Motion
Pad · Lesson 3 of 4 · PD3
The 3rd step of the pad track in PatchPond's subtractive synthesis curriculum. Width, motion, space — and this lesson is where you meet low-frequency oscillator, modulation source → destination for the first time.
▸What you'll learn
A hand slowly turning a knob back and forth, forever, while you keep playing.
An LFO is an oscillator that runs slow enough to feel — typically below 20 Hz — and is used as a control signal rather than an audible tone. Routed to filter cutoff it creates a slow wah; routed to pitch it creates vibrato; routed to amplitude it creates tremolo; routed to pulse width it creates the classic shimmer of a fattened square. Read more →
Patch cables on the back of an old synth — pick a source jack and a destination jack, and decide how much.
Modulation routing is the wire that connects a control signal to a parameter it changes. The source is something that generates a moving value — an LFO, a velocity reading, an envelope, the mod wheel — and the destination is any parameter that can be moved: filter cutoff, oscillator pitch, amplitude, pan. Read more →
▸Built on
A dimmer switch for treble, with a side knob that lets the dimmer ring like a struck wine glass.
A low-pass filter lets low frequencies through and gradually cuts everything above a chosen cutoff frequency. Full definition →
First taught in BS3 Open the filter
Build this lesson live in the PatchPond studio. Web MIDI in, on-screen keyboard otherwise. The patch you make here loads back into iOS later on — same patch format.
Open in studio →▸In this track
Previous ← PD2 Breathe
Next PD4 Space →