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Knowing knobs height for your modules is crucial when designing a foldable case. Any chance this could be added in the module's stats?

Hi Mowse,

Damn guilty! :-) Looks like you didn't need the holiday at all to come up with a decent track. 10 minutes is enough for you! Looks like you had an incredible and enjoyable holiday too :-)

Wow... speechless to be honest. Well done and I hope you skip your holidays for the next few years and just give us once and a while another 10 minutes of your musical time :-) While waiting for your next ten minutes, I will click the play button of this track a few more times.

Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield.

nah - at least 1.5c, haha

the shallow water is a great alternative to the lofi junky!

for me, for the required genre - I'd want lots of layers of both delay and reverb - so the more the better!

-- JimHowell1970

Lol! And very true regarding the genre and layering up on delay and reverb, hadn't really taken that into consideration.

Thanks for the feedback, will take a look at the fx aid xl!
To be honest, I've use headphone splitters for a while now and it's just that I don't like the ergonomy of it, I much rather have a module for mult in my system!
-- Martebar

I completely understand don't like headphone splitters much, either - stackcables are pretty good though - if you really want a mult in the rack I'd consider a passive, if you don't need a buffered one - and I don't think you do - both saves cash and power consumption

if you are using stages for sequencing you might want more envelopes. Maths could more or less replace Function + Shades + Kinks and would give you an extra envelope for only 2hp extra space. Also, bear in mind you need 2HP for the Arbhar expander and that random modulation is really useful for getting the most out of granulators.
-- richc90

Whilst I absolutely love Maths - I wouldn't replace those modules in this case with it - mainly because I always see it as more than the sum of it's parts - I'd want both maths and those modules

I'd forego the Lofi Junky altogether and go with a Fairfield Circuitry Shallow Water (for my money it's pretty much the most musical effects pedal on the market). You can also combine delay and reverb in one pedal with the EQD Avalanche Run and save some room on your pedal board. For a small case, the suggestion of Pamela's New Workout is excellent. My $0.02, which is probably worth more like 1/2 a penny.
-- baltergeist
nah - at least 1.5c, haha

the shallow water is a great alternative to the lofi junky!

for me, for the required genre - I'd want lots of layers of both delay and reverb - so the more the better!

if you are using stages for sequencing you might want more envelopes. Maths could more or less replace Function + Shades + Kinks and would give you an extra envelope for only 2hp extra space. Also, bear in mind you need 2HP for the Arbhar expander and that random modulation is really useful for getting the most out of granulators.

Thanks for the feedback, will take a look at the fx aid xl!
To be honest, I've use headphone splitters for a while now and it's just that I don't like the ergonomy of it, I much rather have a module for mult in my system!

Thanks Troux! Now, I am not sure which direction should I take...Lxd or a wavefolder for this system...( which one of the two's will be useful for both drums and synth lines?) Lxd for sure...Is there an example with a wavefolder altering the drums/percussion?

I also like shiny boxes and flashing lights. Effects pedals, Ciat-Lonbarde, and modular synths are perfectly suited to my aesthetic fetishes.

looks quite balanced to me
probably don't need the buffered mult (only needed for pitch) and if you need passive mults then I'd expect you to use headphone splitter style ones or stackcables - so this could go and make space for an fx aid xl which would add a multitude of different modulate-able effects in a small space

I'd forego the Lofi Junky altogether and go with a Fairfield Circuitry Shallow Water (for my money it's pretty much the most musical effects pedal on the market). You can also combine delay and reverb in one pedal with the EQD Avalanche Run and save some room on your pedal board. For a small case, the suggestion of Pamela's New Workout is excellent. My $0.02, which is probably worth more like 1/2 a penny.

well that was a lot to read!!!

so you want a modular synth that you can sequence externally that has 2 voices (nominally bass and lead) and when combined with your pedal board will be able to produce music in the style of My Bloody Valentine/Alessandro Cortini

and here is another!!!

1 - get a bigger case - I would go for a tiptop mantis - it is very portable (similar to a guitar - carry it on your back) and has very good power - does not include parts that are irrelevant to some extent - especially as in your use case you are only using the buffered mults - and for all the 1u that you have added there are often cheaper/better solutions in 3u - get some blank panels to cover up the gaps (or make some) - you only need one buffered mult for example - you could use a mutable links for this and have 2 utility mixers as well in 4hp - I would at least have a play with this idea - don't fill the case - concentrate on what you think you want to fulfill your current goals - at least this way you will have space to add the modules that you find you need in the future without having to buy another case almost immediately

2 - if you are married to the case then you really have too many 'feature modules' and not enough support modules and not enough of the right support modules and a lot of redundancy and a mixing strategy that has not even been been considered

take out:

the lofi junky and get the pedal - it's cheaper, takes up no rack space and you loose very little in terms of modulation - which you have very little of anyway

sloths is a good 2nd modulation source for adding to another but not great as a primary modulation source imo - remove this and replace with say pamelas new workout - possibly get a 1u sloth, if you want to add some chaos and can find some way top boot something out of the top row - quadratt

optomix - I would remove this as well - it's big - plaits already has lpgs internally and ripples has one too plus your mixing solution needs improvement anyway

tiptop z4000 - replace this with either something smaller - do you really need adsr (probably not) - with pams above this is probably completely redundant in any case

that frees 34 hp and uses 8 (pams) which leaves 26hp

I would want vcas and mixing for everything else and a lot more in the way of utility than you can fit in this size case - plus aiming for a MBV esque sound I would want more modulatable reverb and delay modules - a couple of fx aid xls for example

Even removing all those modules - I see a lot of mono audio outputs (plaits (2), sto (3), ripples (3), pedal board return(1) = 9 audio outputs) and no way of mixing them to stereo - which is what your headphone module is expecting

currently the only mixer you have is duatt - which mixes 2 channels to one - yay plaits is covered - maybe

I would want a quad cascading vca such as veils or intellijel - but there won't be enough space for these

I think the best bet would be to go for a selection of Happy Nerding mixer modules - some combination of 3x VCA, PanMixJr, 3x stereo mixer, 6xMix will get as close to solving the problem in the available space as possible - probably won't be able to mix all outputs all of the time

3 - replan totally - ignore anything to do with cases for now work out what you actually need

2 sound sources - plaits is great as 1 of these/sto is fine for the other
pedal i/o - I would consider the ADDAC as it has 2 channels!
1 or 2 good modulation sources
a filter for the sto
a quad cascading vca - mutable veils and intellijel are really the only 2 I would consider here
whatever in rack effects modules you want - as I said above - a pair of fx aid xls would be a good choice for this style of music

Once you have all of those in a big (make it as big as you can, it is a sandbox, not an actual rack) modulargrid rack work out how you can provide modulation for all the modules - do you have enough - almost definitely not - spend some time thinking about how utility modules such as attenuators, mixers (especially matrix mixers), multiples, vcas, rectifiers, logic etc can leverage a relatively small number of modulation sources and what other utility modules you may need - kinks is an exceptional utility module in this regard - it can turn 1 modulation source into 7 related but different modulation sources, for example

Now consider how you want to mix the audio - do you want submixes before/after/between effects etc - does the mixing want to be voltage controlled? do you need stereo output? if so consider how you are going to convert mono to stereo and how you are going to mix stereo signals - if it was me I would want to be able to run effects in both parallel and series, over all the sound sources, individual parts and all points between

add all the utilities and mixing into the rack - don't rule out Doepfer and Ladik and other more inexpensive brands - if the module does what you want then use that over a more expensive brand

now take some copies of that rack and try to consolidate it into rack configurations

try some with 1u rows - the 7u/104hp intellijel case may be a good starting point for that one, or a mantis or even the palette - maybe you need to go for a micro version of a few modules - maybe you need to take one fx aid xl and one regular one - to enable you to cram what you need into a case - preferably with some space available - so that you can add something you find interesting down the line, without having to throw something else out you need

and then get a minimum playable version of what you need and start playing with it - add the other modules slowly - maybe spread the cost out over a year, or longer - so that it is affordable

EDITED Aug 26th 2020, 14:00

Well, I am guilty. Guilty. 10 days of vacation and all I did was fly my paraglider, fish for wild trout in mountain streams, and drink cold IPA's under clear, moonlit skies. It was terrible. So, tonight I got right back into it. Gave myself 10 minutes to create a patch and then played it. I reached for two Moog Mother 32's and DPO. Went with it. Thanks, to DivKid and Instruo for this awesome øchd.

Personally I'm a huge (huge) fan of the Serge Wave Multiplier. Wow 😮 Might not be worth it in a smaller case though.

EDITED Aug 25th 2020, 23:24

The only dedicated wavefolder I have is the Fold Processor from Tiptop Audio and can't recommend it enough. https://www.modulargrid.net/e/tiptop-audio-fold-processor

Warps can work as a carrier oscillator. I like the Lxd for the strike input, I have that on my DPO and I think it's the same one, just patching a sine wave into it has dramatic rhythmic effects.

(pre any of this, just want to say thanks for all the attention given to newbie rack builds. not sure what i would do without this site or community)

Thinking MBV if kevin shields had a synth vibes crossed with Alessandro Cortini’s “scappa” in a small footprint. I’m shooting for two voices, bass and lead. Lead will go out through a pedal board that I already have leftover from my power pop/shoegazer days and all will be summed into the filter and lo-fi junky.

Scappa ->

Part of the reason the small case is appealing (aside from cost) is the pedal board itself adds a fair amount of footprint and I’m shooting for something i could lug to a gig eventually.

I am 100% sure I am missing something here. My gut is that the sloths could be replaced with something more useful but what?? I love the idea of it so much.

Rack:

Pedals (not in any order, just some of what i have to represent available effects):

Setup notes:
- Arturia keystep for sequencing
- keystep pitch cv to buffer 1
- keystep gate to buffer 2
- buffer 1 to plaits and hold of noise tools
- use slow cycle from noise tools OR sloths to trigger hold
- hold out to STO (creating harmony and/or bass line)
- STO to optimix 1
- Plaits to optomix 2
- buffer 2 (gate) to TipTop EG
- TipTop eg can be used to affect Optimix 2 (plaits/lead)
- Optimix 2 out to guitar pedal send (1u)
- pedal send mix to Duatt A
- Optimix 1 out to Duatt B
- Duatt sum to Ripples
- Ripples out to Lo Fi junky
- Lo Fi junky out to headphones
- sloths and noise tools pink/white for random ish across rack

This seems to me like it could work. My concerns are:
- do i need another EG? if the bass can be drone-ish, LPG can be handled manually like a mixer as long as i can ride it
- would be nice to add a slight rhythmic element here. i considered swapping the sloths for a 4hp version and then a pico drum to sidechain the Optomix
- Ripples is my only filter but Lo Fi Junky has some of its own internal filtering/compression/modulation so for that tape-y sound, it seems like a good fit

Open to any and all feedback, and very much appreciated. if i were going for a bigger rack (considered, but worried about space and cost) i’d add a qu-bit bloom for sequencing and drop the keystep. I like random and generative stuff, but more when it is constrained within established boundaries and just gives some extra life to something I have already prescribed.

Thanks!

EDITED Aug 25th 2020, 21:43

Haven't used the Varigate, though it looks like a very capable and fun sequencer. I opted for the Eloquencer, and have found it very intuitive, reliable, and powerful. I don't really enjoy menu-diving, but the Eloquencer's menu system is pretty shallow and easy to use in the same vein as Pamela's New Workout. Most of what you need is on the surface if you aren't getting too complex.
The probability settings are what really sold it for me. It's super simple to add some humanization, semi-randomness, and movement to all of your patches. For my money, it was the best overall sequencer.
I also have a Voltage Block, Arpitecht, and Moffenzeef Mito for different cv/gate sequencing flavors, but the Eloquencer is definitely my go-to.

Yes the Enosc is probably a fantastic instrument on it's own, but I have not studied it enough. It's main function is to obtain modulation within it's own architecture I think. I think the Dixie is very solid, it has that wave-shape west coast feel.
-- GunnarWaage
Should I replace the Lxd with a uFold ( Intellijel) ? Would uFold work just like MI Warps? Same time i was thinking Lxd would work well for drums and not only...

Hi everybody,

So I'm working on a modular that would allow me to record parts with creative uses of synthesis and effects, and also to generate its own melodies and chord progressions (using Marbles and Stages as a sequencer) to provide me with ideas to build on later with other tools in my DAW.
I almost have all the modules, the only ones missing are Ultrafold, Arbhar and Mimeophon.
I also have 4hp left free which I don't really need for anything.
I would be interested in what your opinion is of this rack. Do you have ideas on how to improve it? Am I missing something?

might be an idea to lay it out like a rackbrute then, no?

it is very easy to change the number and size of rows and the hp! and with the power module

so it's easy to see how much space is actually available - 8hp??

by the sound of it the first thing you might want to buy is another case

and then a lot of basic utility modules - currently the case looks like an advert for a selection of the 10 most popular modules - workout what you can do with things like sequential switches, kinks -brilliant module, matrix mixers, attenuators etc - remember utilities are for modulation as well as audio - I would go for simpler cheaper functional building blocks over flashier more expensive ones - they generally provide much more flexibility - possibly at the cost of a few hp

of the modules that you mention I would definitely pick up maths though - it's a great module - a veritable patch-programmable analog computer - see the illustrated manual on line for more information

EDITED Aug 25th 2020, 13:52

The case upgrade makes a lot of sense as you are already invested in their 1u modules

I would want more modulation and utilities - quad cascading vca, matrix mixer, kinks, panning mixers, attenuators, sequential switch etc

I'd look at the happy nerding fx aid xl as at least one of the effects units - smallish, reasonably priced and loads of possible effects - and better modulation options than it's smaller sibling!

If you are going to add a lot of stero effects to a load of mono outputs then at least one panning mixer (panmixjr, for example) would add a lot - sub mix mono sources into a stereo field before processing with effects

How are you mixing what you have already???

EDITED Aug 25th 2020, 13:17

I recommend @oliodnb wholeheartedly. Realistic bidding, fast communication. Good buyer!
-- DT_Indus

And I can defineitely recommend @DT_Indus as well, we had some problem with the shipment and he's been very helpful trying to sort everything out. Thanks man!

Hi there,

of course, this is not the real rack but shows all the modular gear I have for now:

– Palette 62 (incl. the Quadratt down below which for now doesn't fit anymore, because I went for the Noise tools instead, but it's still in the repertoire)
– 0-Coast
– Endorphin.es Shuttle System

Additionally I have Digitakt/Digitone and a Volca FM.

Now what? I'd like to move into the Dub direction including Techno, House, Breaks etc. so I guess I'll need a few more reverb and delay modules, right? Another (bigger) case is no problem - maybe something like Intellijel Stealth 7U/104HP?

From a VCO perspective there's quite a bit to work with, I guess. But what about everything else? I guess it makes sense to keep the whole beats part out of the modular for now excluding the Plonk maybe.

Any suggestions and recommendations are welcome. Thanks in advance!

EDITED Aug 27th 2020, 07:52

Neither! Well I like what I see on sequencers like the WMD Metron that is a pretty cool sequencer as well as Euclidian Circles for unusual ways to sequence things. I am not a big fan of menu diving tiny screens as that is what I have Elektron gear for and I wanted to get away from computers and menu diving to play with knobs, dials, switches and patch cables old skool style for me.

@richc90 is 100% correct. Also try out stuff in the free VCV Rack software before spending any money on new modules. It helps learn routing and what works and the types of modules you like or don't like.

Shots fired!

Are you nuts? The Varigate is for tards and simps. I'm on team Elequencer.

Eloquencer is garbage. Varigate all the way!!

Hey all,
Looking for thoughts and opinions on the Varigate 8+ and the Eloquencer. Anyone ever used both or have insights to share about what their preference is?

Thanks
Zenboy

Go slowly is the best advice you are going to get.

Here is my new build and first modular system

I bought a Doepfer A100 base system 1 with core modules and added a few that I really wanted for weird industrial vibe like the Wiard anti-oscillator and Borg Filter and added more VCAs and EGs plus another mixer and mults for taste. Thoughts? It is not perfect but a good starting point. I have my Korg SQ-1, Elektron Analog 4 and Make Noise 0-ctrl for sequencing and controlling the modular without taking up valuable space with a large Eurorack sequencer or touchpad. The new Expert Sleepers Disting MK4 EX comes out next month and thinking of adding that to complete the case since it has cool tools in one small 8HP module.

Yes the Enosc is probably a fantastic instrument on it's own, but I have not studied it enough. It's main function is to obtain modulation within it's own architecture I think. I think the Dixie is very solid, it has that wave-shape west coast feel.

I would get some mults and other utilities perhaps S&H and more envelope generators? Perhaps start with a few core modules and build from there? I am starting with just a basic Doepfer A100 system and adding to that over time. Dead simple with VCO, filter, envelope generator (EG), dual VCA. I did add more VCAs, mults and another VCO and LFO to my build plus a quad EG/sequencer and two mixers to have choices to route send/receive of sound sources.

I might consider then the Dixie. And I do not think it has too much in common with the Enosc, right? ( sonic wise)
Enosc itself has a unique vco architecture.

Appreciate Gunnar!

Yes the Dixie is very nice and since you already have the components vca, envelopes I think it would do better then the Doepfer voice. I was referring to oscillator sync, the Dixie would then take it's pitch from the sync input and as a carrier of the wave from the other oscillator it stays in that pitch while you modulate the carrier. Another idea would be to stick with the Doepfer but add Warps from Mutable instruments, there you have a carrier with through zero capabilities. Or use the A-110-4 from Doepfer as a carrier, it also has TZFM (through zero), A-110-6 would be even better along with the 111 as the modulator. Just some ideas, you may not like it :)

Thank you Troux! Yes, I do have the Mum M8.
I do not own yet the Tetrapad with Tete and I am wondering ( drum sequencing wise ) how likely to obtain same functionality as in Numeric Repetitor from NE. How immediate can it be? Is it the same scroll through pages like in Pnw, to set different clocks/steps?

@Pomodoro, I'd want more than just the MMF for filtering (unless I'm missing something), otherwise looks like a pretty interesting and fun rack.

Thank you Gunnar! Sync as in clocks? ( I do own 2 Happy Circuit - Missing Links) Do you think I should go for the Dixie 2+ instead of the Doepfer vco? I thought an analog vco with basic waveforms would sound a bit different than the Enosc...

The only thing I would like to have more of in a rack like this would be more sync and FM capability, but apart from that the rack seems it would be fun to work with.

For me, the beauty of modular is the unlimited freedom to create your own custom synthesizer instrument based on personal tastes, goals and infinite expansion options. I came from Ableton/laptop VSTs and hardware synths like Moog Sub 37 and Elektron gear that is great but really the vision of the designer and little expansion ability. Well software VSTs have that feature but I work all day on a computer and wanted to get a tactile hands on approach to lego building blocks for synthesis. It is more fun and challenging.

Keep in mind that the Mimetic Digitalis only sequences pitch CV signals whereas the Varigate 4+ sequences pitch CV & gate signals, using the Mimetic Digitalis- you would still need another sequencer like Pamela's New Workout or Numeric Repetitor to handle the gate sequencing duties.

I am already craving for more vco's ...but I guess I should leave it the ways it is....considering the size of this system. How balanced do you find it? I was thinking also of a matrix mixer, but i couldn't find a way to add it ( most of them take a lot of hp).

Would really appreciate some feedback on my system ( I tried to build a balanced drum/synth fun workbox system). I don't own the tetrapad, tete, doepfer a-111 and lxd yet ( but that's what i have planned to purchase next).
Is there anything you would use instead of those 4 modules mentioned above?

Thank you very much for the explanation!
I do not have all the modules that seems to be needed but I will make a try with what I have.

My 6U Rackbrute Setup to complement my semi-mod setup of Minibrute 2s, 0-Coast and Digitone FM Synth.

Hi Lugia,

This is why I learned basics on the free VCV Rack and this week bought my first modular setup with the Doepfer A100 Basic system that only has the core basics like VCO, VCF, VCAs, envelopes and mixer and clock and mults to get experience hands on before I expand. Several very experienced modular friends of mine suggested this as they started with a basic set of Doepfer modules and learned. I was looking at the affordable $300 Cre8audio kit but the demos looked really bad and it was more of a toy than a real music workstation for learning long term. I did spend under 2k but figure it will supplement my other gear and let me explore hands on modular synthesis. Besides, my hands are getting tired of using mouse clicks to setup modular in VCV Rack and its not as fun. I love loopop he knows his stuff but others annoy me as they are gear whores and never explain how basic patches and what a module does by itself. Once I have the basic routing of VCAs and EGs down with the Doepfer A100, I plan to expand the empty 84HP case with a wave shaper/wave table oscillator like the 4ms offerings and a weird new filter like the Belgrad or Dual Borg Richter filter and of course more VCAs and EGs since the basic Doepfer A100 only comes with a single DVCA which won't be enough to modulate new stuff. Looking at the Erogeneous Tones Radar for EG and the Befaco Hexmix for VCAs. I see these used to save money on utilities. I figure that in a few years my modular knowledge will allow me to produce interesting soundscapes without tons of fancy modules. I do like modular sequencers but due to case space and my two Elektron machines, I can wait on those until I start another larger case. I did order the Make Noise 0-ctrl to use for a touchpad modular sequencer with the Doepfer modules and my Make Noise 0-coast as i love this stuff.

My beef with all these YT celebrities who have millions of dollars of free modular gear that is gifted to them by sponsors and never admit they are paid to push product with the freebies.
-- benprusinski

Yeah, I know the set of people you're talking about. Their relationships are really suspect. Back during the Korg 2600 FS fiasco, it was interesting to see how these people had ZERO trouble getting one of these damn things, but the general public had pretty no chance to snag one. Why, if Korg liked you enough, you could even get TWO. Then there was this one interesting incident...one of the YT celebs got one, but the case (remember: the case is a big part of why this synth was "limited") had been busted up in transit. Which, when you think about it, is something WE MIGHT ALL NEED TO KNOW ABOUT, as it makes Korg's "limited edition" claim even more specious. Anyway, they shot an unboxing with this...then RAPIDLY took it down under some...odd...circumstances (involving Korg, apparently) and replaced it with a new demo vid that was very careful to NOT show the damage to the road case. I confronted them about this, and they got REAL salty about it...but also made an admission that, yes, they'd gotten their synth through "other means" and not as a retail purchase, and no, it wasn't a "loaner" for review purposes. Read that however you like.

And yes, the "LOOKATMYBIGASSSYNTHAINNITCOOL!?!?!?!" YT crowd. Pft. Yep, you're 100% spot on...these YT creators love to show off this NEWAMAZINGSHINYTHING...but do you ever see one of them giving a tutorial on how to use basic modules? Like VCAs? Y'know, the module that everyone IGNORES but that they NEED? Nah. I'd love to ask a couple specific ones about how they use LFO sync...and see if they even know how to do that!

I would like to point out that there are very good synth users on YouTube, though. Let's take loopop's reviews as an example...

OK, with loopop, you get perfect views of the device in question. No extraneous narrative; everything he's saying is germaine to what he's doing. You get scope views to see things like spectral purity of VCOs, VCF behavior, etc. There's even a "skip-to" timeline on screen! To me, THAT is what I expect in a review. The device gets a workout by a knowledgeable synthesist and we get a "fly on the wall" seat. They're not thrilling, not trendy...just purely informative, like they SHOULD BE.

Contrast that was someone telling you "YOU NEEDZ VCAZ! KAN NEVRR HAZ ENUF VCAAA!!!" and not explaining WHY you need them...OK, that's just plain sucks. Why do I need 'em, mo'fo? Hm? Buehler? Buehler? Or "demoing" a module that we can barely see behind a tangle of patchcords. OK...then, why are those patchcords there? What are you doing with this thing? What's it hooked up to? What's that knob you're turning while hiding the label behind your hand because you don't know how to stay out of the camera's way? In the end, this isn't constructive, and just confuses prospective modular users even more, which results in people getting onto MG and putting up these abortions of builds that seem like they're showcases for how much money the user in question feels like blowing...but which also won't make for anything resembling a proper synth. Great if you like to shop for deals on eBay and Reverb, I guess, but not so good for those people who bought into this under the wrongly-held mindset that they would be instantly K00L once they had that patchcord-dripper built and installed.

Basically, it's like this: YouTube, by its own design, has turned into the same sort of ugly creature as regular TV. Content gets tailored for ad revenue and max eyeballs, information suffers as a result because information in of itself doesn't sell [INSERT COMMODITY HERE]. That's not helpful.

leaning towards getting more make noise modules such, possibly maths, qpas, morphagene...i just used this rack templet because i couldnt find mine listed...not really sure what else i should be looking for, some people mentioned kinks, i feel like im definitely missing some sort of utility to make things work better...thanks

also this is being used with a minibrute 2s/drumbrute if that helps (since i have a drone beefy bass line/basic drums taken care of)

any suggestions on utility modules or anything?

EDITED Aug 25th 2020, 01:45

Shepard tones (also called Risset tones, after J-C. Risset, the INA/GRM composer who used this quite a bit) are sort of weird. It sounds like the tone is continuously going up or down, but that's not what's up at all. The spectrograph above gives a few clues, tho...

You can see a continuous pattern of up-swept pitches that overlap. But you'll notice that you can't actually see the origin of the pitches, and that the amplitude reduces the higher the pitch goes. That's part of the trickery. The other part is purely psychoacoustic, and relies on how we perceive sonic foregrounds via amplitude.

OK...let's build one of these things. Take several VCOs, for starters. Set each one to the same low pitch, and mix them all together. Send this to a bandpass VCF so we can limit the passband we're listening to...this eliminates the obvious "bottom limit" and "top limit" pitches.

Now, here's the voodoo part: each VCO also receives a modulation signal from...oh, let's say we'll use several AD EGs. Long linear attack, pretty much no decay. The attack has to keep going while the signal is within the VCF's passband, but it starts moving the VCO's pitch up before the signal enters the passband, and keeps going until it's gone past the top limit. So now, we've got several VCOs and several individual ADs sending them pitch-rise modulation. Then the key to this is a trigger sequencer. Each EG gets triggered in turn; if you have six VCO/EG combos, use six steps. As each EG receives a trigger pulse, it starts to raise the VCOs pitch through the passband, then out the top where the decay kicks the pitch back down. Technically, you could stop there, as that right there gives you the continuous sweep illusion. But if you want to really make this perfect, you then use the EG triggers to trigger a second EG and then a VCA on each VCO, so that the VCA is only open for the time needed for the sweep, eliminating the possibility of the bottom pitch drone from bleeding through or the very rapid downsweep of each VCO being reset to the initial pitch.

So what WE hear now is that continuously-rising tone, with tones entering at the bottom, vanishing at the top, and yet it doesn't move...or so we think!

There is still time to learn :-)