Richard's studio is an Aladdin's Cave of Banana-jack synths. The Buchla VCO was on its way to its new owner, so I was lucky to get a chance to hear it. While it looks fantastic, I wasn't taken by its sound. Financially speaking, this is probably a good thing. The Serge & CGS system was much more to my taste. I was surprised at how familiar I was with its patching vocabulary, due in part to certain Serge-inspired Euro modules, and was able to dive straight in. The Bugbrand is a cracking, compact system with a gutsy sound. But of all the synths in the studio, I lost my heart to the two Hordijk boxes, the wonderful Blippoo and Benjolin.
Thanks to Richard for a wonderful afternoon and the pukka pakoras!
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.
One of the most interesting aspects of Mono-Poly's performance at the recent Basic Electricity night in Berlin was his use of slope detectors to generate rhythms. Feeding a pair of Ken Stone/ Elby Designs CGS762s with the outputs of his Wiard/ Malekko Noise Rings yielded unpredictable, yet in sync, patterns.
I'd previously tried the patch example in the Sport Modulator manual without much success. Inspired by the results Mono-Poly got from this configuration, I gave it another shot:
I used an LFO, reset by a clock divider to feed a Wogglebug which sampled the incoming CV at a rate set by a master clock. This CV was sent to the top section of the SM and an inverted version to the bottom. Lag for both sections was @ 2 o'clock. This setting is important as it determines the SM's reaction time and hence the accuracy or otherwise of the resulting gates. When the CV is rising, a gate is output from the top END (left channel), when it's falling from the bottom END (right).
In the examples, I toyed with the clock divider's reset, the LFO speed and also injected some chaos via the Wogglebug. As you can hear, this is a great way to generate pulse patterns on the fly.
These modules have a different approach, feature set and, as you can hear, sound. The Cwejman is a classic two-input, one output affair and I included it as a reference as it has good rejection and headroom.
On the face of it, the additional features offered by each manufacturer set these modules apart. However, given that the basic concept is the same, these differences might not be that wide. The μMod's 'Q' function, for example, seems to be a bipolar offset, something that could be patched externally with the Cwejman or by increasing the manual gain on the A-133. Similarly, the auto-AM/ pseudo-SSB modulation offered by the ModDemix's normalizing could also be covered by a dual module like the Doepfer. Incidentally, it's a shame neither of these dual modules can be used as a mixer out of the box. Pre-patching a signal to one of Maths' attenuverters and using the uni-polar OR output as modulator would yield a function similar to the μMod's rectification switches. The mh-31 utilizes rectification as part of its 'RM' process which might explain its characteristic sound.
Two technical points to note: when used as a VCA, the μMod I tested displayed a small amount of carrier bleed (audible in the example above), but I'm sure this can be corrected by calibration of the 'Q'/ offset. The A-133 suffers bleed too, but this is understandable due to its lack of centre-indent pots. At low 'strength' amounts, the ModDemix displays an unusual response - the processed waveform seemed more typical of AM than the 'attenuated' RM I'm used to from the A-133. Both the Makenoise and Doepfer are DC-coupled, so I wonder if this difference is down to the circuit employed.
In terms of sound and function, I saw the closest parallels between the VCO-2RM & μMod one the one hand, and the Doepfer & Makenoise ModDemix on the other. The mh-31 is the most unorthodox design and doesn't easily fit in either camp.
To my ears, the Cwejman and Intellijel have the cleanest tone, with the Makenoise and Fonitronik well-suited to more abrasive timbres. While not as transparent as the VCO-2RM or μMod, the A-133 can be both clean or driven to distortion.
Thanks to Schneidersbuero for the loan of the Intellijel & Makenoise modules.
Today's Patch Tip is taken from this discussion on limiting the output of a Wiard Noise Ring. Self Oscillate's suggestion of using a min/ max module is a simple but ingenious solution that deserves re-posting. Not only can it be used to limit the level of a stream of CVs, applying a threshold in this manner can also clip audio waveforms, dynamically if desired.
"… feed the NR output to a max/min module, together with a fixed voltage which determines the highest allowed pitch. then use the min output. the higher notes will not exceed the fixed voltage, while the lower notes get through unchanged."
As Self Oscillate notes, the benefit of using a min/max module is that, unlike general attenuation, the lower CVs are unaffected. When applied to audio, this results in a 'squaring-off' of the waveform at a pre-determined level. Experiment with the A-172's outputs for positive and negative clipping.
I'd previously used the A-172 and Maths' OR output to trace the peak contour of two sources, but hadn't considered doing the reverse. Thanks to Self Oscillate for this useful application of fuzzy logic!
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?
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.
