Here’s a nice little performed drone using the Make Noise 0-Coast and Strega, using an idea generated by this patch from Pete, normally Make Noise’s “Instagram guy”, on Make Noise’s YouTube channel.
It’s not a terribly complicated patch. 0-Coast > Strega with some cross modulation between them, and out through the Stratosphere Cloud Reverb by Blue Mangoo, but it is satisfying and dramatic. A choice distortion pedal would have been perfect after the Strega. Next Time.
I always seem to find myself both perplexed and captivated by my Make Noise case. Because it’s a relatively small system that’s also a walled garden, modules are limited. I’ve always scoffed a bit at the idea that a small case can spurn on creativity in a way a big case can’t. That it forces you to make deliberate choices and patch in new ways to get the most of what you do have. But with my Make Noise case that’s at least partially true. I’m not sure whether it’s the Make Noise ethos or the small case, but I find myself having to really think through patches. Even normally basic tasks, like mixing, can be a logistics challenge while patching. There are a finite number of jacks to plug, and a static few modules to work with.
After a short hiatus, the Make Noise case is back in order and with a couple of new additions. I needed the case for a travel synth, and I’ve been crazy busy since my return. I made a trip to Asheville and had a really great day at the QMMG in-store event, and I recorded a couple of tracks on the main synth and another on my new Make Noise 0-Series setup since, but I’ve straight procrastinated wrestling with the shitty M2.5 screws and sliding nuts Make Noise uses with their cases.1 Post-trip I also decided, after seeing rack rash on a couple of the travel synth modules from being screwed in without washers exactly once, that I was going to wait until I received longer screws and nylon washers to mitigate any further scratching issues. Rack rash isn’t the end of the world, but being that I move modules in and out quickly, I like for them to retain resale value, especially when it comes to factors I can control.
Once I got the case assembled I went to work. Not on creating a beautiful patch to share with the world (even if I do think the results are beautiful), but on seeing just exactly why QMMG generates the hype it does. How does it ring? Beautifully. How does it squelch? Loudly. How does it sweep? Lovely. How does it bleed? Perfectly.
I set out to re-create one of my favorite patches that encourages vactrol bleed, allowing subsequent pitches of a sequence to be heard after a step has been passed, and before the vactrol has had the time to close the gate of the LPG. These notes aren’t being gated, but sneak through at an audible level anyways as a byproduct of the slow vactrol response. Walker describes these bled notes as “[N]ot ghosts, exactly, because they have yet to exist. They’re more like premonitions or ideas; bulbs casting light on possible futures inscribed in the sequence.” Although I’ve written about this technique before, and use it often, I couldn’t resist using it with the new QMMG. I wanted to hear the vactrols for everything they are, not try and cover them up or hide their true nature. After all, Tony Rolando allegedly has said that the vactrols are the heart of QMMG, and it bleeds. It’s the module’s logo. Vactrol bleed is at the center of QMMG’s identity, and I wanted to hear it.
There are also 3 other voices in the patch. The first is a moderately modulated QPAS, pinging quietly in the background, sounding beautiful as ever. The second is the sine wave of the first DPO oscillator ring modulating the second sine oscillator of DPO in the modDemix. It only hits very infrequently, and is NOT passed through a LPG, but a VCA so that it does not ring past the current step. The third is a ripping bass part that absolutely does not fit with the rest of the patch in any way. What I was attempting did not work. Instead, I got a killer bass sequence that is contemporaneously always staying the same, yet always changing at the same time. This bass line is created with the STO’s Variable Shape output into QPAS in LP mode, with a completely ungated sequence on the X channel, which is clocked by alternating outputs on Tempi. Both of the clocks used were run at different rates, as well as having stops in Rene at different rates.
This patch is not perfect. It’s not even very good. But it’s a peek into the process understanding of how QMMG works, while trying to have a little fun at the same time. I also inadvertently learned a new bass technique for my patching library. If I were to expand on this patch, I’d certainly unmarry the bass part from the rest for its own track, but other problems exist too.
The delay is too forward in the mix. With the initial sequence and its premonitions, QPAS’ pinging, and ring modulated sine waves all going through the delay, it got very busy in the mix, sometimes obscuring the bleeding vactrols of QMMG, which was the entire point of the patch in the first place. I also ran into an inherent problem with using DXG, even as just a mixer. I’ve had my fair share of complaints about the DXG’s inability to not mix. I feel like it’s an extremely important piece of gear in the history of modern Eurorack, but with some serious flaws. It’s the first stereo LPG in existence (as far as I can tell), and made by the LPG legends at Make Noise who made Optomix (two versions), QMMG (two versions), LxD, MMG, RxMx, Dynamix, and the brilliant transistor-based LPG in the Strega, yet despite its importance and lineage DXG is a tragically imperfect piece of kit. As a LPG mixer, it raises and lowers both the volume and the harmonic content of the input simultaneously, more closely mimicking how sounds work in nature. As a sound gets louder, there is more higher harmonic content. As that sound gets softer, it loses harmonic content. And that’s great when you want to create sounds, but when you mix already created sounds together you generally want to control the volume, while leaving the harmonic content intact at every level. The DXG doesn’t allow you to do that. I noticed this phenomena most directly when trying to mix a full wet Mimeophon return signal on Ch 1 from with the dry signal on Ch 2 using its send outputs. Because I didn’t want what amounts to a 50/50 dry/wet mix, I wanted my repeats much softer than the dry signal, the repeats from Mimeophon were not only quieter (good) when patched through the DXG, but also near bereft of its upper harmonic content (very bad). All that pretty Color and Halo being added in Mimeophon, shat upon by the DXG. Although I was able to mitigate this problem by patching the output of the full mixer, rather than only the Ch 2 send output, to Mimeophon, and patching it as an insert using Mimeophon’s mix control rather than as an AUX send with a full wet return as originally intended, this necessary workaround seems to greatly minimize the utility of the Ch 2 send outputs. Traditionally, one would patch the dry signal to Ch 2, the Ch 2 send outputs to Mimeophon with its outputs patched back to Ch 1, and mixed with the original dry signal at the mixer’s sum output. However, losing valuable harmonic content from Mimeophon’s output when I only want to lose volume makes that a far less than ideal use case scenario for me. They work great as mixers, but only if you want to mix inputs at relatively even, loud levels.
Overall I’m pleased with the patch. Not the outcome, per se, but that the process of patching taught a couple of valuable lessons about the gear I’m using so that I might better use it in the future. The QMMG sounds fantastic, both as a LPG and a filter, and I’m slowly learning how to control the Final output of the DPO. Not every patch will turn out well, and that’s okay.
I’m clearly a Make Noise enthusiast, but that by no means makes their products perfect. There is no good excuse for sliding nuts and un-washered M2.5 screws in an otherwise premium case. ↩︎
One thing you hear a lot in modular synth circles is you should take things slowly when you get a new module. Tease it, tickle it, and abuse it until you can find out what makes it unique, and how you might reasonably use it in your work. It’s good advice. Even simple modules can be incredibly complex, or have particular idiosyncrasies that keep you from the results you were expecting despite being fully within the module’s capabilities. It’s good practice to take the time to learn a module.
Except I’m terrible at that. I almost immediately look to try some difficult to make patch that’s hard to set up. Something well above my technical skill level or that I have no experience with. The sort of thing that can make you sell a module quick. Last night was one of those nights. Sort of. Rather than the teasing or tickling I might have been better advised to do, I decided to try an advanced patch straight out of the box, and it taught me a lesson on ingenuity in the face of scarcity.
Having been fully immersed in Make Noise land for the last several months, including a trip to Asheville where I was able to get the lauded QMMG, I got curious about their line of standalone synths, lovingly known as the Make Noise Easel, a trio of two monosynths and a touch controller/sequencer.1 I hadn’t paid much attention to these instruments until recently. In fact, I pretty much immediately dismissed them as something I’d never really want. I have over 2000hp of modular synth, including ~300hp of Make Noise modules. Why would I want a basic monosynth, or a single oscillator synth with a noisy delay? What can those things do that the main modular can’t? What can they do that my Make Noise system can’t?
It turns out the Make Noise 0-Series can do a lot. Certainly a lot more than I initially imagined, including being a paraphonic subharmonic chord machine.2 It’s not that the Make Noise 0-Series is any more capable than a full modular synth. They’re definitely not. But they are designed as self-contained instruments to be played together as a unit, and are all capable of beautiful results individually, and mindblowingly awesome results when played together.
My curiosity piqued, I began to put the pieces together. A Strega and 0-CTRL arrived the same day, though to my dismay, the 0-CTRL arrived with a malfunction pot.3 That first night I explored the Strega, but regretfully didn’t record it. The following day I received the 0-Coast and immediately plugged them in. After initially probing the 0-Coast a bit to get a sense of how it works, I dove in. Not with some simple drone or quickly sequenced up jam, but with turning my new single oscillator semi-modular synth into a three oscillator subharmonic chord machine, while sending it into Strega to get a full four note chord.
Because both of 0-Coast’s function generators, Slope and Contour, can run at audio rates, they can function as oscillators. They can even both have their pitch modulated via their Time and Decay CV inputs respectfully. But this patch uses both function generators as subharmonic oscillators, using the main oscillator’s square wave out put as a trigger, while lengthening the attack of each function generator until its output is a subharmonic tone of the main oscillator’s pitch. Set the Rise and Fall of Slope, and the Onset, Sustain, and Decay parameters at full CCW, and patch the square wave output of the main oscillator to the Trigger and Gate inputs of Slope and Contour, and monitor from the Slope and Contour outputs. Slowly turn the Rise and Onset knobs clockwise until your hear the tone drop an octave. If you turn more it will drop another 5th. Experiment with these tones until you’re happy with the result. Because these oscillators are being triggered by the main oscillator they should (almost) always be in tune.
The trick to patching your newly made subharmonic tones to the output is via mixing. Patch the Slope output to an input of the Voltage Math, and the Contour output to the other channel. Then patch your output from the Voltage Math to the Balance input, and mix to taste. Because you’ve broken the normalization from the main oscillator’s triangle wave to the output mixer, you only have your Overtones to mix with the subharmonic oscillators. Be careful to minimize harmonics in your main oscillator to keep a clean mix. If you use too many upper harmonics in the main oscillator, they will drown out your subharmonic oscillators in the mix pretty quickly.
There are downsides, however. Mixing these three oscillators is not particularly simple, and there is no mechanism for altering the timbre of the tones generated by the function generators. Fortunately Strega transforms everything that goes through its input such that it might not matter. Another downside is that you lose every source of modulation you have, except the underwhelming Strega agitator, when you make the choice to use your only two function generators as oscillators, leaving me only with the choice to use 0-Coast’s clock output to strike the Dynamic input. I could have used amplitude modulation via any of the oscillator outputs, but since this was more a technical patching exercise than a musical venture, I chose to allow the alarm-sounding tones to wail away.4
I didn’t document most of this patch in writing, although the overhead pic should reveal other parts not discussed here. For the most part the rest of the patch is window dressing for the main technical exercise of getting my new monosynth to be a parasynth, so its not all that interesting.
You can also make any 3 note paraphonic chords you want if you have a non-quantized sequencer with at least three voltage outputs per step, like the 0-CTRL. I’ll document that patch in a later post. ↩︎
The pitch pot on the 6th step would only send out voltage if I was physically pressing down on the pot. I suspect there’s a missed or cold solder connection. ↩︎
If I were just a little smarter I might have used the 0-Coast’s Midi B output as a LFO, but I didn’t know it was possible or how to do it until afterwards. ↩︎
As I’m preparing to take a trip with the Make Noise 4 Zone CV Bus Case, I’ve been wanting to give it a test run. To try and figure out some of the logistics of traveling with a full synth and all its necessary accoutrements like cables and power supplies. When I go on my trip later this summer I’ll have a completely different synth than the full Make Noise setup currently in the case, but those details matter less than the case itself. We’ll call it a proof of concept trial run, only taking place on the road during a busy summer baseball season and not a cruise.
My first thought about traveling with a record-ready modular synth is that it’s a lot of extra “stuff.” There’s the Make Noise case itself, plus patch cables, power supplies, an audio interface, and headphones, Although all of the extra stuff that goes with the synth fits in a smallish book tote bag, it’s still an extra bag that will be more difficult to bring along during a cross-country flight. Thankfully my plan, solidified after these first two trial runs, was to eliminate all of the extra baggage by using an Expert Sleepers ES-9, as opposed to an external audio interface.1 The ES-9 takes up a rather substantial portion of the 208hp case, but it eliminates the need for at least 2 pieces of bulky equipment, the accompanying cables, plus the need for at least as much HP in in-the-case mixers. I can transport patch cables in the synth itself, and recording/listening headphones can go in the suitcase.
Although I’d set out to make high quality patches on this trip, I never really had quite the time to experiment I might have liked. Combining the time constraints with trying to learn the DPO in 1 go led to a rather pedestrian patch, with an odd audio waveform I can’t quite figure out.2
This patch starts as a take on Walker Farrell’s “Selected Ambient Sequence Locations” patch from late 2023. I had no intentions of a direct replication, or even some form of approximation, but I did want to use this technique of allowing notes to bleed through vactrol strikes. It was this technique which guided the rest of the patch, even if there are alterations on the technique itself.
Since the DPO is a new addition to the case, replacing a STO, Optomix, and a MMG, I knew I wanted to dig in and give this complex oscillator a test run. Not really being familiar with how the waveform Strike input behaves was my first challenge. It took some fiddling, and ultimately led to using an envelope instead of a gate, choosing to spend some more quality time on this experimentation with gates at home in my chair. With a sound I was okay with, and having set different clocks on Tempi, I was off.
Similar to Walker’s patch I used differently timed clocks, but I think the X and Y clocks were the same, which led to some repetition I’d rather not have. At least not throughout. Having time constraints often leads to making hasty decisions or settling for “good enough.” It’s the nature of the beast.
The vactrol plucked DPO melody of notes and premonitions created by vactrol bleed of the Optomix are split and sent first to the X-Pan to have it float to and fro in the stereo space, and then to both the mixer (DXG) and Morphagene. The Morphagene, set to full wet, is also sent to the mixer, and the mixer output is sent through the Mimeophon before going to the output.
The marimba type sounds are created using sparse gates from Rene to ping QPAS’ input. There is also other modulation to various QPAS CV inputs that I can’t quite remember. Gates from Tempi. FM from Rene, as well as self-patching the left HP output. Other stuff.
The result is a sort of creepy video game landscape. My oldest son, with whom I’m doing all of this baseball travel, maintains that everything I make with the Make Noise case sounds like something from Terraria. He can even pick out different scenes or atmospheres he sees in the game when he hear my patches. I’ll take that as a complement.
Improvised and recorded in 1 take on iPad in AUM via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.
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My current travel audio interface is the Arturia AudioFuse. It’s a high quality interface with lots of cool options, including dual headphone out jacks with their own volume control, which is a nice touch when using it with a second person (and my synth playing brother is slated to be there).
I don’t have any explanation for why it’s so heavy on the negative half of the waveform, but the spikes are there. I also notice a lot of noise in the recording. Not sure if it’s a result of sketchy hotel power, an offset I don’t know about leaking into the audio path, the unbalanced output of the MN case, the Mimeophon, or something else altogether. I’ve used this exact setup at home and not experienced any sort of problems, but today weirdness abounds.
Confession time: I have a weird relationship with Make Noise. I mean, I love their modules. Most of the time. And I think their philosophy of making modules that are part of a coherent, customized musical instrument is spot on. Most of the time. But seemingly more than any other Eurorack brand, Make Noise will build a wonderful product borne of a brilliant idea, and then during the design process make one, or more, decisions that makes one wonder just what they were thinking.1
Like most people I started my Make Noise journey by integrating individual modules into a larger system. A module here and another there turned into a full 168hp Make Noise Subsystem that was integrated into a larger system mostly made up of single brand cases. Of course I’d found use of them in integrated patches, but with a couple of exceptions, I found myself opting for something other than Make Noise modules. If I had more than one or two Make Noise modules in the patch, generally most of the patch was dedicated to Make Noise modules. But there was something that always seemed amiss. I just never felt like my Make Noise Subsystem fit particularly well within a huge modular synth.
And so without any desire to rid myself of Make Noise, I’ll admit to having contemplated it several times, I decided to lean in and completely separate Make Noise from the rest. To allow it to be the instrument it wants to be on its own terms, and not a bit part in someone else’s show. To be free.
Once I made that choice, I had other hard decisions to make. By switching over to a 4 Zone CV Bus Case, I afforded myself 40 more HP, plus the CV Bus,2 but I still had to perform some rearranging to fit in everything nice and tidy. I added a couple modules that I thought were necessary to have a cohesive and “complete” Make Noise system (namely Rene v2 and a DPO). I had to pull a couple of choice modules out (LxD, MMG, STO). But before I made that switch, I decided to do a patch that included at least one of them.
I hope to make Made Noise a series of posts dedicated to the many bleeps and bloops created with my full Make Noise system. I’m sure I’ll find ways to use it with my larger synth again, but for now Make Noise will will fly solo.
This first sketch started as a rough recreation of a patch Walker Farrell did 5 years ago, called “Patch From Scratch: QPAS & Tempi.” I’ve always loved QPAS for pinging, but I had not gone all out with modulating it before while pinging. How boring. I also knew from the start that I wanted to integrate Morphagene into this patch, and I wanted to experiment with modulating zones in Mimeophon.
The patch is easy enough in theory. Some gates from Tempi, happening at various clock divisions, pinging QPAS’s input, as well as the R Radiate, L Radiate, and !!¡¡ inputs, while triggering various other events. But these gates run deep by being spread around the case through the CV Bus triggering Maths, Function, as well as clocking Mimeophon and Rene. End Of gates from Maths and Function are also being used to trigger different events around the patch. One Tempi channel is also performing some self-pleasure on the Mod input, which shifts the clock divisions around for a continuously changing rhythm and melody line. These shifts effect every aspect of the patch.
CV is sent from Rene’s X Channel to the Resonance CV input on QPAS, to keep the rhythm lively with having varied tail lengths, and changing the melody notes. There’s a familiarity there, but it’s not really repeating exactly. The Y Channel gates are triggering the Wogglebug S&H circuit, and the Cartesian Channel gates are triggering the deep kick of the STO.
The QPAS is being heavily modulated. In fact, there isn’t a control input not being used. Radiate L & R, Resonance, Freq 1, Freq 2, and both !!¡¡ inputs are modulated by gates from Tempi and CV from Rene’s X Channel, a Function envelope. Freq 1 is a bit of patch programming from the L HP output.
While the Tempi and QPAS are doing the heavy lifting throughout the patch, like a lead guitarist, the Mimeophon is what gives it some polish, and that extra bit of oomph for everything to come alive in an ever-changing flow of repeats, jitters, and screeches. While the shifting gates from Tempi are clocking Mimeophon, as well as pinging the uRate CV input, it’s also being modulated by the Maths Sum output, the Morphagene CV Output, a Maths envelope, and Wogglebug (stepped output). I wanted to get an idea of what modulating zones would be like, and it turned out even better than what I imagined it could be. The modulations between carplus strong-like sounds to long drawn out echoes created a sense of splendor and ever changing tones.
Morphagene too gets in on the action. I wanted a bubbly swirl, and by goodness I got a bubbly swirl. I’ve had Morphagene for a while, but it just wasn’t one of the granular-like processors I’d reach for. It was fun, but never integral. In this patch, it lends a level of instant fun and really brightens the sketch. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s probably too loud in the mix, but I do very much enjoy the whimsical direction it gave to an already whimsical melody. The slowing tape machine sounds, the speedy and gurgle fast forwards and rewinds all contribute to the fun.
This certainly isn’t my last patch with this new Make Noise Satellite Subsystem. It’s a level of immediacy and fun that’s hard to replicate with other brands. Here’s to the next one.
Improvised and recorded in 1 take on the iPad in AUM via an Arturia AudioFuse.
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The DXG being unable to not mix, and not having a way to get both LPG channels out individually seems to me to be headbangingly shortsighted. There is no good argument for their premium 4 Zone CV Bus Case having M2.5 screws and sliding nuts. I could go on.
Although the CV Bus is little more than a glorified passive multiple, its implementation is incredibly well thought out and unendingly useful.
