The Detune and Spread controls offset the unison pitches and panning, while ‘Phase Only’ mode has Detune adjusting phase rather than pitch. The final engine module is Unison, where up to seven unison voices can be blended in, either adjacent to or at fixed intervals (fourth, fifth or octave) away from the played pitch. Key and velocity cutoff modulation are directly applicable, as is one assignable modulation source.

The Spectral Filter, meanwhile, attenuates and boosts partials to both emulate conventional analogue filtering and algorithmically shape the frequency content in more unorthodox fashion, from extreme roll-off slopes and resonators to responses defined by the curve drawn into Envelope 4 or the User Wave (see Turning the ’tables). Eight Harmonics modulation algorithms are available, including Random Gain (randomises the gain of each partial), Odd-Even (balances the gains of odd and even partials), Stretch (compresses and spaces out partials) and Ensemble (randomly modulates partial gains for a chorus-style effect).

The sample has to be imported via a browser, though - the live recording function of the Reason version of Europa didn't make the cut, alas.Įach oscillator feeds into the Spectral Filter and Harmonics modules, which directly process the partials (harmonics) of the waveform, as visualised in the Spectral Filter display.

This is an external sample, converted to a wavetable and added to the list for all three oscillators (and the Spectral Filter response curve). The 13 ‘Wavetable’, er, wavetables, comprise eight harmonically rich waveforms each and cover plenty of sonic ground.Īn unusual but thoroughly welcome extra is the Karplus-Strong option, which breaks from the wavetable norm with the physical modelling of a plucked string.īeyond those 34 prescribed oscillations, the Envelope 3-4 entry presses said signal generators into service as oscillator waveforms, with the Shape knob mixing between them.Įuropa can also hold a single ‘User Wave’.

These chains are called wavetables, and there are 33 of them to choose from, taking in various analogue shapes, including a sine/triangle/square/saw progression, a synced sine and a variable width pulse, as well as a collection of less workaday offerings: FM, five flavours of noise, Formant Sweep, etc. Europa’s oscillators generate their output signals through the smooth crossfading and interpolation of chains of contiguous waveforms.

Propellerhead reason 7 harmonics