Oscillators

At the heart of the synthesizer, the oscillators produce the raw tones that are later modified by other components, such as filters and the main envelope generator.

You control each oscillator with the following settings:

• Master Tune/Scale
  The inner Master Tune knob determines the frequency offset of both oscillators. The outer Scale knob transposes the frequency by full octaves. The Master Tune knob is a modulation target so you can modulate the frequency of both oscillators at once.
• Detune/Scale
  The inner Detune knob (below the Master Tune knob) sets the detune for oscillator 2, and its outer Scale knob transposes the detune by full octaves (0, 1, 2, or 3 octaves up). The Detune knob has a range of +/- one octave, and is extra sensitive around the 0 position so you can set small detunes easily. It is a modulation target as well.
• Wave Form
  The Wave Form switch selects the wave form that the oscillator produces: triangle (a soft, warm tone), sawtooth (a sharp bright tone that is ideal for filtering), and square (a more metallic sound, adjustable with the pulse width setting).
• Phase Sync
  Next to the Wave Form switch, the Phase Sync button (with a MIDI icon) toggles oscillator phase sync on and off. When oscillator phase sync is on, the oscillator resets its phase to halfway the wave form on each note-on event. With short, percussive sounds, this works really well to create a sharp and aggressive attack. However, normally you should turn it off because it can introduce unwanted clicks otherwise.
• Sync
  The Sync knob adjusts the level of hard sync for its oscillator. When set to 1, the oscillator works normally without hard sync. When set to a higher value, the oscillator will 'squeeze' more phases into one actual audible phase, which drastically changes the harmonics in the sound with a metallic-sounding effect. Sync is a modulation target.
• Pulse
  The Pulse knob adjusts the pulse width of the square wave form, from an even square to an infinitely thin pulse (which is inaudible). The pulse width is also a modulation target.
• Level/Pan
  The volume of each oscillator can be adjusted using the combined Level/Pan knobs. The outer ring sets the panning, the inner knob the overall level. Both are modulation targets.
• Portamento
  The Portamento knob adjusts the amount of portamento or glide, which makes the oscillators 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 Twin is unique because it also works in polyphonic mode, so you can play sliding chords! You can choose between two different portamento modes. When using normal portamento (high/low key portamento), gliding will happen always when holding down keys. When using legato portamento (also called fingered portamento), gliding will not be applied for the first key pressed, only for the keys after that.

To the left of the main oscillators, the noise oscillator optionally adds white or pink noise, with its own Level/Pan knob (also a modulation target). A small amount of noise often makes instruments sound more natural, and you can create thundering sound effects with lots of pink noise.

Tips

• Setting the level of an oscillator to 0 disables it, which reduces CPU usage. Also, the oscillators operate more efficiently when the Sync knob is set to 1 (disabling hard sync).
• When you want to change the level or panning settings of both oscillators at the same time, just hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (OS X) while turning a knob.
• The settings of the oscillator section can be stored as a section preset.

Next: Filters

See Also
Overview