Alchemy morph controls in MainStage

Source components are shown only in advanced view. Click the Advanced button to switch to advanced view, then click the Morph button to view and use the morph controls.

The morph controls determine how the four Alchemy sources interact. There are two basic types of interaction:

XFade: In a crossfade, all active sources play simultaneously, and the X and Y knobs control the mix between them. This is equivalent to turning the Amp knobs in each source to attain the desired mix. If you crossfade from a source with a high Coarse Tune setting to a source with a low Coarse Tune setting, the high source fades out as the low source fades in. In the middle of the crossfade you hear both sources.
Morph: In a morph, a single sound is generated with parameter values determined by interpolating between the settings of all four sources. If you morph from a source with a high Coarse Tune setting to a source with a low Coarse Tune setting, you hear a single sound during the morph. The sound tuning falls smoothly from the high value to the low one.

Morphing provides more scope than simple crossfades between sources. It also allows cross-synthesis, where you can combine different aspects of different sound elements. For example, you could apply the formants or other characteristics of an additive source to the spectral element of another source. See the tutorials found in Alchemy elemental morphs overview in MainStage.

Only certain parameters, notably all parameters controlled with a knob, can be morphed. Morphed parameters are indicated by a green arc around the control. Parameters that are morphed and have a modulation assignment show both an orange and green arc around the control. Parameter settings are shared across all morphed sources, which means that changing a parameter in one source results in the corresponding parameter being changed for all morphed sources.

Note: Parameters that do not directly participate in the morph, including most buttons and pop-up menus, are indicated with a lock icon displayed at the top left of the control (the lock icons are shown only in source subpages). Where there is a parameter pairing of an On button and a pop-up menu, only the button shows the lock icon. Neither parameter participates in the morph.

Figure. Morph Linear mode, showing individual element parameters.

Morph controls

Morph type buttons: Choose one of four crossfade or morph modes.
- XFade XY: This mode crossfades levels between all four sources.
  - Use the X knob to control the mix levels of sources A and C versus sources B and D.
  - Use the Y knob to control the mix levels of sources A and B versus sources C and D.
- XFade Linear: This mode is useful for setting up crossfades based on Velocity or KeyFollow.
  - Crossfade from source A to B to C to D as you increase the X knob value from 0% to 100%.
  - The Y knob is not shown in this mode.
- Morph XY: This mode is like XFade XY, but all parameters of the sound are morphed. Regions of each source encompassed by corresponding warp markers are time-aligned in the morph. See Alchemy zone waveform editor in MainStage.
  - All/Elements buttons: Use All to view and edit the X/Y values for all active parameters. Use Elements to view and edit the X/Y values of five parameters.
  - X/Y knobs: Edit the X/Y values for all active parameters. Y values are not shown in “linear” modes.
  - Additive knob X/Y: Set the morph value for active additive sources. Also controls VA morph position if the VA element is active.
  - Spec/Gran knob X/Y: Set the morph value for active spectral or granular sources. Also controls sampler morph position if the sampler element is active.
  - Pitch knob X/Y: Set the pitch morph value between active sources.
  - Formant knob X/Y: Set the formant level morph value between active sources. Also controls morphing of the source filter knobs.
  - Envelope knob X/Y: Set the envelope morph value between active sources. These controls morph the timing of the sound. In cases where source A has a short attack and source B has a long attack, for example, the length of the attack varies as you change the X knob.
  - Auto Gain button: Enable to match source levels, resulting in smoother morphs.
  - Fixed Pitch button: Turn on to lock the root note to a pitch that doesn’t change, regardless of morph position movements. Turn off for the best morphing quality.
  - Auto Align button: Enable to automatically align all morphed sources. As an example, Auto Align corrects the timing of words of four spoken voice samples saying the same phrase in each of the four morphed sources. Auto Align is automatically turned off when you set warp markers manually.
- Morph Linear: This mode is like XFade Linear, but all parameters of the sound are morphed. Regions of each source encompassed by corresponding warp markers are time-aligned in the morph. See Alchemy elemental morphs overview in MainStage.
  - All/Elements buttons: Use All to view and edit the X value for all active parameters. Use Elements to view and edit the X values of five parameters.
  - Source group buttons: Choose source group A-B, C-D, or A-B-C-D. Morphs affect only the chosen group of sources.
  - Additive knob: Set the morph value for active additive sources.
  - Spec/Gran knob: Set the morph value for active spectral or granular sources. This also controls the sampler morphing position if the sampler element is active.
  - Pitch knob: Set the pitch morph value between active sources.
  - Formant knob: Set the formant level morph value between active sources.
  - Envelope knob: Set the envelope morph value between active sources.
  - Auto Gain button: Enable to match source levels, resulting in smoother morphs.
  - Fixed Pitch button: Locks the root note to a pitch that does not change, regardless of morph position movements. Turn off for higher morphing quality.
  - Auto Align button: Enable to automatically align all morphed sources. Auto Align is automatically turned off when you set warp markers manually. For example, Auto Align corrects the timing of words of four spoken voice samples saying the same phrase in each of the four morphed sources.
Morph square: Display and edit the current X/Y morph position. Drag the point to change the X or Y value, or both.
- Morph XY mode: When the Elements button is on, five points represent the following parameters: Additive (blue), Spec/Gran (orange), Pitch (green), Formant (purple), and Envelope (yellow). Drag each point to change the corresponding X and Y values.
- Morph Linear mode: When the Elements button is on, five points represent the following parameters: Additive (blue), Spec/Gran (orange), Pitch (green), Formant (purple), and Envelope (yellow). Drag each point to change the corresponding X parameter value for the active source group: A-B, C-D, or A-B-C-D.

Download the guides:

MainStage User Guide: PDF

MainStage Instruments: PDF

MainStage Effects: PDF

Helpful?