Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

The new Cwejman PH8 quadrature oscillator has all the features needed for a nice barberpole tone: Not only does it have the quad saw outputs needed for pitch modulation, but also the simultaneous sine outs that are perfectly suited for the necessary amplitude modulation. Of course, this is an obvious choice for a five minute drone to put you all to sleep Here is the Barberpole Feedback FM patch.





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... eedback-fm

I’m using the QMMF4 as an oscillator bank for the four sine oscillators. The MMF output (i.e., the oscillator bank sum) is routed through a SPH2 and Doepfer A199 (mixed together with a VCA2P) for some stereo motion and to smooth out the edges a bit, then straight to the ADC. The PH8 saw outputs modulate the pitches of the four QMMF oscs, but to get some (simultaneous) control over the modulation amount I route them through the channels of a VCA4MX. A multed offset to all VCA4MX CVs provides the attenuator for the pitch modulation - crucial IMO to dial in just the right range simultaneously on all oscs.

For the amplitude modulation of the oscillators, the PH8 sine outs already conveniently have offset and amplitude controls to dial everything in. I switched around the “order” of the quadrature sines until I ended up with something I enjoyed: The 0° out goes to the third osc, the 180° out to the first; 90° to four and 270° to three - basically the inversion of the pitch modulation phases. Finally, the main QMMF4 notch out is routed to a channel of another VCA4MX and back to the QMMF4 global frequency CV for some feedback FM. It’s a very interesting effect, everything barberpole is obviously related to the Dopplereffekt and the feedback FM brings out some “enemy jet fighters” feeling.

For the recording, I jam a bit with the controls: In the beginning, the sweep is rather slow and I keep it like that for a bit to show the “standard” barberpole effect. Then, the feedback FM is brought in first and the sweep is fastened up a bit; finally, I bring the quadrature modulation up all the way to audiorate for some frequency shifting / ringmod type effect, good fun too. I jam a bit with all that and that’s basically it. As always, a slight bit of reverb, delay, EQ and compression in Ableton to bring it all together (the compression brings out a slight bit of distortion that I didn’t hear while patching and recording, guess I was not careful enough with the gainstaging in the modular - well, whatever).

Hope you enjoy it and cheers!

After all the modular patches, I wanted to do something for the end of the year without using the modular. Since a no-input mixer feedback patch is still absent for 2016, I gave my Midas Venice 160 a good workout. Here’s the Venetian Resonance.





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... -resonance

I wanted to use individual effect routings instead of just straight feedback loops from each channel to itself, so I set up four channels to go from each direct out to an effect and then back to itself. This way, each channel’s fader brings up the feedback trail and the Midas EQs are in the feedback path. With regards to the effects used, a pulsing bass is firstly done with a Symetrix 606, shaped accordingly with the EQ. Secondly, a Roland RE201 provides the middle drone that kinda “melts” into the bass. Thirdly, an Ibanez AD202 is used for the quite typical delay trail sound. And finally, a series of Boss RRV10 and RBF10 produces the high vibrato sound (tuned in with the flanger LFO). It’s all pretty carefully dialled in, a rather delicate act of balancing the EQs and levels. Some compressors in the chain would probably help, but I got away without it.

Then I just bring the individual channels in and out with the faders and jam my way through some minutes. Slight little bit of editing and some reverb, delay, EQ and compression in Ableton to bring it together. Pretty fun mixer jamming!

Hope you enjoy it and cheers

And the Patching Workout continues!



So far, I started the year with a no input reverb / resonator feedback loop, so let’s continue that tradition. I wanted to give this a try with the Space Echo and Cwejman QMMF4, so here is the RE201 QMMF Loop.





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... -qmmf-loop

The patch is fairly simple. For the feedback loop, we have the QMMF4 main MMF output going to a Warm Audio WA76 for some compression. From there, it goes to the RE201 and then back into the modular to the QMMF main audio input (using an Intellijel Audio Interface for going in and out of the rack). The internal RE201 feedback is not used, a slight bit of the RE201 spring verb is added. The main QMMF notch out is used for recording. It’s routed through a Doepfer A199 first for some further spring reverb outside the feedback loop, into a GAP Pre73 DI input for some gain (as it was a bit quiet after adjusting everything nicely), and finally to a Mutator to smooth out the highs a bit and for some mono to stereo conversion and LFO panning (also a bit of envelope following on the filters - you can hear it all working on the noisefloor, haha). It was harder than I expected to get the gainstaging right without killing the loop or just utter destruction, but in the end I got something that I enjoyed.

In terms of CV, we have a Cwejman RG6 at the center of everything. A bit like the Reverse Cwejman Krell patch, the RG6 provides the main clock and triggers a CTG-VC, which controls the main QMMF VCA (and thus the dynamics within the feedback loop). The RG6 random saw modulates the RG6 clock for the bursts; to get the dynamic envelope, the inverted random saw is attenuated on a VCA4MX and controlling the CTG attack and decay rates. Thus, the envelope times get faster when the clock gets faster. The normal S/H output of the RG6 modulates the main QMMF frequency.

Finally, a PH8 controls all individual QMMF frequencies with the sine outputs and two of the QMMF bands with two (90° spaced) saws. It’s synced from the RG6 gate with gate sync, creating kind of a “LFO delay” effect (in combination with the gate length on the RG6). The PH8 is FMed from the RG6 random saw so that it also gets faster according to the clock and envelope. The quadrature sines produce the “delayed” sweeps and the saws the plops.

On the recording, I mainly tweak the QMMF frequencies and resonances (all bands are set to BP filter and in resonator mode to see how it compares with the RES4). Little bit of cutting out some boring things afterwards and some reverb, delay, EQ and compression as usual.

Hope you enjoy it and cheers!

I was working on a self-playing patch the last days, so I figured it would be a nice recording for the Patching Workout. It’s based on four droning oscs that are crossfaded and transposed manually.





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... -crossfade

At the center of the patch is a Cwejman QMMF4 used as an oscillator bank, a PH4 crossfading the oscs and a RG6. First of all, we have a sort of gamelan percussion sound: The RG6 clock (which is self-modulated from the random saw) pings a RES4, which is then sent to a FSH1 (with some feedback from the upper output), a Doepfer A199 and a SPH2. The SPH2 stereo out is fed to the DAW via a VCA2P. The RG6 low S/H out modulates the RES4 master frequency. One RES4 band is also modulated from a PH4 that does a sort of vibrato, with the RG6 low S/H also modulating the PH4 frequency.

For the oscillator bank, all QMMF4 bands are set to osc sat mode and are self-oscillating. The individual post outputs are used for self-FM on all the oscs (via CM1) and the pre outs are routed to a VCA4MX for audio. The VCA4MX sum goes to the VCA2P pan input to mix it together with the percussion sound. Additionally, the -sum out is routed to the feedback in of the A199 (it’s basically just a mixer input going only to the spring verb). So, it’s inserted just in the spring verb and phaser on the ping sound, providing some fx atmosphere and stereo motion. Finally, a second PH4 modulates all VCA4MX levels to crossfade the oscs. The normal RG6 S/H out modulates this second PH4.

For the oscs, we first have a bass tone with a moderate amount of self-FM. A D-LFO square does an octave interval via a second VCA4MX and CM2 on the QMMF4. The D-LFO is synced to the RG6 clock (retriggering the LFO, basically) and the RG6 high S/H output modulates the D-LFO frequency. The first “vibrato” PH4 is used to modulate the post output level slightly for some vibrato (but via the self-FM VCA, pretty nice). Secondly, there’s a higher string type tone on the next osc, with a higher amount of “self-FM vibrato” from the first PH4. Thirdly, another octave up we have something fun on the third osc: The self-FM VCA is opened by a CTG-VC, which is triggered from the RG6 clock. The RG6 -random saw out is used to modulate the attack and decay times (so the envelope gets quicker when the RG6 clock speeds up), attenuated also on the second VCA4MX. The level-crossfading second PH4 is used to modulate the CTG level so it fades between negative and positive envelopes (from the fourth PH4 output, so 90° phase shifted from the wave modulating the level of the third osc). And finally, the fourth osc also has some “self-FM vibrato” from the first PH4, and an octave transposition from the second D-LFO square (also attenuated on the second VCA4MX). The second D-LFO wave is also retriggered from the RG6 and FMed from the RG6 normal S/H out. The osc is tuned a fifth apart from the other oscs.

That’s basically the patch. Finally, to be able to manually transposition all oscs, I’m using a Qunexus on the main QMMF4 frequency input. Quite a hassle to tune everything nicely, especially the square LFOs doing the octave transpositions. Taken together, we have a self-playing patch that does a percussion sound that changes slightly on each hit, plus the crossfading four-osc drone on which the speed of the octave transpositions also changes on each percussion hit (plus the enveloped self-FM sound from osc three also changing with the clock). In the recording, I basically only play with the levels of the oscs on the VCA4MX and the frequency of the crossfading PH4. Plus the manual playing on the Qunexus obviously, quite confusing to come up with something considering all the changing clocks and frequencies… Recorded in one take without any edits, plus as usual a bit of delay, reverb, EQ and compression in Ableton to bring it all together.

Hope you enjoy it and cheers!

It’s been quite some time since I’ve done a modular only drumbeat, so that is up this month. I wanted to add a sloppy percussion track from a synced PH8 used for pings. Here are Wowa’s Woodblocks





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... woodblocks

I’m using triggers from my TR808 to program the kick and snare. For the kick, we have a self-resonating Cwejman QMMF4 band in osc sat mode. Noise from an audiorate RG6 is put to a second QMMF4 band with a BP filter setting, those two sources are then mixed together with a VCA4MX and go to a VCA2P for final VCA. A CTG-VC gates the amplitude of everything on the VCA2P and slightly modulates the frequency of the self-resonating band. I’m tracking the kick through a Warm Audio WA76 to get it a bit more coherent between the individual hits. For that aim, the CTG is also set to “restart from zero” mode.

For the snare, a similar QMMF4 patch is used: Also one QMMF4 band self-resonating in osc sat mode, and another with a higher volume RG6 noise. They’re also mixed with the VCA4MX and go to the second VCA2P channel. For the envelope, we have an ADSR-VC2. One of the two envelopes modulates the amplitude on the VCA2P and the “noise” band frequency, the other the frequency of the self-oscillating QMMF4 band. Additionally, audio of the “noise” band modulates the frequency of the self-osc band (using the post VCA output to dial in the modulation on the second unattenuated CV input of the other QMMF4 band) to slightly destabilize the pitch of the snare.

For the hihats, I wanted to use a bunch of square waves. Two VCO6 and two Addac 701 are mixed with an Addac 802 going to a MMF6 (BP filter), then back to the remaining fifth 802 channel for the final VCA. The oscs are crossmodulating each other and detuned carefully for a fun timbre - adjusting the pulse widths of the oscs is crucial here. I use an Audio Damage Sequencer 1 for the gates and another CTG-VC which is used for amplitude modulation of the final 802 VCA and for the filter frequency of the MMF6. Additionally, a Doepfer A143-3 LFO sweeps the MMF6 frequency slowly. The gate length on the Seq 1 is used to do the shorter and longer hits.

So far, all pretty simple. Finally, we have the sloppy pinging percussion track. I’m using a further trigger from a TR909 (I don’t have all three 808 trigger outputs on my patchbay) which is programmed straight on each beat to sync the PH8. The 0° and 180° outputs of the saw are mixed using a further VCA4MX and then used to ping a RES4 and SPH2 in series, which is a nice combo for those wood sounds (RES4 for the tuning and SPH2 for the woodyness). The second (180°) out first goes through a FSH1 (set to standard audiorate shifting with a tiny little bit of feedback from the down output via the first audio input) to provide a bit of variation between the two hits. A sequence from a Doepfer Dark Time modulates the frequency of one RES4 band. A D-LFO (synced to the kick trigger, set to slewed random) is used to vary the frequency of the PH8 just a tiny bit to throw it slightly in and out of the already rather wonky rhythm. Finally, the other side of the PH8 (set to triangle) is used for four things: The 0° and 270° outputs modulate two further RES4 frequencies, the 90° out modulates the SPH2 frequency, and the 180° output the frequency of the QMMF4 with the snare noise part.

Then I jam with some different patterns on the 808, the offset and amplitude of the PH8 quadrature triangle outputs, the AD Seq 1 ratchets a few times and the amount of D-LFO slewed modulation to the PH8. The PH8 offset (taking the RES4, SPH2 and snare noise frequencies up and down) is good fun, sounds almost a bit like a timbale on the snare sometimes on the lower settings. Recorded in one take with a few edits mainly cutting out the hats, and couldn’t resist afterwards to record a subtle but very effective RE201 effect track. As always, some EQ, compression, delay and reverb in the box to bring everything together.

Hope you enjoy it, Cheers!

Continuing with some beat experiments and pinging, I wanted to see how some of my non-modular gear behaves with short triggers as audio input. So here is a four-part pinging beat with a Mutronics Mutator, Korg MS20 (original with the MK2 filter) and Roland SH2.





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... r-pingbeat

The setup is fairly simple, I use my TR808 and TR707 to program the triggers. All those Roland triggers are too long for pinging, so I trigger various envelopes with them (tight envelopes are nice also because you can dial in the tone a bit more precisely than with triggers). Firstly, the two channels of a Cwejman ADSR-VC2 are used to ping the Mutator. I do the kick with one channel (using the internal envelope) and a second higher ping with the other (using the envelope and the LFO). The SH2 is triggered from a CTG-VC and I’m using some sample and hold to modulate the filter (from the internal LFO on the SH2). For the MS20, I use the kick trigger to sync a PH8 and use two of the quadrature saw outs for the pinging. The second (180° shifted) one additionally goes through a RES4 to give it some variation from the other one, then they’re mixed on a VCA4MX and sent to the MS20. On the MS20, I use the internal LFO on the hipass filter and the internal envelope (triggered via the ESP, but also with the VCA opened via the modwheel to basically disable the envelope on the VCA) for the lowpass filter.

Then I jam a bit with the various tracks. The kick and the SH2 are in first (I just dial the frequencies down on the other two channels to "mute" them in the beginning) and I jam a bit with the SH2 resonance, bringing the obvious S/H effect in and out. The next thing that comes in is the MS20, then after the first kick break the second Mutator channel is brought up and I tweak that a bit. After that I just jam a bit with it all. The machines are quite a bit apart in the room, so it’s a lot easier with a compact modular in terms of ergonomics.

My conclusion: The Mutator behaves pretty much as I expected. The MS20 was a lot nicer than I expected, for some reason. And the SH2 didn’t work very well at all, somehow there’s no actual sweet spot for the resonance on the brink of self-oscillation. It either sounds pretty much like a straight trigger or it’s self-oscillating. Interesting.

Hope you enjoy the test and cheers!

I was playing around with a dual paraphonic two-voice patch lately and wanted to share this recording. Nothing complicated this month, just nice analog synth drones





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... -paraphony

The patch is fairly simple. It is all controlled by an Audio Damage Sequencer 1 set up for two two-voice paraphonic patches. The four CV outputs are all set up for pitch CV and sent to four oscs, the gate and accent outs send gates to the two envelope sections (to create the dual two-voice paraphony) - note the pitch hold options in the sequencer to set this up conveniently. For the bass part, we have two Cwejman VCO6 going to a MMF6 and an Addac 802 VCA. The gate of Sequencer 1 controls a CTG-VC, which modulates both the VCA and the filter frequency. Additionally, there's some PWM from two LFOs of a Doepfer A143-3 Quad LFO as well as some filter FM from the second (higher) VCO to the MMF6 and pitch CV tracking from the first (lowest) osc (freq CV is mixed with a Manhattan Analog Mix). The second voice is similar, with two Addac 701 VCOs going through a Manhattan Analog SVVCF and another 802 VCA. They're controlled by the remaining two pitch CV outputs of the Sequencer 1 and an ADSR-VC2 triggered by the sequencer accent output. One ADSR-VC2 envelope controls the SVVCF and the other the VCA. Again, some PWM provided by A143-3 LFOs and also some vibrato. Oh and also pitch tracking of the third VCO and filter FM from the fourth (highest) VCO. That is basically the whole patch.

So, programming gates opens the lower two oscs, while programming accents opens the higher two oscs. All pitch CVs can be programmed individually in the sequencer. Pretty fun patch to try different sequences. I've set up the envelopes to be very droney and programmed pretty basic key and chord changes. It's all recorded in one take (using the repeat function of Sequencer 1 in the beginning, middle and ending to loop just a part of the 64 step sequence) with a bit of editing, EQ, compression, reverb, delay and volume automation after the fact in Ableton. Also had to add a RE201 return track to it, was sounding too nice to not do it

Hope you enjoy it and cheers

EDIT: Ooops, totally forgot to add that there’s a SH101 sequence in there in the middle of the recording… Pretty simple sequence triggered from my TR707.

I really admire it. Keep going. I actually would recommend this series as a monthly article for the front page article section.

Wow! Thanks a lot! Highly appreciate your kind words Of course, I wouldn't mind front page linking to the thread

Time for more silly modular noises on the patching workout This patch is based on the idea of using quadrature square LFOs from a Cwejman PH8 to “sequence” different intervals on four oscs. The quadrature arrangement allows for some kind of “sequential trills”. Pretty fun to play around with and there are some twists to the patch. Get ready for Quadrature Sequencing





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... sequencing

For the four oscs, I’m using a QMMF4 with all filters set to Osc Sat and self-oscillating (without any input). The four square outputs of the PH8 modulate the individual frequencies of the four self-oscillating filters. To be able to dial in the pitch intervals more carefully, I route the quadrature LFO outs to all channels of a VCA4MX first and then to the individual QMMF4 CM1 inputs. The first (bass) note does just an octave, the second (higher) one a fifth, the third a seventh and finally the last two octaves. Fiddly to dial in, but very much possible (using a tuner). The mix of the four oscs is then routed to a RES4 for some filtering action, from there (using the BP out) to a SPH2 for a bit of smoothing and kind of a vibrato effect; as ever so often, I route the L and R channels of the SPH2 to the two channels of a VCA2P, and the SPH2 mix out to a Doepfer A199 spring reverb and then to the pan input of the VCA2P. The VCA2P stereo outs are recorded to Ableton.

Then, there are some additions to the patch. I really wanted to see what PWM on the PH8 will do to the “sequence” when I was first thinking about the patch: The first triangle output of the PH8 is used to self-PWM the PH8. In addition, a D-LFO triangle modulates the PH8 PW as well (the two sources are mixed and attenuated via a second VCA4MX). The PWM provides some fun ruptures in the groove of the quad sequence. All four quadrature triangle outs on the PH8 additionally modulate the RES4 frequencies. Finally, the second osc on the D-LFO provides a further triangle at low audio rate (tuned to the root of the sequence) that I use to FM the QMMF4 oscs occasionally (via the main frequency CV in). And then there’s a funny last modulation for the osc frequencies (these are also mixed in with the second VCA4MX, using the remaining channels): The negative sum of the first VCA4MX is mixed in to break up the pitch sequence completely. Basically, this provides an inverted version of the sum of all those square LFOs doing the pitch intervals, but modulating all oscs at the same time. The result is almost a bit like a shift register effect - good fun to break up the patch.

That’s all the patching. In the recording, I first bring in the four oscs, one after another. Around 40 seconds, I dial in the FM quickly, after that I bring up the PWM for the first time (the PH8 triangle outs are not doing anything in the first minute or so, accordingly the PWM coming in is only from the D-LFO at first). At about 1:23 the negative sum of all “sequence LFOs” is mixed in for the first time. Then, I start to manually play around with the PH8 frequency, also bringing it up into the audio range quickly somewhere in the middle of the recording. It’s basically jamming with those parameters from there. Additionally, the frequency of the PWM LFO and the PH8 triangle offset and amplitude (affecting the RES4 frequencies and PH8 PWM) are tweaked throughout the recording. That’s pretty much it, all done in one take, no edits.

Bit of compression, EQ, delay and reverb (Valhalla Vintage Verb) in Ableton as always. Also had to notch out some annoying noises at around 8k, I guess it’s time for a PSU upgrade soon. And maybe for abandoning modular powered spring verbs, as sad as that is… Anyways, I’m pretty happy with the patch and results and hope you enjoy it, too!

Cheers

I was trying to figure out parts of the functionality of the Cwejman RG6 and “accidentally” came up with this little patch. It’s based on three cross-FMed sines that are “sequenced” from the three S/H outputs of the RG6.





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... -random-fm

Three QMMF4 bands (tuned in unison) are used for the oscs. They go out to the DAW via a FSH1 for some stereo “flanging” - low frequency shifting on the FSH1, with the up and down outputs used for stereo, the mix out for feedback (to audio input 1) and a sine LFO from a PH4 modulating the mix. Cross-FM on all of the oscs: Band 1 FMs band 2, band 2 FMs band 3, and band 3 FMs band 1.

At the center of the modulation is the RG6. As mentioned, the three S/H outputs modulate the three oscs. The gate output triggers an ADSR-VC2, which controls the overall QMMF4 VCA. Furthermore, I’m not using the internal noise of the RG6, but a cycling CTG-VC envelope at the external signal input (to get “staircase” modulation). The attack and decay of the CTG are modulated by two slewed S/H signals from a D-LFO (slightly attenuated on the attack CV with a VCA4MX). That’s almost the whole patch already, very simple.

Now, on the RG6, the random saw is used to self-modulate the clock rate (which is prepatched on the module). I did the patch initially to find out whether the random saw is influenced by an external input (or whether the external input only goes to the S/H signal input), and it most definitely does: The random saw sort of “kicks in” according to the amplitude of the external signal. So, the RG6 clock tends to get faster with higher inputs from the cycling CTG (but not consistently, as it’s still a random saw). To further add to this effect, I’m using the inverted random saw to modulate the ADSR decay and release, so that they get shorter as the RG6 clock gets faster.

For the recording, I’m mainly jamming with the CTG output level to bring the random modulation in and out, and the three attenuators for the cross-FM on the oscs. Occasionally, the RG6 clock and intensity of the self-modulation from the random saw are also changed manually. Recorded in one take to Ableton without any edits, plus of course a ton of super long Valhalla Vintage Verb plate, some delay, compression and EQ to spice it up a bit and bring up the levels.

Still a few mysteries with the RG6, for example I’m not exactly sure what it does with negative voltages only present at the external signal input… Not what you’d expect from a S/H normally. More like just offsetting the outputs negatively. Not sure whether there’s some rectification going on with that input, maybe… Also, I discovered doing this that the three S/H outs are slightly offset from each other with the knob at zero, respectively it could also be that they still bleed a tiny bit with the signal knob all the way down and all have an offset (slightly varying in amplitude between the three outs). (I had to retune oscs two and three after applying the - “fully” attenuated - modulation.) The bleeding would make some sense, given that we know that the S/H input signal bleeds a tiny bit into the clock out as well. Gotta investigate that further.

Well, hope you enjoy the patch despite it being pretty simple bleeps and bloops

Cheers

This month we have something slightly different than usual. For a change, I wanted to do something with the Roland V-Synth. I really enjoy sampling raw QMMF4 tones into it to create pads, the strange digital mangling the V-Synth can do extracts some beautifully haunting artefacts from the analog sources. Here is the V-Synthesized QMMF.





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... sized-qmmf

I cannot really describe all the samples in detail, as I’ve done lots of them over time… But regarding the source, they are all based on using the QMMF as an oscillator, usually cross-FMing the different bands. It’s five layered V-Synth patches in total and all of them play with the time and formant settings on the V-Synth PCM oscs (speeding the samples up and down, LFOs on the formant setting, etc.). I played all the loops manually, but the quarter notes of the bass are done by looping a sample - only the transpositions are played. After recording and arranging, I sent four of the five pads (excluding the bass) through a Mutronics Mutator for some stereo filter action on the whole thing.

Finally, I had to add a ping track to give a bit of (admittedly wonky) rhythm to the pads. The trigger is provided by an 808 and multed to a Cwejman CTG-VC (to create a nice short trigger for pinging) and the sync input of a PH8. The CTG pings a RES4 (the straight 4/4 pattern), while the 90° and 180° saw outputs of the PH8 each ping one QMMF4 band. Those signals are mixed with a VCA4MX and further sent to a SPH2 and then stereo out to the DAW. Both the QMMF and the RES4 are FMd a tiny bit with a PH4, and the 90° and 180° triangle outputs of the PH8 gently modulate two RES4 bands.

That’s it basically, got a bit mushy all together, but I guess I overdid it with the layering anyways That can often happen when layering the same synth over and over, IME. The V-Synth layers very nicely with my analog polys, but that’s not for this patch To me, it truly is the modern D50, and it also helps that there is an actual D50 included in it

As always, a ton of delay and reverb (Valhalla VV) in Ableton, as well as some EQ and compression to bring it up a bit. Hope you enjoy it!

This month we have a patch using two unrelated square LFOs for trills on two VCOs. One is static and the other modulated. Here are the Dual Trills.





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... ual-trills

First, we have an Addac 701 as the first LFO doing a minor third on a Cwejman VCO6 (using the square 1 output). The 701 square also clocks an Audio Damage Sequencer 1 (I use the inverted output on the 701 so that the sequencer advances on the lower note of the minor third). Basically, the sequencer is just used to create random modulation values from the internal LFOs. The gate output also triggers an ADSR-VC2.

Then, we have a second 701 and also a second VCO6. The 701 again is in LFO mode and creates octave trills on the VCO6 (where the saw “PWM” wave is used). Both VCOs are then routed to a MMF6 and then to an Addac 802 for the final VCA and out to the DAW. The 802 VCA is gated by the ADSR-VC2, while the second envelope on the ADSR modulates the MMF6. Furthermore, there’s FM on the MMF6 from the octave trill VCO, a slow LFO from a Doepfer A143-3 and “key tracking” from the square LFO doing the minor third trill. The A143-3 also provides PWM to the two VCOs and vibrato on the octave trill VCO. Finally, as mentioned, two S/H LFOs are created internally on the clocked Sequencer 1 (using the + / 0 / - setting, which basically provides three different values that are chosen randomly). The first randomizes the ADSR decay, the second the frequency of the LFO doing the octave trill. Finally, the A143-3 LFO doing PWM on the minor third trill VCO is used to PWM the LFO doing the octave trills.

The patch is also very much based on playing with the level of the filter audio inputs. The buildup takes a bit of time. I recorded everything in one take, no edits needed. Couldn’t resist adding a return track from a RE201 after the fact (you can hear its noisefloor rather well in the quiet beginning). As always, some delay, reverb (Valhalla Vintage Verb in plate mode), EQ and compression in Ableton to bring it together.

Hope you enjoy it and cheers!

I wanted to do a variation on the “original” “shimmer” reverb as used by Brian Eno and others, with the gear I have. The MXR129 has made it into the Patching Workout a few times already, let’s give it another go for this one. That makes the Andromeda Shimmer Piano.





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... immerpiano

As sound source, I’m doing a variation on the clever JX10 piano patch with the Alesis A6. It’s based on using static hard sync to shape the timbre of the “piano”. It’s really more like an electric piano, but still a pretty decent patch - good start to explore sync as well. So, on the A6, the slave is 21.5 semitones above the master, mixed more or less equally in volume. The filters are used in parallel, one to create the “bite” and one the “growl”, if that makes any sense. On the envelopes, I programmed sort of a strange release that kind of “jumps” up a bit again shortly after having released the notes. Finally, some keyboard tracking on the filters and envelopes, plus a touch of velocity on the filter and VCA envelopes. Then I manually recorded two minutes of a pretty cheesy loop to the DAW, for which you will have to excuse me

Then, on to the effect. I didn’t want to go completely overkill, so I decided to restrict it to two sends. The piano recording is routed out to my Midas Venice 160 mixer on an “unconnected” channel that doesn’t get sent to the master (to be able to record wet only). Then, the send 1 + 2 are used for the two effect chains. Both are routed back to the mixer for some feedback and cross-feedback (does that term exist?) action. All three channels on the Midas are EQd quite radically to shape the effect return sound.

Firstly, the “shimmer” needs a bit of modulation to wash out the effect return. I use a recently acquired Boss RCE10 Microrack chorus, set to a subtle and slow-ish modulation. That goes to the pitch shifter, set to shift an octave up, and finally to a reverb, an Alesis Quadraverb+ set to a rather long hall. I know that the pitch shifter should rather be placed after the reverb, but the old MXR has quite a bit of delay in the processing, so I take that as a free “pre-delay” before the reverb. I tried both way and found it more fun this way. The feedback using the mixer does its thing either way.

Secondly, some delay is helpful for these types of effects. For the second effect chain, I use an old Yamaha E1005 BBD delay in series with a Soviet Lell RC, rather strange box that latter one The E1005 does pretty straightforward delay with a tiny bit of modulation for some chorusing and the Lell a strange reverb-ish chorus type thing.

For the recording, the reverb and chorus of the first chain are there from the beginning, the second chain is muted. On the first chain, the “shimmer” is down first and I dial it in slowly using the dry / wet control on the MXR129. Then, the second delay chain comes in. In the “break” (without chords), I dial up the internal feedback on the MXR (“Regeneration”), because that is always fun. Generally, as you can easily hear, the feedback and cross-feedback on the mixer effect returns are dialled in more and more during the recording. The E1005 got me once with a bit of overdrive… Then, the whole process is repeated sending the recorded effect returns out again, doing slightly different fader actions on the mixer and with a different delay rate on the E1005. One could do this over and over again when used subtle, but it ended up rather over the top like this already

No actual reverb and delay from the DAW this time, I think that might be a first for the MPW. However, I had to record a Roland RE201 track over the whole thing, because it’s just too nice. That’s the delay that is there right from the start. However, some EQ and compression in Ableton to bring it up.

Hope you enjoy it, cheers!

This month we have a self-playing feedback patch creating a sci-fi atmosphere. It’s based on injecting a dynamic noise into a feedback loop, controlled by a cycling Cwejman CTG-VC and RG6.





https://soundcloud.com/contracommunemop ... spacescape

To route the feedback loop, a VCA4MX is used. The mixed out 1+2 goes to the DAW for recording, the sum out is used for the feedback loop. As mentioned, a noise source is used to excite the feedback: The S/H wave of a D-LFO is routed into a QMMF4 channel, and then into channel 1 of the VCA4MX. The QMMF4 is set to a simple LP filter with little resonance (in RES mode). For the feedback loop, the sum of the VCA4MX is routed to a Doepfer A199 spring verb first, then to a RES4, to a SPH2, and finally back into the VCA4MX channel 2 input. That’s it for the audio routing.

For the self-playing modulations, a RG6 and cycling CTG-VC are the base of the patch. The RG6 clock triggers the CTG and there’s a bit of self-modulation in the RG6 from the internally patched routing (from the random saw). The CTG opens the VCA4MX and QMMF4 channels with the noise exciter source. Furthermore, another QMMF4 channel is used as a sine osc to FM the RES4 master frequency, brought in and out manually with the output control of the QMMF4.

The various RG6 outputs modulate different parameters in the feedback loop: The low S/H out modulates the frequency of an individual RES4 channel; the normal S/H out controls the frequencies of the D-LFO pitched noise, QMMF4 FM source, another RES4 channel, and the CTG attack time. The high S/H out modulates the CTG decay time, and the frequencies of the QMMF4 noise source filter and both sides of the SPH2. Finally, the RG6 random saw out modulates a further individual RES4 frequency, attenuated on a second VCA4MX. That’s almost everything, but to bring some more movement into the patch, a PH4 is used to crossfade between two RES4 channels (on the internal RES4 VCAs) with two sine 180° apart in phase. The other two PH4 outs modulate the hold time of the CTG and the frequency of the left SPH2 side. Lastly, a feedback CV path is brought in by patching the RES4 notch out to the frequency of the right SPH2 side, also attenuated on the second VCA4MX.

Pretty much all time parameters in the CV path are set very slow and some slew is used on the RG6 S/H outs. In the recording, the first ten seconds or so are only the pitched noise source, then I slowly bring in the feedback on the main VCA4MX channel and take it from there, mostly tweaking the various filter frequencies in the audio path and the FM amount on the RES4. Recorded in one take, no edits.

As so often, a RE201 return track was added as well as some EQ, compression, delay and reverb (Valhalla VV) in Ableton. That brought up some noises that I didn’t hear before, not sure but I suspect the Stackcables are to blame… Hope you enjoy it anyways and cheers!