MB Sound Design #2: "Project Blue Beam"

Published on Sep 25, 2018 Kris Lennox

"Aliens descend :) In terms of sound design, it'll likely take years before the full potential of the MB's sound design possibilities are fully realised by the musical/sound community, what with the modulation possibilities. Even with patches like this one, I'm only scratching the surface. Sound design potential is one of the true strengths of the instrument, and one of the main motivating factors for my own purchasing the MB. There aren't many standalone monos with the same level of sound design potential; working with the MB in this style is likely the closest one can get to working with a full modular rig/setup.

Personal taste RE tone of analog monos will always be subjective (i.e. Moog/Arturia etc), but sound design on the MB will, objectively, likely remain in a league of its own for quite some time.

The included patch is quite involved. You'll initially hear microtonal drifting on the voice-like treatment of VCO 3's sine wave. The drifting works well to create the 'other-worldly' effect (check out Penderecki's music for fine acoustic examples of microtonal drift). There are numerous modulations on VCO's 1 and 2, plus an envelope on the blue noise."