USB: Used for power and data. Connect to a computer for USB MIDI, device configuration, and firmware updates.

MIDI IN: TRS Type-A 3.5mm MIDI input.

MIDI OUT: TRS Type-A 3.5mm MIDI output.

PEDAL: Hold/Sustain pedal input.

MOD CV: CV input routable to VCO/VCF (0 to +5V).

TRIG IN: Trigger input (+2.5V or higher).

TRIG OUT: Trigger output (+14V).

CV IN: Control voltage input (1V/octave, 0 to +7V).

GATE IN: Gate input (+2.5V or higher).

CV OUT: Control voltage output from the EXTERNAL engine (0 to +5V).

GATE OUT: Gate output from the EXTERNAL engine (+14V).

PHONES: Stereo headphone output.

OUTPUT: Line level audio ouput.

The voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is where the multiple tone sources of the SB01 are created.

The MOD control adjusts the amount that the LFO will change the pitch of the oscillator.

The RANGE knob controls the pitch of the oscillator in one octave steps from 16’ to 2’. When this knob is set to 8’ and the TRANSPOSE is set to M, the lowest C note maps to the middle C of a piano.

Pulse Width

Pulse width modulation allows control over the duty cycle of the square wave, which is the proportion of time that a pulse waveform is high or low.
For example, a square wave has equal parts high and low, like this:

While a wave with a narrower pulse width may look like this:

Both of these examples have the same frequency, but the harmonic content of the pulse wave will vary in proportion to the width of the pulses.

The PULSE WIDTH switch controls the mode that the pulse width modulation will operate in.

• In MANUAL setting, the PULSE WIDTH slider will manually control the pulse width of the square wave from 50% to 5%.

• In LFO setting, the triangle wave LFO will control the pulse width of the oscillator, and the PULSE WIDTH slider will control the amount of modulation that is applied.

• In ENV setting, the envelope shape will control the pulse width of the oscillator, and the PULSE WIDTH slider will control the amount of modulation that is applied.

The Source Mixer section contains controls to mix together the tone sources created by the VCO into various timbres, with the addition of noise and sub-oscillator waveforms.

The PULSE slider controls the amount of pulse waveform that is mixed in. The pulse width is configured using the controls in the VCO section.

The SAW slider controls the amount of sawtooth wave that is mixed in.

The SUB OSC slider controls the amount of sub-oscillator that is mixed in. The sub-oscillator is a waveform that is divided in half from the main oscillator and will thus follow the pitch. Using the SUB OSC switch, the sub oscillator can be set to:

• A square wave one octave below the main oscillator
• A square wave two octaves below
• A 25% duty cycle pulse wave two octaves below

The NOISE slider controls the amount of white noise that is mixed in.

The voltage controlled filter (VCF) is used to shape the spectral properties of the combined sound coming from the Source Mixer section. The VCF in the SB01 is a four-pole low-pass filter based on the IR3109.

The FREQ slider controls the cutoff point of the filter. This control sets the cutoff point of a low-pass filter that defines the brightness of the sound.

The RES slider controls the amount of filter feedback (sometimes called resonance) that is applied. This can create anything from a pleasant squelchy sound, to harsh and shrill tones.

The ENV slider controls the amount of control that the envelope generator has on the filter cutoff position.

The MOD slider controls the amount of control that the LFO has on the filter cutoff position.

The KYBD slider will control the amount of keyboard CV that is applied to the filter cutoff based on the note that is played. This can be useful for creating a sound that is darker in the lower notes, but gets brighter as higher notes are played.

Self-Oscillation

With the resonance control set to maximum, the filter will feedback into self-oscillation. This type of oscillation results in a pure sine wave output with no harmonics.

To enable self-oscillation, set FREQ to about half, and set RES and KYBD to the maximum. The filter output will track the note played to within 1%. Use the FREQ slider to adjust note tuning.

The voltage controlled amplifier (VCA) section controls the amplitude, or volume of a note over time as it is played.

When the VCA is set to GATE mode, the volume of the note will be at the maximum as soon as a note is played, and will stop as soon as the note is released.

When the VCA is set to ENV mode, the volume of the note will follow the shape of the envelope section.

The envelope generator is a standard four-stage envelope. It can be used to modulate pulse width, filter cutoff, and most commonly- the VCA.

An envelope works in two stages. First, when the envelope is triggered (by a keypress or gate), it will increase its voltage to the maximum amount in a period of time controlled by the “attack” parameter. Once the maximum voltage has been reached, the envelope will decrease to another voltage level determined by the “sustain” parameter. The time it takes to get to the sustain level after the attack phase is controlled by the “decay” parameter. The envelope will stay at the sustain level until the note is let go.

Once the note is released, the envelope will return to zero voltage. The amount of time this takes is controlled by the “release” parameter.

The envelope is very powerful for shaping the properties of a sound, especially when routed to the filter cutoff. For example, a typical “pluck” sound has no attack, a short delay, no sustain, and no release, while a “pad” sound may have a long attack and decay, a middle sustain, and a long release.

Remember that attack, decay, and release all control the time, while sustain controls the level.

On the SB01, the envelope controls are:

• A - controls the attack time of the envelope
• D - controls the decay time of the envelope
• S - controls the envelope sustain level
• R - controls the release time of the envelope

The three settings of the ENV mode switch controls how the envelope is triggered.

In GATE mode, the envelope is started by a keypress event and will transition to the release phase when the last key is let go. If additional notes are played, the envelope will not reset to the beginning.

In GATE+TRIG mode, the envelope will be started by a keypress event and will transition to the release phase when any key is let go. If additional notes are played, the envelope will reset at the beginning for the new note.

In LFO mode, the envelope will be triggered by each cycle of the LFO when a note on the keyboard is played and held.

The LFO/CLK RATE slider controls the frequency of the LFO. The rate of cycling controls the speed of the arpeggiator and sequencer unless they are driven by an external clock source using the TRIG input.

The WAVEFORM switch selects the ouput shape of the LFO. Triangle and square are the output waveforms from the LFO, while the RANDOM output waveform is generated digitally. Each cycle of the LFO will produce a new random modulation level that is held until the next clock cycle. The NOISE waveform is the internal white noise source and is not affected by the rate control.

Portamento is the musical term for continuous pitch glide or slew between notes.

To enable portamento, toggle the PORTAMENTO switch to either ON or AUTO. The time of the glide can be controlled using the PORTAMENTO knob.

In the ON position, the SB01 will glide the pitch between every note.

In AUTO mode, the SB01’s glide effect activates only when you play a key while still holding a previous key. This “hold-and-glide” allows for expressive control.

Example:

1. Hold the C key. Then, play the G key.
2. The oscillator will glide from C to G.
3. If you release the C key before playing G, no glide will occur.

In the OFF position, the glide effect will not be applied to any played notes.

The SB01 has independent portamento states for each channel, so you can operate either channel with any PORTAMENTO setting. However, the portamento speed will be the same between both channels. Moving the toggle in each mode refreshes the PORTAMENTO state in each channel.

The SB01 has 32 keys and 2.5 octaves, but can be played as a 56 key keyboard by using the TRANSPOSE button.

With the RANGE of the VCO is set to 8’ and the TRANSPOSE is set to NORMAL, the lowest C note maps to the middle C of a piano.

Hold

Any key played can be held on after release by using the HOLD button (indicator will light).

When applied during a sequence, the HOLD function will sustain every note. The PEDAL input will also activate the HOLD function when pressed, similar to the damper pedal of a piano.

Transpose Latching

Press SHIFT + TRANSPOSE to activate the transpose LATCH function. This mode allows the function to latch ON without needing to hold the button down while pressing a new key, allowing a single hand to dynamically transpose a running arpeggiator or sequence.

The Arpeggiator will automatically play any held notes as a progressive arpeggio.

The speed of the Arpeggiator is controlled by the speed of the LFO/CLK RATE. If the SB01 is configured to accept an external MIDI clock, the speed of the Arpeggiator will instend be controlled by the external MIDI clock.

To disable the Arpeggiator, press the currently active mode again.

Tip: You can switch modes while the Arpeggiator is playing.

Use the HOLD button to latch notes into the Arpeggiator and free hands for adjusting the sound.

The SB01 features a digital sequencer capable of storing and playing up to 256 steps.

The SB01 has 64 memory locations split across two banks that can be used for storing user sequences.

Each key on the keyboard represents a save location, of which there are 32 total in each bank. The currently active sequence can be saved to memory while while stopped or playing.

The SB01 has a unique dual channel control architecture consisting of two parallel and independent keyboard and sequencer channels.

Each channel button represents the active control window, which shows the current state of the sequencer, arpeggiator, hold, and transpose functions for the selected channel. Both channels share the same clock, and can also be controlled together in BOTH mode.

Internal Channel

The INTERNAL track will always correspond to the internal synth “engine” of the SB01.

External Channel

The EXTERNAL track offers another control layer on top of the internal synth, allowing a second keyboard, arpeggiator, and sequencer to freely control an external device that accepts CV, MIDI, or USB MIDI.

BOTH mode

Hold the INTERNAL and EXTERNAL buttons together to enter BOTH mode. While both channel LED’s are lit, all button actions will now apply to both channels.

When a function is active in both tracks, the button will toggle between INT and EXT channel colors to reflect this. Exit BOTH mode by pressing INT or EXT to enter an individual channel’s control.

Advanced settings for the SB01 can be configured through a WebUSB enabled browser.

Connect the synthesizer to your computer using a USB-C cable and click the on-screen notification.
If you don’t see a notification, try directing your browser to control.playsuperlative.com.

When the device is connected, the app will look like FIGURE 2.1.

Enabling MIDI for internal/external machines

Use the switch matrix at the top of the controls app to enable or disable TRS and USB MIDI for the internal and external engines (channels).

Setting MIDI channels

Use the MIDI CHANNEL IN and MIDI CHANNEL OUT selectors to set which channels the synth will listen to and transmit MIDI information on.

Enabling MIDI clock (MIDI sync)

Use the MIDI CLOCK TRS IN switch to enable or disable MIDI clock sync on the TRS MIDI input.
Use the MIDI CLOCK USB IN switch to enable or disable MIDI clock sync on the USB MIDI input.
When enabled, the synth will listen to incoming MIDI clock messages and clock the sequencer and arpeggiator from this clock source, ignoring the LFO/CLK rate.

The CLOCK SUBDIVISION slider divides the incoming MIDI clock and sets the speed of the arpeggiator and sequencer.

Tip: Use the sun/moon icon at the top right of the app to switch between light and dark mode.

To enter firmware update mode, perform the following:

1. Turn off your SB01 using its power switch
2. Connect to your computer with a USB-C cable
3. Press and hold the SHIFT key while turning power on

The LFO/CLK RATE LED should now blink orange and green.

In a compatible browser, navigate to firmware.playsuperlative.com. Note that in some instances your browser may automatically prompt you for this when the device is first connected.

To exit firmware update mode, simply turn your synth on and off again.

* For Linux users, you may have to add a udev rule to allow access to the USB device. Refer to this guide for more information.

Linux generally don’t ship with the necessary permissions to let the user open USB devices. If you are experiencing problems with WebUSB (the feature that allows control.playsuperlative.com and firmware.playsuperlative.com to function), this is most likely the issue.

Please note that these instructions are for Debian-like distributions, the fix for your distro may be different.

If you experience any issues with your SB01, please contact us at support@playsuperlative.com.