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!

WMD PDO Demo

Audio examples and review of the WMD Phase Displacement Oscillator. A sequel to this post.

The WMD PDO is a timbral oscillator with a twist. Three of its outputs can be discretely shifted in phase relative to the first. It can be used as a quadrature LFO, but the real fun starts when modulated at audio rates. This yields results similar to linear FM, but as the PDO’s creator William Mathewson says in one of his promo videos, phase modulation “gives you more”. Here it is in action:


The sounds in the multi-tracked demo track were generated by modulating the PDO either by itself, for wave-shaping, or an external VCO for PM effects. Buy the EP to access the full set of unprocessed demos (10 recordings, 30 mins duration).

As you can hear, the PDO is capable of a wide variety tones: deep acid basses, bright bells, wooden klonks, scraping steel strings, rasping super-saw/ PWM sounds, even digital noise. As with the Zeroscillator, panning two phase shifted outputs hard left and right can result in stunning stereo effects.

I found I could push the PM index harder and get brighter sounds than with either the analogue ZO or digital Hertz Donut. Like thru-zero linear FM, when the PDO is modulated with a bi-polar signal, its sign, or direction, changes. However, modulating the phase rather than the frequency results in less pitching artifacts.

That's not to say the PDO is artifact-free. At slower modulation rates I thought I could see/ hear the PDO 're-calculating' the phase offset, resulting in a mild siren effect. I asked William about this and he explained that this was the nature of phase modulation; what I was hearing was similar to the Doppler effect where moving the phase forward increases the frequency. At higher audio rates this was not apparent, but it might have an effect when using the PDO as an LFO. The digital wave-shaper means aliasing is apparent and the sound can break up at extreme frequencies or when FM-ed hard. However, I took this to be part of the PDO's character and, as you can hear in the demo track, it means you have another set of timbres to play with. I thought the saws and pulses were not as beefy as an analogue VCO and that it was a shame that one can't affect pulse width and phase simultaneously for 'shonky beats'. However this can be addressed by routing a shifted output to the reset input via a clock divider.

These are minor points given the wealth of sounds and possibilities packed into the PDO's 10HP. In fact, that would be my biggest criticism: it's pretty cramped! I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd gladly devote more rack space to a larger PDO, possibly with an onboard sine modulator and index VCA. As it is, the list of modules the PDO could replace in my system is shocking - it's perfect for a live set-up or desert island suitcase.

There is one last thing to consider: at almost €400 the PDO is in the same price category as the SynthTech E350 and Cylonix Cyclebox, which both offer increased fidelity. Whether they offer the same depth of phase modulation and character is something I look forward to testing in a future post.

Thanks to William for taking the time to answer my questions and for a great module!

Three Thru Zero

Comparing the thru-zero linear FM response of the Cyclonix Cyclebox to the Cyndustries Zeroscillator and Harvestman Hertz Donut.



I like timbral oscillators and use them in my live sets. The Zeroscillator is too big to gig with, so the Hertz Donut usually takes its place. While it packs a lot of features into a small space, the HD is less than hi-fi, so I was hoping the better-spec'd Cyclebox might be an alternative.

In this comparison, I've focussed on thru-zero linear FM as that is what I'm interested in. For demos of the Cyclebox's other features, look here.


dynamic, sine-on-sine. (0:00) zo, (0:09) cb (lead out)


ibid. (0:00) zo, (0:25) cb, (0:45) hd

Despite a firmware upgrade, the Hertz Donut tends to break up in the upper registers. Here's how the three cope with higher pitches:


(0:00) hd, (0:06) cb, (0:13) zo. (0:21) zo, (0:28) cb, (0:36) hd

I matched the pitches of the principal and modulating oscillators by ear, using mode 0010 on the CB for examples 2 & 3. On the ZO & HD I increased the modulation depth as far as I could before pitching artifacts were evident. The CB's FM index was set to full.

As you can hear, the CB doesn't seem to allow the same level of modulation as the ZO & HD, so it sounds muted by comparison. This can be addressed to an extent by increasing the gain, but as this feeds the wave-folder, the results are not the same. It's not clear from the manual whether the internal ratio setting is discrete or in semi-tones, but this might explain why it's easier to achieve clangorous/ bell tones on the ZO & HD. Overall, the CB's linear FM response reminded me of the Livewire AFG, namely better than most non-thru-zero VCOs, but lacking in brilliance.

The Cyclebox is more hi-fi than the Hertz Donut, but because I couldn't push the index as far in a dynamic FM patch, I found it lackluster. Both digital VCOs offer a built-in modulator, smaller footprint and more stable FM. However, despite the inaccuracies of analogue, I prefer the thru-zero linear FM tones of the Zeroscillator.

Release: Basic Electricity #1 Live EP

For those who couldn't make it to the recent Basic Electricity event at the Auxxx in Berlin, here are the recordings of my set.





Making their debut at this gig were the Doepfer A-199 Spring Reverb, A-112 Sampler/ Wavetable Osc. & Cwejman FSH-1 Frequency Shifter. They were supported by the usual suspects: RES-4, MMF-1, Toppobrillo Triple Wave Folder & Sport Modulator, Harvestman Hertz Donut, Makenoise Wogglebug and, of course, the EHX Stereo Memory Man w/ Hazarai.

Doepfer A-112 Sampler/ Wavetable Osc.

Rediscovery of another Doepfer classic - the A-112.



This module was in my first order five years ago. It survived in my system for a while and was sold without much remorse. Since then, we've been treated to several dedicated delay modules, The Harvestman's Tyme Sefari & Piston Honda and, more recently, Make Noise's Phonogene. These modules share much in common with the A-112 and got me wondering why I'd ditched it - was it because of its lo-fi character or because I wasn't ready for it?

Doepfer A-112 Demo by navs

As you can hear, the A-112's 8-Bit nature means it's dirty, noisy & crunchy, but not to the extent that it's musically unusable. Far from it: it can make a huge difference in, or form the basis of, a patch, adds character and, despite its limited 128 kilobyte memory, is bags of fun.

That said, the interface isn't perfect - it's too easy to accidentally wipe a stored wavetable due to a false flick of a switch - but it is immediate. Also, Doepfer's Sample Dumper application is in need of an update & port to OSX as this is key to getting the most out of the wavetable mode (I borrowed an old laptop running Win98!). Another criticism is that sampling at the highest resolution (Tune @ '10') also caps the highest pitch CV it will respond to. Conversely, I'd also like it to go slower because of its ability to record CVs. A simple mod (remove passive filter jumper and bypass cap C11) makes this possible. Details are outlined in this message at the Doepfer Yahoo group. A simple dual gang switch would be a quick mod If you want both options.

The Harvestman & Make Noise instruments might be a refinement of the original concept, offering better fidelity and more functions but they also come with a higher price tag and take up more rack space. If you're ok with its gritty sound, for the €150, 10HP entry fee, you really can't go wrong with the A-112.

Today's Patch of the Day features the A-112, RES-4 and a Wogglebug:



Doepfer's Sample Dumper can be downloaded here. Wiard's Wave256 & Move256 can be found here, more wavetables are available at the Wiard Yahoo Group.

Music Minute - Aquavit

Today's Music Minute is dedicated to the soothing, digestive qualities of Aquavit, a cumin-heavy Schnaps which I only drink once a year after a traditional German winter meal of Grünkohl, Pinkel, Kassler & Kochwurst. My regular Grünkohl host insists Aquavit is the only thing strong enough to cut through the fat and guarantee a good night's sleep.

Aquavit  by  navs

The three voices were snipped from a one-minute jam on a Hertz Donut, tossed into Ableton's Simpler and replayed.

Patch of the Day - Backwards

This is one of those simple patches that can yield great results: using a comparator or gate delay to shift the onset of an event, in this case a change in pitch and timebase:

PotD_Bkwds2  by  navs
Hertz Donut first, then Plan B M15

I used a looping envelope (Plan B M10, slow attack, faster decay) to open a VCA and also voltage control the VCO's wave-shape. The M10's End of Attack pulse clocks a Wogglebug which provides a stepped random CV for the VCO and the envelope's Timebase. The change in pace and pitch occurs during the note's decay.

VC-ing the waveform discontinuity on the HD might be easier and the pitch change more apparent, but the Model 15 does sound great, especially with a dash of delay.

Hertz Donut Firmware Upgrade

If you've been wondering whether to have your HD upgraded, here's a quick demo of the difference it makes:

HertzDonut_Fretbuzzkilla by navs

The 'fretbuzz' is most audible at higher frequencies, so I transposed the the sequence to highlight the difference. The upgrade is (de)activated by holding the 'destination' button down for a second. It's nice to have the option as that 'breaking glass' sound certainly has it's uses.

Thanks to The Harvestman for the time and effort and Andreas and the lads at Schneiders for the sweet treat.

EDIT: At the time of posting, Soundcloud failed to open the player. If you get a 'not available' error, just click on the direct link.

Patch of the Day - Hertzsounds2

Geddit?

Been having a lot of fun with The Harvestman's 'Hertz Donut' digital VCO since picking one up last week.

Today's PotD features five multi-tracked voices/ patches and showcases the HD's thru-zero linear FM, waveform discontinuity and tracking mode capabilities. No filters were used and I tried to keep the effects to a minimum to give you an idea of its raw sound.

Patch of the Day - Hertzsounds2  by  navs

Expect a full modular lab review including a comparison with another thru-ZerO FM heavyweight soon!