Partials

Partials is a variable spectrum additive synthesiser with MC at its heart. Available as both a Max/MSP collective and Max for Live Instrument, the fundamental concept underpinning the design of Partials is one of variability and unpredictability.

The foundation of the instrument is the ioscbank~ object and, specifically, the dynamic variation of the distribution of partials between the fundamental frequency and uppermost overtone, which can either be linear or increasingly logarithmic/exponential. Unfortunately, an MC variant of ioscbank~ does not exist so it was necessary to utilise poly~ to mimic the functionality of such an object.

Partials comprises three additive voices, which operate in unison, and a sub oscillator. Parameter settings such as partial distribution, filter cutoff, and resonance are controlled by random envelope generators and fluctuate within a range of values as defined by rslider objects or number boxes. Random envelope frequency (the interval between newly generated envelope values) can be defined for each individual parameter, whilst deviation can be applied to create variation between the three unison voices.