Audio Damage Phosphor - Manual (Page 10)

3. Oscillator Control Sliders
Beneath the envelope generators are groups of sliders which control several parameters for both of the
oscillators.
Crossmod
The Crossmod sliders enable the Primary and Secondary oscillators to
modulate each other’s frequency, creating a much wider range of tones
than they create individually. While Yamaha made frequency-
modulation (FM) synthesis famous with the DX7, the NED Synclavier
combined wavetable and FM synthesis in a manner very similar to
Phosphor.
Moving the Primary oscillator’s Crossmod slider to the right increases the amount that the Secondary oscillator
modulates the Primary oscillator’s frequency. This changes the tone produced by the Primary oscillator (and
not the Secondary oscillator). In the usual parlance, the Primary oscillator is the carrier and the Secondary
oscillator is the modulator. Generally speaking, as you move the slider to the right, the tone of the Primary
oscillator will become brighter and more complex.
It works the other way around for the Secondary oscillator’s Crossmod slider: moving it to the right increases
the amount that the Primary oscillator modulates the Secondary oscillator, and in this instance we would say
that the Secondary oscillator is the carrier and the Primary oscillator is the modulator. Since both oscillators
can modulate each other, we call Phosphor’s FM scheme cross-modulation.
The signals used for cross-modulation originate after the envelope generator but before the Level slider
(described below). This means two things: first, since the timbre created by frequency modulation changes
with the amplitude of the modulating signal, you can use the envelope generator of the modulator to make
the tone of the carrier vary over the duration of the note. Second, you can use the level slider of the
modulator to reduce or remove its signal from Phosphor’s output so that you hear only the changing tone of
the carrier.
Noise
The Noise sliders control the loudness of noise generators whose outputs are mixed together with the signals
from the oscillators. The noise generators create white noise—noise with a flat frequency spectrum—and are
useful for adding bite to percussive sounds or a bit of grunge to the pure sine waves emanating from the
oscillators.