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cycle of one oscillator to interact with the unpredictable intervals of
the filter which in self-oscillation mode becomes a sort of "fourth
oscillator". All kinds of electronic havoc could be produced this way.
My wife, a non musician, also refers to these sounds as simply
"spaceship noises", so I guess that's a little more down-to-earth
explanation of their character.
F10 – Oscillator Mod 2
Another sound produced in the manner described above, but with
a "falling bomb whistle" character to it.
F11 – Oscillator Mod 3
It sweeps up, then it sweeps back down - it's all over the place.
F12 – S & H Generator
Ah, the famous sample and hold generator. Like the mutant
offspring of a cheap 50's Sci-Fi soundtrack (which is where the first
electronic synthesizers of any note were used), the sample and hold
seemed destined to lead a charmed life, appearing in modular synths,
disappearing with the portable lead synths like the Minimoog,
reappearing later as a waveform in modern sample-playback
workstations.
The sample and hold generator "samples" an oscillator frequency,
"holds" it for a brief period of time, then releases it and takes a
sample of another frequency, holds that, then releases it, picks up
another frequency, and so on. It produces a random set of tones,
therefore, since it is never sampling the same frequency twice (or at
least not so often that you'd notice it). And so is born the sound we've
come to associate with R2 D2, computers gone berserk and other
science fiction stereotypes.
F13 - Syndrums
This is sort of a collection of synthesized drum sounds, from the
disco era Syndrums to the Moog percussion sounds triggered by Carl
Palmer's drumming on ELP's "Toccatta" Not classic "keys" per se, but
still a hallmark sound collection from that era.
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