Sunday, November 18, 2007

ZombieThunder

So I'm the processes of trying to narrow down what modules that I will keep in a single Doepfer A100P suitcase as a "portable" system; the rest will go into a custom case which I am about to start working on.

I started this decision processed basing the results purely on space, but pretty soon that became too difficult and I figured it would be best to just start taking notes on what modules I use most when making patches. One of the more interesting patches I happened on was this one, which I named, ZombieThunder. It sounded like thunder and something I would have heard in a zombie movie soundtrack.

Of course, I took notes on what modules I used, but I didn't on exactly how they were patched...I'm describing it from memory here....

Plan B Model 15 sine is main sound source
Dalek Modulator sine wave was FM'ing the Plan B Model 15
Dalek Modulator other sine wave was FM'ing the FrequenSteiner (LP mode)
Plan B Model 24 stepped voltage (smoothed through Livewire Dual Bissell) was controlling pitch of Model 15
Plan B Model 24 smooth voltage was controlling the 2nd sine wave freq on the Dalek (the one FM'ing the filter).
Livewire Vulcan Max out was also modulating the Filter (although much more slowly).
Plan B Model 10 in LFO mode was opening up the main VCA.



Enjoy.

4 comments:

J.w.M. said...

Awesome. Just a question: when working with my synth, I tend to pass up the sine output of my VCO for (usually) a pulse or a saw wave-- why are you choosing the sine wave as a main source? Any advice for making the sine wave more exciting would be appreciated!

felix said...

I almost always go to the sine wave when I plan on doing any high rate frequency modulation of the VCO (FM). There's no reason you couldn't do this same FM with a saw or square/pulse, I but I think the special timbre that FM has really stands out with a sine wave.

Other cool aspects, particularly with sine on sine FM is that you can create timbres that don't necessarily need a filter...and this works perfectly since you can self-oscillate your filter and use the resulting sine wave to modulate your VCO, or vice versa.

Before I got the modular, I didn't like sine waves actually, except for sci-fi specific sounds...but I've come to really appreciate them as modulators and sound sources (when modulated). I still don't like a steady sine wave that much though...it's gotta have some modulation to it, even if it's a gentle LFO.

J.w.M. said...

Yeah-- Right now (as a newbie), I'm not that big into sines. Once I get more modulation sources on my synth, though, I have a feeling that I'll come to appreciate their cleanness.

Zerosum Inertia said...

Since all I have for oscillators are self resonating filters, and of course fuzz,distortion,squeally preamps, I have to like Sine Waves:)

Im looking forward to getting the Blacet VCO with a voltage controlled waveform!
Whenever that will be......