A cinematic, smeared out and distorted 3-voice polyphonic MIDI synth.
It’s a MIDI playable version of a generative patch I made (not yet published), a very hazy and dirty, distorted synth engine with some nice timbral flavours. The voices are built from sine oscillators multiplied with themselves via an Audio Multiplier (a new trick from recent patches that I’m still exploring further), where overtones can be created by changing the pulse-width (for example via Mod Wheel). The sound goes through a shorter full wet Reverb Lite and then into an Overdrive module, then into a final Plate Reverb module. It can create destroyed pad sounds, slow rising distorted chords, or soaring and screaming (but still slow!) lead lines.
Because of the full wet internal reverb normal ADSR values don’t mean much, so I’ve used added simple toggle buttons instead of the regular Value-controls (like a ‘Slower’ toggle, instead of an Attack value). Only 3-voices of polyphony due to the CPU intensive reverbs, but very expressive and epic little MIDI synth!
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[OVERVIEW]
-Input/Output: Stereo in/Stereo out (or Mono in/Stereo out)
-CPU load: Around 100%
-Build: Initial version built on ZEBU with firmware 2.80
-MIDI: All MIDI related modules (in PEACH colour) are on the 3rd page marked MIDI. I use channel 10 and if controls are set to CC’s I use CC 21/36 (see CONTROLS section for details).
-CV Inputs: Unused.
-CV Inputs: Unused.
[REVISIONS]
1.0: Initial patch.
[CONTROLS]
All the main controls are on PAGE0 and are labeled and starred (see below for a “Picture Manual” in the comments). The Stereo Output module with gain parameter is on PAGE1.
Because everything is already so smeared out there is little use for traditional ADSR values, so I’ve tried to simplify the controls by adding some toggle buttons to tweak the sound more easily.
LEVEL (sets overall synth output level)
TIMBRE (sets waveshape timbre; modulated by Mod Wheel and T. MOD DEPTH)
SUSTAIN (sets the sustain level)
SLOWER (toggle ON for a slower attack time)
LONGER (toggle ON for a longer release time)
REVERB (sets the decay and mix of the Plate reverb at the output stage)
T. MOD DELAY (sets the delay time between amp envelope and TIMBRE envelope modulation)
T. MOD DEPTH (sets the depth of TIMBRE envelope modulation)
DIRT (sets the amount of distortion)
HAZIER (toggle ON for a hazier sound by increasing the mix of the early internal reverb)
SMEARED (toggle ON for a more smeared out sound by increasing the decay of the early internal reverb)
ZOIA LEFT / MID / RIGHT stomp = Unused.
ZEBU LEFT / RIGHT buttons = Unused.
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[PATCH STRUCTURE]
Pretty standard config for a polyphonic synth I think; there’s a MIDI page with a MIDI Notes module (with notes, gates and velocity outputs), and there’s Pressure, Pitch Bend, and a MIDI CC (set to CC 1 for Mod Wheel).
Other pages contain the voices (three times) as described above, and there’s a Distortion module and Reverb module on the fist page. The reverb decay is inversely modulated by the note envelopes (aka ‘ducking’), so that even with very smeared out pads it still maintains some distinction between notes (ducking is a great trick for making really long reverbs usable).
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[TIPS/TRICKS]
>>> Start with all toggles OFF, so the notes are pretty clear (well, relatively) and distinct, then just experiment.
>>> One of my favourite settings is with SLOWER turned ON, but LONGER turned OFF, so it’s a very pad-like sound, but you still have articulation upon release of keys.
>>> This patch really likes simple sustained chords with bigger intervals (like 9th or 7th chords), to give the distortion something to work with.
[THOUGHTS/IDEAS/PLANS]
No plans for this one, maybe I’ll find some improvements after some more use.
If there’s any bugs/questions/remarks/requests or suggestions for improvement, please let me know!
Enjoy!
(Image: Nicolas Rivals)
Picture Manual:
Attachment Manual-Pripyat-63c699d95770a.jpg