Patch 017 - Noisy Arp / TB MIDI Stuff

The 1st Gen iPad's launch in 2010 re-defined the way musicians create "content" (it used to be called music in my day!), from sequencers to effects, from audio editing to fantastically complex synthesisers - you could quite literally have a whole studio in the palm of your hand.

I didn't jump on the iOS bandwagon until Autumn 2015 by which time there were hundreds of virtual synths available and I hate to think of the amount of cash I have spent in the last 4 years or so on various apps but I never found myself particularly attached to any of them. The reasons for this are two-fold - (1) the dreaded GAS always took hold (there is always another synth round the corner which offers something the others do not) and (2) you can't beat having the tactile, zero latency experience that a hardware synthesiser provides.

So here I am! My iPad is relegated to streaming YouTube videos, surfing the net, recording any YouTube "content" (aka videos) I produce and very occasionally performing other audio production tasks such as sample editing, some more out there granular sound design and multi-tracking. And finally, getting to the point of this blog post - creating MIDI controllers for my hardware synths!

Although you can't beat a physical knob or slider, the touch screen of the iPad does afford some advantages especially over synths with a limited physical GUI as the microKORG. These include the ability to graphically see all the settings of the synth on a single screen and being able to edit more than one parameter at a time (which you can typically only do on the microKORG if they are on the same row of the editing matrix such as cutoff and resonance, decay and release, and so on).

So when I got my microKORG again last week I thought about creating an interface for my synth on something like MIDI Designer or Lemur but then I remembered that TB MIDI Stuff, which I had last used a couple of years ago, already has an editor for the microKORG included in the example editors that come with it - happy days!

Almost all the editable parameters are included with a couple of exceptions (e.g. I can't find a way to edit the tempo or the type of mod FX) but otherwise it is very thorough and easy to work with. There is also a page for the vocoder which I must admit I haven't tried yet. The only thing you will have to do is prepare a preset in the app (a "canvas snapshot") with the same settings as the microKORG init patch so that the on-screen parameter values matches those on the synth.

So for this week's patch you can watch me have a play about with the editor starting with an initialised patch!

Below are settings for the noisy arp! I particularly loved the effect when closing the filter and toggling the distortion on and off! (starting from init, shift+3):

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 0, 2, 5 (unchanged)
Osc 1: SAW, 34, 31, ---, ---
Osc 2: SQU, OFF, -12, 3, ---
Mixer: 127, 108, 42, ---, ---
Filter: 12L, 12, 39, 0, 0
Filter EG: 16, 22, 0, 0, ON
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 0, 64, 127, 51, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 70, ---
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 7, ---

Patch 1: LF1, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 2: LF2, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 13, ---, ---
Patch 4: LF2, NOS, 4, ---, ---
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 91, 83, ---
EQ: 320, 0, 6.0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 62, UP, 1
Arpeg. B: ON, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

Does anyone else rock TB MIDI Stuff? Let me know in the comments below. :)

Patch 016 - Noughty Coast

In the six years or so since I last wrote this blog I have bought (and subsequently sold!) a lot of synths, the virtual analogues such as the Novation trio of the Mininova, Circuit and KS4, analogue monosynths such as the Microbrute, Volca Keys (which is paraphonic) and Volca Bass and some other synths which are harder to classify such as the Bastl Kastle and my eurorack modular. One synth however that has a vey special place in my heart is the Make Noise 0-Coast, a quite wonderful mixture of west coast and east coast synthesis. And I am very annoyed with myself for selling this semi-modular beast of a synth!

I won't go into a great deal of detail on what the 0-Coast is and sounds like (that is what YouTube, and in particular MylarMelodies is for!) but I can tell you what I loved about it.... an organic metallic, complex tone which was very reactive to modulation.... and it was so different and exciting compared to the standard subtractive method of synthesis I was used to.

Of course, the microKORG doesn't have FM, doesn't have wavefolding as such, nor function generators or low pass gates, but it what it does have (and I am ashamed to admit I hadn't messed with before this week), is a hidden gem in the form of the sine wave in the oscillator 1 slot which can be cross modulated by oscillator 2 to give complex overtones and rich harmonics. Modulation of Control 1 by LFO1 is hardwired using the Control 2 knob, saving you patch slots for other sources of modulation. From the manual:

So yes, this week's patch is a single oscillator sine-wave patch but just listen to these wonderfully rich, dare I say it organic sounds! Modulation comes from the filter envelope, LFO1 and velocity as well as portamento and I've left vibrato mapped to the mod wheel (the LFO rate for which is itself modulated by the other LFO). Have fun and try changing the envelopes, LFO shapes and so on. I've left the Patch 4 slot empty so add another source of modulation (keytracking for example)?

And for some more out there experimental tone whack a tone of reverb on top and rock it like Buchla! (reverb from just over a minute in).

Here are the patch settings (starting from init, shift+3), amended values highlighted yellow:

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 53, 2, 5
Osc 1: SIN, 2, 32, ---, ---
Osc 2: TRI, OFF, 0, 2, ---
Mixer: 127, 0, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Filter: 12L, 48, 49, 0, 0
Filter EG: 6, 2, 118, 0, ON
Amp: 127, CNT, OFF, 0, --- (unchanged)
Amp EG: 69, 70, 66, 81, ON
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 6, ---
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 29, --- (unchanged)

Patch 1: FEG, 1CT, +38, ---, ---
Patch 2: LF1, LF2, 44, ---, ---
Patch 3: VEL, 2TN, 59, ---, ---
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 20, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Delay: STR, OFF, 89, 72, ---
EQ: 320, 0, 6.0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

Patch 015 - Bagpipes!

Just recently bought a microKORG for the 3rd time and remembered my patch a week posts from way back when and am considering a phoenix like resurrection! This was sitting in my draft posts, written around 6 or 7 years ago....

"Those of you who followed my blog from when I first started it in Spring 2012 will have noticed that I have been neglecting my microKORG lately. This is due to many factors (such as the fact that I often abandon music making in the summer; I have been playing with my other new sound toy, the QY70, and I have been learning to play the piano). But with the darker nights comes a desire to sculpt sound - I dunno, music just sounds better in the Autumn / Winter! Or Fall / Winter if you're on the other side of the pond.

Anyhow, I have decided to start back in nice and gently by trying to emulate one of the patches in Welsh's Synthesizer Cookbook. I have not had a chance to buy this book yet but it has been on my wishlist for some time, maybe Santa will finally take a hint and deliver one this Christmas! Anyway, the patch I am trying out is on of the examples that you encounter if you look up the book on Amazon, the bagpipes! Being Scottish, I couldn't help myself...

Seeing as it's already in the public domain I am sure it won't be a problem if I reproduce it here:

It's a very basic patch - a mixture of saw / square waves, a little glide, no filter and an almost organ like amp envelope. Here's how my microKORG version shapes up (starting from init, shift+3):

[2019 EDIT - In the draft post the init patch settings were given! I have updated these below to match what is shown in the cookbook, which I am not altogether sure sounds anything like the bagpipes! Check out this YouTube tutorial for a much more realistic bagpipe patch, albeit on the Behringer Deep Mind 12).]

Voice: SYT, SGL, PLY, ---, --- (unchanged)
Pitch: 0, 0, 10, 2, 1
Osc 1: SQU, 98, 4, ---, --- 
Osc 2: SAW, OFF, 0, 0, ---
Mixer: 79, 36, 0, ---1, --- 
Filter: 12L, 127, 20, 0, 0 (unchanged)
Filter EG: 0, 64, 127, 0, ON (unchanged)
Amp: 127, CNT, ON, 0, --- 
Amp EG: 4, 64, 127, 36, ON 
LFO 1: TRI, OFF, OFF, 10, --- (unchanged)
LFO 2: SIN, OFF, OFF, 3, --- 

Patch 1: LF1, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 2: LF2, PTC, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 3: LF1, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Patch 4: LF2, CUT, 0, ---, --- (unchanged)
Mod FX: FLG, 17, 64, ---, --- 
Delay: STR, OFF, 86, 77, --- 
EQ: 320, 0, 6.0, 0, --- (unchanged)
Arpeg. A: 120, 1.16, 80, UP, 1 (unchanged)
Arpeg. B: OFF, 0, ON, 8, --- (unchanged)

Do any of you have the Synthsizer Cookbook? If so, I'd love to hear what you think of it."

Remember to play a drone in the lower octaves and the melody a couple of octaves up to give that bagpipe vibe - the way you play this patch is key! The mod wheel adds some slow vibrato - use sparingly!

And if that's whetted your appetite, check back weekly for new patches! :)