Resonant Frequency: Modular Synth

This page has a few older photos and audio samples of the synth. I'll try to get something more up-to-date here soon.

This is a photo of my setup taken July 2004.

studio1.jpg (30979 bytes)

Here's a closer view of the 3 racks on the desk


From the top down: CD player 3 frac-rac cases of the modular Sorensen bipolar power supply Yamaha RM1X (on table)	From the top down: Sherwood receiver (Above rack) Rackmount surge protector Alesis MIDIverb IV Yamaha A4000 Fostex Line Mixer Patch Bay Power Isolation Transformer	From the top down: PowerOne supplies (x2) in 2U case 3 frac rack cases of the modular Rackmount surge protector

Audio Samples:

Example 1 - (128Kbps MP3 - 2.5MB - 10/23/2002) - This is a 2:30 clip of a loop-based sequence. The melody is started on the SH-101, and then duplicated and modified on a 2 VCO monosynth patch on my modular. The kick is a pair of modules as well. The snare and other percussion is generated by the R-5 and filtered in the modular. The analogs are sequenced with an Alesis MMT-8, and I added extra percussion with a Roland R-5. Effects are from an Alesis MIDIVerb IV Listed below are the components I used to get this sound:

Monosynth 1 - (Bassy part of melody) - SH-101

Monosynth 2 - (Higher portion of melody) - Modular:

(2) VCO-4D       (EFM)

(1) VCF-2E        (EFM)

(1) VC-ADSR    (EFM)

(1) VCA-5A        (EFM)

Kick - Midwest Analog Products ADV-Kick through EFM VCF6C and SVT bass preamp

Other - Snare and other percussion from R-5 filtered with EFM VCF8E controlled by EFM VC-R-ADSR. Entire track recorded to Minidisc, then transferred to computer and compressed in Soundforge

Example 2 - (128Kbps MP3 - 681KB) - 12/21/2002 - This is a 0:45 sample of my modified Paia Vocoder. The clip begins with a dry drum loop from my RM1X, which I routed to the "mic" input on the vocoder. I had my Polysix connected to the "instrument" input playing a grungy 2 note arpeggio.

At the beginning of the clip I alternate back and forth from 100% dry to 100% wet a few times to give you an idea of how it sounds. Near the end of the sample, I flipped to 100% wet, and then slowly added the dry signal back in with the "mic direct" control.

There are clicks at the switch points, because I was using the vocoder's front panel bypass switches. If I were using this in a song, I would have done the mutes on the mixer for a cleaner sound.

Example 3 - (128Kbps MP3 - 585KB - 01/14/2003) - This 0:36 sample is from a patch that is a little too difficult to describe, but I'll describe some of the connections below. Here's a list of the modules used:

(2) VCO-4D       (EFM)

(1) VCF-2E        (EFM)

(1) VCF-1A        (MacDonald BP/LP SVF)

(2) VC-ADSR-1 (EFM)

(1) VCA-1A        (Scratch-built; MS20 Clone)

(1) MX2020       (Blacet)

(1) LFO-1A        (Scratch-built; EFM design)

(1) LFO-5A        (EFM)

I also added a simple kick from my RM1x just to give it a little rhythm. This sample gives you an idea of the punch and low end the modular is capable of. The VCA I used sounds nice, but isn't super-fast. If I patched in an EFM VCA-5A, I could probably get an even tighter and more punchy sound on the staccato notes.

Notice the sweep in timbre of the sustained notes. That's an ADSR sweeping the pitch of the synced VCO, not a change in filter cutoff. LFO-5A was modulating the "Rate" of a second ADSR that was controlling the VCA. In addition, the LFO sweeps the filter resonance on VCF-2E. The VCF-2E is a moog clone that loses bass as resonance is increased; As a result, the notes get more bass as they get shorter, and more treble as they lengthen.