Algorithms
How the four operators are wired.
Lesson 3 of 4
Operator has four operators, and an algorithm decides who modulates whom. Pick one of the 11 algorithms and watch the diagram change.
Four operators
Change the algorithm and watch the diagram.
Each operator modulates the one below it; the ones on the output line are heard. Click an operator to see its own waveform and spectrum.
In a stack (algorithm 1), D modulates C, C modulates B and B modulates A. Each step bends an already bent wave, so even small levels give complex, bright sounds.
Side by side, operators on the output line are all heard and simply add up, like the drawbars of an organ. The last algorithm has all four in parallel: no operator modulates another, just four sines mixed (Feedback, if you turn it up, still bends D on its own). The levels then work like a mixer.
Feedback lets D modulate itself. A little turns its sine into something close to a saw wave; a lot turns it into noise. Click D in the diagram to see it happen.