Overview Of Razor Ensemble; Overview Of Razor User Interface - Native Instruments Razor Manual

5

Overview of RAZOR Ensemble

This part of the manual gives an overview of RAZORS interface and signal flow and ex­
plains all its controls. RAZOR is an extremely graphic synthesizer as you can see the spec­
trum of oscillator shapes, filter curves and even the frequency depending panning of the
signal. To learn the instrument it is highly recommended to turn the graphical display to
'Auto' and switch off '3D'. This will help you to understand what the parameters are actual­
ly doing. This is easier than any written explanation. For more information about the dis­
play see the paragraph 'graphical display' below.
RAZOR was designed to give its user intuitive control over its powerful additive engine. So
you don't have to be a synthesizer specialist to edit and create sounds with it. But it might
be helpful to gain some knowledge about the concept of additive synthesis to fully under­
stand some of RAZORS features. It's out of the scope of this manual to explain additive
synthesis. Search on the internet for more information. A search for 'Introduction to addi­
tive synthesis' and 'Fourier series' might be a good start.
5.1

Overview of RAZOR User Interface

The Interface is divided horizontally in three main parts.
The main synthesizer is located in the middle. There are two oscillators on the left that are
mixed together before they get filtered by filter 1 and then by filter 2. The next section to
the right of the filters is called 'Dissonance', offering effects to make the sound non-har­
monic; followed by the 'Stereo' section with various stereo effects. At the very end of the
chain you find the 'Dynamics' section with effects to alter the amplitude dynamics of the
sound like saturators and compressors. The Dynamics section is the only part of the RA­
ZOR not using additive synthesis.
Modulators like envelopes and LFOs are located at the bottom. These can be routed to var­
ious destinations. Envelope 1 is pre-assigned to the amplitude.
At the top you find a multi-functional display, some global controls like Pitch, 'Voice
Mode', a value display and 'Quality'. At the top right there are two sections offering unique
features named 'Spectral Clip' and 'Safe Bass'. 'Spectral Clip' takes the filtered signal and
limits loud spectral peaks. 'Safe Bass' makes sure that there is always some energy at the
fundamental frequency, which is crucial for bass sounds. After 'Safe Bass' the signal en­
ters the 'Stereo' effect section.
Overview of RAZOR Ensemble
Overview of RAZOR User Interface
RAZOR - Manual - 17