MODAL engine

All engines · Modes and shared controls

Use MODAL for bars, bells, plates, struck metal, membranes, and hand-drum tones.

How the sound is made

A strike excites several resonant modes. Their frequency relationships and decay form the sound. BAR changes between harmonic and inharmonic structures. MEMB uses a membrane model.

MODAL HOME page showing its four main sound controls and first factory preset.
MODAL on HOME. These knobs apply to the selected track unless HOME LEVELS is enabled.

HOME knobs

Knob 1 Knob 2 Knob 3 Knob 4
STRC / HARM BRIT DAMP POS

For HOME LEVELS, see HOME and mixer.

Engine controls

Press the panel EDIT button to cycle the engine pages. Pause between presses to avoid opening its shortcut layer. The musical EDIT key is a different control.

BODY page

MODAL BODY page from the running firmware, including its four control labels.
BODY is engine page 1.
Control What it changes
MODEL Select BAR or MEMB.
STRC / HARM BAR: change the spacing of resonances. MEMB: move from an ideal membrane toward more harmonic loaded-membrane modes.
BRIT Set strike brightness and how strongly high modes ring.
DAMP Set model decay. Higher values ring longer.

EXCT page

MODAL EXCT page from the running firmware, including its four control labels.
EXCT is engine page 2.
Control What it changes
POS Move the strike position and change which modes are excited.
ACC Set the effect of velocity on strike strength, brightness, and decay.
BOW / BEND BAR: add repeated excitation. MEMB: add a downward pitch bend after the strike.
EXC Mix the direct strike signal into the output.

BAR and MEMB

BAR covers more than literal bars. STRC changes the resonance relationships for bells, metal, plates, and more harmonic struck tones. Around the lower-middle STRC range the partials are closer to harmonics. Higher settings stretch them into less harmonic relationships.

MEMB changes STRC to HARM and BOW to BEND on the device. HARM blends an ideal membrane toward a loaded membrane with more harmonic overtones. POS moves the strike from the centre toward the rim. BEND makes the pitch fall after the strike; it does not sustain the model like BAR's BOW.

Keep common SUS high to hear the resonator's decay. The final amplitude envelope and the model decay both affect how long the sound is heard.

MODAL MEMB model showing HARM, brightness and model decay.
MEMB changes STRC into HARM.
MODAL membrane excitation page with position, accent, pitch bend and direct excitation.
MEMB uses BEND in place of BAR’s sustained BOW excitation.

Try these changes

Make a bell

Load TOY BELL. Change STRC in small steps. Adjust POS to alter the strike, then increase DAMP for a longer ring.

Make a tuned membrane

Load SYNTH TOM. Compare low and high HARM. Increase BEND, then shorten DAMP if the tail masks later notes.

Factory presets

BELL TREE, MARIMBA, HAND DRUM, VIBE KEYS, TOY BELL, GAMELAN, STEEL TINE, SYNTH TOM.

See the inspired preset catalogue for the references behind the newer sounds.

Limits and useful checks

MODAL has at most three voices per track within the total eight-voice budget. BAR and MEMB are pitched instruments. Use DRUM when you need independent kit lanes.

Save a user preset or project before loading another sound if you want to keep your edits.