Imagillator

How does a rainbow sound like?

Well, now you can find out with this oscillator module.

Imagillator is a sophisticated wavetable oscillator that uses image files instead of audio files as sound sources. An image file (BMP, JPG and PNG) can be loaded into the oscillator by simply dragging and dropping it onto the module, or by doubleclicking onto the image canvas and selecting an image file via the file browser. The loaded image is stretched to fit the canvas. For sound generation it is internally stretched to 2048 x 256 pixels. Pixel values are then converted into amplitude values. The generated waveform is displayed below the image.

Imagillator offers all the features you would expect from a modern wavetable oscillator, like a variety of warp modes, unison options and also frequency, phase and amplitude modulation.

The parameters in detail:

Channel Select: Select the color channel you want to transform into sound. Options are: Alpha, Red, Green, Blue and Luminance (according to BT.601 standard (pdf))

Fade: Fade out the edges of the image (0 to 128 pixels)

Readout Position: Select the line in the image you want to transform into sound. A red line in the image display indicates the position

Warp: Select warp mode from the dropdown menu (dark gray area) and adjust the amount with the knob. This determines how a line in the image is read. Options are:

• Phase : Adjust the starting point of the readout
• Sync : "Fake" sync. The line is extended with itself
• PWM : The line gets squeezed while getting extended with the last pixel value.
• Quant : The line gets sampled down
• Bend + : The line gets squeezed in the center while getting stretched at the edges
• Bend - : The line gets stretched in the center while getting squeezed at the edges
• Bend +/- : Combination of Bend + and Bend -
• Asym + : The line gets squeezed at the start and stretched at the end
• Asym - : The line gets stretched at the start and squeezed at the end.
• Asym +/- : Combination of Asym + and Asym -
• Mirror : The line gets mirrored from the left or from the right
• Flip : The resulting waveform gets flipped around the horizontal axis, either from the left or from the right

Output Gain: Adjust the output level of Imagillator.

Oct, Semi, Cent: Adjust the tuning of Imagillator in octaves (+/-5), semitones (+/-7) or cents (+/-50) respectively.

Unison Voices: Adjust the number of unison voices. To keep CPU usage at a reasonable level this is limited to 5 unison voices.

Position Spread: Spread the readout position per unison voice. Red lines in the image display indicate readout positions.

Pan Spread: Spread the panorama position per unison voice.

Voice Detune: Detune unison voices up to 2 semitones

Imagillator starts working as soon as there is a connection to one of the output jacks, so you won't see any changes in the waveform or the image until at least one of them is connected. If only the L/M jack is connected, Imagillator will sum the left and right output to mono.

To get started right away, just right click on the images above and select "Save image as...". The images include basic waveforms (sine, triangle, ...), PWM, Circles (sync-like sound), the Monkey Business Audio logo and, of course, a rainbow. You can also download them as a single ZIP file from here. In Voltage Modular, just drag and drop them onto Imagillator and start modulating some parameters.

The first sound example is made using the setup you can see in the image above, where Imagillator is used inside Voltage Modular, no filters, no additional effects. The second one utilizes two instances of Imagillator, one for the synth line with the MBA logo as sound source and one for the bass line using the basic waveform image, featuring the excellent Misfit Audio Electro Drums.

Imagillator is highly optimized to be as CPU friendly as possible. However, due to the nature of unison voicing, the more voices it produces, the higher the CPU usage will be. On an Intel Core i5-3550 under Windows 10 it takes about 2 to 4 times as much CPU power as the "Super Oscillator" by Cherry Audio.

A detailed user manual (pdf) is also available.

If you have any module specific questions, please consult the user manual or visit the Monkey Business Audio forum. For questions about Voltage Modular in general, please visit the Cherry Audio forum. If you don't want to ask your question in the forum you can send me a pm or an email.