Patch #13 Synthetic Harp in 6

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One of my favorite sounds on polysynths are the plucky, fast decay patches that are great for arpeggiators. I have found myself gravitating toward generating lots of these on the Super Jupiter as I learn the instrument, but I hadn’t bothered saving any of them knowing that I could easily dial them up again when necessary. However, a couple of days ago I decided to start managing my creations. So far I have saved thirteen original patches including “Clangorous Bells” (one through three), a synth clav, a PWM bass, and the most recent of the lot that I titled “Synthy Harp”. Here’s a short passage produced with “Synthy Harp”, patch number thirteen.

Patch #13 Synthetic Harp in 6

Synthesizer Noise Jam #4

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Here’s the forth entry in my series of synthesizer noise jams. Once again I chose the Roland MKS-80 because since I have repaired it I’m spending most of my time programming this magnificent synth. I just can’t seem to leave it alone. Although this segment is almost two minutes long, it came out of a recording that ran over ten minutes.

Synthesizer Noise Jam #4

Clangorous Cross Modulated Analogue Bells

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After working out a new MIDI control scheme for the MKS-80, I decided to take a closer look at the cross modulation section. After reading the article in Sound on Sound that I discussed in Cross Modulated Microtonal Improvisation I thought it would be a good challenge to try and create some “clangorous bells”. It took me a little bit of trial and error, but I programmed a couple of bell-like patches that are pretty damn clangorous. Here’s the more clangorous of the two. They sound very analogue, weird, and more bell-like in the upper versus lower register, almost like something off a Tomita record. I added a bit of stereo imaging and reverb to liven them up a bit.

Cross Modulated Clangorous Bells

What is Your Top Programmable MIDI Controller?

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I’m looking for a programmable MIDI controller for the Roland MKS-80. I have almost resigned myself to building my own MIDIbox 64, but if something pre-built and inexpensive that will serve the purpose is out there I’m willing to consider it. The most attractive thing I’ve found so far is the CME Bitstream 3X (formerly Wave Idea), but I’m not exactly thrilled about CME products. I have a CME UF7 keyboard controller and I’m not that happy with it. I’d love to hear from someone with a Bitstream 3X about what they think of it feature and construction wise.

Other interesting devices are the Novation SL MkII series (a little short on knobs and sliders) or the Doepfer Drehbank (discontinued). Another possibility is 3 Korg nanoKONTROLs and a USB hub. I’m using one right now with three scenes programmed to control everything on the MKSK-80, but the scene switching is cumbersome, and I loose my positioning on parameters after switching scenes causing jumps in the programming. However, having three of them would solve that problem. Unfortunately, they are not programmable for sysex (required to interface with the MKS-80), so I’d need to map them through editor software, eliminating the potential of a computer free setup.