Editing The Sound; How A Program Is Organized; Synthesizer - Korg MMT microKORG XL+ Owner's Manual

Editing the sound

1. How a program is organized

Before you start editing, you'll need to understand the basics of how the
sounds are created. Once you understand how the microKORG XL+'s
sounds are structured, you'll be able to freely create the sounds you want.

Synthesizer

As shown in the illustration, a synth program consists of timbres 1/2, master
effects 1/2, and the arpeggiator.
Audio In
Timbre 1
Synth EQ
Synth EQ
Timbre 2
ARPEGGIATOR
Synth
Filter Routing= Individual
Audio In
OSC1
OSC MOD
MIXER
OSC2
NOISE
LFO1 LFO2
OUTPUT
MASTER FX1 MASTER FX2
(L/MONO, R)
Drive/WS Position
= PreAmp
FILTER1
To EQ
DRIVE/WS AMP
FILTER2
PAN
EG1
Keyboard Tracking
EG1 EG2 EG3 MIDI 1–3
Keyboard Tracking
Velocity
VIRTUAL PATCH
Pitch Bend
Mod Wheel
Free Assign
The three elements of sound: pitch, tone, and volume
Sound has three basic elements: pitch, tone, and volume. Just like the ana-
log synthesizers of the past, the microKORG XL+ analog modeling synthe-
sizer provides "oscillator," "filter," and "amp" (amplifier) sections that control
these three elements.
Edit the oscillator settings to change the pitch, the filter settings to change
the tone, and the amp settings to change the volume.
Oscillator, filter, and amp
On the microKORG XL+, the oscillator settings are found in the OSC1 and
OSC2 pages and the PITCH page. Use the PITCH page to specify the pitch
of the basic waveform, and then select the waveforms in the OSC1 and
OSC2 pages. The waveforms generated by this oscillator section are mixed
together by the mixer. The filter settings are located in the FILTER page. On
this page you can modify the tone by applying filters to the sound produced
by the oscillator.
Finally, the amp parameters are located in the AMP page. On this page you
can modify the volume.
You can create a basic program by editing the settings in these pages.
EG, LFO, keyboard tracking, virtual patch, and controllers
In addition to the way that it's affected by the oscillator, filter, and amp, a
synthesizer sound can also change in various other ways; over the pas-
sage of time, according to the pitch you play, or in response to various per-
formance gestures. These changes in the sound are controlled by
modulators and controllers such as the EG (envelope generator), LFO (low
frequency oscillator), keyboard tracking, virtual patch, and wheels such as
[PITCH] and [MOD]. You can use these modulators and controllers to pro-
duce various changes in the basic sound of the program.
Take a look at the illustration that shows the structure of the microKORG
XL+. Notice that the signal flows in the order of OSC  FILTER  AMP.
You will also notice that these sections can be controlled by things such as
EGs and LFOs.
As shown in the illustration, a synth program consists of timbres 1/2,
effects, and the arpeggiator.
Timbres (TIMBRE 1/2)
Each timbre consists of an oscillator, filter, amp, EG, LFO, virtual patches,
and equalizer. The microKORG XL+ has two timbres, and you can com-
bine these two timbres to create a richer-sounding program.
Editing the sound
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