
SATYR
Massive Virtual Analog Synthesis with 4 or 8 note polyphony

made by Mikko Hyyrylainen 
created with Jeff McClintock's SynthEdit


version 1.0 (compiled with SynthEdit 0.71)
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IMPORTANT NOTE!

Satyr comes in two different file versions: Satyr and Satyr-8. They are
two independent VST instruments with different polyphony. I recommend
you use the basic 4-note polyphonic Satyr version because Satyr-8 needs
twice the CPU power. The both files are identical aside the polyphony. 
There is no way to change the polyphony internally at the moment (this
is a SynthEdit limitation), sorry for the inconvenience.


Overview:

Satyr is a massive Virtual Analog synth with comprehensive oscillator
waveshaping and modulation methods. It is inspired by the monster modular
synths of days gone by and even though it is hardwired there are plenty
of different modulation possibilities. There are two oscillators with
variable waves, additional sub osc and noise generator, ring modulation,
FM, amplitude modulation and sync, three ADSR time/level envelopes 
(2 assignable) with delays and manual triggering, two variable lfos with
sample & hold and two filters. There is an internal clock for BPM synced
Lfos and sixteen different modulation destinations. There are two filters,
one 4-pole lowpass and one 2-pole multimode and they can be in parallel
or serial mode, among others. So as you can see there is pretty much
going on inside Satyr. It sounds best when you set your VST host's sample
rate to 96 kHz.


Oscillators section:

There are many basic controls in oscillator section. LEVEL controls the
amplitude of the oscillator, WAVE sets the waveform (Sine, Saw, Ramp,
Pulse, Triangle, White or Pink noise), PULSE WIDTH controls the pulse
wave's width and OCTAVE, NOTE and FINE control the basic pitch of the
oscillator. There are also few special controls: the SCALING switch
in oscillator 1 sets the keyscaling on or off and PITCH knob sets the
fixed pitch of osc 1 when scaling is off. Sub oscillator is fixed
square wave and Noise generator generates white noise. The SOFTEN can
smooth the sub osc and noise gen which are both routed to it so the
same amount of soften affects them both at the same time.

In Control subsection there are several different OSCILLATOR MODES to
choose from. NORMAL routes all oscillators to same bus that leads the
joined signal to the filter section. RING MOD modulates oscillator 1
with oscillator 2 and resulting signal is then mixed with sub osc and
noise and led to the filter bus. SYNC syncs osc 1 and osc 2 and in 
this mode also the combined waveform is routed to the filter bus. In
FM mode the osc 1 is the modulator and osc 2 is the carrier so that
the changes in osc 1's amplitude alter the sound radically. The slider
named FM DEPTH controls the total range of FM and FM SOFTEN smooths
the FM effect in an esoteric way. AM modulates the osc 1's amplitude
with osc 2's amplitude and results are quite the same as in ring
modulation, but there are some differences that justify its exsistence.
FILTER DIRECT is a special mode where oscillator 1 is routed directly
to filter 1 and oscillator 2 is routed to filter 2, while sub and
noise still goes to the standard bus. The knob named OSC 1-2 DETUNE
does just that: it detunes oscillators 1 and 2 to different directions
so that maximum detune of one semitune can be achieved. Exactly same
effect can also be achieved with OCTAVE,NOTE and FINE knobs but it is
here just to ease things a bit.


Performance section:

This section includes the basic performance controls of Satyr. MIDI
CHN selects the MIDI channel, MONO sets the monophonic mode on/off,
RETRIG sets the envelope retrigger mode (off is legato), PORTAMENTO
sets the portamento time of individual notes, BEND sets the pitch bend
range and INTERNAL CLOCK BPM sets the tempo of internal clock that
can be set to control the Lfos.


Envelopes section:

All three envelopes in Satyr are ADSR time/level envelopes with
ajdustable envelope amount and intelligent velocity sensitivity.
TIME sliders control the time how long it takes to move from one
breakpoint to other. LEVEL controls the level of each breakpoint.
The first envelope (amplitude envelope) controls the amplitude of
Satyr and envelopes 2 and 3 (assignable envelope 1 and 2) are freely
assignable to many different destinations (only one at the time,
though). These assignable envelopes can also be inverted and delayed
up to 2 seconds. There are some special things in assignable envelope
2. ENVELOPE MODE sets it either in NORMAL or TRIGGER mode and while
in normal mode it acts just like any other envelope the trigger mode
is something completely different. In this trigger mode the envelope
can be manually triggered with TRIGGER button or even triggered with
LFO (in which case you should use pulse wave for best results).


Modulators section:

LFO MODE sets the lfo in question either in SYNC or FREE mode. Sync
mode uses the internal clock for lfo rate while free lets you set it
freely with MANUAL knob. With TICK RATE the rate of synced lfo can 
be controlled further. DEPTH sets the depth of lfo and WAVEFORM sets
the type of lfo (sine, saw, ramp, pulse, triangle, white or pink
noise) and DESTINATION sets the modulation destination, obviously.
Lfo 1 has also DELAY that can be up to 2 seconds and SOFTEN that can
make the edges of lfo waveforms more round and smooth. Lfo 2 can be
set to SAMPLE/HOLD mode.


Filters section:

Filter 1 is a 4-pole Lowpass and filter 2 is a 2-pole multimode filter.
They both have their own CUTOFF, RESOnance and KEY FOLLOW knobs. Second 
filter's modes are Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass and Notch(bandreject).
FILTER CONNECTIONS selects the different filter routings. FILTER 1 is 
a mode where only the first filter is in use, in FILTER 2 mode only 
the second filter is in use and in NONE mode both filters are bypassed.
In SERIAL mode bus signal first goes through filter 1 and then it goes
to filter 2, SERIAL OD mode is like the other serial mode but this time
there is an overdrive unit between filters. In PARALLEL mode both filters
work independently side by side and PARALLEL FILTER MIX knob sets their
relative levels. 


Modulations:

There are plenty of different modulation destinations for lfos and
assignable envelopes in Satyr. This is a list of them with brief
descriptions about their action:
- Osc 1: modulates Osc 1's pitch
- Osc 2: modulates Osc 2's pitch
- Osc 1+2: modulates both oscillators' pitch (SubOsc stays unaffected!)
- Osc 1 amp: modulates Osc 1 amplitude
- Osc 2 amp: modulates Osc 2 amplitude
- PWM 1: modulates Osc 1 Pulse width
- PWM 2: modulates Osc 2 Pulse width
- LFO 1: modulates LFO 1 depth
- LFO 1 rate: modulates LFO 1 rate
- LFO 2: modulates LFO 2 depth
- LFO 2 rate: modulates LFO 2 rate
- Filter 1: modulates Filter 1 Cutoff frequency
- Filter 2: modulates Filter 2 Cutoff frequency
- Filter 1+2: modulates both filters' Cutoff frequencies
- Filter mix: modulates filter mix in parallel mode
- Env 2 Trig: LFOs positive phase triggers Envelope 2 (best with pulse)

 


IMPORTANT NOTE 1:

Because the phase of oscillators in Satyr (and in whole SynthEdit
also) cannot be synced, the oscillators tend to drift apart if
detuned and then set back to same tune. To avoid this new waveform
and to get the original waveform it is best to stop the sound engine
and then put it back on so that the phases of the oscillators are
reset and a saw is a saw again. Bear in mind that in some hosts
like Psycle this cannot be done at the moment so sadly you have to
open a new instance of Satyr to reset the oscillators.


IMPORTANT NOTE 2:

If this unit starts to misbehave in some unexpected and erratic
way, you should reset your host's sound engine. 



MIDI CC chart:  
 1  osc 1/2 detune 
 3  FM soften 
 4  FM depth
 5  Portamento
 7  Volume  
  

10  Osc 1 level
11  Osc 1 PWM
12  Osc 1 pitch (when scaling off)
13  Sub osc level

14  Env 1 level
15  Env 1 Attack rate
16  Env 1 Decay rate
17  Env 1 Sustain rate
18  Env 1 Sustain level
19  Env 1 Release rate

20  Osc 2 level
21  Osc 2 PWM
22  Noise level
23  Noise color

24  Env 2 level
25  Env 2 Attack rate
26  Env 2 Decay rate
27  Env 2 Sustain rate
28  Env 2 Sustain level
29  Env 2 Release rate
30  Env 2 Trigger

33  LFO 1 depth
34  LFO 1 manual
35  LFO 1 soften
36  LFO 2 depth
37  LFO 2 manual

75  Amplitude Sustain rate
76  Amplitude Sustain rate
77  Amplitude Sustain rate
78  Amplitude Sustain level
79  Amplitude Release rate

80  Filter 1 cutoff
81  Filter 1 resonance
82  Filter 2 cutoff
83  Filter 2 resonance
84  Parallel Filter mix




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Satyr is tested with Sonar 1.3 running DirectiXer 2, Aodix 2.34,
Psycle 1.6plus and Cubase SX.

SATYR IS A FREEWARE SO USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Thanks to Nina Nyman for Logo and illumination and above all:

	BIG THANKS TO JEFF!

You can contact me at: mortiance@hotmail.com


Visit Land of Cockaigne for more VSTs by yours truly:
www.funkelectric.com/~cockaigne
