The LFO: shape, rate and sync
A slow oscillator that moves other controls. Pick one of six shapes, set its speed, and lock it to the tempo.
An LFO (low frequency oscillator) is a wave that is usually too slow to hear as a note. Instead it moves other things: the filter for a wobble, the pitch for vibrato, the timbre for a sweep. The MicroFreak has one LFO. It does nothing by itself: you connect it to a destination in the matrix. This sound already has it connected to Timbre.
- What an LFO is and why it makes a sound move
- The six LFO shapes and what each is good for
- Setting the rate, in hertz or locked to the tempo
- That the LFO only does something once the matrix connects it
The steps6 steps
- Hold a note and listen. The sound sweeps by itself: the LFO is connected to Timbre in the matrix, so it turns the Timbre knob for you.
Stuck?
Click and hold a key, or press A.
- Turn LFO Rate while a note plays. Slow is a gentle drift, fast turns into a buzz.
Stuck?
LFO Rate is the large knob in the LFO section on the bottom row.
- Press the LFO Shape button three times. The shape changes in the manual's order: sine, triangle, saw, square, then two random ones. Listen to how each one moves.
Stuck?
The shape button is next to the LFO Rate knob. There are six shapes, and it loops.
- Press the LFO Rate knob itself (a click, not a turn) to sync the LFO to the tempo. The sync light comes on and the screen shows a note division instead of hertz.
Stuck?
Click the LFO Rate knob without dragging it.
- Turn the knob again. Now it steps through divisions, from 8/1 at the slow end to 1/32 at the fast end, so the movement stays in time.
Stuck?
Turn the LFO Rate knob and watch the screen.
- Press the Rate knob once more to go back to free-running hertz.
Stuck?
Click the LFO Rate knob again.
The shape button picks how it moves, Rate how fast, and pressing Rate locks it to the tempo. The matrix decides what it moves. There is only one LFO, so everything you connect to it moves together.
On the real MicroFreak
Unsynced, the rate is shown in hertz, from a very slow crawl up to about 100 Hz. Synced, it follows the internal clock, your computer's, or MIDI clock, and the screen shows a division from 8/1 down to 1/32 including triplets. In Utility > Preset > Modulations, LFO retrig sets whether the LFO restarts on each key, never, or only on separate (non-legato) notes. All matrix modulation is bipolar.
Questions2
Why does turning the LFO Rate do nothing?
Because nothing is connected to the LFO. Look in the matrix: the LFO row must have a lit point with an amount other than zero. Presets without a connection have a silent LFO.
Can I have a second LFO?
Not on the stock MicroFreak. The cycling envelope can run as a free-running LFO-like source, which gives you a second moving thing.