TRIO engine

All engines · Modes and shared controls

Use TRIO for three-oscillator basses, pulse-width leads, sync sweeps, and ring-modulated metal.

How the sound is made

Three oscillators feed a multimode filter. WAVE selects a complete oscillator combination. Some combinations use hard sync, ring modulation, or bitwise combined waves.

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

HOME knobs

Knob 1 Knob 2 Knob 3 Knob 4
CUT RES PW INT2

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.

OSC page

TRIO OSC page from the running firmware, including its four control labels.
OSC is engine page 1.
Control What it changes
WAVE Select an oscillator combination. See the groups below.
INT2 Tune oscillator 2 relative to the played note, in semitones.
INT3 Tune oscillator 3 relative to the played note, in semitones.
DTN Detune oscillator 2 up and oscillator 3 down, in cents.

TONE page

TRIO TONE page from the running firmware, including its four control labels.
TONE is engine page 2.
Control What it changes
MODE Select LP, BP, HP, or NOT (notch) filtering.
CUT Set the filter cutoff.
RES Increase emphasis near the filter cutoff.
PW Set pulse width. ENV or LFO routed to SHP moves it.

Oscillator combinations

Group WAVE choices Result
Basic stacks SAW3, PLS3, PPT, SST, TRI3 Three saws, pulses, triangles, or mixed stacks.
Combined waves S&T, P&S Bitwise combinations with a more complex harmonic shape.
Noise P+N, NOIS Pulse/noise combination or pitched noise.
Hard sync SYNC, SYNCP, SYNC3 One oscillator restarts another on each cycle.
Ring modulation RING, RING3, R+S, R+SP Oscillator interaction for metal and bell-like tones.

INT2 and INT3 can change the tone as well as the apparent harmony in sync and ring modes. A silent oscillator can still act as a ring modulator.

Try these changes

Animate a pulse lead

Load SID PWM. On LFO DEST, add a small SHP amount. Compare a slow and fast LFO RATE. Adjust PW to move the centre of the sweep.

Tune a metal sound

Load SID METAL. Hold a note while changing INT3 by one semitone at a time. Compare simple intervals with less regular ones.

Factory presets

FAT BASS, SYNC LEAD, RING BELL, SID PWM, SID RUBBER, SID SYNC, SID METAL, SID CHOIR.

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

Limits and useful checks

TRIO is SID-inspired. It does not reproduce a specific SID revision. Some combined waves can sound rougher at high notes.

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