On effects in Korg synths

Last time I posted (a while ago) was on the topic of the waveshaper in the modwave. Since then, I had a realisation, followed by some discoveries, culminating in an epiphany.

Realisation

The waveshaper is just mapping input levels to output levels, so instead of inputting a sine wave as in my previous post, I should have input a saw wave, i.e. a linearly increasing or decreasing value, and then observed the resulting output.

Discoveries

Discovery 1: The waveshaper in the modwave effects has a pedigree going back to the Korg 01/W and is documented in several of Korg's manuals of synths that include the waveshaper. For example, the Korg opsix shares the same effect, but the opsix manual contains the table of waveshaper transfer function plots. The opsix also has a wavefolder per operator, but the manual is a bit light on details for that.

Discovery 2: The Korg multi/poly contains the waveshaper effect, but also contains waveshaper oscillators with sine or saw inputs. The waveshaper transfer functions seem to be a superset of those in the effect, with a few more transfer functions, and parameters such as the Offset value, which is (sadly) missing from the effect version. I suspect this is because the waveshaper effect is a stereo effect and (spoiler: Discovery 3 allows me to see this) there are two waveshapers; one for each stereo channel. This kind of makes it hard to imagine how one could implement a useful offset control. Nevertheless, the multi/poly manual has a nice table of the waveshaper function plots.

Discovery 3: I recently scored a great deal on a Korg Nautilus - Brand fanboy? Who me? - and I don't know why I never realised this, but Korg's flagship synths include a large number of the technologies they have developed throughout their history, and this includes the waveshapers; both kinds. The mono waveshapers in the multi/poly sources and opsix oscillators/operators are also in the Nautilus and Kronos MOD-7 VPM engine. The effects section contains the stereo waveshaper. This means that the Kronos and Nautilus manuals contain the waveshaper function plots too.

Epiphany

All this leads to the realisation that, if you want descriptions of Korg effects, go straight to the Nautilus or Kronos manuals for the most comprehensive documentation from Korg.

BUT, since the Kronos has now been around for over a decade, unsurprisingly, there's lots of information about it elsewhere too. Thus, if you want even more detail on Korg effects, we have been gifted with an incredible resource of over 70 Korg Kronos Effects videos, thanks to Charles Ferraro aka @CharlesFerraro on his criminally-undersubscribed Patterns in Noise youtube channel.