Transcription
The Modit is capable of something that can be a lot harder to achieve with other equipment, and that is interesting interaction and dynamics between different synth voices, percussive elements, or other parts in a patch. This goes from creative side chaining to voices that cross-shift attention to modulation sources swinging from voice to voice.
In this video, I go over five concepts you can use, trying to keep the demo simple, to the point, and musical. To be fair, five is just the amount I had time for, and I only scratch the surface of these ideas. So, let me know if you'd like to learn more about them.
As always, have a look at my Patreon if you like to support my work or you want to get access to PDF sheets with hundreds of patch ideas I used in my videos. But now, let's dive right in.
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There are a few simple examples of voice interaction that are extremely useful. I'm very happy to finally have more time for music again, and I'll explain my live case soon. But one of the tricks I use all the time is a classic side chain.
Here, a sequencer is controlling a single synth voice. The sequencer clock is driving a pattern sequencer, triggering a kick, and a copy of that trigger is used to fire off a short envelope to create a side chain effect. The envelope is inverted and used to duck the level of the synth voice, creating a classic pumping effect. Of course, you can use copies of the inverted envelope to do the same thing to multiple sounds, like another voice, percussion, or samples. This is simple voice interaction between the kick and other [Music] voices.
Side chaining is often associated with techno pumping sounds, but the concept is useful in many situations. Here are two sequenced melodic voices without any percussion. To set up a simple side chain effect between the voices, you can use something like an LFO to control the volume of one voice and send a copy of the LFO through an inverter to control the volume of another voice. Now, when one voice goes up in volume, it ducks the other [Music].
A subtle variation to this trick is something I use a lot. Here, two melodic voices each have an envelope opening their filter and VCA. Instead of controlling the volume of the voices, a smooth random signal is used to open one of the filters, and a copy is sent through an inverter to modulate the other. This creates a shift in brightness and attention between the voices, which works great with slow movement and longer sequences.
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And of course, another great simple example is panning. This can be as easy as sending two synth voices through panners and using a random voltage or LFO to modulate one panner and an inverted version of that signal to modulate the other. Now, both voices will swing around in the stereo field in opposite ways, creating a nice wide stereo effect.
But with a modular, you can push voice interaction a lot further. In the next chapters, I go deeper with more specific ideas. A side chain just means that one sound has an effect on another. With a modular, you can be creative with that.
Here's a simple drone voice, a trigger sequencer triggering a kick, as well as an envelope that's inverted. And the inverted envelope is used to duck the volume of the drone, creating a classic pumping effect, as shown in a previous chapter. But you can use this principle with every sound and to achieve any effect you like.
For example, here the side chain is caused by the trigger of a snare. The drone voice is expanded with a second oscillator modulating the FM through a VCA to create metallic textures in the drone. To create a nice effect, the inverted envelope isn't used to duck the volume of the drone, but instead, the level of FM in the drone. So when the snare hits, FM modulation drops and comes back.
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This doesn't sound that great on its own, but you can stack effects and layer multiple side chain tricks. Here's the same patch, but a copy of the inverted envelope is sent to subtly modulate the filter as well, so the frequencies are better controlled. On top of that, a second trigger pattern is used for a kick, along with a second envelope that's inverted and used to duck the volume of the drone, adding classic ducking to the voice.
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There are a ton of fun things you can do with this concept. Here's one more. A simple drone voice is creating a steady tone. A pattern sequencer is used to trigger a short envelope modulating the filter. This is set to create a fast percussive sound. Another trigger pattern is used to trigger it, a kick, to add interest to the percussion. The kick pattern is triggering a slower attack-decay envelope used to modulate the wave shape of the drone, creating tonal shifts related to the kick. Another envelope is triggered and inverted to add a subtle amount of pumping to the percussive synth as well.
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You can also use side chain-like effects between melodic voices, but I like to call that when you have multiple voices. It often doesn't work when they're all in the spotlight at once. Instead, it can work great when they smoothly shift in and out of focus in opposite ways, or have certain effects or parameters respond to the presence of another sound.
Here's the core concept with two simple synth voices. These are complete sequenced voices with envelope modulation and a bit of LFO movement each, but for this example, that's not important. What is important is that one voice is used as is, and the other is sent through a band-pass filter to control its frequency range. To create simple interaction, a copy of the direct audio of the first voice is sent to an envelope follower to create a modulation curve based on its loudness. That signal is sent through an inverter and used to modulate the band-width of the band-pass filter. In this setup, the top voice is a base, removing the low end of the lower voice when it comes in.
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The envelope follower used here fits the side chain concept, but you don't need one. Here are the same two voices. When you use an offset voltage with an inverter to control the band-pass filter, and a copy of the offset to modulate the filter or volume of the first voice directly, you create the same effect but with manual control. If you replace the offset with something like a random voltage or LFO, you create a more generative progression. Effectively, this is the same as the previous patch with envelope follower and added random voltage modulating the filter of the first [Applause] [Music] voice.
With modular voices, however, you can explore more creative effects than just controlling volume or EQ. Here's a simple oscillator-filter voice with sequencer and envelope, and here's another one. To create interesting interaction between the voices, a simple LFO is used. The regular output is sent to an inverter, so interesting counter-movement can be patched. The filter of the right voice is opened with the regular LFO, and the left voice with the inverted version. To add extra dynamics to the right voice, a copy of the audio is sent through a VCA and a full-wet reverb. A copy of the inverted LFO is used to modulate the VCA, and another copy is modulating the envelope decay time. This shifts the voice from bright, plucky, and clean to damped, long, and with reverb. A copy of the regular LFO is modulating the frequency of another LFO modulating a filter of the left voice for added depth in the base sound.
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With a modular, it's easy to distribute a single modulation source over multiple voices. Here are two simple voices, each with sequencer and envelope opening the filter and VCA. The sequencers are sync to a master clock but running at a slower division. A simple and fun example of modulation distribution is using the clock to trigger a third envelope. Send the envelope to a panner and use something like a slow LFO or random voltage to modulate the panner. This swings the third faster envelope from output A to B and back. In this setup, the envelope is used to modulate the filters in both voices, creating interesting rhythmical [Music] shifts.
This gets more exciting when you use a pattern to trigger the third envelope instead of a steady clock.
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You can explore this idea further and experiment with different sources and destinations. Here's the same two-voice setup, but instead of an envelope, a clocked CV sequence is used as a swinging modulation source. Again, send through the LFO-modulated panner and modulating the filters. Just like with any normal modulation, you can use this source to modulate multiple parameters to create an enhanced effect. Here, a copy of the CV sequence panned to the lead voice is used to modulate the decay of the envelope in that voice as well.
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Here's one more example with the same two sequence voices. Only one of them has an added wave folder. In this patch, an audio-rate LFO is used as the shared swinging modulation source. One output is modulating the wave folder, and the other output is sent to modulate the filter in the other voice. A slow LFO is modulating the panner, swinging the audio-rate modulation from one voice to another. To add to this effect, the slow LFO is used to modulate filters as well, one directly and the other through an inverter. When a voice receives the audio-rate modulation from the panner, the LFO is opening the filter of that voice as well. This swings both voices from in-focus and textured to push back and calm.
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Another interesting option is stacking modulation sources that are shared by multiple voices. Here's an example with two sequenced oscillator-filter-VCA voices. Two mixers are used to create deep stacked modulation. The mix output of the filters are used to modulate the filter and VCA of a voice each. Now you can stack and share modulation sources to both voices. For example, add a clock-triggered envelope and send a copy of that signal to both mixers, and add a pattern-triggered envelope also sent to both mixers. In this setup, a regular LFO and smooth random voltage are sent to both mixes as well. Now, each of the four modulation sources can be sent to either or both voices. Here, I'm using a matrix mixer, but effectively just creating two simple four-channel mixes.
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This idea is also great to spread rhythmic movement through your patch. Here's the same two-voice setup. Only this time, the low voice isn't sequenced, and the matrix mixer is shown for clarity. The first two outputs are modulating the voices, but remember, you can use regular mixers like before. The master clock is triggering an envelope sent to the matrix mixer. The same clock is sent to a divider, gating an envelope for interesting tempo-sync movement. That same division is triggering a kick sample, as well as an inverted envelope for a pumping side chain effect. And finally, finally, a copy of the clock is triggering a gate sequencer, creating a gate pattern.
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The final concept I want to show today is crossfading modulation between two voices. My favorite way of doing this is crossfading between two or more melodic voices, but you can do similar ideas with drums, samples, or synthesized percussion. Here's a simple oscillator-filter-VCA voice, and here's another one with signal flow from right to left. Each voice has its own sequencer, creating a melody and triggering an envelope opening the filter and VCA. To set up simple cross-modulation, a copy of the direct waveform from the first voice is sent through a VCA and on to modulate the filter of the second voice, and a copy of the direct waveform of the second voice is sent through a VCA and on to modulate the linear FM input of the first. A slow LFO is modulating one VCA directly and the other in an inverted way to crossfade between the two modulation routings.
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You can try this with a lot of different sources and destinations. Let's take this concept a step further. Here are the two simple voices again. Each voice has a sequencer, tuning the oscillators and triggering an envelope with a unique pattern. It's important these are different. Instead of each envelope just modulating the filter and VCA directly, the envelopes are sent through the first input of a crossfader before modulating their voice. A slow LFO is modulating both crossfaders, which means if the slow LFO goes high, each envelope is modulating its own voice. To create a crossfading effect, the left envelope is sent to the second input of the right crossfader, and the right envelope is sent to the second input of the left crossfader. Now, the slow LFO is gradually swapping the envelopes from voice to voice in reversed ways, creating nice rhythmical shifts. To add some depth to the drone, a smooth random voltage is modulating one filter, and an inverted version of that signal the other filter. This adds some attention shifting from voice to voice.
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Here's another example with two simple drone voices. Sequencers are used to trigger rhythmical envelopes modulating each voice, but not for melodies. In this patch, two LFOs are used to crossfade between the voices. A fast LFO is sent to the first input of a crossfader modulating the filter of the first voice, and a medium LFO is sent to the first input of another crossfader modulating the second voice. A copy of the fast LFO is sent to the second input of the second crossfader, and a copy of the medium LFO to the second input of the first crossfader. A third slow LFO is used to modulate both crossfaders, crossfading the fast and medium LFO modulation between the voices.
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Again, let me know if you'd like me to dive deeper into any of these topics. Have a look here if you like to learn more. And as always, smash that like, subscribe, and bell button if you want to see more modular content from me. But that's it for now. Thanks for watching, and see you next time.
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