MonoPolyphony | Modular Composing | Episode 10 | Feat. Endless Processor
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Polyphony in eurorack isn't always easy. It can be, if you'd use midi capable modules like Poly Cinematic or BitBox (just to name two I own). A modular purist would pick multiple VCOs, VCA's, envelopes and VCFs, and wise modular purists would use Quad designs. I don't consider myself a purist, I can't handle rules very well and I won't deny myself the easy way of midi and working with the DAW. I can also confirm it's amazing to patch a 'quad full voice' setup every once in a while and explore multi-timbral polyphony. However, most of the time I'd use a single full voice and experiment with freezes and sustain FX. Great modules for this are Clouds, Endless Processor, the Mimeophon, Morphagene, StarDust, Arbhar, etc. Anything that can freeze, remember, loop and repitch.
In this episode, I'll use Blukac Endless Processor and its expander to turn a mono voice into a polyphonic experience. I called it 'monopolyphony' and I think it's an excellent compromise.
This is one of the first videos where I'l start using patch notes and diagrams. I never realized my patches aren't obvious, easy and straigtforward at all. If my goal is to teach you something, I'll need to make diagrams too. I also know I love to make powerpoints.
The polyphonic examples used in this video are from my NiftyKeyz video : ua-cam.com/video/zo-DdC7NJcM/v-deo.html
Five years ago I already touched the subject with 1010's synthbox. ua-cam.com/video/lUOsA_3qYQw/v-deo.html
Another route to four Plaits is the Disting NT. ;-)
I must say I'm loving the slow progression of your channel. Thanks
I love the new format! Your deeper exploration of modules "on hand" is a great idea. You always produce videos that inspire and educate, and in this case I am driven to dive into my modules to see if I can approximate the concepts you demonstrate here... with less Ardbeg flowing in my brain and veins. I always find something valuable in what you share and I thank you for that! Cheers!!!
Your really one of the best at the atmospheres
a lot of work went into this - well done. thanks
It strikes me yet, .. how pretty a bare sine wave is.
Thanks for the reminder about MIDI to Bitbox, .. a totally unexplored rabbit hole, for me. Preprogramming a MIDI device, (and having some amount of variations) .. even as old, as it is .. trying to emulate that on modern modular .. I wouldn't bet against, the old horse.
Yes, .. I like diagrams, .. any time you feel like making them, .. love it.
The subharmonicon is one of my favorite ways to add polyphamy in a modular setting
Wow. Thanks, that was awesome. : )
thank you, i see a lot a lot a lot of work in this video, amazing. it sounds great and i love it, thank you again :-)
I personally use hardware modular for complex, deep mono voices (which I find much more satisfying to tinker with) and an ES-9 + VCV for polyphony. This lets me create huge patches of tons of operators without 5000hp of physical modules. Then, I map key functions to midi knobs. A kind of poor man's "four plaits"
Great video, thanks. And I do need a Deckard's Voice! 😂
I look at "polyphony" from the viewpoint of an ensemble. I have different VCOs and VCFs. An Arturia Keystep Pro gives me four 1V/oct CVs, and then I have a couple of MIDI modules. So when I play a chord, the result is four different sounds, and thus why I think of it as an ensemble, or quartet. More keyboards, more "players." One does not need to adhere to a uniform sound throughout the voices, and be sure to explore what happens when one voice influences another.
That's indeed the multi timbral example I used with my four plaits :). It's absolutely amazing,
It may require large setup, but is definitely worth the trouble. However, I don't agree at all with 4x Plaits or one-stop-shop polyphonic MIDI modules. The whole point of doing modular polyphony is to have total control over four analog paths. Otherwise it's inferior to just hooking an iPad/computer and send polyphonic audio into your effects chain. That said, I think that the biggest upgrade anyone with a monosynth setup can make is a second identical voice. Another monosynth filter/distortion/effect just gives you variations on what you already can do. Duophony opens up a whole new composition territory and is easy and cheap enough to pull off with pretty much any combination of modules you like.
Thanks for your feedback. Sure I agree because I love the dual VCO concept with different paths. It's just that duophony is not poly. I think you should at least be able to make a triad. That's why I love Instruo's discontinued Troika with the Harmonaig so much and I agree it doesn't have to be expensive. Unfortunately it will often sound like a common Moog keyboard in polyphonic settings. IMHO a four plaits setup just rocks.
@@CinematicLaboratory Just to clarify, what I meant is that the jump in musical capabilities from monosynth to duophony is greater than from duophony upwards, especially considering the necessary investment. Of course quad>triad>duo>mono. Personally I upgraded all the way up to quad polyphony setup (System 100), but I often patch it as a complex duophonic synth with two oscillators per voice. While there is of course harmonic tradeoff this way, it easily makes up for it with the depth of complex voices.
@@PrettyRandomNoises Totally agree! It's not just the luxury of duophony, but also the ability to FM, cross-FM, ringmod, etc, etc. For me, personally, I'd never ever start with a single VCO. I'd use a 'complex' dual VCO, a function generator and a VCA (LPG).
I thought about building me an 'Oberheim 8 voice': 16 VCOs, 8 SEM Filters, 8 VCAs, 16 ADSRs, 16 LFOs and two 4in2 stereo mixers (plus a case plus an 8 voice MIDI to CV interface). Depending on the quality of components I would end up between 6000 and 12000 € .... Of course it would be fun and probably would sound great but a GForce OB-E is much much much more reasonable 🙃- !! And something important I forgot: a digital tuner !!
I don't think Midi is cheating, but find it a bit boring and only use it for syncing clocks when playing with others.
A cheapish and less HP demanding solution is Qu-bit's Chord wavetable oscillator, that has four outputs + a mix, where one mode lets you send all four separate pitch, + their quad Tone filter with LP and Bp outputs. Then add any quad vca and quad envelope or two. There are also some cheapish stereo or dual filters, but maybe a selection of Doepfer modules would be cheaper.
Anyhow, your brew is far more exciting.
This is quite excellent my friend . I don't know if I could do it, but I would love to use my Behringer Neutron and my Teenage Engineering POM400 together, and control the POM400 thru the Neutron from a MIDI keyboard, since the Neutron has a MIDI to CV. I don't know if that would work or not. Anyway love your channel my friend!😎
You can never have enough envelopes..
always forget deckard's voice is still only a .5 mono cs80