Modulation ideas.
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- KVRer
- 2 posts since 2 Nov, 2019
So i'm trying to go through the absurd amount of modulators, and that's all fine and dandy. But i'm sort of at a crossroads here, I've learned the mmix, mmod, mmap and all that fun stuff, but now i'm drawing a blank as to what to actually modulate. I've been modulating the filters, tunes, waveshapes and osc fx. But that all seems to standard and vanilla, nothing interesting is coming out of that for me. I know this is a super loaded question, but what are some of your creative modulation ideas?
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- KVRist
- 43 posts since 6 Apr, 2020
Custom LFOs and maps and so on, whatever. I don't care if you can't use audio signals as modulators. For example, combining the output of two oscillators, using that signal to modulate the cutoff frequency of a filter, then using that filter's output as the FM source for another oscillator. That sounds complicated to me, but the point is, that kind of experimentation yields sonically interesting results. For that, you need Bazille or Phase Plant. Phase Plant is bigger and has more options, but I think Bazille is the better designed instrument.
(Maybe there are other synths offering similar audio-rate modulation capabilities... if so, I would be interested to know about them!)
(Maybe there are other synths offering similar audio-rate modulation capabilities... if so, I would be interested to know about them!)
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- u-he
- 30215 posts since 8 Aug, 2002 from Berlin
Well, Zebra lets you combine two oscillators and use that as FM source for a filter (XMF), which in turn can be used as FM source for an oscillator (FMO), all with a stereo signal path.
I very much like comb filters into FMOs for audio rate goodness in Zebra.
In regards to ModMix, ModMapper (what's MMod?), those are very versatile modulation sources and modifiers. ModMappers can be set to, say, 8 or 16 steps and act a step sequencers (driven by LFOs or MSEGs). Or, say, if you're unhappy with the slope of an envelope, send the envelope through a ModMapper and build your own slope. The ModMixer is a more plain operator, it simply lets one route multiple modulations to destinations which have only limited modulation inputs. Both modules can be used to considerably go beyond vanilla, but without making the vanilla modulators themselves more complicated.
I very much like comb filters into FMOs for audio rate goodness in Zebra.
In regards to ModMix, ModMapper (what's MMod?), those are very versatile modulation sources and modifiers. ModMappers can be set to, say, 8 or 16 steps and act a step sequencers (driven by LFOs or MSEGs). Or, say, if you're unhappy with the slope of an envelope, send the envelope through a ModMapper and build your own slope. The ModMixer is a more plain operator, it simply lets one route multiple modulations to destinations which have only limited modulation inputs. Both modules can be used to considerably go beyond vanilla, but without making the vanilla modulators themselves more complicated.