The Modular Synthesizer Thread

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Yesterday I tried for the first time to run an external sound source through the Moog Mother 32 Ladder filter.  I was rather impressed with the results which I recorded. Closed down the filter has a lovely woolliness to it but opened up theres a quality to it that really shimmers.  The wavetable oscillator does not sound like this running through any other of my eurorack filters.

https://soundcloud.com/digitalvoices/moog-mother-external-audio-patch?in=digitalvoices/sets/modular-musings

Patch notes......I ran audio from a e350 Morphing Terrarium wavetable oscillator modulated by and e355 dual lfo into the Moog Mother 32 external audio input. The mix knob on the Mother 32 pans between VCO and noise, once the external audio is patched in the noise is replaced with the external audio source and is run through the Moog Ladder filter. During the recording Im panning between the Moog triangle oscillator and the external wavetable oscillator using the mix knob, opening and closing the cutoff & res, occasionally switching through the wavetable banks on the e 350. Processing is an Eventide Eclipse

[ffcal]

Yesterday I tried for the first time to run an external sound source through the Moog Mother 32 Ladder filter.  I was rather impressed with the results which I recorded. Closed down the filter has a lovely woolliness to it but opened up theres a quality to it that really shimmers.  The wavetable oscillator does not sound like this running through any other of my eurorack filters.

https://soundcloud.com/digitalvoices/moog-mother-external-audio-patch?in=digitalvoices/sets/modular-musings

Hi Julio,

Reminds me of the fun I had processing external audio through my Korg MS-20 many, many moons ago. 

Forrest

[Scott M2]

This seems like an appropriate place to slip this in... I paid over a hundred times more for my Moog Modular System 15.

http://www.keyboardmag.com/gear/1183/listenwatch-moogs-new-model-15-modular-synth-ios-app/57895

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Yesterday I tried for the first time to run an external sound source through the Moog Mother 32 Ladder filter.  I was rather impressed with the results which I recorded. Closed down the filter has a lovely woolliness to it but opened up theres a quality to it that really shimmers.  The wavetable oscillator does not sound like this running through any other of my eurorack filters.

https://soundcloud.com/digitalvoices/moog-mother-external-audio-patch?in=digitalvoices/sets/modular-musings

Hi Julio,

Reminds me of the fun I had processing external audio through my Korg MS-20 many, many moons ago. 

Forrest

Yes Forrest....as much as the merits of the Korg MS20 have been praised for its historic sound, just as many accolades have gone to its external processing capabilities

[Julio Di Benedetto]

This seems like an appropriate place to slip this in... I paid over a hundred times more for my Moog Modular System 15.

http://www.keyboardmag.com/gear/1183/listenwatch-moogs-new-model-15-modular-synth-ios-app/57895

Scott you have been holding out on us....Moog Model 15 modular.  That sir is no small potatoes.  Come on, dont you be shy.....post some pictures sir.  Theres no room for modesty here, lets show it all and swoon with desire.   

[Scott M2]

Alright Julio. I'll take some proper snaps soon. This is a screen grab from Netflix of my system's brief cameo in I Dream Of Wires. 

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Alright Julio. I'll take some proper snaps soon. This is a screen grab from Netflix of my system's brief cameo in I Dream Of Wires. 

Thats cool that you were part of "I dream of wires".....a movie star in are midst  .  I have only watched parts of it so I will stream it off netflix.

Your Moog is an early(vintage) Model 15?  I know Moog has reissued the Model 15 and larger systems.

[LNerell]

Back in the 1980s I owned both a Moog 15 and an Arp 2600. Here are a couple pictures of them around the time I was making my second album:





I think the only thing I have left from those pictures is that a-frame keyboard stand lol.

[Scott M2]

A nicely varied array of machines Loren! I used to have strong desires for the ARP sequencer because of the quantizing. My little PAIA sequencer was very tedious to tune up - and the knobs interacted - probably due to me building it. 

[ffcal]

I had access to an ARP 2600 when I was a student, but I had a hard time getting interesting sounds.  I think I was too used to the matrix-pin architecture of the ARP 2500, which really spoiled me.  The Moog Mark V was fun (especially the ribbon controller), but it took me too long to set up patches, and I'd have to dismantle them at the end of each session, so that the next person who had reserved time could start from scratch.

[LNerell]

Not sure what a Moog Mark V is, they called their modulars different names depending on the era they were made. My school had a Moog model 55 with two sequencers, that's what I originally learned on. Then later when I transferred to a different school they had a large Buchla 100 system that I spend a great deal of time on, it was too imitating for most folks. Each had their own thing that made them cool. I loved the touch plates on the Buchla, and the complex sequencers on the Moog.

Yeah the arp sequencer was a great one, I should have kept the two I had at one time. I wish someone would just copy it, most sequencers I have seen just seem to miss what it could do.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Its really great that you 3(Loren, Forrest & Scott) have or at some point had or learned on these amazing machines.  I would love to play a Buchla 100 or 200 or a 200e.  I look for eurorack modules that are inspired by Buchla design.  If you want to play Buchla get Buchla but the price is a big deterrent.  $1600 for a 261e complexed waveform generator (oscillator).

Good to read some of your history with these machines.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Heres the Buchla 259 Complex Waveform Generator from the 200 Series




These are the eurorack complexed oscillators inspired by the original Buchla 259

Make Noise Dual Prismatic Oscillator



The Sputnik Dual Oscillator




The Verbos Complex Oscillator





Endorphines  Furthrrr Generator


This wild and crazy looking oscillator is the closest to the original Buchla 259 in function.

I have had the DPO and currently use the Sputnik.

Here is a link to an overview of the 259 by Todd Barton.....simple videos explaining a complicated oscillator.  I found them very helpful
https://vimeo.com/album/3542094

[ffcal]

Loren,  I think the Moog unit at my school's studio was made in the late 60s and was similar to the unit Klaus Schulze acquired from Florian Fricke.  I remember the big sound of the oscillators' sawtooths.  Keeping them in tune was a little iffy, though.

Julio,  Never got to play with an original Buchla unit, but saw one up close when the Exploratorium had a Buchla exhibit years back.  I interviewed Morton Subotnick when I was in college for an article that never came out and he was crazy about Buchla gear back then.

Forrest

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Julio,  Never got to play with an original Buchla unit, but saw one up close when the Exploratorium had a Buchla exhibit years back.  I interviewed Morton Subotnick when I was in college for an article that never came out and he was crazy about Buchla gear back then.

Forrest

Buchla exists because of Subotnick...well Im sure Buchla would come out with his modular in some shape or form but it was Subotnick and the San Francisco Tape Music Center that was the driving energy. I always like that Buchla was fist a Nasa engineer that went on to build a modular synthesizer.  He's helped many people travel the galaxy. 

What an experience for you to have interviewed the man. Happen to have the transcript handy?  I enjoy watching interviews of him.....his energy at 81 yrs old is wonderful. 

I Dream of Wires really does cover the whole modular history and the rise of the east coast, west coast philosophy.  Good to see you in action Scott!

[Scott M2]

Alright Julio. I'll take some proper snaps soon. This is a screen grab from Netflix of my system's brief cameo in I Dream Of Wires. 

Thats cool that you were part of "I dream of wires".....a movie star in are midst  .  I have only watched parts of it so I will stream it off netflix.

Your Moog is an early(vintage) Model 15?  I know Moog has reissued the Model 15 and larger systems.

Julio, Mine is from the seventies and so is "vintage" but not one of the earliest models. I bought it bit by bit from my friend Eric Hopper (Sylken) but that's another story.

The earlier Moogs had 901 series oscillators which were known for pitch instabilities and they're probably the ones that Forrest suffered with. Moog improved the stability greatly with the 921 series - which is what Loren and I have/had.

Since we're discussing oscillators, I snapped this with my iPhone.



The main 921 is the gem... super-wide frequency range, clamping (to reset where the waveform starts) plus a waveform switch and dedicated attenuator for fast realtime changes. I waste its extreme high-range by primarily using it as an LFO, which its very good at. You might spot the LED I built in which glows red to green depending on the polarity and yellow in the audio range. A simple thing that I've found really useful.

The Sync is not the more typical kind you find in a Prophet 5 where you can create those agressive timbres when detuning one oscillator. The Moog ones just snap out of tune when you push them a bit. I think their sync is intended more for preventing any drift between oscillators when that suits your sound design.

The main tidbit I can pass on is that the 921 oscillators are super-stable if you don't use the Moog keyboard - which I believe is the main cause of drift (from a lackluster sample/hold circuit (probably just a capacitor) and glitches from dirty j-wire/bus-bar contacts (which needed cleaning more than once a year). Once I switched to using a Roland MPU-101 MIDI to CV interface the oscillators became very reliable. 

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Very fine set of oscillators Scott, and still looking good. 

I have been staring at them for 20 minutes imagining the sound.  The Moog speak is interesting....Clamp trig, clamp point, rectangular which would be square wave or is this something unique to Moogs and is really a rectangle in shape.  Strong & weak sync.....who would dare to put the word "weak" on a product electronic or not, today, though it describes what it does it perfectly.

The 921A....Oscillator Driver.... , What is it?  Rectangle LFO, yet there are only inputs no outs.  Is it internally wired?

THe 921 has a lot going on and good job on the led, looks like it was supposed to be there. Aux outputs with selectable waveforms - or +, interesting.

Thanks for sharing this special instrument with us......perhaps at some point when your patching the Moog you might record a phrase or two...would love to hear it.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Not modular related but Moog related......Noisebug in Pomona announced that production of the Voyager was ending....and of course they had plenty in stock to sell. 

[hdibrell]

Buchlas and Moogs and ARPs, Oh my!! Forrest, Scott and Loren, I envy you guys and the gear you had access to back then. I attended Trinity University in San Antonio and there wasn't much interest in electronic music there. Luckily the head of the music department was interested, so we had a small electronic music studio which shared a room with overflow file cabinets of sheet music. My electronic music class was basically an intro class  concentrating on history and hands on experience with the gear which consisted of a EMS Synthi AKS, a EML Elecrocomp 101 and a EML 400/401 sequencer. We also had 2 Revox 2-tracks and a stereo system for playback. Like I said there wasn't much interest. My class only had eight students and they hardly ever signed up to use the studio, so my professor pretty much gave me a key so I could use it whenever I wanted. Even after I graduated. He retired a few years later and the university sold everything!  I do have great memories of playing and learning on that gear, though. BTW, this was around 1973 to 1976.

[LNerell]

The 921A....Oscillator Driver.... , What is it?  Rectangle LFO, yet there are only inputs no outs.  Is it internally wired?

Yes it is internally wired to the 921B Oscillators. It basically controls them giving them the same voltages.