Chysn's Gear Rant Thread...

[chysn]

You could also use that "spare" oscillator for additional FM or LFO functions. (Edited: saw remark regarding LFOs)

If there's a recurring theme in modular synthesis, it's that everything can be used for a lot of different things. It's a fascinating mindset.

[chysn]

My next module arrived this morning.

Detroit Module is a pleasure to deal with. If I order something before 4:30pm or so, it's in my mailbox the next morning. And their prices are the same or slightly lower than anyone else's. So if I can get it from Detroit Modular, I will.

Today my oscillator arrived, a Doepfer A-110-2. Its sound is very close to the sound of the Mother-32's oscillator, and it tracks the Mother-32 pretty well. If I get ambitious, I may try an adjustment on the Mother-32's volt-per-octave output, but the tracking is fine over at least three octaves.

The oscillator has some fun options, like hard sync and FM. Hard sync from the Function at audio rates gets some pretty nice metallic sounds. I might try some recording this weekend.

I think the next purchase is going to be a VCA. VCO + Function + VCA is actually a self-contained synthesizer, although a pretty funny one.

[chysn]

Perfect Circuit Audio is having a Memorial Day* sale, so I picked up a couple modules for my synth project. I got the Doepfer Dual VCA (the small linear one, without knobs) and the Synthrotek DLY delay module.

Since I'm basically building a Karplus-Strong synth, an additional delay will be nice, even though I'll still need the DSM-03 to really pull it off.

My current plan (from ModularGrid) is below. Once my order comes from Perfect Circuit (especially the VCA), I'll have a self-contained usable synth. But I still need the mixer, and a couple more Functions and... of course... come ON, DSI! The DSM-03, the centerpiece of the whole thing.

I like how Function-heavy it is. I wish I had room for one more, but three will let me pull off some really interesting "evolving" sounds.

* Memorial Day, originally Decoration Day, is a U.S. holiday meant for remembering members of our armed forces who died while serving. In reality, it's a somewhat commercialized day off that serves as the unofficial start of summer, celebrated with cookouts and parties with little acknowledgement of the day's somber raison d'être, and it's also a baffling excuse for retailers to offer discounts. Traditionally.

[Paul Dither]

Wow, that's all going really fast now, chysn. I'd be interested to see what the Function module does in action once you get to the point of making some demos. I'm also curios about the options once you have all three of them.

[chysn]

Wow, that's all going really fast now, chysn. I'd be interested to see what the Function module does in action once you get to the point of making some demos. I'm also curios about the options once you have all three of them.

The idea is that one of the Functions will perform as an ASR envelope generator, while the other two work as LFOs for the Feedback Module (or other things). The thing that makes the Function special is that is can shoot out end-of-rise and end-of-cycle triggers, basically meaning that a Function 1 can start Function 2 at the end of its (Function 1's) cycle, and Function 2 can start Function 1 at the end of Function 2's cycle. And of course, this keeps going. So it has the potential to be a very powerful, almost sequencer-like, LFO stack.

There's a good case to be made for replacing one of the Functions with a regular ASDR, but I'll hold off on that call until I get the DSM-03. I don't plan to buy anything else until that's available, since it's driven every module decision I've made so far. Part of the question is "Will I want an ASDR envelope for a K-S synth?" and the other part is, "Will the budget permit a third Function after DSI announces the price of the DSM-03?" Also, I've discovered that it's pretty challenging to plan optimally around a 10HP module, just because of the arithmetic.

[Paul Dither]

What do you think about the 0-Coast?

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2016/05/30/make-noise-0-coast-synthesizer-hands-on-demo/

[chysn]

What do you think about the 0-Coast?

I'm not sure. On the one hand, its architecture is refreshing, it sounds pretty good, and the price is reasonable.

On the other hand, I don't think it's aimed at me, since I've already started buying into eurorack. Yeah, I'm sure that lots of eurorack geeks are going to buy 0-Coasts, but the main point of the thing is probably to draw folks in. The irony is, the Mother-32 probably did more for Make Noise than the 0-Coast ever will, so the 0-Coast doesn't seem like a particularly necessary marketing vehicle.

As an aside, I approve of 3.5mm two-conductor MIDI. As I did some MIDI-related Arduino projects, I started to appreciate the fact that MIDI is basically a digital CV source. A fast enough analog sequencer, with enough channels, could send MIDI commands. I'm sure there were great reasons for using a huge 5-pin DIN in 1982, but you really only need the two wires. Heck, Dave Smith doesn't even use the third (current) wire in his stuff* and he invented the thing. Anyway, I wouldn't mind seeing 3.5mm MIDI show up everywhere. Then devices like Volca Beats could easily have room for MIDI In and MIDI Out.

* As of the Prophet 08 / Mopho era, which didn't support 5v out over MIDI. I dunno about Prophet 12 and forward.

[chysn]

The Synthrotek DLY is a delay module, technically. But it's not particularly musical-sounding. Maybe the feedback gets messy too quickly. Maybe the maximum rate is too short. Also, if you go too far with the Rate knob, there's sort of a weird effect. The manual refers to this as a "glitch zone," but it makes no sense. Anyway, that module is probably going back in favor of a Mutable Kinks, which is a utility module.

I did get a second Function yesterday, and I think I'll be happy with two of these guys. One will work as an EG, one will be an LFO, unless they're doing other stuff. Like I said, the flexibility of the Function is enormous. In fact, I've run audio through it, where it works as either a filter or some sort of waveshaper. I'll have to look at it through a scope to see just what it's doing.

But resorting to a Function to be a filter clued me in that I probably really do want a filter, so I've got a DSM-01 on the way. And I'm pretty sure that my Father's Day present will be a module, so I'm almost "done" with my first rack, sans the essential DSM-03. If the DSM-03's filter proves redundant, I may sell off the DSM-01 later. But I'm pretty sure I do want to keep a Curtis filter in my rig, as it's a sound that I like.

[chysn]

Kinks! I got Kinks to take the space of the DLY. I had 4HP to burn, and it seemed like some good utilities.

I think that Kinks is really worth the space. It has a simple sample-and-hold, which is nice. Function can do sample-and-hold, but then it's tied up and can't be an LFO. The logic section (min and max of two inputs) is a neat resource, too, on a pair of LFOs, or an oscillator and an audio-rate LFO, for wave-shaping applications.

This was my first Mutable Instruments product, and it included a small wooden carved owl. Apparently it's not unusual for them to include figurines.

Also, I'll be saying some things about the DSM-01 pretty soon, but in the DSM-01 section on this forum.

[chysn]

I know I said I wasn't going to get anything else until the DSM03 was out. Nuts to that, though, I'm having too much fun.

This morning I got two new pieces from Detroit Modular: A humble passive multiple unit from Intellijel, and a Doepfer A-106-5, which is Doepfer's Oberheim-style SEM filter.

The main purpose of the passive multiple is to drive two oscillators from one pitch CV source. There are forum entries that insist that buffered multiples are the way to go. This is a lie. I tried that with the Mother-32's buffered multiple, and it was a disaster in terms of tracking. I was losing a couple thousandths of a volt, which was enough to throw everything out of whack. With a Y cable, and later a passive multiple, my two euro oscillators stay perfectly in tune with the Little Phatty throughout the Phatty's range.

I don't know how this would work with a third oscillator. I considered a third oscillator, but basically the DSM03 is taking the place of a third oscillator in my synth.

I got the SEM filter because I needed a highpass filter (because the Evolver has one). An SEM is a much more economical use of space than just a highpass filter. It gives me a sound that I simply never had access to before. Being able to run an SEM filter and a Curtis filter in parallel, one on each oscillator, makes this all worth it.

Now I'm ready to cut the Mother-32 loose. She did what she was supposed to do, but now I have my instrument planned out. The basic pieces are in place (except, of course, the DSM03), and now I need more mixers and attenuators, things that are boring in concept, but make the world go around.

[chysn]

As I've been building this instrument, the Evolver has always been my inspiration. I'm not expecting to duplicate an actual Evolver*, but I want to make that sort of sound possible.

Yesterday, the Qu-Bit Octone arrived to handle sequencer duties. The Octone represents a major share of the proceeds from selling my Mother-32, and I worried about whether it would be worth it, being, as it is, more costly than three SQ-1s.

Here's the thing that tipped the scales: The individual gate outs are pretty compelling for generating rhythmic patches. For me, a major use of the Evolver's sequencers was to put emphasis on various steps. The sequencer values themselves almost didn't matter; it was more important when the changes happened. The Octone has three ways of placing accents: the sequence values themselves, the main gate out (which can be triggered for selected steps) and the individual gate outs (which are independent of the main gate's selected steps). So an awful lot can be done with just the single sequencer.

I would give the Octone high marks for usability. There's no menu diving, most things are intuitive, and it's fun. It's a bit cramped, but that's the tradeoff for compactness (10HP).

Two Octones can be ganged up into a 16-step sequencer, which I won't rule out at this point. Going to a third rack is more-or-less inevitable.

* But see here: http://forum.davesmithinstruments.com/index.php/topic,552.msg6257.html#new

[chysn]

Modular synthesis has really been a learning experience for me. There are things in modular that just don't exist in hard-wired synths, and sometimes that's inexplicable.

Take, for example, the lowpass gate. As far as I know, there was no mass-market* production analog synth out there with a lowpass gate until the Make Noise 0-Coast came along this month. The original circuit design was by Don Buchla, and it never found its way into the main subtractive synthesis arsenal. This is a shame, because it is a very musical module. Basically, it's a lowpass filter that behaves like a VCA. As the amplitude increases, so does the cutoff frequency; but it works in a non-linear taper that makes it very nice for simulating plucked or struck things.

I got the Make Noise LxD lowpass gate, because I think it'll pair very nicely with the feedback module. Recordings will be forthcoming soon after the DSM03 is released!

* Unsurprisingly, the new Music Easel has a dual lowpass gate.

[Sacred Synthesis]

This is very interesting, Chysn.  The lowpass gate does indeed sound wonderfully musical, somewhat like the Keyboard Amount parameter that adjustably opens the filter cut off frequency as you ascend the keyboard.  It could be ideal for making more dramatic dynamic changes.  When I create a swell on the P'08 or PEK, I have to open the filter with the modulation wheel and simultaneously increase the volume with a pedal - not especially easy to do with grace while you're playing at the same time both the keyboard and bass pedals.  The effect is that I often can't make quite the type or extreme dynamic changes that I want to, especially if my left hand is playing and has to find opportunities to jump back and forth between the modulation wheel and keyboard.  Yes, I could definitely put a lowpass gate to use.  As you said, I wonder if it ever made it to mass market instruments, especially polyphonic.  If it did, I imagine it would become a fundamental function.

What sort of control is it - an on/off type or a slider/knob that's adjustable by fine increments? 

This parameter would sit nicely next to Keyboard Amount; they seem similar in purpose and would make a complete set for improving dynamic changes and making them more natural-sounding.  Similarly, the dynamic changes on a pipe organ are achieved, not only by adding or subtracting stops, but also by the swell pedal.  When you "close the swell" by pushing down on the heel part of the pedal, a set of shutters (they look like vertical venetian blinds) in front of the pipes actually closes, and when you "open the swell" by pressing on the toe part of the pedal, the shutters open in front of the pipes.  Naturally, the opening and closing creates not only a change in volume, but also, a shading of the timbre.  Louder also gets brighter, and softer also gets darker.  This creates beautiful and dramatic changes in dynamics.

One weakness in electronic swells, especially with synthesizers, is that the dynamic changes often separate volume and timbre, making such changes artificial or unnatural sounding, contrary to dynamic changes created on acoustic instruments.  It sounds merely like someone has turned up the volume, because that's generally all that has happened.  Not very musical.

That's it; I want a lowpass gate!

[chysn]

When I create a swell on the P'08 or PEK, I have to open the filter with the modulation wheel and simultaneously increase the volume with a pedal - not especially easy to do with grace while you're playing at the same time both the keyboard and bass pedals.  The effect is that I often can't make quite the type or extreme dynamic changes that I want to

Yeah, that's the sort of thing it would be helpful for. It's a pretty natural increase of brightness as volume increases, rather than the linear increase you'd get simply by assigning an envelope to the filter.

What sort of control is it - an on/off type or a slider/knob that's adjustable by fine increments? 

The module I have (Make Noise LxD) has no knobs; each channel has an input, an output, a CV control, and a Strike input. So far, I'm using either the Little Phatty's envelope for the CV, and my sequencer's gates for the Strike. The Strike is sort of a momentary gate input, for generating natural plucking or striking responses in the gate.

That's it; I want a lowpass gate!

It sounds like you're describing challenges that the lowpass gate exists to address.

As part of a non-modular synth, the cleanest implementation would be a switch that selects between the regular VCA and the lowpass gate. When the LPG switch is "on," anything that would have been routed to or from the VCA is routed to or from the lowpass gate instead.

I'll post an example of a lowpass gate patch this afternoon. Although there are fancy FM-ish things that can be done, and I'm a real lowpass gate novice, you should be able to hear how it works.

[Sacred Synthesis]

I look forward to hearing it. 

I wonder how the low pass gate would handle polyphony, especially when the Filter Keyboard Amount has given a different frequency to each of the notes of a chord.  Could it handle eight or more different frequencies and change them equally without mucking up the  sound?

[chysn]

I look forward to hearing it. 

I wonder how the low pass gate would handle polyphony, especially when the Filter Keyboard Amount has given a different frequency to each of the notes of a chord.  Could it handle eight or more different frequencies and change them equally without mucking up the  sound?

In this respect, it's just like VCAs and filters; each voice would need its own for true polyphony.

[Paul Dither]

I look forward to hearing it. 

I wonder how the low pass gate would handle polyphony, especially when the Filter Keyboard Amount has given a different frequency to each of the notes of a chord.  Could it handle eight or more different frequencies and change them equally without mucking up the  sound?

In this respect, it's just like VCAs and filters; each voice would need its own for true polyphony.

Sounds like a soldering job. 

[Paul Dither]

@chysn: Do you know about the upcoming Karplus-Strong module (Proton) by Audio Damage? It's been featured in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kDlsY1aQq8

[chysn]

Okay, I'm not sure if I can just upload a small WAV file here, but I'm going to try it.

Just a two-measure melody. Two oscillators (saw and square, mixed more-or-less evenly), an envelope with a fast attack, short decay, and instantaneous release, with legato turned off on the controller. Recorded in three ways:

(1) Curtis filter with the envelope going to both the VCA In and the cutoff In, with no CV attenuation
(2) LxD lowpass gate with the one-pole non-resonant channel
(3) LxD with the two-pole slightly-resonant channel

Even though the release rate of the envelope is zero, the lowpass gate closes the VCA and filter noticeably more slowly than that. The vactrols supposedly respond more slowly than, say, transistors, so it's characteristic of lowpass gates to behave that way, sort of ring for a second.

[chysn]

@chysn: Do you know about the upcoming Karplus-Strong module (Proton) by Audio Damage? It's been featured in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kDlsY1aQq8

That sounds great, definitely the sort of sound I'm shooting for.