A screenless alternative to hardwired and software samplers. With a turntable or other sound source in the Phonogene's input, the Varispeed knob controls the quality and length of the sample recorded. Setting the Varispeed to around 2 oclock will typically allow for several bars to be captured via the record button while in Live mode. Note: the ideal position can take some trial and error to find, depending on the tempo of the record and length of the phrase you are sampling.
Using the record button to start and stop the record like a traditional cassette recorder, it is possible to grab a loop that is the same tempo as the turntable and in the same time signature. Therefore, once the sample has been recorded to memory, switching from live to loop on a downbeat of the audio source will start the loop playback in time with the original phrase. (Note: if the Varispeed knob was set to 12:00 when the loop was recorded, switching from live to loop will not initiate playback of the loop until you manually move the Varispeed control.)
Using the splice button, you can easily cut the sample into smaller pieces in time with the original sample. If you mess up the splices, just hold the splice button down until the record light flashes and try again. By setting the splice knob full CCW it is possible to select which splice is played back by patching from a row of tuned voltages on the Pressure Points (row 2 on this patch sheet) to the Organize CV INput. In this way, each pad can have an independent control over which splice is played.
Patching from the Pressure Points Channel 4 Gate output to the play input on the Phonogene will send a gate that will initiate playback when a pad is pressed on the Pressure Points. Doing this also allows for the monophonic retriggering of splices (in MPC terms, all splices act as if in the same Mute Group with Poly set to 1).
Because the ideal Varispeed setting can be tricky to find, it is best to use an offset into the Varispeed input to control the playback speed and direction once the loop has been captured. This way you can change the Varispeed setting without altering the position of the Varispeed panel control, and getting back to the "ideal" setting can be done quickly and consistently. Using a row of tuned voltages on the Pressure Points allows each pad independent control of playback speed; however, this means each pad/splice will be in a different timing. For the example in the video, I put each tuned voltage at full clockwise and attenuated on the Phonogene so that regardless of the pad selected, the splices would always be in tempo with one another. As an added bonus, the next loop recorded from the same source material was in time with the original loop/splices!
Lastly, I run everything through the Erbe-Verb because everything sounds better through the Erbe-Verb ;-)
Enjoy!
Lee Coleman
