Your favorite LFO RE?

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altron
Posts: 261
Joined: 16 Mar 2015

29 Apr 2021

I think this is an interesting question to bring up. Which is your favorite LFO RE device in Reason and why? My go-to LFO so far has typically been 4 Phase LFO by Spectral Scan, mainly because it's LFO rate can go as low as 0.01 Hz for ultra-slow filter sweeps, plus, the Symmetry and Bias options are very useful.
Trap is where music goes to die.


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Loque
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Posts: 11175
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

29 Apr 2021

Pulsar, ZFO, Ammo...in that order.

My dream LFO:
* Easy to choose between a lot of different shapes
* Let me easily bend, shrink, modify the shape
* Stereo (sync, free) and Lag control
* Let my "draw in" if i want to change something (free draw, curves, etc.)
* Different trigger modes, also usable as a Envelope
* Lots of Inputs (for scaling) and Outputs including uni/bi directional
* Good displays, including current outputs or positions
* Freaking easy to use! I dont have time to dig into it if i just want a simple sine or saw
* Rates from 0Hz to samplerate or at least CV rate
* Damn light on CPU!
* ...
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motuscott
Posts: 3422
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Location: Contest Weiner

29 Apr 2021

yeah Lil' LFO. So neat, so clean
Who’s using the royal plural now baby? 🧂

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altron
Posts: 261
Joined: 16 Mar 2015

29 Apr 2021

Loque wrote:
29 Apr 2021
Pulsar, ZFO, Ammo...in that order.

My dream LFO:
* Easy to choose between a lot of different shapes
* Let me easily bend, shrink, modify the shape
* Stereo (sync, free) and Lag control
* Let my "draw in" if i want to change something (free draw, curves, etc.)
* Different trigger modes, also usable as a Envelope
* Lots of Inputs (for scaling) and Outputs including uni/bi directional
* Good displays, including current outputs or positions
* Freaking easy to use! I dont have time to dig into it if i just want a simple sine or saw
* Rates from 0Hz to samplerate or at least CV rate
* Damn light on CPU!
* ...
KRON CV Toolbox comes to mind! But then again ...

* Good displays, including current outputs or positions
* Freaking easy to use! I dont have time to dig into it if i just want a simple sine or saw

Nope! :puf_bigsmile:

Shape LFO Editor by Lectic Panda has a lot of freedom for drawing custom LFO curves.

I have Little LFO in my arsenal but it's not typically one I pick. I have to check out Ammo!
Trap is where music goes to die.

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TritoneAddiction
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Location: Sweden

29 Apr 2021

Pulsar. Nice and simple. And looks good.

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joeyluck
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29 Apr 2021

Little LFO gets my vote as well! :thumbup:

Made by Matt Tytel, who went on to make Helm and Vital.

I like that you can toggle on/off every LFO (I wish Pulsar had an on/off for its LFO 1).

The LFO frequency goes down to 0.001 if you want a very slow LFO.

It also makes a really great synth! Check out the two patches I made with it in the Supersaw ReFill :)

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dioxide
Posts: 1781
Joined: 15 Jul 2015

29 Apr 2021

I use Pulsar the most but at one point I did a side by side test of everything that was available at the time. 4Phase was the best from what I recall. I never liked how it looks though, although now it is free.

freshkidblaze
Posts: 158
Joined: 20 Oct 2020

29 Apr 2021

Pulsar is my go to, simple and efficient.

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w1pl0c
Posts: 177
Joined: 10 Oct 2017

29 Apr 2021

This may be weird, but I usually use a Subtractor or 2, and a couple spider CV splitters to shape my LFO. I use ENV mod to make Plucky LFOs, Pad LFOs. I like how simple/lite Subtractor is.

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challism
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29 Apr 2021

joeyluck wrote:
29 Apr 2021
Little LFO gets my vote as well! :thumbup:

Made by Matt Tytel, who went on to make Helm and Vital.

I like that you can toggle on/off every LFO (I wish Pulsar had an on/off for its LFO 1).

The LFO frequency goes down to 0.001 if you want a very slow LFO.

It also makes a really great synth! Check out the two patches I made with it in the Supersaw ReFill :)
I didn't know Little LFO was from the same guy who made Vital. How cool is that? It is a great LFO.

I usually use Pulsar just because it's so easy to grab at the top of the utlz menu. And if I'm going to share the patch or project, it's a stock device. So that's an added bonus. I wish it was bipolar and I wish it had on/off for LFO1.

Lectric Panda's ZFO and Shape are both pretty amazing (like every Panda device). Shape has so much control, so many options. It's probably my favorite.

I also like Ammo. So many LFO shapes. But I haven't used it for a long time now. This is a good reminder to dust it off give it some love. Along with Little LFO.
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BRIGGS
Posts: 2135
Joined: 25 Sep 2015
Location: Orange County California

29 Apr 2021

I usually reach for the 4 Phase LFO, if the onboard LFOs aren't slow enough, or I need white noise.

BTW, is there an RE LFO that has static, like Thor's noise oscillator?
r11s

EdGrip
Posts: 2343
Joined: 03 Jun 2016

29 Apr 2021

I don't know if the "random" mode in Little LFO is a proper S&H or something else. I think it and the LFO shapes are shared with various other devices as part of the SDK.

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MrFigg
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29 Apr 2021

Shape
🗲 2ॐ ᛉ

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dvdrtldg
Posts: 2386
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

29 Apr 2021

Top 5 (in order)

1. Shape
2. Little LFO
3. 4 Phase LFO
4. ZFO
5. Ammo

PhillipOrdonez
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29 Apr 2021

Pistons.

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MrFigg
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29 Apr 2021

PhillipOrdonez wrote:
29 Apr 2021
Pistons.
Yeah! Pistons!!!
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joeyluck
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29 Apr 2021

challism wrote:
29 Apr 2021
joeyluck wrote:
29 Apr 2021
Little LFO gets my vote as well! :thumbup:

Made by Matt Tytel, who went on to make Helm and Vital.

I like that you can toggle on/off every LFO (I wish Pulsar had an on/off for its LFO 1).

The LFO frequency goes down to 0.001 if you want a very slow LFO.

It also makes a really great synth! Check out the two patches I made with it in the Supersaw ReFill :)
I didn't know Little LFO was from the same guy who made Vital. How cool is that? It is a great LFO.

I usually use Pulsar just because it's so easy to grab at the top of the utlz menu. And if I'm going to share the patch or project, it's a stock device. So that's an added bonus. I wish it was bipolar and I wish it had on/off for LFO1.

Lectric Panda's ZFO and Shape are both pretty amazing (like every Panda device). Shape has so much control, so many options. It's probably my favorite.

I also like Ammo. So many LFO shapes. But I haven't used it for a long time now. This is a good reminder to dust it off give it some love. Along with Little LFO.
Yeah ZFO and Ammo are both great as well :thumbup:

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selig
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Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

29 Apr 2021

I just can't find anything missing from Pulsar for my typical applications. I've tried others but they don't offer anything I've found necessary to date (change my mind!).
As for rate, Pulsar doesn't natively go super slow, but using Selig Gain I can drive it as slow as I need: -3.5 (-3.43) is 1/2 rate, -6.9 (-6.86) is 1/4 rate, - 10.3 (-10.29) is 1/8 rate, etc. (The numbers in parenthesis can be typed in when automating Gain for more precision).
As an LFO, this easily gives super slow rates, down to 0.0075 Hz (roughly one cycle every 145 seconds, about 2.4 minutes per cycle - see below for the "roughly" part…)

Note: Pulsar has some odd perks, such as it will stall half way up when receiving a super low CV. This can almost allow a hold effect, except that it won't stall when going down - it will slow to an incredibly low rate and the stall half way up. This also gives it an odd behavior of alternating cycles being the same rate, by around a factor of roughly 1.25x meaning one cycle is 1.25x faster (or 0.8125x slower) than the other cycle, alternating back and forth. At audio rates ups cam hear it as it causes the beat effect to alternate, only truly cancelling every other cycle instead of every cycle when compared to a "normal" waveform!

So how low can you go before a stall? You can safely reduce rate by 1/8 (-10.29 dB on Selig Gain CV/fader out), which is a Reason CV value of -54. This gives a rate of over 2 minutes per cycle - actually 2.7 min/160 sec and 2.2 min/130 sec per cycle, alternating… ;)
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dvdrtldg
Posts: 2386
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

29 Apr 2021

selig wrote:
29 Apr 2021
As for rate, Pulsar doesn't natively go super slow, but using Selig Gain I can drive it as slow as I need
Another use for Gain I hadn't thought of... such a nifty device

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BRIGGS
Posts: 2135
Joined: 25 Sep 2015
Location: Orange County California

29 Apr 2021

selig wrote:
29 Apr 2021
I just can't find anything missing from Pulsar for my typical applications. I've tried others but they don't offer anything I've found necessary to date (change my mind!).
As for rate, Pulsar doesn't natively go super slow, but using Selig Gain I can drive it as slow as I need
Ok, I try your gain device! :puf_smile:
r11s

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zoidkirb
Posts: 752
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Location: Brisbane Australia
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29 Apr 2021

Kron is the ultimate. Set mid point, high, low points, polarity, various stretching and curving options etc etc. All automatable with loads of CV inputs and 3 matrix's. Draw LFO'S, morph them....output melodic sequences, apply gates, crossfade between synced rates....the list goes on. It's not so much an LFO unit as a complete generative mini DAW.

However it's overkill if I just want basic shapes so often I'll just fire up a Pulsar or two ;)

Ammo1200 is great too but these days I'm more into utilizing it as an FM synth than for outputting LFO's. Same goes for Little LFO.

Shape is different but good. I really utilize the bands to surgically get CV values right where I want them.
Last edited by zoidkirb on 29 Apr 2021, edited 1 time in total.

freshkidblaze
Posts: 158
Joined: 20 Oct 2020

29 Apr 2021

zoidkirb wrote:
29 Apr 2021
Kron is the ultimate. Set mid point, high, low points, polarity, various stretching and curving options etc etc. All automatable with loads of CV inputs and 3 matrix's. Draw LFO'S, morph them....output melodic sequences, apply gates, crossfade between synced rates....the list goes on. It's not so much an LFO unit as a complete generative mini DAW.

However it's overkill i just want basic shapes so often I'll just fire up a Pulsar or two ;)

Ammo1200 is great too but these days I'm more into utilizing it as an FM synth than for outputting LFO's. Same goes for Little LFO.

Shape is different but good. I really utilize the bands to surgically get CV values right where I want them.
I bought kron but never use it, I can't get used to the gui but I know its super powerful

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zoidkirb
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29 Apr 2021

freshkidblaze wrote:
29 Apr 2021
zoidkirb wrote:
29 Apr 2021
Kron is the ultimate. Set mid point, high, low points, polarity, various stretching and curving options etc etc. All automatable with loads of CV inputs and 3 matrix's. Draw LFO'S, morph them....output melodic sequences, apply gates, crossfade between synced rates....the list goes on. It's not so much an LFO unit as a complete generative mini DAW.

However it's overkill i just want basic shapes so often I'll just fire up a Pulsar or two ;)

Ammo1200 is great too but these days I'm more into utilizing it as an FM synth than for outputting LFO's. Same goes for Little LFO.

Shape is different but good. I really utilize the bands to surgically get CV values right where I want them.
I bought kron but never use it, I can't get used to the gui but I know its super powerful
It took me a long time to come to grips with it. One of the rare RE's that reading the manual is pretty necessary. But if you don't wanna read, there is a number of helpful videos on Youtube. It's not that any one part of it is particularly complex, but rather there is soooo many components all crammed into a fairly small space. The first tip would be to change from it's default colour scheme. That will make some of the more important things stand out a bit more.

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kuhliloach
Posts: 880
Joined: 09 Dec 2015

29 Apr 2021

Pulsar not just because the second LFO is free--I had an extremely boring pad and boring life. Pulsar changed all that.

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