Sweet Berta

The classic synth pluck: two saws a hair apart snapping shut through the 24 dB ladder, with a little resonance on the snap and a bright plate behind it. Play quick off-beat chords and arpeggios; harder notes open brighter. Macros: Ring, Bright, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A round, woody square pluck at 12 dB that bounces from side to side: delay 1 answers on the left, delay 2 on the right a golden ratio later. Play sparse notes and leave room for the echoes to fill the gaps. Macros: Echo, Feedback, Bright, Decay. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A glossy, wide '80s pop pluck: saw and square through a gentle filter snap and a deep studio chorus spread past the speakers. Play bright chord stabs and quick sixteenth figures. Macros: Chorus, Bright, Decay, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A soft, nylon-string pluck: a triangle with a little saw for the string, a breath of pink noise for the fingertip, and a 12 dB filter closing as the note rings out in a wooden room. Play fingerpicked lines and broken chords; soft notes stay mellow. Macros: Ring, Tone, Finger, Room. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A plucked, jangling harpsichord: a saw for the 8' string and a narrow pulse an octave up for the 4', thinned through the high-pass filter, each note ringing out and damped fast on release. Play ornamented lines and running baroque figures. Macros: Thin, Jangle, Ring, Hall. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A bright, quacking clav: two narrow pulses through a resonant envelope snap, the lows trimmed by the high-pass filter and squeezed even. Play tight sixteenth-note rhythm parts and lift off quickly; dig in for more quack. Macros: Quack, Thin, Squeeze, Decay. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

The clav with a felt mute on: a pulse and a triangle thumping short and round, all attack and no ring. Play choppy, syncopated comping under a groove, low in the keyboard. Macros: Open, Length, Bite. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A clean drawbar organ: two triangles at 8' and 4' with a quick key click, full while held and gone when you let go, spinning through a fast rotating-speaker swirl. Play legato chords and bluesy right-hand lines. Macros: Spin, Click, Upper, Room. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A thin, reedy '60s combo organ: a square and a saw an octave up, buzzing through a bright filter and a choppy tremolo. Play stabbing garage-rock chords and a wiry riff high up. Macros: Tremolo, Reed, Speed. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A gritty rock organ: drawbar triangles at 16' and 8' pushed into a dirty squeeze, with a slow rotating swirl you can kick up to speed. Play heavy sustained chords and growling low riffs. Macros: Dirt, Spin, Growl, Room. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A bell-toned electric piano: osc 1 frequency-modulates osc 2 at the same pitch for the struck tine, the filter closing as each note fades, the sides swaying in a slow stereo tremolo. Play soft, jazzy chords and let them ring; harder notes bark. Macros: Bark, Sway, Ring, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A buzzy reed electric piano: a triangle and a soft square pushed into the mixer until they growl, through a bright velocity filter and a gentle volume tremolo. Play soulful two-hand comping; dig in and it snarls. Macros: Snarl, Tremolo, Tone, Room. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Warm, shifting square keys: the LFO slowly sweeps osc 1's pulse width against a steady square, and a chorus spreads them wide. Play held chords and slow melodies; the tone keeps moving under your hands. Macros: Motion, Chorus, Bright, Release. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Soft keys off an old cassette: two triangles with a slow wow on their pitch, a hiss of hybrid noise, and gritty, wobbling echoes. Play simple, nostalgic chords and lazy melodies. Macros: Wow, Hiss, Echo, Tone. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A warm wooden marimba: a triangle struck by its own fourth harmonic through linear FM, the bar's knock dying fast into a round tone, in a small hall. Play bouncing mallet patterns and rolled chords in the middle of the keyboard. Macros: Knock, Ring, Mallet, Hall. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A vibraphone with its motor on: soft triangles ringing long, a quiet octave above for the metal, and a round volume pulse from the spinning fans. Play cool jazz voicings and slow melodies and let them ring. Macros: Motor, Depth, Ring, Hall. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A deep tubular bell: osc 1 modulates osc 2 at an inharmonic 3.5 to 1, so each strike blooms with clangy overtones that fade into a long hum in a big hall. Play single notes and slow fifths low down, and let every strike ring. Macros: Clang, Ring, Hall. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A tiny wind-up music box: high triangle tines plucked by a faintly inharmonic FM shimmer, small and sweet, in a plate. Play lullaby melodies in the upper half of the keyboard. Macros: Shimmer, Ring, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A thumb piano: a triangle tine with a bright FM ping at 3 to 1 on its strike, decaying quickly into a round, woody tone in a small room. Play pentatonic patterns and interlocking ostinatos. Macros: Ping, Ring, Room. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A biting, vocal pluck: osc 2 hard-synced to osc 1, the envelope sweeping its pitch down through the harmonics on every note, with a quick dotted echo. Play staccato hooks and sharp off-beat stabs. Macros: Sweep, Decay, Echo, Bright. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A bright, singing steel drum: a triangle struck by osc 1 at three times its pitch, so the octave and the twelfth bloom out of every hit and fade into a round hum, with a quick wobble on the strike. Play bouncy calypso melodies and quick rolls in the middle of the keyboard; harder hits ring brighter. Macros: Ring, Shine, Roll, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Drops falling into a still pool: a pure triangle whose pitch leaps up into the note on every strike, a liquid plip, echoing from side to side in a cave. Play sparse single notes high up and let the echoes answer; a quick run sounds like a dripping tap. Macros: Echo, Cave, Length. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A soft, warm hand-played steel tongue: a triangle with an octave overtone, struck gently with the fingers and left to hum for seconds in a wide, calm hall. Play slow, meditative melodies over a low root, letting each note ring into the next. Macros: Ring, Overtone, Warmth, Hall. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Bronze bars tuned in pairs a little apart, as a gamelan is, so every note shimmers with a slow beating wave; the two triangles also modulate each other for a metallic edge on the strike. Play interlocking patterns on a few notes and let the beats ring out. Macros: Shimmer, Bronze, Ring, Hall. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.