FL Manual 6 Harmless Flashcards
FL STUDIO Harmless
What is Harmless?
- Harmless performs subtractive synthesis using an additive synthesis engine
- -The subtractive-additive process can create sounds that are simply not possible or if they are, tediously complicated to program using subtractive synthesis alone.
- –With Harmless, filters and phasers can be assigned unusual shapes and slopes, the slopes can even be defined in Hz resolution instead of octaves.
- —Finally, Harmless gains control of each partial’s frequency, opening a world of new possibilities for creating innovative sounds
FL STUDIO Harmless
What does lhp slider do?
-Protects the harmonics of the low frequencies from being removed by the filters
FL STUDIO Harmless
Custom Timbre Option allows what?
-The Custom timbre option will open a browser to load and resynthesize a single-cycle waveform audio file to import the timbre.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
Phase Knob functions how?
- Turning left randomizes the phase of each harmonic separately.
- -This is useful for creating ‘metallic’ timbres.
- –Turning to the right sets the global waveshape phase to a ‘free-running’ mode.
- —This is useful to add some variation to transients in the timbre.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
lhp Slider does what?
- Low Harmonic Protection.
- -Prevents filtering functions (harmonic mask) from removing the first few harmonics, that are essential for producing the fundamental pitch/tone of the patch.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
sub Sliders do what?
- Sub Harmonics add bass, weight or depth to the sound.
- -The first slider Sub 1 is an octave below the root note.
- –The remaining two sub sliders are harmonics of Sub 1.
- —Sub 3 is the 3rd harmonic and Sub 4 is the 4th harmonic.
- —-Relative to Sub 1, the 2nd harmonic is the root note, masked by harmonic mask slider #1.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
equalizer Sliders function how?
- 6 Band harmonic equalizer.
- -Unlike a traditional EQ this is a floating equalizer, relative to the root note (fundamental frequency).
- –For example the first slider will always affect the 1st harmonic and a little of the 2nd.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
harmonic mask Sliders function how?
- Sliders cut the harmonics from the Timbre waveform.
- -Sliders 1 to 12 relate to the first 12 harmonics of the root note and frequencies that are multiples of 12 for each slider up the harmonic frequency scale.
- –In other words, the harmonic mask is a repeated stamp over all harmonics, cutting where selected.
- —Generally the mix control must be active for the mask to have an effect, however, a positive and active LFO can override that.
- —-To hear the harmonic mask, select the default patch, turn the lhp and sub harmonic sliders to their minimum settings, minimize all the harmonic mask sliders and turn the mix knob fully clockwise to hear only the masked signal (i.e nothing should be audible yet). Then raise each harmonic mask slider in turn and listen to the result. These are the individual harmonics and their 12x multiples.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
mix Knob functions how?
-Change the harmonic masking level (to disable turn fully left).
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
lfo Knob functions how?
- Subjects the mix level to LFO modulation.
- -Turn left to modulate cut harmonics and right to modulate active harmonics.
- –The lfo characteristics are under the control of the main LFO controls (lower right on the interface).
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
trem Knob does what?
- Stereo tremolo effect.
- -This is a left/right panning of the sound that simulates the rotary speaker effect used in some classic organ patches.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
att Knob does what?
- Combination of note starting level and attack time.
- -The first few ms of the att knob range adjust only the attack ‘starting level’ then higher values adjust attack time.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
VEL Button below att knob does what?
-Links note-on velocity to the attack time value.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
dec Knob
-Note decay time.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
rel Knob
-Note release time.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
VEL button below rel Knob
-Links note-off (release) velocity to the release time value.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
pluck Knob
-The pluck feature is a specialized, quickly decaying, low-pass filter envelope applied to the timbre.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
masked Button
- Applies the masking function to the pluck.
- -I.e. mask sliders determine the decay time of the corresponding harmonics.
- –See the tutorial patch ‘Masked pluck’.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
alt Button does what?
-In Alternative mode, the timbre EQ affects the per-harmonic decay speed
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
release Button functions how?
- Pluck only on release.
- -Make sure to use a long decay setting otherwise the effect won’t be audible, but not so long you drive up the polyphony and eat CPU.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Timbre Section
VEL Button under pluck Knob does what?
- Links note-on velocity to pluck decay time.
- -When activated the pluck knob sets the maximum release time.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Amp Section
vol Slider does what?
-Main output volume.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Amp Section
VEL Button below vol Slider does what?
-Links note-on velocity to note volume.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Amp Section
pitch Slider functions how?
-Pitch control (+/- 24 semitones).
FL STUDIO Harmless - Amp Section
detune Slider functions how?
- Harmonic tuning.
- -Changes the pitch of the harmonics (+/- 24 semitones)
FL STUDIO Harmless - Amp Section
grit Knob functions how?
-Adds a ‘metallic’ grittiness by selectively detuning harmonics.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Amp Section
vib Knob does what?
- Vibrato effect. Fast pitch modulation.
- -TIP: It can be useful to link the aftertouch to this knob. In FL Studio, press & hold a note, Right-click the knob to open the remote control settings and then press the note harder and you are done.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Amp Section
lfo Knob does what?
- Applies LFO to the main pitch.
- -The value can be positive or negative depending on the direction of the lfo knob.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Pitch Section
porta Button does what?
- Portamento slides between the levels/pitch of the last note & the new one.
- -time knob determines the slide time.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Pitch Section
legato Button functions how?
- Legato is a monophonic mode and slides between overlapping notes.
- -The time knob determines the slide time.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Pitch Section
time Knob does what?
-Controls the porta and legato slide times.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Pitch Section
VEL Button below time Knob does what?
-Links note-on velocity to portamento or legato attack time, and note-off velocity to legato release time.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Filter Section
alt Button functions as what?
- Alternative, ‘adaptive envelope’ mode ensures the filter cutoff frequency is only modulated over the range from the current cutoff value to the max/min frequency limit.
- -The cutoff modulation range is ‘adaptive’ in that 100% envelope modulation always = max/min frequency. Direction depends on the amt value being positive or negative.
- –The purpose is to avoid ‘pauses’ that can happen in ‘normal’ mode when the cutoff is modulated above or below the max/min frequency and the cutoff pauses at the limit until the modulation value returns to within the audible range.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Filter Section
att Knob
-Attack time
FL STUDIO Harmless - Filter Section
Attack slope Knob
-The knob below the att control determines the shape of the attack ramp.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Filter Section
dec Knob
-Decay time.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Filter Section
Decay slope
-The knob below the dec control determines the shape of the decay ramp.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Filter Section
amt Knob functions how?
- Filter cutoff frequency envelope amount.
- -Turning right applies positive modulation of the filter cutoff frequency.
- –Turning left applies a negative modulation of the filter cutoff frequency.
- —In ‘normal’ mode the envelope is multiplied by the amt value and added to the filter cutoff freq. See alt mode above.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Filter Section
VEL Button Below amt Knob does what?
-Links note-on velocity to filter envelope amount.
FL STUDIO Harmless - Filter Section
lfo Knob does what?
- Applies LFO to the filter cutoff value.
- -The value can be positive or negative depending on the direction of the lfo knob.