Experimenting with Mono/Poly stacks

[Magpel]

While I have several softsynths that use a layer A/B structure similar to the Rev2 (Sylenth1 comes to mind) and I DID own a DSI Tetra until very recently, I never experimented with some of the...unique possibilities of stacking mono and poly layers until I acquired my Rev2 8-voice about two weeks ago.

The first thing I found myself trying was to program a cool mono lead, copy it to layer B and take Unison off, then tweak the B-layer envelops so it is a little softer and darker. The result is a poly sound that has an emphasis note at all times, a kind of lead line running through it (Which sends you scurrying back to the A layer to try the different triggering and legato options to find the most playable and natural blend).  It is a strange sound that will also have a bit of randomness about which the emphatic note is, but if you keep tweaking the layer B envelops and the unison attributes of layer A, you find some sweet spots of playability--interesting at the very least.

The other thing messing around with Mono/Poly stacks showed me is that if you apply delay to the mono layer alone, you get a weirdly wonderful variation on wet/dry effect mix--less clutter  accumulation of harmonic dissonance at any given time, and it can stay lucid with pretty extreme delay settings.

And then today I just discovered a really nice variation on the Mono/Poly idea: On the poly layer (B in this case), set a medium long amp attack of 80-100. Then in stack mode it plays and behaves exactly like your layer A monosynth  except if you hold keys, then polyphony kind of wafts in! Tweak to the right response time. Seems like it could be very cool as a performance thing.

So I ask you experts (fopr I am not that), is this kind of known move? Is there a tradition of stacking mono and poly for these variants? I truly wouldn't know if I ever invented a wheel...

Love this Rev2, BTW. I was an original Evolver owner and had the aforementioned Tetra, so the Rev 2 is both familiar and beyond...

[maxter]

I don't know how common it is to program a mono and a poly layer on the same program, but otherwise it's a generally old concept. I think the most common way is to stack sounds from different synths, one synth mono, another poly, to get this effect. Or maybe with different parts on a multitimbral synth.

Can't say how old the concept is, but has been used for a long time in orchestral music. For example, when a monophonic instrument like flute plays in unison with a harpsichord, piano or harp. Not only does the poly layer add "space" or sustain to the sound, and a body/resonance, but most often also an extra percussive element to the attack of the notes, like a kind of articulation of the notes onset.

It's probably a bit of an underrated concept on synths, I'm not sure how many presets I've encountered that were programmed this way, but not many.

[Sacred Synthesis]

One use is to have the mono layer emphasize the melody from the top notes of the poly layer.  It's difficult to play, but if the musical part is simple enough, it can work beautifully.

[maxter]

Never thought of using it with high key priority, it does seem very promising though.