Part 13 - Extending the Sequencer, Arpeggios/Chord Progression Patch Idea - Subharmonicon Tutorial

[@richardjames111]

Moog should be paying you serious money for these explanation videos!!!!

[@braintree56]

I wish! Maybe someday they'll send me a free synth... :) For now I'll take the positive feedback.

[@goingmodular]

As usual, you delivered ! I am thrilled to see somebody sharing a clear and detailed explanation at last on this powerful trick for the SubH, consisting in a "double-modulation" of the same oscillator by both sequencers (a trick that you rightly sourced to Moog's amazing "Patching with Intention" booklet, available on their website). I hope this video of yours gets the traction it deserves, as it truly opens new perspectives for the instrument. Considering the patch itself, I really like your idea of "decoupling" VCO2 by dead-patching it. No doing so myself, I was confronted with the head-scratching challenge to anticipate which base notes to program so that the combined modulations of Seq1 and Seq2 would yield the correct end sequence. It was painful ! 🙂Your solution to this problem is much more elegant than mine, I will have to try it ! Finally, allow me to thank you for the feature in your video. This is probably more than any of my productions deserves, but I am happy if those clumsy explorations of mine end up driving even just a few people into getting more out of their SubH. I only wish now that I had properly re-recorded the music in the video you link to. Right now, it remains more of a glorified jam session than a properly produced musical piece, and as such its audio quality leaves much to be desired. I apologise in advance to all listeners ! 🙂 Keep the videos coming: your series focused on Moog's Sound Studio is rapidly growing into one of the best online ressources for owners of the instrument !

[@andrewnancarrow]

Thanks for this! Totally opened my eyes to such a basic concept that never dawned on me: that VCO1 is normalled to vco2, and to just break that normalization by patching the dummy cable into vco2! Damn this totally changes things on this instrument for me now. I’ve been struggling so hard with tuning because if this where changes to vco1 constantly change vco2. SUPER HELPFUL!!

[@braintree56]

Great! So glad it was helpful!

[@fiddlestickzmuzik]

Bruh that is sick, I have used loads of gear in the past and this week I finally ordered a small two synth MOOG studio the DFAM and Subharmonicon, watching these vids gives me so much excitement. A little ratcheted note in that pattern would be insane.

[@braintree56]

Awesome! I hope you like them! Those two are a pretty awesome dynamic duo!

[@johnkx2484]

You are the guy, thank you man !

[@braintree56]

Thanks, man!

[@joelschwartz6480]

So, I have been working on a project with a simple C/ G/ Am/ F progression in the bass, and I thought that this patch could be a great exercise to see if I could apply these principles and make it work. As was explained by the other commenters, once you began to mix minor chords in, things got funky, and not in a good way. Actually, the G chord in the 2nd step of the seq 2 was pretty discordant too, for reasons I don't fully understand, and the Am in seq 2 step 3 was awful, with things pulling together a little bit for the final F chord. After scratching my head bit, I ended up chickening out and making the arpeggio in seq 1 a C/G/C (octave up)/G, and the power chord, while missing the sweet 3rd, ended up working nicely. Regardless of all that, your series is excellent, and you have become a wonderful teacher for me as I learn the Sound Studio. I have paid good money for online courses far less thought out and less sophisticated than what you have put together. Your pacing works really well for me, and I am always challenged to think, but never left with my head spinning, unable to follow you. Your Moog playlists are a real gift to the community, and I want to join the others in thanking you for the hours of work you have put in, all of it with no guarantee of return or even appreciation. I look forward to joining your Patreon as soon as I can, because you deserve something for what you have shared, and I want to keep you as my personal synth sensei. I do not know if you are a teacher irl, but you have a gift for it, truly. I send you many heartfelt thanks.

[@joelschwartz6480]

Obv, I didn't see your episode 13.1 prior to commenting, or attempting the patch with my progression (smacks head). In retrospect, I learned more through the process of applying the knowledge, so all is not lost.

[@chitlun]

Oh man, this is tremendous! Thank you for this and big ups to Going Modular, I’ll certainly check out that channel… I’ll have some fun messing with this idea over the weekend.

[@goingmodular]

Thank you @chitlun, much appreciated. So far, this @goingmodular channel only contains a few musical illustrations based on my own explorations of the SubH and DFAM (along with a 2600 for the leads), but I will definitely answer the requests I have received to give explanations on my patches. So stay tuned, the really useful and interesting stuff should be coming ! 🙂

[@richardjames111]

INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!! Maybe I won't sell mine after all!!!!

[@goingmodular]

Don't sell it indeed ! (if I may). Or at least, do not sell it before you get to read "Patching with Intention", a short booklet that can be downloaded from Moog's website. It is focused on the SubH, and takes a hands-on approach to a series of out-of-the-box patches strategies that greatly enhance the scope of the machine. It was a real eye-opener to me. I wish the guys back at Moog's would throw one of these in every SubH box they ship.

[@Expectaz]

This is amazing!! Thanks a lot for this!!

[@braintree56]

Glad you like it!

[@FerIsella]

super clear! gracias!

[@braintree56]

🙏

[@brianlibert]

Great content, thanks.

[@BachelorMachinesTV]

This is an extremely hot tip, thank you for this.

[@braintree56]

Thanks, althought make sure to watch the next one 13.1 didn't quite work out exactly as I had originally thought. Still a cool trick though.

[@BachelorMachinesTV]

@@braintree56 that's alright, moving chords around in this semi-diatonic fashion sounds very "classic synth stuff" to me. I'm going to try voicing a maj7 with OSC1 and then moving the root around in 12-ET mode. :D

[@braintree56]

@@BachelorMachinesTV Sweet!

[@commodoor6549]

Wow! I mean, WOW! This is a game changer. Thank you!

[@braintree56]

Bam! And I even included the third! ;)

[@commodoor6549]

@@braintree56 You nailed it, and opened up so many possibilities.

[@braintree56]

@@commodoor6549 Yeah. This one is great. Check out the link I put in for @goingmodular - he does some pretty cool stuff with this idea.

[@commodoor6549]

@@braintree56 Will do, thanks again.

[@goingmodular]

@@braintree56 Thank you, too kind of yours. I have received several requests for explaining my patches there, so I will definitely do so as soon as I can spare the time. That part, at least, may be of a more general interest. See you, and keep up the great pedagogical work, @Braintree56 !

[@danm9561]

Soooo i just discovered you’re a genius

[@braintree56]

Ha. Thanks. Glad you're getting something out of these videos.

[@danm9561]

@@braintree56 more than just something. I couldn’t figure out what to even do with the subh before. Now I see the light! Thanks man, amazing stuff

[@brycepark]

Whelp, there goes my free time this weekend.

[@braintree56]

Ha!

[@kristienrobertson7419]

Thanks alot for the awsome serie! I tried this with an Asus2 chord. I tuned the oscillators to A. For some reason it turned it into E. I dont quite get it I think. The subharmonicon sounds great doing this though

[@braintree56]

It might be because the sequencer was turned up 5 steps? Maybe? There's always something to figure out with the Sub! Part of the fun! :)

[@LukeManier]

I really enjoy you Moog tutorial series, thank you very much! Just to make sure, it is A-major rather than a-minor, correct?

[@braintree56]

Thanks. No, it's a minor!

[@braintree56]

Since it's set to 8et all of the notes are quantized to the same notes as the c major scale. So that means that even though it's moving down to A it's going to play an A-C-E. Does that make sense?

[@LukeManier]

@@braintree56 Hmm. It does sound like a C# to me. Maybe the voltages are added, and therefore sequencer 2 just transposes the major arpeggios?

[@braintree56]

@@LukeManier Interesting... I'll check it with the Mordax tuner...

[@LukeManier]

@@braintree56 It's not that important. Watching your DFAM series now. Moog should hire you.

[@juliananeumann507]

Is it possible to do odd time signatures with an external sequencer? Do they always need to be multiples of 4? i.e. could you do a 7:3 polyrhythym? I know the beat step pro is also limited to which subdivisions it can do polyrhythm of.

[@braintree56]

Sort of. I'm not sure it will do what you want, but yes... You can control the sun with an external sequencer. So as long as you can program in that polyrhythm, you can do it. (Just as you could any synth). Keep in mind that although there are two sets of VCOs. They share envelopes. Also, what makes the sub unique is it's ability to advance steps at different divisions of the clock. So you'd be essentially bypassing it's most unique feature to fight with it to do something that would more easily be accomplished by something else... If I'm understanding your question correctly... Hope that helps/makes sense! :)

[@juliananeumann507]

@braintree56 i am brand new to all things synth and appreciate your response. If you patch it this way shown at 21:30 in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKSTi6hrfc-Gnrssi=puKEwqprDdTbtNEm With a beat step pro for example, I'd just like to know if you could program it to go beyond 4 steps while still having control of polyrhythym knobs to make cool rhythms.

[@braintree56]

@@juliananeumann507 I don't have a beat step pro so it's hard for me to say definitively, but let me explain what his idea that he mentions in the video. Basically there are two processes - first the rhythm generators send out trigger signals. Basically just a spike in voltage. Second, the sequencer sends out voltages (1v/Oct) to tell the Oscillators what note to play. Without external sequencing. The rhythm generators trigger the envelope, the rhythm generators also tell the sequencer to advance a step. the envelope opens allowing sound through. The sound that comes through is the voltage that the sequencer is sending. What loopop is saying is that you can send it voltage from a separate source. So that the voltage it's receiving is coming from the beat step pro instead of the sequencer. The challenge that you'll have is the part where the rhythm generators tell the sequencer to advance a step. I'm not sure if the beat step pro can accept two clock signals to advance steps separately on two separate tracks. If so - that will work. If not, the problem will be that the beat step is advancing steps at the rate of the clock not the polyrhythm. (Which actually could be quite cool!!! But not exactly what we are trying to accomplish). Does that make sense? With two beat step pros, you could definitely do it. Just send the rhythm of one out to one beat step and the rhythm of two out to the second...

[@juliananeumann507]

@braintree56 i think so, thanks so much!

[@RyanHarris77]

What’s the minimum tempo of the sequencer?

[@RyanHarris77]

Never mind. It’s 20 bpm.