Ableton Forum

If I put an instance of Analog in a MIDI channel and then put an instance of Spectrum after it, I see that when I set Analog to produce a sine wave, what I really get includes lots of partials, with the loudest being the second harmonic at about -45dB from the fundamental.

If, on the other hand, I use Operator, the frequency spectrum I get is much purer.

I am assuming that this is an artifact of Analog's attempt to simulate classic analog synths, flaws and all; but I wonder if anyone else can confirm that I'm not missing something obvious.

geekiest. forum post. ever

ark wrote:I wonder if anyone else can confirm that I'm not missing something obvious.

Um???
That your off pink plaid short sleeve shirt doesn't work with your tartan bow tie, or that orange pocket protecter.
I mean, well... i don't want to sound like the fashionista, but corduroy is so not in this year, especially brown.

ark wrote: I am assuming that this is an artifact of Analog's attempt to simulate classic analog synths, flaws and all; .

that would be my guess

I think its a great question and look forward to a serious answer

serious try even/odd harmonics are possibly created in the filter saturation or another stage (->analog distortion modeling). if the filter can be bypassed see if it changes anything in the spectrum.

COSM wrote:I think its a great question and look forward to a serious answer

+1

not all of us are throwing samples together to make "product".

Bagatell wrote: not all of us are throwing samples together to make "product".

+1

oh snap

funky shit wrote:geekiest. forum post. ever

^^^ No offense but if that's the prevailing attitude then the ableton forum really isn't what it used to be! Asking questions like that has improved my production a lot.

What Bunky Freaks said seems sensible. Although whether or not disabling the filter changes it, doesn't tell us much, there could be a saturation stage elsewhere or it could be in the oscillator waveform.

-45db sounds quiet though. I can't try this right now but can you try hard to get exactly the same sine wave out of both synths, set up a blind a/b test and then tell the difference?

alex.the.forge wrote:

ark wrote: I am assuming that this is an artifact of Analog's attempt to simulate classic analog synths, flaws and all; .

that would be my guess

a sine on a classical analog has no partials..

3phase wrote:

alex.the.forge wrote:

ark wrote: I am assuming that this is an artifact of Analog's attempt to simulate classic analog synths, flaws and all; .

that would be my guess

a sine on a classical analog has no partials..

Err. Yes it does. You're not going to get a pure sine wave out of analogue circuitry, it's always going to get distorted somewhere. Eh, last I looked at the waveform of the output from an analogue synth, the triangles weren't even triangular, and that's a lot easier to synthesise than a sine.

ciw wrote:

funky shit wrote:geekiest. forum post. ever

^^^ No offense but if that's the prevailing attitude then the ableton forum really isn't what it used to be! Asking questions like that has improved my production a lot.

chillax.. im probably the biggest geek in this thread,
but please agknowledge the fact that apart from TD's cable orgasms, this was pretty geeky,


i didnt say it was a bad thing.

Ok ok I chill I don't read enough of this forum to judge but there are certainly similar threads around. I started one elsewhere a while back regarding why a certain commercial tune had a pretty flat spectrum even when only kick and bass were going. (The answer, a hihat on each kick). All important stuff to know. Then there are linear phase eqs, oscillator phase on basslines, and so on, all seemingly technical nitpickery but actually having an audible effect.

noisetonepause wrote:
Err. Yes it does. You're not going to get a pure sine wave out of analogue circuitry, it's always going to get distorted somewhere. Eh, last I looked at the waveform of the output from an analogue synth, the triangles weren't even triangular, and that's a lot easier to synthesise than a sine.

You want to tell me that analog synth cant producer propper sinewaves? some minimal distortion hardly cant be called a partial

3phase wrote:You want to tell me that analog synth cant producer propper sinewaves? some minimal distortion hardly cant be called a partial

No, I don't find it at all improbable that an analogue synth attempting to produce a sine wave will have overtones at -45dB. You'll note that OP says he sees it in the spectrogram, not that he heard it.