Arpeggiated Polyphonic Subharmonics

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Here’s another example of manually applying subharmonic frequencies to a musical phrase. I used the Bitstream 3X arpeggiator to drive the Roland MKS-80 then duplicated the track. On the second track I dropped the frequency by twelve semi-tones and ran it through a low-pass filter effectively eliminating upper harmonics and creating subharmonic frequencies based on the original piece. Although this technique sounds good, it’s not exactly practical, so soon I repeat the experiments with some processors that are designed specifically to do this.

Arpeggiated Poly Subs

What Do You Use to Generate Subharmonic Frequencies?

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Played these chords on the Super Jupiter the same day I recorded the last sound. As is my habit, I programmed the patch without saving it, so this will be a one off microtrack unless I decide to reverse engineer the sound for one reason or another. Again, I decided to apply the same technique to add the bass frequencies as I did before (adding it to another layer, dropping the pitch an octave, and running it through a low pass filter). Out of curiosity, what processors do you use to create subharmonic frequencies in your work? Do you use hardware or software? What in your opinion are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Polyphonic Synth with Subs (Part 2)

Polyphonic Synth Passage with Subharmonics

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I played this passage of notes on the Roland MKS-80 after spending a couple of days programming sounds. Listening back I wanted to hear more bass, so I looked around for a good subharmonic generator plugin, but didn’t find anything and decided to just add it to another layer, drop the pitch and then run it through a low pass filter. After some customized chorus settings, delay, and reverb, this is what I ended up with.

Polyphonic Synth Passage with Subharmonics

Upcoming Ostracon Debut

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I am excited to announce the debut album, Unauthorized Modifications by Ostracon, my duo project with drummer Graham O’Brien. It is scheduled for release on Tuesday June 21, 2011 with a release show happening on Friday, June 24, 2011. I will be posting excerpts from each of the tracks weekly leading up to the event, which I will have more information about soon.

Probability Defect (excerpt)

Subtractive Synthesis Demo

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Tomorrow morning I am going to be discussing some basic concepts of sound synthesis including subtractive synthesis with my sound design class. We’ll be looking at some hardware synthesizers, listening to some sounds, then creating sounds of our own. Tonight I created this pulse in Reason using the Subtractor instrument followed by delay and reverb as an example to show, although rather than showing this example I will create something else using a similar technique during the demo.

Subtractive Synthesis