Two patches/ applications featuring Toppobrillo's Triple Wavefolder: first as a traditional audio waveform multiplier, then processing an LFO to generate syncopated rhythms.
Toppo Banjo
Although the TWF is capable of creating more extreme sounds, especially when fed with polyphonic or FM'd material, in this first recording I've kept the settings fairly tame.
For the plucked banjo sound two stages of the TWF processed a single sine wave which was then filtered by a Wiard/ Malekko Borg. The bias was modulated with an envelope. The guitar sound was similar, with the exception that I modulated the DC offset with an LFO. The Hammond/ Leslie-like sound was the result of three stages folding an exp. FM sound from a Cwejman VCO-2RM, an oscillator the TWF seems to love.
In this second example I used the TWF to multiply an LFO to mess with an otherwise straight rhythm:
BeatFolder
The kick drum is triggered by the pulse out of a Doepfer A-147 VCLFO, the FM click sound by the folded signal and the FM klonk by a subdivision of the same (A-160). In the first 40 seconds I adjusted the bias settings of the three folding stages, thereafter I altered the DC offset. This was a lot of fun and the results are certainly useable.
The Toppobrillo Triple Wavefolder has been a revelation to me - despite having built my own CGS Lockhart Wavefolder and tried Doepfer's A-137 and the Bananalogue/ Serge WVX, I never quite 'got' wavefolding/ multiplying. The Toppo sounds fantastic - to my ears, the best of the bunch - and its open nature makes it a flexible tool: you could, for example, tap the output at stage two, send it to a resonant filter it and then return it to stage three for some final folding. I managed to coax subtle plucked harp sounds through to aggressive sync-like 'digital' basses from this module, all with minimal fuss. Its taken me a while to cotton on, but the Toppo has opened my ears to wavefolding and got me inspired.
Thanks to Herr Schulz at Schneiders for his almost missionary zeal in recommending the TWF!
6 comments:
very convincing and inspiring examples. thank you!
good to hear some more examples as the demos on topps page didn't really do it for me.
oh brother where are thou...love those banjos from hell, very cool, where are my marlboros?
So, you say you prefer this to the Doepfer A-137. How does it differ? Is it worth more than twice the price? Thanks
I tried the A-137 quite a while ago, so this is based on memory and the recordings I made at the time, but I found the TWF easier to set and achieve the results I wanted. The A-137, like the WVX, is capable of more extreme, dirtier & distorted sounds, but this is not what I am after. Lastly, in terms of the sound quality, yes it is worth it. The A-137 has that gritty Doepfer sound, while, to my ears, the TWF sounds creamy.
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