Harmless : synthèse additive-subtractive révolutionnaire et ses possibilités sonores

Additive synthesis rendered Harmless! This synth performs subtractive synthesis using an additive synthesis engine, but why? complicated to program using subtractive synthesis alone.

WITH Harmless, filters and phasers can be assigned unusual shapes and slopes, the slopes can even be defined in Hz resolution instead of octaves.

Finally, Harmless gains control of each partial's frequency, opening a world of new possibilities for creating innovative sounds.

Mais tout cela n’est que du détail, en termes simples, Harmless est un synthétiseur subtractif-additif révolutionnaire qui sonne étonnamment bien, possède un répertoire immense et invite à l’expérimentation, comme vous allez le découvrir.

NOTE: The Harmless GUI color codes knobs and sliders so that related controls are the same color.

We recommend loading a Wave Candy Spectral Analyzer after Harmless while you are learning to program the plugin, a picture is worth 1000 words, so they say.

La philosophie de design de Harmless est 'moins c’est mieux', chaque fonctionnalité, contrôle et fonction harmoniques a été soigneusement sélectionné pour une efficacité maximale.

LESS HARMonics, now that's Harmless!

Additive-Subtractive engine providing unique capabilities.

Harmless est un synthétiseur à une seule page qui permet des changements de programmes rapides et est parfait pour les performances live et l’expérimentation.

The Oscillator (audio source) is controlled by the Timbre selector. Choose from a range of waveform shapes.

L’oscillateur est basé sur la synthèse additive, c’est-à-dire une fondamentale ou pitch racine et ses harmoniques qui s’ajoutent pour créer des formes d’onde plus complexes.

Most of the built-in waveforms are bright, rich saws since other common waveforms, like pulse, are created by filtering the harmonic mask or even with the phaser.

Timbre - Select from a number of pre-computed additive waveforms.

audio file to import the timbre. Once loaded, selecting another timbre and returning to the Custom value will now open the new customized waveform as a preset.

Right-click menu - To select from 'Analyze single cycle waveform' browser and 'Reset custom timbre color'.

that supports drag and drop) onto the Harmless GUI to be analyzed as a Custom timbre.

phase - Turning left randomizes the phase of each harmonic separately. This is useful for creating 'metallic' timbres.

'free-running' mode. This is useful to add some variation to transients in the timbre.

lhp - Low Harmonic Protection.

sub - Sub Harmonics add bass, weight or depth to the sound. The first slider Sub 1 is an octave below the root note. The remaining two sub sliders are harmonics of Sub 1. Sub 3 is the 3rd harmonic and Sub 4 is the 4th harmonic.

equalizer - 6 Band harmonic equalizer. Unlike a traditional EQ this is a floating equalizer, relative to the root note (fundamental frequency).

the 1st harmonic and a little of the 2nd. harmonic mask - Sliders cut the harmonics from the Timbre waveform. Sliders 1 to 12 relate to the first 12 harmonics of the root note and frequencies that are multiples of 12 for each slider up the harmonic frequency scale.

In other words, the harmonic mask is a repeated stamp over all harmonics, cutting where selected. Generally the mix control must be active for the mask to have an effect, however a positive and active LFO can override that.

To hear the harmonic mask, select the default patch, turn the lhp and sub harmonic sliders to their minimum settings, minimize all the harmonic mask sliders and turn the mix knob fully clockwise to hear only the masked signal (i.e nothing should be audible yet).

Then raise each harmonic mask slider in turn and listen to the result.

mix - Change the harmonic masking level (to disable turn fully left).

lfo - Subjects the mix level to LFO modulation. Turn left to modulate cut harmonics and right to modulate active harmonics.

main LFO controls (lower right on the interface).

trem - Stereo tremolo effect.

att - Combination of note starting level and attack time. The first few ms of the att knob range adjust only the attack 'starting level' then higher values adjust attack time.

VEL - Links note-on velocity to the attack time value.

pluck - The pluck feature is a specialized, quickly decaying, low-pass filter envelope applied to the timbre.

masked - Applies the masking function to the pluck. I.e. mask sliders determine the decay time of the corresponding harmonics. See the tutorial patch 'Masked pluck'.

release - Pluck only on release. Make sure to use a long decay setting otherwise the effect won't be audible, but not so long you drive up the polyphony and eat CPU.

VEL - Links note-on velocity to pluck decay time.

detune - Harmonic tuning.

grit - Adds a 'metallic' grittiness by selectively detuning harmonics.

vib - Vibrato effect. Fast pitch modulation. TIP: It can be useful to link the aftertouch to this knob. and then press the note harder and you are done.

lfo - Applies LFO to the main pitch.

porta - Portamento slides between the levels/pitch of the last note & the new one.

legato - Legato is a monophonic mode and slides between overlapping notes. The time knob determines the slide time.

The filter functions control the type of filtering and cutoff frequency. Envelope and LFO functions are added to the filter cutoff frequency as set by the freq control.

alt - Alternative, 'adaptive envelope' mode ensures the filter cutoff frequency is only modulated over the range from the current cutoff value to the max/min frequency limit. The cutoff modulation range is 'adaptive' in that 100% envelope modulation always = max/min frequency. Direction depends on the amt value being positive or negative. The purpose is to avoid 'pauses' that can happen in 'normal' mode when the cutoff is modulated above or below the max/min frequency and the cutoff pauses at the limit until the modulation value returns to within the audible range.

att - Attack time. dec - Decay time. amt - Filter cutoff frequency envelope amount. Turning right applies positive modulation of the filter cutoff frequency. Turning left applies a negative modulation of the filter cutoff frequency.

In 'normal' mode the envelope is multiplied by the amt value and added to the filter cutoff freq. lfo - Applies LFO to the filter cutoff value.

kb.t - Keyboard tracking. Applies an offset to the filter cutoff value depending on pitch. The offset-value can be positive or negative depending on the direction of the kb.t knob. width - Filter bandwidth. Narrower widths create a more clearly defined 'center frequency' sound. freq - Filter cutoff frequency.

Low pass - Filters frequencies above the cutoff frequency. Band pass - Filters frequencies either side of a central band. oct / Hz - Sets the filter shape to an Octave or Hertz scale. res - Filter resonance. This boosts frequencies around the cutoff value (depending on the offset value). Resonance accentuates the cutoff frequency position making a familiar 'resonant' sound.

Classic - Single narrow resonance peak. Spring, Pedestal, Sedge hat, Wide bump & Double cone - Various resonance peak shapes, named according to their approximate shape. Well & Wormhole - Cut frequencies at the cutoff frequency with resonant peaks either side of the hole. to avoid annoying interferences and overly loud ringing when the resonance peak passes harmonic frequencies.

Noise - Special effect. Randomly selects harmonics to play. oct / Hz - Sets the shape of the resonance frequency peak to an Octave or Hertz scale. ofs - Shift the resonant frequency +/- 2400 cents, relative to the cutoff frequency.

osc - Self-oscillation level. A sine wave is deliberately introduced at the resonant frequency developing more distinct 'tonal' sound.

motion.t - This works with the self-oscillation (osc) feature so that the self oscillation only happens when there is cutoff-frequency motion.

adaptive - Adaptive resonant-peak width. The resonant peak changes width as a function of cutoff frequency.

Unison is a thickening and stereoizing effect, similar to chorusing. Unlike chorus, that is applied to the final output, unison is a per-note effect where each note is given a user-defined number of 'subvoices' (from the order setting).

Order - Number of unison voices. Unison type menu - Select from three variations of pitch and panning spread (Classic, Uniform & Blurred). Set by ear. pan - Panning variation across the unison voices. var - Adds a offset the LFO position (phase) and phaser speed for each unison voice.

Phasing is the process of creating, constantly moving, frequency cancellation/s in a sound. Phaser type menu - Select phaser type. Deep, Deeper, Condom, Twins, Cascade & Box - Are special phasing effects that fully exploit the Harmless additive architecture. freq - Extra special! Phaser scale - Set the scale to octave, Hz or harmonics. Set by ear. See the tutorial preset 'PWM' to learn how to use the phaser in harmonic scale in order to achieve pulse-width modulation (PWM).

lfo - Subjects the width setting to LFO modulation. The lfo characteristics are set at the main LFO (lower right on the interface).

ofs - Offsets the phase mask (cancellation) position. lfo - Subjects the offset setting to LFO modulation. The lfo characteristics are set at the main LFO (lower right on the interface).

The harmonizer clones the existing harmonics upwards, using various methods (+ octaves, or by an offset).

lfo - Subjects the width setting to LFO modulation. The lfo characteristics are set at the main LFO (lower right on the interface).

Harmonization type menu - Choose from various transpositions. Harmonization position menu - Choose the location where the harmonizer is added to the timbre (Pre-filter, Pre-phaser, Pre-pluck, Final. Final vs Pre-filter. Adding harmonizer harmonics Pre-filter means the filter can still remove them. Harmonizing added at Final means the filter will have no effect on the harmonizer harmonics.

att - Attack controls the time taken for the LFO to reach maximum oscillation. The effect is similar to an attack envelope over the LFO. speed - LFO oscillation frequency. LFO shape/source menu - Select from a number of LFO waveforms or special sources.

Voice random - The LFO value changes randomly each time a note is played. Pitch - Note pitch. global - When deselected the LFO restarts for each note played and the LFO is unique to that note. When selected the LFO continuously cycles in the background and all notes share the current LFO value.

The integrated effects are designed to be easily tweaked and not distract you from the task of making music or sound-design. If you want more complex effects then use external plugins following Harmless in the Mixer chain.

Chorus - The Chorus effect results from the interaction of delayed copies of the input sound, that are detuned by a small and continuously varied amount. It is called 'Chorus' because it can make a single voice sound like that of a chorus of singers (all slightly out of tune relative to each other) and creates a thick and lush texture. The effect is similar to Unison but operates across all voices rather than per-voice and is much less CPU intensive.

Chorus type - Select from a range of different Chorus styles.

Delay - Delay is an echo-based effect. fb - Feedback controls the number of delay echoes. time - Controls the spacing between the delay echoes. the time setting (delay values display in beats and beat fractions).

Reverb - Reverberation, simulates acoustic spaces. If you clap your hands in a bathroom and in a concert hall, the two sounds will be quite different. In enclosed spaces reflections overlap one another to create a 'reverberant' sound. Consider using delay to create the sense of space rather than reverb in a dense musical mix.

Reverb type - Select from a range of room sizes.

Comp - Select from compression, limiting and distortion effects. Harmless uses the Maximus compression engine. claims. The Limiting preset prevents the output from Harmless exceeding 0 dB (assuming its Mixer track and Channel setting volumes are at the defaults). When Limiting the Mix control is disabled.

The remaining presets offer various compression 'flavors' as described by their names. Distortion does what it says. Set by ear. Mix - Control the mix between the dry and effected signal.

Processing quality - Select from normal where everything is normal or high quality where the sonic beauty will make you weep with desire. better live quality on transients and very fast LFO's. Quality comes at the cost of CPU load. for live use, unless you are using the VST version then it's available on the Hint Bar Options menu.

threaded - Allows multi-threading for improved multi-core CPU performance.

? - Shows the about screen.

MIDI Channel 14 - Invert legato state, mono (slide) override, use in conjunction with MIDI Channel color 1. MIDI Channel 15 - Invert portamento state, use in conjunction with MIDI Channel color 1. MIDI Channel 16 - Filter cutoff frequency. The absolute frequency is based on a defaulted (middle) filter freq knob setting.

Dans cette vidéo, nous plongeons dans l'usage de Harmless, un synthétiseur soustractif réputé parmi les utilisateurs de FL Studio. Nous explorons comment Harmless part d'un échantillon de son et le module via des filtres d'harmoniques et des enveloppes, similaire à un sampler. Harmless est connu pour sa faible consommation de ressources, permettant l'inclusion de plusieurs instances dans une session unique. L'utilisation de présélections et d'effets comme le phaser, ainsi que le réglage de paramètres tels que le pitch et les enveloppes, est détaillée. Nous démontrons également comment créer des arpèges et ajuster des effets comme la reverb pour enrichir les compositions.

I love fl studio synths, I would like to share these 130 presets that were designed for harmless. Please let me know if you have any problems or if you want to make any suggestions. I will be happy to know your opinions. Enjoy these presets for harmless.

Unzip the downloaded file. Place the folders and files (.fst) in the user data folder. For me that is: C:\Users\[username]\Documents\Image-Line\Data\FL Studio\Presets\Plugin presets\Generators\Harmless, but your location could be different. If you can't find it this way, look on your drive for a folder called 'Harmless' and see what fits.

tags: #ou #mettre #preset #harmelss