Steinberg Anima User Guide
Operation Manual
Matthias Klag, Michael Ruf
Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Lillie Harris, Christina Kaboth, Insa Mingers, Matthias Obrecht, Sabine Pfeifer,
Benjamin Schütte, Marita Sladek
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Anima_1.0.0_en-US_2019-11-28
Table of Contents
4 Anima
5 Oscillator Pages
8 Sub Page
9 Mod Page
13 Voice Page
15 Filter Section
17 Amplier and Amplier Envelope
17 Env 3 Section
18 LFO Section
19 Arp Page
3
Anima
The Anima synth is a wavetable instrument using HALion’s wavteable synthesis which crossfades
the waves smoothly in real time based on an integrated wavetable envelope. This envelope
makes it very easy to control the playback of the wavetable, because no further modulation
settings are required. All you have to do is set up the Speed parameter. The modulation matrix
allows you to control the playback position of the oscillator using one of the integrated LFOs, the
velocity, or the modulation wheel, for example.
Anima provides two wavetable oscillators that can be used in parallel. Each oscillator features a
multi-oscillator that allows you to create up to eight additional voices for each oscillator and then
separately detune them and distribute them in the stereo panorama.
The sub oscillator comes with classic oscillator waves like sine, triangle, saw, square and two
different pulses, and also features a noise generator. The noise generator delivers a large
number of different noise types. These range from classic noises like white and pink noise over
drum attacks and rhythmical noises to specically ltered colored noises and unique circuit
noises, recorded from various electronic devices. This powerful collection of noises can be used
to add inharmonic frequencies to create atmospheric sound or add transients for rich and
percussive attacks, for example. The integrated arpeggiator and step sequencer allows you to
play rhythmic patterns and/or add modulations to the synthesis parameters using the three
available controller lanes.
The oscillator is followed by a multi-mode lter that offers a large number of different lter
shapes. The lter can be modulated by modulation sources like the keyboard, velocity, and LFO,
but also by the controller lanes of the step sequencer, for example.
Anima includes two monophonic LFOs that can be synchronized to the host tempo and allow you
to modulate a large number of modulation destinations using the modulation matrix. In
addition, a user-dened envelope can be assigned to destinations like Pitch, Pan, or Wavetable
parameters in the modulation matrix.
Anima contains six pages: Osc1, Osc2, Sub, Mod, Voice, and Arp. To show the settings for a
page, click the corresponding page button.
4
Anima
Oscillator Pages
If a page button itself contains an On/Off button, which is the case for the Arp page button, for
example, you can use this to activate/deactivate the corresponding element without having to
open the page rst.
Oscillator Pages
The Osc 1 and Osc 2 pages contain the settings for the two main oscillators.
● To show the settings for oscillator 1 or oscillator 2, click the corresponding button.
● To activate/deactivate an oscillator, click the On/Off button on the right of the
corresponding page button.
Select Wavetable
This pop-up menu allows you to select one of the included wavetables for the
wavetable oscillator.
Show 3D Wavetable Map/2D Wave
Toggles between displaying a single cycle of the current waveform and a
topographic map of the entire wavetable.
Retrigger Mode
● If Free Phase is selected, the behavior of analog synthesizers is emulated. The
oscillator is running freely and continuously.
● If Random Phase is selected, the start phase is randomly set to a different
value each time that you trigger a note. In contrast to Free Phase, there is no
continuity in the phase of the waveform.
● If Fixed Phase is selected, the oscillator runs with a xed start phase that can
be specied between 0 and 360 degrees.
Octave
Adjusts the pitch in octave steps.
Coarse
Adjusts the pitch in semitone steps.
Fine
Adjusts the pitch in cent steps. This allows you to ne-tune the oscillator sound.
Level
Adjusts the output level of the oscillator.
Pan
Adjusts the position of the oscillator in the stereo panorama. At a setting of -100 %,
the sound is panned hard left, and at +100 %, it is panned hard right.
5
Anima
Oscillator Pages
Main Tab
Legato
If Legato is deactivated, each note starts playback from the position cursor.
If Legato is activated, the rst note starts playback from the position cursor, and any
following notes start from the current playback position for as long as the rst note
is held.
Sync to Host
Allows you to sync the wavetable to the beats and measures of your host application.
Loop Mode
● Off: If Playback Direction is set to a positive value, the wavetable plays from
the position cursor to the end.
If Playback Direction is set to a negative value, the wavetable plays from the
position cursor to the start.
● On: Depending on the Playback Direction setting, the wavetable plays
forward or backward in a loop.
● Alt: The wavetable plays in an alternate loop, that is, the loop is alternately
played forward and backward. The rst direction depends on the Playback
Direction setting.
Speed
Determines the rate at which the envelope plays through the wavetables. At +100 %,
the envelope plays back at its original speed. A value of +50 % corresponds to half
the original speed, and +200 % to twice the original speed, for example.
This parameter is unipolar.
Position
Determines where the envelope starts.
Playback Direction
Allows you to set the playback speed in smaller increments. Furthermore, this
parameter determines the playback direction.
● If you enter negative values, you reverse playback, that is, the playback
position moves backward through the wavetable.
Random Position
Adds a random value to the current position when you play a note.
For example, if you want the position to vary between 25.0 % and 75.0 %, set
Position to 25.0 % and Random Position to 50.0 %.
Random Direction
Adds a negative or positive random value to the current direction when you play a
note.
For example, if you want the direction to vary between -100 % and +100 %, set
Direction to 0.0 % and Random Direction to 100.0 %. If you want the direction to
vary within the full positive range, set Direction to 50 % and Random Direction to
50 %, for example.
6
Anima
Oscillator Pages
Form Tab
Formants are harmonics within the spectrum of a note which are pronounced and help to dene
the character of an instrument. The positions of the formants in the spectrum mainly depend on
the construction of an instrument, such as the body of a guitar, the form of the vocal tract in a
human body, the lter settings for electronic instruments, etc. These conditions lead to specic
frequency ranges that are emphasized regardless of the pitch of the note. Playing back samples
or wavetables with a different pitch than the original is usually done by increasing or decreasing
the playback speed. This leads to the well-known monster or Mickey Mouse effect, because all
harmonics are also affected, that is, the characteristic formants are shifted. To avoid this, you can
activate the Formant option.
On/Off
Activates/Deactivates the formant settings.
Formant
Allows you to shift the formants of the entire wavetable by a xed value.
Key Follow
Allows you to shift the formants depending on the played note.
● A value of 100 % means that the formant frequency moves with the played
note.
● A value of 0 % means that the formants are kept the same for all notes.
You can invert the behavior of the formant shift by setting Key Follow to negative
values.
Multi Tab
The multi-oscillator function allows you to trigger multiple voices simultaneously with each note
that you play. If you activate Multi, the following parameters become available:
● Number determines the number of oscillators that play back simultaneously. You can also
set fractions of numbers. For example, with a setting of 2.5, you hear two oscillators at full
level and a third one at half level.
● Detune detunes the oscillators.
● Pan narrows or widens the stereo panorama. With a setting of 0 %, you create a mono
signal and with 100 %, you create a stereo signal.
● Spread distributes the oscillators so that each oscillator plays from a different position in
the wavetable.
7
Anima
Sub Page
Sub Page
The Sub page contains the settings for the sub oscillator and the noise oscillator.
Sub Oscillator Section
Type
The wave shape of the sub oscillator. You can choose between Sine, Triangle, Saw,
Square, Pulse Wide, and Pulse Narrow.
Retrigger Mode
● If Free Phase is selected, the behavior of analog synthesizers is emulated. The
oscillator is running freely and continuously.
● If Random Phase is selected, the start phase is randomly set to a different
value each time that you trigger a note. In contrast to Free Phase, there is no
continuity in the phase of the waveform.
● If Fixed Phase is selected, the oscillator runs with a xed start phase that can
be specied between 0 and 360 degrees.
Level
Adjusts the output level of the sub oscillator.
Pan
Adjusts the position of the oscillator in the stereo panorama. At a setting of -100 %,
the sound is panned hard left, and at +100 %, it is panned hard right.
Noise Oscillator Section
The noise oscillator offers you a large amount of different noise types that can be used to add
inharmonic frequencies to the overall spectrum, either for the entire sound, with looped noises
or with one-shot noise samples. This allows you to add characteristic transients to percussive
instruments based on samples, for example.
Noise Type
This pop-up menu offers you a choice of classic noises, attack transients,
soundscapes, and ambience noise samples.
Level
Adjusts the output level of the noise oscillator.
Sync
Activate Sync to synchronize the speed of the noise oscillator to the host tempo. This
is particularly useful for rhythmic noises that are based on a tempo of 120 BPM.
Pan
Determines the position of the noise in the stereo panorama. At a setting of -100 %,
the sound is panned hard left, and at +100 %, it is panned hard right.
8
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