FROM THE LAB: We’re enrolling now for our Modular Courses!
We’re still recovering from NAMM, but it’s Tuesday so it’s time for another Youtube tutorial, this time with Maths!! This has become an unintentional month of Maths on our Youtube page, but that’s fine with us… If we didn’t like Maths, we wouldn’t have a course based around it! This time, we look at using the Channels 2 and 3 attenuverters to squash, stretch and invert voltages, to generate useful, musical results.
Of course, we’ve explored some of Maths other overlooked uses, such as using Channels 1 and 4 as a Complex Oscillator, and modulating the Fall Time and Cycle Mode to create more complex patterns. In fact, more often than not, Maths is used as a simple Envelope or LFO, leaving it’s center 2 channels untouched. We can employ them independently or include them in our previous routing examples to manipulate voltages to our taste.
We begin by routing a one octave sequence through a Buffered Multiple, and then on to both an Oscillator 1V/Octave input as well as Maths Channel 2 input. Route the Channel 2 variable output to another Oscillator 1V/Octave input. These Oscillators should be in tune before starting the sequence, and routed through VCAs. With the Channel 2 attenuverter at noon, we should hear the sequence play correctly through the first Oscillator. However the second Oscillator should sound monotone, with little to no change in pitch.
As the Channel 2 attenuverter is turned clockwise, the sequence should start to appear from our second Oscillator, though heavily detuned. At around 3 o’clock, the sequence should start to come into shape with the first Oscillator, and they should sound in tune as the sequence steps through it’s pattern. Sending the attenuverter counter-clockwise results in an inverted voltage, which can be useful for generating retrograde note sequences, a classic music composition trick. (A quick shout out to Hypoxia who inspired our test example with his great post-NAMM set at Bl__k Noise last Friday!)
What tutorials would you like to see in the future? Let us know in the comments!
Wondering what a sequencer or attenuverter is? Check out our Modular 101 Course!
