G2 Editor FMX working on M2 Mac under Sonoma

A fix for Nord Modular G2 users on ARM-based Apple computers - installing the x86-64 version of libusb allows this unofficial Nord Modular editor to work on the latest Mac systems. 

The editor relies on libusb to communicate with the G2. The easiest way to install this library is with the package manager Homebrew. The latest Silicon-version of Homebrew installs files in a new default location, or prefix, meaning the G2 editor can't find the files it needs. Using symlinks to re-direct the editor does not help.

The solution is to install both Homebrew and libusb under x86-64/Intel architecture with Rosetta 2, as described here.

arch -x86_64 /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

arch -x86_64 /usr/local/bin/brew install libusb

Here is the source of that information, and the code directly from Homebrew's Github.

To get the user interface of the editor to scale properly on hi-res screens, follow the steps described here by Mies van der Robot.

Thanks to Bruno Verhue, who developed the editor, for providing the link to the solution!

edit: 

if you get a save error (cannot create file/ not a directory), you need to set a path in the App Settings, e.g., 

/Users/"yourname"/Documents/fmxeditortest

Or you can save your patch on the G2 itself by pressing the Store button.

Video: Navs at Superbooth '22

Just ahead of this year's Superbooth, here's my set from SB'22:

Thanks to Andreas, Evi, Tom, Mareen & Barry!

Video - Navs live at Powwow

I had a lovely time playing at Powwow last week. If you missed the stream, here is the full video.



The line-up was Navs, Uchi, Wilted Woman, Goldwiener + Luma/Chroma and Hainbach. It was the first Berlin Powwow to be held at Patch Point’s new store in Neukölln and in stereo.

My 6U case contained the usual suspects - Cwejman, Mungo, Makenoise, Toppobrillo - with the new additon of a Harvestman Piston Honda MkI. It's a wavetable oscillator, packed with timbres and glitchy surprises - an oldie but goldie.

Thanks to Darrin and Stefan for organising the evening and setting the stage, to Uchi and Wilted Woman for their wonderful sets, Luma/Chroma for her mesmerising visuals, to Paul for his excellent camera work and Wouter for that suit!

Bleeps & Bloops Reimagined

A fun experiment, applying events that might be clichéd in the modular context to preset sounds. Inspired by the CV to MIDI compositions of Konstantine, the piano playing of Quentin Tolimieri and rediscovered due to this forum thread.



Recent discussion of a piano module reminded me of something I did a few years ago where I used a simple Clavia G2 patch to control a Yamaha QY10. It’s a small MIDI notepad from the 90’s that has a rubberised keyboard, sequencer and PCM sounds … drums, piano, double bass, horns, strings etc. In other words, the antithesis of the timbres we know from the modular synth. Here’s what it sounds like ‘sequenced’ by a stream of random MIDI events:



The Patch uses the G2’s MIDI modules to send both keyboard and random notes to the QY10. Flicking through the MIDI channels on the Yamaha itself causes hanging notes and weird stuff.



It’s all quite entertaining - the above recording was played live and edited for brevity. If you want to hear music made by someone who does this properly, check out Konstantine aka Paranormal Patroler. He knocked us out at his Basic Electricity concert with his CV to MIDI set using Doepfer and ADDAC conversion.

Thru-Zero FM Explainer

How to get the best results from your analogue thru-zero linear FM oscillator. An explainer in response to questions about the Doepfer A-110-4, but which is also applicable to other TZ-FM VCOs.



The A-110-4 seems to be more prone to pitching artefacts than other thru-zero (TZ) VCOs. That might partly be due to the specific design, but general considerations like the tolerances and sensitivities of analogue designs also play a role. Another issue might be perception, e.g. when certain modulation depths make it hard to discern the original pitch of the carrier.

DIGITAL FIRST

Ignoring the actual implementation (frequency- or phase-modulation), the reason digital FM is easy is because it’s clean. There are no DC offsets or pitch instabilities to ruin the result.

Here is an example using the Clavia Nord Modular G2. The carrier is always heard and only the modulator is enveloped. The frequencies of the two oscillators are fixed but the FM amount is manually increased: 01-TZ_clavia-digital

The carrier was tuned to B3 and the modulator D#5. I chose these pitches by ear to show an effect which might be confused for pitching at higher mod depths. When the modulation recedes, we get a sound similar to guitar feedback. This shows that it’s possible to find combinations of frequency relationships and modulation depths that will sound ‘wrong’ even when patched digitally. In an analogue system, frequency drift or tracking inconsistencies can worsen the problem.

DIRTY SIGNALS

But weird C:M ratios are not the main problem. The real enemy of dynamic linear FM is asymmetry caused by DC offsets. If the modulating wave is not centred about zero, the sound will churn. Here’s the same G2 patch, this time with some virtual DC offset added: 02-TZ_clavia-digital_virtual-dc-offset

To avoid this, some FM inputs are AC-coupled - the signal is filtered by a capacitor. But this is not a magic bullet. If the offset is large enough and being swept dynamically, the capacitor will have a hard time eliminating it. The most likely cause for DC offsets are the modulating oscillator itself, or more precisely its wave-shaping circuitry. I have had best results with Doepfer’s A-143-9 Quadrature sine-core oscillator.

SCIENCE, SWITCHES

Analogue TZ-FM involves switching to generate ‘negative frequencies’. No matter how finely timed, there is a moment of indecision which may be audible as a growl or rumble. DC offset makes this worse as it shifts the switching point. Lower initial frequencies (aka Bias, Symmetry or LFreq) allow more modulation and brighter sounds, but the cost is lower accuracy and more ‘bum notes’.

THE A-110-4

The Doepfer TZ-VCO switches between two oscillators. This method has pros and cons. If the two VCOs do not respond equally to modulation, the resulting FM will sound ‘off’, even if the modulator is clean and the switching point is accurate. This cannot be trimmed by the user. To mitigate pitching artefacts at the point of switching, calibrating the TZ transition can help.

WHAT IS IT?

As Cynthia Webster says in her humorous video showing the difference between thru-zero and normal linear FM, without TZ “half the modulation is gone”. As you’ll hear, the frequency relationship between carrier and modulator also plays a role.



The first VCO you hear in the next two examples is the Zeroscillator, then the A-143-9 which I have modified for standard linear-FM.

If the carrier’s initial frequency is high enough and/or the modulator is higher in frequency than the carrier, the tonal result is very similar:
03-TZ-high-initial-freq_ZO-A-143-9

The real difference between thru-zero and normal linear FM is apparent when the modulator is slower. As you can see above, instead of adding gentle folds, the modulator pushes and pulls the carrier through zero. TZ allows deep levels of modulation, even when the carrier’s initial frequency is low. When this is the case, there is a big difference between normal and TZ linear FM in the possible tonal result: 04-TZ-low-initial-freq_ZO-A-143-9

One last thought on this as the Zeroscillator video is much quoted when the question “what is thru-zero FM?” is raised: toggling the “Through Zero” switch on the ZO does not yield ’typical’ linear FM; normal linear FM does not sound like this: 05-TZ-not-typical

PATCH TIPS

I have concentrated on the audio effects here, but VCOs that can go thru-zero have other uses when they themselves are used as modulators. For an idea, try this patch for a thru-zero frequency shifter and listen to your sounds swap stereo sides.

I hope this explainer helps you with your TZ-FM experiments. The files folder is here. If you’re not sure about the analogue results you’re getting and need a digital ’control’, download the Clavia Nord Modular G2 demo. If you’re on a Mac and 10.7 or higher, you can run the demo under Wine. There is info here or an installer here.

Powwow 4 - Feedback

Here’s the recording of my live set at the fourth Berlin Powwow session which you can buy from my Bandcamp.



For this performance I wanted to explore feedback and the obstacles and modifiers one can place in the loop. The key players in this were delays, filters, non-linear functions and malfunctioning components.



My main analogue patch featured a Cwejman RES-4 in a loop with a Bananalogue Serge WVX. The combination of four frequency bands of oscillation might have been enough, but placing a Cwejman VCEQ-3 in the chain to dampen or boost the feedback added another level of complexity. A stressed coupling capacitor and scratchy Folds pot on the WVX added to the unpredictability and fun.

Live, I love my Clavia Micro Modular for two main reasons: patch recall, which allows me to set a scene or chop between moods, and polyphony. The virtual feedback patches in this set were simple, but switching them to two or three voices added complexity and interest, for example asynchronous panning or the beating of multiple sine-wave oscillators. You can do it with a ’real’ modular, but at a cost!

This set up is flexible and just about portable. It’s still completely live in that each patch either has to be built or played by hand. But the addition and convenience of the Micro Modular does cause me to question how we approach playing live with a modular. With many musicians turning up to gigs with their rigs pre-patched, is there a difference or even a need for the real deal?

Thanks again to Goldwiener, Hainbach, Paul da Fonk and Mark Berman of Powwow for the opportunity to make some noise.

Take Seven - modular jazz revisited

A longer improv and edit inspired by this modular bebop sketch.



This track started out as a test for my old Boss SE-70 Super Effects Processor - the kitchen sink FX box from the 90’s, loved by The Prodigy - which I had dusted off to check out the pitch shifters.

A medium-paced Wogglebug conducted two Plan B Model 15s and Maths. There was a bit of FM and wave-folding involved. I’ve always felt that the Wogglebug had the jazz so it was a short jump of the imagination to add some Rhodes/ Cwejman RES-4-ish tones from a Clavia G2 Voice Filter patch and some brushed beats.

I guess this was an exercise in re-contextualisation - hope you enjoy it!

Powwow - thanks …

… to our hosts, Hainbach & Goldwiener and to Luma //Chroma for the mesmerising visuals! The launch of Powwow Berlin was loads of fun and I’m looking forward to doing it again.



Here is a video teaser of my set:



And here is a proper recording which you can also buy from my Bandcamp:



I patched a 6U case live, with back-up provided by a Clavia Micromodular and EHX SMMH as delay and looper. Given the short set-up and play time, this was a good selection which provided enough options. It was nice to get back to basics after a couple of virtual modular gigs and I think there’s enough play in this caseful of modules for another outing.

March 24 - Navs Live @ Basic Electricity Berlin

I’ll be playing live with Wolfgang Seidel, Hilary Jeffery & Hainbach this Friday, March 24th, at Berlin's best live electronic night, Basic Electricity.



We’re very happy to have a new venue, the wonderful König Otto in the old Kindl brewery in Neukölln.

There’s more info, pics and video here; the Facebook event is here.

Doors open at 20:00, music kicks off at 21:00. The address is Am Sudhaus 3, 12053 Berlin Neukölln.

Look forward to seeing you on Friday - until then, here are some ideas I have been working on for the show:



Cheers, Navs.

May 7: Wolfgang Seidel + Navs Live, G2 Patch

Fresh from our Superbooth set, I’m looking forward to another chance to improvise with Wolfgang Seidel. We are playing at Spektrum in Berlin, Neukölln next Saturday, May 7. Doors open at 19:00 and we must start by 20:00 so don’t be late!

Also on the bill at Richard Scott’s Sound Anatomy night will be the pipe-smoking professor himself in duet with trumpet-player extraordinaire Axel Dörner. They will launch their new release on the Sound Anatomy label.

Spektrum is at Bürknerstr. 12 in 12047 Berlin Neukölln. The Facebook Event is here.



Playing live electronics can be a lot of fun, especially given a nice sound system and large room. The one bane for the performer can be the amount of equipment he or she needs and, conversely, the amount of space offered by the venue. A case or two of modules, a small mixer and a couple of effects often have to be unpacked, set-up and dismantled on a small table in a short amount of time.

Frank Bretschneider’s minimal kit list for his Superbooth performance was inspiring: just an Elektron Octatrack and an external delay. Frank told me the effects box was wired as an auxiliary loop within the Octatrack. I’m not familiar with the architecture of the Elektron but saw a possible parallel with the Clavia Nord Modular G2 system.



Above is the FX framework that I’ll be using at the Spektrum gig. It means I don’t have to bring an external mixer and can control levels directly from the G2. A multiple of outputs 1+2 is sent to an external effects unit via physical outputs 3+4 and returned via Ins 3+4. I’ve set the modulation wheel to act as the FX send pot and dedicated one knob page to the virtual mixer. With a few tweaks it could easily be modified for ‘voltage controlled’ automation.

It’s not perfect as there is a momentary muting of the output when switching between patches. But I felt it was more important to have control over the main as well as dry/wet levels and ratios. This is especially important when, for example, using my gigging delay, the EHX SMMH, as a looper. Patching the delay physically between the synth and the venue’s PA/ mixer would not be as flexible.

There seems to be a drop in levels between the VA + FX sections on the G2, irrespective of any padding. To avoid overdriving the delay pedal I have additionally padded the input to the FX section by -6dB. You can switch in a 6dB boost or add some overdrive to make up the gain should you need it. Be careful of avalanches if you use the FX-FB feedback loop.

You can download the G2 patch here. Let me know how you get on. Hope to see you at the gig!

Funkhaus Fun + Ribbon Tales

Thanks to everyone who came to see the concerts in Saal 2 of the Funkhaus on Friday night of Superbooth. Wolfgang Seidel, Hillary Jeffery, Hainbach, Frank Bretschneider and I had a great time. Thanks also to Andreas Schneider and especially Adam and his team for the wonderful sound and light.



Our trio’s set was improvised but Wolfgang and I did have one ‘get to know you’ musical session, during which I noticed he uses not one but three Doepfer R2M ribbon controllers! I had tried one of these years ago, when Schneider bundled them together with an Analogue Solutions MS-20 filter/ VCA and Doepfer VCO - the Jimi-Box, named for Hendrix.



But the ‘widdle’ wore thin pretty quick so I passed on the analogue version of the ribbon controller. The R2M, of course, can ‘speak’ both analogue and digital. It’s a good partner for the MIDI-equipped Clavia Micromodular, which has only three knobs and no keyboard. For its part, the Micromodular, with its familiar environment and patch recall, is the perfect accompaniment to an analogue modular when playing live. You can see me using them in the second picture above.

Here are two patches from that concert. One is inspired by Peter Grenader’s iconic ribbon video from a few years ago. Note position determines pitch, panning and also speed of the clocking VC-LFO, pressure adds modulation.



I wanted to use a voltage controlled radio during our set at the Funkhaus, the former East German broadcasting house, but was unsure of whether I’d get any reception. The answer was to mimic the random bursts of noise and music fragments with this second patch. Three comparators provide an on-off switch for the virtual radio, tonal and frequency changes.



You can download the patches and R2M preset info here. Let me know how you get on!

NAMM & Noodles

NAMM 2015 was a bit of a blur. It was my first visit and at times a little overwhelming. But it was lovely to meet friends old and new and I’m looking forward to next year. Thanks to Andreas Schneider and the gang for an unforgettable experience.



Thanks also to Dennis Vershoor, aka mono-poly, and his Noodlebar crew for a great time in Rotterdam. Dennis performed at the first Basic Electricity in Berlin so it was nice for me to play the return leg on his home turf.

This was the first time I’d gigged with my mini set-up, consisting of just a Clavia Micromodular, Faderfox LV2, delay and mixer - an exercise in Zen noodles!

NAVS (Berlin) - Noodlebar ::: February 7th 2015 from Streamline Media on Vimeo.

Nord Coast - Micro Modular Patches

Performance patches created on the diminutive yet powerful Clavia Nord Micro Modular.



I'd seen these odd shaped and coloured boxes lying round in studios gathering dust before. But it wasn't until I saw Rastko Lazic's inspiring video that I took the Micro Modular seriously. Here is a collection of patches, driven solely by the Micro Modular's three knobs:



Yes, it sounds digital and you need to jump through hoops to get the editor to work on a modern Mac operating system, but it's worth it. I've used the G2 demo for years to try out ideas, so I was used to the workflow. The NM engine doesn't have some of the conveniences or modules of the G2. But, as ever, there are workarounds. If you get stuck, consult the Nord Modular Book, edited by James Clark or Rob Hordijk's workshops.

In his video, Rastko uses a new Faderfox controller to play his patches. The two make a perfect pair, but I didn't want to be tied to a USB host i.e. computer. The older FF controllers are less flexible when it comes to custom assignments, so I built my own. I used a Doepfer Pocket Electronics kit and a perspex sandwich. The joystick is a small, game controller type.



With that built (and an old Faderfox controller now bought ...), I've realized that the beauty of the Micro Modular is its simplicity. With some canny patching you can get a lot of mileage out of three knobs! Download the album to access the patches and try them yourself.

Here is a link to Clavia's sound-bank. If you're using a Mac, the V3 Editor will run with varying degrees of stability and frustration under emulation. I have both Win XP and 10.6 versions running under VMWare Fusion on a 10.8 system.

Patch of the Day - Quad Event Timer

This patch was inspired by the Plan B Triple Event Timer and marks a bit of a departure for me: it was realized using the Clavia Nord Modular 2 Demo.

I tried the M17 years ago but couldn't get my head round it at the time. However, my last PotD featuring the A-143-1 showed the limitations of using fixed comparator timing/ threshold levels. The spacing between events is always absolute, rather than relative.

I tried Doepfer's A-167 Comparator, which is a fine module and actually more flexible than a single M17 output. However, to emulate the functions of the TET, you'd need three of them. Before building my own quad comparator using Ian Fritz's LM339 design, I wanted to try out the musical applications of such a module and that's where the NMG2 came in.

Here's what it sounds like:



I used a VC ramp to determine the timing/ spacing of the four events and fed the EG with a negative pitch CV. As you can hear, the result is similar to the effect of a sampled phrase: the relative spacing remains intact despite the change in speed/ pitch.

Here is the NMG2 patch.