Shape the sound
Modulation and macros
Route LFOs, step patterns, random signals and macro knobs to sound controls, and edit their amounts.
Modulation moves a control around its set value. An LFO can make the filter pulse; a macro knob can increase several effect amounts together. A route connects the modulation source to the control it changes.
Track modulation lives in the factory instrument card's Mod section and Macros column. It is separate from the modules and cables inside the Grid.
Make a route
- Select a track and open Device.
- In Mod, press Mod or Add modulator, then choose a kind.
- Right-click a supported sound knob, choose Modulate with, and choose your modulator.
- Press the chain-link button in Macros, labelled Edit modulation amounts.
- Turn the routed knob to change its modulation amount, shown in cyan.
A new route starts at 25. Amounts range from −100 to 100 in the control's travel. Negative amounts reverse the movement. An LFO swings either side of the base; a macro moves in one direction from zero towards its current Amount. Values are limited to the destination control's range.
Turn off Edit modulation amounts to return knobs to ordinary sound editing. In amount mode, double-click resets the route amount to zero. A knob's orange arc remains its base setting; its needle can follow modulation during playback.
If more than one modulator reaches a control, its right-click menu offers Edit amount for to choose the route you are editing. Remove modulation removes all routes to that control. Removing a modulator itself also removes its routes.
A track can have eight modulators and 64 routes. The add control stops adding at the modulator limit.
The compact Mod section
The compact section shows the first LFO's shape, Rate and Depth. Click its picture to cycle waveforms. Depth is the amount on that LFO's first route; it is dimmed until a route exists. The hint says Not routed yet. Right-click a knob, then Modulate with.
Press Show all modulators to expand the complete list. Show fewer modulators returns to the compact section. Each expanded modulator has a power switch, a name you can double-click to rename, and a remove button. Enter or clicking away keeps a rename; Escape cancels it.
Available source controls
| Kind | Controls and behaviour |
|---|---|
| LFO | Rate, Phase, Waveform and Sync to tempo. Waveforms are Sine, Triangle, Square, Saw and Random. Phase chooses the starting position in a cycle. |
| Step | Eight or sixteen vertical step values, Rate, Steps and Sync to tempo. The step values move the destination below or above its base; the middle value is neutral. |
| Random | Rate, Smooth and Sync to tempo. Smooth blends the transitions between random values. |
| Macro | Amount, a value you turn manually. One macro can have routes to several controls. |
| Envelope | Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release are exposed, but the current track-routing path does not trigger this modulator from notes. It does not produce envelope movement there. Use a note-connected Grid envelope for that job. |
With sync off, the Rate travel covers slow to fast movement. With Sync to tempo on, Rate selects discrete divisions relative to quarter-note tempo, from a cycle lasting sixteen quarter notes to an eighth of a quarter note. Step Rate controls the full pattern cycle, not an individual step's duration.
Disabling a modulator makes its contribution zero while retaining its settings and routes. Step, random and LFO timing follows playback time; it is not separately restarted by each note.
Macro knobs
The four macro slots on the left of a factory instrument card show the track's first four Macro modulators. Press an empty Add macro slot to create one, then route it to other knobs with Modulate with.
For example, route Macro 1 to an effect's Mix and the instrument's Cutoff. Edit each route's amount separately, then turn Macro 1 with amount mode off to move both destinations. A macro with no routes is simply a stored control and has no effect on sound.
Macro sources count towards the same eight-modulator limit. Renaming, disabling or removing them is available in the expanded modulator list.
Which destinations work
Track volume, pan, effect-channel sends, implemented factory sound parameters and supported effect-instance parameters can use these routes. A control appearing in a menu does not add a sound function that its instrument lacks: the factory Key trk setting and legacy Tone, Motion, Space and Energy targets do not drive the current factory sound. Drum pad parameter routes do not reshape the generated drum samples during playback.
The conventional factory parameter routes are also separate from a custom instrument's exposed Grid controls. For a custom graph, connect modulation inside the Grid or use its parameter bindings and device controls.
Automation sets the destination's base over the song; modulation is added afterwards. Read automation to draw a repeatable arrangement curve. Save the project to keep all track-level modulators and routes; the ordinary Save patch action does not include their complete current state.