Lecture #2: Korg SQ-1 Filter Modulation of Korg's MS-20

This all started while I was watching the Best-Worst movie I've ever seen: Aquaman. [here come the puns] We saw it in iMAX and were sitting at about row 5 in the theater - complete immersion! Whilst watching the end credits and listening to the end soundtrack I was struck by a Square Wave. Yes, I was literally hit with a sonic, high and low pass filtered square wave. You electronic music composers and "enjoyers" know exactly what I mean. And I thought to myself "I could so totally do that!" So this lecture attempts to swim folks thru the use of the SQ-1 in modulating the High Pass and Low Pass filters on the patch bay of the Korg MS-20. I show'll you:
= How to do it
= Talk a little about electronics (easy stuff) Voltage Control
= Show you a little piece of hardware that will help any MS-20/SQ-1 user with their work flow and then . . .
= How to take the righteously modulated dry voice from the MS-20 and wash it in some Ableton love!
Finally here is the finished piece of music that includes the HP/LP filter modulation shown in the lecture. It's called "Deepness"
• Deepness - A Korg MS-2...
And in case you didn't land on my youtube page with this video - here is a link:
/ @hadlbah
Or you can simply type Ha'Dlbah KZbin and Google it! Here you will find Lecture 1 (Paring of the MS-20 with an Alesis using Korg's External Signal Processor" and some various other bits of electronica.
Enjoy!
Ha'dlbaH, Leader of the Animal Opera

[@hair_ofthedog5023]

That was very informative and I really enjoyed the track!

[@hadlbah]

Ryan Hair: Thanks man! It was fun to make and glad you enjoyed it!😊

[@simonburns1055]

Its a nice sound in the end

[@hadlbah]

Thanks. Yeah, it did turn out well. It was fun to pair that groove/swing to the video in my music video “Deepness”

[@svensvenson9403]

Amazing teaching skills! made it so clear! tb2

[@simonpalframan6534]

Loving your lectures dude!! So useful

[@hadlbah]

Thanks for letting me know! Glad to help in any way that I can.☺️

[@tensenpark]

Love your thorough explanation.

[@hadlbah]

Glad to be of service!😊

[@jaromirdziewic]

Great explained, thank you! I will try how it works with behringer crave and neutron in a moment :D

[@hadlbah]

I’m very glad to hear my videos are helping! When you work it out with your crave & neutron I would love to hear it!😊

[@cortical1]

Great video! Thanks!

[@hadlbah]

I’m glad to help.😊

[@kirillmalchenko4453]

Thanks!

[@simonburns1055]

hot tip bro

[@hadlbah]

Glad you liked it

[@simonburns1055]

what i want to know is why did Korg use a black output socket for the headphone jack on the Mini?

[@hadlbah]

Ya know, I don’t know. That’s a question for Nishijima-san at Korg. Fumio Mieda didn’t do that on the FS.

[@petercane6376]

Thanks. I followed that and it really does explain how voltages drive the MS 20. Confused by how it suddenly sped up and the drums came in from heaven!! Ha ha. Come on...be fair!!!! Explain the drums please!!!! Pete

[@hadlbah]

Hi Peter. Drums were in from Ableton - some drum clip I found. Just launched the clip and did a quick mix - nothing fancy. I'm not one of the DAW'less types. I love my DAW. Modular synths, recorded into clips and built into virtual instruments in Ableton . . . that's my work flow. I do have an example. It is a piece of music based upon this lecture and completed into a finished product - Deepness; An MS20-SQ1 project. All of the sound you hear, well almost all of the sound (like 95% of it) comes directly from the MS-20/SQ-1 and then built into Ableton Live. Here is the link if you haven't seen it on my channel: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bp-zeomKgrinj8k Best regards! Ha'dlbaH

[@thehimer3903]

why do you not just change the voltage range of the SQ1 to 5V?

[@hadlbah]

Excellent question. My thought was to get folks thinking about voltage headroom and step through the math. In retrospect, could have offered the easier solution too. Basically shown both. Presently working on lecture 4 wherein I will introduce the other voltage range settings and how to apply them with VCA2 and to musically transpose the SQ1 output according to desired voltage block scales.

[@thehimer3903]

@@hadlbah Ha...fine...i thought i missed something. But informative video anyway.!!

[@hadlbah]

Thanks. You’re not the only one to ask. One person even downvoted me for it! Ah well, live and learn I guess.

[@simonburns1055]

I got a brand new SQ1 and a 40 year old MS20 not sure if it will work on mine

[@hadlbah]

I do remember you buying the vintage MS20. So since you purchased an SQ1 to go with your MS20, I’ll make the assumption that you’re liking it. Excellent! The SQ1 will (should) pair nicely with your FS MS. The only bother will be the 3.5mm to 1/4” patch cables. All of the VC and S-Trig connections are completely compatible.

[@simonburns1055]

@@hadlbah yes a set of adaptors fixes that up but you have to remember to set both channels to the 8 volts and set the polarity right

[@hadlbah]

@@simonburns1055 yeah, the polarity thing is the same for the mini too

[@splitends826]

thank for the tutorial...it's good... so dumb question... i am working w the same setup (ms-20, sq-1, ableton 10) just got the sq-1 today. i can not get Ableton's bpm to control sq-1's bpm. Can you help me with that?

[@hadlbah]

Hi Grayson - thanks for reaching out and glad to hear you like the vid/lecture. Yeah, I remember being equally mystified when I first set this up. I don't recall exactly the process I used to solve this - I recall watching vids, reading the ableton manual (again) and such. To get this little bugger working correctly (my solution): 1. Polarity of gate Channel A & B set to Negative (SQ1 manual) The mode button on the SQ1 will be unlit when properly set. 2. USB connection to my Mac - I'm running macOS High Sierra 10.13.6. I'm connected to a 4 port hub, just never enough USB ports, eh? 3. In Ableton/preferences/LinkMIDI Midi Ports Track Sync Remote Input SQ-1 (SEQ IN) ON OFF OFF Output SQ-1 (MIDI OUT) ON OFF OFF Output SQ-1 (CTRL) ON ON OFF I'm not saying this is the only way, and I really haven't explored all the bits'n'bobs that might be possible. What I can say is this seems to work well enough. When I hit play in any ableton file, the SQ-1 just starts chugging along. Did this solve your issue? Did you uncover a better way?

[@splitends826]

@@hadlbah you are awesome for this reply...gonna try in a minute ill get back to you

[@splitends826]

@@hadlbah yes it works great.... thank you for showing the in/out mapping... I think the problem for me which is embarrassing lol is I just had sq connected to ms20, i was making no USB connection to ableton with my sq-1...(huge duh moment) but i appreciate you taking the time to explain and for making the lecture. happy new years!