Oscillator

At the heart of the synthesizer, the oscillator produces the raw tones that are later modified by other components, such as the filter and the envelope generator.

You control the oscillator with the following settings:

• Wave Form
  Selects the wave form that the oscillator produces: triangle (a soft, warm tone), sawtooth (a sharp bright tone that is ideal for filtering), square (a more metallic sound, adjustable with the pulse width setting), and white noise (which is great for percussive sounds and effects).
• PW/PWM
  Adjusts the pulse width of the square wave form, from an even square to an infinitely thin pulse (which is inaudible). In combination with the Pulse Width Modulation switch in the Patching Features section, this knob also adjusts the amount of pulse width modulation. See Modulation: I can't stop.
• Scale
  Transposes the tones that are produced by the oscillator by full octaves. The oscillator produces rich bass tones at the 32' position and high whistles at 4'. The 16' and 8' settings are good for lead sounds.
• Pitch
  Slightly detunes the oscillator, which can be necessary if you want to play along with a record, or with live instruments. To reset this setting, hold down Ctrl and click the Pitch knob once.
• Portamento
  Adjusts the amount of portamento or glide, which makes the oscillator slide from one note to another. A little portamento is great for smooth keyboard solos, or when playing large bass intervals. The portamento feature in FabFilter One is unique because it also works in polyphonic mode, so you can play sliding chords!
• Noise
  Adds extra noise to the oscillator signal. Use the Noise Type switch at the bottom to choose between white and pink noise. A small amount of noise makes instruments sound more natural, and you can create thundering sound effects with lots of pink noise. (Try the Pink Noise preset in the Basic submenu for a good starting point.)

Next: Filter

See Also
Overview