LFOs... anger ... Am I the only one?

Elektron Gear
#1

Hey!

I really don’t know why. But everytime I want to do something fancy with LFOs on my own it won’t work. It is just not intuitive. It’s almost like a blind flight (as often with the OT or the Analogs mk1 with even more cryptic abbreviations due to limited screen space).

And even then I have to look search this forum – which I’ll forget right after using it – or doesn’t work as expected because I’m always missing the sweetspot.

Can you help me? For example right now what I’m trying to do on the DN:

I want to use the LFO to slooooowly (maybe over 1-2 bars) fade in an ARP track. What I did intuitively (and from reading this forum of course):

  1. lowered in AMP page volume to 0
  2. LFO: AMP VOL, RMP, SPD 4, DEP 127, BPM 1, no fade, SPH 0, TRIG Mode HLF

I hear nothing at all.

I would expect the RMP to start with 0 (SPD is a positive value… right?) and then rise up which will rise the DEP from 0 to 127 as the RMP goes up over 32 Steps (SPD 4 * MLT 1 = 32 Steps) because we only use half of the Ramp (50% = peak).

If I turn the phase (SPH) I hear something …but I also don’t find one value where a ramp up is happening (I then only hear a fixed value).

What is going on and why is this always happening what ever I try with the LFO? Do I misunderstand something fundamentally? Or am I just not the smartest candle on the cake? :smiley:

#2

Youve turned the amp vol to zero. So the LFO has no where to go…

Try leaving the amp vol where it is, and listen to a ramp wave raise the volume from zero to the final destination.

Or use slide trigs (if you have an older elektron, or curse elektron for not putting slide trigs on the newer ones)

1 Like
#3

Nope. Still. I have dialed in like 4000 combinations in the last 30 minutes. Tried to figure it out, seriously.

But I accidently made it fade out over 32 steps. Then I reversed the SPD … didn’t work. It’s so flakey to use for me. Am I the only one?

1 Like
#4

Which machine are you using?
Have you told the LFO to only trigger once?
Have you told the trig page to trigger the LFO?

Can you get the LFO to raise the volume from zero to full at all? Of so, work from there.

I have no problem doing this with my octatrack, though for such a modulation I would use a slide trig. Much easier.

#5

leave amp volume where it is ( like 100)
Set mode to ONE (or HALF actually I think in this case)
Set wave to Sawtooth with a full negative depth. This way it will start at the low AMP volume and ramp up to the set amp volume. Set MULT and SPD to taste

Make sure LFO.T is set to OFF (TRG param page). Now lock it to ON on the first trigger.

Though it’s a bit of a waste to be honest to use a whole LFO for this. Better to do this manually so you have an extra LFO free for interesting modulations. :wink:

3 Likes
#6

To add:

It might be you need to get used to how it works., but the LFOs are super flexible. Once you get how things interact you can do so much with them. Important to realise is the interaction of the LFO with trigs.

On modes TRIGGER, ONE and HALF the LFO gets triggered by each trig unless the LFO.T parameter on the TRG parameter page is set to off. For lock-trigs this parameter is locked to OFF by default.

4 Likes
#7

I am so angry that I am about to make a definite LFO chart with known working combinations :smiley:

The thing is: I understand all of this – I do know about the relation of the LFO.T and TRIGGER modes. But still… I find myself always to not get anything done as I want. Hm.

But for example with the AMP VOL. I set it to 0. LFOs as far as I understand add its number to the DEST current value like LFO the FREQ with a Sine you set the FREQ to 50% and then let the Sine pulse around that as high as the DEPTH is. I would understand that the RMP would add its value (0-127) to the 0 AMP VOL. Right? I mean there seems to be one detail I fundamentally misunderstand here.

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#8

Just tried it… it’s not working.

#9

Just don’t set the amp volume to zero :). Why would you? There’s no need for it. Try what I explained above.

When you set AMP volume to 0 with a ramp with a positive depth, what happens is:
It starts at 0 AMP volume and ramps up according to the set depth. And after it hits the peak it goes down to 0. Or if you set the lfo MODE to half I think it also goes back to zero after half the wave is completed.

This is why you want to leave the AMP volume to the value that it should end at.

2 Likes
#10

That’s very odd.

is the LFO fade parameter set to default? and you are using a positive speed?

#11

Yes and yes.

#12

LFO SPH set to 0?

#13

Yes

#14

Getting a hot cup of coffee and enjoying this realtime LFO debug session :sunglasses::coffee:

18 Likes
#15

on the AMP page sustain is not set to 0? :stuck_out_tongue: just checking.

Very odd. works fine here. I am doing this from the top of my head, but I use this all the time to create pseudo side chain compression.

#16

Sustain at 100.

You know what: Maybe my hardware has a hardware fault from the beginning and that’s why I have always problems :smiley: It’s the only explanation.

#17

Well, it’s a digital unit, and this is just software :wink: so I highly doubt that. Can you post a screenshot of your LFO pages and AMP page?

1 Like
#18

Maybe turn it if and on again?

8 Likes
#19

No plocks or scenes overriding it?

#20

Have you tried switching projects and doing it on a fresh pattern?

Whenever I’ve had Digitone issues, this has solved it.