STRING engine

All engines · Modes and shared controls

Use STRING for plucked strings, stiff or buzzing strings, sympathetic resonance, and sustained string textures.

How the sound is made

A short excitation starts a simulated string. The string and its loop filters produce the decay. SYMP adds three sympathetic strings. The common amplitude envelope still controls the final note.

STRING HOME page showing its four main sound controls and first factory preset.
STRING 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 / CHRD BRIT DAMP POS / SYMP

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

STRING BODY page from the running firmware, including its four control labels.
BODY is engine page 1.
Control What it changes
MODEL Select PLUCK or SYMP.
STRC / CHRD PLUCK: change bridge behavior and string stiffness. SYMP: choose the sympathetic tuning group.
BRIT Set excitation brightness and the string loop tone.
DAMP Set the model decay. Higher values ring longer, despite the DAMP label.

EXCT page

STRING EXCT page from the running firmware, including its four control labels.
EXCT is engine page 2.
Control What it changes
POS / SYMP PLUCK: set pluck position. SYMP: set coupling into the sympathetic strings.
ACC Set how much velocity strengthens and brightens the excitation.
BOW / BUZZ PLUCK: add repeated excitation for a sustained texture. SYMP: increase bridge buzz.
EXC Mix the direct pick or excitation signal into the output.

PLUCK and SYMP

In PLUCK, low STRC values give a curved, buzzing bridge response. Higher values add stiff-string dispersion. POS changes the pluck's harmonic balance. BOW sustains the model with repeated random excitation. It is not a recorded bowed instrument.

In SYMP, several labels change on the device:

PLUCK label SYMP label New function
STRC CHRD Tune the sympathetic strings: OCT, 5TH, 4TH, MAJ, MIN, SUS, 7TH, or ROOT.
POS SYMP Change sympathetic coupling.
BOW BUZZ Change the bridge buzz.

ROOT uses the track's scale root with its fifth and octave. These sympathetic pitches belong to one modelled voice; they are separate from chord-key note entry.

Keep common SUS high if you want to hear the string's natural decay. Use REL or a row gate to stop a long ring.

STRING SYMP model showing CHRD, brightness and model decay.
SYMP changes STRC into CHRD.
STRING SYMP excitation page showing sympathetic amount, accent, buzz and direct excitation.
SYMP also changes POS into SYMP and BOW into BUZZ.

Try these changes

Make a dry pluck

Load CLAVI PLUCK. Keep BOW at zero. Change POS, then reduce DAMP for a shorter model decay. Compare soft and hard notes.

Hear sympathetic resonance

Load HARP. Compare CHRD choices while holding one note. Raise SYMP gradually. Use ROOT if you want resonance related to the track root.

Factory presets

PLUCK, DRONE STRING, HARP, KOTO PICK, SITAR BUZZ, ZITHER, CLAVI PLUCK, BOWED WIRE.

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

Limits and useful checks

STRING has at most three voices per track and shares the total eight-voice budget. Long decays can use those voices quickly. The models synthesize the strings; they do not play instrument samples.

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