Waldorf Q Keyboard User Manual page 73

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Organ sounds often include a fifth, therefore one oscillator's semitone parameter must be set to
+7.
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Lead and Solo sounds might sound interesting when you set one Oscillator to e.g. a quart (+5
semitones).
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When making ring modulated or FM sounds, try to use disharmonic values, e.g. +6 or +8.
Detune
Fine-tunes the oscillator in steps of 1/128th of a semitone. The audible result of detuned oscillators is
a Chorus or Flanger effect. Use a positive setting for one oscillator and an equivalent negative setting
for another.
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A low value of ±1 results in a slow and soft Flanger effect.
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Mid-ranged settings of ±5 are perfect for pads and other fat sounding programs.
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High values of ±12 or above will give a strong detune that can be used for accordions or effect
sounds.
FM
Sets the amount of frequency modulation that is applied to the oscillator by the selected source. The
sound will get more metallic and sometimes even drift out of tune, especially if Oscillator 2 is used as
FM Source for Oscillator 3 and Sync is activated. To avoid unusable detune, use a triangular or sine
waveform for the FM Source.
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If you want to bias the FM over the keyboard so that higher notes aren't modulated as strong as
lower notes, use the Standard Modulation Matrix and apply Keytrack to the respective
oscillator FM with a negative amount.
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To change the amount of FM dynamically, use the Fast Modulation Matrix or Standard
Modulation Matrix to apply an Envelope or an LFO to the respective oscillator FM with
positive amount.
FM Source
Selects the source for the frequency modulation.
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You can create nice E-Piano sounds when you use a high pitched oscillator as FM Source and
set its Keytrack to a value between +000% and +050%.
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Very interesting is the use of Noise as FM Source on a high pitched oscillator playing a sine or
triangle waveform. With low FM amount, the oscillator starts to sound dirty or airy while
higher amounts create a coloured noise similar to a filter with high resonance. The nice thing is
that the filters are then still free for other purposes.
Shape
Sets the type of waveform to be generated by the Oscillator. The parameter is called Shape instead of
"waveform", because it doesn't necessarily set only one waveform, but sets a specific oscillator model
that could produce a number of waveforms depending on other settings. A good example for this
-64...+63
0...127
see Table "FM Sources" on page 57
Pulse / Saw / Tri / Sine / Alt1 / Alt2
73
Sound Parameters – Oscillators
Waldorf Q User's Manual