Let's use CUNSA as a formant filter (but not the one you expect)

video upload by Frap Tools

"There is this lovely paragraph in Allen Strange's Electronic Music where he discusses formant frequencies of rooms and equipments. However, they are not exactly what we may think of today!

https://frap.tools/cunsa

00:00 Introduction
00:43 Allen Strange talks about formant filters
01:51 Creating a formant frequency with a single CUNSA filter
05:37 Modulating the formant frequency

Frap Tools Fumana Part 2: Impose (Eurorack modular synth filter, spectral transfer, vocoder)

video upload by Cylob Sonic Research

"Exploring direct CV control of the Fumana's 16 bands.

00:00 Intro
00:03 Explanation
00:13 Adjusting bands
01:56 Storing and recalling band level configurations
03:08 Jam 1
07:10 Jam 2
09:40 Five Alive

Details of the album 'I Will Cross Any Bridge' can be found at https://kud.li/csr015."

Frap Tools Fumana Part 1: Center & Width (Eurorack modular synth filter, spectral transfer, vocoder)
video upload by Cylob Sonic Research

"Exploring the Center and Width controls of the Frap Tools Fumana eurorack filter module.

00:00 Intro
00:03 Center and Width knob controls
01:23 Modulating Center with sine LFO
02:47 Modulating Width with sine LFO
04:19 Modulating with saw LFO
05:37 Modulating with Zig Zag wave LFO
06:45 Modulating Center with multi stage envelope
07:05 Modulating Width with multi stage envelope
08:31 Adding drums
10:39 Drums and multi stage envelopes try two
13:45 Ambi interlude
14:08 Ambi track jam with stereo panned bands

Note to self: tuning is bellingwolde @ 54"

Let's make a synth brass sound with our CUNSA filter in the style of Steve Porcaro

video upload by Frap Tools

"Let us take a step back with the CUNSA filter and try to create some classic sounds. Probably the most iconic is the synth brass, and since we don't like reinventing the wheel, we'll rely on the excellent instructions by Steve Porcaro."

00:00 Introduction
01:38 Getting two sawtooths out of BRENSO
03:34 Envelopes, VCF, VCA
08:34 Adding the "blip"
10:41 Filter tracking
11:09 Filter ping
12:33 Character "blip"
14:05 Input VCA
15:03 Final result and closing remarks.

Programming the bass sound of West End Girls on a Frap setup was a tough challenge (but we did it)

video upload by Frap Tools

"So we were asked to remake the bass sound of West End Girls by @officialpetshopboys with only Frap modules, and here's how we did it! It's not completely there but still seems like a fair approximation. Got other ideas? Let us know in the comments!

Interview with Stephen Hague:
http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/tra...

Modules used (all of them...)
BRENSO: https://frap.tools/brenso/
CUNSA: https://frap.tools/cunsa/
USTA: https://frap.tools/usta/
FALISTRI: https://frap.tools/falistri/
CGM: https://frap.tools/cgm/
321: https://frap.tools/321/
333: https://frap.tools/333/

00:00 Introduction and original patch breakdown by Stephen Hague
01:21 The FM 'thump' on the BRENSO
03:31 The Jupiter 6 sound on the CUNSA
05:37 The Emulator II kick drum on the CUNSA
07:59 Adding variation through the Ping input and decluttering the patch
09:23 Changing the envelope fall through the USTA sequencer
10:34 Balancing the resonance with USTA's COMBO mode
11:06 Adding an extra sawtooth to the Jupiter 6 sound through FALISTRI
15:14 Final result and closing remarks"

A patch inspired by sympathetic strings with FUMANA

video upload by Frap Tools

"This FUMANA patch draws inspiration straight from sympathetic strings, a device that can be found on many instruments like the European nyckelharpa or the Indian sitar.

Does it sound like a nyckelharpa or a sitar? Absolutely not! Is it nice though? Well... you decide.

More about OVERTONES: [3rd video here]

00:00 Intro: what are sympathetic strings
02:09 Patch overview and FUMANA setup
04:13 Using the melody to control the feedback bands
05:12 Changing the feedback phase
05:58 Adding more articulation
08:37 Using another waveform to ring more bands
09:09 Final result: Playing with the envelope follower's decay to add more resonance
10:10 Outro"

The legend of BRENSO’s pulse-width modulation

video upload by Frap Tools

"PWM is a huge part of everyday electronics, but it is also a classic synth sound, to the point it reached a cult (if not meme) status.

A Eurorack oscillator like BRENSO wouldn't have been completed without a PWM section, and today we're exploring it in detail. It might not be the most obvious feature, since it is nestled into the timbre modulation section, but it is capable of wild timbers.

Check also this PWM patch: [video below]

Timbre and Amplitude modulation:
BRENSO Waveforms: [posted here]
Overtones: [video below]

00:00 Overview
02:36 What is a comparator and why it's important for pulse-width modulation?
03:36 The difference between BRENSO's square waves.
04:37 Modulating the comparator threshold to change the pulse width.
05:04 What are the harmonics of a pulse wave?
06:09 How to fake more oscillators through PWM.
07:15 Pulse wave symmetry and phase.
09:51 Feeding BRENSO's comparator with the triangle shaper

Pulse-Width Modulation and Sync with BRENSO | East Coast Sounds 1 | Frap Ideas

video upload by Frap Tools

"A recent article on @PerfectCircuit’s blog inspired this exploration beyond the label of "West Coast" synthesis. We thus focused on two techniques for the BRENSO oscillator that go beyond the classic complex oscillator's palette: PWM and sync."

Ryan Gaston’s articles:
Pt.1 https://www.perfectcircuit.com/signal...
Pt.2 https://www.perfectcircuit.com/signal...

00:00 Introduction: East Coast and West Coast?
02:20 Pulse-width modulation (PWM) on the BRENSO
13:29 The "AAAAAH" moment
14:05 Flip Sync


What are overtones and why they might be more important than you imagine

video upload by Frap Tools

"Today's topic ties together notes, harmony, tuning, timbre, and even more. It's the overtones, and this is our introduction!"

00:00 Introduction
00:22 What is a note?
02:11 What are overtones?
04:06 Harmonic and inharmonic overtones
06:24 Electronic waveforms and overtones: triangle, square, sawtooth
09:42 Isolate waveform partials through CUNSA bandpass filters
12:56 Create a complex wave through harmonics in analog
15:04 From the harmonic series to the dominant chord: closing remarks

Bird-like sequences with bizarre clocks thanks to USTA and FALISTRI

video upload by Frap Tools

"Time to explore more quirky interactions between USTA and FALISTRI!"

Check the other video here.

00:00 Introduction and patch overview
01:23 Using gates to switch the clock on and off
04:42 Changing the gate patterns
05:55 Using preprogrammed patterns instead of random events
07:10 Using an envelope to add ornaments

Programming sequences with Nicolas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

video upload by Frap Tools

"Slonimsky's Thesaurus is quite a strange music book, but its impact on Jazz and experimental musicians has been enormous. Today we tiptoe into this extravagant world to see if there's anything interesting for our USTA sequencer!

https://frap.tools/usta/

00:00 Introduction: Slonimsky's Thesaurus
2:45 Pattern no. 1
04:02 Adding the bass
04:29 Rhythmic variation over pattern no. 1
04:47 Adding a tonal bass line
05:10 Cross-patching a CV for pitch-shifting the pattern
05:31 Quantizing the chromatic pattern
06:30 Integrating the notes and closing the filter
07:03 Pattern no. 141
08:09 Quantizing pattern no. 141
09:28 Pitch-shifting pattern no. 141"

Understanding CUNSA's gain staging: VCA, character, Q, mixer

video upload by Frap Tools

"In another video we shed some light on the basis of gain staging. Today, we'll put them into practice with our CUNSA filter!"

• The wonderful world of gain staging, ...

• What is filter pinging (and filter ri...

00:00 Introduction
01:16 The input VCA and the Character circuit
04:37 The Q circuit and the filter resonance
05:31 Gain scale of different filter topologies: lowpass, highpass, bandpass
07:09 Using the resonance as a sub-bass
08:09 The group outputs
10:52 How the Combo mode affects CUNSA"

What are modes and why they're all over the USTA sequencer

video upload by Frap Tools

Click the Frap Tools link directly above for addtional demos and tutorials.

"We started from the overtone series and we arrived at Western tonal harmony. However, we left something behind: the modes. In today's video, we'll see what they are, and why they seem such a vague concept."

Recreating Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" lead sounds with a Frap Tools system.

video upload by Frap Tools

"The idea for this video comes from this excellent tutorial by @AlexBallMusic , thanks a lot!

Full video by Alex Ball here: [posted here]

00:00 Introduction and patch overview: BRENSO and CUNSA
03:25 Adding envelopes and modulation through FALISTRI
06:18 Adding a wild distortion with the CGM creative mixer
08:22 Automating the filter sweep with the USTA sequencer
11:47 The final Smack My Bitch Up patch and closing remarks"

Frap Tools: We used our CUNSA quad multimode filter as a phaser.

video upload by Frap Tools

"Is it a phaser? No! Will this stop us from using it as a phaser? Also no!

CUNSA: https://frap.tools/cunsa/

Today we take advantage of the phase rotations introduced by four 12-dB/oct filters to create a fake analog phaser with surprising effects."

The wonderful world of gain staging, or: how to balance your Eurorack signals

video upload by Frap Tools

"Today we'll introduce the topic of gain staging because yes. We'll explore the concepts of gain versus volume, headroom, and saturation. We'll also do some examples, like how to interface a modular synth with guitar pedals and how to interface a guitar with a modular synthesizer. At the end, a bonus tip on saturation.

https://frap.tools/cgm/

00:00 Introduction: unity gain, saturation, gain, volume
03:11 Example 1: modular synthesizer through guitar pedals
05:36 Example 2: guitar through modular synthesizer
06:57 What is headroom? A demonstration with the Frap Tools CGM Eurorack mixer
13:13 Headroom and saturation when mixing multiple sources
15:53 "Wrong" mixing: feedback and no-input mixing board (bonus tips)"

How to shift gates to spice up a boring sequence on the USTA | Frap Ideas

video upload by Frap Tools

"This patch came up during a past live workshop on the USTA sequencer. It was an advanced session and one of the main questions was: 'how can I get enough variation on a repetitive loop?'

While talking with the attendees, especially Cameron and Rayhan, we found that the gate shift function combined with a mild cross-patching could have been an excellent starting point, and so here it is for all of you to check out.

https://frap.tools/usta

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and patch overview
01:50 Using the gate shift function to add groove
04:33 Using a second pattern to shift the gate length
06:16 Ratcheting shift
08:04 Using the gate variation to add groove
09:42 Applying the gate variation to the ratcheting effect"

What is tonal harmony and why it is relevant to the USTA sequencer

video upload by Frap Tools

"Tonal harmony might sound super old and boring but it's never going to die, whether we like it or not! In this video, we will see what it is and why it might be worth a chance with the USTA sequencer.

Time stamps:
00:00 Introduction: intervals, harmony, melody, modes.
01:13 Harmony in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
02:03 The third: an imperfect consonance
03:05 What are chords?
03:38 Tonal harmony (briefly) explained: degrees, chords, stability, and keys
10:04 Tonal harmony and the USTA sequencer: quantization styles
15:17 Outro"

How does BRENSO generate its wave forms and how to win an extra analog sawtooth!

video upload by Frap Tools

"Today we'll explore BRENSO's core, its generation circuits, and by the end we'll add an extra waveform to the stock ones!

00:00 The 'canonic' analog waveforms: triangle, sawtooth, square, sine.
01:04 How does an oscillator generate a wave?
01:56 BRENSO's triangle and square waves
02:26 BRENSO's sine wave
03:27 BRENSO's sawtooth
04:47 How to create a second sawtooth with BRENSO, FALISTRI, and the 321
07:36 Double-sawtooth eas-coast fun and closing remarks"

Analog drum machine sounds with the CUNSA filter!

video upload by Frap Tools

"Today we want to create some percussive sounds with the CUNSA, starting from a classic 808 kick. Check out the power of the pinging circuit and some cross-patching for a nasty drive!"

Notes, intervals, tuning, temperament: the basics of music and their impact on the USTA sequencer

video upload by Frap Tools

In the previous video [posted here], we got a glimpse of how notes and overtones are related. Today, we'll see how we came to 12 notes in the West.

00:00 Introduction
00:48 Intervals and scales
01:13 Important disclaimer
01:49 Why seven notes? From the Greek tetrachord to Guido D'Arezzo
04:12 Where do 12 notes come from and what is the Pythagorean comma?
06:05 What is the difference between tuning and temperament?
08:32 Demoing the difference between temperament and tuning with the USTA sequencer"


Previously:

Why notes exist | Frap Talks

video upload by Frap Tools

"Let's talk about notes and why sometimes it's not clear how we're supposed to tune our instruments. What is A4? What is middle C? Why is there a C-1?

Timestamps:
00:00 The western musical notation
01:31 Why A4=440 Hz?
02:12 Playing together
03:12 Instrument ranges and note names
04:43 The scientific pitch notation
05:53 The MIDI note system
06:55 Absolute and relative note names
07:11 Notes on a modular synthesizer: USTA and BRENSO
09:41 Unipolar VS bipolar control voltages
10:59 Why do note names don't match sometimes
12:10 The difference between a note and a control signal
13:10 Final thoughts"

What is filter pinging (and filter ringing)? A demo with BRENSO and CUNSA

video upload by Frap Tools

"Today we'll see what's filter pinging, how to ping a filter, and why it can mean more things."

00:00 Introduction
00:13 Chris Meyer's definition of "pingable"
02:08 Pinging BRENSO and CUNSA
06:20 CUNSA's Combo Mode
08:06 Pinging a resonant filter: analog drums
09:26 Allen Strange's definition of "Ringing"
10:32 Ringing CUNSA
12:25 Adding V/oct and ringing more filters at once
14:19 Closing remark: filter pinging and filter ringing

Say hello to CUNSA

video upload by Frap Tools

It's here! Frap Tools' CUNSA is a quadruple analog multimode filter, but it is also a saturator, a mixer, and an oscillator.

00:00 Intro and CUNSA overview
00:46 Input VCA
00:54 Lowpass, bandpass, highpass sweeps and slopes
01:13 Q (Resonance)
01:27 The Character knob: custom saturation
02:14 V/oct tracking
02:22 Sine oscillator and ringing
02:40 CV inputs
02:40 The Ping circuit
03:15 Combo mode (Behavior switch)
04:00 Four independent filters
04:14 The internal mixing stage
04:23 The internal filter mode selector
04:43 The seminormalizations
04:52 Quad mono processing
05:08 Double stereo processing
05:14 Four-filter sweep
05:23 Breaking the seminormalizations
05:31 Fake harmonic oscillator
05:40 Harmonic ringing
05:46 Quadruple sinewave oscillator
05:50 Polyphonic ringing