a string triggered by majorbutt with nume of 4 and deno of 77 for example. if you want higher pitch strikes raise the nume value, if you want less resonance lower the feedback though i usually just delete the feedback parameter or set it very high (in the 120’s).
• zither is similar to string but just has a deno (nume is a constant) so try larger deno values for richer plucks. also its best triggered by dust for recurring plucks like a zither. try zither triggered by dust:15, deno:99 for example.
• wave, salt ,water: in all 3 of the filters a low value for Q is higher resonance (more wet, ringy). cutoff can be most anywhere (as long as not completely closed) for different kinds of effects
• horse: the thing to make sure of here is that the upper bound (3rd parameter) is higher than the lower bound (4th parameter)…as long as you do that you’ll be fine
• slew: low values are more slewing (ie slower to reach the target value), higher values are less slewing
• sauce: bigger period is slower (longer wait between samples)
• reflect/return/xor: the ‘other’ term is the threshold above which the waveshaping occurs so make sure this threshold is not
higher than the range of the input sound or you won’t hear any effect…you can use the deno of the input sound as a guide as to where to set the threshold…ie try waveshaping a horn tuned to 48/64 with a corp with a mul of 32 and add of 64, you should hear it kick in as you touch more wire and the threshold falls below the horn’s frequency
