Generate 3 : A complex, useful oscillator with character

The Generate 3 oscillator is meant for interesting modulations. It has through-zero FM, phase modulation and level control over even/odd harmonics. The level controls are all through-zero so you can do ring-modulation (aka through-zero AM) as well, which is ace.

The sound has a lot of character, especially the full output (there are also four partial outs) so stick a filter after it. Also, Generate 3 likes to talk to other VCOs through the various modulations, so you want to have another oscillator in the rack – with hard or soft sync – so that it doesn't feel lonely.

My favourite thing to do with this module is self-modulate the phase with the core, but putting a VCA in-between to modulate the amount of phase-modulation with an LFO. To me this sounds a bit like a pulse-width modulated sound, but a bit more, in lack of a better term "aggressive".

The drawbacks I find for this are mostly in the tuning ergonomics department – I would have loved an octave selector. And it would have been cool if the bias could be something else than +5V. Using an external offset for the stuff in-between is a bit of a hassle. But perhaps I am just using it wrong.

I bought this because I found that I constantly have plaits in "pair of classical waves" mode and and Generate 3 is similar to that, but with lots of more controls and modulation options. Generate 3 is absolutely what I wanted, and my Plaits can now go on to other duties, such as chord mode or do its wonky percussive stuff.