Can Combination Mode be Used for up to 16 Oscillators?

[simoniz]

I'm sure we have all asked ourselves this question, while trying to fatten up our program sounds. Some sounds really require a 3rd oscillator to sound they way they do in our heads.

So I decided to test it out with my oscilloscope. Using combination mode for more oscillators, that is.

I created a program with a single oscillator, using the Moog saw down sample from the vintage sound bank.

I inputted this signal into the oscilloscope for a baseline reading. I was very pleased to see that the waveform was very very close to the replica Mini Moog Model D that I built from scratch. The only real difference was a bit more jitter and resonance in the Mini, but I digress...

Next, I added a second oscillator to the program to test how the waveform responds to having a duplicate oscillation added to it. As expected, the waveform only increased in amplitude, but retained the exact same shape otherwise.

I saved the program with only one Moog saw down oscillator, and headed over to combination mode.

I then added the single OSC program three times to the combination. I turned the first two programs on, and the third off, hoping to find a waveform with 1.3x the amplitude of the single OSC. To my disappointment, the waveform was horribly skewed. It didn't sound nicer, and looked like the second program was being played less than a millisecond too late, causing the problem.

When I added the third program, the same thing happened. Now the waveform looked like a 3 step saw off a horribly put together caveman's analogue synth. And it sounded like it too.

The closest I got to a triple oscillator was by delaying all three programs by 8ms. For some reason, that got them playing at relatively similar times, so it actually sounded good. Still not a true 3 OSC setup, but not bad.

Does anyone have any idea why combination mode doesn't blend the signals as well as program mode with the oscillators? I assume it has something to do with actual hardware oscillations, rather than just playing samples over top of each other like in combi mode.

Damn, I wish Korg made a 3 OSC workstation like the Triton.