question about Thor mixer balance knob

This forum is for discussing Reason. Questions, answers, ideas, and opinions... all apply.
Post Reply
JRIII86
Posts: 44
Joined: 09 Jul 2016

05 Nov 2019

Was using a really basic Thor patch involving only Oscillator 1, and I realized when I moved the mixer balance knob from 60 down to 0 it changed the character of the sound -- took away a lot of the high frequencies. Then I also realized it only did this if the self oscillation button was activated on the filter. Can anyone explain to me why this is the case? Seems to me if I'm not using oscillator 2 then moving the balance knob from 60 to 0 shouldn't have any effect other than to make it a bit louder, but then again I don't have that good of an understanding of how the self oscillation setting works (despite reading the manual), so maybe I'm missing something...

User avatar
Loque
Moderator
Posts: 11176
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

05 Nov 2019

The Mixer Balance is BEFORE the input goes into the filter. If the input to the filter is louder, the resonating or feedback is harder. If it is quieter, the result is quieter as well.

That means, the Mixer Balance is indeed a "gain" in your case, but the loudness has more or less impact to the sound if you have different filter settings.
Reason12, Win10

JRIII86
Posts: 44
Joined: 09 Jul 2016

06 Nov 2019

Loque wrote:
05 Nov 2019
The Mixer Balance is BEFORE the input goes into the filter. If the input to the filter is louder, the resonating or feedback is harder. If it is quieter, the result is quieter as well.

That means, the Mixer Balance is indeed a "gain" in your case, but the loudness has more or less impact to the sound if you have different filter settings.
Thank you. I guess I just still don't understand how it would change frequency content rather than just loudness.

User avatar
Loque
Moderator
Posts: 11176
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

06 Nov 2019

JRIII86 wrote:
06 Nov 2019
Loque wrote:
05 Nov 2019
The Mixer Balance is BEFORE the input goes into the filter. If the input to the filter is louder, the resonating or feedback is harder. If it is quieter, the result is quieter as well.

That means, the Mixer Balance is indeed a "gain" in your case, but the loudness has more or less impact to the sound if you have different filter settings.
Thank you. I guess I just still don't understand how it would change frequency content rather than just loudness.
Because of the filter. Disable the filter and it should be only a gain change.
Reason12, Win10

User avatar
selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

06 Nov 2019

The "self oscillate" button in the filter does two things, activates "self oscillate" and also activates saturation in the filter path.
Saturation is a non-linear effect with regards to level, meaning if the level changes at the input to the effect, then the saturation changes.
Thus as Loque already describes, adjusting gain (osc 1/2 mix) into saturation will affect the amount of saturation which equals a tonal change in most cases due to the additional harmonics generated by the effect. Make sense?
Selig Audio, LLC

groggy1
Posts: 466
Joined: 10 Jun 2015

06 Nov 2019

selig wrote:
06 Nov 2019
The "self oscillate" button in the filter does two things, activates "self oscillate" and also activates saturation in the filter path.
Saturation is a non-linear effect with regards to level, meaning if the level changes at the input to the effect, then the saturation changes.
Thus as Loque already describes, adjusting gain (osc 1/2 mix) into saturation will affect the amount of saturation which equals a tonal change in most cases due to the additional harmonics generated by the effect. Make sense?
That’s very clear, thank you!

JRIII86
Posts: 44
Joined: 09 Jul 2016

07 Nov 2019

selig wrote:
06 Nov 2019
The "self oscillate" button in the filter does two things, activates "self oscillate" and also activates saturation in the filter path.
Saturation is a non-linear effect with regards to level, meaning if the level changes at the input to the effect, then the saturation changes.
Thus as Loque already describes, adjusting gain (osc 1/2 mix) into saturation will affect the amount of saturation which equals a tonal change in most cases due to the additional harmonics generated by the effect. Make sense?
Okay that clears some things up. Thank you!

Post Reply
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot] and 31 guests