Plaits engines
This list was adapted from the original Plaits manual, with some edits to match Tidal’s parameter implementation.
The engine
parameter (0-15) can be set to select one of the models listed below.
All engines accept the harm
, timbre
and morph
parameters, which have specific ways to shape the sound in each engine. The original Plaits module has an additional AUX output which features a distinct rendering of the original sound; in Tidal, you can set the mode
parameter to 1 to get the equivalent to the AUX output.
0: Pair of classic waveforms
Virtual-analog synthesis of classic waveforms.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | detuning between the two waves |
timbre | variable square, from narrow pulse to full square to hardsync formants |
morph | variable saw, from triangle to saw with an increasingly wide notch (Braids’ CSAW) |
mode 1 | sum of two hardsync’ed waveforms, the shape of which is controlled by morph and detuning by harm |
A narrow pulse or wide notch results in silence! Use this trick if you want to silence one of the two oscillators, to get a variable square or variable saw.
1: Waveshaping oscillator
An asymmetric triangle processed by a waveshaper and a wavefolder. Sounds familiar? That’s the same signal processing chain as in Tides, when it runs at audio rate!
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | waveshaper waveform |
timbre | wavefolder amount |
morph | waveform asymmetry |
mode 1 | variant employing another wavefolder curve, as available in Warps |
2: Two operator FM
Two sine-wave oscillators modulating each other’s phase.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | frequency ratio |
timbre | modulation index |
morph | feedback, in the form of operator 2 modulating its own phase (past 0.5, rough!) or operator 1’s phase (before 0.5, chaotic!) |
mode 1 | sub-oscillator |
Note: Set morph
to 0 to get the same range of sounds as Braids’ WTFM. Set it to 1 to recreate the same sounds as Braids’ FBFM. A gentler palette equivalent to Braids’ FM is found with morph
at 0.5.
3: Granular formant oscillator
Simulation of formants and filtered waveforms through the multiplication, addition and synchronization of segments of sine waves.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | frequency ratio between formant 1 and 2 |
timbre | formant frequency |
morph | formant width and shape; this controls the shape of the window by which a sum of two synchronized sine oscillators is multiplied |
mode 1 | simulation of filtered waveforms by windowed sine waves – a recreation of Braids’ Z*** models. harm controls the filter type (peaking, LP, BP, HP), with smooth variation from one response to another |
4: Harmonic oscillator
An additive mixture of harmonically-related sine waves.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | number of bumps in the spectrum; starts with one big bump, and progressively adds ripples around it |
timbre | index of the most prominent harmonic; this control is somewhat similar to the cutoff frequency of a band-pass filter |
morph | bump shape – from flat and wide to peaked and narrow; this control is somewhat similar to the resonance of a band-pass filter |
mode 1 | variant including only the subset of harmonics present in the drawbars of a Hammond organ (frequency ratios of 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12) |
5: Wavetable oscillator
Four banks of 8x8 waveforms, accessed by row and column, with or without interpolation.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | sets the active bank (read below) |
timbre | row index; within a row, the waves are sorted by spectral brightness (except for bank D which is a mess!) |
morph | column index |
mode 1 | low-fi (5-bit) output |
There are 4 interpolated banks followed by the same 4 banks, in reverse order, without interpolation.
- Bank A: harmonically poor waveforms obtained by additive synthesis (sine harmonics, drawbar organ waveforms).
- Bank B: harmonically rich waveforms obtained by formant synthesis or waveshaping.
- Bank C: wavetables from the Shruthi-1 / Ambika, sampled from classic wavetable or ROM playback synths.
- Bank D: a joyous semi-random permutation of waveforms from the other 3 banks.
(TODO: make it clearer which values of harm
select each bank, I didn’t test)
6: Chords
Four-note chords, played by virtual analogue or wavetable oscillators. The virtual analogue oscillators emulate the stack of harmonically-related square or sawtooth waveforms generated by vintage string&organ machines.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | chord type |
timbre | chord inversion and transposition |
morph | waveform; values until 0.5 go through a selection of string-machine like raw waveforms (different combinations of the organ and string “drawbars”), and above 0.5 it scans a small wavetable containing 16 waveforms |
mode 1 | root note of the chord |
The proper values for harm
(chord type) are
value | chord |
---|---|
0.00 - 0.08 | octave |
0.09 - 0.17 | 5 |
0.18 - 0.26 | sus4 |
0.27 - 0.36 | m |
0.37 - 0.46 | m7 |
0.47 - 0.56 | m9 |
0.57 - 0.66 | m11 |
0.67 - 0.75 | M 6/9 |
0.76 - 0.85 | M9 |
0.86 - 0.95 | M7 |
0.96 - 1 | M |
7: Vowel and speech synthesis
A collection of speech synthesis algorithms.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | crossfades between formant filtering, SAM, and LPC vowels, then goes through several banks of LPC words |
timbre | species selection, from Daleks to chipmunks. How does it work? This parameter either shifts the formants up or down independently of the pitch; or underclocks/overclocks the emulated LPC chip (with appropriate compensation to keep the pitch unchanged) |
morph | phoneme or word segment selection. When harm is greater than (0.4? original docs say knob at 11o’clock), a list of words can be scanned through |
mode 1 | unfiltered vocal cords’ signal |
8: Granular cloud
A swarm of 8 enveloped sawtooth waves.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | amount of pitch randomization |
timbre | grain density |
morph | grain duration and overlap; when set to 1, the grains merge into each other: the result is a stack of eight randomly frequency-modulated waveforms |
mode 1 | variant with sine wave oscillators |
To get a nice “supersaw” waveform, try a moderate amount of pitch randomization and grain density, with full grain overlap.
9: Filtered noise
Variable-clock white noise processed by a resonant filter. The cutoff frequency of the filter is controlled by freq
. This allows proper tracking!
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | filter response, from LP to BP to HP |
timbre | clock frequency |
morph | filter resonance |
mode 1 | variant employing two band-pass filters, with their separation controlled by harm |
10: Particle noise
Dust noise processed by networks of all-pass or band-pass filters.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | amount of frequency randomization |
timbre | particle density |
morph | filter type – reverberating all-pass network before 0.5, then increasingly resonant band-pass filters |
mode 1 | raw dust noise |
11: Inharmonic string modeling
No info on the original docs
12: Modal resonator
For your own pleasure, a mini-Rings! Refer to the Rings section for more information about modulated/inharmonic string synthesis, and modal resonators.
When the TRIG input is not patched, the string/resonator is excited by dust (particle) noise. Otherwise, the string is excited by a short burst of filtered white noise, or by a low-pass filtered click. (FIXME: what does the TRIG input equate to in Tidal?)
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | amount of inharmonicity, or material selection |
timbre | excitation brightness and dust density |
morph | decay time (energy absorption) |
mode 1 | raw exciter signal |
Note that Plaits uses a less powerful processor than Rings, and is thus limited to 3 voices of polyphony in inharmonic string modeling mode, and 1 voice of polyphony with 24 partials in modal resonator mode. Plaits does not allow you to control the position of the excitation, which is set to 25% of the length of the string/bar/tube.
13: Analog bass drum model
No fancy acronyms or patented technology here… Just behavioral simulation of circuits from classic drum machines! The drum machine employs a bridged T-network excited by a nicely shaped pulse.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | attack sharpness and amount of overdrive |
timbre | brightness |
morph | decay time |
mode 1 | frequency-modulated triangle VCO, turned into a sine with a pair of diodes, and shaped by a dirty VCA |
Without any signal patched to the TRIG input, a continuous tone is produced. Not particularly useful, but its amplitude can still be modulated by morph
and CV input (FIXME: equivalent to CV input in Tidal?).
14: Analog snare drum model
The generator employs a bunch of bridged T-networks, one for each mode of the shell, excited by a nicely shaped pulse; plus some band-pass filtered noise.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | balance of the harmonic and noisy components |
timbre | balance between the different modes of the drum |
morph | decay time |
mode 1 | a pair of frequency-modulated sine VCO, mixed with high-pass filtered noise |
15: Analog hi-hat model
A bunch of square oscillators generate a harsh, metallic tone. The resulting signal is mixed with clocked noise, sent to a HPF, then to a VCA. It uses 6 square oscillators and a dirty transistor VCA.
parameter | effect |
---|---|
harm | balance of the metallic and filtered noise |
timbre | high-pass filter cutoff |
morph | decay time |
mode 1 | three pairs of square oscillators ring-modulating each other, and a clean, linear VCA |