Detuning oscillators
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 11:03 am
Wouldn't that cause you to play out of key?
No. For unison sounds we don't detune them more than a couple of cents, (1/100 of a semitone) and it's only designed to add a little life and motion to the sound: absolute-dead-in-tune oscillators have kind of a flatness to them.
However, you can detune a lot for a specific effect: Keith Emerson had one oscillator tuned a 4th below for a different effect. Listen to Aquatarkus or the intro to Hoedown and you will hear how that can be used.
Back in the old days before ROMplers, one the the tricks to get a usable piano sound was to tune one of the oscillators to a 7th.
Hammond Organs use simple sine waves tuned to harmonics of the root (the 8 foot drawbar) that you add or subtract to get the sound you want.
Tony Banks used the 4 oscillators of his Prophent-10 detuned to different harmonics to create the distinctive organ sound in '80s Genesis tunes.
..Joe