How to turn a clock divider into a subharmonic oscillator

This is a simple but rich-sounding patch that I came up with while I was working on another video about modular synth utilities. It sounded pretty cool, so I thought I’d record a quick breakdown in the meantime.
Here I’m feeding the Doepfer A-160-2 an audio-rate signal from an oscillator (in this case the Plum Audio RO’VED), mixing four of the outputs in Mutable Instruments Blinds, and using four LFOs from Joranalogue Filter 8 (all 90 degrees out of phase with each other) to slowly modulate the levels. The result is a constantly-moving stepped waveform, as you’ll see on the scope.
I’m driving the patch with a simple five-step sequence from Mutable Instruments Stages, and feeding the result through a filter, spring reverb and Monsoon (aka Clouds).
You can take this idea a step further with audio-rate amplitude modulation (AM) rather than LFOs (which is easy to do with Filter 8!), or explore other combinations of subharmonics, perhaps switching or crossfading between them to vary the ‘chord’ that results. Enjoy...
Chapters
00:00 Preview and intro
01:13 What is a clock divider?
02:28 Setup and signal chain
04:19 Individual subharmonics
05:58 Building the full patch and jamming
11:33 Even deeper drone: 4-octave stack
More stuff from me:
tomchurchill.bandcamp.com/
/ tomchurchill
/ tomchurchill

[@pineapplegalaxy3742]

This is easily the coolest modular thing I've ever seen

[@mymodularjourney]

I really love this clock divider. For all it’s simplicity it’s so versatile.

[@MattBaker1965]

As a Noob to modular, I understand the theory BUT this sounds like magic!

[@rayderrich]

Brilliant idea and quality demonstration, thank you very much.

[@adamgriffiths1703]

Good lord Tom, this is an astounding video.

[@nickolasyounker]

Tried it 3 days ago and it was stunning! Thank you Tom, well done! Also taking one of the divided audio out to a A-160-5 gives some amazing texture as an additional test.

[@Luckydog661]

Thanks for this. Proper lightbulb moment.

[@oscidigi7357]

Great patch 👏

[@pawnotdaw4559]

I love your videos matey!

[@EdEditz]

That sounds amazing at the end there. Wauw!

[@andrometer2382]

That was one hell of a patch Nice work

[@LeoPerantoni]

Really cool video! Gave me a bunch of ideas to try out, thanks!

[@adroc9841]

Cool idea, I’m going to have to try this.

[@thomasgauntt]

Love to see the ESO138, best bang for buck scope I’ve ever used

[@fecktoph]

Inspiring video.gotta try a variation of this ,thanks for sharing !!

[@keschgelb]

Just found your channel! Very cool patches, and good explanation. Love

[@heyitstom69]

Love this. Def patching this tomorrow. Thanks for the ideas

[@madebypete]

Loved it 🎉

[@jonaseggen2230]

Not only beautiful in it's simplicity, but it sounds absolutely amazing

[@Jimantronic]

Yeah! Lovely stuff here, well explained. Always good to see patches that play to the strength of modular 👍

[@SynthDad]

Nicely done Tom - a patch that’s very much in the spirit of module but sounds great too!

[@oiero.503]

Impresionante nunca se me hubiera ocurrido utilizarlo así, eres un genio. 🙌🙌

[@jaygregory8219]

Ohhh yeah, sounds great!! Super rich digital goodness. Thanks for sharing!

[@jonathanredman8497]

Another great video Tom. Nicely presented and someone with a proper voice. Liked and Subbed.

[@alancurrall]

Great idea Tom! I didn’t realise you could use a divider at audio rates.

[@Limbic1000]

this is soo good! thx man!!

[@walrtbstudios5430]

Wow! This is a “must try”! I’ve got the a-160-1, but it’s not currently in my case. Guess what the first thing I’ll be doing after work is…

[@NiamorH]

very nice man!

[@martintaylor9205]

TOM your becoming the Pythagorean of Musical Synthesis but the creations are exquisite, Noice explorations👍🆒🎶🌟🌟🕸⚡️🔱👁🌟🌟

[@faruambient]

very cool! I tried this with math the other day, but with the clock divider its not limited to two. thanks for this top

[@BennosProject]

Subscribed :)

[@grommel666]

Again a great video Tom. Thanks a lot. Where did you get this nice goverbox for the OSCILLOSCOPE?

[@TomChurchill]

Thanks! It’s just part of the standard DSO138 kit, nothing special 👍

[@petercane6376]

You have just made a subharmonicon by the looks of it. Its what and how you patched the clock divider to that confused me because in order to emulate your patch I would need more than a clock divider? Will all clock dividers do the same or only the ones that do the odd numbers eg 17? Great video. Did you buy the intelligel unit as is or did you build it up?

[@2DiskK]

Hi Tom, thanks for sharing this, what a wonderful idea ! I couldn't help but notice you seem to be running Hemisphere on your 1U O&C, is that the v2 ? If not, would you mind sharing which firmware you are using ? Mine seems to be stuck on a -3.5v/+3.5v range while I get a full range on the original O&C firmware😕Thanks in advance for any help you can give !!

[@TomChurchill]

Thanks! Yep, I'm running Hemispheres on a V2 1U O&C - it came pre-installed when I bought it. Are you definitely running a VOR-compatible version of Hemispheres? (I'm assuming you have a VOR-enabled O&C - I think they all are though?) That's the only thing I can think of tbh - sounds like it's probably not a hardware issue if it's working OK on the original firmware. If you haven't already done so, maybe try grabbing Hemispheres from here and reinstalling... www.plum-audio.com/oc-firmware

[@2DiskK]

@@TomChurchill Hello and happy new year ! For some reason, I missed the notification for your message but I think the issue stems from the fact that I have a v1 and you have a v2. I'm not too sure what the issue is but I understand that first version did not handle the VOR thing with Hemispheres properly, at least it's been confirmed to me by Plum Audio that for v1 modules, only the original firmware will work correctly and Hemisphere will not. Wish I had seen earlier the numerous posts from very confused users who I understand all went back to original firmware or simply gave up - at least I haven't ready a single clear report that Hemispheres is working fine with v1, I guess it was the plan originally then it was dropped. I'll most likely sell mine as a result and give up on Plum Audio entirely (already had issues with their QC) 😕

[@hippyjason]

Tasty.

[@duncanthompson957]

Could you tell me the name of your OSCILLOSCOPE please? Thank you!

[@TomChurchill]

It’s a JYETech DSO138 - you can pick them up very cheap as DIY kits or fully assembled. It’s very basic but pretty useful!

[@advaita9156]

Can this be done with most clock dividers??

[@TomChurchill]

It should work with any clock divider that can run at audio rates 👍

[@advaita9156]

@@TomChurchill hopefully the Takaab runs at audio rates, will have to check before I buy it 😀thanks Tom

[@TomChurchill]

@@advaita9156 the Takaab ones run at up to 10kHz so all good I think :)

[@advaita9156]

@@TomChurchill thanks Tom

[@Delayeed9]

Will an analog oscillator as the input work the same way or does it need to be digital?

[@TomChurchill]

An analogue oscillator will work fine - it doesn’t matter too much what the input signal is, as long as it’s something with a rising edge that the clock divider can detect and count. So any square or pulse wave ought to be fine 👍

[@Delayeed9]

@@TomChurchill Thanks!

[@EleniEliades_]

What!? That is wild... How did you find this trick? It's so Creative, thanks for your wonderful Video of how to utilize this Module in such an amazing musical/Drone Soundscape.🎶💥🎛👏🏽💡❗

[@walrtbstudios5430]

One of the joys of modular is that you can patch pretty much anything to anything else (carefully). There are few rules- experiment…