CONCERT - Synth-ing Nº4!

First of all, sorry this post comes in so late, but ended up being a bit busy this weekend...

But if you ask me, I think it was still worth the waiting as now you can re-listen to Synth-ing Nº4!


If you want to re-listen to this performance, it is now available on the following link:

http://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=426482#426482

For this performance, I chose again a very minimalistic setup, this time featuring only the Clavia Nord Modular G2X and the Sequentix P3!

If you saw my previous posts about Synth-ing Nº2, you'll quickly notice that this is a pretty similar setup to the one I used then, with the Clavia Nord Modular G1 being replaced by the Clavia Nord Modular G2X and the Eventide Space being dropped.


I decided to go for this setup as I felt it would be interesting to do something similar to Synth-ing Nº2 but using the later version of the Clavia Nord Modular instead, exploring some of the several advantages it has over the previous model!

The most obvious advantage is the larger amount of memory available that allows for longer delays and reverb modules, which made it possible for me to drop the Eventide Space from my setup while still getting a nice ambience!

But longer delays and reverb are not the only new modules available on the Clavia Nord Modular G2, and in this set I also tried to explore another of those new modules, the amazing OscString module, which is actually featured in all 4 patches I used for my performance!

I'm not going to go in details to how this module works, but the idea is that you send a signal into it (in my patches I used either noise or regular oscillators), and it processes the signal to generate a sound that resembles how acoustic strings sound like (not classic analog string machines, so there is no confusion).

Simple setup, but enough for a nice performance ;)

To give a good overview on the sonic possibilities of the OscString module, I came up with the 4 following patches, all of them featuring this amazing module!


The first patch I present is called 3OscString, and is probably the more complex of the bunch!

3OscString, full power with 3 string oscillators playing simultaneously!

As you can see, it features 3 string oscillators plus noise, which is also used to feed those oscillators.

And if that's not enough for you in terms of complexity, you should have a look at the filter section, which offers an extremely versatile routing system to the two filters included, thanks to the 3 cross-fader mixers used!


The second patch is called Osc&Strings, which features two regular oscillators that are used together with the string oscillator (it is actually the only patch I made for this performance to do so)!

Osc&Strings, regular oscillators together with string oscillators can provide very interesting results!

Those regular oscillators also feed the string oscillator module, but this time, the amplitude of the oscillators will change thanks to the AmpToStr module.


The third patch is called SimpleStrings and is indeed a pretty simple patch that I hope shows you don't need to make a very complex patch to obtain interesting sounds with the string oscillator!

SimpleStrings, very simple but nice sounding still!

The one interesting feature that I'd like to point out is that there is no amplifier module after the string oscillator!
This is only possible due to the very specific nature of this oscillator, since it needs to be fed by another oscillator to actually make a sound.
The amplifier could then be put before the string oscillator and controls how much noise is fed into the string oscillator.


The last patch is called Mix&Strings and features again a simple string sound plus a complex mixer with two chains of effects!

Mix&Strings, a simple string sound plus a nice mixer with two effects chains!

The synth part is pretty similar to the one featured in SimpleStrings, but even simpler.
The good part is that it still could sound interesting!

But where the action lies is in the mixer setup featured in the FX section of the patch!
This section lets you mix all the different slots from the Clavia Nord Modular G2, making use of the bus channels this synth has available.

I'm not going more in detail about the mixer part, since it was featured in the second part of my "Using the Clavia Nord Modular G2 as a mixer".
If you want to read more about how the Clavia Nord Modular G2 can be used as a mixer, be sure to check the post mentioned, which you can find in the following link:

http://synth-ing.blogspot.pt/2017/02/using-clavia-nord-modular-g2-as-mixer.html

The only thing I should add is that the mixer section of this patch ends up being more versatile than the Eventide Space I used in Synth-ing Nº2, as it allows for two effects chains!

One of them features some modulation, with a frequency shifter for each channel, while the other gives you a gated reverb, with a feedback line featuring digitizer modules that round up the sound in a very nice way!

The amazing Clavia Nord Modular G2!

About the use of the sequencer in this performance, you should check my posts about Synth-ing Nº2, in which I tried to explain why the Clavia Nord Modular G1 and the Sequentix P3 were such an amazing combo:

http://synth-ing.blogspot.pt/2017/02/concert-regarding-my-performance-today.html

http://synth-ing.blogspot.pt/2017/02/concert-patches-used-in-last-performance.html

The way I used the Sequentix P3 with the Clavia Nord Modular G2X was the same as described for the Clavia Nord Modular G1 in those posts regarding Synth-ing Nº2.

The biggest difference is that the Clavia Nord Modular G2 has 8 morph groups available rather than 4, which means that if the Sequentix P3 could control more CCs per track, that could have been useful, despite there is a limitation to how many parameters you can morph in total for your patch.

Clavia Nord Modular G2X + Sequentix P3 = Amazing Combo!

In my honest opinion, this kind of setup with a Clavia Nord Modular G2 ends up being more interesting as there is no actual need to use external effects with the unit (unlike what happens with the Clavia Nord Modular G1).

I'm not saying you won't feel like using an external effects processor, but the Clavia Nord Modular G2 can be amazing for those tasks as well, as I hope to start unveiling more and more in future posts!


Again, the patches I made for the Clavia Nord Modular G2 are available as a reply to the post in which I shared my performance, which I will post again:

http://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=426482#426482


If you listened to this performance, I hope you enjoy it again!
If you didn't, I hope you enjoy listening to it for the first time!


Oh... and don't forget to tune in for a new performance tonight at:

http://electro-music.com/radio/