Magma EOwave, Owner'S Manual

15

4. PROGRAMMING SECTION

14

3. OVERVIEW

3.3. Sound generation / Signalpath

This is what is to be found under the hood of MAGMA´s sound generation. All sections are labelled in a 

specific colour, corresponding to MAGMA´s front-panel layout.

The sound sources are the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and a sub-oscillator (SUB), phase-synced to 

the VCO. They put their waveforms into the mixer and further into the voltage-controlled filter (VCF) and the 

voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA). There is also an external input fed into the filter / amplifier. Have a look 

at the two envelope generators and the way they are connected to their destinations: ENV2 controls the 

VCA, ENV1 can be inverted and controls VCF and VCO pitch. LFO 2 controls the mixer, LFO 1 is connec-

ted to VCO pitch as well as to the pulse-width of the square-wave. Its modulation curve can also be inver-

ted. At least we find MIDI data (or the on-board sequencer respectively), controlling pitch and triggering 

ENV 2 to generate notes.

VCO

VCF

VCA

SUB

OUT

EXT. IN

W

A

VE
FO
R

M-M

I

XE
R

Sync

Saw

Square

Square

Noise

ENV 3

(AD)

ENV 2

(ADSR)

ENV 1

(ADSR)

Inv

Inv

LFO 2

LFO 1

MIDI

Velocity

MIDI

Note

Pitch PWM

Audiosignal

Modulation / Control

4. PROGRAMMING SECTION

Here you will learn all about MAGMAs programming section, introduced on page 12. 

4.1. Preset / Pattern Handling 

Presets and Patterns

First of all, we should distinguish between presets and patterns. A preset contains all the sequencer set-

tings plus a specific sound setting. A pattern consists only out of the sequencer setting. That means, when 

changing a preset, pattern and sound will change. When changing a pattern, the sequencer will play 

something different but the sound currently selected remains the same (the sound, not necessarily the 

song…).

Memory Architecture

To understand MAGMA´s memory architecture, please have a look at the following figure. There are four 

banks of eight sub-banks each. Each sub-bank contains eight presets. This makes a total of 256 presets. 

Exactly the same goes for the patterns. That´s quite a lot of fun to be had.

4.1.1. Loading a bank

•  Hit 

SHIFT

 (hold) + 

BANK

 to enter the bank select menu 

•  Turn 

VAL

 to select bank 1 – 4. 

Bank

1

1  –  8

1  –  8

1  –  8

1  –  8

1  –  8

1 – 8

2

3

4

Sub Bank

Preset / 

Pattern

...

1  –  8

1 – 8

...

...

...

=>  4 Banks

=>  32 Sub Banks

=>  256 Presets /

  Patterns

TRANSP

A

SHUFFLE

B

SWING

RST

+

hold

move

TRANSP

A

SHUFFLE

B

SWING

RST

Bank 1 – 4