@@8coast843 yeah it's going okay! I'm glad so many people have documented their experiences with this synth so that I know I'm not alone in finding it hard to incorporate with other synths. I'm finding that it's much more manageable if I send a reset to mark the start of a phrase.
Thanks for creating this! I've owned the Subharmonicon for about a year. I was really excited at first with the experimental approach of it, but as a pianist with a decent theory background, I've grown frustrated with how difficult it can be to reign in the harmony and sequences. Experimentation is great and all, but in the end when I just want to make music, trying to control so much possible dissonance becomes overwhelming. Another thing is, I do wish you could change the tonal center around which the built-in quantizer works, for diatonic scales - in other words, when selecting 8-tet, it defaults everything to C major. I can work around this but it would be great if there was a knob to simply transpose the 8-tet scale to which it quantizes, and also be able to quantize to minor scales, harmonic minor etc. That said, this renewed my interest in exploring the instrument with a more minimal approach - and learning to tame it within a musical context! Quick question, I actually understand the idea of upper triads or combining triads, but could you explain your pdf a little? I'm not sure what the workflow is - for example, when selecting a chord, are the ones highlighted white simply potential upper triads? I'm going to guess the ones highlighted gray with an X are avoid triads? Are all of the suggested upper triads based on working from the first degree as a point of reference? In short I guess I just mean I'm not sure what these are relative to - if I'm playing upper triads in my right hand, what am I playing in my left hand, or the lower triad just for all intents and purposes. Thanks!
HI Jonathan, There are ways to make the subharmonicon behave more like a "traditional" instrument...using an external quantizer modular will help with the other scales you mention (and if you have a nice fancy quantizer like Intellijel scales for instance will help with transposition) , or using the midi input (or even pitch CV input in VCO 1) will transpose your sequence the way you'd expect....but the subharmonicon (at least in my opinion) is best suited for experimental music and finding harmonies you typically would not play on your "regular axe". I agree with you...trying to make a subharmonicon behave like a traditional instrument can be extremely frustrating...my solution was to stop trying and learn to enjoy it in different ways. As for triads sheet...correct greyed out X boxes are avoid triads (doesn't mean that they might yield interesting results...but most likely will not be workable western harmony) white boxes give you optional triads to combine over a fixed root. for instance....If C is your root. A triad major from the 1st degree combined with a major triad from the 2nd degree would give you Root, 3rd, 5th, 9th, #11 and 13 -- so a Lydian sound. If you wanted a dominant sound -- say Altered (some people call that Diminished-Whole tone or 7th Mode Melodic Minor) you could combine major triads from the b5 and b6 degrees of the scale giving you b5, b7, b9, b13, Root and #9 - (in C for instance - combine Gb Major Triad and Ab Major Triads to give you Gb, Bb, Db, Ab, C and Eb - (all notes form Altered scale)) -- if i wanted to do that in the key of G I'd combine Db and Eb Major triads. or to get another "flavour" of the altered scale you could combine Minor triads from the b9 (min2nd) and b3 -- again if you wanted to do that in C - you'd combine DbMin and Ebmin triads (over a C root) would give you Db (b9), E (Maj3rd) Ab (b13) + Eb (#9) Gb (b5) and Bb (m7) does that help?
@@RobeMusic Thanks, and I agree the Subharmonicon in many ways is meant to be an experimental instrument, so it's best to let go of trying to control it too much and enjoy the ride. It's definitely created a lot of surprises for me and I look forward to digging in more. Cool, that explanation about the triads sheet helps. I think I was confused by the headers under each section (major/minor/dominant) in terms of what those referred to. After looking it over more and playing around I think I understand those to be referring to your base/lower triad (or left hand if you want). And then each chart refers to the separate upper triad, picking your flavor (major, minor, aug/dim/sus4). And each cell would represent the intersection between those. Any after fooling around a bit it seems I'm on the same page now, but let me know if my interpretation sounds off base. Some really cool tones to explore here! I actually had created a chart myself a couple years ago but to be honest I was really making it up as I went. I named the technique "polychords" 🤷 I literally sat down at the piano, played different triads together, and notated what they seemed to create technically and emotionally. It's less modal (I didn't really understand modes at that time) and definitely more clunky to follow as I thinking more from chord tones than scale degrees... but nonetheless you might have fun looking at it! One of these days I'll update it with my more educated understanding of all this stuff: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BTayGM2_-fSlHAV1bMgU5YaNvzFaA0s-f0OfWnNQfT4/edit?usp=sharing But yeah thanks for your PDF, I'll be printing that out and experimenting. And maybe with that the Subharmonicon will take me down some new paths. I look forward to watching more content on your channel! :)
Yes, the mother 32 is aptly named. it will greatly expand your capabilities with the other 2....and sounds absolutely fantastic. if you get one, make sure to update the firmware to the most recent...you'll gain TONS of more features for the sequencer.
You could do that with Midi from Logic to Mother 32 (or MAtriarch...but Matriarch's midi is a bit buggy..M32 is a little more solid) then out the "assign" jack from the mother (probably will need a mult..or use the one on the m32) to the clock/trigger inputs on all the other units. pretty sure thats covered in the moog manuals. If you want to use CV out from DAW...(which will be more stable) check out Expert Sleepers modules with Silent Way clock plugin in DAW as master clock, that's what i use. (you may not actually need a physical module if your audio interface is dc coupled...he explains that on the expert Sleepers site) If you use Ableton Live, you can use their cv tools to do the same. Arturia Keystep pro also has CV outs. There's also a few other modules out there...midi to CV converters that would work well for that. First step is to read through the moog manuals and decide how you want to connect all the synths. you can do it a bunch of different ways and some will be better for different situations.
Thanks for exploring this patch! The matriarch adds so much too! I try to stay away from using the subharmonicon as a harmonic device , like you said the attack decay knobs are a hidden gem. If you’re interested you can find some alternative usage of the sh as a chaos engine on my channel.shameless plug confirmed :) thanks again for sharing this!
If you’re in Canada try moog audio. They should be around $15 CAD. There’s lots of other similar inline mixer/attenuators out there. VERY useful…but I wouldn’t pay that much.
Just picked up a subharmonicon so this timing was brilliant for me. Thank you!
Great! We’ll be posting a few more subharmonicon videos in the next few weeks. Hope you have fun with your new synth
How is it going about a month later?
@@8coast843 yeah it's going okay! I'm glad so many people have documented their experiences with this synth so that I know I'm not alone in finding it hard to incorporate with other synths.
I'm finding that it's much more manageable if I send a reset to mark the start of a phrase.
Brilliant walk through 👍🏾 Sounded awesome and then u brought in the Matriarch 🤯 👏🏾👏🏾
thanks very much!
Thanks for creating this! I've owned the Subharmonicon for about a year. I was really excited at first with the experimental approach of it, but as a pianist with a decent theory background, I've grown frustrated with how difficult it can be to reign in the harmony and sequences. Experimentation is great and all, but in the end when I just want to make music, trying to control so much possible dissonance becomes overwhelming. Another thing is, I do wish you could change the tonal center around which the built-in quantizer works, for diatonic scales - in other words, when selecting 8-tet, it defaults everything to C major. I can work around this but it would be great if there was a knob to simply transpose the 8-tet scale to which it quantizes, and also be able to quantize to minor scales, harmonic minor etc.
That said, this renewed my interest in exploring the instrument with a more minimal approach - and learning to tame it within a musical context!
Quick question, I actually understand the idea of upper triads or combining triads, but could you explain your pdf a little? I'm not sure what the workflow is - for example, when selecting a chord, are the ones highlighted white simply potential upper triads? I'm going to guess the ones highlighted gray with an X are avoid triads? Are all of the suggested upper triads based on working from the first degree as a point of reference? In short I guess I just mean I'm not sure what these are relative to - if I'm playing upper triads in my right hand, what am I playing in my left hand, or the lower triad just for all intents and purposes.
Thanks!
HI Jonathan,
There are ways to make the subharmonicon behave more like a "traditional" instrument...using an external quantizer modular will help with the other scales you mention (and if you have a nice fancy quantizer like Intellijel scales for instance will help with transposition) , or using the midi input (or even pitch CV input in VCO 1) will transpose your sequence the way you'd expect....but the subharmonicon (at least in my opinion) is best suited for experimental music and finding harmonies you typically would not play on your "regular axe". I agree with you...trying to make a subharmonicon behave like a traditional instrument can be extremely frustrating...my solution was to stop trying and learn to enjoy it in different ways.
As for triads sheet...correct greyed out X boxes are avoid triads (doesn't mean that they might yield interesting results...but most likely will not be workable western harmony)
white boxes give you optional triads to combine over a fixed root. for instance....If C is your root. A triad major from the 1st degree combined with a major triad from the 2nd degree would give you Root, 3rd, 5th, 9th, #11 and 13 -- so a Lydian sound. If you wanted a dominant sound -- say Altered (some people call that Diminished-Whole tone or 7th Mode Melodic Minor) you could combine major triads from the b5 and b6 degrees of the scale giving you b5, b7, b9, b13, Root and #9 - (in C for instance - combine Gb Major Triad and Ab Major Triads to give you Gb, Bb, Db, Ab, C and Eb - (all notes form Altered scale)) -- if i wanted to do that in the key of G I'd combine Db and Eb Major triads.
or to get another "flavour" of the altered scale you could combine Minor triads from the b9 (min2nd) and b3 -- again if you wanted to do that in C - you'd combine DbMin and Ebmin triads (over a C root) would give you Db (b9), E (Maj3rd) Ab (b13) + Eb (#9) Gb (b5) and Bb (m7)
does that help?
@@RobeMusic Thanks, and I agree the Subharmonicon in many ways is meant to be an experimental instrument, so it's best to let go of trying to control it too much and enjoy the ride. It's definitely created a lot of surprises for me and I look forward to digging in more.
Cool, that explanation about the triads sheet helps. I think I was confused by the headers under each section (major/minor/dominant) in terms of what those referred to. After looking it over more and playing around I think I understand those to be referring to your base/lower triad (or left hand if you want). And then each chart refers to the separate upper triad, picking your flavor (major, minor, aug/dim/sus4). And each cell would represent the intersection between those. Any after fooling around a bit it seems I'm on the same page now, but let me know if my interpretation sounds off base. Some really cool tones to explore here!
I actually had created a chart myself a couple years ago but to be honest I was really making it up as I went. I named the technique "polychords" 🤷 I literally sat down at the piano, played different triads together, and notated what they seemed to create technically and emotionally. It's less modal (I didn't really understand modes at that time) and definitely more clunky to follow as I thinking more from chord tones than scale degrees... but nonetheless you might have fun looking at it! One of these days I'll update it with my more educated understanding of all this stuff: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BTayGM2_-fSlHAV1bMgU5YaNvzFaA0s-f0OfWnNQfT4/edit?usp=sharing
But yeah thanks for your PDF, I'll be printing that out and experimenting. And maybe with that the Subharmonicon will take me down some new paths. I look forward to watching more content on your channel! :)
The intro gave me goosebumps. I have the DFAM and SH i think I need the mother 32 as well . They were meant for each other.
Thanks for the video!
Yes, the mother 32 is aptly named. it will greatly expand your capabilities with the other 2....and sounds absolutely fantastic. if you get one, make sure to update the firmware to the most recent...you'll gain TONS of more features for the sequencer.
@@RobeMusic sweet. Time to save some cash
You could do that with Midi from Logic to Mother 32 (or MAtriarch...but Matriarch's midi is a bit buggy..M32 is a little more solid) then out the "assign" jack from the mother (probably will need a mult..or use the one on the m32) to the clock/trigger inputs on all the other units. pretty sure thats covered in the moog manuals. If you want to use CV out from DAW...(which will be more stable) check out Expert Sleepers modules with Silent Way clock plugin in DAW as master clock, that's what i use. (you may not actually need a physical module if your audio interface is dc coupled...he explains that on the expert Sleepers site) If you use Ableton Live, you can use their cv tools to do the same. Arturia Keystep pro also has CV outs. There's also a few other modules out there...midi to CV converters that would work well for that. First step is to read through the moog manuals and decide how you want to connect all the synths. you can do it a bunch of different ways and some will be better for different situations.
cool demo!
Thank you
Great explanation. 👍👍
Glad it was helpful!
Fantastic!! Many thanks!! 😃
Thank you too!
Awesome!
Thanks!
Creativity
Subharmonicon content, oh yeah! \o/
Thanks for exploring this patch! The matriarch adds so much too! I try to stay away from using the subharmonicon as a harmonic device , like you said the attack decay knobs are a hidden gem. If you’re interested you can find some alternative usage of the sh as a chaos engine on my channel.shameless plug confirmed :) thanks again for sharing this!
Thanks, I'll check it out!
So the splix will cost me $42 cdn or $28us from their website. Not sure I need it but I’m curious. Anyone? I have a studio 3 setup with moog mixer.
If you’re in Canada try moog audio. They should be around $15 CAD. There’s lots of other similar inline mixer/attenuators out there. VERY useful…but I wouldn’t pay that much.