Bahamut — an LFO based sequencer

Bahamut was inspired by this Mylar Melodies video for using LFOs as a sequencer:

I took the idea (which is similar to the idea in Zaratan, to be honest — these are just different approaches to the same concept of using on/off voltage as intervals) and pushed it a little further: instead of four LFOs, there are six, with two of the LFOs (5 & 6) being able to be shaped into triangle and ramp shapes, respectively, instead of just square waves.

It’s a nice way to create fairly complex sequences that feel cohesive quickly. The patch can be used for MIDI or CV.

Each LFO has an individual rate control. LFOs 1-4 have a duty cycle control, with 0 being a 50/50 split. As mentioned above, LFOs 5-6 have a shape control instead of a duty cycle control: at 0, the shape is a square wave; at 1, the shape is a triangle for LFO 5 and a ramp for LFO 6.

Then, each LFO has a depth control. This is a percentage of the maximum interval set on the first page. The sum of all of the LFOs can exceed that maximum interval by quite a lot, though, so keep that in mind.

Each LFO also has a modulator LFO, with a triangle shape. This can be used to add variety to the sequence. The modulator LFO can either speed up or slow down the interval LFO.

There are two timing methods: one uses a clock, while the other uses the LFOs themselves (multiplied together) to produce much more erratic results.

With the clock method, you have a few options:

SWING sets the… swing, positive or negative.

There is a HOLD CHANCE control. This is a bipolar control.

With positive values, it increases the chance that a gate will be held or sustained beyond the clock beat, since this is a probabilistic setting, the higher the value the greater chances of a sustained note being longer as well, as successive steps are sustained.

With negative values, a rhythmic sustain is introduced. First, every other note is sustained, then as you turn the control toward more negative values, every third notes is sustained, then every fourth, every fifth, etc. until at the extreme, every sixteenth note is sustained.

The clock LFO also has a modulator LFO, so you can speed it up or slow it down.

With the LFO method you also have an option:

LFO number determines the number of LFOs used in the multiplication. With more of the LFO used, gates will become less common (as a gate is only produced when all the LFOs used are high at the same time) and more erratic, which can be useful if you want to use the patch in a more generative capacity.

On the second page are controls for the DEMO VOICE.

This is a two-oscillator sawtooth synth, with detunable voices. I think it sounds nice, but you can also remove the demo voice if you want more CPU for another application.

Also on this page is the QUANTIZER for the patch.

There is also a page to set the MIDI outputs. The default is channel 1.

CV inputs:

Clock — 0-10V. You may need to adjust the clock filter setting, depending on your clock source. The patch also accepts MIDI clock or tap tempo.

CV outputs:

Pitch — 0-10V, transposed to C.

Gate — 0-10V.

Envelope — 0-10V, derived from the envelope used for the internal demo voice.

User buttons:

Tap tempo — momentary. Overridden by CV or MIDI clock.

Transpose — momentary, shifts the sequence up an octave