A short guide to sound synthesis
A brief guide to sound synthesis / how synthesisers (synthesizers) work. Using a Doepfer A-100 modular synthesiser, I demonstrate CV pitch and gate signals, oscillators, attenuators, mixers, ADSR envelope generators and filters.
Modular stuff: Spiral Flame Chord Machine
Time for a new modular treat, check out the massive spec below. The Flame Chord Machine module generates from an incoming CV over a range of 9 octaves a chord, represented by four seprate output voltages. Besides this there is an apreggiatior integrated that you can use as a quantizer. The module can be used for creating 2-note, 3-note or 4-note chords plus a fifth arpeggio voice.
4 octave dim arpeggiato
Flame Chord Machine (Begleitautomat) 2x for Unkle & AO
chords by Roland System 104 CM 1 arp out to CM 2 via
Doepfer A156 (transpose cv in by Z8000 ) for 4 octave arpeggio
4ms Peg RCD
Analogue Systems 2x RS 500e 4x RS 110 2x RS 360
Cyndustries 2x Thru Zero Oscillator
Doepfer A156 & A 134 pan by Moog MP 201
Make Noise 2x Maths 2x Moddemix (Ringmodulat AO’s&Unkle’s) QMMG Wogglebug
Malekko 4x AO 4x Unkle JAG
foh choices
Tiptop Audio Z 8000
Toppobrillo Sportmodulator and 2x TWF for ZO’s
SSL Orgy
Logic Master Clock Kenton Pro 2000 II
Kick Logic Ultrabeat~Livecut
FX Boss VF1 Lexicon PCM 80 Line 6 Echopro TC M3000
Diva synth – tutorial on pulse modulation
The fourth in our series of bite-sized tutorials aimed at users of u-he’s Diva, this one is all about the ever-popular “pulse width modulation” (PWM) effect. PWM was traditionally used to add tonal movement — especially useful for synths that only had one oscillator e.g. ARP Axxe.
Act I – standard PWM: How to set up typical cyclic PWM in the various oscillator models. The ratio between the upper and lower levels (“mark space ratio”) of a rectangular waveform is slowly modulated by an LFO. Note: One of the sawtooth waveforms in the “DCO” oscillator model also delivers a similar effect, but I neglected to demonstrated it in this video!
Act II – the very first PWM is likely to have been an attempt to emulate the satisfying “zippy” sound of two detuned sawtooth waves, one of which is inverted. Because the Triple VCO model features a Ramp wave (i.e. inverted sawtooth), it’s worth trying this out in Diva. A taste of history, this method is my personal favourite.
Even if your 2-oscillator hardware synth didn’t have a ramp wave, you could still make similar sounds by detuning two pulse waves – as shown here.
Act III – “sync” i.e. oscillator synchronization means that the phase of a slave oscillator is reset by a master oscillator. If you modulate the pitch of the slave within a very narrow range, you can get effects that are very similar to PWM. This method requires some practise…
Homework: how dense can can make your PWM sound by stacking and detuning 2 voices (no more), and using the Voice modulator to offset pulse widths and even the LFO rate? Read that again…
Korg Radias – ‘The Calling’
A piece sequenced and performed entirely on the Korg Radias and recorded live into Logic Pro 9. Added some Echo using the Delay designer. All other effects are on the Korg Radias – Stereo Phaser on both Bass and Pads. Drums and Bass Line Sequenced on the Radias, Arpeggiator also used on Arp Saws.
“Fashioned on one of my idols Jean Michele Jarre, just in case you were wondering. Bass Sequence and sound programmed by me, all other sounds are from the presets, with a tweak here and there.”
Octatrack Pro Tip – Single Cycle Waveform Pattern
Try it out for yourself! Download the Project files for this Pro-tip here:
http://files.elektron.se/pro-tip/PROTIP7.zip
By taking advantage of the flexible audio engine of the Octatrack, sounds can be radically reshaped. This is demonstrated in this video. The same single cycle waveform sample has been used as the basis for all the sounds of the pattern.
Sanshin – 涙そうそう / 夏川りみ – Electronic instrument for iOS
http://itunes.apple.com/app/sanshin/id328157378
iPhone向け楽器アプリ「Sanshin (三線)」デモ動画です。
Demo for iPhone app “Sanshin” simulating Okinawa / Japanese Traditional “Three Strings”
Electrix Warpfactory – Vocoder
Josh Tallman demos the vocoder – Electrix Warpfactory:
Designed for both DJs and Musicians, the Warp Factory is possibly the ultimate stand-alone Vocoder. With those great big knobs, the Warp Factory is designed for straight-forward hands-on use. It has an XLR Mic input (conveniently located on the front) and a quarter-inch line input for use as the Formant or carrier signals. Then there are two quarter-inch line-inputs and two RCA phono inputs for your stereo source sounds, either drum loops, mixes, songs, synth pads, etc…
The way it works is whatever Formant signal you have, say your voice, will be warped into taking on the characteristic of the Source signal you have, say a buzzy synth sound. This would in effect give you that Robot voice effect.
The Warp section is where you’ll find most of the knobs and cool features of the Warp. There is a low- and high-pass filtering switch. A ‘Gender’ knob adjusts the pitch of the Formant. ‘Q’ adjusts the width of the filtering. An ‘Order’ adjusts the filter resolution for clear to abstract vocoding effects. There is also Noise and a built-in oscillator Source signal whose pitch is adjusted by ‘Robot Pitch’. Various Bypass and Freeze switches and complete MIDI implementation make this the ultimate Vocoder for DJs, musicians and producers.
Taking a tour at Robotspeak
A circuit Vtech Tiny Tot Driver at Robotspeak in San Francisco.
For more info: http://www.wiretotheear.com/2012/08/24/robotspeak
Checking out the Doepfer Dark Time analog sequencer.
Mostly Robot: Tim Exile’s custom made Reaktor setup
Tim Exile takes you through his custom created NI Reaktor based setup used in the Mostly Robot show. He shows how he manipulates sounds and gives an exclusive performance showcasing his technique.
This is an excerpt of the full 40-minute exclusive Mostly Robot video available in the latest issue of Future Music Magazine.
Purchase this magazine from http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk or purchase digitally from http://goo.gl/eITPa
New material from DE/VISION – Brotherhood Of Man
The new DE/VISION video of “Brotherhood Of Man” – the first single from the album “Rockets & Swords”. Released on 24th August 2012 – available on Amazon & iTunes
DATAMASKIN
