R3 Decimator

DubMax · Post by **DubMax** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:36 am

for some reason no matter what patch i use (trust me theres a large range of them) nor patches i specifically make for 8 bit work(using the decimator). they have an annoying background buzz that seems impossible to get rid of. do any of you guys have any idea on how to make this sound more clean but retain that retro 8 bit sound?

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:15 am

What you are describing is the unfiltered sample rate reduction.

The decimator effect has two parameters: the bit depth, and the sample rate.
If you don't want that sound, turn the sample rate all the way up to the top (48kHz I believe).

Of course, if you're using the decimator waveshaper function, you can't do it. the sample rate is reduced in tandem with the bit depth as there is only one parameter. You might get a nicer sound by using the decimator effect whilst using drive, or hard clip, or maybe a suboscillator, in the waveshaper section.

You'll be pleased to know though that the most common '8bit' sound synthesizer was in fact the SID chip on the Comodore64 (I have one!). It uses a full analog synthesizer on a chip, so there is no sample rate or bit rate reduction - it is completely analog. The '8bit' comes from the fact that the computer itself was based on an 8bit instruction set/architecture.

The SID chip had three oscillators and an analog filter. envelopes and LFO functionality were provided by the software, so at higher rates came out noticeably 'stepped'. Depending on how much else was going on in software too.

The decimator is mostly useful for emulating vintage digital synthesizers, which often had lower sample rates and bit depths.

DubMax · Post by **DubMax** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 8:32 pm

Thank you so much x-trade! Turned up what was labeled fs all the way to 48kHz threw on some hardclip and it sounds absolutely beautiful. Although i did cheat cause it sounded a little raunchy on the 8 bit and put it to 10 bit

i looked up that commodore and it looks more like an old comp haha you need to put some music from that up!

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:36 pm

DubMax wrote:Thank you so much x-trade! Turned up what was labeled fs all the way to 48kHz threw on some hardclip and it sounds absolutely beautiful. Although i did cheat cause it sounded a little raunchy on the 8 bit and put it to 10 bit i looked up that commodore and it looks more like an old comp haha you need to put some music from that up!

Glad it worked!

The Comodore IS an old computer. The point I was trying to get at is that '8 bit' music style is modeled after the sounds of the music in old computer games. The Comodore64 was arguably the most popular home computer for games in the 80s. But it actually used a full analog synthesizer and has none of the characteristics produced by the decimator effect.

There is software that uses the on board sound chip to make it into a synthesizer, I haven't really played around with that much though. I would like to when I get the time.
I actually have a small collection of vintage 80s computers - a few Sinclair computers (ZX81, Spectrum, Spectrum +2, +3), A Comodore64, BBC Micro & a handful of BBC Masters. I should have an Atari too but I've lost it...
The Comodore is almost singlehandedly the best for music though. The Spectrum +2 and +3 have nicer programming interfaces for their music functions, and take the note lengths in a more musically friendly way, but only play square-wave based beeps.