RTGS3 Icon

Tutorial 1: Understanding the RTGS3 slider controls

The RTGS3 sliders provide a great deal of control over the granular parameters. Understanding how they work is key to getting the most out of RTGS3. This tutorial is divided into 3 sections:

Understanding Randomness

For every grain generated by RTGS3, a large amount of parameter data is necessary. It would be much too tedious to have to determine all those parameters in advance, so instead we allow RTGS3 to choose some of those parameters for us.

Step 1

Let's go back to the setup we had for the second part of tutorial 0. We had filled our buffers with a sine wave and were about to discover that by changing the random factor of the Transposition Amount slider we could generate grains at different pitches. Each time we clicked the "Generate a Grain" button the pitch was different. Our Transposition Amount slider looked like this:
TransMaxRange

Step 2

You're no dummy, so you understand that what's going on is that RTGS3 is choosing a random transposition for every grain it generates. In this case the range of values from which it chooses is ±24 semitones, or ±2 octaves. But in the 3rd section of tutorial 0 we had set the Transposition Amount slider differently: here, RTGS3 will select a random transposition between ±7.6325 semitones for each grain:
TransSetRange

Step 3

By default, RTGS3 transposes microtonally. But luckily for those of us more musically inclined we have the option of transposing according to pitch. By setting the Transposition Mode menu to "Pitched" you'll notice that the keyboard control and Set menu become active:
TransModePitched

Change the Set menu to "Pentatonic". You'll notice that some of the keys on the keyboard control change from red to black or white. Keys that remain red are pitch transpositions which are "allowed," while black or white keys are "disallowed" transpositions. What this means is that grains are transposed only to notes that match the pitches of the red keys, assuming that the source audio in your buffer is tuned to C. We'll look at the Transposition controls in more detail in Tutorial 4.

Back to top


Getting a grip on keyboard shortcuts

Efficiency is key to creativity. That's why RTGS3 incorporates a variety of keyboard shortcuts to help you work more efficiently.

Step 1

To quickly set the random range for any slider, hold down the CTRL key before clicking and dragging:

For higher accuracy, hold down the SHIFT key while dragging the slider.

Step 2

To quickly assign a controller to a slider, hold down the CMD key before clicking:
SliderCmdClick

Clicking on the slider will bring up a menu of all the available controllers for that slider.

Step 3

To quickly assign a controller to a slider's random range, hold down both the CTRL and CMD keys before clicking:
SliderCtrlCmdClick

Working with controllers will be covered in the next tutorial.

Back to top


Semi-Secret Settings for the Buffer, Transposition and Panning sliders

You might have noticed the gear icon GearIcon in the RTGS3 interface window. Clicking this icon exposes extra settings for the controls associated with it. Let's take a look at the settings available for the Buffer, Transposition and Panning controls.

Step 1

Click the gear icon for the Buffer slider 4 times, until the Smoother Buffer Scrub Options pane is displayed:
SmootherBufferScrubOptions1

This menu gives you several options to choose from:
1. No Smoothing: the default setting. The Buffer Position slider works identical to the other sliders.
2. Basic Smoothing: a simple smoothing algorithm is applied to rapid changes in the slider's position. This setting works well in most situations.
3. Line Segments: each time a new value for the slider is set, RTGS3 interpolates linearly from the previous value to the new value over the amount of time given. If a new value is received before the line segment is complete, you have the option of delaying this new value until the previous value has been reached (by setting the "Force Full Duration toggle ON). This setting is similar to Basic Smoothing, but allows for more control over the behaviour:
SmootherBufferScrubOptions2
4. Smart Smoothing: here you can specify the duration of interpolation in terms of the number of grains over which to interpolate (as opposed to milliseconds, which is the unit of time used in the other settings). Smart Smoothing also lets you set different interpolation durations for upward or downward movements of the slider:
SmootherBufferScrubOptions3

Step 2

One of the most impressive musical techniques possible with granular synthesis is the exploration of microtonality. By default, the Transposition Amount slider lets you set the transposition pitch to a very high degree of microtonality. As we saw earlier in this tutorial, you can also force the transposition to specific pitches. But sometimes we might want to explore different degrees of microtonality, for example quarter-tones. Clicking the Transposition slider's gear icon four times brings you to a slider with which you can set the degree of microtonality RTGS3 will use when transposing grains:
TranspositionMicrotonalitySlider

Clicking the vertical line above "Quarter Tones" will lock the slider to that position exactly.

Step 3

The Panning Angle slider has a menu associated with it which lets you set how grains are panned:
PanningModeMenu

Each of these settings has an extra control parameter associated with it:
1. Normal: grains are panned randomly across the stereo spectrum within the limits set by the Angle slider. The Scaling slider lets you fine-tune the panning amplitude curve:
PanningNormalScaling
When set all the way to the left, grains panned near the centre of the stereo spectrum will be slightly louder than grains panned to the outer edges. When set all the way to the right, grains placed more towards the extreme edges of the stereo spectrum will be louder.
2. Alternate L/R: grains are panned hard left and right at the extreme edges of the angle set using the Panning Angle slider. Once again, you can use the Scaling slider to set the panning amplitude curve.
3. Dynamic: each grain sweeps across the panning spectrum according to the curve set by the 2D Pan Curve slider. This mode allows for some extreme effects which are unique to RTGS3.

In this tutorial we looked at the RTGS3 sliders in more detail, and discovered some of the extra features they possess. In the next tutorial we will start working with different ways to control or automate these sliders.


Back to top