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Modules of your own

Make a module of your own

Several modules can become one box of your own, with its own name and its own knobs. Open it to see what's inside, and give it a face.

Pro: anyone can open any module and read its code, parts list or patch. Writing your own, or changing one, needs SynthMaker Pro. Turning its knobs is free.

New words

A module of your own is a module you made, from other modules or from code. In the Patch it's one box.

Inputs and Outputs: inside your module, the boxes where wires come in from the rest of the sound and go back out.

The breadcrumb is the path above the Patch, such as Acid Starter › Tone, that says which level you're on.

1Pick the modules

Click a module's ⋯ on its card (or right-click it in the Patch) and choose Make a custom module…: here, the Oscillator. Then click each other module to put inside: here, the Filter. The bar counts them.

  1. Step 1: Make a custom module…. The Oscillator's menu, from ⋯ on its card: Make a custom module…. (larger)
  2. Step 2: Click to pick. The Oscillator and the Filter marked as picked. (larger)
  3. Step 3: 2 picked. The bar: Picking modules for a custom module: 2 picked, with Make module… and Cancel. (larger)

2Name it and make it

Click Make module… and type a name, such as Tone. The line under it lists what goes inside and what becomes its Inputs and Outputs. Click Make module.

  1. Step 1: Make module…. The Make module… button in the picking bar. (larger)
  2. Step 2: Its name. The name box with Tone typed. (larger)
  3. Step 3: What it will be. The plan line: Inside: Oscillator, Filter. Inputs: freq (from Voice freq); env (from Envelope out). Outputs: out (to VCA in). (larger)
  4. Step 4: One box. The Patch with Tone as one box, wired where the Oscillator and Filter were. (larger)

3Go inside

Double-click Tone, or click Open on its card. Inside are the Oscillator and the Filter, between its Inputs and Outputs. The breadcrumb takes you back up.

  1. Step 1: Open. Tone's card, Module of your own, with its Open button. (larger)
  2. Step 2: Inside Tone. The inner Patch: its Inputs, the Oscillator, the Filter and its Output. (larger)
  3. Step 3: Back up. The breadcrumb, Acid Starter › Tone: click Acid Starter. (larger)

4Give it a face

A face puts the knobs you choose on the front of your module. Click Edit face on its card, add a knob for the Filter's cutoff, and click Done. Faces in SwiftUI shows every part of it.

  1. Step 1: Edit face. Tone's card with Edit face. (larger)
  2. Step 2: Add a knob. The face editor's Add a knob for… menu. (larger)
  3. Step 3: Its face. Tone's box in the Patch, showing its face with one knob: Cutoff. (larger)

5Two more ways to start

Edit a copy: open a built-in, such as the Filter, and choose Edit a copy. In this sound only, it becomes a Code module of your own, Filter (mine), with the same code to change. Start from code: in + Add a module, under Custom modules, Start from code adds a Code module you write yourself.

  1. Step 1: Edit a copy. Inside the Filter: Edit a copy, beside Copy, in the bar over its code. (larger)
  2. Step 2: Filter (mine). Smooth Pluck › Filter (mine): your own module, MyFilter, with the same code. (larger)
  3. Step 3: Custom modules. The module browser's Custom modules group: Start from code, Start from circuit and more. (larger)
  4. Step 4: Start from code. Smooth, the Code module Start from code adds, in the last wire, into the Output. (larger)
My First Face: the module Tone's face beside its Patch, and a keyboard below.
Play the keys, then double-click Tone to go inside. Open the example sound: My First Face ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Try it

  1. Open Acid Starter, click ⋯ on the Oscillator's card, choose Make a custom module…, then click the Filter.
  2. Click Make module…, name it Tone, and click Make module: the Patch shows one box, Tone.
  3. Double-click Tone: the Oscillator and Filter are inside. Click Acid Starter in the breadcrumb to come back.
Open the example sound: Acid Starter ↗ (opens in a new tab)

On the Mac, the Edit menu has Make Module… (⌥⌘G), Open Module (⌘↓), Enclosing Level (⌘↑) and Edit Face (⌥⌘F).

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