Novation K-Station: Tremolo ?

[bibenu]

I thought this would be simple, but I can't find an answer through experimentation or the manual.

Is there a way to get tremolo (amplitude modulation by LFO) from a K-Station ?

I can't find a routing either on the front-panel or through the various menus ... not even via the wheels menu. The only possible option I can see is to treat the synth as mono and use the panning effect.

Any ideas ? Surely this wasn't omitted and it's just I can't find it ?

EDIT: I'm talking about the hardware synth with keyboard and version number 2.1 .

[meatballfulton]

From the user manual, it appears there is no way to route the LFOs to the amp stage. So, panning tremelo is your only option. It will probably sound terrible collapsing stereo to mono

[V301H]

VCA Modulation can be a useful feature for creating various repeat effects including Tremolo. With a full-featured LFO you can use Sine/Triangle, Square, Sawtooth/Reverse-Sawtooth, or S&H for interesting cycling effects. To simulate Tremolo without VCA Modulation you might try Pulse-Width Modulation using an LFO Sine or Triangle wave and adjust the Pulse-Width of a Square wave so it's amplitude fluctuates with each cycle.

[bibenu]

To simulate Tremolo without VCA Modulation you might try Pulse-Width Modulation using an LFO ...

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Unfortunately it's applicable to the sound I was thinking of ... sort of piano-like but with a little movement. Vibrato was OTT, so I thought Tremolo would suit ... that's how I discovered this really strange omission from the K-Station.

I mean ... it's not like I'm looking for something really obscure or difficult like multi-tap delay or something ... AM by LFO should be part of the basics.

[meatballfulton]

You might be surprised how many prized older synths don't support any kind of amplitude modulation.

SH-101 and Junos, for instance. The ARP Odyssey only allowed it via the EG retrigger feature. By the 1990s AM was pretty commonplace, but still not all synths had it.

Even today's Korg Minilogue and Moog Sub Phatty don't allow LFO modulation of amplitude.

[V301H]

None of the original Sequential Circuits Prophets have VCA Modulation which is surprising since these were high-end Synths. I have had a Pro-One since it was new and didn't notice this until I got a Prophet 5 and wanted to do a repeat effect. The Pro-One does have a dedicated Repeat as does the ARP Odyssey but both sound like a square wave. The Minimoog Model D also lacks this capability as well as other functions that are now common.

[SciNote]

You might be surprised how many prized older synths don't support any kind of amplitude modulation.

SH-101 and Junos, for instance. The ARP Odyssey only allowed it via the EG retrigger feature. By the 1990s AM was pretty commonplace, but still not all synths had it.

Even today's Korg Minilogue and Moog Sub Phatty don't allow LFO modulation of amplitude.

When I was shopping for a synth recently, I noticed that even the new Korg Minilogue XD doesn't appear to have the ability to have the LFO modulate the amp, either.

[bibenu]

I'm mystified.

So are we saying it's still not a commonplace thing ?

I guess that might mean it's a thing that not many people want ? (And that I'm the odd one out ?)

[SciNote]

Have you tried using the LFO to modulate the filter? Sure, if it's done to excess, you'll get a wah-wah effect that you may not want with a piano sound, but done subtly, it might give you the effect you want.

[meatballfulton]

No, plenty of people want it but some designers leave it out.

[bibenu]

Have you tried using the LFO to modulate the filter? Sure, if it's done to excess, you'll get a wah-wah effect that you may not want with a piano sound, but done subtly, it might give you the effect you want.

That's a really good idea ... I'll try it.

[bibenu]

Have you tried using the LFO to modulate the filter? Sure, if it's done to excess, you'll get a wah-wah effect that you may not want with a piano sound, but done subtly, it might give you the effect you want.

Because the particular problem I was addressing was a sound that was not terribly rich harmonically, this worked a treat ... it was pretty nearly just AM by LFO. Thanks

[SciNote]

Hey, great! Thanks for the update, and I'm glad that worked for you. Sometimes you can sort of "bend the rules" or go about an alternate route to get to the sound that you're looking for.

[bibenu]

Hah .... build-it-yourself £100 synth with no filter envelope ... yet has tremolo.