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."

DIY Eurorack SH-2 vs Actual Roland SH-2: comparison and patch explorations (no talking)

video upload by thesrabbit

"It's horribly long yes, feel free to skip around using the chapters

0:00:00 Vangelis Spiral Sequence (Eurorack)
0:02:40 Vangelis Spiral Sequence (SH-2)
0:05:27 Sine + Noise (SH-2)
0:08:49 Sine + Noise (Eurorack)
0:12:11 Sequenced Gated Bass
0:37:39 Vintage Fifths
0:47:03 Acid with ext audio feedback (SH-2)
0:57:31 Acid with ext audio feedback (Eurorack)
1:07:01 Acid with TS mini overdrive (Eurorack)
1:10:59 Acid with TS mini overdrive (SH-2)
1:16:19 Spacey Pad (SH-2)
1:19:17 Spacey Pad (Eurorack)
1:22:24 Drone with Lyra-8
2:03:13 Filter Comparison
2:08:51 Pulse Width Comparison

'By the time I was done with it, I was so involved, I didn't know what to think.'

This long video of explorations feels like a non-verbal documentary that concludes the journey, and is the culmination of my SH-2 Eurorack quest. If you've been following along, you already know that I caved in and bought the real deal. As far as Eurorack goes, my overall impression is that it's pretty doable given what I have, but if you want authenticity, then a more accurate filter clone is needed. Mind you, the G-Storm SH-2 VCF doesn't claim to be a clone, but rather an adaptation. However, since it's missing 25% of the top end, I can't really get close at all on some of these patch explorations. If you want aggressive basses that can be pushed into saturation with more grit than the original, then the G-Storm filter will do that for you without hesitation. The Erica Synths Black VCO2 does a great job of covering the SH-2's VCO1 duties, and the System-500's 540 envelopes can get pretty close, though they can be a bit fiddly and require toggling between the slow and fast modes.

To summarize: This SH-2 will be going with me to my grave. I already know it's THAT good. The only "monosynth" that could ever top it for me is the System-700, which is simply not obtainable, unless there's a raffle, and I win said raffle, which never happens."

Roland SH-2 vs SH-09 comparison (no talking)

video upload by thesrabbit

"The SH-2 GAS could not be resisted and I so I caved. I decided to compromise with the SH-09, but I bought an SH-2 the day after I ordered the 09. Lucky for me the SH-2 showed up in great condition for its age, with nothing to complain about, while the SH-09 had several significant issues, some of which you can hear in this video (especially the horrendous pulse width pop), so I didn't feel guilty about returning it immediately after shooting this. It was in my possession for less than 24 hours.

Now after having done this mostly pointless comparison, I can say that if a well functioning SH-09 came into my possession, I would not be sad about it. Being able to modulate the filter with external audio, without having to hear that audio is pretty great. I really, really wish the SH-2 had that ability. I do like the additional sub osc options of the 09 as well. Other than that, the rest of the sonic differences come from the SH-2's second oscillator, which includes the somewhat unique sine wave type. And that's really it, everything else sounds damn near identical to me. Let me know if you disagree.

I have the VCAs set to gate mode which is why there's so much clickyness. I wanted to experience the full weight of each synth. I tried to make sure the levels were as close as possible. The is absolutely zero processing of the audio, apart from whatever YT will do to it."

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

video upload by thesrabbit

"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]

Augmented Poly-Paraphony: DSI Pro-2 paired with 4 analog Eurorack VCOs in paraphonic mode

video upload by thesrabbit

"The Pro-2 has been around a long time. I recently re-acquired one locally from a friend at a great price. The first time I had it I don't think I ever tried anything like this, but it makes total sense so it was time to give it a shot.

Simply put, I wanted to beef up the Pro 2's sound by supplementing its 4 digital oscillators with 4 meaty analog Eurorack VCOs. There are videos out there of this sort of thing, but only in monophonic mode, which is simple and straightforward to achieve. I wanted to give the Pro-2 two oscillators per note in paraphonic mode, for analog polysynth-esque chords.

The key to doing this is to recreate the Pro-2's per note articulation that it emulates by internally controlling the level of each oscillator's output at the DSP level, with a digital envelope per note that is the same shape as the one used for the actual VCA. The Pro-2 sort of behaves as if it has 4 VCAs, one for each note.

The best way to emulate that in Eurorack is to simply use real VCAs and envelopes for each note. So start with one VCO, run it into a VCA, and then control that VCA with an envelope, making sure that envelope's shape resembles the shape of the amp envelope on the Pro-2. Repeat the process 4 times, one for each VCO that will be paired with a Pro-2 oscillator. I used all analog modules for this. Roland System-500 oscillators, VCAs, and envelopes, Wavefonix CEM 3340 VCOs, Arcus Audio Dual VCAs, and a Doepfer dual envelope module. The output of each VCA is then mixed in a 4-to-1 mixer module, paying special attention to the levels of each oscillator, and then fed into a final VCA used specifically to attenuate the signal before passing it off to the external audio input of the Pro-2. It's of course difficult to match the shape of all 4 envelopes exactly, but there's no need to be too precise. I suppose I could have made things a little easier by using the Disting Ex's quad envelope. Then I could have dialed them all in exactly the same. All good though.

The NiftyKeyz is a paraphonic/polyphonic ready eurorack case/keyboard that has 4 CV/Gate outputs. Each subsequent key held down simply goes out the next CV/Gate output in sequence. So you can play for note chords, provided you have all the modules to do that. It also has MIDI I/O, so here the Pro-2 is being controlled via MIDI, despite it being the "main synth", whereas the Eurorack modules are supplementary. I would have preferred using the Pro-2's keyboard for this, but the NiftyKeyz has a puzzling limitation in the MIDI department. Essentially you cannot play it polyphonically from another keyboard without doing some sort of crazy MIDI channel mapping in between. I get why they do the 1 note per channel thing and it's indeed useful at times, but give us the option to use just one channel and behave as if we were simply playing its own keys. End side rant.

Waveshape is sawtooth for all oscillators. There's a little additional modulation going both to and from the Pro-2 and the rack with delayed LFOs, along with small amounts of "slop", so the digital oscillators aren't completely stiff.

Anyway, there it is, 2 oscillator per voice I mean note poly-paraphony on the Pro-2.

Oh, forgot to mention the Pro-2's headphone output is running into the Happy Nerding FX Aid Pro for that amazing lush reverb that's blended in. Other than that there's no other effects or processing."

Who becomes silverware first? - 10 minute LFO filter sweep and semi-generative Eurorack jam

video upload by thesrabbit

"This sonic experiment was inspired by the Dreadbox Erebus LFO having a whopping 10-minute long cycle time. Therefore, I thought it might be fun to run that LFO into every single filter I have with a CV input, including big analog polys with a VCF control input on the back intended for expression pedals. The honorary VCFs include: 2x Roland System-500 521, G-Storm Electro SH-2 and SH-5, Dreadbox Erebus, Oberheim OB-X8 (OB-X SEM LP mode), Sequential/Oberheim OB-6, Roland Juno-6.

Interestingly the filters on the big polys don't open all the way. I assume this has something to do with the inputs being calibrated for expression pedals rather than Eurorack CV. According to my oscilloscope, the Erebus LFO range is -5v and +5v. This is pretty typical for Eurorack. I set the cutoff at about 50% for all the filter modules. This seemed to work perfectly. But I was not able to do that with the polys. With the cutoff at 50%, the filters would open up all the way, but they wouldn't close nearly enough. I had to bring the cutoff completely down, and as a result, the filters on the polys wouldn't open up all the way. I did alternate takes where I walked around and tried to smoothly nudge each one up in order to get the filters fully open, but that was a disaster. In retrospect, I could have set up a one-shot MIDI LFO to do this and triggered it once at the right moment, but I already had enough things to worry about.

One of my audio interfaces is dead or dying, and it keeps ruining takes and sometimes crashes Logic. I finally turned it off and went with my lone Focusrite Scarlett 8i6, which has always been solid. But now I had an extra synth without an input and I wanted to have the polys on their own tracks so that I could blend them in with the Eurorack stuff to taste. And there's no possible way I could overdub since the whole point is to have one LFO sweeping all of the filters at the same time. I ended up resorting to an old 1989 JVC cassette deck to record the OB-6. So that shot at the opening of the video is legit. There's such a big wall of sound here that it's impossible to tell if it ended up adding any saturation. It definitely added some hiss and crackles but that's fine in this context. The cassette itself is ancient, cheap consumer grade, 60 minutes per side. I ended up recording over some 90's black metal that had been there since, well, the 90's.

To add to the grit and grime, I intentionally ran the filters from the Eurorack straight into the audio interface, bypassing the typical flow through VCAs. Ok, fine, I totally forgot about the VCAs, but it sounded extra dirty, so I didn't stress out too much. I certainly wasn't going to power everything back on, tune everything up and do another take because of it.

Obviously when the filters are closed or nearly closed for several minutes, there needs to be something to fill that gap. That's where the generative stuff comes in. There's 3 different sample and hold circuits feeding different things, including back into themselves in one case. Some voltage is running through different logic gates in conjunction with other, steady LFOs. Since I'm out of filters, the sound consists of pink noise through a VCA, triggered at random by a very short decay envelope. This runs into a recovery tape delay module, that gives sort of a slapback effect.Then there's a single oscillator, pitch controlled by another S/H circuit run through a quantizer and then running into the spring reverb tank. It's also triggered by the same random voltages triggering the noise hits. Then there's the Mutable Instruments Plaits, making the plinky plonky sounds, again everything triggered at random. It's running into the majestic Calsynth Typhoon.

The last thing to note is that the Erebus LFO also acts like an automated fader to increase and decrease the level of the VCA where all the rhythmic sounds are running through. I simply inverted the signal of the LFO output to do this. As the filters open up, the VCA level diminishes. When the filters fully close, the VCA level increases to maximum.

Last last thing. That knob twisting near the beginning isn't for sci-fi FX, though that's an added bonus. I was simply trying to get the LFO back to its "starting position." I didn't quite succeed. I don't believe the Erebus has any sort of LFO triggering mechanism to help with this. All good though.

FX: Audiothingies DoctorA delay and reverb, Boss DM-101 delay

No post processing other than a 30Hz low cut and slight limiting on the master"

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..."

All the soft pads: OB-X8, OB-6, Nord Lead 2, JUNO-6, JX-3P, JP-8000, Reface CS, Eurorack

video upload by thesrabbit

"Warning: The recordings in this video have a LOT of bass, even with a 30Hz EQ low cut. Maybe some of that will get trimmed off in YouTube compression.

Contents:
0:00 OB-X8 with TAL chorus I
1:34 Nord Lead 2 with TAL chorus I
3:04 OB-6 with built-in chorus
4:36 Juno-6 with built-in chorus II
6:06 JX-3P with built-in chorus
7:35 JP-8000 with built-in slow chorus
9:06 Reface CS with built-in chorus
10:43 Polyphonic Eurorack with Mimeophon
12:14 OB-X8 with reverb
13:53 Nord Lead 2 with reverb
15:28 OB-6 with reverb
17:04 Juno-6 with reverb
18:41 JX-3P with reverb
20:15 JP-8000 with reverb
21:52 Reface CS with reverb
23:29 Polyphonic Eurorack with reverb

I had to reupload this due to being a Davinci Resolve noob. There were all sorts of weird artifacts in the audio with the original upload. Hopefully it's fixed now.

I'm not sure if there's a point to this video at all. I love soft pad sounds. They're warm and comforting. I decided to make a pad sound on the Roland JX-3P and one thing led to another and of course I had to make a similar sound on ALL of my analog and virtual analog polysynths, including Eurorack, as I now have all the components to make a 2-VCO 4-voice polysynth. All of these pads are based on a simple 2-oscillator sawtooth, with a little detuning and pitch mod to one of the oscillators, if possible. On the Juno I there's only 1 oscillator, so there's maybe a little more LFO to pitch than on the other synths.

In the beginning, you see me play the notes on the Oberheim OB-X8 (Yes, it's an X8 and not something vintage, I have a pinstripe overlay, mostly for the Page 2 labels). I used that "performance" to capture the MIDI, which is then routed to all the other synths that are featured here, including the Eurorack setup. Before tracking the modular stuff, I removed some notes from the recorded MIDI so that there wouldn't be all sorts of crazy unpredictable voice stealing.

I used the built-in chorus on the JX-3P, so I figured it's only fair to use chorus on everything. I used the TAL Juno Chorus plugin on the OB-X8 and Nord Lead 2, setting 1. I used the built-in Chorus II on the Juno-6, and the "slow chorus" on the JP-8000. For the Sequential OB-6 and Yamaha Reface CS, I went for a similar type of slow chorus. The chorus on the OB-6 is very usable if you keep the rate low. There are sweet spots to be found. For Eurorack, I used the Mimeophon with a short delay time. It doesn't really do the chorus thing so much, but it does sort of act as a stereo widener. So if it sounds a little clangy, that's probably why.

Eurorack 4-voice poly is assembled like so:
Voice 1: 2 VCOs from the System-500 512, System-500 521 VCF, System-500 VCA, System-500 envelope
Voice 2: 2 Eowave Titan VCOs, System-500 521 VCF, System-500 VCA, System-500 envelope
Voice 3: 2 VCOs from the Wavefonix Dual CEM 3340, G-Storm SH5-VCF, Doepfer VCA, Doepfer Envelope
Voice 4: Dreadbox Erebus all internal VCOs, VCF, VCA, and envelope
All voices are mixed together and then fed into the Mimeophon
There is some additional filter modulation applied to all filters via the Erebus LFO

After the first round, all recordings are played again with the wonderfully lush Audiothingies DoctorA modulated plate reverb, approx 50/50 wet/dry mix."

Boss DM-101: First Jam with synths - Oberheim OB-X8 and Roland JP-8000

video upload by thesrabbit

"I got the DM-101 yesterday and immediately fell in love with the character and stereo modes in particular. I decided to make a quick jam that features my favorite mode so far, the stereo "pattern" mode. This mode has some nice stereo width and interesting tempo sync'd delay repeats. Since the repeats are a bit on the long side, for a BBD, there's plenty of lo-fi goodness, which almost sounds like a bit crusher.

I ran both the JP-8000 and OB-X8 into a mixer, and then FX sends from the mixer to the DM-101. I had no problems sending the mixer line-level signal to the 101. I thought I might have to use a re-amp box to bring the the level down, but I didn't have to, which is great.

I was lazy and recorded straight into Mainstage, which is not great because I couldn't mix the dry synth track and FX track after. Sometimes the balance is good, other times not so much. Oh well, it was a quick live jam so whatever. I just wanted to record something with this particular delay setting, which I have since saved as a preset of course.

Sorry the videography is so boring. My room is a total mess and I don't have anywhere good to position the camera right now.

All of the OB-X8 patches will be included in my upcoming soundset. Release date TBD."

Yamaha AN1x vs Oberheim OB-X8: Can an analog synth match the glory of a vintage VA???

video upload by thesrabbit

"A bit of a click-baity and facetious title. But there is a goal here. The Yamaha AN1x "005 Soar" preset is magical, majestic, glorious, epic, wonderful, etc. It uses 2 layers, or "scenes" as they're called on the AN1x. 1 layer is a soft floaty arpeggiated line and the other is an epic whooshing pad. It maxes out the use of onboard FX, using chorus, delay, and reverb. The FX mix is obviously very wet too, and maybe too much as it can get kind of muddy.

Anytime I get a synth that can do layers, I try to make a similar patch. It doesn't matter if it's an analog or digital synth. Some synths that I've tried have been the Sequential Rev2, Nord Lead 2, and Roland System-8. Out of those, the System-8 got pretty close, though not quite as epic. The other 2 didn't really impress me at all. So I guess you could say I'm still searching for something that can capture the magic of the original. And by the way, the goal isn't to make them sound exactly the same, but more to get similar epic vibes and feels. I just got the OB-X8, so I had to try it. I added delay and reverb from my go-to Audiothingies Doctor A. The dry/wet mix is about 50/50. The Audiothingies unit just seems to meld well with input sources, rather than taking them over. The arpeggiated layer uses the OB-Xa 24db low pass filter, and the pad layer uses the OB-X SEM 12db low pass filter. A winning combo, if you ask me!

Thoughts and opinions welcome in the comments."

OB Damned: OB-6, Modular with G-Storm Electro XaVCF, JUNO-6, JX-3P, TR-6S, PRO 2 (80's jam in C maj)

video upload by thesrabbit

"With all the excitement generated by the new Oberheim teasers, I thought it might be fun to do a jam with some classic Oberheim sounds. But really, this is really just an excuse to use this ridiculously complex Eurorack / Pro 2 patch that I made. It's a 4-note paraphonic patch, with each VCO in the rack being modulated by a sine wave from the Pro 2 (each individual Pro 2 oscillator is sent out of CV Ports 1-4). I'm also running the VCO outputs back into the Pro 2's CV inputs to modulate each oscillator's frequency and get true cross mod. Then I've got 8 VCO outputs (4 sawtooth and 4 square wave) going into the G-Storm Electro XaVCF, an OB-Xa filter clone, which is in LP 2-pole mode. With all that signal going into it, it produces a heavily overdriven sound, even without the resonance cranked. None of the sound is coming from the Pro 2 as it just acts as a modulation source. Classic 80's Oberheim sounds are coming from the OB-6, obviously. On bass is the Roland JUNO-6, and the JX-3P gets pad duty. Everything gets a heavy dose of Audiothingies Doctor A delay and reverb, except for the drums, which run through the MIDIVERB II for that nostalgic 80's gated reverb (preset 31, if you're wondering).

I didn't rehearse this jam, just programmed a couple drum parts and went for it, staying in the key of C major the entire time, because the black keys are too hard to find in a jam for someone with my sub-par abilities. Also, having to use the octave keys on the OB-6 would throw another wrench in that I just can't really manage to deal with in a live situation. It's a shame, because the Eurorack patch sounds badass in F, hitting the bottom key on the Pro 2's keyboard. So if I had changed it up, it would have been going down to F and then coming back to C. Too advanced, I know.

Gear Summary
Modular: Eowave Titan Discrete Oscillators (x2), Roland System-500 512 Dual VCO, 530 Dual VCA, 540 Dual Env/LFO, 555 LAG/S&H, G-Storm Electro XaVCF and Spring Tank Reverb driver, modulated by the DSI/Sequential Pro 2 Synths: Sequential/Oberheim OB-6, Roland JUNO-6 and JX-3P
Drums: Roland TR-6S
Effects: Audiothingies Doctor A, Alesis MIDIVERB II"

Roland JUNO-6 with Tubbutec-66 Mod: Demo of some favorite features

video upload by thesrabbit

"A few months ago I had the Tubbutec-66 mod installed in my Roland JUNO-6. I did the full install, except for the CV input option. The basic install provides MIDI In/Out and some fun voice features like detune, different play modes with oscillator stacking, and portamento among other things. The full install adds three additional filter modulation sources: an audio rate triangle LFO, Sample and Hold (can be sync'd to MIDI clock), and a loopable global envelope. I think the loopable envelope is my favorite, just because the full ADSR (plus hold) makes it easier to dial in the modulation you want.

I used my favorite little effects box, the Audiothingies Doctor A for delay and reverb.

Some parts drag on a bit and may not be that pleasing to the ear. In that case, chapters are your friend.

0:00 Intro and epic slightly detuned stacked saws (3 voices, 2 oscs per voice)
3:13 Triangle LFO at audio rates (mostly annoying bells)
4:32 Arp with global filter envelope (in loop mode)
8:23 Poly portamento
12:02 Unison detune and sample and hold"

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

video upload by thesrabbit

"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."

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

video upload by thesrabbit

"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."

OB SuperVerb XVI: Sequential OB-6 + 2 X Alesis MIDIVerb II + QuadraVerb Plus + Audiothingies Dr. A

video upload by thesrabbit

"This is similar to my last vid, titled 'OB SuperVerb' [posted here], but now I've added the QuadraVerb Plus to the Alesis reverb stack. So, here we've got a MIDIVerb II on preset 28 (XLarge Warm 5 seconds) fed into a MIDIVerb II on preset 29 (XLarge Warm 15 seconds) fed into a QuadraVerb Plus on preset 75 (Taj Mahal). I've only tweaked a couple things on the QV, but it's very close to the stock preset sound.

In addition, I've got the Audiothingies Dr. A running in parallel, with my favorite go-to modulated plate reverb setting. This smoothes things out a bit as the Alesis stack on its own can get borderline clangerous, if that's a word. However, sometimes that clangy, feedback-like tone is just the ticket. I couldn't really decide on which version I like best, so I put them all here, including the "dry" OB-6 only version, which just has the internal FX. (DDL and BBD, with different delay times)

Which version is your favorite?

Contents:
0:00 Full Stack Developer Version (2 x MIDIVerb II + QuadraVerb with Dr. A plate reverb in parallel)
5:08 Alesis Reverb Stack Only (2 x MIDIVerb II + QuadraVerb)
10:15 Dr. A Only (Plate Algorithm)
15:21 OB-6 Only (No External FX)"

OB SuperVerb: Sequential OB-6, 2 X Alesis MIDIVERB II, Audiothingies Dr. A

video upload by thesrabbit

"I recently picked up a second Alesis MIDIVERB II to go with my existing one. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try stacking these wonderfully lo-fi 80's machines. Signal chain is an aux send from Logic to the first MVII, which is on preset 28 (XLarge Warm 5 seconds), with the mix at 100% wet. Then from there it goes into the second MVII, which is on preset 29 (XLarge Warm 15 seconds), and the mix is up about half way, maybe a little more. The input level on the second unit is fairly low. If you turn it up, it's instant overdrive that sounds like out of control feedback. Sometimes that could be the exact sound you want. However, in this video I wanted to explore the softer side of the OB-6, so it's a delicate balancing act of wandering up to the edge of overdrive and feedback, and then backing away before it gets out of hand. You really need to react to the reverb as you're playing, and for this reason, I feel that the reverb itself becomes a part of the instrument.

The OB-6's effects are turned off. The only other effects used are from the Audiothingies Dr. A. There's some stereo delay to get a little more width and let some of those harmonics open up and shine. There's also a little bit of plate reverb to smooth things out. I think these units together in parallel are a great combo.

Contents:
0:00 Intro and Main Performance
5:50 Demo 2 (Chords from “On Hold”)
14:08 Demo 3 (Vintage Synth Brass)
15:08 Demo 4 (FM bandpass pad with high resonance)"

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."

On Hold: Roland JUNO-6, JX-3P, Sequential OB-6, Dr. A Delay and Reverb

video upload by thesrabbit

"Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line and someone will be with you shortly.

What happens when you press the hold button on a JUNO-6 and play a chord, then do the same on a JX-3P, then play some wiry, stringy pad thingy on an OB-6, with a wash of delay and reverb from an Audiothingies Dr. A? Perhaps you'll get a piece of ambient music that's long enough to not loop even once before your call is answered by a real person. But probably not.

Next time you're on hold, imagine that you're listening to beautiful synths instead of a 10-second monotonous loop.

Jokes and sarcasm aside, I just realized this track is somewhat similar to another ambient pad track I did a long time ago. Only that was done on an iPad with a $5 synth app, recorded with a $5 multi-tracking app, and probably "mastered" in Audacity (free open-source). I remember using a total cheap POS MIDI controller to play it, but it worked and the result was a decent piece of recorded music. That was before I knew squat about synths, other than the cutoff knob did interesting things. Anyway, here's that if you're interested: https://steveconnelly.bandcamp.com/tr..."

Roland Alpha Juno Chorus Compared to the legends: JUNO-6, JX-3P, JX-10, JU-06A (60 and 106 models)

video upload by thesrabbit

"The Roland Alpha Juno 1, 2, and MKS-50 have the same legendary BBD chorus chips as the rest of the 80's Roland classics, with one major difference: variable chorus rate! I've gone through and mapped out the actual chorus rates of all possible values, from 0 to 127. I've also measured the chorus rates of every Roland synth I own, and found which chorus rate values on the Alpha Juno best align with each of them. This includes the JUNO-6, JX-3P, JX-10, and JU-06A, which has built-in JUNO-60 and JUNO-106 emulations.

Contents:
0:00 Intro
0:46 Baseline patch on the JUNO-6
1:58 Baseline patch on other synths
5:32 Overview of comparison
5:56 JUNO-6 vs Alpha Juno
13:30 JX-3P vs Alpha Juno
17:53 JU-06A Juno-60 model vs Alpha Juno
23:56 JU-06A Juno-106 model vs Alpha Juno
28:43 JX-10 vs Alpha Juno
32:58 JUNO-6 Chorus 1 vs JX-3P
33:58 JUNO-6 Chorus 2 vs JU-06A Chorus 1
35:22 JUNO-6 Chorus 2 vs JX-10 Chorus 1
36:26 Wrap-up
37:14 Measurement method

For a full rundown of my findings, look no further: https://eokuwwy.blogspot.com/2021/06/...

If you are interested in hearing how the chorus on the Alpha Juno compares to the other Roland giants, then this video is for you! There's a small section at the end that shows how I measured the chorus rates, so you can do the same.

This is not intended to see how the Alpha Juno stacks up overall sound wise against the others and there is no real patch matching. That would have taken way too long, and this video is already long enough. I'd suggest heading over to Starsky-Carr's channel if you're interested in that sort of thing (his Alpha Juno vs 106 video is definitely worth the watch)."