Sax In The Acid Rain (Sequential OB-6, Pro-2, Doctor A, QuadraVerb, MIDIVerb II)

video upload by hypergol

"I got a real camera. You'll know the shots when you see them. Unfortunately I don't have a tripod yet so most of the footage is from my phone, which sucks in low light. Anyways... I've had this little movie "epilogue" like riff on the OB-6 for awhile now. Perfect for walking down the dark streets in a deluge of dystopian acid rain. It just needs a sweet sax lead over the top. I spent quite a few hours trying to get a saxxy sound out of the Pro-2. I figure it's the best synth I got for taking on that daunting task. I'm using both filters, all 5 envelopes, every type of drive, all character FX, linear FM, and just a bit of the onboard delay for some width and depth. It sounds pretty reedy in the lower registers but rounds out as you move up the keyboard. The OB sound is classic. Not much to say about that. Generous amounts of delay and reverb courtesy the Audiothingies Doctor A and then I'm running everything through a MIDIVerb II + QuadraVerb combo as a master reverb, which completes the future dystopian from an 80's low-budget movie perspective feels. "Sax in the Rain" was already taken. So you get a half-baked title to go with a half-baked 4K video and a half-baked thumbnail and a half-baked performance with a full-on run-on sentence. Someday I'll rework this into something proper and release it.

Update: I did a proper release of this song with new performances, synths, and additional sonic elements. Check it out on the Afterburner XXIV album over at https://hypergol.bandcamp.com"

Parapolyparty - Retro Jam with DSI Pro-2 in paraphonic mode and Eurorack VCOs

video upload by hypergol

"Follow-up to my demo/tutorial video on setting up a paraphonic patch on the DSI Pro-2, supplementing each of its four digital oscillators with Eurorack VCOs.

I had to do something fun with it besides a basic demo, and the 2 oscillators per note/voice gave the "Filter 1" patch from the previous video some serious 80's analog poly vibes. I shortened the decay and release envelope times to make it punchier. This jam is the natural result of dialing in that sound. I bleed the 80's, haha.

Instruments:
Dave Smith Instruments Pro-2 (main synth)
Oberheim OB-X8 (octave down bass)
Roland JX-3P (sprinkles of majesty)
G-Force Software Oberheim DMX (drums)
Alesis Midiverb II (Gated reverb on snare, bloom reverb on toms)

Modules: Roland System-500 512 VCOs, 530 VCAs, 540 Envelopes, Wavefonix Dual CEM 3340, Doeper dual envelopes, Arcus Audio dual VCA, Pittsburgh Modular Giraffe, Doepfer VCA, Happy Nerding FX Aid Pro (for additional majestic reverb for the majesty)

Patch demo with on-screen tutorial: [posted here]

Update: this track has been updated and given a proper release. Check it out on the album Afterburner XXIV over at https://hypergol.bandcamp.com"

0000 0000 1000 0110 1001: Live in the studio by Hypergol (Oberheim OB-X8 instrumental)

video upload by hypergol

"This track utilizes the first patch I made after unboxing the amazing OB-X8 from Oberheim. It's a nice, lush, unmistakably "Oberheim" pad sound using the OB-Xa 24db filter. It starts off with the patch split, with an arp on the upper layer and then moves to double mode (stacked) with 4 voices panned hard left and 4 hard right. On the album version, I didn't do any stacking, opting to double track instead so that I could get the full 8 notes of polyphony. There are some challenges when limited to 4 notes, particularly with envelope triggering. It's fairly obvious here in the latter section of this live performance, as there are some notes that aren't nearly as soft as I'd like them to be. The beautiful modulated plate reverb from the Audiothingies Doctor A helps to make things less jarring. In this performance, I occasionally sweep the filter of both layers (rather poorly) with a foot pedal. The battery on my real camera is dead, so no fancy moody bokeh in this video, unfortunately.

Check out the original track over here on my bandcamp page:"

Bladertronics: Oberheim OB-X8 Frippertronics style looping: Clockwork, Nemesis, Valhalla, DoctorA

video upload by hypergol

"I bought a looper pedal recently. It doesn't work. It's bricked. I'm pissed. Rather than make a video of me smashing it with a hammer, I decided to buy Valhalla Delay instead. It's essentially exactly what I need for what I want to do: Frippertronics with synths!

Here's the signal chain:
Oberheim OB-X8 to JRockett Clockwork Analog BBD and Audiothingies DoctorA modulated plate reverb in parallel OB-X8 and BBD output to Valhalla Delay - tape setting with 7 second delay time and about 80% feedback Valhalla output to Source Audio Nemesis set to slow ping pong
Source Audio Nemesis to DoctorA reverb

This is my first time using the delay plugin. I didn't really practice with it, and it shows. I actually cut the first 3 minutes of this performance as it was a mess and too choppy. Last time I did a Frippertronics synth video, someone said that I should try key changes to keep it interesting. That's what I attempted to do here, but I didn't exactly work on smooth transitions. It would probably make sense to assign a knob to control Valhalla's feedback parameter via midi, so I could bring the level of the entire sound bed down and then start a new one in a different key. That would have been a good idea. Oh well, stuff to work on for next time!

As for the sounds in the video, I'm bouncing back and forth between 2 patches that I made shortly after unboxing the OB-X8: a triumphant pad sound in double mode, and then obviously a Blade Runner style CS-80 lead sound.

Above mentioned attempt at Frippertronics with synths video:" [2021 video posted here]

Fripper Tripper (Frippertronics with synths: DSI/Sequential Pro 2, Lyra-8, Boss RE-20, DD-20)

video upload by hypergol

"For Black Friday, I bought myself Boss DD-20 and RE-20 delay pedals specifically for exploring Frippertronics. They showed up yesterday and I promptly recorded my first jam. It starts with a simple 2 oscillator drone from the modular running through a spring reverb tank (1 Eowave Titan and 1 Roland 512 VCO) The melodies consist of different patches that I've made on the Pro 2, which is another recent purchase. A little further along I introduce the Lyra-8 into the mix, because anything experimental should probably include the Lyra. Unfortunately I didn't have its output level up high enough, and you can't really hear it in the repeats, which is a shame. Other than not getting output levels matched ahead of time, I'm pretty pleased with the result. The modular, Pro 2, and Lyra are also running through the Audiothingies Doctor A in parallel, which is set to a long ping pong delay and a very long modulated plate reverb. To add some tape warble, I fed an attenuated LFO from the Roland 540 module into the RE-20's expression pedal input, which adjusts the "twist" parameter. Everything runs through the DD-20 first, which has a delay time of 7.1 seconds and is set to the "modulated" delay type, then from there it runs into the RE-20. I wonder what it would sound like if the signal chain was reversed. I bet one could pull off mellotron strings vibes pretty easily with this setup."

Oberheim OB-X8: Sounds with Page 2 Features (including an OB-6 filter mode sweep)

video upload by thesrabbit

"Contents:

0:00 Intro (Notch Dream patch with delay)
3:27 Hell's Swells patch (with short plate reverb)
5:35 OB-XH patch (with delay and reverb)
6:50 OB-XH lower layer (dry)
7:11 OB-HX upper layer (dry)
7:31 Hell's Swells lower layer (dry)
7:53 Hell's Swells upper layer (dry)
8:16 Notch Dream lower layer (dry)
9:01 Notch Dream upper layer (dry)
9:51 LFooy patch (with delay)
11:01 Square Weirdo patch (with delay)
11:55 Crazy AF patch (with delay)
12:44 Dirtano patch (with reverb)
13:47 Notch Dream patch variation with MIDI Mod (with delay)
15:16 OB-6 filter mode patch variation with MIDI Mod (with built-in chorus and delay)
18:06 Outro with OB-X8 and OB-6 (Notch Dream patch and OB-6 filter mode patch with delay)

If you have an OB-X8 and you're not using the Page 2 features, you're missing out on half the synth. Nobody seems to talk about these features or explore them. The OB-X8 is indeed a very versatile synth capable of many different timbres, not just the classic sounds from the original OB series. There are so many things you can do with modulation envelopes, LFO phase inversion, different SEM filter modes, and layering, just to name a few things. The OB-6 is limited by comparison. I find it pretty frustrating to use sometimes after making sounds on the OB-X8. It does have other tricks up its sleeve of course, and it sounds beautiful. It's definitely its own brand of OB with its own flavor. Similarly, the addition of 3 SEM filter modes and ability to mix and match OB-8, OB-Xa, and OB-X components and features make the OB-X8 its own beast, and I feel like a lot of people don't really appreciate that. It is so much more than a reissue.

Rant aside, my main motivation for this was to see how close I could get to emulating an OB-6 filter mode sweep. I think I got pretty good results here regardless if the sound is close or not, but I'll let you be the judge. Let me know what you think. There's no way to match perfectly because the filters sound different, and I believe a lot of it has to do with the differences in the oscillators, and maybe gain staging. The OB-X8 filters are more aggressive, with more prominent resonance. Crank the resonance on the OB-6 with the filter in the notch position. It barely does anything. Do the same on the OB-X8 and you'll hear those "sing-song harmonics" as you sweep the filter. And although they're not as loud as they are in the other filter modes, they are still very noticeable. There is also something magical about the high pass filter in the OB-6. Again it might be due to the oscillators. I find the high pass on the OB-6 very comforting, not that the one in the OB-X8 is bad in any way at all. It's just different. I also find the notch filter in the OB-X8 to be more "chewy". This is probably the result of it being more aggressive. In a battle of the filters, I'd choose the OB-X8 for lowpass and notch, and the OB-6 for bandpass and highpass. Anyway, I'm sorta ranting again.

Ultimately, I hope you enjoy these sounds and if you have an OB-X8, I strongly encourage you to explore all of the Page 2 features. I'm sure you've noticed that I have the pinstripe overlay for my X8. While I do prefer the pinstripe look, I really got it because it has the Page 2 function labels on it, and this is huge for me. Page 2 doesn't have to be menu-diving, it can simply be shift functions, which tons of synths have and they're easy to use. Having the labels and changing Page 2 parameters on the panel is a game changer for me. I don't have great eyes, so the small screen can get tiresome after awhile. If you don't want to splurge for the overlay (it's pretty expensive), maybe there's another option for adding labels to your synth. For me it's totally worth it.

Lastly, I think I may have inadvertently ripped someone off in the outro. It sounds like it could be from a movie, but I can't place it.

Enjoy the video.

MIDI Mod for iOS and Apple Silicon Macs:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/midi-mo...

Bandcamp:
https://hypergol.bandcamp.com"

0000 0000 1000 0110 1001: Live in the studio by Hypergol (Oberheim OB-X8 instrumental)

video upload by thesrabbit

"Here's a live in studio version of track 3 from my latest EP "More Voices"

This track utilizes the first patch I made after unboxing the amazing OB-X8 from Oberheim. It's a nice, lush, unmistakably 'Oberheim' pad sound using the OB-Xa 24db filter. It starts off with the patch split, with an arp on the upper layer and then moves to double mode (stacked) with 4 voices panned hard left and 4 hard right. On the album version, I didn't do any stacking, opting to double track instead so that I could get the full 8 notes of polyphony. There are some challenges when limited to 4 notes, particularly with envelope triggering. It's fairly obvious here in the latter section of this live performance, as there are some notes that aren't nearly as soft as I'd like them to be. The beautiful modulated plate reverb from the Audiothingies Doctor A helps to make things less jarring. In this performance, I occasionally sweep the filter of both layers (rather poorly) with a foot pedal. The battery on my real camera is dead, so no fancy moody bokeh in this video, unfortunately.

Check out the original track over here on my bandcamp page:
https://hypergol.bandcamp.com/album/m..."

Synthsmoker: Generative 2-string Modular Drone Patch from the "Hypergolic" EP (Isolated Track)

video upload by thesrabbit

"Isolated track from 'Synthsmoker' from the 'Hypergolic' EP. You can stream and download the EP for free on bandcamp: https://hypergol.bandcamp.com/album/h...

'Synthsmoker' begins with a drone that's inspired by the Soma Labs Dvina, which is a 2-stringed, bowed instrument. I don't have a Dvina, but if and when I get one, I'm sure it will take years of practice to make good sounds with it. Until then, I thought I would find ways to make interesting 2-string bowed sounds. This isn't an emulation of the sound itself, but rather an emulation of the feeling, if that makes sense.

I apologize for the shaky video. This footage is from a patch diary that I made for myself, in case I ever want to re-create it. I never intended to share the video, but I think the patch is cool and interesting, so here it is. Just close your eyes if you'd rather listen to the track in peace and without distraction.

The patch consists of 2 parts: a continuously droning E flat, and a melody over the top. Imagine the drone sound as the low string, left open. The melody is then played on the high string.

The drone is made up of two oscillators, the Erica Synths Fusion VCO2, and the Synthesis Technologies e352 morphing wavetable oscillator. There is some FM applied to VCO2 as well as a little tube overdrive, sub-oscillator, and detune (which is like chorus). On the e352, all three axes (X, Y, Z) are being modulated by the same LFO, but with varying amounts of mod depth for each. The resulting sound is vaguely similar to something you might hear in "The Matrix". Each oscillator runs through a different filter. VCO2 runs through the G-Storm Electro XaVCF (OB-Xa clone), and the e352 runs through the Doepfer SEM. An LFO opens the XaVCF while closing the SEM, and then the reverse happens. This is easy to achieve as the SEM has an inverted input, so as voltage is high, the cutoff decreases, but when voltage is low it increases. This provides some additional movement/animation for that droning note.

The melody is just a single sawtooth output of a Roland System-500 512 VCO. Varying degrees of vibrato are applied via a modulated LFO. The melody is generated by random voltage being quantized to a particular scale by the Ladik Q-010. It's fed by the System-500 555 Sample and Hold circuit. The output of the quantizer is slewed by the 555's lag processor before being fed to the oscillator. The amount of slew is also being modulated by another LFO. Depending on the timing of all these variables, the result is either quite beautiful and musical, or sometimes it's a bit off or 'pitchy'. That's what makes it great, IMO. It has life to it. The output of the 512 then runs through the System-500 521 LPF, a personal favorite filter of mine.

There is a little analog delay and spring reverb on the melody, but most of the effects you hear are from the Audiothingies Dr. A desktop reverb and delay unit. I use it on pretty much everything.

I guess this is the only thing I've recorded with my modular setup that you could call a 'generative' patch. If I turn off the rig and turn it back on an hour later, it will continue to play by itself in the same manner as before. Tough it'll probably be out of tune. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it."