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WIZOO Guide Nord Modular 3

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1. Release a 2 Qe LP Filter KBT Ose 1 Pitch M 1 Qe 1 Tweak the knobs on the Knob Floater You will begin to get an idea of how you can derive dozens of sounds from a single modular patch 2 Try to find out which knob is assigned to the oscillator waveshape gt Print out the Floater for your most cherished patches gt Note When you save a patch either in the Modular or on your hard drive all the knob settings are saved with it If you want to keep the original settings save it under a new name Patches are small files you can easily afford to save several versions of the same model lt Knob Floater The Knob Floater indicates the current module names If you give the modules suit able names you will find it a great deal easier to read and fig ure out the knob ref erences 37 Patch 04 Patch 05 Patch 06 Patch 07 Patch 08 38 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes and Creating Sounds gt You re probably wondering how you go about adding velocity sensi tivity to the patches Easy enough by the Morph function But we ll get to that a little later Now you can create a variety of sounds using just the knobs If you re skeptical see for yourself go ahead and load Patches 04 to 08 from the Tutorial folder all of these were created using just the knobs in this simple patch Finding Knob Parameters In an exceptionally complex patch you may have a hard time finding
2. Use a morph when you want to control several para meters by a single knob or M n controller e You can morph almost any control on any module there are a few exceptions like the partials on slave oscillators The 1 4 switch velocity switch oscillator waveshape switches and filter modes switches are especially intrigu ing candidates for morphing e You don t have to assign a controller to a morph you can also control the morph by its knob in the Toolbar This is more practical when you re programming patches because you can try out the morph with specific values before you activate velocity or aftertouch 97 Two values are saved in the Modular for each morph the start and end values 98 Chapter 6 Advanced Features e Use the morphs sparingly the number of available morphs is limited sooner or later you ll be screaming for that fifth morph group or 26th morph assignment Morphing Single Knobs Assigning a parameter directly to a knob can have a major disadvantage the knob covers the entire value range of the parameter This can be a pain when you re dealing with waveshape or filter mode switches because they have an Off position With morphs you can limit the value range of a knob or switch The downside is that you have to sacrifice an entire morph group The Easiest Method of Programming Morphs There are two ways to assign a module control to a morph group you can right mouse the con
3. We pre configured the patch for you so you can get right down to business A gain controller module Note On Off is in turn con trolled by the keyboard gate so that the oscillator is only audible when you play a key An output module is already installed Below the oscillator you can see a constant module named gt Value lt It is assigned to Knob 1 you should use it as your test controller By simply unplugging and re con necting the blue cable you can check out what influence the modulation inputs have on the sound gt The oscillator s modulation inputs are ready for action Just unplug and re connect the blue cable For the time being leave the sync input as it is You should keep the following in mind e You can view the oscillator s basic pitch in either Hertz values or as M n note values To change the mode click on the display field KBT keyboard tracking is gt hard wired lt but there is always a knob or switch to adjust defeat it This spares you a whole mess of cabling hassles This does not apply to slave oscillators which track only their masters The only difference between the Fma input and the pitch input is its linear and quantized response to input signals Oscillators We ll show you what this means in practice a little later on but try manipulating FMa then Pitch with the constant module to hear for yourself Master and Slave Load Patch gt OscSlv lt Here
4. Assigning MIDI Controllers To go from one module to another press and hold the Shift key at the Modular and follow the same procedure described above When you are working with your computer keyboard the procedure is identical except that you have to press on the Macintosh rather than ai Assigning MIDI Controllers Let s assume you wanted to control the filter cutoff frequency by Mipr and the modulation wheel No problem go ahead and try it out using the example patch 1 Click on the cutoff parameter in the filter module by the right mouse button 2 Then click on Controller 3 Select a controller from the list in this case gt 1 Modulation Wheel Now when you crank the modulation wheel of your external keyboard you will see the cutoff knob move right along with it and hear the sound change in response to this modifica tion not bad for a few seconds of work Assigning Real time Knobs The eighteen knobs located on the front panel of the Modular three on the MicroModular are among the coolest features the device has to offer You are free to assign functions to the knobs at random for every patch Like most ultra versatile features this one has an upside and a downside on the one hand incredible flexibility and on the other the potential for mind boggling confusion when you are desperately trying to figure out the knob assignments for every new patch To pre serve our collective sanity the b
5. Conserving Dsp Power Unfortunately you only have a limited amount of DsP power in the Modular If you re working without the benefit of the expansion you ll all too soon explore the gt outer limits lt when you are playing relatively complex patches simultaneously or if you enjoy using a lot of voices Conserving Dsp Power tl In this section we ll share a couple of tips on how you can conserve Dsp power from the start and gt trim lt the fat after you ve finished a patch Keep an Eye on the Percentage Indicators on the Modules When you drag the mouse pointer over a module on the tool bar use the modules pop up menu on the Macintosh its energy needs will appear on your screen Whenever you re selecting modules compare these stats and try to use the most conservative module that will get the job done for what you have in mind You ll find that some of the oscillators Lros and filters have a voracious appetite You can save up to 5 DsP power by simply selecting a lighter weight version of the same component If you re unsure the stats for a module you re already used double click on some blank portion of the module to see its Dsp requirements A few rules of thumb Use Slave Oscillators instead of Master Oscillators Generally you only need a single master in a patch The slave frequencies can be modulated individually which means of course that you can use them independently A slave soaks up a lot less power
6. Take full advantage of this resource as it will make things a whole lot clearer and will help you to become a Modular guru faster This is hands on material you are reading If you have your Modular handy apply the examples as we go so you can hear what we are up to If for some reason you are reading this book without the benefit of the Modular you should go through the examples again when you have it available This is essential so that you become familiar with the results of your actions Starting the Editor Start the Editor The Modular will take a few seconds to com municate its status and the current patch banks to the edi tor you can probably see this activity on the LEDs of your M n interface It s a good idea to wait for this process to complete before you load a patch or create a new one Go to the File menu and select the option New and once the dialog box appears select Slot A On the MicroModular there is only one slot You should now see a blank patch the Editor menu bar and the symbol bar featuring the modules and few other items Notice that the blank patch is divided horizontally into two sections The top section is where you ll be doing most of your patching it is called the PvA meaning gt Poly Voice Area lt Patches you create here will be duplicated in the Mod ular hardware for each voice Loading a Patch The lower section is called the Cva meaning gt Common Voice Area lt Patches y
7. ll work with a morph group Assign Morph Group 2 as a controller for the modulation wheel 2 Assign the first pitch input knob of each of the two oscillators to Morph Group 2 3 Seta morph range of 0 to 37 for both knobs When you crank the mod wheel on your external keyboard you will hear vibrato generated by LFo1 You could assign a knob instead of or in addition to the mod wheel The complete patch is gt Kit08 lt 59 One of any number of possible knob panel setups 20 to 24 60 Chapter 4 Designing a Synthesizer And Now for the Knobs We would like to assign all the important parameters to front panel knobs and with eighteen knobs the Modular is cer tainly not under engineered but we would need substan tially more knobs to cover every parameter If we choose carefully we can cover the most important parameters those that have the most interesting effects on the sound If we described each step in detail we would seriously tax your attention span So instead we went ahead and prepared a setup for you which you can check out in gt Kit09 As you probably recall from the tutorial you can view the knob assignments in the knob floater simply press KW K on the Macintosh Pressing will temporarily flash the knob assignments onto the editor front panel graphic Ose1 Oschix Fitter Fitter Fitter Fitter Waveform Level 2 Frequen Resonan Type Freq MA2 Qi Ql QA Qal As Mrs Osc2 Osch
8. Drawbar Organ with Leslie EE T_T _ believe actually generate the modulation signal for the two rotating speakers in a Leslie cabinet Both Lros run in sync but out of phase and with slightly different wave shapes The rate of each Lro is controlled by its own ADSR generator to mimic the characteristic acceleration and deceleration effects When the Apsr is triggered it slowly revs up the LFo rates with slightly different curves A con stant module 0 Dsp is used to gate the envelopes It is part of Morph Group 1 which is assigned to Knob 4 and the soft pedal M n 67 Note that the rotation amounts are assigned to this same morph group so the rotation completely stops when the pedal is released Morph group 1 controls the final rotation speed providing continuous control rather than a fast slow switch It is assigned to knob 8 and the Mm expression pedal con troller 11 The first stage is the panning generator It splits the signal into the two stereo circuits to reproduce the sweep of a rotating speaker The two Doppler modules are actually delays Their delay time is modulated by the motors and thus generate a cho rus effect Inthe next module Wet Dry the Doppler and direct sig nals are mixed down to reinforce the effect of the chorus The HornL and HornR modules are filters Their cutoffs 62 Accelerating are also modulated by the motors to make the sound a bit Leslie Panning and Depth darker w
9. Value 46 Keyboard Track 1 gt Splice lt the switch module into the cable running from Osc X output to Osc Y Sync input 2 Use the constant module to control the gain controller located between the envelope output and filter mod input 171 Index Numbers 1 4 switch 80 2 Outputs 81 3 Inputs Mixer 79 4 Outputs 81 8 Inputs Mixer 79 A Active 111 Ap 70 Additive synthesizer 121 Adjustable Gain Controller 129 ADSR 70 AHD 70 Amplifier 80 Amplitude modulation 86 Audio signals 29 example 25 section 25 Audio in 103 Audio Mod modules 81 Audio system connecting to a 21 C Cable appearance setup 31 connecting s 31 disconnecting s 31 re connecting s 32 showing s 28 Cp Rom 23 Audio examples 25 table of contents 161 Chord Trigger 72 Chorus 152 Stereo 84 Clip 82 ClkRndGen 69 Clock 30 divider 111 generator 107 problems 145 Common Voice Area 27 Compare modules 92 Compressor 86 Computer monitor setup 22 connecting 20 connecting to a 19 Connecting cables 31 Computer 19 M n system 20 Connecting the Modular 19 Constant 87 Control Mixer 88 Control Mod 87 Control signals 30 Controller menu 120 table 170 assigning s 35 120 Morph 97 99 Cutoff 74 173 Index D Delay module 83 Digitizer 82 Diode 82 Disconnecting cables 31 Drawbar simulation 127 Drum Machine building a 114 Drum Synth 100 Drumkits 100 Dsp power 143
10. gt Patch 12b lt mn UmU 236m t Retrig EAN ES E E Env Oa aD AAA oa Only the purple cables should be visible You can see that the output of CtrlSeq1 is cabled both to the amp input of the Apsr Filter envelope and to the res input of the filter The envelope output is cabled to the frequency mod input of the filter The control values coming from this sequencer will therefore control the amount of the envelope applied to the filter frequency and the filter resonance Notice also that the Add a Sequencer output of the bottom row of events from EventSeq1 is cabled into the Apsr Filter gate input The triggering of this enve lope is therefore controlled by the event sequencer instead of being triggered by every clock pulse 1 Restart the sequencer by Knob 1 You still can t hear a tone color modulation You re right the control values of the sequencer are set to neutral values 2 Click on the Rnd Random button of the Ctrl sequencer and there you have it gt Experiment with different melodies and CtrlSeq settings Rhythms Although the event sequencer generates only logic signals it does feature two rows per module For instance the small gaps in the note sequence in the above examples are the two deactivated steps in the upper row Try to come up with some interesting phrases by programming the three sequencers so that they mesh for maximum effect Patch 13 is an example of what you might come up with N
11. 14 Unlimited Versatility 15 What Can You Do without a Computer 15 Patches and Models 16 What Distinguishes It from Other Analog Modular Systems 17 2 Unpacking and Getting Started Connecting the Modular Expediently 19 Optimizing Your Computer Monitor Setup 22 Installing the Editor Software 22 Installing Patch Examples 23 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes Audio Examples 25 Starting the Editor 26 Loading a Patch 27 Naming Modules 28 Hiding and Showing Cables 28 The Four Signal Types in the Modular 29 Drawing Cables 31 Setting Parameters and Navigating 32 Selecting Parameters and Modules 34 Assigning M n Controllers 35 Assigning Real time Knobs 35 Table of Contents Working with Modules 38 Add a Sequencer 40 Copying Modules 44 Two or More Patches 44 Audio Processing 47 4 Designing a Our Objective 49 Synthesizer Pouring the Foundation lt 50 Adding a Second Oscillator 51 Adding a Filter 52 Panning 53 Installing a Modulation Mixer 53 Installing Lros 54 5 The Modules Oscillators 63 LFOs 67 Envelopes 70 Filters 73 In Out 81 Audio Mod 81 Control Modifiers 87 Logic Modules 90 Summary 93 6 Advanced Morphing 95 Features Programming Drumkits 100 The Modular as a High end Signal Processor 102 Noise Gate 105 Building and Programming Sequencers 106 Table of Contents 7 The Modular as a Performance Synth Synth and Patch Settings 115 Programming Keyboa
12. Modular is out of your reach Sound parameters can literally be gt played lt by non key board controllers such as wind controllers pedals guitar interfaces or drum pads Sequencer programs such as Logic or Cubase let you pro gram user interfaces for synthesizers In Logic the medium is called Environment in Cubase Mixer Maps If you gt hook up lt the entire patch by Mm controllers you can program it in your custom designed Editor without using SysEx data 119 120 Chapter 7 The Modular as a Performance Synth To assign M n controllers to a parameter click on it with the right mouse button select M n Controller from the pop up menu then select a number in the Controller window Mod wheel ooun NN OO Breath Foot ctrl Port time Data MSB Volume Balance Pan Expression This menu lists programmed controller to parameter assign ments Assigning Controllers In principle you can assign any controller number within a Modular patch freely There are conventions for some con trollers and if you adhere to these you ll find that the setup of the patch is much clearer and it is substantially easier to locate the right controller at a later date Our recommendation use the Nord Lead controller num ber scheme For one the assignments are practical and parameters such as cutoff or oscillator coarse appear in all Modular patches For the other if you own a Modular and a Nord Lead lucky you
13. Oscillators FMA and pitch are dis tinguished by the fact that pitch responds to an input signal with exponential curve whereas FMA re sponds with a linear curve More on this later 12 Independent Oscillator Modulation 40 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes 3 Use the Fine controls to set Oscl to 4 and Osc2 to 4 You can determine any interval you want by clicking on the small Partials lt arrows in Osc2 You can load the result as Patch 10 Testing Oscillator Modulations Although Osc2 is connected to Osc1 as its slave this doesn t preclude the option of modulating them individually and independently 1 Simply turn up Knob 6 it is not linked to Oscl Pie aor a Nevertheless the vibrato affects Osc2 J FMa AM A 2 Click on the blue cable plugged into the pitch c input of Osc1 by the right mouse button and 27 Q 9A select Delete Chain e 9 3 Now connect the LFo output to the FMA input of l ST Aa Osc2 and turn up the knob a bit Give it another listen you will hear that only Osc2 is being modu lated The results you come up with should sound like Patch 11 Add a Sequencer The Modular features several monophonic sequencer mod ules which are based on step sequencers in modular analog synthesizers Even without the benefit of M you can cre ate music with the Modular These sequencers enable you to program simple bass lines complex rhythmic sequences a
14. a CPL EE OOO wo Percussion For percussion the three foot mee eD pedals are routed out individu E we M ally and mixed down in the SO Attack QQ oey Z i p f ROINE ercMix mixer From there the ma ein T signal is routed to a simple AD module the decay time of which can also be controlled by a knob As in the original template percussion only gets a single envelope for all notes What this means in practice is that the AD module is triggered by a sep arate keyboard patch module rather than a keyboard voice module The output of the percussion generator is routed to the DB Perc mixer which combines percussion with the drawbars 128 Drawbar Organ with Leslie Key Click The characteristic key click of the Hammond is virtually licktengn impossible to imitate by con Ei a nd o ventional analog means so we 3 improvised an approximation The noise generator named gt Click lt is routed to an AD module where the signal is con densed to a short burst of noise This is passed through an adjustable gain controller assigned to knob 16 to the FM input of each oscillator In all humility here s a perfect example that in the Modu lar imagination can prevail over a perceived limitation the click signal doesn t roll right onto the audio rails we route it to the Fm input of all sine generators because with this con figuration the sine tones start up with a very distinctive clicking
15. a patch even when a monitor is unavail able Storing and Managing Patches Where to Store Patches Personally we recommend that you use your computer to manage patches It enables you to create folders copies duplicates or backups Storing and Managing Patches You should only store a collection of patches that you need on stage or that you want to travel with you It s a good idea to reserve a specific memory bank of the Modular say bank 1 for your favorites so that you don t accidentally overwrite them Don t store new patches in this reserved bank either refer to Murphy s law The likelihood that something will go wrong is too great In an instant several hours worth of work is down the drain unless of course you conscien tiously stored it all on your computer Managing an Internal Bank in a Computer You can use the Patch Browser from the Tools menu to explore the patches currently in the Modular as well as those on your hard drive Double clicking on any patch will load it into the modular for previewing If you have Auto Upload turned on in the Options menu the patch will automatically appear in the editor also 159 Appendix CD Rom Table of Contents Data Section We ll publish updates and additions at regular intervals You can check these out at our Modular Book Update page see page 139 for the URL Patch Examples all patch examples for this book Supplements Clavia softw
16. and select Group 1 from the Morph menu You can also accomplish this by first ensuring that the desired morph knob is selected then double clicking the knobs you wish to assign to it 4 Press and hold on the Macintosh and turn the same knob to 127 the volume at maximum velocity You can see the morph section is now displayed in dark red Go ahead and try it out The patch Installing LFos responds dynamically to your attack louder when you pound on the keys and quieter when you caress them 5 Repeat steps 2 through 4 for the lower Freq modulation amount knob but set the range limits to 32 and 127 respectively 6 You can check gt Kit07 lt to compare results A Little Dab Will Do You The initialized settings of the modules are not necessarily the best ones Here are a few dabs of cosmetic enhancement to polish up the sound of the patch before we dive into sound programming 1 Set the requested number of voices in the Toolbar to 8 2 Set the LFol rate to 3 42Hz LFo2 to x 1 260 the waveshape to gt trian gle gt and both LFos to monox 3 Set the attack and release parameters of the filter and volume enve lopes to 2 1ms to eliminate clicks You can also hear these modifications in gt KitO7 lt Mod Wheel to Vibrato Now we ll assign the mod wheel to vibrato You can apply this basic technique to all other Mmi controllers For this effect two pitch input knobs Osc1 and 2 have to be rotated so we
17. check out these few basic items 141 Drag a cable from the oscillator to the out put If you can hear some type of sound the error is in the patch and is most likely very well hid den 142 Chapter 9 Faq and Help Patch Error Sources Volume at the output module is set to zero Envelopes are not receiving a gate signal Filter cutoff set to zero or too low a value A gain controller in the signal path is not receiving a con trol signal A mixer input in the signal path is turned down Output module routed to the wrong output e g 4 Level Problems Audio signals are mixed at numerous locations within a Modular patch so you may encounter undesirable distortion On the other hand some modules surprisingly dampen the signal level Here s how you can prevent and or trouble shoot these problems You should never turn all knobs up fully in the audio mixer If you add them up the sum of all signals often exceeds the clip threshold Subtract six increments from the maximum level of all mixer inputs for each input of the mix module that you are using The gt 8 Input Mixer lt module also features a 6dB damping switch In the filter resonance tends to push the signal over the clip threshold at peak levels Some filter modules feature a Gc button which decreases the gain level substantially If you want to control the gain attenuation individually drop a gt gain knob lt into the signal path prior to
18. conserving 152 E Editor software crash 146 installation 22 starting the 26 Effect processors 102 Email support 140 Envelope 12 modules 70 extending s 71 Filter 54 modulating rates 71 pitch 56 EnvFollower 70 Event sequencer 109 Expander 86 Expansion board 144 F Fag and Help 139 Filter 12 52 modules 73 72dB 76 envelope 54 FilterBank 77 Find 38 174 Fingered Portamento 151 Flanger 152 Fm 65 75 operators 124 synthesizer 125 FMA 64 G Gain Control 79 Gate 12 30 Gater 105 Global Sync 111 In Out modules 81 Installation editor software 22 Patch examples 23 Inverter Shifter 85 K Key Click 129 Key Quantizer 89 Key Tracking filter 74 Keyboard mode 116 zones 116 Keyboard Splitter 100 Knob assigning a 35 assigning a pitch 148 assigning and labeling s 156 viewing assignments 37 Knob Floater Visible 37 Knob panel splitting up the 157 Index L Audio Mod 81 Compare 92 Layer 117 Control Mod 87 LED switch off s 150 ing 44 Leslie effect 104 copying envelope 70 Level Adder 79 filter 73 Lro 12 54 In Out 81 modules 67 LFO 67 programming delay 69 Logic group 90 using as a tone generator 69 M n Global 111 Link database 139 Mixer 78 Logic naming 28 Invert 92 oscillator 63 module 92 Output 81 modules group 90 overview 63 signals 30 selecting 34 Monitor setup 22 M Mono 151 Macintosh 22 Moog 11 Master 39
19. e g in the middle or its cycle In practi cal terms this feature lets you trigger an envelope by another gate source e g an LFo while you are still holding a key on your keyboard down Filters een Enough beating around the bush let s give it a shot and let you find out for yourself Load Patch EnvRetrig lt and play a chord You ll notice that the chord repeats in a kind of sloppy arpeg gio The reason for the arpeggiation is that each voice in the chord is retriggered by its own independent Lro If you click the Mono button the Lros from the different voices become sync d and the arpeggiation goes away Filters a oN BV wh C 08 3B Filters are what put the gt subtract lt in subtractive synthesis lt The Modular offers a broad range of filters in four basic cate gories A BF EQ EQ Static High low and multi mode filters with no control inputs Dynamic High low and multi mode filters with control inputs for frequency and in one case resonance Equalization 14 band parametric and shelving filters Vocal Vocoder and vocal formant filters Simply play around with the different filter types in the Mod ular the standard definitions of filters won t help you a bit when you are trying to figure out how they affect sounds FilterE1 Free EEE aQ aps ome ors In gt FilterExp lt we ve set up a parallel test patch featuring all the filters ex
20. envelope causing the pattern you hear with notes 14 and 16 dropped The green cables these would normally be yellow but we have changed them to green for clarity reset each of the sequencers each time the clock starts so that you always get the same sync d sequence Now you will add a melody and tone color timbre modu lation Recording a Melody The Modular has two sequencer modules intended primarily for notes NoteSeqA and NoteSeqB NoteSeqB offers a few extra features but they are very similar and use equal pro 13 gt Sequencer with out Melody and Tone Color Modulation 41 14 Sequencer with Melody 42 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes cessor time We ve chosen the simpler NoteSegA for this patch On the right of the the NoteSegqA module you ll find from top to bottom the Record Start Stop and Step buttons To record a sequence Stop the sequencer click the Start Stop button 2 Connect a cable from the output of NoteSeqA1 to the pitch input of Bass Osc and turn its amount knob clockwise to fully up 3 Click the left Step button to get to step 1 Click on the Record button to start recording 5 Play a sequence of notes on your MIDI keyboard The Record button will switch off automatically after you ve played sixteen notes Start the Sequencer by clicking the Start Stop button again and you ll hear the melody you just created See Patch 12a Tone Color Modulation Load
21. graphically by the four gray areas on the panel Slot 1 is assigned Knobs 1 to 6 Slot 2 gets 7 to 12 Slots 3 and 4 have to make do with three knobs each Be sure to consider Split mode not to be confused with keyboard split when you are planning knob assignments so you can readily access crucial sound parameters In the following recommendations we re referring to sound characteristics which parameters are responsible for shaping these characteristics depends on the patch For example in an analog patch the filter cutoff frequency often has the strongest influence on the tone color or timbre in other patches the primary sound shaper is the oscillator FM input knob or morphed pulse width and overdrive 1 Timbre Cutoff FM depth waveshape effect depth wave wrapper overdrive 2 AttackTime Attack time of the volume or filter envelope both simultaneously by morph 3 Release Time Same as 2 4 Detune Oscillator detune Pwo depth or rate chorus depth 5 Velocity Volume timbre 6 Volume Master volume of the patch Labeling the Modular If you re extremely self disciplined and always use the same knob assignment scheme for all patches or if you have a pho tographic memory skip this section For the rest of us it s a pretty good idea to label the knobs Here are two options e Magnetic strips The front panel of the Modular is mag netic Pick up a few small if possible gray magnetic With
22. has five types of envelopes plus an envelope fol lower ADSR This is the standard gated four stage envelope we all know and love hate AD This is a gated or triggered two stage attack and decay envelope e Mon This is the same as the Apsr envelope except that each stage has a modulation lt input AHD This is a triggered three stage attack hold and decay envelope with modulation lt inputs for each stage e Mutti This is a gated five stage breakpoint lt envelope Any of the first four stages can be optionally designated as a sustain stage EnvFollower This module creates an Ap control envelope from an audio input Use it to track the amplitude of an external audio signal or any point in a patch s audio signal path gt Note The difference between triggered and gated envelopes is that triggered envelopes complete their entire cycle after receiving the leading edge of a pulse i e a trigger while gated envelopes jump immediately to their Release lt stage when they receive the trailing edge of the pulse Load and play with patch gt EnvTest lt to get a feel for each of the envelope types The changes in pitch are caused by the envelope follower module Below we ll take a closer look at some of the special enve lope features Envelopes Modulating Envelope Rates Of course you can modulate any of the envelope parameters using Mm controllers Although you can assign controller
23. in the Cva Load AudioPha This is another five module patch that shows what you can do with a basic waveform and a little phasing The phaser replaces the chorus in the previous patch Play with the knobs 1 through 6 which are all devoted to the phaser s con trols to get a feeling for what this module can accomplish Signal Shaper and Inverter Shifter You ve probably encountered velocity curves in conventional synthesizers The signal shaper does basically the same thing except that it operates at the audio sampling rate 96kHz and is therefore appropriate for audio as well as control signals This module bends lt the input signal using one of the five available curves Load gt AudioSSh lt You can see that velocity is routed directly from the keyboard module to the first signal shaper Here you can use a curve to bend it use Knob 1 to select a curve Play on your keyboard while varying your attack and note how the velocity curve influences the response The second shaper is used to shape the oscillator s output with the various waveforms use knob 2 to select the shape The inverter level shifter will invert the polarity of an audio signal and optionally shift its level into the positive range I e it will convert a bipolar signal into a positive or negative unipolar signal Although you can also use this 85 If you re wondering why you need a ring modulator when you have the oscillat
24. it has that gt certain something that allows us to show you some of the truly exciting things it can do our fun factor is substantially higher than when we are limited to demon strating how to coax a couple of acceptable sounds out of me diocre synth In the case of the Modular we had a ball It is one of the best synthesizers available I sincerely hope that after reading this book you will agree with me Peter Gorges Welcome to the Second Edition When Peter asked me if I wanted to update the Wizoo guide to the Nord Modular I gave it approximately three nanosec onds of serious thought then shouted gt YEs lt as loud as I could And I can honestly say that the months I ve spent with the Modular bringing this guide up to date have been the first time in many years that I haven t regretted selling my old hardware modular system A lot has happened since the Nord Modular was intro duced in 1997 For one thing there have been two major upgrades introducing new modules and new editor features For another it is now gt cross platform lt there are versions for the Macintosh as well as the Pc The Modular is a wonderful instrument that only gets bet ter as time goes on You can expect many years of pleasure as well as numerous musical surprises from it Have fun buy some ear plugs for the cat fee Lance Len Sasso Table of Contents 1 A Few Basics Worth Knowing Synth History 101 11 Modular Models
25. lt the Modular s oscillator sine bank modules which contain six slave sine wave oscillators each for a total of thir teen partials including the fundamental The sounds for this chapter are located in the Soundz folder 121 Chapter 8 Analyzing Patches The gt level knobs become amount con trols when something is plugged into their inputs 57 Additive Synthesizer 122 ane slave oscillator bank Osc4 Oscs Osc Sua EAD R E une Tune HQ wD wd aes E AD I E 1 on ba ana Stereo out Mix Bus Destination 12 3 4 cvA m E Each oscillator in the sine bank has its own level control and we ve assigned these to Modular knobs 2 through 13 knob 1 is assigned to the level control for the fundamental I e you can use the knobs to dial in the desired additive mix Here are some suggested mods Add Lros envelopes or even audio sources to modulate the individual sine wave levels For example apply sepa rate envelopes to the even and odd partials or add another audio oscillator to create a monster ring modula tion by applying different amounts to each partial Apply filtering or audio processing at the output either for each voice or in the Cva Use separate envelopes for the outputs of the two sine banks Use different tunings for the partials e g the B3 drawbar tuning shown on page 128 Additive Model This additive model patch uses separate sine oscillators and adds an
26. of cre ativity you and your Modular can put the average synth to shame Morphing The morph function did we mention this already is one of the coolest a a a a features that the Modular has to offer and one that owners of conventional modular systems can only dream of As you are no doubt aware morphing lt means going smoothly from one sound to another In the case of the Mod ular it means going from one group of control settings to another Each Modular patch can have four separate morphs and each morph can affect up to 25 separate controls 95 48 Morphing from Clav to Rhodes 96 Chapter 6 Advanced Features gt Note A total of 25 controls can be assigned to morphs you can assign these all to one morph knob or spread over several but there is an absolute limit of 25 1 Load MorphSyr and rotate knob 1 fully counterclockwise 2 Play a tune or two using this sound and focus on the timbre of the sound 3 Rotate Knob 1 clockwise as far as it will go 4 Notice any change in sounds This example was designed to show you that the morph function can have a devastating effect in even the simplest of patches with just one knob you can turn a clavinet into a rhodes with a variety of stops inbetween When you rotated Knob 1 you were actually changing eight parameters each in different directions and by a different value Note fi cate Vel fii al J 329 6Hz jst Detune Fine 5 FMA am AJ
27. on all Wizoo books sounds and sample CD ROMs at www wizoo com wizoo 3 0 3 SU 903050 gt Art No WIZLHOOOO2E
28. patch As a precaution give it a new name the new version of the patch might be the cause of the crash Re start the Modular and the Editor Big Time Disasters If your Modular won t start at all or freezes up after you have managed to start it then it is highly likely that something in the flash memory system has gone awry In this case the only thing you can do is reset the Modular system software or re install it You ll find the files and the instructions on the system disk Patches located in the Modular s Ram are definitely history This is when you discover the value of keeping your banks backed up on your hard drive use the Synth menu s Bank Upload and Bank Download options 1 O Tips and Tricks As far as systems go the Modular is about as open as it gets to say the least We could conceivably describe thousands of tips and tricks if we only knew that many In this chapter we ll focus primarily on tips that will help you to become more familiar with the Modular that will hopefully inspire you to try some of the more unconventional techniques and that will help you come up with some wild and wacky stuff on your own Enjoy Breaking with Conventions If you have spent the majority of your time dedicated to music with conventional digital synthesizers over the past few years you ll need some time to adjust to the Modular At first you may find it hard to cast off those conventional chains lt and get into t
29. playing a key at different veloc ities Amplifier Unlike the gain control the amplifier module can be used to both boost and attenuate signals This can be especially use ful when processing incoming audio In Out In Out v EP EG amp P hy d2 dps mu wil You are already familiar with the In Out group s keyboard module from some of the earlier examples We ll discuss M n global audio input poly area in morph key splitter and note detector modules in the next chapter for now we ll concentrate on a few handy tips concerning output module 1 2 4 assignments You should use gt 1 Output when you want to output several patches simultaneously have connected the Modular to four mono busses or want to control the volume of each channel in a stereo patch individually In this case use two of these modules and select Outputs 1 and 2 or 3 and 4 respectively 2 Outputs lt is designed for stereo patches If you connected the Modular in stereo you can also use this module for mono patches but be sure you connect the two channels other wise the signal is only routed to one side You should only use gt 4 Outputs lt when you want to output and mix several parts of a patch separately Audio Mod eal Be i i nohs CLIP Rife Was PESES Here is the chapter s tongue twister the audio modulator modules in the Modular are basically what a guitar player calls stomp boxes i e li
30. setup to generate complex melodic rhyth mic structures Having said this the Modular doesn t feature a one stop ready made sequencer shop you have to build your own module consisting of at least two components Clock generator This can be a standard clock generator an Lro keyboard gate or external Mini clock One of the four sequencer modules an event sequencer for either triggers or gates rhythm a control sequencer for controller values e g timbre or a note sequencer for tempered controller signals note We ll run through the entire process step by step Even if you ve already dealt with these sequencers you should nevertheless take the time to work your way systematically through these steps at least once It certainly won t do any harm Building and Programming Sequencers Simple Sequencer The most basic sequencer that is capable of playing notes looks something like the one in the patch SeqSimpl Go ahead and load it ClikGen1 ee w OscA1 J ex hi Freq A Fine KBT Somin s m EA j K a oh Ds ss JAE DINS ra 2 outputs1 evel Mix Bus Destination 172 344 CVA m eg A The clock generator delivers a trigger signal It switches the sequencer to the next step and simultaneously triggers the ADSR envelope Knob 1 controls the clock generator s On Off button Al though this feature doesn t seem significant in less than a minute you ll gratefully use it to kill this annoying
31. step from the keyboard This option is probably more gt creative lt than help ful Building a Recording Monitor The sequencer doesn t route the notes that you re playing through So if you want to hear what you are playing you have to first disconnect the gate cable from the output of the clock generator and re connect it to the output of the key board patch 1 Load SeqRec Everything you need is pre programmed the sequencer is ready to record N Use Knobs 3 and 6 to reset the sequencer by turning both knobs counterclockwise then clockwise Turn knob 4 fully up clockwise Play in the desired sequence up to sixteen notes Make sure the Steps setting matches the number of notes you played Turn knob 4 fully down and turn knob 1 up to play the sequence N An bh WwW Repeat from step 2 as necessary Building and Programming Sequencers Creating Rhythmic Structures If you want to add note lengths and or pauses to your sequences you have to drop an event sequencer into your setup It triggers only the note positions that you activate Every event sequencer features two rows so that you can trigger two events separately for instance the sequence clock and the Apsr gate as in this example Load gt SeqRy lt Same stuff as SSeqSimpk plus event module This shouldn t need further explanation but there is one important feature that you should know about it is used to generate note lengths Turn K
32. than a master use a slave in place of a master and in some cases you can reduce power consumption by half Lros are also prime candidates for a quick switch to slaves Use Simple Rather than Complex Modules Versatility costs A multiwave oscillator is on a champagne budget whereas a simple sine oscillator will settle for beer You can drastically reduce the gt bill lt by replacing each multi wave oscillator with a simple sawtooth or a square oscillator in a finished patch The same applies to Lros and filters A 153 154 Chapter 10 Tips and Tricks multimode filter hogs over 5 the fattest oscillator a whop ping 11 We won t mention the Filter Bank 17 or the Vocoder 49 Use Modules Economically Take a close look at your patch before you archive it Are you certain that you used the most economical module available at every junction in the signal chain Often we re in hurry to follow our inspiration and we ll use whatever seems expedi ent at the time Think like Scrooge and conserve resources by avoiding these common gt transgressions lt Make sure all modules actually do something It s easy to leave behind modules that you ve decided not to use Don t use audio modules for control signals Don t use an ADSR envelope when an AD envelope does the job If you created an envelope or an LFo specifically to gen erate a modulation signal see if you can do without this component and g
33. the duration of the oscillation and consequently the frequency For the most playability leave PitchOsc frequency set to E4 lt so that it accurately follows the keyboard and vary Sync Osc frequency to vary the sync effect Note that frequencies above E4 are the most effective PWM You can generate pulse width modulation by connecting the pulse width input of the oscillator to a modulation source 1 Load Patch gt OscPwm The LFo modulates the pulse width so you can hear the type of effect it generates very clearly 2 Turn Knob 1 it controls the LFO rate and note how PwmM sounds in conjunction with slower and faster modulation LFos Using an Oscillator as a Master for the LFo We ll take this opportunity to take a look at a nifty little trick that saves some CPU Although the slave Lro in the Pw patch does not have a master input it still operates which tells us that Lros do not always require a master Route a master cable from Osc A to LFoSlv1 Now the frequency of the Lro is transposed by the key board it tracks the master oscillator 5 octaves lower Note that the LFo rate is also affected by any pitch modulation of the master LFOs OO MANUVA AINYSTY ME While we re on the subject of oscillators we ll have a look at LFos LFo stands for Low Frequency Oscillator lt it is just an oscillator running at a sub audio frequency well not always as we ll see You can think of an Lro generati
34. the Pva and gt x load indicators are both at 97 6 each voice is nearly max d out In a stan dard Modular you can have four of these voices with no other slots active If you load patch gt FiltVox2 lt you will notice that the two heftiest filter modules have been moved to the Cva We ve had to sacrifice the delay module so the total load is now 93 3 no great savings But more importantly the Pva load has been reduced to 22 7 this is the amount required for each additional voice after the first In a standard Modular you can now have eight of these voices or you can use the other slots The downside is that you don t have separate vocoding of each voice hold an octave on each patch and you ll hear the difference Mixers Mixer1 OQ 20 A OQ S Mixer2 1 2 3 5 0 2 6ap X Fadet AAAAADE se 1to2Fade1 GainControl 2to1Fade1 7 eto Bo Amplifier1 ea ioe 41Switch1 input 1 2a Ao Qe Qe me we This group of modules might better be called gt routers lt since it includes much more than just mixers We ll only briefly touch on several of the modules here since in the previous patch examples you ve used these components often enough Here are a few helpful insights on the mixer modules Filters 3 and 8 Inputs Mixers The difference between the 3 inputs mixer and the 8 inputs mixer except for the number of inputs they offer is the amount of Dsp power the
35. the Synth menu and setting the maximum value for the M n Velocity Scale to 99 pretty practical stuff Which Morphs Knobs and MIDI Controllers If you want to know exactly which parameters are assigned to which morph group simply press J To see the knob as signments either open the Knob Floater or press the es For the Mrp1 controller assignments use F9 Poly and Mono Poly and Mono Building Monophonic Patches Normally you ll prefer to create polyphonic sounds in your Modular In contrast to a hardware modular system where you would need a separate oscillator for each module here an oscillator module represents up to 32 physical oscillators However polyphonic lead or bass sounds are not always where it s at sometimes you want to spread some mono mayhem Whenever this is the case use the Keyboard Patch module instead of the Keyboard Voice module Retrieve all gate sig nals from this module and set the number of voices to 1 Now the Modular is a monophonic synthesizer in Last Note mode You can of course add a monophonic lead or bass voice to a poly phonic patch Multi Single Trigger With the Keyboard Patch module the Modular operates in Single Trigger mode What this means is that when you hold a note and then play the next note the gate is simply held rather than retriggered If you would prefer to use Multi Trigger mode add a Key board Voice module to your setup and use it exclusively for the g
36. the parameter assigned to a particular knob Help is near by the Find button not on the MicroModular Press and hold the button on the Modular labeled Find it is located to the left of the knob panel Turn the knob for the parameter you are attempting to find The parameter is activated on your screen To prevent inad vertent knob twiddling the crafty Modular designers built in another handy little feature rotating the knob has no influ ence on the sound as long as you hold the Find button down gt Notice as you turn the knob while holding the Find button that one or two arrows and a gt lt or gt lt sign appear in the bottom right corner of the window These are to let you match the knob to the current set ting turn the knob until it displays gt gt to find the current knob position Working with Modules Now you re ready for a bit of module merry go round First we ll add a second oscillator to the patch Adding a Second Oscillator 1 Select the module group Osc from the symbol bar Working with Modules 2 Click on the seventh module from the left a multi oscillator slave Hold the mouse button down drag the module to the patch and drop it between the oscillator and LFO 4 Re name the first oscillator you guessed it Osc1 lt and the second OSC2 lt In order to hear the new oscillator you have to integrate it in the signal chain The filter input can only take a single cable so you ll
37. this patch 2 Turn Knobs 1 through 16 up at random i e find out what they do How does the serial sequencer chain work How are two serial sequencers routed to just one modulation input What does the Env Depth sequencer do Click on the bottom row of the Filt Vol Trig module Find out what it does An bh WwW N Record a new sequence of your own Add dynamics to the sequence 9 Expand the trigger chain to 32 steps and program your own rhythmic structure M DI Sequencing The Modular sequencer functions can be synchronized with an external Mm system using the system s Mrp1 clock All you need to know is how to route Mini clock to the patch Curious Take a look at the next patch it will show you how 1 Load SeqMipI lt This patch is virtually identical to SSeqKnobs lt except that the sequencer will not run without external Min clock 2 Connect an external sequencer drum computer or workstation equipped with a sequencer to the Modular Mibi in port 3 Set the external device to gt Transmit MIDI Clock On lt Now when you start up the external device the Modular sequencer also runs If you play a track with note events along with it you can transpose the Modular over it Building and Programming Sequencers The tempo of the Modular se eT A a quencer is determined by the etnnote Divi T ne vie a y external sequencer Ee NO i E Mm clock is routed in by the M n Global module available in the
38. unusual FM option which makes it optimal for metal lic powerful percussive sounds with a certain gt digital lt color ing Additive Synthesis Load gt Additive lt Oscillators We re going to use one master and eleven slave sine wave oscillators As usual in additive synthesis we re going to tune the slaves to partials of the master oscillator s fre quency handily the Modular provides buttons and a display option to tune quickly to the partials Unhandily you can t assign knobs or M controllers to the partial buttons Envelopes and Mixing The partials are routed by mixers to the four groups Low Lo Mid Hi Mid and Hi Each group has a dedicated volume envelope Grouping the overtones has two distinct advantages it s easier and quicker to modify the shapes of an interaction between the groups plus this structure saves Dsp power In the Groups Mixer module the knobs for Groups 1 through 4 are morphed Note that at this point in the signal chain velocity already controls the overtone content of the sound Add a Dash of Fm You probably couldn t help but notice the blue Fm cables Each sine oscillator modulates the Fm input of the oscillators located below it Certainly the trick is simple but it enables just twelve oscillators to generate a spectrum as complex as this Use knobs 15 even partials and 18 odd partials to morph the FM effect The Finishing Touch A combination consisting sol
39. we gave the lonely master some company in the form of a slave oscillator and a mixer When you play a tune on your keyboard you ll notice that the slave doesn t follow the master Drag a master cable from the Mst jack of the oscillator to the Slv jack of the other oscillator Now youre all set the slave follows the pitch control for the master You can dial in individual settings for all the knobs on the slave without influencing the master module but independent pitch modulation is no longer possible FM The Modular has the legendary Yamaha synthesizers fre quency modulation synthesis down pat With a much wider range of options such as independent modulation of all oper ators randomly definable waveshapes etc it actually eclipses the original in terms of versatility Go ahead and give it a shot Load OscFm lt The output of the slave oscillators is connected to the FMA input of the first oscillator by an envelope module You can vary the Partial parameter to modify the sound as desired We went ahead and assigned this function to Knob 1 so all you have to do is tweak it and see what happens Cool as this is things get better The Modular has a slave oscillator designed especially for the classic Fm effects its FM input is labeled gt Fmp lt and it responds somewhat differ ently than the standard FMa inputs Good to know stuff the slave frequency is always a multiple of the master fre quency so all yo
40. wo a EE crp 2 8 r DENEMEM cn po Mix pus Le Oar ere 1 O or 1 Q o straton 72 a ml LO el crv 1 LaL The affected parameters are all labeled gt Grp 1 lt in the illus tration In the editor they are also red You can morph lt these controls on screen by moving the red morph knob with the mouse and or you can assign a M n controller or Modu lar front panel knob to the morph We ve assigned both knob 1 and the mod wheel to it You can view temporary labels of the morph group assignments by holding amp 7 on your computer keyboard Morphing Viewing and Changing Morph Ranges You can see the range of a knob assigned to a morph by mousing over it no need to click When you move the knob you change the beginning and end of the range simulta neously i e the size of the range stays fixed until you top or bottom out If you hold on the Macintosh and move the knob only the top right indicator of the range will change So mouse the knob to set the start then R mouse the knob to set the end Morph Groups You can see that there are actually four separate groups red green blue and yellow each with a dedicated control ler Fiddle with velocity a bit the sound becomes louder and quieter brighter and darker View the green morph group labled gt Grp 2 lt in the illustra tion You ll see which parameters are responsible for these effects Here are a few morphing tips
41. you can use the latter to control your Modular patches remotely and the knobs are already labeled You ll find the Nord Lead to Modular controller map in Nord Controller Table lt on page 170 Sure it works with a Logic environment for the Nord Lead as well The following chapter features a Nord Lead 3 lt model which you can use to try out all kinds of options 8 Analyzing Patches We talked a little about models lt verses gt patchesx in chapter 1 page 16 In this chapter we ll give you several complete models demonstrating various types of synthesis Modular style For each of these synthesis types we ll also include a mini modek which you can use as a starting point for build ing your own models Don t be bewildered by the complexity of some of these module mazes lt Once you ve read the accompanying expla nations you ll understand them thoroughly and end up won dering what all the fuss was about we promise gt You ll find more tips on how to make it easier to read lt a Modular patch in section gt More Insight Less Clutter on page 155 Additive Synthesis The Modular is a multi talented performer it can also imi tate a fully blown exceptionally versatile additive synthe sizer with an astounding level of quality Mini Additive Load gt miniAdd lt This mini model is a good place to start with additive synthe sis It features a master sine wave oscillator and two gt six packs
42. 65 67 153 Morph Master keyboard 119 controller 97 99 Master signals 30 group 97 MicroModular 14 problems 146 M n Gater 114 programming s 98 MIDI Morph Groups 97 clock 111 Morphing 58 95 Global 111 for knobs 98 envelopes 71 sequencer 110 assigning controllers 35 120 connecting to a system 20 controlling parameters remotely via Filter 74 hiding and showing 150 splits with 118 119 Velocity 99 Multimode 117 Multi trigger 151 Mixer modules 78 Muri 79 Mop 70 Multimode 117 Models 16 Modular N connecting the 19 Noise 57 expanding the 144 Noise Gate 105 Modular synthesizer 13 Nord Lead 133 Modules 175 Index Controller table 170 Note Detector 100 Note Quantizer 88 Note Scaler 88 Note Velocity Scaler 90 O Online support 139 Oscillator 12 50 sync 66 modules 63 Output modules 81 Overdrive 82 129 P Pan 80 Parameter controlling s remotely via M n 119 selecting s 34 Partial Generator 88 Patch 16 settings 115 split 117 installing examples installieren 23 loading a 27 more insight 155 storing and managing es 158 Pc 22 Percussion Oscillator 100 Performance programming s externally 118 Performance features 115 Perpetual Motion Machine 113 Phaser 84 152 Pitch envelope 56 Poly 151 Poly Voice Area 26 Polyphony 143 Portamento 88 151 Pulse module 91 176 Pulse Width Modulation 66 PwM 66 in LFo 68 Q Quantizer 82 R Random ge
43. A 3 and the closed hihat to C4 through E4 for example The percussion oscillator and drum synth are both sound sources optimized for producing drum sounds Load the Drumkit lt patch CI HH zone Lower cs FO Qua cre OpiHkey GEE oe vw rumSynt Mixer 30 5 G 70 m aaee Compressor Gain reduction dB pea side chain 302418 1512 36421 Lim Active 2 outputs1 coin TEET In this patch you can see that four components of a drumkit are arranged side by side kick snare closed hihat and open hihat playable by the keys C3 F 3 to A 3 C4 to E4 and F3 respectively On the Modular keyboard you ll find these keys Programming Drumkits ll in two octaves with the Oct Shift in the center default posi tion Of course no electronic drumkit is worth its salt without a compressor so we ve added one at the bottom To make this kit as playable as possible we ve set up the first four columns of knobs to control the kick snare closed hihat and open hihat in that order The top knobs control volume the middle ones are for pitch and the bottom ones affect some aspect of timbre Knobs 14 and 17 control the compressor s threshold and compression respectively Note Detector and Keyboard Splitter Note detectors are used for the kick and open hihat sounds They send out gate and velocity signals when a note match ing their setting comes from the Modular s keyboard or Mip1 input If you want to
44. In Out group Mini clock operates with a resolution of Yoo steps per bar In other words each quarter note is subdi vided into 24 steps You can as a matter of fact you must convert the resolution of the Modular sequencer by a clock divider In this case it is set to 6 it puts out 1 clock pulse for each 6 Mini clock ticks i e 16 pulses per bar 16 notes In this example the reset input of the sequencer is linked to the keyboard Every time you play a key i e at every note event the sequencer melody is retriggered from the left MIDI Clock Synchronizing Several Sequencers to MIDI The sync output of the Mni clock module should be con nected to the reset inputs of all sequencers This ensures that all sequencers within a patch run in sync Conse quently the Modular responds accurately to the song position pointer You can determine the number of quar ter notes that are played before the sync output sends a reset signal by the Global Sync parameter in the Synth options of the Settings menu The active output sends a gate signal when the Modular receives a start or continue event from an external se quencer and closes the gate when it receives a stop event Synchronizing Several Slots The name of the M n global module is misleading it can also gt keep timex for the internal system clock of the Modular You can set the system clock to Internal in the Settings menu s Synth options The M
45. Lamspringe Trademark Acknowledgements All products mentioned in this book are either trademarks of the companies referenced in this book registered trademarks of the companies in this book or neither We strongly advise that you investigate a particular product s name thoroughly before you use the name as your own Welcome I have to admit that I ve been a fan of the Clavia Nord Lead since this synthesizer debuted That punchy sound simple sound programming cool sleek design and the unique pitch toothpick made a true believer of me For several years now I ve been an avid admirer of mod ular synthesizers although from afar Initially I just couldn t afford them and now in the 90 s they re just too volatile and cumbersome for my taste In October of 1997 I was given the opportunity to check out a pre release prototype of the Modular in Stockholm Love at first sight might be a bit over the top but as a de scription of the relationship between this synthesizer nut and that little red box it comes pretty close to the truth Now that I ve spent months conjuring up sounds beta testing and exploring every aspect of the system I ve discov ered that the Modular is one of the very few synthesizers I ll actually play in my free time At W1zoo we have a strict policy We don t publish books about synthesizers that we can t recommend wholeheartedly However when a synthesizer is truly something special when
46. On lt and gt Off lt In Nord speak On is 64 and Off is 0 You can use logic signals for control blue inputs when convenient and you can use other control signals for logic yellow inputs though in the latter case you may be surprised at the results a logic input will recognize any positive value as On but it will not recognize another positive value as another On until it has seen a value of zero or below In the descriptions to follow we ll use the term positive edge lt to describe any signal changing from a value lt 0 to a positive value We ll use the term gt negative edge lt for a signal which changes from a positive value to a value lt 0 Logic Modules Pulse This module sends out a pulse of fixed duration set by the knob whenever it receives a positive edge You can use this to generate fixed length gates from controller generators like Lros and envelopes as well as other from logic signals like triggers 1 Load gt GTrgPls lt 2 Briefly tap one of the keys on your keyboard and keep an eye on the green gate LED on the ADSR module The pulse module extends the brief impulse to a length of 1 6 seconds 3 Press and hold another key Here the gate is also 1 6 seconds regardless of how long you keep the key depressed In this case the duration of the impulse at the input of the pulse module is irrelevant the length of the pulse is always the same when it comes out of the other end of the module 4
47. Peter Gorges len Sasso For Modular and MicroMo dular CD ROM ghee Bn aoe bon ane WI1zoo Guide Nord Modular 3 Peter Gorges Len Sasso MODULAR Introduction Modular Sound Design Virtual Assembly Instructions Imprint Publisher Peter Gorges Authors Peter Gorges and Len Sasso All rights reserved No part of this book and the CD Rom enclosed may be used reproduced transmitted or stored in any form or by any means without prior written permission of Wizoo Making copies of any part of this book for any purpose other than your own personal use is a violation of copyright laws This book is sold as is without warranty of any kind either express or im plied While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information or instructions contained herein It is further stated that the publisher and authors are not responsible for any damage or loss to your data or your equipment that results directly or indirectly from your use of this book Second completely revised edition Copyright 2000 by Wizoo GmbH Bremen Bundesrepublik Deutschland Printed in Germany ISBN 3 934903 05 3 Translation Tom Green Proofreading Peter Gorges Layout and typesetting Uwe Senkler Hamburg Cover design design box Ravensburg Printed by Druckhaus EA Quensen GmbH
48. Press the key twice in rapid succession Only one note is generated the pulse module must close the gate before it is ready to accept another input signal You can of course use the pulse module to generate square impulses from continuous modulations Try replacing the keyboard module with a sine LFO Pulse Delay Modules There are actually three modules in this category positive edge delay negative edge delay and logic delay These mod ules do exactly what their name says they delay one or both edges of a logic signal When you delay the positive edge you make the gate shorter but what happens if you delay it longer than the gate time In this case nothing happens the pulse is lost When you delay the negative edge you make the gate longer When 91 92 Chapter 5 The Modules you delay the entire pulse logic delay the gate time doesn t change the pulse just starts and ends later Logic Process and Logic Invert Modules These modules are a little treat for the computer freaks among us they apply a little logic to logic signals combin ing them to create complex logical processes Ok what does that mean The logic invert module sends out a positive edge when it sees a negative edge and vica versa You could use it with a pulse Lro to alternately gate separate envelopes for example The logic process module combines two logic inputs using the gt logical operations lt of AND OR and XOR which stands for g
49. Slot 4 for audio effects this is not possible on the Micro Modular You still have the rest of the slots and all voices save one at your disposal In other words you can simulta neously use the Modular as a synthesizer and a signal pro cessor Things start to get wild when you control effects by Mrp1 tracks M n clock or controllers and use these to rhythmi cally chop up lt drumloops vocals and strings apply synchro nized flanging or automatically fade them in Activating Audio In Simply drop the AudioIn module into the patch and connect the requisite cables as you would for any other module The input is not variable so we recommend that you slap an amplifier module on each output of the audio module You can of course use it for two mono signals you can even route the two inputs to two separate patches or bend a stereo signal by four patches Tacking on Audio Tracks The Modular is a great medium for manipulating and revers ing drumloops for backward effects Combined with an audio sequencer e g Logic Audio Cubase Audio Vst you have an unbeatable system you can cut loop and invert drumloops in the sequencer and manipulate them further in the Modu lar by filtering gating or delay effects Both systems operate in perfect sync by Mini clock and note events For instance you can run an audio track in the audio sequencer and a Mini track in parallel and use the lat Ensure that you always use just one voice f
50. a level shifter inserted in the AM patch A more technical way of describing the difference between ring and amplitude modu lation is that in ring mod the modulator is gt bipolar lt while in Am it is gt unipolar lt Twiddle knob 2 with knob 1 in the ring mod position full left and the Am position center in the Control Modifiers ring mod position you will hear the sound morph between Ro and Am but in the Am position you will simply hear it switch between the two Knob 3 sets the pitch of the modulating oscillator This determines the frequency of the two sidebands i e their distance from the carrier measured in Hertz Control Modifiers Posted 27 0 mh EES The modules in the control modifier section do not use audio quality and are designed primarily to manipulate or generate controller signals Recall that the control sampling rate is 24kHz while the audio sampling rate is 96kHz Constant The constant module is perhaps too obvious for words but note that it takes 0 0 Cpu time i e it is free and that if you need a knob to control some parameter with a modulation input but no knob of its own OscB s pulse width for exam ple the constant module will do the job gt Don t forget you can scale and quantize the output of the constant using the control mixer and note quantizer This allows you to make a wide variety of custom knobs Smooth This module smoothes out rapid changes in co
51. able to knock out the whole proce dure in just a few minutes Installing Patch Examples Once you have established all M n and audio connections you can start the software After you start the program it will tell you if it managed to locate the Modular If you used the M n Tester to check out the M n connections you shouldn t encounter any problems here Installing Patch Examples We recommend that you copy the patch examples from the Rom partition of the included Cp to your harddisk Insert the CD Rom in the drive 2 Double click on the CD ROM symbol 3 Drag the directory entitled Patch Examples to the same directory to which you installed the Modular Editor on your harddisk In total the exam ples only require a few hundred kilo bytes Even the small est harddisk has this much space available 23 Around the World in 80 Minutes First of all we ll familiarize you with the Editor software and the front panel of the Modular With a solid background in the basics you ll be able to breeze through the following chapters and concentrate on the really intriguing stuff You will learn how to assign modules create and install cables set and modify parameters and load and save patches We ll also spend some time on the front panel func tions and how to edit patches by the front panel Addition ally there are a few handy tips and tricks that you should be aware of when you are working with the f
52. actually pretty easy to come up with The downside is that this principle also works in reverse sometimes it takes a lot of effort to achieve fairly simple effects Talking about My Generator The Lro module with the cryptic name ClkRndGen1 is a ran dom generator that produces a new control value for each incoming gate signal If you re curious as to how this effect sounds when it modulates the filter and the pulse width of the oscillator simultaneously then check out the patch gt LFoRnd lt Talking about My Other Generator As mentioned above you can drive the LFo into the audio range by setting the rate parameter to gt Hi lt You can use this to generate some truly beautiful effects or if you care to explore your darker side some exceptionally ugly stuff as well gt LFoaudio lt is a good example Here the LFo is used as the Master source for the oscillator This time knob 1 and 2 are your ticket to dementia gt You re probably wondering why we haven t gotten around to dis cussing the note generator Don t worry we ll cover it in the next chapter on sequencers 29 Lro Delay Fade In Out 30 Lro and Random Generator In this patch you will see that an LFo can also be used as a mas ter for an oscillator 31 Am Synthesis with an LFO 69 70 Chapter 5 The Modules Envelopes fo An AA amr ADSR AD MOD AHO MUM Envelopes generate shapes that change as a function of time The Modular
53. appening Patch 15a generates an Fm waveform At the bottom cen ter of the patch you ll see that its output is directed to the Modular out 3 If you click the out 1 button you will hear the unprocessed Fm waveform You can use the knobs 1 to 3 to balance the three compo nents and knobs 4 to 6 to control the amount of Fm for each Notice that there is no filter or envelope contour here the sound is rich in harmonics but pretty bland Now switch Patch 15a back to out 3 and look at Patch 15b The AudioIn module at the top center brings the left audio input now patched from the output 3 through Vocoder and an Lro d Delay to the output On the left noise is passed through a VocalFilter to the Vocoder s control input The Vocal Filter s frequency and vowel select is modu 47 48 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes lated by the output of a clocked pattern generator Knobs 1 to 3 control the output level clock rate and modulation amount Knobs 4 to 6 select the length bank and number of the pat tern If you d like to use this patch as a standard Vocoder flip the 4 1 Switch lt in the upper middle of the patch to position 2 and patch the desired audio control signal voice for example into the Modular s gt Input R lt jack Note that the audio must be line level plugging a mic in won t work unless you add one or more Amplifier modules and this may raise the noise level unacceptably high Now tha
54. are Software Modular system software Factory Patches factory patches Version 3 0 3 Manual manual for Version 3 0 the pentultimate refer ence source when you re desperate Audio Section The audio section features 74 examples designed to accom pany the book All examples were recorded gt dry lt i e directly from the Modular without effects to give you an unadulterated impres sion of the sound but don t let this stop you from spicing up the sound to taste for instance adding a touch of reverb to lively it up If at all possible you should listen to the audio Cp on the same sound system as that you re using for the Modular you ll find this kind of setup especially helpful when you are making comparisons during patch experiments 161 162 Appendix gt The first audio track on the CD is a data set up track which does not contain any audio This will show up as gt Track 1 lt on most commercial Cp players and we have started our numbering of the audio examples accordingly the first example is labeled gt Track 2 If you play the audio CD in your computer s CD ROM drive the data set up track may not show up as an audio track at all In this case numbers in the text are off by 1 e g select Track 1 lt when the text refers to gt Track 2 lt etc Find below a list of the examples and the pages that refer to them 01 Data Track never play on an audio Cp Player 27 02 Preset 27 03 Filt
55. assign a dedicated M n channel to each slot The pre configured assignments are Channels 1 through 4 You can change these assignments in Synth Settings Velocity Switch in a Patch You can also implement a velocity switch directly in a patch This option is not quite as versatile and requires some pro 56 Split and Velocity Switch Split and velo settings in the patch window 117 This morph switch module setup switches between different sounds within a patch 118 Chapter 7 The Modular as a Performance Synth gramming gymnastics However it does come in handy when you re convinced that you need a particular split and aren t planning on changing it Both functions are morphed and use a gt 1 4 Switch lt mod ule Keyboard 2 Note fii Gate LEL 1 4Switch1 1 Load MorphSw lt 2 Play up the keyboard when you play harder the sound switches from the left synth on the screen to the one on the right This is how it works The outputs of the switch modules carry the gate signal to the left and right envelopes The first red morph group switches between the two outputs 3 The controller for Morph Group 1 is Velocity Now velocity switches back and forth between the two sounds gt Disadvantage you can not change the velocity split point gt Advantage you can control the split with any Mip controller Programming Performances Externally You can only
56. ate Load the gt Trigger patch from the TpsnTrix folder This patch is a simple synth bass In the Trig Mode switch 72 Single Trigger module the first two positions switch back and forth 73 Multi Trigger between the two trigger modes Fingered Portamento The portamento module located in the Ctrl Mod section is pretty much self explanatory see page 88 151 74 Fingered Porta 75 Flanger 152 Chapter 10 Tips and Tricks What is not immediately apparent is how you can use it to generate portamento that activates exclusively when you play legato fingered notes Load the gt PortaBs patch In the portamento B module the Jump input ensures the portamento is ignored jumped over when the notes aren t played legato For this purpose the gate has to be retrieved from the Keyboard Patch module Phaser Flanger Chorus You re not limited to the stereo chorus and phaser modules for these kinds of effects The delay module can be used for very creative effects of this type because you can modulate the delay time Load gt Flanger lt Here a simple synthesizer sound is routed through the delay module The delay signal is modulated by the Flange Lro to generate the effect The effects signal is routed from the delay output back into the Wet mixer which tells you that the second level knob located on the delay represents a feedback parameter gt Experiment with different settings and signal routing setups
57. ato by turning up the pitch input control by the mouse Also adjust the LFo rate accordingly 3 Extend the circuit by dragging a cable from the pitch input to the PulseWidth input of the oscillator 4 Select a square wave for the oscillator by the waveshape switch Deac tivate the vibrato and instead turn up the PulseWidth input 5 Increase the release time of both envelopes to approximately two sec onds Unfortunately you can t change the values in the numerical fields even though at first glance it looks as if you could Your results should look like this cm an Gam gue Env D ous Oo su Note cate vem Pela Notice that there are two ways to cable one output to two dif 04 Patch 03 ferent inputs in parallel two cables from the output or in series one cable from the output to the first input and another from the first input to the second input Since the connections are functionally the same choose the most con venient one when creating your own patches You can load this patch directly it is Patch 03a To avoid deleting your settings 33 fe al It s tempting to try to use the Modular s Navigator buttons for this but they serve another function they navigate between different knobs and modules 34 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes Load the patch to Slot B Enter the slot to the dialog box that appears when you are loading the patch Press the button for Sl
58. audio in or Mor Here are just a few examples the tip of the proverbial iceberg Building and Programming Sequencers Sequencing Other Stuff A sequencer can control all kinds of stuff you aren t limited to pitch timbre or volume Try these on for size Set a control sequencer to the pitch of an Fm operator timbral sequencing Route two event sequencers with different step lengths to a logic module Xor random rhythm Route a control sequence to a 1 4 switch sequencer con trolled switching between four signal sources or four note sequencers Perpetual Motion Machine If you have a lot of time on your hands you can use relatively rudimentary tools to construct a melody machine that gener ates sequences for hours on end without repeating itself Here s a simple example to get you started Load gt PMM Here are some questions to help you figure out what s going on 1 There is a basic sequence that is being transposed and retriggered What is generating the basic sequence What is transposing it What is retriggering it 113 114 Chapter 6 Advanced Features What is the event sequencer doing What else is it doing What is the purpose of the clock divider Try changing the Divider amount What is causing the irregular rhythmic pattern What are each of the six assigned knobs doing Mp1 Gater 1 2 Program a gater consisting of an audio in event sequencer and ADSR enve
59. board mode Active slot Selected slot MIDI clock Internal Q External Rate BMP si Global sync si beats 17 Song Minus You 45 46 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes them into a particular scale see above The accents are gen erated by Control Sequencer click the Rnd button to change the accent pattern An Event Sequencer together with a Logic Delay control the amount of swing applied to the pat tern Patch 14c in Slot C is the pad synth It plays a fixed chord whose root corresponds to the selected bass pattern key The chord is enveloped at random intervals Patch 14d in Slot D is the lead synth It uses a triangle wave for the fundamental and a bank of six sine waves for the harmonics Random generators control the amount of each harmonic the timbre changes randomly as you play Knobs have been assigned to various controls in each of the patches You can assign up to eighteen knobs per patch corresponding to the eighteen knobs on the Modular s front panel Selecting a slot makes its knobs active You can also have the front panel knobs split between the patches in the four slots At the Modular activate the Split button located below the Volume knob The Knob Panel is split into the four gray zones depicted on the panel Knobs 1 through 6 are assigned to Slot A Knobs 7 through 12 to Slot B and so forth In this mode disregard the front panel knob numbers each section uses
60. cept the 14 band and the vocoder Knobs 2 and Filter effect visualiza tion check out small graphic at the top right of the filter module 73 If you just want to dampen the highs of a distortion module you don t have to gt waste an entire dynamic E filter on it a simple static fil ter such as Module A does the trick 36 Nord Lead Filter Classic Filter 37 Lowpass Band pass Highpass Bandstop 74 Chapter 5 The Modules lt 3 let you switch between various filters according to the fol lowing table Filter Selector Knob 2 Knob 3 1 2 3 4 1 Static 6dB Low Dynamic 12dB Vocal Filter No Filter Pass Low Pass 2 Static 6dB High Dynamic 12dB Shelf No Filter Pass High Pass 3 Static 12dB Dynamic 12dB Parametric No Filter Band Pass Band Pass 4 Static 12dB Low Dynamic 24dB Classic24dB No Filter Pass Low Pass Low Pass Note The knob values change at approximately the 10 12 and 2 o clock positions We ve set up morphing to let you use a single knob to change the most significant parameters of all the filters simulta neously so that you have an A B comparison The knob assignments are Filter Cutoff Oscillator Waveform Oscillator Pulse Width Filter Resonance Filter Envelope Amount Filter Envelope Attack Filter Envelope Decay O S SSI NIAJ nm AJ gt Vocal Formant Feel free to experiment with this patch for as long as it
61. cx clock trigger gate and gray for gt Master lt The corresponding color is assigned automatically to new cables but you can re assign any cable s color by right click ing click on the Macintosh and choosing the desired color from the pop up menu Notice that there are also two User lt colors green and purple which you can use to make your patches easier to follow So what s with the S button gt S lt stands for Shaketry it and see When you start accumulating lots of patch chords you ll love this feature The Four Signal Types in the Modular The Modular features four types of signals Audio Signals Of all outputs in the Modular the real audio outputs have the highest sampling rate This is why an audio mixer soaks up more Dsp power than a control mixer These signals carry the actual sound of the synthesizer They feature the maximum sampling rate of 96kHz 24bit Generally audio signals are generated by oscillators but in principal they could be routed through any module equipped with an input and an output In the Modular all audio connections are displayed in red although you should keep in mind that these could also be controller inputs featuring audio bandwidth i e Fm inputs 29 To reiterate the Mod ular is a real modular synthesizer it enables you to set up any conceivable con figuration of mod ules For instance you can use audio modules as control lers and vice versa Feel fr
62. d Let s add a small envelope for the two oscillators 1 Select an AD module from the Env group and drop it between Osc1 and Osc2 2 Name it gt Pitch Env and connect it to second pitch input of Osc1 Don t forget the gate cable Keyboard Rel vel Note fil categ Vel fil pr Rst pate z 204z m am 52ui2 Oe QoQ ons Installing LFos Noise Now for the noise module and we re ready to party Select a noise module from the Osc section and drop it below the Osc Mix gt For a neat trick we ll let the pitch envelope do double duty as the amplitude envelope for the noise Route a cable from the noise out put to the audio input of the Pitch Env and from there on to the last unoccupied input of the Osc mixer If you followed the instructions fairly closely you are now the proud owner of an analog synthesizer that could leave many a hardware synth choking in the dust If for some reason you didn t follow along with all the steps you can always load gt Kit06 lt to see what we are getting at Keyboard gt All modules are installed now we ll fine tune them Velocity Take a look at the keyboard module You should be able to locate the Vel On output However we don t recommend that 57 a a a2 CCE 2S a ee We don t want to go overboard with this example so we ll only apply velocity to two parameters vol ume stereo out level and tone color filter cu
63. d here s the procedure 7 Drag a cable from the Voice Gate output of the keyboard module to the gate input of the envelope If youve done everything right your results should look something like this kestoa Note fi Gate OscA1 Freq Coarse Fine KBT Bmg i d Ss Pitch _ Pitch FMA Syne FALALA EO Adding a Second Oscillator If not try again or simply load the patch gt KitO1 lt if you re in a major hurry Now you can gt play lt your minimal synthesizer Adding a Second Oscillator In Chapter 3 we added a slave oscillator as the second oscil lator to a patch Here we will add a totally independent oscil lator however we ll pass on initial pulse width we ll still have pulse width modulation and sync and settle for a gt low budget version 1 Drag an Osc B module to a position below the first oscillator This module only soaks up 8 3 rather than 11 Dsp power 2 Position a 3 Inputs Mixer below the second oscillator 3 Connect the oscillators to separate mixer inputs and connect the mixer s output to the envelope 4 Set the input controls to the following values 100 100 O starting at the left hand and moving to the right 5 Name the modules Osc1 lt gt Osc2 lt and Osc Mix respectively Your results up to now should resemble the following illus tration You can find the same setup in gt Kit02 lt located in the Kit folder 18 Oscillator Envelope Outp
64. d Voices In some patches the display indicates fewer voices than the Ed itor does Why is that The number of voices depends on the complexity of the patch and the number of simultaneously active slots You only have the option of determining the maximum number of voices The number in the modular Lcp not avail able on the MicroModular refers to how many voices the Modular is still able to handle How can I expand the Dsp power of the Modular Simple answer you can t 143 144 Chapter 9 Faqand Help How can increase the number of voices in the Modular There is an optional expansion board available for the Modu lar not available on the MicroModular It doubles the poly phonic capacity of the device from 16 to 32 voices Person ally we recommend this board highly For a fraction of the cost you get what roughly amounts to another Modular What s more once you have installed the expansion the minimum number of available voices per patch is eight without expansion four The expansion is well worth it even when you use just one slot Is the Dsp power divided between the slots Fortunately no You can assign 100 Dsp power four times However the Modular does have a rather clever feature where upon selection of a patch the voices are automati cally reassigned among the slots For obvious reasons the Modular does not feature a dynamic voice assignment capa bility How can I determine the distributio
65. duplicated Two or More Patches Each of the four slots in the Modular can hold a different patch You can assign the four slots to any combination of M n channels all the same each different etc for playback from an external Mipr keyboard or sequencer You can also assign whether the built in keyboard on the Modular plays only the active slot or all selected slots These options together with the Keyboard Split module allow almost any imaginable kind of Mm control of the slots Although you can layer or split a single patch into several sounds you should be sure to check out the interplay of sev eral patches in the Modular especially the interaction of the Modular and Editor which is truly impressive To get an idea of what we re rambling about let s look at the interplay of four separate patches your own modular quartet if you will Two or More Patches 1 Go to the Synth menu Open the Synth Settings window and set the keyboard mode to Selected slot This allows the internal keyboard to play all slots simultaneously 2 While you re in there set the Mip clock to Internal with a rate of 90 BPM and sync of 4 beats as shown 3 Ensure that all slots are active on the Modular You can do this from the front panel by pressing all four slot buttons simultaneously or from the Editor by saij clicking each of the slot buttons on the Tool bar 4 Load Patches 14a through 14d into Slots A through D respectively Do th
66. echnology gurux sense of the word to play these early models The modern standard of simplic ity press a button and presto instant new sound was still a long way off Another big problem with the modular synths was that you couldn t save sounds as soon as you unplugged cables you lost the sounds you had dialed in Then along came the first synthesizers featuring nonvolatile memories and sud denly the modular concept no longer seemed such a hot property The fate of the modular synthesizers was sealed Techno logical evolution produced smaller faster smarter cheaper and more stable synths and much like their biological counterparts the dinosaurs the modular synthesizers were driven to near extinction Development continued unabated during the 80 s New sound synthesis techniques such as Fm and sampling addi tive synthesis re synthesis and finally physical modeling rel egated analog synthesizers to the level of pawn shop oddi ties Paradoxically during the late 80 s a group of people inter ested in creating a radically different high tech musical genre fittingly labeled techno gave the analog synths a new lease on life The consensus among techno innovators was that as an alternative to digital synths these relatively easy to program powerful electronic sounds were suitably heavy for what they had in mind 13 14 Chapter 1 A Few Basics Worth Knowing The retro wave extended through to modular system
67. ee to abuse lt modules at will i e use them for some thing for which they re not really intended This is exactly the type of experimentation that makes a modular sys tem so much fun to play with Also don t be afraid of gt feed back connections you can t hurt the Modular though you can hurt your ears and speakers 30 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes Control Signals Basically control signals influence or modulate something For example a few of the components that generate control signals are the control output of the LFo an envelope or even a switch The control connections at the modules are colored blue Logic Signals These are simple on and off signals that activate deactivate a note or switch a sequencer to the next step In the Modular the three basic logic signals are Trigger Simple brief impulse Gate Much like a trigger this is an on off signal but when it is activated it stays energized lt for a certain period of time For instance when you press a key the gate opens and doesn t close until you release the key Clock This is a time based signal sent at a specific inter val for instance four times per quarter note The intervals between clock impulses are set in bpm beats per minute The Modular can also process external M n clock so you can synchronize the Modular sequencers with an external MIpI sequencer gt You can t start an envelope with
68. efore it is patched through the actual modulator 1 Load gt FiltFm The signal of the modulator is routed through the filter prior to the audible oscillator carrier 2 Manipulate the filter cutoff with knob 1 to radically alter the Fm sound 3 Change the filter type with knob 2 4 Increase the filter resonance with knob 3 38 Filter Sweep and FM 75 39 Ultra fat Filters Three filters in series pure power 40 Complex Sound Effects by a Parallel Filter Circuit Try the same thing with different control lers key scaling modulation wheel knobs 76 Chapter 5 The Modules 5 Increase the filter cutoff envelope amount with knob 4 Ultra fat Filters You can devise as steep a filter slope as desired by connect ing several filters in series and dialing in identical settings Bear in mind that the entire slope gets cascaded this will not produce a gt brick walk filter The patch gt Filt72dB lt fea tures a pre programmed 72dB lowpass load and listen you ll soon hear what we re on about In conventional synthesizers it s fairly difficult to come up with this type of gt ultra fat lt filter FilterE1 Feo on Setting Up More Complex filters To come up with some truly modular sound effects you can set up a parallel circuit consisting of two three or even more filters and modulate them each in a different direction using velocity envelopes or a controller With t
69. ely of sine tones will always sound thin and sterile to some degree It simply lacks a bit of detuning and some grit So we ve routed the entire sound with all its sound shaping sequences and dynamics 123 In case you have trou ble getting it to work we ve done it for you in AdditFmM lt Twiddle knobs 7 to 16 to bizarrify the patch Coarse Fine Pitch 124 Chapter 8 Analyzing Patches through phaser and chorus modules which add considerable shimmer and thickness to the patch The phaser s built in Lro provides the shimmer and the chorus provides the motion Modification Tip Additive FM Synthesizer 1 Decimate the number of oscillators until you have just eight left over Group these eight survivors in pairs Create an AD envelope for each group position these to the left of the oscillators and name them Pitch Lo Pitch Lo Mid 4 Route the control output of the pitch envelope to the Fm input of the first oscillator in each group Leave the Fm input of the second oscilla tor as it is i e allow it to be modulated by the first 5 Now it s time for your sound design skills to kick in with this module you can generate some truly bizarre spacey lead and effects sounds FM Operators In the modular it is a simple task to create the Fm gt operators lt found in classic Fm synths Here is a mini model in which a sine wave is passed through an envelope the modulator and patched into the Fm inp
70. ently asked questions on a wide variety of topics Our link database will help you find other Internet sites that deal with the Modular sound synthesis and related subjects 139 140 Chapter 9 Faqand Help e You ll find basic information on and a general introduc tion to digital audio and related topics in our Newbie Sec tion You can also search our Web site for a specific term sim ply click on the Search button located on the navigation frame to go to the Search page Mailing List There is a very active Modular users group with an email list hosted by Wizoo You can subscribe to the list in individual posts or digested form I strongly recommend the individual posts form because the attached patches come through with out need of further decoding lt This is where you ll find out what the seasoned veterans are doing and more importantly how they re doing it Email If neither the book nor the Web site can help you find a solu tion to the problem you re confronted with feel free to use our free of charge trouble shooting hotline Email your ques tion to Address userinput wizoo com Subject Modular lt Brief description of the problem gt e g erratic event generator lt Anyone who owns a Wizoo guide is welcome to use this ser vice we do however ask that you do us a favour and stick to these basic prerequisites One question per email only keep your email short and to the point
71. enuates lowers the amplitude of higher fre quencies while leaving lower frequencies unaffected As with all filters the boundary is gradual gt Cutoff MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface M DI enables synthesizers sequencers computers rhythm machines etc to be interconnected through a standard interface and exchange notes controllers clock and sounds MID dictates a uniform data format and connector standard for all manufacturers Morphing Function in the Modular where a single controller controls a number of parameters The range and direction of knob movement can be deter mined individually for each parameter Multi mode Multi trigger M DI mode where several sounds within a device for instance the Modular can be addressed individually via different Mipi channels A mode in which a Modular patch will respond to multiple triggers by creating new voices The Keyboard Voice Module is used for multi trig ger operation while the Keyboard Patch Module is used for single trig ger operation Noise In this context the term refers to a random signal White Noises is the standard noise type where all frequencies are represented equally in Colored Noise lt the emphasis is on lower frequencies Noise Gate An audio processor in this case a module which blocks a signal when its amplitude falls below a certain gt threshold lt level The threshold is typ ically set just above the bac
72. er you ll be ready for some hard core excursions we have planned for you in Chapters 6 and 8 Oscillators A ASA ti FL AA WB WH MW pas Oscillators are the Modular s sound generating components The gt heaviest lt of the bunch is Oscillator A and at 11 it cer tainly is a sumo style glutton when it comes to Dsp power All other oscillators are light to feather weight versions of this mother of all oscillators You should make a habit of using these to conserve DsP power in applications where you don t need all of Osc A s functions Unfortunately you often won t know exactly what you need until you have finished We ll assume that you have a basic handle on analog sound syn thesis If you feel fairly confident with your skills the Modular is the best medium for testing and improv ing them immeasur ably If you know what oscillators fil ters and envelopes are and what they do you ll have some good clean fun with this chapter s experi ments and might learn a trick or two to boot 63 The Cadillac of oscillators gt Osc A lt 64 Chapter 5 The Modules assembling your model but eventually you ll get a feel for what you need in terms of essential functions The folder for this chapter is named Modules Please down load Patch OscO1 lt from it OscA Coarse Fine KBT gt FTA Pwidth j Jou 329 6Hz Fa D a a A A Ssi O D2 QD aw Pitch Pitch _ FMA __ Sync iar eQegegs LNA ws
73. er Envelope 32 04 Patch 03 33 05 Patch 04 38 06 Patch 05 38 07 Patch 06 38 08 Patch 07 38 09 Patch 08 38 10 Low volume Second Oscillator without Transposition 39 11 Two Oscillators 40 12 Independent Oscillator Modulation 40 13 Sequencer without Melody and Tone Color Modulation 41 14 Sequencer with Melody 42 15 Sequencer with Tone Color Modulation 43 16 Growing Bass Line 43 17 Song Minus You 45 18 Oscillator Envelope Output 51 19 Oscillators in Fifths w Enveloped Filter 52 20 Exp01 60 21 Exp02 60 22 Exp03 60 23 Exp04 60 24 Exp05 60 25 Fm 65 26 Oscillator Sync 66 27 PwM 66 28 Lro PwM 68 29 Lro Delay Fade In Out 69 30 Lro and Random Generator 69 31 Am Synthesis with an LFO 69 32 Key Scaling 71 33 Envelope Noise Whistle 71 34 Chord Trigger 72 CD Rom Table of Contents Envelope Wrapper 72 Nord Lead Filter Classic Filter 74 Lowpass Bandpass Highpass Bandstop 74 Filter Sweep and FM 75 Ultra fat Filters 76 Complex Sound Effects by a Parallel Filter Circuit 76 Clip Overdrive WaveWrapper 82 Bit Quantizer Off 11 9 7 5 Bits 83 Classic Sample amp Hold 84 Chorus Ensemble 84 NoteScaler with LFo 88 NoteQuantizer 89 Compare Generated Drum Patterns 93 Morphing from Clav to Rhodes 96 Drumkit 102 WahWah Chorus with Drumloop Input Signal 104 Catin the Wind 105 Trigger Signal 105 Minimal Sequencer 107 Event Sequencer 1 Trigger 2 Gate 109 Knob Sequencer with Step by Step Activa
74. f a Minimoog consisting of three oscillators a filter two envelopes and so forth You choose the requisite modules and connect them The result is what in this context we call a model Now you can program basses leads or noises in this Minimoog replica by twiddling knobs and activating buttons The result of your programming efforts is what we call a patch The fact is that you can build a simple analog synthesizer model consisting of four modules and use it to create dozens or hundreds of patches What Distinguishes It from Other Analog Modular Systems gt Note The Modular only stores complete patches i e a model with all its settings you can not store individual snapshots lt of settings without storing the entire patch modules and all Modular patches are very small text files however and don t take up much memory so within its 891 patch memory you have plenty of room for your favor ite Minimoog variations What Distinguishes It from Other Analog Modular Systems You wouldn t be doing your Modular a disservice if you used it solely as a stand in for an analog synthesizer Although no one would seriously argue that analog modular synthesizers don t have some favorable attributes that simply can t be emulated by a virtual model the Modular has a substantial advantage it isn t subject to the same hardware induced limitations a few of which are listed below The number of modules and cables you ha
75. fferent switch settings Knob 2 to select LPO waveshapes and Knob 3 to vary the modulation depth 2 The keyboard transposes the LFo rate but not the pitch so you can try out each modulation type at a different rate Switch Setting Destination Sine Tri Saw 1 Osc Pitch Vibrato Sirene 2 Filter Cutoff WahWah Repeat 3 Amplitude Tremolo AutoTrigger 4 Pan AutoPan AutoPan And Now for Something Completely Different LFO PWM You can modulate the pulse width of LFo B second LFo from the left which is a rather unusual feature Since LFos can also generate triggers or gates you could conceivably modu late the pulse width to create notes that sustain or decay con tinually Check out the results in the patch gt LFoPwM lt Turn Knob 1 up to activate the sound Warning prolonged exposure to this sound will seriously grate on your nerves Check out the green LED on the LFoB1 module It indicates the on off phases that are modulated by the slave Lro LFos Setting Up a Conventional LFO In conventional synthesizers Lros feature a delay and a fade in parameter If you find that something similar would come in handy in the Modular you ll locate what you need in the patch gt LFoDly lt Lro Delay routes a delayed keyboard gate to the LFo Fade In Out envelope The envelope controls the amount of LFo modulation gt As you can see some of the complex results you can achieve with a modular synthesizer are
76. fluence of velocity Here are a couple of tips e Always use morphs to control velocity preferably make it a habit to use Morph Group 1 for this purpose Use the direct velocity output of the keyboard module only when you need to shape the velocity curve with the con trol shaper module or when you have used up all of the morph modules Controlling and Switching Morphs You can use any Mini controller aftertouch and as dis cussed above velocity as morph controllers For functions that cannot be addressed by a switching module for instance two pre programmed tempos or sound settings use switch controllers such as soft pedal or portamento to switch back and forth from one operating status to another by morph gt In the MorphSyr patch replace velocity with a succession of other controllers and spend some time trying them out 99 100 Chapter 6 Advanced Features Programming Drumkits You may recall that we postponed discussing the percussion oscillator drum synth note detector and keyboard splitter in the chapter on modules We will take an in depth look at them in this section These four modules are ideal for programming gt reak ana log drumkits The note detector is a note filter that allows just a single note to pass It lets you assign the kick drum to C3 and the open hihat to D3 for example The keyboard splitter allows a range of notes to pass It lets you assign the snare to F 3 through
77. g sound FM Short for Frequency Modulation Fm synthesis hit the big time with the Yamaha Dx synthesizers FM is the encoding of a carrier wave by varia tion of its frequency in accordance with an input signal which is a com plicated explanation for when an oscillator s output signal modulates the frequency of another oscillator Gate A gate is defined by two values threshold and time Once the incoming signal exceeds the defined threshold a trigger is initiated that lasts for as long as the signal remains above this threshold In other words a gate signal starts and ends an event 165 Appendix High Pass A type of filter that attenuates lowers the amplitude of higher fre quencies while leaving lower frequencies unchanged As with all filters the boundary is gradual Cutoff Inverter Key Scaling A module that inverts changes from plus to minus and v v the sam ple values of a signal This can apply to audio control or logic signals Basically this term describes a process where a parameter is changed via the keyboard Layer The ability to place or stack two or more sounds on the same area of the keyboard LFO Short for Low Frequency Oscillator An oscillator used for modulation whose range is below the audible range Logic All switching circuits in the Modular that exclusively deal with the two conditions On value 64 or Off value 0 Low Pass A type of filter that att
78. h blue Smart huh On release of e9 O 2O the mouse button the Modular 28 Filter automatically assigns the cable Pe r the same color as the output Orere EY OAc jack even if it goes to a different L 4 z0 m colored input jack There are two more techniques for disconnecting and re connecting cables you should become familiar with The manual describes these in greater detail so we ll stick to a condensed description Disconnecting Cables 1 Double click on the blue cable hold the mouse button down and drag it over to the gray area of the screen Release the mouse button The color of a cable doesn t affect a signal in any way the color coding just helps you to avoid confusion and distinguish cables in a patch You ll see later on that this is a very helpful feature indeed 31 O03 Filter Envelope 32 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes After you have disconnected the cable drag it back and plug it in 2 Now click on the end of the cable at the filter module by the right mouse button 3 Select Disconnect in the pop up menu The two options are different means to the same end Choose whichever seems most comfortable or logical to you Re connecting Cables to another Jack Let s assume that you would prefer to patch the cable to the PulseWidth input of the oscillator No problem simply unplug it and re connect it at the desired jack 1 Double click on
79. h est sampling rate of all the signal types Band Pass A type of filter that attenuates lowers the amplitude of frequencies outside of a certain frequency band lt As with all filters the boundaries are gradual Band Reject A type of filter that attenuates lowers the amplitude of frequencies inside of a certain frequency band As with all filters the boundaries are gradual Chorus A voice doubling effect created by layering two identical sounds with a delay and slightly modulating the frequency of one or both of the sounds to gt liven ups the sound Classic Filter A special filter model in the Modular that simulates the grit lt of an ana log synthesizer Clock A steady pulse from a generator which is used for synchronizing sequencers drum machines and others Common Voice Area CvA The part of a Modular patch that applies to all voices simultaneously This is the lower section of the Editor window Compare with gt Poly Voice Area PVA Compressor An audio processor in this case a module that compresses the dynamic range of the signal 164 Glossary Control Signal This is the Modular s answer to control voltages and refers to all signals that influence or control a parameter Controller Cutoff Control feature in the form of a wheel stick knob pedal etc that allows you to change information continuously Controller information can be rou
80. have to patch in a virtual mixing console Adding a Mixer 1 Open the module group Mixer and drag the 3 Inputs Mixer to a location directly beneath the second oscillator Give this new compo nent the name Osc Mix lt 2 Unplug the cable from the oscillator output and plug it into the mixer output l e connect the mixer output to the filter input 3 Connect the two oscillators with the first two inputs of the mixer and turn up the level control at the mixer to 100 A A The result should resemble Patch i EA o esult should resemble Patc rom se ea eg Now when you play a couple of aD P ma ng a licks you ll note that the second eA t retr oscillator is not transposed by the aeaea wee keyboard and that it is relatively quiet Master and Slave As we mentioned earlier the second oscillator is a slave so you have to connect it to its master 1 Drag a cable from the Slave output Sliv of Osc1 to the master input Mst of Osc2 Notice that the cable is automatically colored gray gt Now the pitch control is routed from Osc1 to Osc2 which doesn t mean that both of them always have the same pitch 2 To perk up the sound a tad select a sawtooth wave for Osc1 and Osc2 If you accidentally grabbed the wrong module click on it by the right mouse but ton and send it back to where it came from by gel 10 low volume Second Oscillator without Transposition 39 11 Two
81. he groove of treating the Modular as a modular Dry kit with an almost overwhelming amount of cre ative potential When you stop to think about it it s all so easy is there any compelling reason why you can t route the amplitude envelope post oscillator or an overdrive effect pre filter Why not use an LFo as a clock generator What could possi bly prevent you from using the quantizer to turn an envelope into a glissando Consciously avoid using the standard method of doing things when you re experimenting Don t be timid go ahead and get weird Try to position modules at totally unconven tional locations within the signal chain or abuse lt them for bizarre purposes Try these on for size You ll find the patches for this chap ter in the TpsnTrix folder 147 Due to the low sam pling rate expect sounds to change when you patch logic or control modules into the signal path Different yes bad not necessarily 67 Weird 1 68 Weird 2 69 Weird 3 70 Weird 4 71 Weird 5 This function is pre programmed to Knob 1 in section Additive Synthesis lt on page 121 148 Chapter 10 Tips and Tricks Position effects such as chorus see below or overdrive before a filter Assign amplitude envelopes to individual oscillators but not to the overall patch Route one output to two separate amplitude envelopes and then on to stereo out auto panning Use audio signals as controllers e g oscil
82. he program If the test fails then 1 Check out the Mipi cables Your best bet is to swap them around i e disconnect each cable and connect it to the other port 2 Check out the M DI connections in the dialog box of the M n Tester In and Out 3 See if SysEx data is filtered at the M D interface and if necessary try out the interface s other options to a Computer or Keyboard N Sanne you ll control the Modular by a Mint keyboard or a sequencer It does come with controllers even though the keyboard model only features a small set of test keys We highly recommend that you use a M n keyboard equipped with aftertouch pitchbend and a modulation wheel if at all possible You should give yourself the opportunity to try these out in conjunction with the Modular and integrate them into your Modular patches Connecting the Modular Expediently You can assign all parameters of the Modular to M n con trollers so it is also highly advisable to connect the Modular and keyboard sequencer in both directions to an Audio System If you want to connect the Modular to a mixing console we recommend that you use the first two audio outputs as a ste reo pair and the other two as two separate mono outputs With this setup you could route out and mix a stereo sequence a bass line and a lead sound Set your mixing con sole up accordingly but keep in mind that the design of the output module in the Modular wi
83. hen the speaker lt faces away in the course of the rotation All in all pretty simple stuff wouldn t you agree Seriously this is undoubtedly one mean Modular patch 131 Pitch _ a Chapter 8 Analyzing Patches Modifications 1 Create a low budget version of the Hammond sans Leslie 2 Create a Leslie only version without sound generation refer to the patch gt StLeslie lt on page 104 3 Edit the Leslie rotation overdrive characteristics and the frequency response to taste Mini Lead Synth Load gt MiDiLead lt Pitch FMA _ Syne QQ eA te ee ES WW s This is a basic two oscillator synth with a multi mode filter plus LFo noise modulator and two Apsr envelopes It is rem iniscent of the early portable synths like the Minimoog Arp Odyssey and Oberheim Xpander The concept is taken to its 21st century extreme in the next model but you can do a lot with just this basic mini model For starters just twiddle the knobs then adjust the on screen controls to add modulation and finally begin adding new modules as the spirit moves you 132 Nord Lead 3 Nord Lead 3 Those of you who already own a Nord Lead may have dis cretely asked yourselves if the Modular is a fully fledged sur rogate for the Nord Lead Well read and weep the answer is yes right down to the most insignificant parameter Take heart though there is some good news it takes a monumen tal effort which leads us t
84. hich can function like a sample amp hold with some added features Modes 1 and 3 use a noise source and modes 2 and 4 use an Lro Use knobs 5 and 6 to control the LFo s rate and waveform this is how you create interesting patterns Notice that the clock rate control knob 2 is what controls the speed of the pattern Also note that a percussion oscillator has been used in this patch this oscil lator has a built in envelope module so no separate envelope is required gt This patch is decidedly polyphonic why Hint in mode 2 or 4 click the LFo s mono button Stereo Chorus and Phaser The chorus module is much more than just a simple chorus You might call it a symphonic effect it really thickens up the sound and spreads some gt seriously sweet stereo lt But you will have to pay a fairly high price in terms of power con sumption so using it in the gt Common Voice Areax is highly recommended Load AudioCho lt This patch demonstrates how you can whip a convincing string section into shape using just five modules This ver sion conserves Dsp power 20 4 which is substantially less than a stereo chorus with two delay lines would require Audio Mod Note that the chorus module automatically controls phase shifting between the left and right channels The phaser module is a mono effect useful for all kinds of phasing and flanging effects Like the chorus module it is fairly expensive and preferably used
85. his type of setup phaser vocoder or formant effects are a piece of cake Load gt FiltComp lt Play this patch dynamically and note how the three filters are modulated independently of one another Again morphing is the key Grp1 is controlled by the Velocity controller We added a chorus module to thicken up the sound a bit Filters Vocalization Filters For the last patch in the filter section we re going to pull out all the stops and introduce three real gluttons the Vocoder 49 the FilterBank 18 and the VocalFilter 7 6 Together these weigh in at nearly 75 of the Cpu and though they don t leave much room for other modules their effect makes up for the difference Load gt FiltVox and play the keyboard Knobs 1 to 14 control the fourteen banks of the filter bank and knob 18 sets the timbre of the formant oscillator we re using to generate the gt carrier lt for the vocoder The program lt for the vocoder is generated by passing colored noise through a VocalFilter module whose formant is modulated by a random generator Notice the delay module which is also modulated by the random generator for depth ood oi RandomGen1 TETE 2 Ami mensomeent rst MERE Qs Bowe erect Play with the buttons at the bottom of the vocoder for radical changes in the vocoding effect 77 Css TEzo ac EE SAOS Delay Time 78 Chapter 5 The Modules Saving Memory Notice from the Toolbar that
86. in the section on filters mixing various delays with the original signal results in all kinds of harmonic cancellations Since it does feature a modulation input it s a great tool for creating all types of flanging and chorus effects More on this topic in Chapter 10 For standard delay effects we suggest using one of the many available outboard effects units gt Although you can t get audio delays in the range suitable for echo and reverb effects you can simulate many of these effects using logic delays See the gt Logic section starting on page 90 Sample amp Hold This classic synthesizer module samples its input when it receives a logic signal and holds this value until it receives the next logic signal Typically the input of a sample amp hold module is connected to the noise source and generates a random sequence which 42 Bit Quantizer Off 11 9 7 5 Bits 83 43 Classic Sample amp Hold 44 Chorus Ensemble 84 Chapter 5 The Modules is usually applied to oscillator pitch In the old days when oscillators weren t exactly stable the result was often called sample amp drift lt Of course you don t need to restrict yourself to noise input interesting arpeggio like effects can be achieved using other waveform inputs Load AudioSnH This patch has four modes selected by knob 4 It illustrates two modules sample amp hold modes 1 and 2 and the note quantizer modes 3 and 4 w
87. ini global module will then gen erate internal clock This option has a huge advantage over a You can use the sync output as a clock gen erator it sends a gate signal at the begin ning of each beat This is a handy fea ture when you want to automatically transpose by a sec ond sequencer A minor irritation the tempo of the internal system clock cannot be controlled by a knob or M DI control ler too bad 111 112 Chapter 6 Advanced Features simple clock generator you can use it to synchronize several slots All you have to do is connect the reset inputs of all se quencers in all slots to the sync output of the M n global module and youre ready to roll Programming Song Patterns and Variations Although the sequencer modules don t recognize song positions or arrangement lists you can program several dif ferent sequencer lines each with its own note event and control sequencers and use a switch module to switch between them by a M n controller gt You can often produce interesting variations on a theme by simply switching between two rows of an event sequencer as shown here Experiments Hopefully what you ve done thus far will inspire you to experiment You can do so much more with the Modular than just clone an analog sequencer construct a chord auto mation or trigger a few drums Would you care to find out what other fantastic stuff you can do with logic modules
88. intosh on the Modular the System button and then Synth MIDI Before splits and velo switches are Mip1 enabled you have to assign a common Mip1 channel Synth Settings is the place to do it Setting Split and Velocity Zone 1 Load the following four patches to Slots 1 through 4 respectively SplitLoL to 1 SplitLoH to 2 SplitUpLv to 3 gt SplitUpHW to 4 On the Modular press all slot buttons simultaneously Try the setup out on a keyboard Programming Keyboard and Velocity Zones i eee El Two velocity switchable patches are assigned to the lower and the other two to the upper half of the keyboard The split point is C3 60 the velocity threshold is 70 Press the slot buttons to work your way through the patches and edit each individually Voices Portamento Requested Normal Time Pe see e Current Get current notes Bend Range Keyboard Range Velocity Range Semitones Max g Max g B Min 5 Min s Layer In the Modular playing several patches simultaneously is extremely easy load the patches to the slots Then press the desired slot buttons simultaneously you will hear all of the sounds at the same time If not check out the settings for Internal Keyboard and Mini If all four slots are active and you want to deactivate this combination of sounds again press all four slot buttons at the same time Multimode When you want to use the Modular in a MmI1 system you will generally
89. is from the Editor by selecting each slot loading the patch from your hard drive or the CD Rom 5 If you are using the keyboard model of the Modular shift the key board one octave down and play the lowest key C Now shift the keyboard back up one octave to the center range 6 If you are using an external keyboard play MIDI note 36 the C two below middle C on channel 2 With any luck you should now be hearing drums bass and a pulsating etherial pad All we need is a soloist that would be you 7 Play a burning solo on Mip channel 4 using MIDI notes 48 C below middle C and above On the Modular don t worry about the chan nel just keep the keyboard set to the middle or higher range gt Tip The bass line is drawn from the C pentatonic scale with the pos sible substitution of EO for E and the possible addition of BD To change the root go back to steps 5 and 6 and play another note in the C2 to B2 range Take a moment to look at the four patches The easiest way to bring a slot and its patch to the top is to either select it in the Editor s toolbar or on the Modular s front panel Patch 14a in Slot A is the drum patch It uses a pattern generator to apply a pitch pattern 16 384 to choose from to a steady stream of 16th notes Keyboard splitters route the notes to one of three drum synths Patch 14b in Slot B is the bass synth It passes a random sequence of 16th notes through a Key Quantizer to force __ Key
90. itial pan to full right you will get left right panning Bear in mind that the shape of the envelope also affects what panning you hear If you want you can compare your results to Kit04 Installing LFos Now let s install the LFos To avoid confusion we ll draft a short routing plan for the Lros before we install them This is fairly easy we just have to define the modulation targets for each LFo Lro1 Osc1 Pwo Osc1 Freq Osc2 Freq LFo2 Osc2 Pwo Osc2 Freq Filter Pan Drag two LFos into the patch 1 Position an LFO A above Osc1 2 Position an LFo Slave A above Filter Env 3 Name the two LFos gt LFo1 lt and gt LFo2 lt respectively Installing LFos gt gt Drag a master cable from the Slv output of LFo1 to the Mst input of LFO2 We save 0 6 Cpu usage by making the second LFo a slave This may not seem like much but it adds up and there is no real sacrifice mak ing the second Lro a slave we can still adjust its frequency arbitrarily relative to the master You can use a slave LFO by itself in which case viewing the readout in Hertz click it if necessary gives the correct frequency There s no real mystery about what the Mst input to an LFo or audio oscillator does if you patch a constant module into it you ll hear that each step in value transposes the oscillator s frequency to the next partial Negative values have the same effect on frequency but reverse the phase of the output wavefor
91. ix Fitter Enw Filter Enw Fitter Enw Filter Enw Freq coa Level 3 Attack Decay Sustain Release Of Qs Qe Mi Qs Qin Morph LFO1 Volume Volume volume volume group 2 Rate Attack Decay Sustain Release Ga e Ga ALl ae a e Qe Qe Qs Qn Qs Qa Gh La Your synthesizer is finished and ready to roll gt Kit09 lt con tains an example of one of the many sounds it can generate A few more sounds are stored under Exp01 lt through gt 05 lt Try and figure out how these are programmed and which minor changes we made to create them Enjoy 20 Exp01 SyncBass Sync Cable from Osc2 to 1 21 Exp02 DynoPad Attack Release Times by Morph Grp 1 to Velocity 22 Exp03 VeloWire FM from Osc1 to Osc2 by Morph to Velocity 23 Exp04 Pwmorph Lro Rate by Morph 1 to KeyTrack 24 Exp05 NegaBass_ Filter Env Switched to Negative Polarity Installing LFos You can find the init patch for this synthesizer in gt KitInit lt 1 2 Now it s your turn you could fill an entire soundbank with just this synth model Keep in mind that you can change not only the parameters but also the modules cables morphs and knob assignments in every patch Creating Sounds without a Computer Shut your computer down and give it a shot using just the knob panel MicroModular users can skip to the next sec tion gt gt Here are a few tricks that should make it easier for you When you press the Edit bu
92. kground noise level in the signal Oscillator 166 This component generates the audio signals in a synthesizer its pitch can be modulated Glossary Overdrive Distortion effect that simulates an overloaded tube Panorama Position of the audio signal in the stereo picture Partial Technically a partial refers to any component i e sine wave in the fre quency spectrum of a signal In our context it refers to the harmonic lt partials those whose frequencies are integer multiples of the fundamental Patch A storable configuration of modules cables and settings in the Modu lar A patch can comprise several sounds Performances Combination of sounds or patches The performance parameters are usually split zones M D channels or program change numbers Phaser A signal processor in this case a module that changes usually by 180 the phase of some frequency while leaving others unchanged Typically the affected frequencies are spread across the spectrum and modulated by an Lro When mixed with the original signal varying phase cancellations result adding motion to the sound Pitch The element of the sound determined by the frequency of the vibration The greater the frequency the higher the pitch Poly Voice Area PvA The part of a Modular patch in which each module is duplicated for each voice This is the upper section of the Editor window Polyphony The number of voices in a syn
93. lators as cutoff modulators Use Lros or envelopes as gate generators gt Try out the patches Weird1 lt through Weird5 lt In each of these patches we used at least one module for something for which it wasn t originally designed gt Try to figure out which module we abused and how we abused it Try building your own simple but gt eccentric lt patches Use primarily unfamiliar modules the less you know about their purpose the better You ll soon figure out what they do Shortcuts Central Pitch Knob If you want to pitch or transpose an entire sound you don t have to program a morph to the coarse parameters of all os cillators This option a great one for the more indolent among us works just as well 1 Replace all but one of the oscillators with slaves 2 Assign the coarse parameter of the master to a knob Now when you change the coarse tuning of the master all the slaves will follow its lead Shortcuts 3 If you slave LFos to the master oscillator you can also change the LFO rate by this knob Note that the Lro will track the oscillator five octaves lower Using a Control Mixer Input as an Additional Knob A mixer input that does not have a cable routed to it does absolutely nothing you can turn the knob until Doomsday but nothing will happen Without an input signal there s not much to control If you connect a constant free of Dsp charge to this input you can use the kn
94. ll actually determine how the signals are routed If you decide to stick with this basic setup and design your output modules accordingly you ll find that it is a fair com promise between uniformity and versatility gt Tip Since the Modular can process incoming audio and is also capable of playing four patches at once you have the option of using two of the outputs typically 3 and 4 to route the output of a synth patch to the input of a processing patch You might want to keep a short pair of patch cords handy for this purpose gt Note The MicroModular has only two outputs so the options out lined here don t really apply Simply connect its outs to your mixing console or audio monitoring system Check the audio connection by one of the internal patches you won t need the Editor software for this purpose to an External Signal Source You can connect all kinds of signal sources to the two audio in jacks a Cp player tape deck synthesizer including the Modular itself sampler or similar device The incoming sig nal is routed from the AudioIn module and on to the Modular sound engine where you can do all kinds of wicked things to it While reading this book you might want to connect a Cp 21 If you want to find out if your monitor is flickerfree position yourself at your regu lar viewing distance and glance past the screen 22 Chapter 2 Unpacking and Getting Started player to process some of the e
95. ll of the cables visible Now you can divine the motives of the original s designers take one look at this mess and you can see why they hid the cables What this tells us is that the copying of a hardwired synthesizer by a Modular system is a complex endeavor it exacts a high price in terms of clarity requires a horde of helper modules and the final result is not what you might call transparent Hide all of the cables The modules in this patch are positioned so that when the cables are hidden from view they imitate the Nord Lead front panel This creates a situation where some cables run smack dab through the middle of your screen If you have a hard time tracing a cable drag the module as close as possible to the source of the cable and press eme 135 136 Chapter 8 Analyzing Patches Helper Modules If you want to accurately duplicate the front panel of a syn thesizer helper modules such as gain controllers control mixers switches and all of those other humble modules that toil away for you in total anonymity are bound to get in the way Besides you shouldn t tamper with these anyway In this patch all of these programmer s little helpers are indicated by the prefix gt lt and are bunched at the bottom left hand of the patch If you discover a switch or knob on the synthesizer that doesn t have a counterpart directly on a module then you have to reconstruct it by several helper modules The f
96. lope module Connect the audio output of a synthesizer or tape track to the audio input of the Modular If the source in 2 supports MIDI clock set up M n clock synchroniza tion for the event sequencer including start stop control Now you can chop up drumloops vocals or synthesizer strings in sync with the song If you want to hear the whole thing in stereo simply use two Apsrs Drum Machine If you connect the drumkit that we used above with two event sequencers you ll come up with a hip analog drum machine that you can also hook up to your Mipi sequencer We ll give you three guesses as to how you can create drum patterns The Modular as a Performance Synth The Modular seems a home studio enthusiast s dream come true the privacy of your own studio a cozy atmosphere where you can experiment create patches and compose songs into the wee hours It is also popular in the academic arena where professors and instructors use the Modular as a medium to convey sound synthesis theory in their semi nars tutorials etc In these situations there s plenty of time to adapt the Mod ular to a new song a different mixer routing setup or MIDI configuration Don t be fooled In contrast to the cumbersome image the name invokes the Modular is a first class extremely versa tile and easy to handle sequencing synthesizer for studio productions as well as live performances This chapter will demonstrate how you ca
97. m Connecting the LFos Drag a blue control cable from the output of LFo1 to gt the pulse width input of Osc1 from there on to the left pitch input of Osc1 and on to the left pitch input of Osc 2 LFO1 Mono Phase o TO ae Rate ZEA SaO F Tong Osc1 Freq Coarse Fine KBT Zo PWidth cals ey 3 Using a gt seriak cable chain produces the same results as connecting separate parallel cables from the LFo to each of these inputs The advantage of a cable chain is that the diagram on your screen appears less cluttered Cable Chain 55 56 Chapter 4 Designing a Synthesizer Now drag a control cable from the output of LFo2 to the pulse width input of Osc2 from there on to the second pitch input of Osc2 and drag a new cable from the Lro2 output to the second frequency input on the filter b gt If cables obscure your view of modules or their names you can shake them a bit Press and hold on the Macintosh Every time you hit 5 a helping virtual hand shakes the cables up Alternately you can use the S button next to the colored gt visible cable lt buttons on the Toolbar You can also load this semi complete synthesizer as gt Kit05 lt gt Ifyou play the patch you will notice a conspicuous absence of LFoing This is because all the mod input controls are turned down season to taste Pitch Envelope A few more details and our house is finishe
98. n audio system you need four M n cables and at least one but no more than four audio cable s For a detailed description please consult the manual The follow ing section is a condensed version just in case you are abso lutely determined to try out your new Modular immediately and we are unable to persuade you to read the detailed instructions in the manual first to a Computer The M n ports labeled gt Pc lt are located on the rear panel of the Modular These are used exclusively for communication 19 20 Chapter 2 Unpacking and Getting Started with the Editor software on the computer No matter what you are up to with the Modular directly or in the computer s Editor the data is continuously compared and updated to match the current status at both ends So be sure you always connect both inputs and outputs at the Modular and your computer to allow for this constant communication gt Note Ifyou want to run your sequencer software and the Modular Editor on the same computer you ll need a MIDI interface equipped with several ports or a second add on MIDI interface at the computer end The Editor and the sequencer must be routed by separate MIDI circuits To find out if your M n interface can handle SysEx data use the M Tester you ll find it was installed to the same direc tory as the Modular Editor This program is self explanatory but be sure to hook up the Modular and power it up before you start t
99. n configure the Modular as a M n sound generator for a sequencer or mas ter keyboard and quickly adapt it to new situations when you re pressed for time Synth and Patch Settings Both the Modular except the MicroModular and the Editor feature settings named Synth and Patch There are some dif ferences that you should be aware of Synth settings apply to the entire Modular In this menu you can determine tuning panel and M n settings for the four slots These settings pertain to all patches As the name implies Patch settings apply to an individual patch You can create different versions of the same 115 116 Chapter 7 The Modular as a Performance Synth patch for example split and full range versions or ver sions with different numbers of voices Programming Keyboard and Velocity Zones You can pre program a keyboard zone and a velocity zone for each patch The zones are saved along with the patch Using a combination of several slots you can implement up to four splits and sound changes by velocity switches Before you can get started with splits and velocity switches you have to pre configure the Modular Synth set tings as follows Internal Keyboard Keyboard mode in Synth Settings must be set to Selected Slots so that you can play velocity switches and splits on the Modular keyboard The Synth settings are located in the Edi tor as well as in the Modular In the Editor press on the Mac
100. n knobs Control any of the parameters even those not assigned to knobs using the navigator buttons and data wheel Edit and save all the global and patch system settings 15 16 Chapter 1 A Few Basics Worth Knowing gt Example As soon as you have finished building a Nord Lead in the Editor and programmed the appropriate knob assignments you can unplug your computer take your Modular to a comfortable location such as your bed and program hundreds of sounds without the bene fit of a computer You can also remotely control the Editor software from the Modular using the knobs navigator buttons and value wheel so you don t have to deal with the mouse and keyboard For instance you can set the Modular on a master keyboard place the screen at a convenient location in the immediate proximity and work solely from the Modular As a musician you will presumably prefer a studio type atmosphere rather than a sterile office environment Even without a computer the Modular is still more versatile than most hardware synthesizers Patches and Models In this book you ll repeatedly come across the terms gt patch lt and model lt So you won t have any trouble distinguishing between the two here s a brief explanation the term model refers to the actual synthesizer the modules and their con nections and a patch is a specific setting on one of these synths gt Example You decide to build a Modular copy o
101. n of voices in the slots The only thing you can do is assign less voices to a slot than it has by default Simply enter a lower value for the voices parameter in the Editor or under Patch in the System menu The gt extra lt voices are then distributed among the other slots The Modular assigns them automatically as soon as you deactivate a slot the display will indicate that in one second the voices will be re assigned Whenever I press a key the previous notes played sound even though everything seems in order with the envelope This phenomenon occurs when several voices are assigned to a patch and the envelope is triggered by the keyboard gate module Replace the keyboard gate module with the keyboard voice module to take care of this problem Clock Problems Clock Problems The sequencers in different patches are out of sync If you are operating several sequencers simultaneously on several slots and you want to synchronize these you have to link their clock rates to the global M n clock The manual features a section where this procedure is described in detail A sequencer refuses to run Normally a sequencer runs through a particular sequence once only in response to a gate signal If you want it to run indefinitely you have to activate the Cycle symbol If you want to reset the sequencer every time you play a key route a gate cable from the keyboard module to the Rst input of the sequencer Tuning Problem
102. nd M n controller assign ments when you are cooking up Modular patches you ll be able to control the majority of the Modular patch parameters remotely via Nord Lead Environment Logic e Mixer Map Cubase for the Nord Lead Nord Lead CC Nord Lead Parameter Modular Parameter Module 7 Gain Output Level 5 Porta Time Portamento Time 19 LFo1 Rate 20 Lrol Waveform 21 LFo1 Destination 22 Amount 23 LFO2 Rate 24 Destination 25 Amount 26 Pitch Mod Envelope Attack Ad Env Attack 27 Decay Ad Env Decay 28 Destination 1 4 Switch Output 29 Amount 1 4 Switch Input Gain 30 Osc1 Waveform Osc1 Waveform 31 Osc2 Waveform Osc2 Waveform 78 Osc2 Semitones Osc Coarse 33 Osc2 Fine Tune Osc Fine 70 Oscillator Fm Depth Osc FM Input Gain Input 34 Osc2 Key Tracking Osc KBT 79 Oscillator Pulse Width Osc PulseWidth Nord Controller Table FE Modular CC Nord Lead Parameter Module Parameter 35 Oscillator Sync Switch On Off 8 Oscillator Mix Xfade Xfade 73 Amplifier Envelope Attack ADSR Env Attack 36 Decay ADSR Env Decay 37 Sustain ADSR Env Sustain 72 Release ADSR Env Release 38 Filter Envelope Attack ADSR Env Attack 39 Decay ADSR Env Decay 40 Sustain ADSR Env Sustain 41 Release ADSR Env Release 44 Filter Mode Filter Mode Switch 74 Cutoff 42 Resonance 43 Envelope Cutoff Amount Input Gain 45 Velocity Constant
103. nd M n controller pat terns Using Mm clock you can even run the sequencers in sync with external sequencers or a tape machine equipped with a synchronizer Load gt Patch 12 lt This patch does not generate any sound just yet Take a quick look at the modules involved Add a Sequencer The upper row is a simple bass synthesizer Below it you can see three different sequencer modules A clock generator is located at the bottom gt Rotate Knob 1 clockwise i e fully up The Modular plays a rhythmic sequence that you can trans pose from the keyboard This is how it works Knob 1 is assigned to the On Off switch of the clock gener ator As soon as you turn the knob up the sequence starts although it doesn t sound too riveting just yet Your M n key board modulates the sequence through the automatic con nection between it and the Bass Osc module indicated by the KBT button Make sure all the cable colors are visible and notice that there are only red yellow and green cables at this point The red cables are the audio path the oscillator passes through the filter and amplifier envelope to the output The yellow cables carry the clock pulses to the three sequencers but the note and control sequencers are not con nected to anything so only the event sequencer has any effect at this point Actually EventSeq1 is two event sequenc ers in one but only the top one is being used it triggers the amp
104. ned and the pitch can be mod ulated individually 58 Enhanced Dx 125 126 Chapter 8 Analyzing Patches The operator lt envelopes in the Modular are separate i e not combined with the oscillators There are also similarities which aren t immediately appar ent The Op2 detune value gt 14 1 lt is equivalent to the ratio gt 14 00 lt in the Dx In Op5 in the Modular key tracking is deactivated which is essentially the same as Fixed Frequency mode in the Dx You don t need to be Nostradamus to predict the outcome of one operator modulating another but it helps Algorithm A standard Dx piano setup consists of three chains OP1 and Op2 generate the chiming attack sound Op3 4 and Op5 6 are usually programmed by identical settings although they re mutually detuned We have the luxury of refining the metallic elements of the sound by Op5 6 simply because we can achieve detuning by other methods In the modular a modulator must always consist of two modules an oscillator and an envelope whereas in the Dx it is always a single unit The cable configuration shouldn t be too perplexing the output of an FM modulator Ops 2 4 6 wanders through an envelope and then on to modulate the carrier Chorus The soft dark sound of an e piano is generated by the duo Op3 4 the frequency ratio of 1 1 tells us that much The sound is thin and dull so we routed it through a chorus Its rate parame
105. nerator 69 module 83 Re connecting cables 32 Recording Monitor 108 Retrigger 72 Rhythmic Structures 109 Ring Modulator 86 S S amp H 83 Sample amp Hold 83 Sequencer refuses to run 145 Event 109 programming 106 synchronizing slots 111 synchronizing by Mip1 110 Setting values 34 setup exe 22 Shake 29 Signal processor 102 Signal Shaper 85 Single trigger 151 Slave 30 39 65 153 Slot 44 Dsr power 144 Smooth 87 Song Patterns 112 Song Variations 112 Split 116 Index in a patch 117 mode for knobs 157 Stereo Chorus 84 Sync oscillator 66 Synth settings 115 T Tips and Tricks 147 Trigger 12 30 Multi and Single 151 Tuning problems 145 V Values setting 34 Velocity 57 switch 116 switch in a patch 117 zones 116 adjusting range to keyboard 150 Morphing 99 VocalFilter 77 Vocoder 77 Voices 143 W WaveWrapper 72 82 W zoo online support 139 X X Fade 80 177 WWW Wizoo com Now available in an updated edition The definitive guide for everyone who owns or is interested in the Modular unpacking and configuration getting started computer tips introductory tutorial virtual synthesizer assembly instruction advanced tips on audio sequencing morphs and midi survey of models FAQs tips and tricks Plus preprogrammed patches and audio examples on CD ROM QLL TERNA N a wa Including a CD ROM Audio Windows Macintosh with audio and patch examples More
106. ng controller values conforming to the usual oscillator waveform patterns pulse sawtooth triangle and sine As hinted above the Modular s LFos can operate at audio frequencies the difference is that they use the controller sample rate of 24kHz rather than the audio sample rate of 96kHz Therefore the audio quality is lower In some cases this is unnoticeable and in others it might be just the gritti ness you re looking for 1 Load the patch OscLFo and play a few notes You re hearing OscA play a standard sawtooth waveform 2 Press the 2 lt button on the switch Osc vs LFO and play again 67 If you re wondering what the deal is with the yellow logic cable to the LFo s Rst input wonder no more It connects the key board gate to the reset input of the LFO so that an LFo oscilla tion is re triggered every time you hit a key 28 Lro Pwm 68 Chapter 5 The Modules This time you re hearing the LFo not as nice or twice as nice Try the same comparison with the other waveforms For the sine and triangle waveforms with few harmonics there is little difference but with the harmonic rich wave forms you can hear a significant difference Although you can also use them as audio signals or logic signals the Lro signals in the Modular are normally used as control signals The gt LroTest lt patch features the essential Lro effects Run through them to hear what they do 1 Use Knob 1 to select any of the di
107. nob 2 It switches the event sequencer from gt Trig lt to Gate lt Instead of two notes the two sequential steps are interpreted as a sin gle note with twice the duration Triggering Sequences If the sequencer is not set to Loop mode it will cycle once only when it receives a reset signal This lets you pre pro gram sequences of notes or beats There s no rule against say pre programming an arpeggio and triggering it by pressing a key Random note sequences are also possible Easier done than said simply click on the Rnd button in the note sequencer or assign the function to a knob Unfortunately you can t assign a knob to this function but there s a next best thing use a clocked random step generator and route it through a note quantizer so that the note sequences remain at the tempered pitch The note quantizer will also allow you to control the range and note intervals used in the random sequence Load RndSe for a look at what we mean 54 Event Sequencer 1 Trigger 2 Gate 109 55 Knob Sequencer with Step by Step Activation Go on it ll be fun guaranteed 110 Chapter 6 Advanced Features Dive Right In 1 Load SeqKnobs Don t be alarmed by what you re looking at there s nothing hidden away in this patch that you can t analyze on your own This should bring out the explorer in you put on the Sher lock Holmes outfit and try to figure out what s going on in
108. not applicable to the MicroModular Unlimited Versatility Unlimited Versatility Currently the Modular is certainly the most versatile synthe sizer featuring analog sound synthesis In essence you can use it to gt build lt a custom synth designed specifically for whatever purposes you have in mind However the Modular is limited to a degree you can only achieve sounds by analog synthesis FM and modulation In other words it can only do almost anything You can patch in samples by the audio input only and alas no digital waveshapes But with a healthy dose of imagination and a modicum of sound design skills you can come up with some pretty impressive stuff for instance an additive synthesizer or a real Hammond with Leslie What Can You Do without a Computer On the first glance it seems that the Modular always needs your computer as a remote control lt However if you take a look at the front panel and fiddle with the control features youll soon see that you can achieve quite a bit In fact you can do everything except install and connect modules and assign controllers and morphs Specifically you can Store patches Since you have the option of storing patches in the computer and Modular we highly recom mend that you do so Why Better safe than sorry Control any of the assigned synthesizer parameters with the eighteen front panel knobs Guess how many of today s synthesizers are equipped with eightee
109. ntrol signals it s kind of like a control signal portamento lt You might use it for example when deriving a trigger or gate signal from the signal peaks of an external and therefore hardly predict able audio signal 87 45 NoteScaler with LFO 88 Chapter 5 The Modules Portamenti There are two portamento modules with slightly different purposes gt PortamentoA lt is turned on off by a logic signal at its On lt input while PortamentoB lt is turned off on by a logic signal at its Jump lt input Load gt Porta Knob 1 switches portamento on off and also switches between two portamento effects normal portamento and legato lt portamento Normal portamento is turned on when the knob passes the half way position legato portamento is turned on when the knob passes the three quarters position Legato portamento operates only while some note is being held when notes are played staccato no portamento occurs gt Notice that the on off switch has no input when used in this way the output switches between 0 and 64 gt The KeyboardPatch module is used to gate the PortamentoB module This gate output stays high as long as any notes are being held and falls to zero when all are released Each leading edge i e transition from low to hi causes PortamentoB to jump to the current input con trol value Control Mixer Although you can use mixers from the Mixer section to mix control signals this m
110. o the various control inputs of the other mod ules We ll show one example of a fairly flexible multiple routing which gives each LFo three possible uses Although many of the modules have multiple control inputs for the same thing oscillator pitch or filter freq for example others like pan have only one To apply multiple controls to these modules we need a control mixer Select a control mixer from the Ctrl Mod group and position it just above the panning module Connect its output with the control input Env Filter Mixer ale ee bazia 53 54 Chapter 4 Designing a Synthesizer of the panning module and turn the input knob all the way up Later you will control the actual modulation at the mixer Name the mod ule Pan Control Routing the Filter Envelope to the Pan Module Drag a control cable from the blue control output of the filter enve lope to the first input of the pan control module Turn the input knob at the mixer Play the Modular and you will notice some right to left pan ning happening for each note This may not be as extreme as you would expect The reason is that the change caused by the envelope is starting from the initial pan center position rotate the initial pan knob full left and you will notice the change You may also be wondering why it s right to left The envelope applies a gt positive lt change to the pan position if you click the control mixer s Inv button and rotate the in
111. o this example Here are some examples of sounds you can get from this model without any additional modules or cabling just from changing the parameters on the modules A Vocoder sound that can be played and modulated dynamically A Happy friendly pad e A wiry sound that mimics a the snap of a single coil pickup An exceptionally dynamic synthbrass sound These sounds were programmed with the Nord Lead 3 lt model and are in part more complex than normal Nord Lead sounds Let s take a look at the model Load NL3 The Panel You can have a ball building a duplicate lt of a compact inter nally hardwired synthesizer in the Modular Obviously you can t nail down the exact tonal qualities of your favorite vin tage synth with just a few oscillator and filter models but then again at least you can store the model and control it by MIDI Inevitably you ll run into challenging obstacles in the Modular for instance 63 RobotVoice 64 ChorusPad 65 Pickup 66 SynthBrass 133 Chapter 8 Analyzing Patches if the original is equipped with an oscillator such as the legendary Prophet V that can generate and mix sawtooth pulse and triangle waves simultaneously LFO1 i oo ema 7 i i Rate X rs T F AORTA 7 ANEA A LFO 1 Amount w smD s me e paame ma al 2 eee ae O TE e EEA iO Slv a Hr I ethers Co Ae ov when you have too many controllable modulation sou
112. ob constructively it now adds an offset which is some proportion of the constant value Patching In a Knob To gt splice lt an amount lt knob into a cable use a gain control ler and a constant module Connect the output of the con stant module to the control input of the gain controller and patch this setup into the circuit Coarse oe KBT PWidth g Q Q eA z ee ie 149 150 Chapter 10 Tips and Tricks Patching In a Control through an Envelope Remember that envelopes are MEM DA not just made for audio signals fiFoEw You can pass any thing through Ea GP anos oy an envelope to contour its ef fect on Here an LrFo is passed pigf_ pitch rma through an Ap envelope before Dea 2 modulating an oscillator s pitch This provides a contoured vibrato Switching Off Flashing LEDs Constantly flashing Leps can be an annoying distraction after a while especially when your computer is relatively slow or you re dealing with a patch chock full of sequencers and clocks To put a lid on the Vegas vibe go to the Synth Settings on the Synth menu and uncheck the Leps active checkbox Adjusting the Velocity Range to Mipi Keyboards We ll use the Dx7 as an example for all those unfriendly key boards that do not send the entire velocity range of 0 to 127 The first Dx7 miser that it is only sends in the range of 0 99 You can adapt the Modular to it by going to Synth Set tings on
113. obser vation kind of makes a statement about the sound quality and versatility of this type of modular synthesizer doesn t it Load the patch B3 lt and play around with it for a while Try out the knobs they let you register the entire organ and control the Leslie 59 Knob Mod ulation Examples 127 Chapter 8 Analyzing Patches Drawbars 4 Detune Fine 135 Detune Fine 7 AM FMA AM FMA AM FE ES Fe er Ye ND iD CS ols EIS sip SDS Q re Partials p aa Partials lt gt Mo sw a 2 Mj 223 Detune Fine Ema A 113 Detune Fine Ema AM AJ E AM Detune Fine Mst Mst mere 7 i CY wy asd oQ upajo ES wo Partials l Mo 2 Detune Fine 1 EMA am AJ Detune Fine Mst EYEE Partials lt p Partis ae Hen o0 10 Q 0 Q 0 0 0 0 eQ 20 Q 9 0 Drawbar Sum 0A 20 2 202 Oy 20 2 OD The nine drawbars of the traditional Hammond organ are fairly easy to imitate by nine sine oscillators Only the first 16 of these is a master the others are all subjugated to sla very to save Dsp power 60 Drawbars only These nine drawbars are patched to the mixer modules gt 16 5 1 3 lt gt 4 2 lt and gt 1 3 5 1 lt where they are mixed down The knobs of the mixer modules also act as drawbars the top and bottom row Modular knobs are assigned to the drawhbars check the Knob Floater The master signal is cre ated in the Drawbar Sum mixer r 31 s rma am AU 513 Detune Fine Mst 8 1 Mst BEIE Ag tae
114. odule is much cheaper and adds a few control specific twists including inversion and linear expo nential options Note Scaler Note Quantizer and Partial Generator These modules all affect control inputs related to notes and are primarily intended for pitch processing The NoteScaler module scales the incoming control signals so that its total range is equivalent to the number of preset semi notes Control Modifiers The NoteQuant module is in a sense the opposite of the note scaler it spreads incoming control signals out to spe cific note intervals The note interval is set with the Notes buttons The Range setting works exactly like the note scaler In fact if you set the note interval to gt Off lt the note quantizer acts exactly like the note scaler but it s more expensive so use the note scaler when it will do the job The Partial generator is kind of like the note quantizer except it quantizes the incoming control signal to values which produce partials of the fundamental pitch i e 12 19 24 28 etc semitones Load gt CtrilNotes lt Knob 1 chooses the input constant use the knob keyboard or a sawtooth Lro Note the inverter shifter after the LFo Knob 4 controls the output note scaler note quantizer par tial generator or raw input Key Quantizer The KeyQuant module is a basic scale corrector it quantizes incoming control values typically notes to the pitch classes lt chosen using its b
115. ollow ing modules are good examples for you to get some practice with these LFo1 2 Destination Sync EnvDepth bipol All modules Modifications You probably noticed that the synthesizer is lacking a few features Now that you know everything that you need to know you can let your sense of adventure run rampant The following modifications in the Nord Lead 3 are your finals for this chapter If you manage to deal with these tasks you pass with flying colors So go ahead and jump right in Assign the knobs Come up with some sort of scheme first though You ll have to be choosy about the parameters you don t want to assign obscure stuff to the eighteen knobs when you can use them much more effectively e Portamento isn t on the menu add a helping see page 88 Nord Lead 3 The Nord Lead arpeggiator does not have a counterpart in the Modular Build a step sequencer that is able to gen erate as a minimum transposable octave patterns Ensure that it is Mni controllable switchable That leaves us with noise you shouldn t have any trouble with this fairly simple function Sounds Galore You may have been too busy to notice but you can in all seri ousness fill an entire patch bank using the NL3 model with out changing a single module or re connecting even one cable In the introduction to this book we touched on the differ ence between a patch and a model It may not have meant m
116. or s AM input the thing to remember is that the ring modulator can have anything as a carrier input e g external audio 86 Chapter 5 The Modules module with control signals the control signal mixer module will also invert control signals and at a lower cost Load gt Audiolnv lt Here two sync d oscillators are crossfaded while one of their signals is inverted Careful adjustment of the crossfade amount knob 1 will cause the second oscillator harmonics knob 2 to be cancelled from the first oscillator s output Compressor Expander The compressor and expander modules operate exactly like outboard audio compressors and expanders with which you are no doubt familiar In the next section we ll see how to use the expander as a noise gate Ring Modulator The ring modulator actually provides a continuous crossfade from no modulation through amplitude modulation AM to ring modulation Without going into the details ring modula tion differs from Am in suppressing the carrier Load AudioRngMod Knob 1 assigned to Morph Group 1 switches between three effects the ring modulator AM using an oscillator s Am input and FM using an oscillator s FMa input Notice that Fm pro duces many more gt sidebandsx than Am and ring modulation which only produce two sidebands for each sine wave com ponent Knob 2 assigned to Morph Group 2 controls two things the Am to Rm crossfade of the ring modulator and
117. or patches with an audio in feed oth erwise the audio in signal is duplicated and the signal will suffer phase cancella tions 103 50 WahWah Chorus with Drumloop Input Signal 104 Chapter 6 Advanced Features ter to trigger the Modular envelopes or manipulate sound shaping elements by M n controller If you don t own an audio sequencer but you do have a sampler you can control the sampler and the Modular by Mip1 Even with just a sampler you have more sound manip ulation options than Bill Gates has Deutsch Marks The only limitation the Modular processes signals routed into its audio input monophonically i e if you send a grand piano sound from your sampler to the Modular rather than one fil ter per voice you only have a maximum of two for the stereo signal Stereo Multi effects Device With two separate inputs and four outputs the Modular can emulate two MDI as well as real time controllable stereo effects devices simultaneously You ll have to agree that this facility is a blast when compared to conventional peripheral devices Load gt StMex lt In this patch the left signal circuit has an auto wah configu ration Pipe a guitar or vocal track through this input and make that baby cry For the stereo chorus we used the right audio in as the mono send and outputs 1 2 as the stereo outs Leslie Load gt StLeslie lt Sounds fairly decent doesn t it Unless you happen to be an elect
118. ot B located at the bottom right of the Modular front panel Setting Values The Modular offers a variety of options for setting parameter values either by mouse or directly on the Modular We ll dial in a lower Pwo rate so that the bottom end of the patch doesn t sound quite so out of tune You ve probably figured out how to turn a knob However there is a hidden option for setting values very precisely 1 2 Click on the big button below the Rate display in the LFO You ll find a field up down arrows on the Macintosh located below the button When you click on this field you can set the value in individual steps This feature is particularly handy when you are tuning oscillators and we recommend that you use it for this purpose The E keys on your computer keyboard have the same function Go to the Modular and press the Edit button located below the dis play It shows the value of the currently selected parameter You can change the value by rotating the value dial Selecting Parameters and Modules With the mouse this task is a piece of cake simply click on a parameter hold the mouse button down and rotate the knob in the usual manner You can also roam around the patch and edit it on the Modular itself or by your computer keyboard When you are working directly on the Modular always press Epit first Use the Modular Left Right keys to move from parameter to parameter within a module
119. otice the slight change in the patching Hardcore Experiments Of course if you really want to you can pull out all the stops with this sequencer For instance you could e Assign a knob to each step in the NoteSequencer just like in the vintage original that inspired this sequencer Control the cutoff frequency resonance and decay time by M n controllers or by knobs as in the example above Add an Lro as in Patch 13a to control timbre and reso nance Add a second voice a 5th higher and add some output processing in the Cva as in Patch 13b Notice that both 15 Sequencer with Tone Color Modulation 16 Growing Bass Line You can also synchro nize the sequencer by M n More on this subject in section Synchronizing Sev eral Sequencers to MIDk on page 111 43 MicroModular own ers should skip to Chapter 4 44 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes the audio and the Lro output are passed from the Pva to the Cva Copying Modules In the editor you can copy and paste groups of modules either within the same patch or between patches This is especially convenient if you want to duplicate part of one patch in another e g the entire sequencer setup or the oscillator filter configuration It is also a handy way of quick ly creating another module of a type you already have in the patch gt When you copy amp paste a group of modules all cables which stay within the group are also
120. ou create here will apply to the mix of all audio outputs this is a good place for effects processing and it uses much less processing power for multi voice patches Loading a Patch Select the item Open from the Editor File menu Find the directory Patch Examples and in it the directory Tutorial The patches are numbered in sequence of the tutorial 1 Open Patch 01 and select Slot A O1 Data Track 2 As soon as you have finished loading a patch the LeD A at the Modu Bee onedivalidie lar will illuminate A stripped down configuration for the patch has already 02 Preset been prepared so you don t have to start completely from scratch You should definitely be able to hear a sound when you play a note Oscillator ic sav Pitch _ Pitch Env E CQeQeQe QD Ben Level Classic LP filter LFO fo foe Eg FoF Rate ie a Mix Bus Destination 172 Baeva m L R Note Gate vem Pe On your screen you should see a stripped down synthesizer with the following configuration Oscillator LFo Filter with an envelope module below it 27 You can give the module any name but we recommend that you use a term that makes some kind of statement about what it does It should be something you can remember and has some rele vance to its function aie Jamm Js 28 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes Volume envelope module Output and ke
121. ound oscillators play kick tom and clap sounds Lros and compare modules control the pattern See if you can figure out the logic behind the patterns Note that a footswitch patched into the Modular s Sustain Pedal jack can be used to change the pattern by resetting the master LFo Summary You ve now had a look at all the module groups except the Sequencer group which we ll examine in detail in the next section This might be a good time to spend some time experimenting on your own building some patches with the modules discussed in this section In the next chapter we ll look at some of the more advanced features of the Modular 47 Compare Generated Drum Patterns 93 6 Advanced Features Now that you ve had a good long look at the modules in this chapter we ll turn our attention to some of the more hard core stuff morphing drumkits audio in and sequencing These are all functions that you probably won t need when you begin exploring the Modular You might even be a little dubious about trying them out and if so your wariness is entirely understandable After all there aren t too many among us who can program a morph or construct a se quencer from scratch at the drop of a hat This chapter is designed to make it easy for you to learn the hard stuff Of all the fun you can have with the Modular the advanced functions might give you the biggest kick Besides here s your chance to prove that in terms
122. out a gate signal or run a sequencer without a clock signal Master Signals The Modular system has a limited amount of DsP power available So the designers decided to integrate slave ver sions of several oscillators and LFo modules which soak up less power These slaves should generally be connected to the Slv output of a master module although slaves will gener ate a fixed pitch i e can only be set by the panel knobs out put without being connected to a master Master signals are irrelevant to modules that are not being used as slaves Drawing Cables Drawing Cables Setting Cable Options Take a look at the item entitled Editor Options in the Proper ties menu Here you can set the width curve and appearance of the cables Our recommendation Curved Thin although the illustrations in this book use Curved 3D for better visibil ity Connecting Cables gt In the Modular the round jacks are the outputs and the square jacks are the inputs The envelope module for the filter envelope hasn t been con nected to the filter yet So we ll go ahead and take care of that right quick lt Click on the blue output jack of the Filter Env module hold the left mouse button down and drag a cable to the bottom blue round Freg input of the filter module as shown You probably noticed that the LP Filter Classic LP filter cable has the correct color it s e ia or gm A ue Smart huh On release o min
123. out the versa tility of this device for all intents and purposes a single Modular model will give you the same thrill not to mention all the options and features as you would get by buying a brand new synthe sizer 49 Voices REM lt CEM 50 Chapter 4 Designing a Synthesizer Pouring the Foundation lt Following the obligatory house building analogy we will start with a very basic foundation First we ll pour the con crete lt one oscillator one envelope and one output This is the most minimal stripped down configuration you can set up which still allows you to play notes 1 Load the patch gt WizInit into Slot A 2 Inthe Toolbar set the number of requested voices to 1 This is the R setting which is the only one you can change The C setting displays the actual number of allocated voices i e the number of voices that fit into the Modular s RAM 3 Drag an Osc A module to a position below the keyboard module and drop it 4 Place an ADsr envelope to its right w Place a stereo output module below the ADSR 6 Route an audio cable from the oscillator to the ADSR input and from there on to the L input of the output module Drag another cable from the L input to the R input i e left and right outputs are the same Of course before you can play any notes the envelope requires a gate signal You ve probably figured out how to route this signal on your own but for the recor
124. oys and girls at Clavia inte You can assign any patch parameter to any MIDI controller Keep in mind that you can only assign a single parameter to each controller How ever there is a way around this using the Morph knobs more later 35 You can assign just one parameter to each knob and vice versa 36 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes grated a couple of helpful tools which we will take a closer look at in the following section and in Chapter 6 Assigning Functions to Knobs You are free to assign any function to any knob There are two ways to go about this task On the Modular not possible on the MicroModular 1 Select a parameter 2 At the Modular press and hold the AssiGN button down it is located below and to the right of the display 3 Turn the knob to which you want to assign the parameter That s all there is to it From the Editor 1 Click on a parameter by the right mouse button 2 Select a knob from the Knob flip menu In both cases the green LED located next to the knob will illuminate so a quick glance tells you which knobs have already been assigned Assigning Several Functions to One Knob There is an exception to the one function one knob rule At times you may have the urge to use a knob for more complex tasks where it has an influence on several parameters simul taneously The Modular gives you this option you can even program a knob so that each parame
125. patch Programming Sequences You can enter the desired sequence of notes by mouse MIDI keyboard or Modular panel Our tip The Modular is the way to go Use the cursor button to move the cursor to the first step turn the value knob to determine the pitch move to the next step by the cursor and so forth You can let the sequencer run while you re perform ing these rather rudimentary programming gymnastics This is a great method when you re creating e music or techno styles Since you re entering everything step by step without actually playing you won t find yourself falling back on old habits and reeling off standard lines 53 gt Minimal Sequencer 107 ej a 108 Chapter 6 Advanced Features Recording Sequences If you find a particularly compelling melody has just popped into your head and you want to get it gt in the box lt as soon as possible you can play it in the conventional manner and record it In the upper right corner are four buttons From top to bottom they are Record Run Stop and Step forward Step back When the record button is on pressed in each incom ing note will set one sequencer step and advance to the next The arrow buttons at the bottom allow you to move forward and back through the sequence steps The run stop starts and stops the sequencer when it is receiving clock pulses but it does not affect the record position so you can hear the sequence play while entering notes step by
126. pe Wrapper 72 Chapter 5 The Modules Chord Trigger No one passed a law that envelopes have to be triggered by a keyboard gate although this is the most conventional approach You can also use sequencers LFos or any other module capable of generating logic signals Load the gt EnvGate patch In this patch you ll see two modules you haven t dealt with yet the clock generator and event sequencer The former generates logic signals at each beat and the latter generates a logic signal at each On lt step in its sequence The volume envelope is controlled by the keyboard gate in the usual manner The filter envelope is triggered by the top row of the event generator the PwM envelope by the bottom row gt Notice that all three AD envelopes are in gt trigger lt mode This relieves you from having to sustain the chords try playing staccato Envelope Roller coaster You can also use the wavewrapper module in the audio mod group for envelopes This is another example of tossing the rule book out the window and gt abusing lt components to come up with some happening results Load gt EnvWrap lt Knob 1 controls how often the envelope is wrapped The effect gets even wilder when you turn up Knob 2 so that the envelope actually modulates the wrapper Retrigger Have a look at the Retrig input on the Apsr envelope This is a logic input that can be used to restart an envelope while it is already gated on
127. please be patient with us our crew handles up to several hundred questions on peak days No Sound bear with us when we are unable to give you a compre hensive solution to a particular problem in these cases we ll forward your email to the manufacturer s hotline Try to keep these items in mind when you are dropping us a line and we should be able to help you out Not much to ask in return for a free of charge service is it No Sound This is the most frequent problem associated with synthesiz ers and in the Modular the fault has a dozen or more poten tial causes If you follow this check list in the proper sequence you shouldn t have any trouble identifying the problem Audio and MIDI Are the volume knobs on the Modular Len s favorite mis take mixer and power amp turned up Incorrect mute switch solo source selector settings on the mixer Did you connect your cables to audio in rather than audio out Did you reverse the Mipi in and out or computer and Mm slot connections Did you load the patch to Local rather than to a Modular slot Panel Did you select an empty slot No patch loaded Every time you select a patch you must press the Load button to activate it Every mistake looks incredibly foolish when someone else makes it We certainly don t mean to insult your intelligence but even gear gurus sometimes make glar ing mistakes So before you invest in a sledgehammer
128. produce digital gt distortion lt effects and hence are not normally associated with modular synthesiz ers The quantizer scales the level not the time axis of the input signal in increments that increase as the bit number decreases The diode either throws away the negative part of the waveform i e all negative samples or flips it positive The digitizer is a combination of quantizer and downsam pler it resamples the incoming wave at the chosen sam pling rate and bit resolution With a high sampling rate its effect is nearly identical to the quantizer You can use any of these effects on control signals as well as audio Load the AudioDIGk Patch Audio Mod Use knob 1 to switch between the three effects Knob 2 sets the bit quantizer s bit rate knob 3 selects the diode mode and knobs 4 and 5 set the digitizer s sampling and bit rates respectively The input waveshape is a sine wave so you can hear the effects in the form of overtones The chart below shows the number of steps at different bit resolutions for the quantizer and digitizer bit rate settings Bit Steps J Bit Steps Bit Steps 1 On Off 2 7 Mio 128 13 8 192 2 4 8 256 14 16 384 3 8 9 512 15 32 768 4 16 10 1 024 f 16 65 536 5 32 11 2 048 20 1 048 576 6 64 12 4 096 24 Modular 16 777 216 Delay The delay module has a maximum delay time of 2 65ms So it isn t very useful in the standard sense but as mentioned above
129. r The display indicates the memory slot that you selected and the name of the patch that is currently stored there 4 Choose a slot with a patch you can do without using the value dial Press Store again that s it you ve just saved your patch in the Modu lar You can also accomplish this by choosing Save in Synth from the Editor s Patch menu Panning If at some point you forget to store a patch on your computer or if you just want to edit a Modular patch at your computer you can simply upload it from the Modular 1 Select the patch at the Modular 2 Select Upload Active Slot from the Synth menu the patch is retrieved from the Modular and displayed on your screen gt If you turn on Auto Upload in the setup options the Editor will auto matically load any patch you select on the Modular Panning Since we ve used a stereo output module with this synth we might as well add panning Select the panning module from the mixer group and place it between the volume envelope and the stereo out Connect the requi site cables input from the volume envelope and outputs to the ste reo outs The existence of the control input labeled Pan on the panning mod ule may suggest some possibilities to you especially the fact that it s red Installing a Modulation Mixer Our synthesizer could do with a couple of LFos so we ll add two of them to the patch There are many ways you could route the LFos t
130. r and you ll hear the cat Notice the effect of turning the threshold up higher Now play with the other top row knobs to see their effect Gater Load gt StSequ lt You can rhythmically gt chop up lt an external audio signal in the Modular create stereo panning and generate backwards effects gt We used an internal clock generator for this patch We ll show you how to synchronize it to Mipi clock in the following section on sequencers 51 Cat in the Wind Knob Parameter 1 Threshold 4 Attack Time 7 Hold Time 10 Decay Time 52 Trigger Signal 105 106 Chapter 6 Advanced Features In this example the stereo input signal is routed by two separate channels Each signal runs through an ADSR enve lope Each envelope is triggered by a dedicated row of event sequencers This type of setup is great for ping pong effects galore gt Notice that the top row knobs control both envelopes ADSR para meters using the four morphs As above we ve put this effects processer entirely in the Cva so you can use it as is with an external audio signal or copy build a patch in the Pva and process that Building and Programming Sequencers The Modular doesn t absolutely require a keyboard or other external controller It is equipped with a series of sequencer modules so you can run the Modular autonomously You can link up to four sequencers with a maximum of sixteen steps each and use the
131. rably right after you ve finished creating them Use names that have a direct connotation to what a given module does The default names are helpful but when you re dealing with a pile of modules something like ApsREnv1 or Quantizer4 will not ring any bells If you stick with the module s purpose or function something similar to Filter Env or Glissando rather than a type description you ll find it easier to identify If You Have Trouble Understanding a Patch it may be because the patch designer didn t put much effort into arranging and naming the modules First hide all cables Now make the red audio cables visible and try to trace the audio sig nal path Usually it will originate at an oscillator at the top left hand of the patch and terminate in an output module 155 156 Chapter 10 Tips and Tricks 3 Hide the red cables and make the blue cables visible to try to figure out the controller setup 4 Try to order the chaos in the patch Group the modules in a logical array an oscillator section filter section and sequencer section Buddy up the related components drag the envelope next to the fil ter the pitch LFo to the oscillator and so forth 5 Straighten out the gt viper s nest of cables by the strange but effective feature Shake Cables e 5 and name as many modules as possible with more descriptive terms 6 If you still can t figure out what the patch is all about simply play it enjo
132. rammed to Morph Group 1 for volume but added velocity cables from the individual keys and zones for added effect with each sound e Kick percussion oscillator envelope amplitude Snare percussion oscillator and noise envelope ampli tudes HiHats drum synth velocity input The Modular as a High end Signal Processor Like every true modular synthesizer the Modular is equipped with an audio input You can use this input to route external audio sources such as other keyboards a mixing desk effects sends Cp player and even the Modular s out puts into the Modular and pipe their respective signals through other modules typically filters and audio effects What at first may look like a novelty is actually an inge nious feature it lets you use the Modular as a high end sig nal processor If you spend any time at all in a studio you ll find the conventional effects and the really bizarre stuff that the Modular delivers are not only a great recording tool but can also be an inspiration when you re stuck for ideas The Modular s signal processor gt personality lt wears a lot of hats compressor noise gate mix automation chorus Leslie effects and so forth All you have to do is route it into the The Modular as a High end Signal Processor appropriate channel by an insert or aux circuit just as you would any other signal processor A Two in One Device For example you could reserve Modular Outputs 3 and 4 and
133. rce you to move out all of your furniture and your mate so you can make space for it you don t need a truck to transport it and its pitch stability will add years to your life expectancy Software updates add new modules to your setup for free and without ever having to touch a hardware tool Obviously the Modular has a lot more to offer but you ll see hear and experience more of its advantages as we explore other topics in this book 2 Unpacking and Getting Started You re probably raring to go but a word of advice before you install the Modular or even continue reading this book take a look at the included user s manual Miraculously it s actu ally complete and well written We managed to keep this book as brief as it is by concen trating on the exciting stuff and leaving the boring bits out We were free to make use of this option but the author of a user s manual has to cover all contingencies The object of a manual is to plod through the functions one by one as pre cisely as possible Surely not the most intuitive manner for gaining knowledge of and experience with a device such as the Modular but this book should cover the gt hands on lt and practical we call it fun stuff to your liking Take the time to familiarize yourself with the manual it complements this book perfectly and vice versa Connecting the Modular Expediently To connect the Modular to a computer Mipr keyboard sequencer and a
134. rces and destinations In the Modular you ll end up creating a nightmarish cable configuration gt The boys and girls at Clavia were obviously pretty impressed with the Sequential Circuits Prophet V and Moog Minimoog because in terms of sound they certainly captured some of the spirit of these legends in the Nord Lead and Modular Not to be disregarded is the influence of the Oberheim Roland and Arp dinosaurs which the Modular can also copy quite admirably If you happen to own one of these synthe sizers or even just the documentation take a shot at emulating it Panel Layout Take a very close look at the panel of the Nord Lead 3 in the Modular Editor The layout and functions imitate the original and just like in the original you don t see any cables 134 Nord Lead 3 This Nord Lead 3 lt model does feature some goodies that are an improvement over the Nord Lead and its successors Pulse width is independent for both oscillators LrFos are completely independent and feature five wave shapes each A selection of four modulation destinations is available for each LFo Keyboard tracking is a viable option for all modules by morphs and in some cases installed directly Integrated stereo chorus e Four simultaneous morphs velocity mod wheel key scal ing expression Cabling Let s take a closer look at the wondrous conduits that chan nel the lifeblood of this synth s sounds Make a
135. rd and Velocity Zones 116 Programming Performances Externally 118 Controlling Sound Parameters Remotely by M n 119 8 Analyzing Patches Additive Synthesis 121 Fm Operators 124 Enhanced Dx 125 Drawbar Organ with Leslie 127 Mini Lead Synth 132 Nord Lead 3 133 9 Faq and Help Wizoo Online Support 139 No Sound 141 Level Problems 142 Questions Regarding Dsp and Voices 143 Clock Problems 145 Tuning Problems 145 Editor induced Headaches 146 10 Tips and Tricks Breaking with Conventions 147 Shortcuts 148 Poly and Mono 151 Phaser Flanger Chorus 152 Conserving Dsp Power 152 More Insight Less Clutter 155 Assigning and Labeling Knobs 156 Storing and Managing Patches 158 10 Table of Contents Appendix Cp Rom Table of Contents 161 Glossary 164 Knob Table 169 Nord Controller Table 170 Index Differences Between the Macintosh and Pc Editors There are few differences between the two versions other than the visual appearance of the editors When there is a significant difference we will point it out in the text One dif ference which we will not repeatedly point out is that there is no gt right mouse lt button on the Macintosh Tasks which call for this button on the Pc can be accomplished on the Macin tosh by holding while clicking the mouse button Tip if you have a multi button mouse configure one of the buttons for this combo Another difference is that 7 key on the Pc corre
136. right mouse button 80 Chapter 5 The Modules X Fade Pan Although it might not be apparent at first glance the X fade module routes two signals to a single output and the pan module routes one signal to two outputs The X fade module is a good alternative to a mixer when you want to mix two audio signals e g oscillators We rec ommend that you use it because it lets you determine the mix by a single knob so you don t have to deal with a morph group The two Fade modules behave differently than the X fade module For these modules the center 12 0 clock position is full off and moving the knob to either side fades in the corre sponding input output They are also not remote controlla ble Think of them as switches with a pot added Switch Modules You can use the on off module to cut off a connection between two components For example say you want to use oscillator sync Drag the cable from the sync oscillator to the slave by one of these buttons Normally you ll use the 4 1 switch to select modulation sources For instance you could patch this module into the oscillator pitch input and switch between the LFo envelope random module and velocity The 1 4 switch offers a special feature it can be controlled by a modulation source The best example of this type of application is a velocity switch Simply route velocity to the modulation input four different sounds to the audio inputs and switch between these by
137. ronic engineer with your own design workshop this is presumably the first effects device you can custom build from scratch The Leslie you re hearing is discussed in sec tion gt Leslie lt on page 130 It is one of the main features used for Hammond simulations In this patch we simply jetti soned the sound generating section and dropped in an Noise Gate AudioIn module instead Use the soft pedal Mrp1 controller 67 to turn it on off and use an expression pedal M n con troller 11 to set the maximum rotation speed Noise Gate We briefly touched on the compressor and expander mod ules in the last section The expander features a gate mode which makes it perfect as a noise gate Load NoizGato Typically you would use a noise gate on an external audio signal so we ve put it in the Common Voice Area of the patch and included an unused audio input module for your conve nience In order to demonstrate the patch we ve created our own noisy signal in the Pva you might think of it as a cat caught in a windstorm The idea of course is to gate out the wind while keeping the cat There s nothing we can do about the noise when the cat is speaking lt but we can get rid of it the rest of the time Use the top row knobs as indicated in the table to control the noise gating Without pressing any keys on the Modular keyboard tweak knob 1 until the noise just disappears Then play any note pitch doesn t matte
138. ront panel control features If this book is your first introduction to the Modular and you haven t read the manual this chapter will key you in on all the essentials On the other hand if you are already famil iar with the Modular you ll surely find a trick or two that you haven t come across before To follow the experiments in this chapter and apply them as we move along ensure the Editor and Modular are installed completely and are ready to roll Audio Examples The included Cp features an audio example for almost each section of the book You can play this part of the Cb Rom on a conventional Cp player However we recommend that you use a Cp player control panel on your computer since this allows easy parallel use of patches and audio examples gt The first audio track on the CD is a data set up track which does not contain any audio This will show up as gt Track 1 lt on most commercial 25 26 Chapter 3 Around the World in 80 Minutes Cp players and we have started our numbering of the audio examples accordingly the first example is labeled gt Track 2 If you play the audio CD in your computer s CD ROM drive the data set up track may not show up as an audio track at all In this case numbers in the text are off by 1 e g select Track 1 lt when the text refers to gt Track 2 lt etc As you work your way through this book in many sections you will see a reference to the appropriate track on the Cp
139. s 1 Set all oscillator KBT parameters correctly If it s a knob center it by clicking the green triangle above it If it s a switch then be sure it s pushed in Ensure all slaves are connected to a master Double click on all green triangles located above the Fine parameters Is the pitch input at the oscillator turned up Are you using a note scaler Did you accidentally turn a knob Simply reload the patch YAn AWN Are you using an oscillator to modulate itself Use another oscillator to modulate the first one These errors are a great deal easier to find in the patches simply take a close look at the oscillator modules 145 Don t panic in most cases the problem is minor 146 Chapter 9 FAQ and Help Editor induced Headaches The Editor is unable to establish a connection with the Mod ular 1 If everything is in order check if a M D cable came loose 2 Switch the Modular off and back on again re start the Editor 3 Try rebooting your computer Editor Alarm Lost Connection to Modular In this case the Modular most likely has crashed Although the software in the computer and the Modular runs in an extremely stable fashion it is impossible for the program mers to test every conceivable configuration of modules cables slots and M p equipment Serious errors are highly unlikely but theoretically possible If you should ever encounter this type of situation you can still save the
140. s Doepfer and Technosaurus for instance began offering totally analog synths albeit in very small quantities These new gt dinosaurs lt were no less unwieldy expensive and lacking in storage capacity than the dinosaurs they were modeled after The rest of the music world remained ambivalent about modular synthesizers until mid 1997 when Clavia an nounced that the Modular was gt in the works lt It is the first hybrid device to combine the versatility and sound of an ana log modular system with the miniature dimensions storage capability and Mrpr functionality of a digital synthesizer Modular Models The Modular comes in three gt flavors Keyboard Rack and MicroModular The Keyboard and Rack versions are identical except of course for the keyboard and both can be expanded from the standard four Dsp slots to eight which basically doubles the polyphony Both can be multi timbral on up to four M n channels Both have eighteen user programmable front panel knobs The MicroModular is fully compatible with its bigger brothers but has only one Dsp slot three user programmable knobs and is not multi timbral Depending on the size of the patch it will play up to four voices and it fully supports the editor and all modules It also processes external audio like the Keyboard and Rack gt When we refer to Slot A in the text MicroModular owners should use their only slot B Examples which use the other slots B C and D are
141. s directly to the envelope parameters we recommend that you use the morph functions which allow you to control several parameters simultaneously set the modulation range You can also modify the rates of the Mop and AnD envelopes based on other parts of the patch by using their modulation inputs For example you can use the output of the keyboard module to modulate the decay and release times and the sus tain level of acoustic instruments piano guitar on higher pitched notes Load Patch gt EnvKs lt Notice as you play up the keyboard that the notes decay faster Extending Envelopes You can set up more complex envelopes by piling them on top of one another a procedure called cascading However the process does take some time and effort to get the timing just right The patch gt EnvXtnd lt cascades two Multi lt envelopes to control the pitch of the whistle created by passing noise through a resonant band pass filter The gt Keyboard lt sends a gate to the first envelope named gt Start lt and to the pulse delay module named gt Delay lt After the delay time the pulse delay module sends the gate to the second envelope named gt End Each envelope controls the frequency of the filter i e the pitch of the whistle while the AnD envelope named VolEnv controls the volume contour of the entire sound 32 Key Scaling 33 Envelope Noise Whistle 71 34 Chord Trigger 35 Envelo
142. save patches in the Modular not performances In other words you can t change the patch split and Mmi settings of all slots simultaneously at the touch of a button But this limitation applies only to the Modular directly The everything at the touch of a button option is possible with a little external help Although you could program a setup in Controlling Sound Parameters Remotely by MID the Modular that approximates this function you ll find that the external method is much easier In the Modular you always need two memory locations with different settings in the Patch window to alternate between split and full versions of a Modular patch If you own an external M n patchbay that enables key board and velocity zones and can also send program changes then this is definitely the preferred alternative Of course you can also get the job done by a workstation or master keyboard provided there are enough performance memory locations with at least four zones available Set the zone parameters on the external device In the Modular all you have to do is save each patch once kick back relax and let the diverse performances do the patch activation work for you Controlling Sound Parameters Remotely by MIDI You can assign almost any parameter on any module to a M n controller The possibilities are virtually infinite here are a few examples Rotary knobs can be controlled by a sequencer or master keyboard if the
143. set up a sizable drum map you ll need a note detector for each note but since they use 0 0 Dsp your real problem will be with the other modules for each voice Note splitters are used for the snare and closed hihat sounds Although these use a little Dsp they are the best way to assign key zones which make two finger rolls easier typ ically you d want this with a closed hat and snare The Sounds We used several methods to get the percussion sounds The kick drum uses a single percussion oscillator which provides its own amplitude envelope decay only as well as adding click and punch elements to the basic sine wave produced by the oscillator The snare sound also uses a percussion oscilla tor with enveloped noise added for the rattle of the snares Both the hihats use drum synth modules At 12 Dsp these are expensive but still the most economical way to get con vincing cymbal sounds The drum synth module comes with thirty presets covering kick snare cymbal and percussion sounds These make a good starting point from which to tweak that perfect drum sound They combine two sine wave 101 49 Drumkit 102 Chapter 6 Advanced Features oscillators noise and click generators with enveloped filters and pitch bend envelopes quite a lot in a small package Velocity Without velocity you ll have a hard time playing a drumkit unless you prefer M n controller programming Here we ve used our Sop velocity is prog
144. signal hold Sequencer A module that steps through a series of signals called a sequence Slot A synthesizer within a synthesizer in the Modular Each slot can take one patch Split In this context the term refers to a keyboard split which describes the assignment of specific sounds to an area of the keyboard Sync 1 Oscillator sync is an effect created by the interaction of two oscillators whereby the waveform of one is forced to restart each time the other s is In this case syncing oscillator will control the pitch 2 Short for Syn chronization or synchronization signal Trigger In a synthesizer trigger usually starts an envelope Velocity The speed at which a key is depressed this corresponds to the dynam ics with which the player plays WIzoo gt gt http www wizoo com X Fade A process akin to mixing in which one signal is reduced a k a faded while another is increased 168 Knob Table Knob Table You can enter knob assignments to this table This may not be as elegant as a display on the knob panel but is still fairly effective when you don t have a computer monitor handy The table is designed to fit onto the space right to the Mod ular keyboard My tip copy the blank template Stick the table to the panel or archive all of the tables for the diverse patches in a ring binder i Parameter Parameter 169 170 Appendix Nord Controller Table If you adhere to these parameter a
145. sound which is a vast improvement over using the noise signal directly Overdrive In earlier versions of the modu lar we had to resort to unadul terated trickery to simulate the B3 Leslie overdrive Now with the Modular s warm overdrive module all we need to do is add a little mor phing and a high pass filter to achieve the same thing The morphing brings the overdrive in with the Leslie and peels off some of the bottom of the signal at the same time 61 Overdrive only 129 130 Chapter 8 Analyzing Patches Leslie Wi Ga mmg fr This part of the setup is truly hardcore The Leslie sound is derived from the composite signal of a bunch of modules that were painstakingly micro tuned so that when added up deliver a decent Leslie sound Accurate electronic Leslie sim ulation is generally regarded as a higher form of art so you can imagine what it takes to squeeze something convincing out of a purely modular synthesizer We ve put the Leslie in the Cva to save a bunch of Dsp This nearly doubles the number of voices to seven fifteen on an expanded modular Bear in mind that a real B3 only has one Leslie not one for each voice We ve also taken the opportunity to gt kick it up lt 6dB for a free bit of punch that comes along with the PolyAreaIn module Here are the blocks The rotation originates in the two Lros BassRotor and HornRotor which as the names might lead you to
146. sponds to the key on the Macintosh except when making multiple selections in which case use the Gai 1 A Few Basics Worth Knowing We re not going to delve into an in depth history of modular synthesizers but there are a few basics you should be aware of and a couple of helpful as well as interesting facts on the Modular that are well worth knowing Synth History 101 Robert Moog unveiled the first synthesizer prototype in August of 1964 This was before Peter s time but I can tell you the immediate response was well things have advanced a bit since then With the advantage of hindsight we can certainly say Rob ert Moog set a standard that prevails to this day and is reflected in synthesizers such as the Modular Modular design and voltage control Vc of parameters An early predecessor in spirit to the Modular 11 Modular on the inside small on the outside Robert Moog s bestseller 12 Chapter 1 A Few Basics Worth Knowing Back in the good old days sound was generated exclusively by a modular system the oscillator Vco generated the ini tial wave the filter VcF shaped the sound of the wave and the amplifier Vca controlled its gain and volume Of course there had to be some method of controlling all these sonic events The most significant element was the key board which supplied the trigger a kind of trigger and hold voltage called a gate and a control voltage These very basic feat
147. t exclusive or lt and means gt at least one but not both Load gt GTrgLog lt This patch uses two pulse wave LFos a logic inverter and a logic processor to gate three oscillator envelopes The top oscillator s envelope is gated directly by the pulse Lro The second oscillator s envelope is gated by the inverted pulse from this same Lro i e these two oscillators alternate pro ducing the typical police horn pattern The pings are pro duced by the percussion oscillator at the bottom Remember this oscillator has its own built in envelope A second pulse LFo is combined with the output of the first using the logic processor Knob 1 changes between the AND OR and XoR processes listen to the ping pattern and see if you can fig ure out what is going on Compare Modules There are two compare modules one for comparing an input labeled gt A lt with a constant set with the module s knob and the other to compare two inputs labeled gt A lt and B lt The modules generate a positive edge i e a gt gate on lt when input A is greater than or equal to the compared value con Summary stant or input B They generate a negative edge i e a gt gate off lt when input A falls below the compared value Here s a little spot quiz to test your logical reasoning faculties Load gt GTrgComp lt The patch generates the sound automatically but knob 18 mutes up and unmutes down the output Three drum s
148. t grab lt the signal at some other point in the patch gt The hassle free method of replacing a module is to position the replacement next to the original double click and drag the cables over to your new found friend and send the old one back to module limbo Serious Words of Wisdom Once you have gt purged lt your patch of all of those insatiable gluttons go back through it again You re sure to squeeze out at least another 5 More Serious Words of Wisdom Use the Common Voice Area whenever possible The Cva does not replicate its modules for each voice For example a Vocoder module in the Pva takes up half a Dsp slot for each More Insight Less Clutter voice whereas in the Cva it takes up half a Dsp slot for the whole patch In many cases you ll need polyphonic processing but in others take our monster Leslie simulation for example you not only don t need it it s unrealistic More Insight Less Clutter Here are a few handy tips on handling and managing a patch so you won t be totally mystified by it when you take a look at it a few weeks down the line Take notes on the patch especially when you have to store an unfinished patch I don t know about you but when I jot down a few observations on paper and leave the note lying around my desk it always disappears into some hardcopy Hell The Notes Floater on the Tools menu is a much friendlier environment for your notes Name the modules prefe
149. t you ve had an initial look at the most important functions of the Modular you can move on to the next chap ter where you ll build a complete synthesizer and take an in depth look at the modules 4 Designing a Synthesizer In this chapter we ll take you through the process of design ing a complete synthesizer in the Modular from choosing the modules to setting up the controls necessary for a finished playable instrument You will build a simple but fully functional analog synthe sizer and play it control it by M p and use it to create sounds For this chapter you can use two slots in the Modular one for your patches the other for the examples prepared for you gt You can compare your patches with the examples to monitor if you are on the right track Create your patches in Slot A and load the examples to Slot B Our Objective The synthesizer we are aiming for is an eight voice poly phonic analog synth with the following features e Two oscillators with variable waveshapes envelope sync mixer and noise Two LFos A multi mode Lp Bp Hp Br filter with a dedicated enve lope Amplitude envelope Velocity Real time control by M n controllers Comprehensive front panel knob assignments Examples for this chapter are located in the Synthkit folder You ll be able to use this model to create a virtually infinite num ber of patches We re not kidding when we talk ab
150. takes to get a feel for the many things filters can do Try out different resonance slope and filter modes to hear how these parameters affect the sound Filters Needless to say the dynamic and vocal filters are the biggest Cpu gt hogs lt with the Vocoder weighing in at a hefty 49 At 18 the FilterBank is no lightweight either As with the oscil lators and Lros always choose the most economical way to do the job Little Detour Filtering and Delay Many books can and have been devoted to the subject of fil tering but one thing to keep in mind is that there is a strong relationship between delays and filters You can get an inkling why by remembering that any com plex wave can be analyzed as a sum of sine waves of differ ent frequency phase and amplitude Now consider what happens to the individual sine components when you mix a slightly delayed version of the complex wave with the origi nal some of the sine wave components will be enhanced and others will be attenuated some to the point of complete cancellation For an example load the patch gt FiltDly lt The moral of the story is consider using modulated cascaded delay lines for unique filtering effects Filtering Modulation Signals It might not be obvious but you can use filters for more than just conventional audio signals Modulation signals can also do with some filtering For instance you could do wicked things to the sound of an FM or ring modulation b
151. ted via a MID line The frequency at which a filter will start attenuating signals it can be modulated Delay A time parameter An event is initiated after this predetermined amount of time Digitizer A module that gt resamples lt an incoming audio signal at a different bit resolution and sample rate This module is frequently used to introduce distortion by downgrading the signal DsP Envelope Short for Digital Signal Processor a computer component designed specifically for processing audio signals An envelope is used to modulate a sound shaping component within a given time frame so that the sound is changed in some manner Envelope Follower A device in this case a module that generates an envelope control sig nal by gt following lt the amplitude of an incoming audio signal Event Sequencer A step sequencer that generates logical pulses at specified steps Expansion Board Optional plug in that doubles the processing power of the Modular FAQS Short for Frequently Asked Questions Filter An audio processor in this case a module that affects the amplitude of different frequencies in different ways gt Low Pass High Pass Band Pass Band Reject Filter Bank An institution where you can deposit your filters with little or no com pensation Flanger Delay effect much like a chorus The effect signal is routed back to the input feedback to create the typical swirlin
152. ter Chorus is also influenced by velocity heavy attack wider sound The chorus is routed to the first stereo output module Op1 2 and Op3 4 into the second This setup Drawbar Organ with Leslie saves us from adding at least two mixers to the configura tion gt Whenever you want to route several sounds within a patch to the ste reo master try to make a habit of using several output modules rather than power grabbing audio mixers Velocity and Tracking Velocity is implemented in Morph Group 1 key tracking in Morph Group 2 Observe the knob colors or press 7 to find out which parameters are influenced by velocity and key board as well as how they re influenced Knobs A couple of knobs already have assignments choose a few more parameters that you would like to control directly by the panel Dx7 owners will envy you no end Drawbar Organ with Leslie The patch B3 lt inspired by the legendary behemoth by Hammond is a complete simulation of an electromagnetic organ with a Leslie cabinet At its heart it is just another additive model but we think you ll agree it presents a num ber of interesting twists and turns This is by far the most complicated of our example patches so we ll dedicate a great deal more visual and aural analysis to it Remarkably the Modular sounds better than many organ clones featuring sound generation systems designed specifi cally for the purpose of emulating a Hammond This
153. ter is influenced to a different degree This function is called gt Morphing lt We ll take a closer look at these in the section Morphing lt on page 95 simply because these functions are interesting enough to deserve and complicated enough to require in depth treatment Assigning Real time Knobs Viewing Knob Assignments Load gt Patch 03b lt In this patch the knobs have already been assigned to para meters If you want to check out if a specific parameter is assigned to a knob press a and see if a knob number appears Alter natively on the knob assignment menu click on the knob with the right mouse button the assigned knob if any has a black dot next to it If you want to view the assignments for all knobs Select the Knob Floater option from the Tools menu or simply press with on the Macintosh Ose 1 Freq coa MD 2 Ose 1 LP Fitter Freq fine Resonan o a W 4 i 10 13 Ose 1 Ose 1 Fitter Env Filter Enw Filter Enw KBT Pulse wd Attack Decay Sustain are x e ao Q 5 Qi Qin ig LFO Volume Volume volume Rate Attack Decay Sustain DW 2 S is Qi Os ae ES 1 a In the Knob Floater each of the eighteen knobs is labeled with the name of the parameter to which it is assigned just like on the front panel of a synthesizer LP Filter Frequen a gt 2 LP Filter Freq MA 2 f lel Filter Enw Release a 2 2 fiz Volume
154. the cable end at the filter module and hold the mouse button down 2 Drag the pointer to the new input and release the mouse button You have just re connected the cable at another location If you are now looking at two cables then you clicked on the cable just once rather than twice This function actually extends the cable Delete the cables and try again Setting Parameters and Navigating Setting Up Controllers Load gt Patch 02 You should come up with basically the same results as for Patch 01 with a few minor differences the controller input for the blue cable is turned up a bit at the filter module and the filter cutoff resonance and envelope are set in a way that ensures that the filter envelope is clearly audible Now it s time to have some fun Setting Parameters and Navigating Fl Experiment as much as you like with the settings so that you get a feel When you are experi for how the different parameters interact Select another waveshape menting with filter in the oscillator vary the envelopes and fiddle with the filter para and envelope para meters meters note how the small graphical dis Time to jump into the deep end and see how well you swim plays in the modules i mirror your modifica 1 Load Patch 02 again HORS 2 Establish the same cable connections as we did in the previous exper iment for the filter patch a cable from the LFo output to an oscillator pitch input and dial in a slight vibr
155. the filter More on this topic in the next chapter Conversely some sounds suddenly register a significant drop off in level when you patch a filter into the signal path In most cases the reason for this phenomenon is that the gain correction Gc is activated automatically Switch it off but make sure that the signal doesn t distort Questions Regarding Dsp and Voices If necessary lower the level of the signal before you route it through a filter As a rule to obtain the best possible signal level you should turn the output knob of the Modular well up and adjust the input gain controls at your mixing console accordingly Undoubtedly the low noise levels and excel lent frequency response of the Modular are hard to beat but why not exploit all the headroom that you can You want the signal level at the audio in to be as powerful and as stable as possible so you should patch a limiter in between your signal source and the audio input jack The audio in is an analog digital converter These little beasts have an extremely ornery nature and react fairly viciously to even minor spikes that exceed the maximum level Any annoying clipping is usually due to these impulse peaks With a limiter you can route in a high level signal and still avoid distortion This type of device is especially benefi cial when you are dealing with extremely dynamic sound sources vocals acoustic instruments etc Questions Regarding Dsp an
156. the lowest knob assignments from the patch knobs assignments 1 to 6 for slots A and B and knob assignments 1 to 3 for slots C and D For our four patches the upper left knob of each section controls the volume The knob below it has some effect on the pattern and the remaining knobs have some effect on the timbre of the sound For the bass section the middle knobs control major minor third and minor 7th in out respectively There is a limitation to using the four slots simultaneously you can t save a four patch configuration as a performance Audio Processing Consequently if you want to have immediate access to a group of sounds at any time for instance four sequencer lines that belong together we recommend that you program these to a single patch Audio Processing In the above example we used each of the four slots for a separate musical part i e we used them in parallel The slots can also be used in series with one slot processing the output from another To follow this example you will need a short patch chord Load Patches 15a and 15b into Slots A and B respectively 2 Ensure that both and only Slots A and B are active using the buttons on the Modular or in the Editor s Toolbar 3 Take the patch chord and cable it from the Modular s 3 output back to its left audio input Play the Modular and you will hear a complex Fm waveform playing through some sort of moving filtration Here s what s h
157. thesizer Each voice of the Modular con tains a duplicate of every module in the patch Each voice generates one note Portamento Pulse Continuous gliding from one tone to another also referred to as glide A signal typically used to gate a process such as an envelope Its value will instantly change from 0 to 64 where it will be held for a while the pulse width lt before returning to a value of 0 PWM Short for Pulse Width Modulation Quantize The effect of rounding or truncating incoming values to specific incre mental values The process can be applied to audio or control level sig nals For example an LFO signal could be quantized to derive a note sequence and an audio signal could be quantized to reduce its gt bit rate lt Resonance Ring Modulator A frequency at which a material object will vibrate In a filter with vari able resonance a signal will be accentuated at the cutoff frequency Resonance lends the filter a clearer more gt electronic sound A particular form of amplitude modulation in which the gt carrier lt fre quency is cancelled and only the generated sidebands remain Routing In this context the term describes the path of a signal 167 Appendix Sample amp Hold Basically all the S amp H function does is check out sample an input when it receives a signal and routes this value to its output until it receives the next incoming
158. this scheme the three most important variations are assigned to the first three knobs so you have immediate access to them even when the patch is assigned to Slot 3 or 4 in Split mode 157 158 Chapter 10 Tips and Tricks strips and label these with the names of your standard knobs If you can manage to place a strip over the entire breadth of the knob section six knobs it won t be as likely to slip e Adhesive tape I think we can skip an in depth descrip tion just make sure you use the kind that doesn t leave a trail of gummy residue when you pull it off Color Printout of a Patch It s no bad idea when you can view a patch even when you don t have your computer handy e g on tour in the rehearsal room etc Besides whenever you re stuck next to someone where escape is impossible aircraft train prison etc and your new friend whips out the pictures of the kids you can always counter with your patches Not particularly elegant and low tech yes Practical you bet simply print out a screenshot You need a printer with as a minimum gray levels a color printer is even better A B amp W printout wouldn t be much help Even with a gray level printer you ll have to select your cable colors carefully so you can tell them apart when they re just different shades of gray The printout will show the arrangement of modules names and cables In conjunction with Modular Edit mode you can work with
159. tion 110 Split and Velocity Switch 117 Additive Synthesizer 122 Enhanced Dx 125 Knob Modulation Examples 127 Drawbars only 128 Overdrive only 129 Accelerating Leslie Panning and Depth Control 131 RobotVoice 133 ChorusPad 133 Pickup 133 SynthBrass 133 Weird 1 148 Weird 2 148 Weird 3 148 Weird 4 148 Weird 5 148 Single Trigger 151 Multi Trigger 151 Fingered Porta 152 Flanger 152 163 Appendix Glossary Additive Synthesis The technique of creating sounds by adding sine waves together ADSR Short for Attack Decay Sustain Release most common envelope model in analog synthesizers the gt Sustain lt level is held as long as the envelope gate lt is held AHD Short for Attack Hold Decay envelope with three time zones but with out a sustain phase A single trigger usually causes the entire envelope pattern to be executed Amplifier A device which increases the level of a signal Amplitude Amplitude is a term used to describe the amount of a signal It can relate to volume in an audio signal or the amount of voltage in an elec trical signal Amplitude modula tion Using one oscillator to control modulate the amplitude of another This effect typically produces clangorous sideband frequencies Audio input Modular audio input to which you can connect external signal sources Audio signals Signals that determine the sound of the Modular These have the hig
160. toff 58 Chapter 4 Designing a Synthesizer you use it Why Because if you wanted to come up with a truly responsive playable velocity you would have to drag a separate cable to each parameter and locate or create an input and a knob for each cable There is a much spiffier method the morph function invented by Clavia and originally popularized in the Nord Lead If you are curious as to what a morph actually is feel free to read the section Morphing lt on page 95 Here s a brief introduction to this handy little feature You assign a start and end value to one or several morph knobs You then assign a controller to the morph function velocity mod wheel Mip controller panel knob etc When you turn the controller up all the knobs you defined for mor phing are rotated simultaneously within the range you determined There are four morph knobs available in each patch Another elementary morph application is a gt detune lt knob that turns the Fine parameter of one oscillator down while turning the Fine parameter of the other oscillator up Follow these steps for a simple velocity morph of our kit 1 Right mouse click on the red left most morph knob in the Toolbar and select Velocity from the Keyboard section of the pop up menu 2 Set the level knob in the stereo out module to 80 This knob defines the value of the patch at minimum velocity 3 Click on the Level knob by the right mouse button
161. trol and select the group from the Morph pop up menu or you can double click the control while the desired morph group knob is selected One of the four morph group knobs is always selected it s the one with the blue box around it As mentioned above once you ve assigned a control to a morph any change you make in the control changes both the beginning and end of the morph range To change just the end of the morph range mouse the control while holding on the Macintosh gt Keep in mind that the end of the range can be either above or below the beginning i e you can morph controls in opposite directions Morphing from Sound to Sound As demonstrated by our little morph synth you can morph from one sound to a completely different one Here s the eas iest method of programming this type of patch 1 Set up the sound you want to start with 2 Turn the morph group knob all the way up Morphing 3 Now select the parameters that you want the morph function to influence 4 Set the morph end value The morph knob is turned all the way up so you can hear the effect immediately 5 If you are satisfied with the results turn the knob down again and assign a controller to the morph group Morphing and Velocity Morphing is by far the most effective method of adding veloc ity to a patch Not only does it reduce the number of cables mixers and controls you have to deal with it also lets you precision program x the in
162. ttle effects devices You ll find a bunch of neat stuff here such as distortion chorus and delay plus a few more unusual treats like a bit quantizer and sample amp hold You can route several output modules to a single output and thus abusex the out puts as a mixer 81 Please keep in mind that you can patch in these types of effects at any point for instance prior to an FM input or a control circuit 41 Clip Overdrive WaveWrapper 82 Chapter 5 The Modules Clip Overdrive WaveWrapper For an in depth technical explanation of these modules please consult the manual We ll skip the how s and why s and concentrate on what they actually do to a sound basi cally they all distort it but to a different degree and with dif ferent tonal characteristics Load Audio3Fx lt Use Knob 1 to switch between the three effects named clip overdrive and wavewrapper and for a quick A B C compar ison use Knob 2 to determine the degree of modulation for all three effects simultaneously Notice that we ve started with a sine wave so that you can hear how overtones are added to the spectrum by each effect You will hear that the three effects become more promi nent as you move from the top to the bottom The wavewrap per manipulates the signal beyond what you would normally consider distortion and generates its own harmonics within the sound Quantizer Diode and Digitizer These three modules
163. tton at the Modular you can view the knob s parameter assignment and values in the Modular display If you want to find out which parameter is assigned to a knob before you change a value press and hold the Find button on the Modular and rotate the knob only the parameter name is displayed the value does not change while you hold the button down You can save your edited patches in the Modular using the Store but ton and in the computer using Upload Active Slot and Save Stick white adhesive tape under the knobs and label them or print out the knob panel assignments in the Editor Kk and then select Print or take a screenshot 61 5 The Modules This is the chapter where you ll get to know the modules and we mean that quite literally We re not going to bore you by wading through the list of modules and counting off the parameters one by one Many of the over a hundred avail able modules are slave versions or cut down clones of the primary modules Our reasoning was that you have eight dif ferent oscillators at your disposal Oscillator A features all of the available functions so why analyze each individually when this oscillator gives you an insight into all of them Besides the manual gives these oscillators an in depth treatment so we ll concentrate on their practical application and let you in on some of the wicked stuff you can do with them By the time you ve finished working your way through this chapt
164. u need to do when you want to transpose a patch is re tune the master 25 fm 65 This is how sync works every time Oscillator A starts a new periodic oscilla tion Oscillator B also slams hard on the brakes and then starts up again This pro cess generates a waveshape with a drastic cut off as well as the smell of burn ing rubber which is responsible for the serious overtone con tent 26 Oscillator Sync PwM generates shim mering effects similar to chorus and flang ing with just a single oscillator 27 pwm 66 Chapter 5 The Modules Load patch OscFMk amp and play around with it Several other modifica tions make this a very usable basic and cheap 15 3 Fm synth Sync The sync function lets you come up with sound shapes fea turing heavy duty harmonics 1 Load gt OscSync In this case we had to replace the slave oscillator with a sec ond master our motives are probably pretty obvious Hint the sync cable from the second to the first oscillator is crucial for this application 2 Use Knob 1 to determine to what extent Osc A is influenced by the envelope 3 Use Knob 4 to determine the sync timbre by changing the frequency of SyncOsc Note that although it would seem that SyncOsc should follow the pitch envelope it remains stable Additionally SyncOsc is audible but PitchOsc determines the basic pitch The reason for this is that the signal at the Sync input determines
165. uch to you then but it should be clear enough now This Nord Lead 3 is not just a sound it is a synthesizer inside a synthesizer Although that may sound like new age philoso phizing there s one analogy that counts and it has to do with cash for the price of a reak Nord Lead you bought some thing that is just as good with the added bonus of a theoreti cally infinite number of other synthesizers thrown in for free 137 9 FAQ and Help Over the course of this chapter you ll find the answers to many of the frequently asked questions and solutions to some of the problems that inevitably crop up Unfortunately due to space constraints we can only address the most seri ous problems you might encounter If you can t find the solu tion that you re looking for here check out our support page at the W zoo site it is updated continuously In any case you should take the time to read this chapter thoroughly some of the preventive measures may spare you potential headaches and help you to avoid unnecessary exas peration WIZOO Online Support Web Site If you run into problems that this book can t help you with Wizoo offers comprehensive online support for a wide range of topics in the field of electronic sound generation synthe sizers and Mmr When you re in a major hurry to solve a problem go directly to our site http www wizoo com Take a look at our Fags here you ll find answers to fre qu
166. ures were the tools used to determine the pitch and to switch a note off and on Envelopes and Lros opened up a wider range of options the former for generating time based events and the latter for periodic modulation Footpedals and wheels also added voltage for direct real time sound shaping All of the early synthesizers were designed along these lines They were also modular i e they consisted of hard ware modules with input and output jacks for routing audio voltage control and gate signals by external cables Modular synthesizers were noted for their extreme char acteristics extremely versatile extremely large extremely expensive and extremely volatile The market for these behemoths was understandably lim ited and soon the demand for smaller easy to transport and handle devices was met with the first wave of compact syn thesizers The Minimoog was by far the most popular of these and remains so to this day Synth History 101 These synthesizers were remarkably different from their modular predecessors With a single uniform front panel a fixed number of modules and a great deal of fixed wiring for internal signal routing the new compact versions were a breed apart What they lacked in range they more than made up for in terms of handling ease However to say that they were user friendly would be an overstatement Although they were easier to program it still took an experienced musician in the present gt t
167. ut In Out Osc LFo OO V 51 LFO Env Filter AAA o 19 Oscillators in Fifths w Enveloped Filter If you don t store a patch in the Modu lar you ll have to re load it from your computer every time you want to access it 52 Chapter 4 Designing a Synthesizer Adding a Filter Now we ll add an enveloped multi mode filter to the signal chain 1 Move the Absr module and the output module to the right by about the same distance as the width of a module 2 Insert a FilterE module in the space you ve just cleared and place another ADSR envelope above it w Name the modules as follows Filter Filter Env Volume Env the gt old ADSR Stereo Out 4 Try to figure out how to integrate the filter in the signal chain and how to connect it to the filter envelope 5 Compare what you came up with to our results in Kit03 A Bit of Patch Management We ll take a break from the fun and games and give the patch a proper name and address in other words we ll store it in the Modular and on your hard drive 1 Select Save As from the File menu 2 Locate the desired destination on your hard drive type gt KitSynth lt into the Name field and click the Save button Take a look at the Modular display not available on the MicroModular the new name of the patch is already indi cated in it the Editor and the Modular exchange these data in real time 3 Press the Store button on the Modula
168. ut of another sine wave oscillator the carrier Load miniFMop lt f are AAAA Things to notice Enhanced Dx The tuning of the Modulator oscillator controls the Fm timbre while the tuning of the Carrier oscillator controls the pitch The Osc Slave Fm used for the carrier although slightly more expensive than the Osc Slave E used for the modula tor has its Fm input optimized for Fm sounds Try replacing it with another Osc Slave E and you ll hear the difference The Mod Env envelope determines the gt shape lt of the FM effect and the Fms input knob determines the amount of FM Enhanced Dx Are you the proud owner of a Dx7 synthesizer If so you ll have big fun with this patch It emulates the Fm sound of the Dx and adds a few Modular spices such as morphing and chorus to the stew hence the qualifier Enhanced rather than Classic Load gt EnhancDx For Dx7 Owners Only If you don t own a Dx just skip this section and mosey on down to the next section If you do here s a few interesting insights for you Go to your Dx and activate the typical e piano sound Nor mally it is programmed with algorithm 5 or 6 and that s exactly what the Modular patch simulates The oscillators are named accordingly Compare the parameters settings of the Dx and the Modular The essential differences are Operators can be connected and combined freely in the Modular Every operator can be detu
169. uttons KeyQuant1 Range Q olor e e DR a E The Range setting scales the incoming control voltages as with the note scaler module use it to reduce the octave range of the output The Cont button determines whether notes are corrected to the nearest allowed note button out or are allocated in equal intervals across the scale button in gt This module is great for forcing random patterns e g from a sample amp hold module into a particular key Use the note quan tizer whenever you want to use a modu lation signal to gener ate notes 46 NoteQuantizer 89 90 Chapter 5 The Modules Note Velocity Scaler While less than intuitive this module can produce very inter esting results It is intended for velocity processing but it can be used in many contexts HoteVelScal1 L Gain Brk Pnt R Gain vesens EEE EA Vel Note d d Ga ee 202 The BrkPnt setting determines the note number a k a con troller value at the Note input where the velocity scaling will change slope The Vel Sens control sets how much the Vel input affects the output Load gt KqNVs for a very non standard application of these modules Logic Modules This module group is designed to manipulate and generate logic signals in other words for everything that starts some thing else or switches it on or off remotely The only thing that differentiates a logic signal from a con trol signal is that it has two values gt
170. ve at your dis posal is not dictated by your bank account the only limi tations are your imagination and the amount of DsP power you have available You ll never be confronted with damaged or missing cables or the great mystery of which cable goes where You can simply hide and display cables as well as clean up the mess at the touch of a mouse but ton You don t need a separate dedicated oscillator filter or envelope module for each voice The modules in the Mod ular are polyphonic You can switch from one modular system to the next in a matter of seconds which for those of us who aren t Keith Emerson will find hard to beat For yet another neat trick you can operate four separate modular systems simultaneously e Notes parameters and functions are controllable by knobs on the Modular as well as by incoming M n You Say you wanted to implement a rela tively simple 16 voice modular synthesizer two oscs one filter two envs two LFos by a hardware mod ule system You would need 112 mod ules and to add to the general fun you would have to dial in the settings individu ally In contrast the Modular does the job with just seven mod ules 17 18 Chapter 1 A Few Basics Worth Knowing can integrate the Modular fully with your sequencer songs synchronize its sequencer modules by Mrp1 or turn a synth bass into a lead sound by sending a couple of con troller values The box doesn t fo
171. xamples on the audio portion of the accompanying Cp Optimizing Your Computer Monitor Setup The Modular Editor is kind of like your ex it needs more space So if you want to set up your screen for the best results in conjunction with the Modular do yourself a favor go ahead and sacrifice a bit of color depth for a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels gt Tip Many Pc users do not set their monitors to the optimum possi ble refresh frequency When you re programming the Modular you will be working long hours concentrating on small displays For utmost comfort set the refresh frequency to at least 70Hz The Monitor settings are located in the Control Panel option Display By the way if you use the Modular primarily at home or in the studio we highly recommend that you choose the key board version This way when you place the Modular key board next to or behind your computer keyboard you ll always have it handy when you want to check something out The keyboard model becomes a handy entertainment device when placed next to the bath tub or on a bedside table until the ex returns Installing the Editor Software On the Pc simply start the setup exe program from the disk everything else is self explanatory On the Macintosh copy the Editor program to any convenient location on your hard drive and double click it or any Modular patch to start the Editor The Editor program is fairly simple and relatively small so you should be
172. y consume They re designed for audio signals so they don t settle for snacks For control sig nals the control mod section features a 2 input control mixer which is the advisable alternative for these types of signals However if you want to mix more than two control signals you should use one of the audio mixers to reduce the profu sion of cables Gain Control This module is already integrated into the envelopes You only need the gain controller when you want to control an audio signal with something other than an envelope velocity LFo gate For example you can create a simple organ enve lope without an envelope module by connecting the gain con troller directly to the gate output You can also use the gain control for amplitude modulation effects although the RingMod module gives more flexibility at higher cost gt Keep in mind that the gain control module only reduces the ampli tude of the signal when you need to boost a signal use the amplifier module Level Multiplier and Level Adder Like the gain control the level multiplier is used to attenuate an audio signal but it is not remote controllable In gt bipolar lt mode negative values invert the signals phase The level adder adds removes a Dc offset to an audio sig nal 79 You can assign the buttons or button bar of a switch module to a knob or MIDI con troller and thus switch from two to four steps Simply click on the button bar by the
173. y it and think Zen thoughts maybe the patch doesn t want to be understood What is the sound of one patch mapping Nurse Pass the Stethoscope You can construct a little probe that we ll call a stethoscope with it you can hear what the signal is up to at any given point in the patch If you place this little listening device be fore and after a module you can hear exactly what influence the module has on the sound Obviously this trick will only work on audio signals Drag a 1 Output module to an unoccupied area of the screen Assign an unused audio output to it Drag a red cable from a random position in the patch to this module A WN Turn the main output off and probe diverse spots within the patch by temporarily docking the red cable to a particular spot Assigning and Labeling Knobs One problem you will inevitably encounter has to do with knob assignments the front panel of the Modular doesn t indicate them There is one exception Edit mode but in this case the front panel indicates the currently active knob only Without a computer its virtually impossible to gt x ray lt a patch to see what s in it Don t despair though there are a few simple tricks that you can use Assigning and Labeling Knobs Multimode Knob Assignments In Split mode press the Split button at the left hand of the knob panel the knob panel is you guessed it split up into the four slots These are indicated
174. yboard module The fact that you are manually dealing with output and key board modules tells you that you can and actually must set and hook up the Modular yourself As you can see it really is a modular synthesizer gt Exception The Note output of the keyboard is equipped with a fixed circuit connecting oscillators and filters Later on you ll see that this minor exception to the modular concept will radically reduce the amount of cables when you are dealing with complex patches What s wrong with this picture You might have noticed two items For some inexplicable reason the filter is labeled Coffee lt No cables are in sight Naming Modules We re about to change all of that First of all we ll give the filter a name 1 Double click on the name of the filter module 2 Enter gt Lp Filter lt to replace Coffee lt and hit enter Hiding and Showing Cables On the right hand side of the menu bar you ll see seven multi colored buttons followed by a button labeled gt S lt The Four Signal Types in the Modular Click on the red button You are now looking at the audio cable through which the audible signal is routed It is patched from the output of the oscillator to the filter then to the volume envelope and finally to the stereo out Click on all of the other buttons to show all cables The standard colors for cables are red for Audio lt blue for Control lt yellow for gt Logi

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