Alchemy wide unison mode in MainStage
Source components are shown only in advanced view. Click the Advanced button to switch to advanced view, then click the A/B/C/D button to select the source you want to edit.
The parameters in this section are shown when the VA (Virtual Analog) button is active in a source subpage.
Alchemy wide unison mode provides oscillator pan and detune options that enhance the perceived width of VA sources.
To turn on wide unison mode, choose the Wide Unison entry at the bottom of the Wave pop-up menu.
Important: When you choose File > Initialize Preset, wide unison mode is automatically turned on.
All existing presets and patches load in the older non-wide mode. Newly initialized settings and updated factory content will have the wide mode turned on.
Wide Unison mode parameters
In wide unison mode, the source Pan and Detune knob behavior functions as outlined in this section.
Pan knob: Set the oscillator output position in the stereo field. The behavior of the parameter changes as additional oscillators are added to the source. All odd-numbered oscillators (except the center panned oscillator) are hard panned as you increase the number of oscillators.
1 oscillator: center panned
2 oscillators: hard panned left/right
3 oscillators: one oscillator is centered and the other two oscillators are panned hard left/right
4 oscillators: when playing a C with full detune (2 semitones up/down), the Bb and Db are both hard right panned, and the remaining two oscillators are hard left panned
Detune knob: Set the amount of detuning between wide mode oscillator voices. Oscillator pitches (in semitones) are spread in a linear fashion between the top and bottom values.
Note: Detune knob scaling is not linear. Values closer to the centered position can be adjusted in smaller increments. Values further from the centered position are coarser.
100% Detune value corresponds to 2 semitones up/down on each side
50% Detune value plays a semi tone up/down on each side