MIDI Mod on the iPhone as a Performance Utility - an AN1x style patch on the Prophet Rev2

Published on Jan 9, 2020 thesrabbit

MIDI Mod Overview video further below. You can find it in the App Store here.

Spotted this one on discchord.

"I love the sound of the AN1x, but programming it is not the quickest experience. The Rev2 has similar capabilities from a sound design perspective (plus a whole lot of things that the AN1x can't do). However, the AN1x has an awesome effects section that blows away that of most modern synths. In this video, I use MIDI Mod to do some fairly simple routings, just using the Mod Matrix. No LFO's, envelopes, arps, or anything else.

MIDI Mod is running on an iPhone X, hooked up to the MeeBlip Cubit Go via USB. MIDI out of the Cubit Go is running to the MIDI In on the Rev2. And MIDI Out of the Rev 2 is going to MIDI In on the Cubit Go. This gives MIDI Mod 2-way communication with the Rev2. Now this could easily be done without DIN cables at all, just connecting MIDI Mod directly to the Rev2 over USB. But later in the video, external effects are added to level the playing field with the AN1x on that front, somewhat. One of the pedals (Ventris Dual Reverb) has a MIDI input and so there's a MIDI DIN cable running to that as well.

The idea behind the patch isn't to recreate the exact patch on the Rev2, but to create a similar patch from a structural point of view. 2 layers, one as a pad, and 1 as an arp spanning multiple octaves. With the ability to fade the arp in and out via the modwheel. "Program Volume" is not a modulation destination on the Rev2 itself, but we can easily access it with MIDI Mod (or almost any other of the bazillion parameters on the Rev2).

In addition, Note (MIDI Note) is routed to Layer A Pan Spread and Layer B Pan Spread on two different slots. Layer A has the arp, and so the range is set to 63-127 to throw the voices out wider. Layer B is the pad, so the range is restricted to 0-12 to keep things more centered, which makes that aspect of the sound a little more meaty, especially the lower notes. This can easily be adjusted to taste.

Finally, the modwheel is assigned to the pre-delay time of the Ventris later on in the video when the external effects are brought in.

The point of this is to illustrate what you might do with MIDI Mod in a pinch, to get that little extra something. Made even easier now that you can do it just by using your phone!

Starring:
- MIDI Mod for iOS (on an iPhone X)
- Sequential Prophet Rev2
- Yamaha AN1x
- MeeBlip Cubit Go MIDI Interface
- TC Electronic Flashback II Delay
- Source Audio Ventris Dual Reverb"

MIDI Mod for iPad - Full Overview with the Yamaha Reface CS

Published on Jul 6, 2019 thesrabbit

"This video uses the Yamaha Reface CS and Arturia Keystep to provide a full rundown of MIDI Mod's major features, including:

LFOs
Envelopes
Arpeggiator
Mod Matrix
Sync and App Settings

MIDI Mod's Main Features:
4 LFOs
3 Envelopes (delay and hold, loopable, 2 ADSR, one 4-stage with individual level controls)
Arpeggiator with an auto-transpose sequencer (sequencer of a sequence) and modulation capabilities
32-slot mod matrix with fine tune value ranges for each assignment and inversion (negative)
Mod sources include the LFOs, envelopes, arp note on, arp note off, and when used with an external keyboard, you get Aftertouch, Velocity, note (key tracking), Pitchbend, Modwheel, and expression as mod sources.

What sets MIDI Mod apart is ease of use when making assignments. It comes with over 50 pre-defined device mappings. So there's no need to dig through your user manual or midi implementation chart. Just select the manufacturer, model, and parameter name from the menu. Additionally, you have a ton of internal routings that can be made. For example, LFO 2 could modulate LFO 1's rate, Envelope 2 could control LFO 2's mod depth, and so on."

BladerVerb II: Sequential OB-6, Alesis MDIVerb II, Source Audio Ventris, CME XKey (poly aftertouch)

video by thesrabbit

"Inspired by feedback received from my last video [posted here], I wanted to do some more Blade Runnery things with the same foundation as last time: Sequential OB-6 GeoSynths 016 preset with internal FX turned off, Alesis MIDIVerb II preset 29 "XLarge Warm 15 sec.", and the CME XKey 37 for poly aftertouch. Someone brought up the vintage knob and of course I totally forgot about that until after I recorded the last vid. This time I dialed it up to somewhere between 10 and 11 o'clock. Another person suggested maybe using an Alesis Quadraverb or Wedge to get that modulated swirl reverb going, a characteristic of the Lexicon 224 sound used in the original Blade Runner soundtrack. I don't have either of those, but I do have another unit that's capable of modulated reverb for days, the Source Audio Ventris Dual Reverb. I thought it would be fun to put that at the end of the chain, after the MIDIVerb II. I set it to E-Dome, mod depth pretty high, and the mod speed very slow. In the video, you can see the light on the Ventris glowing, that indicates its internal LFO speed used for modulation. In order to have any sort of clarity, I had to dial the mix on the MIDIVerb II back to about 50/50 dry/wet, which is less than I would like for this type of sound.

After the main tune, I play a small rendition with varying degrees of effects so you can get a better idea of what each "layer" sounds like: OB-6 completely dry, OB-6 with MIDIVerb II only, OB-6 with Ventris only, and just for fun, the OB-6 with its own internal FX (closer to the sound of the original 016 GeoSynths preset)

Something happened when I patched this up and I might have a bad cable running to the MIDIVerb II from my patchbay. The signal coming into the MVII is a bit weak on one of the channels. The unit still emits a stereo signal filled with spacious reverb, but it's as if there's an extended pre-delay happening on one side. After a while there's so much reverb built up that you don't really notice. I didn't notice it when playing, but I definitely did when setting up the little demo of each FX layer afterwards. Unfortunately, I did not capture the dry output of the synth, so there was no way to go back and fix it.

Once again there is no post processing. You're only hearing the synth running through the two reverb units. That's it."

Follow-up to this post.

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"

Roland IR3109 VCF Showdown: JUNO-6, JU-06A, JX-3P sonic traits compared

video by thesrabbit

"This video features several filter sweeps at full resonance, which means there will be very high frequencies at high volumes. Please exercise caution while watching and listening!

Contents:
0:00 Intro
0:27 Init Sounds
1:01 Sub Oscillator
2:06 Filter Sweeps (and copyright claims smh) 0% resonance
4:28 Filter Sweeps 50% resonance
6:45 Filter Sweeps 100% resonance
9:52 Envelope Filter Sweeps at full resonance and 100% key follow
14:42 Arp/Seq Saw+Sub Envelope to VCF only, Key Follow 100% - ENV Decay Sweep from max to min
19:26 Arp/Seq Saw+Sub Envelope to VCF and VCA, Key Follow 100% - ENV Decay Sweep from max to min
24:08 Arp/Seq Saw+Sub Envelope to VCF and VCA, Key Follow 0% - ENV Decay Sweep from max to min
29:02 Arp/Seq Saw+Sub Envelope to VCF and VCA, Key Follow 50% - ENV Decay Sweep from max to min
34:04 Arp/Seq ENV Attack
38:39 ENV Release Time, Key Follow 100%
41:30 Manual Pulse Width
43:35 LFO PWM
47:26 Chorus
51:43 4-note polyphony, max envelope times, 100% resonance, 100% key follow, sawtooth
53:34 4-note polyphony, max envelope times, 100% resonance, 0% key follow, sawtooth
55:13 4-note polyphony, max envelope times, 100% resonance, 50% key follow, sawtooth
57:07 4-note polyphony, max envelope times, 100% resonance, 100% key follow, square wave

In this video, I present a (very long) comparison of three synths from Roland: JUNO-6, JU-06A, and JX-3P. All three of these use the same legendary IR3109 analog VCF chip. In the case of the JU-06A (JUNO-60 digital recreation) this VCF chip is modeled with Roland's ACB tech. My JX-3P has about a 30% resonance boost, which brings it closer to JUNO territory. A JX-3P from the factory has very mellow resonance that doesn't really even squelch. Anyone with a JX-3P can perform this "mod" as no special skills are required (see link below to my vid where I did this).

This video will probably benefit me more than anyone else, but who knows? Some may find it interesting or useful. The goal here is to compare and discover differences and similarities between these synths when it comes to key sonic traits, such as: the sound of the filter at high resonance, filter key follow behavior, envelopes, VCA (in gate mode and envelope mode), Chorus, and Pulse Width. If that sounds boring, feel free to move along to a channel that does more lively comparisons. There are plenty of good options out there! I may do a patch comparison at some point down the road.

There is no talking in this video. I don't want to sway anyone's opinion with my commentary. Rather, it is just a simple presentation with visuals and on-screen text to indicate what's going on. I did my best to match the settings for each sound. Feel free to let me know in the comments if I screwed something up.

Lastly, any additional noise and hiss beyond the innate noise of the chorus circuit is totally my fault. I had 2 other inputs cranked on my mixer unnecessarily.

Enjoy!

JX-3P filter resonance boost:" [posted here]

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."

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."

Roland JX-3P brilliance and resonance after VCF resonance trim pot boost

video by thesrabbit

"Recently MIDERA published an interesting JX-3P vs the System-8 Plug-out comparison here: [see this post]

Many have commented that his JX-3P sounds a lot brighter than the plug-out. I have to agree, but I think that maybe mine does as well. Does my JX-3P sound that different from his? Here are some samples that more or less align with the sounds he plays in the first 5 minutes of the video.

Since there has been some discussion about the brilliance, I have included samples at 100%, 50%, and 0% brilliance.

It should be noted that I recently adjusted the VCF resonance trim pots to approx 850 mVp using the 3P's Test Mode 5, A2, as described in the service manual. Factory spec is 600 mVp. Though mine were all between 660 and 680 mVp before I started tweaking. I will be publishing a full walkthrough of that process in the near future. After doing this little exercise, I may decide to boost it even more. Then again, these examples all feature just a single sawtooth from DCO-1. When you add DCO-2 to the mix it definitely drives the filter a bit harder and can produce some squelch. I think I still might want more though.

Also, I realize that this video has the potential for many dislikes as I unfortunately don't have a Roland Cloud subscription or System-8 to compare against. It's meant to be compared side by side with MIDERA's video."

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."

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."

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."

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."

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"

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)"

Adagio For Synths - Xmas edition

thesrabbit

"What makes this a Christmas video? You'll know it when you see it. What's the song? You'll know it when you hear it. Even though I played it wrong.

I just got the Roland Super JX-10 and am waiting for the Vecoven firmware chips to arrive so I can test new changes to the MIDI Mod app. The Super JX has a distinct instant 80's vibe to it that just feels like home. I spent the evening going through the JX-8P stock presets and there are so many great ones. This video features the "High String" preset. I needed to fill out the low end so I made a stringy, yet somewhat brassy patch on the Alpha Juno-2 to do that. I routed aftertouch to the filter for maximum feels. Unfortunately, the aftertouch sensitivity on this Super JX is about as good as the sensitivity on my Juno. It requires a minimum of 80 pounds of pressure just to eek out a MIDI value of 15. It's hours later now and my fingers are still tingling.

Both synths are running into an analog mixer and the aux send is going to the Ventris Dual Reverb with an "E-Dome" setting and then back into the mixer. From there it just goes straight into the audio interface. This is the raw recording. There are no additional effects or post processing."

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"

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..."

Roland JX-3P Filter Resonance Boost Mod DIY: Detailed Walkthrough and Sound Demonstration

video by thesrabbit

follow-up to this post.

"Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible if you try this out and break your gear or yourself. Please be careful! This mod requires the synth to be powered on with the panel open as you make adjustments to the trim pots. Please do not touch anything inside the synth other than the trim pots, and only touch the trim pots with your trim pot tool. I used a special tool for this, but I think it may be possible to use other tools as well.

This video is meant to show you how I accomplished my particular goal. It does not mean that this is THE correct way, if there is such a thing. I'm a total DIY noob and have never used an oscilloscope before. Please leave a comment if you know something important about safety or want to call me out for anything that I'm doing which is clearly wrong.

Contents:
0:00: Intro
1:35: Preparation and disassembly
3:00: Opening the top panel
4:07: Trim pots

CLICK FOR MORE »

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)"

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..."