SergeModular

Hi,

thanks for your encouraging comments. Here comes a little bit more
information than you asked for :-)
I switched my mail program to plain text, so I hope this lengthy mail
gets thru without these usual ugly special characters.



I had this 4-note chord progression in my head for quite a while. Then
a friend asked me for a piece done with my Serge Animal and [TKB].
So...

- I wanted to use the [TKB] pressure for articulation.
- But as I don't have a MIDI-to-CV converter (why not?), all notes had
to be played on the [TKB].
- I used [TKB] row A to set the note pitches that were to be played.
- So all different notes needed for the 4-voice chords had to fit into
row A of the [TKB].
- But as there were too many notes, they did not all fit, so I had to
divide the whole thing into three sections, each with its own set of
notes.
- So first came bars 1 to 8, then 9 to 12, finally 13 to 17.
- In each section I started recording with the top voice, then the next
one etc.
- For each voice in each section I adjusted the remaining [TKB] row B,
C and D parameters (Waveshape, Cutoff, Resonance), as well as the SND
filter bank, to get some timbral variations for each voice, and
different sounding sections.

I found the [TKB] pressure rather hard to control, the response
felt...well...somewhat linear to me, and due to the FM feedback nature
of the patch, some note's pitches changed according to the loudness of
the patch, which added an another challenge. But I was so curious how
everything would sound together, that I recorded each voice in each
section in one or two passes, without rehearsal. And to add a little
element of surprise for myself, I did not monitor the voices I recorded
before. Every voice of every pass was played solo.



For more details, here's the patch:

[NTO] Variable Wave into [VCM] Waveshaper 2.
NTO] Sawtooth into [VCM] Waveshaper 3.
[VCM] Waveshaper 2 and 3 via [AMX] into [VCFX] In.
[VCFX] Lowpass into [UAP].
[UAP] into SND FB-14 filterbank (see http://www.s-n-d.com/fb14e.html)
SND FB-14 via MotU 828 into Emagic Logic.
Used Emagic's Space Designer as bus reverb in Logic.

[PCO] Sine modulates [NTO] frequency.
[PCO] Sine modulates [SMOOTH GENERATOR, patched as triangle oscillator]
frequency.
[SMOOTH GENERATOR, patched as triangle oscillator] modulates [PCO]
frequency.

[VCM] Waveshaper 2 into [NTO] FM Input.

[TKB] Pressure modulates [UAP] volume, [VCFX] cutoff frequency, [VCM]
Waveshaper 1 and 2.
[TKB] row A controls [NTO] pitch.
[TKB] row B controls [NTO] Variable Wave Shape.
[TKB] row C controls [VCFX] cutoff frequency.
[TKB] row D controls [VCFX] resonance.



And the title? You know...when I was 12 years old, I started learning
the trombone in the brass ensemble of my home village's church. I found
the trombone interesting, but not as interesting as the girl who
started learning the trumpet at the very same time. 4 months later, I
saw my first real, live synthesizer (a Polysix) when visiting a trade
show in a big city nearby with my buddy's parents. The synth was much
more interesting that the girl with the trumpet. I immediately quitted
the brass ensemble. We were still quite bad at that time.

So when I finished all recordings, I unmuted all tracks on, listened to
the whole thing – and felt immediately reminded to my attempts of
playing the trombone and falling in love.

In any case, my respect for Carlos and Tomita is higher than ever.
Thanks for the bandwidth.

Best regards,
Jan-Hinnerk