CONCERT - Synth-ing Nº6!

This was quite a different performance, more ambient than any of the previous ones, but I really really enjoyed doing it!

And in case you want to listen or re-listen to this performance, here is the link:

http://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=426755#426755

As I told you on my post before the concert, this time I wanted to try something different and used only my Clavia Nord Modular G2X.

But rather than playing with all 4 different slots available, I decided to stick to a single slot and make a more ambient concert, sometimes even sounding like cosmic whales!

The challenge was to take out the most I could out of a single patch to make an interesting performance, and I honestly believe the result was pretty interesting!


So, in this post, I will try to explain how I made the amazing patch that created all the sounds you heard in the concert, which I also shared together with my performance (just follow the previous link).

I named this patch 4FMDropper and it is a significantly more complex patch than what I've shown you so far, as you can see from the following image:

And it could have actually been more complex, but if I had used more modules, I wouldn't be able to actually control all the parameters available from the interface of the Clavia Nord Modular G2X...
This made me decide to stick to a simpler structure, so that everything could be controlled using only the Clavia Nord Modular G2X.


One of the main inspirations for this patch was the classic Serge modular system, which I'm not fortunate to own (yet!).

If you heard about this amazing modular synth, you'll likely heard about the DUSG, which is an amazing multitask module that can be used as an LFO with variable rising and fall slopes.
A way to recreate this function of the DUSG is using the EnvADR module in the Clavia Nord Modular G2, and connect the End output to the Gate/Trigger input, like shown in the image below:

Adding a switch like the LoopEGP2 presented in the image, you are able to decide if you want to use the EGP2 module as a regular EG or as a DUSG (despite you'll also need to change the option from Gate to Trigger).

To make all those different "rhythms" and "grooves", I chose to consider 4 different voices, all of them amplified by EGs in DUSG mode (in fact, all EGs used were in DUSG mode).

Each of those 4 voices follows the following structure:

With 2 extra EGs being used to modulate the pitch of the oscillator and the amount of sustain considered!

So what I have in this patch is actually a self-triggering 4 operator FM synthesizer!

You can mix all the different operators and pan them to your taste, and you also get a cross-fader mixer that allows you to sustain your operator.

But unfortunately, you can only use one of the operators (before that cross-fader mixer) to modulate another operator.

You are also not able to use the two extra EGs simultaneously, which was probably the worst mistake I did in this patch (since I would have used a knob as well to control the cross-fader mixer, and there was plenty of processing power available to do so...).

After the mixing of the operators, you also get a simple effect chain, with reverb and pitch-shifters for the feedback line.

If more controls were available, I would have made a more interesting effects chain (or even chains), but I still feel this simple chain was enough to enhance the sound of the performance considerably!

I think there isn't much more to comment, other than, if you have a Clavia Nord Modular G2, you should definitely try this patch and give me your feedback on it ;)

Other than that, I would just like to apologise for the low volume at the beginning of the concert and hope that you found my performance very enjoyable!