Sons of the Arpy: Roland SH-2, System-500, Deckard's Voice, FX Aid Pro, Mimeophon, G-Storm Electro

video upload by thesrabbit

"The SH-2 has some kind of power over me. I can't get away from it. Not that I want to!

This is the first time I've tried adding a 3rd oscillator to the SH-2 by running a single Roland System-500 512 square with PWM into the external audio input. I thought this would naturally lead to making a massive 3 detuned osc + sub monosynth sound, but instead I gravitated to something much more melodic, by setting up each oscillator at a different pitch, making chords with nice intervals. With the ability to set the bender to VCO 2 only, I can change the interval of one of the notes easily, either up or down, without disrupting the vibe at all. The T-Rex Replicator tape delay adds some echo and gritty texture, and then the Make Noise Mimeophon delay fans it out into the stereo field. The sequence of notes is a simple 4 note arp that I transpose with the NiftyKeyz. The mod wheel is assigned to tape delay time, and the arp clock output is fed into a 2HP clock divider, which drives the kick, though half a beat behind because that's how clock dividers work I guess. The kick is a simple decay envelope routed to the G-Storm Electro SH-2 VCF with a moderate amount of resonance and saturation. There's an additional percussive element with some noise going to the G-Storm SH-5 VCF, through the LP first and then the dedicated bandpass which is being swept by an LFO.

The Blade Runner-ish lead sound is of course the Black Corporation Deckard's Voice, paired with the Rachael ring modulator, though it's not being used as a ring-mod, but rather a second sawtooth oscillator. 2 saws are essential to the BR sound, and therefore the Rachael is a required addition to Deckard's Voice. The output runs into the Happy Nerding FX Aid Pro set to the Black Cloud reverb algorithm, which completes the sound.

There's just a tiny dash of master reverb in post that serves as the final glue to hold it all together."