USER MANUAL

V1
 OLGA is a virtual analog synthesizer unlike any other, designed from first principles to be distinctive.

During the golden era of analog synthesis, many breeds came and went. Some were popular, some were
instantly forgotten, some became classics. One rare breed doesn't fit into any easy category: handmade
experiments from unexpected places, synths that were filled with life and character. They encourage
experimentation and exploration, and reward you with unexpected and exciting sounds, vibrant and
human. These are the dusty gems you could spend your whole life searching for. This is OLGA.

OLGA's architecture is that of a classic analog poly-synth, but without the neurotic conformity. Approach
with a sense of adventure; turn knobs, push buttons, play. Olga will respond to your attentions and you
will discover new sounds; you will discover inspiration; you will discover a duck.

OLGA’s unique, living sound is derived from groundbreaking signal processing advances, not from the
same old recycled code dressed up in childish marketing acronyms. It's just coincidence that this new
technology happens to spell out ...

Bezier Antialiased Dynamic Analog Synthesis System

A truly new approach to DSP waveform generation for the emulation of glorious analog imperfection.
OLGA’s free running oscillators are in a constant state of unstable variation. No mere ‘pitch drift’ but a
subtle and deeply musical instability in the generation of the waveforms themselves, free of aliasing
artifacts and light on your CPU.

Gaussian Reactive Oscillator Overdrive Virtual Engine

Sometimes the joy of an analog synthesizer comes from abusing it, pushing internal levels beyond their
intended limits in search of those cherished nonlinearities. Throughout OLGA’s signal path levels can be
pushed through saturation and into full overdrive, spreading a sound palette of warmth and character
through to filth, drive and power.

Why the Russian? The right kind of limitations can be surprisingly liberating, even inspiring. Most people
"program" a synth by picking a preset and, maybe, turning the cutoff knob a bit. We wanted to design an
instrument that would invite more creative play, and create an environment where you will turn a knob
you'd never think to turn if you thought you knew how it would affect the sound. Olga is meant to be
approached in a spirit of playful experimentation and exploration, and our hope is that she will reward your
sense of adventure.

Of course, even the best adventures benefit from a map to find your way home, so if you find where White
Tie is hiding on Olga, you can also find some remedial language help. Have fun!
 CONTENTS

SECTION 1 Synthesis Controls SECTION 2 Using Olga

1.1 Oscillators.................................. 4 2.1 Mouse & Direct Input............. 12
1.2 Filters...........................................5 2.2 The Keyboard ............................ 12
1.3 Amplifier.....................................7 2.3 Interface Sizing ........................ 12
1.4 Sync Retrig................................ 8 2.4 MIDI CCs..................................... 13
1.5 LFO 2............................................8
1.6 Effects......................................... 9 SECTION 3 Miscellaneous
1.7 Voice ............................................10 3.1 FAQ.............................................. 14
1.8 Performer's Controls .............. 11 3.2 BADASS & GROOVE ............... 15
1.1 OSCILLATORS

fig1.1a
Oscillator 1

fig1.1b
Oscillator 2

1 Semitone Tune For coarse tuning of the can be used to vary the Shape Width of Oscillator
oscillator, from an octave up to an octave down, in 1, it can also vary the fine tune of Oscillator 2 and
semitones. /or vary the cutoff frequency of the filter. This knob
controls its speed.
2 Shape The most fundamental control of the
oscillator, choosing whether to produce a square or 6 Oscillator Level Adjusts the level at which this
a triangular waveform. oscillator is summed with the other and passed on
to the filter to be used in your sound.
3 Shape Width Fully variable modification of the
character of the waveform selected by control 2, TIP The oscillator level is similar to the input gain
from saw to triangle, or thin pulse to square. knob on a guitar amplifier, not just a volume
control, and so can be used to introduce pleasing
4 Shape Width Modulation by LFO1 The act of non-linearities to your sound by overdriving the
changing the shape width while playing can create summing amplifier. If you're looking for a clean
many rich sounds, but having to turn the knob sound, keep it quite low and compensate for the
yourself will get boring very quickly... this control reduced volume using Olga's output knob. (p7)
tells LFO1 to do it for you, by a variable amount.
7 Fine Tune Oscillator 2 can be detuned against
TIP Try setting the Shape to square, Shape Width Oscillator 1 using this slider, for a thick and
to half and LFO1 to a moderate speed. Then raise complex sound that can be further enhanced
this knob for the classic PWM effect at the heart of using...
many great string sounds.
8 Fine Tune Modulation by LFO1 sweeps the fine
5 LFO1 Low Frequency Oscillator 1 generates a tuning of Oscillator 2 with LFO1, by a variable
triangular control signal. As we have just seen, it amount determined by this knob.
1.2 FILTERS
fig1.2a
Filter Envelope

Olga's filter is a sophisticated emulation of a 4-pole 4 Sustain After the Attack and Decay times are
analog ladder filter, offering Low Pass or a choice completed, the control signal outputs at the level
of two widths of Band Pass, all with resonance. A determined with this slider. This level is held until
separate High Pass filter follows the main filter to the end of time, or the key is released, which ever
allow low frequencies to be trimmed away. comes first. At that point, the envelope enters its
final phase...
The cutoff frequency of the filter can be varied by
LFO1 and/or its own dedicated envelope. 5 Release The level of the control signal falls from
the sustain level to zero over a time period
THE FILTER ENVELOPE determined with this slider.

1 Hold A variable delay between a key being TIP To experiment with the filter envelope,
pressed and the envelope starting to open. adjusting a few other controls to the following
settings may be useful: The Cutoff Modulation
2 Attack The level of the control signal rises from Source (p6) to fully up, the Cutoff Modulation to
zero to full over a time period determined with this full, Cutoff to zero, The Velocity to Filter Envelope
slider. Scaling to zero (p11) and the Amp Envelope (p7) to
zero Attack, zero Decay, full Sustain and full
3 Decay After the Attack time is completed the Release.
control signal falls from full to the sustain level (see
slider 4) over a time period determined with this
slider.

fig1.2b
Stages of the
Filter Envelope
 fig1.2c
Filters

THE FILTERS 10 Cutoff The key frequency at which the filter

operates.
6 Cutoff Modulation Source As previously
mentioned, the cutoff frequency of the filter can be 11 High Pass Filter This knob sets the frequency
varied by LFO1 and the filter envelope. This slider is below which the dedicated High Pass filter trims
used to determine what proportion of these two away low frequencies. Olga's main filter can
sources is used; when the slider is all the way up, generate considerable sub-harmonic frequencies,
only the envelope is used to vary the cutoff which can be removed here, or it can be used to
frequency; when the slider is all the way down, only remove unneeded mid-range frequencies from
LFO1 is used. bright sounds.

7 Cutoff Modulation Amount The control source TIP If the filter is not behaving as expected, check
chosen with slider 6 will vary the cutoff by the the settings of the Key to Filter Tracking knob. (p11)
amount chosen with this knob. If it is set to zero,
neither the envelope nor LFO1 will have any effect TIP The filter has a great many uses beyond
on the sound. making trance sweeps. Please. Try setting the Key
to Filter Tracking knob (p11) to 1 (straight up), the
8 Filter Type Olga's powerful non-linear filter can Cutoff Modulation amount to zero and the
operate in three modes: Low Pass, which removes resonance to fairly high. Then use the Cutoff knob
frequencies above the cutoff, and a choice of two to tune the filter to a harmonocally pleasing pitch.
widths of Band Pass, which remove frequencies This pitch will follow the notes you play, with the
above and below the cutoff. resonance acting like a third oscillator. Because of
Olga's filter non-linearities, a great range of
9 Resonance Focuses the filter's energy tightly at exciting sounds can be created with this technique.
the cutoff frequency (see Warning, below).

WARNING Olga's resonance control is live ammunition. Like a true analog ladder
filter, the resonance will feed back, self-oscillate, and generally take on a life of its own
when the knob is at higher levels. Although Olga has automatic brickwall limiting at
-0.1dB, please take care when quickly raising the resonance control, if you value your
delicate audio perception soft tissues.
1.3 AMPLIFIER

fig1.3a
Amplifier

1 Drive Raising the drive level increases the power articulation. It is similar to the Filter Envelope but
through the whole system, which in turn increases without its Hold stage.
the overall instabilty, overdrive, distortion and
wildness of the sound. 4 Attack The level of the control signal rises from
zero to full over a time period determined with this
2 Output This is Olga's master volume control. slider.
Automatic soft-clipping will brickwall limit the
output to -0.1dB, in the likely case that Olga slips 5 Decay After the Attack time is completed the
her leash now and then. control signal falls from full to the sustain level (see
slider 6) over a time period determined with this
TIP If the output limit light comes on, and you don't slider.
want the additional saturation that the soft-clipping
limiter will impart to the sound, turn down the 6 Sustain After the Attack and Decay times are
output knob. completed, the control signal outputs at the level
determined with this slider. This level is held until
3 Disortion Feedback When engaged, the drive the key is released, at which point the envelope
output is fed back into the distortion circuit for a enters its final phase...
sharper, edgier sound.
7 Release The level of the control signal falls from
AMPLIFIER ENVELOPE the sustain level to zero over a time period
determined with this slider.
The Amplifier Envelope creates a control signal that
shapes the volume of each voice in response to key

fig1.4a
Stages of the
Amp Envelope
1.4 SYNC RETRIG

fig1.5a
Sync Retrig

In normal use the envelopes are triggered in 2 Trigger Filter Envelope If on, the retrigger
response to note-on and note-off from keys being commands are routed to the filter envelope.
played. This section can overide that behaviour and
cause the envelopes to be repeatedly retriggered in 3 Trigger Amp Envelope If on, the retrigger
synchronization with your host's tempo setting. commands are routed to the amplifier envelope.

TIP Leave this section disabled ('x' = disabled) if TIP Try setting the filter envelope (p5) to a snappy,
you're not yet clear on how the envelopes work. decay-only shape but the amp envelope (p7) to a
long attack and release. Set the sync retrig section
1 Tempo Sync Divisions A retrigger command is to rapidly retrigger just the filter envelope. Each
sent on every beat as your host plays back, or on a note played will sound a run of sychronized filter
subdivision of each beat, as selected with this knob. spikes whose volume fades in then out.
'x' disables the entire sync retrig section.

1.5 LFO 2

fig1.5a
LFO 2

LFO generates a triangular control signal that can 2 Tremolo This knob controls the depth of the
be used to apply global output level modulation output level (volume) modulation.
(tremolo) or global tuning modulation (vibrato) to
the sound. 3 Vibrato This knob controls the depth of the
output pitch modulation.
1 Rate This knob controls the speed of the tremolo
and/or vibrato.
1.6 EFFECTS

fig1.6a
Effects

You can apply either a phaser or a chorus effect to You can get an amazing versatility of sound with
Olga's outuput. different resonant frequency settings. Changing
the order of the resonant frequencies changes the
1 Effect Level Controls which effect, and how much sound as well. These controls offer high rewards
of it, is applied. "Dry" (straight up on the knob) for experimentation.
means that no effect is applied. Turn the knob left
and the phaser is applied with increasing strength. 6 Phaser Feedback Controls how much of the
Turn the knob right and the chorus is applied with phaser output is fed back to its input. As with the
increasing strength. main ladder filter's resonance control (p6) , this is a
live ammunition. The output is always brickwall-
2 Rate Controls the oscillation rate of the phaser or limited to -0.1dB (see p7) , but pushing the phaser
chorus effect. feedback quickly can still cause some brain
membrane penetration.
3 Depth Controls the oscillation depth of the phaser
or chorus effect. CHORUS

4 Mono / Stereo Controls whether the phaser or Olga offers a deep, lively chorus effect based on
chorus runs in mono or stereo. Both effects offer a the same unstable nonlinear architecture as the
good deal of stereo image movement in stereo main ladder filter. The following controls affect
mode. specific chorus settings.

PHASER 7 Chorus Delay This control affects the "roominess"

of the chorus effect, and also introduces a slight
We have to say here that this is the wildest phaser initial delay.
we've ever heard. Please expect your bowels to be
stirred. The following controls affect specific 8 Chorus Spread This affects the width between
phaser settings. different voices in the chorus control. The wider
the spread, the stronger the perception of separate
5 Phaser 1-3 The phaser has 3 resonant voices in the chorus.
frequencies. Adjust these controls to change them.
1.7 VOICE

fig1.7a
Voice
Controls

Olga emulates the 'voice board' architecture of DUO Voice 1 plays only Oscillator 1, Voice 2 plays
analog polyphonic synthesizers. Notes you play on only Oscillator 2, and successive notes alternate
the keyboard are assigned to the next available between voices. You sort of have to play it to
voice depending on the settings made here. understand.

1 Voice Mode The voice modes available are: POLY8 Up to eight simultaneous notes are played
and assigned to the first eight voices
NOISE The oscillators are bypassed and all notes polyphonically. When a ninth note is played, the
are sent to Olga's noise generator. Oscillator 1's oldest voice is silenced and reassigned to the new
level knob sets the level of low frequency noise. note. When using long release times, this mode
Oscillator 2's level knob sets the level of high may sound similar to the full Poly16 mode, but
frequency noise. Mixed together in equal parts, the save on CPU load.
output will be white noise..
POLY16 All sixteen voices are used, assigned to
MONO All notes are sent to the first voice only, so the sixteen most recent notes. When a seventeenth
only the most recently played note is sounded. note is played, the oldest voice is silenced and
However, and you'll like this, the playing order of reassigned to the new note.
the other notes is remembered, so if you release
the most recent note, the next most recent note (if 2 Portamento When this knob is set above zero,
still held down) is sounded again. and the Voice Mode (see 1) set to Mono, Unison2,
Unison4, Unison8, or Duo, legato portamento is
UNISON2 The same as Mono mode, but the active activated. Play a note while another is held down
note is assigned to two voices simultaneously. The and the pitch of the oscillators will sweep to the
voices are slightly detuned. new note. The time taken to perform the sweep is
determined with this knob.
UNISON4 The same as Mono mode, but the active
note is assigned to four voices simultaneously. The TIP Try stringing a number of notes together in this
voices are slightly detuned. legato style, and they will continue to sweep from
note to note. Olga will not retrigger the envelopes
UNISON8 The same as Mono mode, but the active until all notes are released, so, for example, a long
note is assigned to eight voices simultaneously. filter attack could be used to ramp up the filter over
The voices are slightly detuned, and it sounds thick the period of the phrase.
....very thick.
 PERFORMER'S
1.8 CONTROLS

fig1.8a
Performer's
Controls

This section controls how Olga reponds to the most up with Olga, some headphones, and show him
direct source of the performer's expression: note, what the Pitch Bend wheel does. Come back in an
note velocity, pitch bend and modulation. hour or so.

TIP For the more involved performer, all of Olga's 4 Pitch Bend Range Pitch Bend can independently
knobs and switches respond to MIDI Control bend the pitch each of Olga's oscillators by a
Changes. (p13) variable amount, determined with these knobs.

1 Modulation Wheel Great singers and 5 Velocity to Amp Envelope Scaling Causes the
instrumentalists often use variations in modulation playing velocity to affect the scale of the Amp
to accent or soften phrases, and to develop Envelope's control signal (p7), and thus the level
sustained notes. Olga's modulation wheel can be (volume) of the note.
used to introduce modulations in oscillator shape,
fine tune, tremolo and/or vibrato by scaling the 6 Velocity to Filter Envelope Scaling Causes the
depth of the LFOs. playing velocity to affect the scale of the Filter
Envelope's control signal (p5). If the Filter Envelope
2 Modulation LFO Scale These knobs determine the is set to alter the cutoff frequency, this will result in
amount by which the modulation wheel scales the a change in the timbre of the note.
depth of LFO1 (p4) and/or LFO2 (p8). When a knob
is on full it means that the complete travel of the 7 Key to Filter tracking Scaling Determines the
modulation wheel will scale that LFOs depth from degree to which the pitch of each note played alters
zero to its normal depth. the Cutoff Frequency of the Filter (p6). When the
knob is pointing directly upwards, this key tracking
3 Pitch Bend Wheel Bends the pitch of the will be 'perfect' - i.e. a semitone change in the note
oscillators up or down. played will result in a semitone change in the
Cutoff Frequency.
TIP If a can't-stop-widdling guitarist is dirupting
your recording session, set him (its always a him!)
 MOUSE &
2.1 DIRECT INPUT

Knobs, sliders, buttons, and other controls in all Mouse double-click : resets the control to the
Schwa audio plugins (please visit initial value.
www.stillwellaudio.com to see the menagerie) can
be manipulated in various ways. Mouse right-click : opens a number entry
window over the control, for keyboard entry of
Mouse click / drag : moves the control. precise values. If you grab the control behind the
number entry window with the mouse, you can see
Mouse click / control-drag : moves the control the exact value change as you drag the mouse.
very slowly, to allow fine adjustment.

2.2 KEYBOARD

fig2.3a
Keyboard

Olga's interface keyboard can be used as a handy In keeping with almost all fictional synthesizers,
way of testing sounds by clicking on the keys. The Olga's keyboard is 4.4167 octaves long. Note,
effects of velocity can also be tested; clicking at the however, that the synthesis engine will respond to
top of the key produces a low velocity note, at the the full octave range of MIDI notes.
bottom of the key generates a full velocity note.

INTERFACE
2.3 SIZING

fig2.4a
Interface Sizing
Controls

Olga's interface has several view modes, which are hand buttons select whether the keyboard and
selected with the interface sizing buttons. The large performer's controls are shown, allowing you to
left-hand button sets the overall size of the flip between the smallest view (reduced zoom, no
interface, between full and reduced zoom. The right- keyboard) to full view with one click.
2.4 MIDI CCs
3.1 FAQs

Q : Is Olga Free? filter or amp envelope release times will use more
CPU than short release times (p5 & p7). Poly voice
A : No. Olga is not "freeware" or "donationware." mode with long envelope release times can be
Olga is a paid software product just like one you especially CPU hungry.
buy in a box from a store. It represents a lot of
hard work by us. Q : I have an awesome song with 13
instances of Olga running simultaneously.
But we subscribe to the Reaper Ethic. Firstly, we How can I keep track of which instance is the
believe that nobody should be tricked into buying Killah Lead and which is the Big Booty Bass?
something they don't need, so we want you to be
able to fully evaluate Olga before you buy it. A : We're a step ahead of you! Try choosing
Secondly, we believe that crippled evaluations different clutter for visual cues.
(beeps, hisses, time limits, intentionally disabled
functionality) and copy protection schemes Q : What is SSE2 and why should I care?
(dongles, passwords) serve primarily to degrade
the experience of legitimate users, while providing A : SSE2 is an extended CPU instruction set first
only minor protection against illegitimate users. available on processors made in 2001 and
Basically, if you want to steal Olga, there's not supported by virtually all processors made after
much we can do to stop you. But if you try Olga, 2004. Olga makes extensive use of SSE2 to
and like it, and you get value from our hard work, minimize CPU load. Notable older processors that
we trust that you will visit www.stillwellaudio.com do not support SSE2 are the Pentium 3 and pre-64
(you can get there by clicking the word Athlon XP series. Computers with these
"unregistered" on Olga) and buy a license. A processors will simply not recognize Olga as a
license also buys you enthusiastic support directly loadable plugin. We provide a special non-SSE2
from us, the creators of Olga. build of Olga for these machines, which has exactly
the same functionality, usage and licensing terms,
The only downside of a license is that you don't get but somewhat higher CPU load.
to watch the amazingly cool countdown intro
screen any more. Q : How did that one guy make that crazy
cool sound with Olga?
Q : What is Olga's resource use like?
A : Please check out the demo songs on the Olga
A : We think it's very good. Any serious virtual page at www.stillwellaudio.com. The songs cover
instrument needs to strike a balance between its a breadth of musical styles and there are many
use of CPU and RAM resources. Where possible, different kinds of Olga sounds represented. For
we have tried to use RAM to save CPU, while each song, the artist has graciously allowed us to
keeping overall RAM use within reasonable limits. post the entire project as a Reaper project file
Here are some details: (please visit www.reaper.fm if you don't already
have Reaper). You can open the project files and
- Almost all RAM resource use is shared among all see exactly how each sound was created.
active instances of Olga, so only the first Olga will
use any meaningful RAM. RAM is essentially free Q : Where's the "Van Halen Jump" preset?
for all subsequent instances.
A : Go away. We hear some generic bland
- All else being equal, unison voice mode will use synthesizer calling you.
more CPU than mono (p10), poly16 voice mode will
use more CPU than poly8 (p10), the phaser or
chorus will use more CPU on than off (p9), and long
3.2

what is BADASS?
Analog equipment is unpredictable. Grumpy old
handmade analog equipment is more than
unpredictable: it's alive. Digital efforts to emulate
analog unpredictability and liveliness tend to fall what is GROOVE?
into two categories.
There's a unique sensation you get when you stand
There's the Kinda Soundslikeit approach, where for in front of an old guitar amp and turn the input gain
example waveshaping is used to create tube way up. Will my eardrums survive? Will the amp
saturation. Waveshaping does sound kind of like explode? It sounds OK when I play normal
tube saturation, in that it's sort of fuzzy when you dynamics, but if I slam a power chord, will I die
play loud. But waveshaping has no movement instantly? You simply can't get that thrill from a
over time, so it can't ever sound alive and dynamic piece of software. We've tried to capture that
the way real hardware can. sensation of barely controlled chaos with our new
Gaussian Reactive Oscillator Overdrive Virtual
Then there's the Randomly Changeit approach, Engine.. GROOVE, like BADASS, manages to be
where a digital sound is created and then randomly nerdy, hip, self-deprecating, and smug all at the
twiddled in an effort to sound unpredictable. Many same time.
analog emulations rely on random pitch
modulation, for example, which adds a wobble to GROOVE modifies every part of Olga's virtual
the sound, but again there's no development to the circuitry so that the more power you send through
sound. It's still a digital signal being changed in a it, the wilder the output is. The key to GROOVE is
digital way. that the output becomes less predictable instant-to-
instant, yet remains structured, and never flies
We've taken a new approach: our Bezier completely out of control. Well, sometimes it can
Antialiased Dynamic Analog Synthesis System, fly completely out of control, if you're overly
which we call BADASS, with a tone that we libertine with the resonance (p. 5) or feedback (p. 5)
calculate is ironic and patronizing yet tongue-in- controls.
cheek and clever in just the right blend to appeal to
you, gentle reader. At the heart of the approach is To hear what we mean, slowly increase the
new DSP technology that bandlimits arbitrary oscillator level knobs (p. 4) to overdrive the ladder
Bezier curves in real time to allow essentially filter (p.5), or increase the drive knob (p. 7) to
freehand drawing of waveforms with no aliasing overdrive the output amplifier. The distortion will
artifacts. We then layer on a unique organic develop and move over time. GROOVE : More
algorithm, which allows the bezier waveforms to Than Just Fuzz! (tm)
grow, change shape, and develop over time.

What this all means is that rather than creating

digital sounds and attempting to digitally modify
them to sound analog-like, instead Olga has life and
motion designed into the very foundation of the
waveforms themselves.