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5
Program Parameters
Modulation
At this point, you may think that producing a sound with the Ion is
simply a matter of configuring the parameters for the oscillators, filters,
and mixers, and then hitting a key. And although it's true that you can
design some nice instruments this way, generating the really awesome
sounds invariably involves tweaking some of those parameters while a
note is playing. The problem with that, if you're anything like us, is that
you only have two hands, and you are probably using at least one of
them to hit the notes in the first place. Fortunately, the Ion is willing to
lend you a helping hand—twelve of them, in fact.
The Ion allows you to set up twelve modulation routes. Each of these is a
virtual connection between some physical or internally-generated source
and some program parameter. Basically, a mod route tells the synth to
automatically grab a knob and tweak it while a note is playing. Although
there are quite a few sources that you can use for your mods, the most
common ones involve the LFOs and the envelopes.
The LFOs
LFO stands for "low frequency oscillator". Unlike the normal oscillators,
however, the LFOs are not designed for producing sound. Instead, their
purpose is to tweak a program parameter according to a looping pattern.
For example, if you are looking to add some vibrato to your instrument,
you'll need the pitch to continuously waver up and down. An LFO is
perfect for this application. Simply hooking up an LFO to the oscillator
pitch parameter will get you the effect you need. Each of the Ion's
voices contains two LFOs.
The Envelopes
If you hit a note on a piano, you'll hear a burst of sound energy as the
hammer strikes the string, followed by lower level of loudness as you
hold down the note and let the string ring out, which fades quickly as
soon as you release the note and the damper is applied. Synthesizer
designers model this behavior using ADSR envelopes. ADSR stands for
"attack, decay, sustain, release", and represents the different stages that
the sound goes through over the life of the note. Since the most
important application of the envelope is to control the loudness of the
sound, the Ion provides one envelope that is specifically designed for this
purpose. This is the amp envelope. However, envelopes are useful in all
sorts of mod routes, which is why you can hook up any of the Ion's
envelopes to any modulatable program parameter. Each of the Ion's
voices contains three envelopes.
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