Saturday, October 09, 2010

Best Friends Forever V

The Best Friends Forever section on this blog is a selection of modules that always stay connected, even when i create new patches.

This combination is not much different from my earlier BFF posts, only thing is that here the modules are already connected internally, and not externally with patch-cords.

The two modules, A-160 Clock Divider and A-161 Clock Sequencer are unmissable for rhythmic purposes and for syncing with MIDI or a ( voltage controlled ) LFO.

The Divider is syncronized via the Trigger and Reset Inputs, this module divides the frequencies in steps from /2, /4, /8, /16, /32 and /64, resulting in very usable trigger signals.

The synced Clock Sequencer is a very simple sequencer with 8 steps, the speed of the steps is controlled by the input of the Divider. In fact this combination of modules is an impressive sequencer on it's own.

The outputs of both modules can be used to control any clock, trigger or gate input.
For example, you can use them to trigger envelope generators, resets and (voltage controlled) switches.
It is also possible to use the A-161's trigger outputs to reset the A-160, check out the video below for the basic functions of these modules.

Video: A-160 Demo


Thanks to @Hawklord2112 for the kind permission to use this video

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Quick Tip II - Frequency Displacement ( Picture )



"If, instead of patching the outputs from the analysis section to their  'proper' respective outputs in the synthesis section, you swap them about instead, interesting frequency displacements occur in the vocoder output"

* from the A-129/1/2 Modular Vocoder Manual

Friday, October 01, 2010

Missing A-100 Manuals

One of Doepfer's other great services is their Manuals Download Page.
It is a fine resource for all A-100 users because the manuals are full of patch-examples, interesting tips and insights.
So far i downloaded and printed all the manuals that are available.

The manuals of the modules that I own are kept in my selfmade binder,
I keep the others in a seperate binder, but always close to my setup...

What i would like to see is that Doepfer will continue publishing these manuals.
The manuals of their latest modules are sadly not yet available on their page. I do understand that it is quite a bit of work, and that manuals cannot always be released on exactly the same release-date as the module itself, but even some of the modules released in 2008 still don't have a manual :-(

I hope Doepfer just forgot about the manuals and that they are working on it. I also hope i'm not the only one missing them, even the manuals for the less complex modules can be very useful...

Click 'read more' for a list of missing A-100 manuals of released modules ( September 2011 )

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Best Friends Forever IV - XL Edition

This next quick patch is a small extension of my earlier Best Friends Forever posts.

Although i don't always use this patch, i do like the simplicity of it, getting me more out of my Slew Limiter.

As blogged earlier, I use the A-182-1 Switched Multiple mainly to switch between my keyboard ( via MIDI ) and my A-198 Ribbon Controller.
For this i split up this Multiple in two halves, the upper half controls the Gate, the lower half controls the pitch ( CV )

The black cables that go into the Switched multiple are for ( quantized ) Ribbon Control if channel 2 is selected, the yellow ones are for keyboard control, via channel 1

The only advantage in this patch is that i am now using both halfs of the A-170 Slew Limiter, the lower ( and more extended half ) for the Ribbon Controller, the upper half for the incoming output of the MIDI-CV Interface.

A-115 Audio Divider

A module that i use a lot in my patches to get a fatter sound is the A-115 Audio Divider.

This module adds 4 seperately mixable sub-octaves to your original signal,
where F/2 = half the frequency = first sub-octave,
           F/4 = quarter frequency = second sub-octave,
and so on...

It is a perfect module for making nasty low bass sounds.
Especially the F/16 output can sound very dirty ( but very gritty ) if you turn its volume up.

Most of the times i feed a signal directly from an A-110 VCO Voltage Controlled Oscillator into the Divider module.
To make optimal use of all of the sub-octaves, i turn the footage (or octave-) switch of the original oscillator up one or 2 octaves.
( An option is to leave the original signal out of the mix )
This makes even the lowest octave (F/16) a bit useable in my setup.

Note that all 4 sub-octaves outputs are all true square waves, so the output provides 4 square waves plus the original signal.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

PatchPierre Mobile App for Symbian

Good news for all Nokia owners and followers of this blog.
The official PatchPierre Mobile app is out, for all Symbian and selected S40 devices.

A few screenshots:
NetPierre presents the PatchPierre Mobile app. The ultimate way to watch PatchPierre's content on your Nokia device. PatchPierre provides (basic) A-100 -tips -patches sound-examples and other general (analog) synthesizer-tips for those of you interested. The app enables easy browsing through the posts and also gives links to the original articles
Click HERE for a direct link to the OVI Store


*Update: Version 2 is out now... with better design, and a feed to the comments

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Best Friends Forever III

My next unseparable combo is a threesome this time.

This is another essential combination for me, because i use my A-198 Trautonium/Ribbon Controller a lot to control my A-100 system.
The yellow patchcables between these modules always stay connected whenever i start a new patch.

The Voltage Control output ( pitch control ) of the Ribbon Controller goes straight into the A-156 Dual Quantizer.
This module divides the signal into various little steps that provides many different possibilities to scale the notes that are played, allowing the player to play more accurate notes and scales.


Note that I use the lower and more extended half of the Dual Quantizer.
The upper half has less functions and can only divide the signal into steps of 1 /12th Volt = 1 Volt per Octave


Last in the line is the A-170 Dual Slew limiter. With this one i can add a subtile portamento to the signal.

Again, only the lower half of the module is used in this patch, because this half has more possibilities.
The slewrates are adjustable from low to mid or high, and it has separate controls for rise and fall times.

This patch gives me all the control that i need, and i cannot do without any one of these in my live-setup.