microOPERATION MANUAl

By TomRhea

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MANUAL N O 1.. ooo

MICROMOOGoperationmanual

By TomRhea

created for the web using just a digit ial camera by:www .fantasyjackpalance .com

MICROMOOG

CONTRO L PANEL

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S ETTI NG UP THE MI CR OM OOG

A Before pluggin g in th e M lcromoog. ch eck the 115 / 2 30 sw itch on the rear panel Set this for the appro pria teoperannq voltage ( 1 15 for US A I

B Plug the pow er cord Into any conve nt ion al A C ouue t

C Use an appr op n ate patchcord 10 con nect either LO AUDIO or HI AUDIO on th e Ml cromoog to your mcn uonn qsys tem

If you are using a P.A . system or a port able gu itar typ e amplif ier. co nnect the LO A UDIO OUTPUT of th eMicrom oog to th e inp ut of your amp lif ier.

If you are usmq a hig h fidelity rnomto rinq system. co nnec t the HI AUDIO OUTPUT o f the M lcrom oog to th eInp ut o f th e pow er am pli f ier

In euber case. alwa ys advance the VOLU ME contr ol of th e M icromoog slow ly from " 0" 10 check sound levelFor best stgnaHo- nolse -auo. choose gain seu inqs on your monitor thai allow yo u to use a high VOLUMEsetunq Iabout " S'"' on the Micromo og.

D. Turn on the POWER sw itch on the rear panel of th e Mlcrom oog . The temperature -req ulated OSCILLATOR atta insop eratin g temperat ure in about five minute s: tune aft er that t ime and the Mlcr om oog will rema in completelypitch stable.

E Refer to GEnl NG A SOUND sect-en of this manual for first sound

introduction

Thanks to J im Scott at Moog Mu sic. Inc . w e now have the synthe sizer fo rEveryman - the Mic romoog. Scott 's design approach for the M icrom oog wa s touse a min im al num ber of func t iona l building bloc ks and to con figu re the inst rumentfor the gre ates t amo unt at perfo rm er control ove r these blocks . The M icro moogcon sists o f t he basic necessit ies: one voltag e contr olled osc illator (VCO), onemodul at ion oscillator , one noise sour ce. one voltag e controlled fi lter (VCFI. onevoltage contro lled amp lifie r (VCA) . two co ntour generator s, and one sampl e andho ld . The " open system " inpu ts and output s make the Micromoog a basic mu sicalbui lding block wh ich can be expanded to meet the performe r's growth .

From a viewpo int of electro nic eng ineer ing , Scott 's desig ns meet fou rcri teri a: ( 1) super pitch stabil ity. due to the advance of temperature regqlationrather than older comp ensation techniques; (2) rel iab ility. enhanced by use of adozen precision cu stom -made resistor networks ; (3) econo my. acco mplished bytaking advantage of recent advance s in elect ro nic co mponent technology . andthrough sophi sticated produ ct ion techn iques such as single P,C. board cons tru e-tion : (4) super so und -th e M icromo og def in itely retains the " Moog '" Soun d:'

The M ic romoog 's musical eng ineering is exceptional . The new PITCH ribbonand M OO AM OUNT whe el put the Micromoog in a class by itse lf . It is an excelient"voice under con t ro l:' J im obviously paid attent ion to his mu sical f riend s. TheMicromoog can be played w ith th e subtl ety of modu lat ion and pitch bend ing thatis required of any soloist ic instr ument.

Th is manual serv es both as an int rod uction to the inst rument. and a resour ceboo k to wh ich you may wa nt to ret urn. If yo u leaf through the manua l. you will seethat mate ria l is order ed beginn ing with the simplest appr oaches . There is a head ingfo r each majo r sect ion w hich tells you what to expec t . Exp lore the manual , butdon't be surpr ised if it requires mo re t han one read ing to fully apprec iate theMicromoog 's fe atu res. Due to the d ever electron ic and musical eng ineering . th einstrument is def initely g reater than th e sum of it s part s.

Th e electron ic mu sic synthesizer is an inst rument fo r ou r t ime. TheMicrom oog is more portabl e. more open, mor e immediate. and more mus icalthan anyt hing that came befor e. Share it with you r fr iends.

5

SETTING UP THEMICROMOOG

A. Before plugging in the M icromo og . check the 11 5/ 230 sw itch on the fear panel. Set this for th e appropriateoperat ing voltaqe ( 115 for U.S.A.).

B. Plug the pow er cor d into any conven tiona l A.C. outlet.

C. Use an appro pr iate patc hcord to connec t either LO AU DIO or HI AUD IO on the Microm oo g to you r monitoringsystem .

If you are using a P.A. system or a pon ab le guiter-type amplif ier. co nnec t the LO A UDIO OUTPU T of theMicrom oog to the input of your ampl if ier.

If yo u are using a high fideliry mon itor ing system. conne ct the HI AUDIO OUTPUT of the M icromooo 10theinput of the powe r amp lifier.

In either case. always advance th e VOLUME control of the Microm oog Slowly from "0 " to check sound level.For best signalto-noise rat io. choose gain sett ings on your mon itor that allow you to use a high VOLUMEsetti ng (about "S") on the Micromoog .

getting a sound

The follow ing is a sound check ; a qu ick andsure way to get a sound f rom the Micromoog .

FIRST ...Do the foll ow ing to " prepare" the M icromoog ;

1. Follow instr ucti ons given in SETIING UP THE MICRO MOOG .2 . Turn all rotary cont rols / selector s fUlly counterctock wise.3 . Sw itch all slide r swi tches fully to the lett .4 . Move the MO D AMOUNT whe el comp letely do wn .

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D. Turn on the POWER switch on the rear panel of the Micromoog . The temperature-regul ated OSCIL LATOR att ainsoper at ing temperature in about five minute s; tune after that tim e and the Micromoog will rema in completelypitch stab le.

E. Refer to GEnI NG A SOUN D section of thi s manual for first sound. ~I

PREPARATORY PATTERN

The Preparat ory Patt ern produce s no sound ; it is simply an easilyrem embered starti ng point.

TH EN .. .5. Turn all three controls in the FILTER section pBsl 12 o'c tock .6 . Hold a key on the keyboard .7 . Advan ce the VOLUME contro l to a comforta ble listen ing level.

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QUICK STAR T CHART

W hen you start from the Preparatory Patt ern it is easy to get asoun d by turn ing only four co nt ro ls. To do a sound che ck. just remember ;

Turn ell panel con trols counter clo ckw ise. left . or do wn . Then . t urnVOLUME and FILTER co nt rol s past 12 o 'c lock .

11

soundcharts

Sound charts are the "paint by numbers" approach to thesynthesize r.This section shows you how to create soundseasily by duplicating sound chart settings on the controlpanel of the Micromoog .

The Micromoog makes sounds tha t you have synthesized. or created from the basic elements ofsound such as pitch . tone color. and loudness.The Micro moog can produ ce a lot of diff erent soundsbecause it can manipul ate elements of sound. Unlike the traditi onal arra nger. w ho chooses from agroup of instrume nts with somewhat fixed char acteristics. the synthes ist is confronted by a conti nuousspectrum of instr ume ntal and other sound textu res. Because the sounds of the Synthesizer are not asfIXed and well-known as many other instr ume nts. it is necessary to have a notation system thatdescribes synthesized sound-s ound charts.

A sound chart is a "picture" of control pane l settings tha t produ ce a certain sound . M icromoo gsound charts are line drawings of the fron t control panel and lower perfo rmance panel. Rotarypotent iometers (pots ) and selectors are represented by circles; slide switches are represented bysegmented rectangle s:

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MICROMOOO SOUND CHART

15

The setti ng fo r 8 rotary control or selector appears w ithi n the circle in numbe rs or charactersappropr iate to that co ntrol. The setti ng is also indicated by a mark on the edge of the circle. Blankci rc les indicate that the control should be turned completely counterclockwise, or it may interf erew ith the sound char t. See below for exam ple:

Use of the PITCH ribbon and MOD AMOUNT wheel in th e perform ance pane l are indicated witharrow s. The best posit ion for the MOD AMOUNT wheel for the intended eHect is also marked w ith aheavy black line . as sho wn:

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The position of slide swit ches is always indicated by blacking in the positio n in use. An asteriskin another position of the same slide switch indicates an alternative position that may be tried . See below :

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like any musical notation . sound ch art s are appro ximate . part icula rly wh en th ey repr esentsimulat ions of acoust ic Vlstr uments . To get the most from the sou nd charts . several ge neral ideas maybe helpf ul :

1, Start f rom th e Prepar atory Patt ern w ith all cont rol s and swi tc hes counterclockw ise or to thetet t ; mov e the MOD AM OUNT whe el fu lly down (tow ard you ).

2 . Set up the sound chart acc urately. but keep in mind tha t some 'tw eaking"l adj ust ment) maybe requ ired to suit your taste .

3 . Chan ge the CUTOFF control first to make tone co lor mod if ications. ATTACK and DECAYsett ings can also influence th e sound gr eat ly.

4 . For simulat ion of trad it ional inst ru ments. place the synth esized sou nd in con text by playing inth e approp riate pi tch rang e and select typ ical mus ical lines fo r th at instru ment. Playingxylophon e mu sic using a horn sound chart produ ces interesting results , but neither mstru -rnent w ill be repr esented accurately.

5 . Ad just t he VO LUME control to t he genera l loudness level of any instru ment simulated. Forexample. the trombone is played at 8 higher dynam ic level than th e recorder .

6 . Don 't for get that you are playing a sotolstic instru ment ; solo instr uments play wi t h expression .Use the PITCH ribbo n and MO D AMOUNT wh eel to do what solo ist ic inst ruments do best :bend pitch and vibrato selectively.

The follow ing sound charts repre sent some of lhe sounds th e M icromoog can ma ke. They don'thave to be used in any part icular order . Expe r iment with them I

1617

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BASSSOUND SOURCE: OSCILLATORAd vance VOLUME to co mfo rtabl e listening level.Play th e keyboard and bend pitch w ith the PITCH ribbon.Vary CUTOFF to con trol amou nt of " highs:'Vary CONTOUR AMOUNT to contro l amounl of " punch:' or contour,Sw itch RELEASE to right fo r immediate releaseof sound on releaseof key.

JETSOUND SOURCE: NOISEAdvance VOLUME to com forta ble listening level.Depress and hold a key until cycle is completely f inished .Vary ATIAC K and RELEASE on the FILTER CONTOU R to alt er the speed of conto uredsound.Move CONTOUR AM OUNT to - 5 to reverse dir ection of co ntoured sound .

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ELECTRIC GUITARSOUND SOURCE: OSCILLATORAdvance VOLUME 10 com fort able listening level.Pley the keyboard and bend pitch w ith the PITCH ribbon .Intr oduce vibrato by mov ing M OD AMOUNT wh eel away from you .Vary RATE 10 cont rol speed of vib rato.Vary WAV ESHAPE to alter basic tone color.Vary CUTOFF to control amo unt of " highs:'

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MOOG ThIWHISTLESOUND SOURCE: FILTERinTONE modeAdvance VOLUME to co mfort able listening level.Play keybo ard .Introduce vibrato by moving MOD AMOUNT wheel away fr om you .Vary RATE to control speed of vib rato .Vary ATI ACK and RELEASE on LOUD NESS CONTOU R to control arti cula t ioncharacteristics.Vary CUTOFF to tune (when FILTER MODE is in TON E position) .

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RING MOD EFFECTSSOUND SOURCE: FILTERin TONE mode with FILTERMOD BY OSCAdvance VOLUME to com fortable listening tevel .Depress and h old a key.Swi tch LOUDNESS SUSTAIN to left to sustain sound indef ini tely.Vary FREQUENCY and CUTOFF to produce a variet y of sounds.Sw itc h FILTER M OD BY OSC 10 OFF position

THE MOOG Thl"FAT" SOUNDSOUND SOURCE: OSCILLATOR with DOUBLINGAd vance VOLUME to comfort able listening level.Play the keyboar d and bend pitch wi th the PITCH ribbon.Sw itch FILTER MO D BY OSC to STRONG for comp lex phasing effect.Sw itch FILTER SUSTAIN to left to sustain filter at maximum.Vary EMPHASIS to contr ol " nasality"

20

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SAMPLE AND HOLDSOUND SOURCE: OSCILLATORAdvance VOLU M E to co mforta ble listen ing level .Switch SOURCE to S&H AU TO to init iate refteratlon .Move MOD AMOUNT w heel fully forward Iewa v fr om you) to control de pth of pattern .Swi tc h ROUTIN G fr om FILTER to OSC to create patte rns alterna tely in tone color or pitc h.Vary RATE to co nt ro l speed of re itera tion .Switch LOUDNESS SUSTAI N to right for short articula tio ns.

EXTERNAL AUDIO INPUTSOUND SOURCE: Any external instrument th roughAUDIO INPUTInsert patchcor d f ro m out pu t of exter nal instru ment into Aud io Inp ut on rear ofM icro moo gN .Sw itch BYPASS 10 ON so exte r nal inst rument can be heard .Play externa l ins l rumen t ; move M OD AM OUN T w heel forw ard .Vary CUTOFF and EM PHASIS to inf luence tone color.Switch SOU RCE to S&H AUT O fo r random filtering of exter nal instrument.Vary RATE to con trol speed of effects .Refer to OPEN SYSTEM section of this man ual for furt her possi bilities .

2 1

do-it-yourself demo

This section shows you a way to explore the Micromoogintelligently and learn by doing.

You can learn a lot about the M icromoog by playing aroun d w ith each front panel con trol whilelist ening to its eff ect on sound . Th is is a time-hono red teaching method in music! The so und ch artbelow helps save t im e and energy in learning by explo ra tion :

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EXPL ORER'S SOUN D CHAlf T

SOME HINTS FOR EXPLORING . . .1. Start w ith th e upper row of co ntro ls f irst and move fro m left to right . Ditto for low er row2 . Play wit h One control et 8 time to learn its uni q ue cont r ibu t ion ; then return that control to

its ori ginal posit ion show n above .3 . Move the co ntro l a small amount at f irs t. Read the fr ont panel and look at th e graphi cs ;

relate Ihese to w hat you hear.4 . Hold one note as yo u vary a control. Then play th e keyboa rd using different sett ing s; use

both legato and stacca to f il'\gering techniqu e.5 . If a co ntrol seems to be inoperative , explore its relation ship to contr ols next to it . For ex ample,

the FREQUENCY control w orks onl y wh en th e OCTAV E selector is in th e WI DE setti ng .6 . A "modulation " lusually a repeating panern) is controlled in amount by the M OD A MOUNT

wheel. Use of th e MODULATION sect ion depends largely on th e sett ing of th e MO D AMOUN Twheel. Start ex p lorat ion of th e bott om row of co nt rols by mov ing th is wh eel fo rw ard (awayfr om you) .

7 . You can' t learn everyt hi ng by explora tion! Read the rest of th is manual fo r a bette r under -standing o f the M icr om oog .

25

guided synthesizer tour

This section has two parts . SOUND AND SYNTHESISdeals w ith general features of the synthes izer and dis -cusses how it creates and con trols sound . MICROTOURpresents specific features of the Micromoog and presentsexercises that illustrate those features .

SOUND AND SYNTHESISBefor e we look at speci f ic featur es of the M icr omoo g. let 's talk abou t sou nd and how synthe -

sizers mak e it. Th e di ct io nary says that sou nd is " mec hanical rad iant energ y that 1$ tra nsrmt ted bylongitudinal pr essure waves In a mater ial medrum (as air ) and is the object ive cause of hearing :' Thekey w o rk is mechan ical. Th e body of a vio lin. the bell of a trump et or a loudspeaker ~ Il serv e t hesame f unct ion : they are mechan ical devices used to d isturb air mole cules [r ad iate energy) A irmolec ules thai d ist urb the mech anism of your ear affe ct your brain and cause you to perceive sou nd .

So und is sou nd . There is no such th in g as an " art ifici al" so und -on ly sound or silenc e. A svn -thesized sound is not a rep laceme nt for a " real" sou nd , aI/so unds are real.

Alth ough both acou st ic and elec t ro nic musica l inst ru ments ult imately make sound mech an ically ,in on e sense the synt hesizer is very d ifferent from acou sti c Inst r uments . Th is d iffer ence lies in th eway the perfo rm er can deal w ith the proper ties of sou nd . A musica l sound is tradit ionally de fined ashaving the prop erti es of pitch , ti mbre (tone co lo r ), loudness. and du ration . If w e th ink of durat ion assimply the timing of loudn ess. it is simpler t o say that musical sou nd has pit ch. timbre, and loudne ss .

Perf or mer s have lr adit ion ally given littl e th o ugh t to the indiv idual prope rt ies of soun d . becauseacoustic instr uments generally don 't allow control of so und pr o pert ies independent of each other .The phy sical co nst ruct ion of acousti c instru men ts dicta tes that control o f sojmd properti es is some -w hat in tegrated. For exa mple. because o f it s cons t ruc tion, the clarinet has a character ist ic timbre fo reach pi tch regis te r. It w ould be diff icult to pl ay h igh note s w ith the timb re normally assoc iated wi ththe low register. The tr umpet has a buil l -in re lat ions hip between t imbre and loud ness' soh so un dstend to be mell ow and loud sou nds are brillia nt. For tho usands o f year s mus ical inst ruments havehad this c harac te rist ic in teqretion o f co nt ro l o f the propert ies o f sound . You just can't tear instru mentsmad e o f metal and woo d apart easily to allow independent co nt rol Over so und pro perties . M aybethat' s w hy most mu sicia ns hav e had litt le interest in t he science of sound - so little coul d be doneabout it. Electroni cs is changing th ai

The r ise o f elect ro nic tec hno logy has re volut io nized ou r conc ep ts about so und . Now , w ithelectro nic means we can overri de some o f th e phys ical tendenci es o f acoustic inst ruments -e-ho pe-fu lly, fo r art tsnc purpose . For instance. screamin g-loud trumpet s can be record ed and red uc ed to alow leve l in the f inal mix . In thi s case. w e have ac hieved independ ent co nt rol of loudn ess and t im breto cr eate a brill iant. but ov iet trumpet so und . M ay be th is is what earl y com pose rs t r ied to ac hievew hen th ey w ro te "off stage" t rumpe t parts ?!

Th e synthesizer uses electro nics to maxi mize segrega tion of th e propert ies of sound . Th e wholeidea is thai you can tear th e synthesizer apa rt electro nically, recon f igure its f unct ions, and crea temany sou nds thr o ugh t he independent co nt ro l of sou nd prope rties . Th e very wo rd " synthesize"means to crea te a w ho le thro ugh the Com binati o n or co mposit io n of ind ividua l elements .

The modern syn thesizer was deve lop ed in the earl y 196 0 's : the acknow led ged p ioneer s areDona ld Buchla and Robert A . Moog . In parti cul ar. Mo og 's designs and basic ideas have beco mearchetypal for the synt hesizer indus try . Early ver sion s we re mo duter: a modu lar sy nthesizer hasseparate modu les , like co mpo nents of a stere o system , that offe r inde penden t and variable co n rr otover soun d prope rties , These modules han d le ele ctr ical signa ls; modules ma y be interc onnec ted indifferen t w ays to create a variety o f sounds . A n inexpensive and reliab le way to connect mod ules iswi th cables called "p atchcord s" (Even th o ug h you don 't use patch co rds wit h the M icrom oo g tocon nect its sectio ns , a given co nt rol panel sett ing is still oft en re ferr ed to as a " patc h:' )

29

Syn th esizers desig ned specif ically for stage use- like the M icromoog- tct you " patch" tog eth ersect ions (mo dules) of th e inst rument using swi tc hes and pot s (po tentiome ter s) instead of patcn cor ds.BUI for purposes of learni ng basic pr incip les lei 's cont inue to think of all synthe sizers as havingphysicall y separa te mod ules requ ir ing pat chcord connection. (The modu lar syn thesizer st ill offer smaximum f1e:llibility in con nection choice.]

Sinc e sound has th e pro pert ies of pitc h. t im bre , and loudness, it follows th at th e synthesizershould have modu les dealing wi th each propen y.

The pat h from th e audio ou tpu t of th e so und source thr ough t he mod if iers to th e speake r iscalled the " aud io signal path :' The audio sig nal path car ries elect rica l Signals that are to be ma de8udible by th e speake r. Not ice tha t th e sound so urce has on ly an audio ou tp ut since it act ua lly ge ner -ates the audio signal. The mod if iers mus t have bo th an audio inp u t as w ell as an audio o u tpu t sin cethe audio signal to be mod if ied flows through them .

At this point. let's use appro priate sy nthesizer term inology. The pnch -qeneraunq m od ul e ;sca lled an "osci llato r ;" the t im bre mod ifying mod ule is called a " f ilter ;" and th e loudnes s m od ifi er iscalled an " amplif ier:' The diagram below show s the typ Ical synt hesizer mod ules used in th e audi osignal path to establish a pi tched musica l vo ice:

SYNTHESIZE R SOUND MODULES

TYP ICAL AUD IO SIGNAL PATH MODULES

Once th is ty pical setup is establis hed we have a m usical voice. Bu t how can we con trol th isvoi ce- sound sou rce and mod if iers-t o m ake mu sic? The synt hesi zer is an electnca t inst ru me nt ; itresponds to elect ri cal signals. But hum ans ca n' t hand le and man ipu late elec tr icity di rect ly. So we usea mechan ica l/ electr ical device. like a po ten ti ometer (pot) t hat w ill let t he tw o machines (huma n andM icromoog} co mm unicate . For th e human . the pot has a knob th at ca n be turned by ha nd : for th eM icrom oog , a c hange rn th e pot setti ng changes an electr ica l val ue t hat th e M icromoog un de rstan ds.

In fact. impor tant elements of so und on th e mod ern synthes izer are co nt ro lled by voltage levels.The mod ern Synt hesizer is "voltage co ntro lled:' If we put a pot on each mod ule above w e co u ldcontrol its part icular fun c tion -p it ch generat ion, timbre or lou dness mod if icat ion-wi th a c han ge o fvolt age by turning th e pot. W ith the Mi cr om ooq . an inc rease in vo ltag e that is con tro lli ng th eosci llato r mak es the pit ch rise: an inc rease in a volta ge that is co ntro lling the fi lter ca use s the t imbr eto br ight en ; and an increase in vol tage t hat is con trolling t he ampl if ier m akes th e soun d lo ude r.

So far, we have a vo ltage contro lled inst rument that can be playe d by t urning kno bs . If you hadthree hands, yo u co uld mak e some pre tt y good musicI M aking mu sic by playin g knobs wo uld be veryrestri ctive . Fortun ately. w ith the synthesizer we are no t restri cted to th is sort of manua l contro l. Thesynthesizer 's impo rtant modu les can be controlled w ith volta ge f rom any SOurce . So we c re ate acontro l inp ut on appropria te modu les to accep t con trol volt ages from an y sou rce. To avo id co nfusionw ith the audio (sound ) signals f lowin g fr om left to rig ht. let' s think of th ese con tr ol inputs as appear-ing on the bott om of each mod ule. as shown "

CONTROL INPUTS

EJ

MINIMUM AUDIO PATCH"

The synthesizer is elec t ric ; it deals With elect rica l signal s- sound is generated by the speaker .To mak e sound. at least one of the mod ules must ge ner ate an electri cal signal that can drive thespeaker to make sound -an eudio signal. Not surp r isingl y. we call this module an audio signal gen ere tor. Since th is aud io signa l ev entu ally becomes a so und . an audio signal generator is somet imesca lled a " sound source :'

A sound source generate s the " raw" lone or noise t hat can be shaped into musical sound . Youcan t ake th e mout hp iece off a tr umpet and " buzz" tunes w it h it. That wo uld be a very " raw" soundsource! Furt her parallels betwee n synthesizer mod ules and acou stic instr uments can be made, Thet imb re module acts so mew hat like a mu te on a trum pet; neither acts (normally) as a sound source.bu t each is a sound mod if ier. The loudness modu le is anot her m odif ier. like the bell of th e tr umpetNeith er acts as the sound source : each modif ies by amplify ing sound . The pitch modu le of thesyn t hesizer is a soun d sou rce. analog ous to the lips. mouthpiece and air colu mn that make thetrum pet sou nd .

If we con nect a sound source on the synt hesizer to a monitor system (amp and speaker ). wehav e th e medical minimum for producing sound With the syn thesizer : a sound sou rce whose audiosignal is tr anslated by a speaker.

MONI TORSOUND SOURCE A~P

Il SPEAI(ER /

mCH rl-------~ill~The sound produc ed by this minim al "patch" won 't be very interesti ng, since the propert ies of

so und w ill be static. o r rema in th e same . l et' s insert th e t imbre and loudness modifiers betwe en th eso und sour ce and the mon ito r :

OSCILUTOA~_ ..~

",I

g1zou

flLTEA

.--.~Q.....

'"..~-'

oa:....

Zou

AMPUFIEil

.-..O~

iizou

TOMONITOR

30 3 1

CO NTROLLE R-C ON TROL INP UT CON NECTION

Now w e can rout e cont rol signal s into tho contro l input of each mod ule show n above todynam ically cont rol ItS function Think of a con t rol signal fed into the contro l input as actmq like anInvisible hand thot tu rns the knob for you VoHage controlled mod ules are sometimes referr ed to Withlett ers. suc h as VCO (vo ltage co nt rolled OSCillator) . VCF tvo ttaqe cont rolled filter ). and VCA (voltagecon t ro lled ampl if lorl . Alth ou gh any number of modu les may be vo ltage controlled. these are the mostcom mon- VCO. VCF. VCA.

Anyth ing th at makes a contr ol signil l that is connected 10 a contro l mpv t is define d as acon troller On a mod ular synthesizer. the output of a co ntro ller w ould be connected to the contro lInput of a mod ule w ith a patchcord as show n

veo VCF VCA ~I~ .--.. ~

I I IIEYSOAAO flLTU lOUO.US

COIrTOUR COIrTOUR

CONTROLLER r CONT~OLLE R CONTROLLERIEYIOAAO

SYNTHESIZER BLOCK DIAGRAM IBASIC,

o

SOUND MODIFIERSOUND MODIFIER

TRIGGER SOURCE

SOUN D SOURCE

OR

VCO VCf VCA---..

TOMONIT~ ~~ ....----.

8CONTROllE R V CONTROllER ~On the Micromoog . co ntrol signal s may be co nnec ted to cont rol Inputs using a variety of

swit ches and selectors Or a con trol sign al from th e out side wo rld might be routed thro ug h theFILTER or OSC INPUT on the rear panel. Each con tr ol input on the M1cromoog is capable of add ingall o f th e voltages th at are applied from several controllers; that is . control vo ltage s are additiv'! .

A keyboard is a contro ller that makes discrete vo ltag e steps whIch Increase as you play up thekeybo ard . If th is con tro ller is connected to the control input of th e veo. the keyboard can be used toco nt rol the pitch of the veo and tune s can be played

A contou r generator ISa controller that createsa rising and falling voltag e patt ern .~a conto ur. If w e connect this co ntr oller to the con tro l input of the VCA. the amoun t of ampli fication(silence to ma:llimum) will be controlled. This lets us articula te the sound.

The VCF can also be controll ed by a conto ur generator . W hen lh is occurs . the tone color w illtypica lly become bright er as the contour voltage rises. and dull er as it fall s To get back to our corn -par ison w ith the tr umpet , suppose that you w ere using a Harm on mute As you move your handaw ay from the plunger in the center of the mut e. you create the familiar "wow " Or "w ah-w ah" ettectYour hand is act ing as a contour generator. cont roll ing the fi lter [mute]

Of course. w e have to tell a contour generator when to start and stop creating conto urs Forthis pur pose. the syntheSizer produ ces anot her type of signal called a " trigger:' The keyboard gener-ates a t rigger signal that tells wh en a key is depr essed and rele ased - useful info rmation A tr iggeris a rim ing signal that " tr iggers" the contour generat or(s ). IOn some modular equ ipment. oth erfunct ion s can be " t riggered:')

In summary , the mod ern synth esizer con sists of several elements sound SOurces, modifI ers.controller s. and t r igger sources Sound sources make aud io signals that can be heard . Modif iers altersignals Ion the M icromoo g. only audio signals). Con troller s make signals used to contr ol soundsources and/or modi fiers. Triggers are tim ing signa ls that usually init iate the act ion of a controllersuch as a contour gener alor . See below for a block diagr am of the basic voltage controlled synthes izer.

32 33

EXERCISE 1: Freq uency /P il ch Relal ionship

1. Hold th e lowes t key on the key board down . The fre quency of the oscillator is so lowthe soun d IS heard no t as a pitc h. but a seri es of clicks .

q [g[QQ~01Q~j[Q~g100 0-- ---~-n

[0_9~0 ][0 0l[~ - ..- ~.- _.- "==" cq]c:r::I;l9=Q g:;g g:;;) ~--

w sw II .....-

MICROTOUR

In this sub-section we will look at the sound sources,modifiers. controllers. and tr iggering devices found ont he Micromoog . Exercises are presen ted "by the numbers "to help explain specif ic features . You might sk im throughthe fi rst t ime by do ing just the exerci ses before readingMICROTOUR t horoughly. (Set up the Sound Chartpreced ing each exerc ise .)SOUND SOURCES

The OSCILLATOR . FILTER. or NOISE secti ons of the Micro moog generate an audio siqnal thatcreates one of thr ee c lasses of sound : p itched. clangorous Ibet l-like}, o r non -oit cbea

PITCHED SOUNDSWe hear pitch as th e highness or low ness of a sound. The picco lo plays high pitch es. the

tuba plays low pitch es. Our percept ion of pi1ch is complex . but depends mos tly on how frequen t lyand reg ularl y pressure w aves strike our ears . Wh en you w ere a kid. you prob ably made a fake" motor" for your bicycle by attaching a piece of cardboa rd SOth e spokes struck it regularl y. Youprobably w eren't aw are that you w ere illust rat ing an interesting law of phy sicsl The faster youpedal. th e high er th e pitch of the soun d caused by the spokes striki ng the card board. That's becausethe individ ual st rokes are heard mor e fr eQuently - li1erally. th eir frequency becomes greater .Frequency is def ined as the number of t imes a patt ern repeats in a given unit of t ime. Frequency isexpressed in " Hert z" (abbreviated Hz}, or cyc les per second. The sym phony o rchestra tunes to an"A" that has 8 frequ ency of 440 Hz; standard tuning is ther efore A =440 Hz. A lthoug h thecorrespo ndenc e betwe en f requency and w hat we perce ive as "pit ch" is not perle ct . a high erfrequency is genera lly heard 3 5 a higher pit Ch.

2 . Slow ly rot ate the FREQUENC Y control o f the QSCI LLATQR section clockwise tow ard" 0 :' As you Increa se the fr equ ency of the osc illator. th e pitc h o f th e soun d beco meshigher.

3 . Rel urn Ihe FREQU ENC Y con trol to "- 5:' Slow ly play up Ihe keybo ard . Wher e do youfirst start hearing the sound as a note w ith def init e pitch ?

The FREQUENCY. OCTAVE. and DOUBLING co nt ro ls, and FINE TUNE cont ro l (rear pane l)relate 10 th e f reque ncy of Ih e OSCILLATOR sect io n ; in mu sica l ter ms Ih e pitch o f th esound produ ced. Co ntinu e the exercise :

4 . Select the 8 ' OCTAVE po sition .

OSCILLATOR Sect ionThe pr im ary source of pitched sound on the Micromoog is the vo ltage controlled OSCIL LATOR

section . The OSCILLATOR generates per iod ic -r egularly repeating- elect r ical pattern s w hich th espeaker trans late s into pit ched sounds. The following exercise illustrates th e relationship betw eenthe fre qu ency of th e OSCILLATOR section and the pitch of the sound it creates: 7. Slep the OCTAVE setector thro ugh all of ilS posit ion s and rcta te the FREQUENCY

con trol for each po sit ion. Not ice that th e FREOUENCY co nt ro l Is oper able on ly w henthe OCTAVE selector is in th e WI DE posit ion .

8 . Retu rn the OCTAVE selector to the 8 ' posit ion . Not ice that t he interv ening mo vem entsof the FRea UENCY contro l did no t interfere with the original tuning .

5 . Tune the Micromo og using the FINE TUNE cont rol on the rear panel to match th epitch level of a piano or organ (or anoth er tuning sour ce).

6 . Hold the low est key on Ih e keybo ard.

.....-.........---

[E2~~ 01~[0~ ~~~I Qr.S}~I~;.g1[0y~~1[0 ~[,-----~_-=-=---..c..~--=.J

34 3S

9 Hold down any key on the keybo ard . 3. Look at the pane l gr aph ics for the WAV E5HAPE con trol. The wav eshape s are nam edafter their shapes.

4 . Move the WAVE SHAPE co nt ro l smoot hly and regular ly abo ve and below . say. posi tion" 5" W hen the w aveshape changes like t his it is said to be " dynamic:' Later you 'lllearn how to con tro l oscilla tor waveshape w ith a voltag e to create dy nam ic wa veshapesautomaucanv

The diff erences that you hear amon g the var ious waveshapes are d ue to their d iffere nt harmo nicstructures . A waveshape pro d uced by Ihe OSCILLATOR sec tio n may be tho ug ht of as a collec tion ofsimple co mpone nts called "pa ruals" Mo st pitched sou nds co nsist of a fir-st part ial called the" fundamental;' and other partia ls thai are higher and ofte n nol as loud . W hen the frequ encies(pit ches) 0 ' the upper part iats are w hole number mult ipl es of th e frequency of the f und ament al. allthe partial s are called "ha rrnoru cs" (They are in a harm on ic relationship 10 each oth er.) That is.a tone with a 'u ndamental fre quency of 100 Hz may be co mpose d 0' simple sou nds (sine w aves)having th e frequencies 100 Hz. 200 Hz. 300 Hz. 400 Hz. and so forth (Who le number multiple s ofthe fundamental frequency 100 Hz.] Upper partial s that are harmonic tend to reinforce ou rperception of the funda menta l f requency as the " pitch" w e hear. The presence and relat ive s'treng thsof harmo nics-the harmonic spec tr um-a ccou nts in pan for our perception of the t im bre, ordis tincti ve tone color of ins tr ume nts .

The WAVESHAPE co nt rol provides a co nti nuous selec tio n of waveshape s wi th a varie ty ofharm onic spe ctr a, or ar range men ts of part ials. These w aveshapes are the basic timbra l buildingblocks . The herrn c mc spec trum of a w aveshape is often depicted in bar graph fo rm as shownbelow , The pos ition of a bar along the hor izontal ind ica tes the pre sence of a harmo nic ; the heightof tha t bar represen ts the re lative strength of th at harm on ic . (Relative streng ths are also Indicatedwith fr actions Or decimals) The fo llow ing grap hs depict the har moruc spec tra for som e of thewaveshapes available on the M icr omoog : the firs t ten parti als of a tone of t OO Hz are depicted :

10 . Move the DOU BLIN G con tro l slow ly clockwi se toward the "+5" pos ition . then counter-cloc kwi se towa rd ..- 0" Note that th e pitch sounded by the OSCILLATOR may bedoubl ed either one or tw o octaves low er as indicated by panel graph ics

The OCTAV E selector tune s the OSCILLATOR section In oc tave mcrement s ' rom 32 ' to 2 ' sto ps[borro wed pipe organ terminolog y), with low est " C" on the keyboard as footage reference The W IDEposit ion of the OCTAVE selector activates th e FREOUENCY cont rol wh ich pro vides continuous tuningof the OSCILLATOR sectio n over approx ima tely eight octaves. Fine tuning is done wi th the FINETUNE con tr ol on th e rear panel.

The FREQUENCY co ntrol may be used to transpose, or make the OSC ILLATOR sound In onekey w hile you play in ano ther key on the keyboard , The use of a cap o wit h an aco ustic gu itar is agood analogy (CAPO A movable bar att ached to the f ingerboard . especially of a gUitar to uniformlyraise th e pitch of all the str ing s.) Generally, it' s good practi ce to avcid uSing th e FINE TUNE controlto help tune FREOUENCY setti ngs when transposing . because all OCTAVE sett ings will be affectedIt's best to tune the Micromoog to stand ard pitch as indicated In the pr evious exercise. and useonly the FREQUENCY co ntrol w hen tra nsposi ng .

The DOUBLING co ntr ol provi des a cont inuous milCof the pri mary pitch of the OSCILLATORw ith anoth er tone either one or tw o octaves low er The positron marked "0" is a "dead band" wher eno doubling occ urs . Doubl ing a melody in oc taves is a useful mustcal device, and tfus feature helpsgive the Impre ssion of a synthesizer wi th more tha n o ne tone oscillator

The FINE TUNE co nt rol on the rear panel tunes all OCTAVE position s simu ltaneously "Concertpitch" per form ance . w here th e keyboard of the Micromoog corresponds to the keyboa rd of a pianoor organ requires th at you f ine tune the Micro moog w hile in one of the footage (32 '-2 ') OCTAVEposit ions The OCTAVE selector may then be used to extend Ihe span of the Mtcrcmooq's keyboardto more than eight oct aves.

So far, w e've ref err ed to the audio signa l ge nera ted by the OSCILLATOR section only as an"elect rical patte rn :' This patt ern is called a "we veshape" A waveshaoe rs Simply a way of pict uringa sound; the wa veshape of acous tic Instrum ents or the osci llato r of a synthesi zer may be observedon an oscilloscope. Mo st trad it ional inst rum ents have a distinct ive waves hape thai helps us identi fythat instrumen t' s timb re, or tone co lor. The Micr o moog has an OSCILLATO R section that produceselectr ical waveshapes wh ich are translated by the speaker into a Wide varie ty of timbres If a Signalgenerated by an oscilla tor has the same wave shape as a sound creat ed by a t radrnonat mstrumen tlather factors such as attack and re lease conside red). their sounds wi ll be sim ilar Drtter ent wave-shapes have differe nt ti mbres . set up the sound che rt and let's listen

WAVESHAPE RELATIVE HARMONIC CONTENT

lL'ti" '1'J' /1 " ' '' ' ......".....J I I ! .' I... 0 ' 00 100 XIO &GO WlO 1000 tOO IlOO 'IlOO ' 000

I' 00 100 JICO ..:JO Il":lO c.oo' ;:)0 100 100 ' 000

UJ ", .:"'1'1I t ~ 'i i ' -=. I ,~ . 0 '00 100 )00 . 00 \00 100 'C(I1>00 100 ' 000-

...........

--

to~~ 01[g[9~ ~~QIQ.J~~l~[Q~~ej[0OJ[L:..-...:.~----=='::"""=---='::"=""~~EXERCISE 2 : Waveshape{T,mbre Relationship

1. Hold any key on the keyboard dow n. You are listening to th e sound of a "sawtoo th"wave sb ape. -01 .1)' 0

... 0 ' 00 101) JOO &00 tOO 100 '00 100 toOO1000

2. Slow ly ro tate the WAVE SHAPE con trol th rough Its posit ion s. Between position s " 5-6"you w ill hear the sound of the " square" waveshape. As you move towa rd " 10:' youhear vari ous " rectangular" wav eshapes .

36 37

The OSCILLATOR sectio n of the M lcr omoog generates sawtooth and rectang ular wav eshapesA square w aveshape is a rec ta ngula r w aveshape w hose top and bottom are of equal width. As th egra phs show. th e sawtoo th ..-/1 w aveshape has all har mo nics: it ISusefu l In produc ing str ingand bra ss-like sounds . The square wav eshape Lfl has only odd -numbere d (1.3.5,7. etc .)harmon ics; it IS used to sim ulate " hollow " sounding mstrurnen ts suc h as the clanne t As th erect angu lar wave s becomes asym etnc al (Iop slded) - IL . L . L .- Itsha rmoni c spect rum changes In a co mplex manne r. prod ucing "nasal" sounds useful for simulatin gslOgle and doubl e-reed instr uments.

00 '00O SC ILLATOR

The WAVES HAPE co ntr o l allows continuo us selec tion and mi xtu re of th e wavesha pes producedby th e OSCILLATOR secnon . The posit ion mark ed "0 " provides lh e sawt ooth weveshap e. as th econtrol is m oved clockwise this sawto ct n w aveshape is mixed w ith a narr ow rectanqular w aveshape(about "2'" As th e WAVESHA PE cont ro l is moved tow ard " 5:' Ihe rectangular wa ve wid ens andbecomes a square wa veshape. and th e sawto ot h disappear s from th e top. Betw een posit ions " 56"a square wave shape is produced. and as the contr ol is mov ed on tow ard "' 0:'the square wave shapenarro ws to a very narrow rec tangu lar w aveshape. The narr ow ness of th is rectangular wav eshape islimited so the sound will never "d isappear" at any WA VESHAPE po siti on. The M icr omoog pro vid esa vane tv of wave shapes : sawtoo th . square . var iable rect angula r. and a mixtur e of sawt oot h andvar iable rec tangular we veshepes . An unders tand ing of the harmo nic spect ra of waveshapes is veryuseful in sound synt hesis. A lso. experience evemuallv teaches you a lot about wh ich wav eshape isbest for an int ended sound .

FILTER Sect ion As Sound SourceAlthough the primary function of th e FILTER sectio n is tone mod ifi cation . the FILTER w ill also act

as a sound sour ce. When the FILTER MO DE swi tch is placed in th e TONE posit ion. th e FILTER sectio ngenera tes a sine waveshape Ia wh istle -like sound) that has no harm onics Set up the sound chart andproceed '

~ QD Ql[QJ[O~ Q~01Q~Q]t~..~lOSC~TO-[0.9_8][Q0] [~ ..- --- .:::."'::. - '- ~lJ:I::. -.::IJ 0:::- ~ ~- -- - --- - - -

----.s. ,. ........

EXERCISE 3 : Filter As Sine Wavesh.p e Oscinator

1, Play the keyboa rd . You are listening to th e sound of a sine w aveshape that is prod ucedby the FILTER sec tion .

2 . Place the FILTER M OD E swi tch to th e NORM position , Play th e keybo. rd lno sound )Return the FILTER M OOE swi tch to the TONE positi on. The FILTER section become s asound source onl y whe n th is swi tc h is in th e TONE position .

38

3 . Hold any key on the keyboa r d dow n . Rotate the CUTOFF co nt ro l over a w ide span .Whe n the FILTER sec t ion IS In the TONE mode . th e CUTOFF contro l acts as a w~espan tun ing cont rol

4 Play a sho rt m elodic frag ment repeated ly. Try diff erent sett ing s of th e CUTOFF co nt ro lNo te that th e same melod y is produ ced at d iffe rent prtch leve ls . Th e po sit ion of theCUTOFF con tr ol adds to th e keybo ard to estab lish the pitch pr od uced .

5 . Noti ce th at th e OSCILLATOR section is not being used as a so und so urce since theOSCILLA TOR sw itch IS In th e OFF position. You have heard onl y th e FILTER sect ion inTONE mode

In th e previous exercise . the OSCILL ATOR sec tio n is actu ally not turned " off:' but is Sfm plyremo ved from th e audio signal path so w e don 't hear it . The OSCILLA TOR generate s aud io SIgnalscon t inuo usly -e ven wh en w e choos e not 10 listen to them . The OSCILL ATOR sw itc h is p laced In theOFF positio n because w e don' t w an t ( 0 hear th e OSCIllator . bu t wi sh to hear th e sound produ ced byth e FILTER secuon alone

FILTER/OSCILLATOR Synchron izationSome unusual sounds can be mad e if the OSCILLAT OR and FILTER sectio ns are used as sound

source s simultaneously. W hen trns IS done. the FILTER can be " synch ron ized ~ or lock ed tog ether atharmo nic interv als (whole number multi ples of the osci llato r f requency) to the OSCIL LATOR . If youuse the CUTOFF cont ro l to tune the FILTER sec tion 10 sound t he same pil ch as the OSCILLATORsection , they will be syn ched at the fundamental. The OCTAVE selector will cause th e FfLTERCUTOF F to move in octaves as we ll 8S the pitch of the OSCIL LATOR sect ion . The folfowi ng exer ciseill ustr ates synchron ization o f the OSCILLATOR and FILTER secti ons '

[0 Q~Q 0)~[0~ Q~~I Q~gl~[O.:Q_~I[O QJ[~~~'~~~ ..~I

EXERCISE 4 : Oscillato r /F ilter Synchr on izat ion1. No te tha t bot h th e OSCILLATO R and FILTER sectio ns are being used as sou nd sources;

The OSCILLATOR sw itch is to NORM . and the FILTER MO OE swi tc h is to TONE .

2 . Hold down a key in th e middle of the keyboard .

3 . Adjust the CUTOF F con tro l until g rOWling and beat ing d isappear (shou ld be around " 0:' )4 . Play the keybo ard . The OSCILL ATO R and FILTER sect ion s are "svnched ' at the

fundam ent al.

Wh en the pi tch of the FILTER section m atches th e pitch of the OSC ILLATOR sect ion (CUTOFFto about " 0" ), and bot h are used as sound sources as shown above . they are svnchro nized at thefun dament sl fr equ ency 0' th e osci llator . Co ntin ue the exerc ise:

5 . The FILTER sectio n may be synchron ized at a harm on ic of the OSCILLA TO R frequency.Slow ly move th e CUTOFF con lro l cloc kwise. co ntro lling the f requency o f the FILTERsection . W hen the beats di sappear , th e FILTER section is synchronized 10 a har monicof the oscilla tor fre quency .

6 . Try diffe ren t CUTO FF setti ngs that "s vnch" with the oscilla to r. Play the keyboar d .39

7 . M oye th o DO UB LIN G co nl rol cloc kwise away from "0" This provides a tone tw ooctaves lower than th e pitch of the OSCILLATOR You should now hear three tonestwo fr om the OSCI LLATOR sect ion and one fr om the FILTER section .

When the FILTER sectio n IS in th e TONE mode. It becom es ano ther sound so urce . u may beused In coruunc tio n With the OSC ILL ATOR secuon , when DOU BLING IS added . It IS poss ib le 10 havethr ee tones wtuch Will follow the keyboard in parallel The tw o low est tones w ill com e fr om th eOSCI LLATOR secuc n and anot he r ton e abo ve IS prod uced by the FILTER sect ion .

CLANGOROUS SOUN DSSo-called clangorous sound s are ofte n cnaracteru ec as being metalnc o r "bell-hke " A charac -

tensti c featur e 0 1 0 bell sound is th e presence of partia ls th at are not harmonic That IS. partia ls thatdo no t stand In w hole nu m ber re lationsh ips to each other. On the Mlcromoog , wh en the FILTERsect ion IS In the TONE mo de it is possible to use the FILTER MOD BY OSC sw nch to create non-harmomcs that give the im pression of metallic or bell-hke soun ds The fo llow ing exerc ise show s howto produc e clang orou s soun ds

[~Q (0 01[QJ[O~ Q~01Qcs.!.,][Q...Q,]-j~-[0~9_8][0 ~[~ - -".- -: - ~.. _.- - '- ~I~~o;- ~ ~

-

--................

EXERCISE 5 : Filter M odul all on By The Oscillator, . Hold th e low est key on the keyboard down

2 . Swi tch FILTER MOD BY OSC to the WEA K posi tion . You should hear a repeat ingpane rn The OSCILLATOR section is now modu tetmq (chang ing) the cutoff frequencyof the FILTER sec t ion . rapidly chang ing the pitch produ ced by the FILTER.

3 . Slow ly rotate th e fRE~UENCY control to the OSCIL LATOR sect ion 10 Inc rease th espeed of the modu lation At some pomt yo ur ear no longe r hears th e mdrvsdua t rec eu-non s. but percervas th e rapid modu lation as a new nm bre .

4 . Play the keyboard . Try differen t FREOUEN CY setli ngs

5 The sound prod uced depends on the fr equency and waves hape produced by theOSCIL LATOR sectio n. and the frequency th at the FILTER section is produc ing . Explo rethese cla ngo rous so und s by trying vario us settin gs of FREQU ENCY. WAVESHAPE .OOUBlING . and CUT OFF control s

This is an exam ple of use o f the OSCILLATOR sect ion as a con tro ller . Notice tha t w e are notlis1enlng 10 th e OSCILLATOR sect ion as a sound source . since the OSCILLATOR SWItc h is to OFFBut OSCILLA TOR control sett ings still aff ect the sound. because th e osci llato r has been connected toth e co ntroli nput of th e FILTER section . To make an analogy. you r fing ers don't ma ke sound wh en youplay th e violin . but th ev control th e so und Wh en you create vibrato on the viol in you are modulot ingthe fr equ ency of th e sound . A very w ide and rapid vibra to on th e violin- if humanly poss ible- wo uldcreate new sound textur es that are bell-like. On th e Micromoog it is possible for th e OSCILLATOR

sec~ion to act like a finger on th e st ri ng to modulat e the pitc h pr od uced by th e FILTER sect ion veryrapIdly. WEA K and STRONG posit ion s on the FILTER MOD E SWitch repr esent the retative amount offr equen cy m odulat ion.

40

NON-PITCHED SOUNDSNOISE Sect ion

In synthesizer language . " noise" is a random signal- a rus hing . stauc -Iike sound The sou nd youhear betwe en channe ls on FM radio 15 an exam ple of no ise

The NOIS E section of th e Mrceom ooq pr ovid es " pink noise" that has been bala nced to haveequa l ene rgy In all octav es SO. II sounds ne ither too high and hiSSY. nor lOOlow and ru mbling NOisedoes not have harm onics like th e w avesb anes pr od uced by th e OSCI LLATOR section . no-se m ay beth ought o f as all f requencies oc cu rmq rand omly . o r wttbcu t or der The follOWing exercise show s youwha t un modif ied no ise sounds like o n the M lcr o moog

toQQ Q]~[Q~ ~~01Q~Q,]I~..:?I~eu..&"o.[0~Q..8][0~[~ - -- -- _.- ~]0311 -=0 -=rJ -=:J ~-- - -- --

--

us .... --

EXERCISE 6 : Listening To The NOISE SectionHold dow n the highest key on th e keyboard You are listen ing to pink no ise

2 Not e th at th e LEV EL con tro l of th e NOISE section m ust be t urn ed up (tow ard .. , 0 " )In orde r 10 hear norse

3 . Sin ce we wan t to hear the NOISE secti on as the so le sound source . th e sound of th eOSCILLATOR sect ion m ust be remo ved by placing the OSCILLATO R SWItch to the O FFoosmon Also. Since th e FILTER IS not desired as a soun d source . the fiLT ER M ODESWitch must not be in the TONE po sit ion

Noi se is often fil tered and shape d to sugg est th e sounds of w ind . surf . je ts . Cym bals and oth erper cu ssion inst rume nts

4 1

MODIFIERSA modifier is an elect ronic device th at processes or alters a signal. The Micromoog 's modi fie rs

alter audio signals coming fr om the sound sources . cha nging the sound . A mod ifier has both an inpu tand an out put since t he signal 10 be mod if ied must flow th rough It A simple tone contr ol on a ste reoset. a chaser, wah-wah peda l. are modifler s o f sound since they change th e nat ure of the audrosignal thai passes th ro ugh them ,

The Microm oog has tw o mod ifiers. a volt age co ntro lled amplifier (VCA I that is not depicted o nth e front panel ; and a voltag e co ntrolled filter (VCF) as repr esented by th e FILTER section

r...... ~~~ .......... ......... .....

.~"[0 0 0 0llQ[O0 010 0][0 0]-~. ...._- -- -- - - -- -""- - .~_ I" __..........__, __ .......-.. ...TW. - - n l..". A C:CIi'of'IOU. I..OUD" . c a..,........ .o .c: .........,.a .

[09~Ql[O0ll~ - --- _.- - '- ~lITIJ [II] ITIJ l;Q c:;;q-- - - - - - ----

-wsw I I b

VCA , or Voltage Controlled AmplifierThe vol tage co ntr olle d amplifier of the Micromoog is responsible for arti cula ting sound by

modifyin g its loudness. The VCA itself is no t dep icted on the fr ont panel. its associated LOUDNESSCONTOUR section prov ides 8 con tro l voltage that o pens and closes th e VCA. cre ating arti culations ofsou nd . The VCA may be held comple te ly open (max imum gain. or loudness) by pla cing th e BYPASSslide sw itch to ON. Wh en BYPASS is OFF. the LOUD NESS CONTOUR is connect ed to th e controlinput of the vo ltage controll ed ampl ifie r and is used as a co nt rolle r to ope n and clo se th e VCA Th isallows control ov er rise t ime (attack ). or the beginn ing of a soun d; and fall t ime (re lease). or the f inalport ion of a sound . The follow ing Exercise illust rates:

[0 Q~Q 01[g[0~ Q~~I Qc_QI~[OQ~~l [Q 0i[~ ~~~~ ~..~IEXERCISE 7: Mod ify ing Loudness By Controlling The VCA

1. Place BY PASS sw itch to ON posit ion . You should hear sound contin uously, since th evoltag e controlled amplif ier (VCA I is being held complet ely open r bypassed " ).

2 . Return BYPA SS swi tch to OFF. Depress any k.ey. then release . The sound is arti culatedwith nearly immediate attack and re lease.

3 . Not ice that the ATIAC K and RELEASE co ntrols of the LOUDNESS CONTO UR are setfo r immed iate attac k and release. Play keyboa rd and note that the sou nd is art iculatedw ith immedi ate attac k and release (beginn ing and end ).

42

4 Vary the ATIA CK contr ol in t he LOU DN ESS CONTOUR sligh tly. Play keyboard TheInit ial pan o f the sound . or att ack nm e. IS Inc reased as you move the contro l clockwi se

5 Vary th e RELEASE co nt rol m the LOU DNES S CONTOU R Not,c e that the l,m lng of thefinal portio n. or release of the sound IS Incre ased as you mov e the contro l c1ock.wi se

Wh en the BYPA SS swi tc h IS In us nor ma l OFF posit ion , the LOUD NESS CON TOUR secuo n isconnec ted to the co nt ro l input o f the voltage co nt rolled amplifier (VC A) . The LO UD NES S CONTOU Rcreates a voltage " co nto ur' (som etime s called "e nvelope" ) wh ich opens and close s the VCA . shapingthe loudn ess of any sound paSSing through the VCA

Use of the LOUDN ESS CONTOU R secnon to con tro l the VCA does n't " t urn on " any of thesound sources - they are alway s potentially ava ilable for use . The soun d source in use is alwayspresent at the audio Input of the VCA . th e VCA mo difies the sound source by amplffyi ng rt Theamo unl of th Is amp lifica tion IScon tr olled by the LOUDNE SS CONTOU R sectio n w hen it genera tes aSigna l that "conto urs:' or Increases and decr eases the gain (amp lif ication ) of th e VCA .

FILTER SectionA filter modi fies sound th e way the name Implies-i t remo ves a port ion o f the sou nd The

Mlcromoog featu res th e patented Moog N wi de range lowp ass reso nant f ilt er. This unique filte r pl aysa ro le in creating th e d tstmc tive and recoqruza ble " Moog Soun d" that has becom e po pular.

The Mrcrcm ooq's FILTER sect ion is a lowp ass fi lt er : t tus filter acts to p ass th e lows of a soundand reject the high s The FILTER sect ion atte nuate s. or "cuts off" th e high er feequ encv compo nents -t hose w hich lie abo ve the adjustable " cutof f fr eque ncy: ' and passes t he lowe r f requ ency com pone ntso f th e SIgnal passing through The CUTOFF co nt rol sets this cu to ff frequency. The cutoH frequency islowere d as the CUTOFF contro l is moved co untercloc kw ise: the lower the cut off freq uency . the few erhighs a signal w ill have after passing through the f ilter .

A waves hape is round ed and smoot hed as the CUTOFF co nt ro l is moved cou nterclock wi se .When th e cuto ff freq uency is so low it appr oaches the fund amental frequen cy of the wav eshape .almos t all of the upp er harm onics are cut off and th e signal appro xi mates a sine wav eshape (pu reto ne Wit h no harm omcs). If the CUTOFF cont rol is set to cause a very low cutoff fr eque ncy. all soun dmay be .cut off and silence will result . The tonowmq Exercise illu stra tes FILTER secti on features :

[0Q~~ 01~[Q~ Q~~IQ1?,][gJJIO ~Q_~ [Q 0i [~ ~~~~~..~

EXERCISE 8 : M odify,ng A Waveshope W 'th The FILTER Sect ion

Hold dow n any kev on the keybo ard . Yo u are listening to th e sound of an unt ineredsawt ooth wa veshap e.

2. Wh ile listen ing. slow ly ro tate th e CU TOFF co ntrol co unterclockwise Not ice that thesound becomes less brigh t and buzzy. and eventu ally becom es mut ed . and fina llydisapp ears wh en all par tials are cut o ff .

43

The di agram s below show w hat happens to a sawtooth wa vesbape as you progress Ively cu toff th e " highs" bv ro ta ti nq Ihe CUTOFF con tro l cou nte rclcckw ise EXERCISE 9 : M od ify ing No ise W ith The FILTER Sect ion

1. Hold down any key on th e keyboa rd The so und sou rc e ISthe NOISE sect ion

/\ /\

2 Slow ly rotate th e CUTOFF cont rol coun ter clockw ise. The hig hs are pr og ressively"c ut off:'

3 . Set the EMP HA SIS co nt ro l to " 10" Now m ove t he CUT OFF contro l through ou t itspes .non s Yo u shou ld hear " w ind" so unds o f varying pitch Noise doesn't haveharmoni cs Ihat can be picked o ut as th e cu to H fr eq uency IS moved .

N ow let 's ex plore t he use of th e EM PHASIS co ntr o l

3 . Hold dow n a low key on the keybo ard

4 Check to see that th e EMPHAS IS con t rol rs al "0"

5 . M ove th e CUTO FF con l ro l l hro ughout its posinons. Even th ough you are passIngthr o ugh harm on ics as you mov e the CUTOFF co ntrol . you can't di stingUIsh eachharm on ic as th e c utoff frequency passes throu gh it

6 . M ove th e EM PHASIS con tro l to " 10: ' No w mov e lh e CUTOFF contro l. You can actuallvhear eac h harmon ic in the sawt oo th wa veshap e as you move the cu toff fr equencyth rough it . No w you can conf irm th ai th e saw too th w aveshape has all harm onics ofthe harmon ic ser ies.

The EMPHASI S cont ro l is used to emphasize. o r feed back energy rig ht at the cutofff requency . Th is ma kes th e pre sen ce o f harmoni cs m ore apparent w hen Ih e CUTOFF co nt rol is moved.H igh er EM PHAS IS sett ings in crease the height of a reso nant peak at the CUloff frequ ency : look atth e pa nel gr aphics by th e EMPHAS IS contro l for an illust ratio n. MaXImu m em phasis 15 reached atpo sit io n " 10 :' Wh en the EMPHASIS co nt rol is set h ig h. it is poss ible to hear the indiv idua l harm onicspresent in any wav eshap a. Co ntin ue th e Exercise

7 Hold dow n a key o n the keyboard .

8 . Check to see tha t th e EMPHAS IS cont rot is at " 10"

9 . Select d iff erent WAVESHAP E setti ngs and move the CUTOFF co ntrol ; see if youcafl' hear th e harm onics In th e w aves hape as th e cutoff fr equency passes th rou gh them.

Noise may be filt ered to pr odu ce some un usual sou nd effect s. Try th e fo llow ing Exercise

QI~[0~ ~~0\Q2,JlQ...QJtoQQo_c.~TOI'[0~Q0 ][0 ~[~ - ..- -_. - ,- - '- ~l~~.:;g ~ ~

.. _ we , ..'"-

44

The FILTER secnon m od ifies noise Just as It modif ies an y sig nal- by cutt ing oH the high sThe preced ing Exer c ise illus trates no t onl y how the FILTER sect io n wor ks. but the "sm oo th"dts-tribu tion of f requencies 10 noise, Even wh en EMPHA SIS is hi gh. no dist in ctive harmo nics areheard in no ise. But . at hIgh EM PH ASIS co nt rol setti ngs no ise vti ll beg in to take on a " p itc h"determ ined by th e cutoH f requen cy . Thrs IS becau se o nly t hat po rti on of norse arou nd t he cutoHfreq uancv is em phasized, m akmg it easier to hear.

CONTROLLERSA con tr olle r gener ate s a Sig nal th at IS used to co nt rol m od if iers and /o r sound so urces On the

M icrom oog , co nrrouers ma y be used to alter osc illato r t recu encv and ......aveshaoe . ftlter cu to f ffreq uency, and amplif ier ga in. Co nt ro l sig nal s are not hea rd d ire ctl y. but are used to co ntro l sect ionsth at genera te o r modi fy so und . To ret ur n to ou r discu ssio n of sou nd. thiS mean s we can cont ro lpitch . timbr e. and loudness w ith a vo ltage level.

When a ci rcuit is connected to the con tr ol Input o f a sec tion of the M icrom oog . tha t ci rc uitis def ined as a cont roll er. Fr om expe ri ence. you know th at the keybo ard ca n con tro l th e pitch ofthe OSC ILLATOR section : here is how it do es It The ke yboa rd ci rcu urv prod uces a vol tage levelth at inc rea ses as you play up th e keyboard . The keybo ard is connected to the frequency cont ro linput of th e OS CIL LATOR sec t ion by piaClOg lhe OSCILLA TOR swi tch 10 th e NORM po sit ion Sinceth e OSCILLATOR section IS vol tag e co ntr olle d (VCO) . an increase In vol tage fr om the keybo ardcauses an inc rease of OSCIL LATOR fr eq uency Wh en you play up t he keybo ard. OSCillator p itc hgoe s hig her.

Ot her contro llers on the M icro moog inclu de the FILTER CONTOU R section . LOUDNESSCONT OU R sect ion : modulat ion OSCillator and sample-an d-ho ld circurts selec ted by theM ODULATION sect ion . In som e cases. th e OSCILLATOR and NO ISE sectio ns m ay be used asco ntr o llers . Contr ol signa ls fro m th e ou tside world ma y also be routed to the OSCILLATOR andFILTER sec l ions via the OSC and FILTER IN PUTS on the M icro moog 's rear panel (see OPE NSYSTEM sect ion of rhe manual }.

Th e PITCH r ibbon is a pe rform an ce controller because its vol1age output is dIrectl y und er theco nt ro l of the performer

KeyboardTh e keyboa rd of th e M icr om oog pr oduces a volt age leve l tha t may be used to contr ol the

fr equ ency of the OSCILLATOR sect io n end / or the cut off fr eque ncy of the FILTER sectio n . Thefollow ing Exer CIse show s how th e key board may be used as it cont roller :

0]~[O~ ~~01Q~gl[Q...ql~ QQO_C -..&..A TOQ[02~e] [0 0i[~ - -- -.. - ~I-=:IJ ~ .:;0 ~ -=:J

.... II

4S

EXERCISE 10 : Keyboa rd Con tro l of OSCILLATOR/ FILTER Section s 10 , Play the keyboar d , The pitch of the OSCILLATOR sect ion gl ides wh en under keyboardcont rol and GLI DE IS used . The keyboar d sig nal t hat is contro lling pitc h is g ilding .

Set up th e sound chart and play up and down the keyboard The frequency of theOSCILL ATOR secti on is being co nt ro lled by the keyboard , Nonc e that the OSC ILLATORsw itch is in the NORM (nor m al) posuion

1 t , Remove the OSCI LLATOR sect ion from keyboard co ntr ol by moving the OSCILLAT ORsw itc h to ORONE ,

2, Place the OSCI LLATOR swi tch In the DRONE posurc n. Now play the keyboa rd ,INo pitch change- pitch "dr ones :' )

The NORM po sition of the OSCILLATOR sw itch places the OSCILLATOR section under keyboardcontrol That is. It connec ts the keyboa rd to the freq uency control input of th e OSCI LLATOR section .The DRONE posiuon o f the OSCILLATOR swnch remov es the OSCILLATOR section fro m keyboardcontrol , pl aying the keyboa rd w ill have no effect on OSCILLATOR frequenc y,

Not ice that. in the NORM pos ition . the levels coming from the keyboa rd have been scaled 10creete a diatonic (12 tone) scale . Other scales are poss ible wi th "o pen system " man ipulat ion of thekeyboard ou tput. (See OPEN SYSTEM sect ion)

Also, if you listen care full y you will hear a change in tone co lor when th e OSCILLA TOR swi tc his in the DRONE po sition . even though the pitch is not changed . Let's explo re th is by co ntinuingth e Exercise:

3 , Leave th e OSCILLATOR sw itch in the DRONE position,

4 . Alt ern at ely play the low est and highest keys on th e keyboar d. The pi tch doe sn't change ,but th e t imbr e of th e soun d does . Not ice that the FILTER MODE swi tc h is presentlyin th e NO RM posit ion

5 . Place th e FILTER MODe swi tch in the FUL L posit ion . Now th e differe nce in t imb rebe twee n th e lo west and high est keys is more pro nou nced .

12 . Play- OSCILLA TO R pitch is no longer unde r key boar d con tro l. bu t the filter cutoHfreq uency is. as ev idenced by the glid ing tone color changes.

13 Return the GLI DE co ntr ol to "0: ' Now play : there v.rill be no glid ing of tone color .or t imbre

Th e preceding con fi rm s that GLI DE affe ct s the keyboa rd SIgnalTh e OFF position of t he OSCILLATOR swncnand the TONE pos;t ion of the FILTER M ODE

sw itch rem ain to be exp lored

14 . Place the OSC ILLATOR swi tch to the OFF po sit ion , Play No sound -the OSCillator hasbeen removed from th e audio signal pa th-bu t (take ou r Vlor d) (he osc illator is st illunder con t ro l o f the keyboard .

15 , Place t he FILTER MOOE swi tch to the TONE positron . Play, The FILTER sect ion ISgenerat in g a sine wavesha pe w hic h foll ows th e keyboa rd .

The reason for placi ng the filter under fu ll keyboard cont ro l in th e TONE mo de shoul d beapp aren t enou gh. We w ant to co nt ro l it f rom th e keyboard w hen it's making a tone. Th e re asonwe w ant the OSCILLATOR sec t io n to tcnc w th e keybo ard even thou gh we are not hear ing It will beexpla ined whe n w e discuss use of th e OSCILLATOR sec tion as a cont rolle r. For now, let's Just no teth at th e OFF pos it ion of the OSCI LLATOR swi tch rem oves th e sound of the OSCILLATOR secti on bu tplaces it under keyboard co nt rol.

LOUDNESS CONTOUR Section

TYPICAL CON TOUR SIGNALRELEASETIME

KEY RELEAS ED

SUSTAI NLEVEL

IATIA C K

TIM E

ZERO , o........,......r ..I 1 I

KEY DEPRESS ED

Ulo

~o>

A basic aspect of m usic is the con t rol ot not only when , but how a sound begin s and ends-att ack and release charac teris tics M ost organ like electro nic m usica l inst rum ents off er con tr olover w hen . bu t not how th e loudn ess of a soun d is shap ed . Th e M icr omoog off ers exce llent cont rolof art icul at ion , or t he shaping o f lou dness .

Th e LOUDNESS CONT OU R section is a con tour (so m eti mes called "enve lope " genera tor ,it s ATTACK and RELEASE co ntrol s ma y be set to pr oduce a dynami c co ntrol vollage that " co ntours"or opens and closes the VCA wi t hin th e M icromoog , The assoc iated LOUDNESS SUSTAIN swi tchand RELEASE switch cha nge t he mode . or ways that t he LOUDNE SS CONTOU R section func ti ons .The follo wing diagram shows th e genera l form of the signal prod uced by the LOUDN ESS CONTOU Rsec tion :

7, Place th e GLID E cont rol to " 5:'

8 . Aga in. p lay lowe st and highest keys alternate ly. Timbre "qhdes " betwe en keys now .

rtus Indica tes th at the GLIDE con trol affec ts the Icerboord signal. Judg ing fro m some gli dingpuch sounds that are heard fr om the synthesizer. one m ight think that the GLIDE co nt ro l doesso met hing to th e OSCILLATOR sect ion-th is is not th e case. The GLIDE co ntrol slows dow n theou tput at keybo ard changes ; the keyboa rd o utput then glides betwee n vo ltage step s instead ofjum ping betwee n them . Since we have bee n using th e keyboard to contro l only th e cu to ff fr equencyo f th e FILTER, use at the GLI DE co ntro l causes on ly the t imb re to glide between keys If w e chooseto con t ro l OSCILLAT OR freQuency. the glidin g keybosrd co nt rol signal will cause th e pitch of th eOSCILLATOR sect ion to glid e. Let' s hear it :

9. Place the OSCILLATOR unde r keyboard cont rol by moving the OSCIL LATOR switchto the NO RM posit ion,

6 Leave th e FILTER MODE sw itch in the FULL poslno n: Leave the OSCILLAT OR swi tchin the DRONE po sit ion.

The preced ing shows tha t the cuto ff fr equency of the FILTER section is under keyboa rd co nt rolin both the NORM and FU LL positions of the FILTER MODE switch In the NORM posit ion only halfof th e keybo ard vol tage is allowe d to con tr ol the cu toff fre que ncy ; in th e FUL L posi tio n euof th econtrol sig nal fro m the keybo ard cont ro ls the cut off f req uency Con tinue th e Exerc ise:

TIME----IN

SECONDS

46 47

An indiv idual vo ltage co ntou r may have th ree part s: the rise t ime r\ .set by theATIAC K co nt rol : t he sustain level ;--'\ . at wh ich a sound may be held w hen the LOUONESS

~USTA1N swi tc h is to th e left ; and a release t ime~ . or dymg aw ay of th e sound whi chIS set by the RELEASE con trol. Contou rs w ith var ious shapes may be produce d uSing theLOUONESS CONTOUR con trols and assoc iated swi tc hes. Let 's explore the use o f the LOUONES SCONTOUR co ntrols and the LOUONE SS SUSTAIN and RELEA SE swi tches.

[0 0 Q 0][g[O~ ~~01Qc~g,]gg]~_.a.c~TOifII

-[0 ~QN8][0cpJ J~ ~ ..- _... _.- ~)-=rJ -=0 -=r:J -=:J ~--

-.~

EXERCISE 11: Art icul ati on- Cont our ing Loudness

1. Play the keyboard . No tice that th e att ack and release of th e sound are pract icallyimm ediate . The ATTACK and RELEASE contro ls are set for Quick (1 msec =-one -thousan dth of a seco nd) atta ck and release t imes.

2 . Play aga in . The sound w ill sustain as long as you hold a key. Not ice that theLOUDNESS SUSTAIN sw itch is in Ih e " sustain" mode to th e left . Loo k at the gr aph icsl or the LOUDNESS SUSTAIN sw itch - it dep ict s w hat you are hear ing .

The LO UONE SS CONTOUR sectio n and LOUONESS SUSTAIN sw itch setti ngs show n typ ifyan organ 'like loudness contour. The keying is on-o tt . and sound is sustain ed as long as a key is held .Let' s retain the sustain fealure . but play w ith the atta ck and release of th e so und :

3 . Gradually increase the AnACK control senin q wh ile plaYing th e keyboard . The riseti me. or atta ck of the sound increases. Not ice th at. the longer the ATIA CK serttnq.the longer you mus t hold a key before the sound reaches maximum lou dness.

4 . Ret urn the ATIACK control to its or iginal (1 msec) selli ng .

5 . Gra dually increa se the RELEASE co ntr ol selt ing whil e playing t he keybo ard . The fallli me on rel ease of all keys inc reases; final release of the sound occurs more slowl ywhen all keys are released .

6 . Return the RELEASE con trol to its or iginal (1 msecl sett ing .

The sett ing of the ATI ACK contro l dete rmin es the time il takes the LOUONESS CONTOU Rsection to open th e VCA Inside the Micromoog to maximum gain (loudness). The sett ing of theRELEASE contr ol de term ines the time it l akes the LOUDNESS CONTO UR sect ion to close the VCA .or allow t he sound to fall to silence. Now let 's exp lore the funct ion of th e LOUDNESS SUSTAINswitch :

7 . Play the keyboar d . Sound will be sustained as long as a key is held .

8 . Place Ihe LOUONE SS SUSTAIN sw ilch to Ihe "no n-sustain" po sition to Ihe righ t.Play the keyboard ; on ly a short c lick w ill be heard. Cont inu e.

9 . Increa se either or bolh the ATIA CK and RELEASE contro l selli ngs slighll y. Play. Thesound wi ll not be susta ined . but w ill lest only as long as th e co mbined t imes of th eATIACK and RELEASE contro l sett ings. Experiment wit h th em .

The non -susta in posit ion of the LOUDNESS SUSTAIN swi tch lets you pr oduce very shortsounds . or sound s that wou ld not norm ally sustain fore ver. such as the harp sich ord . guitar. bell , etc

48

So lar w e've learned that th e ATIACK co ntr o l sets the t im ing of the beginning o f a so und .the LOUDNESS SUSTAIN SWitc h selects a maximum or zero sus tain level in lo ud ness . and theRELEA SE co ntr ol t imes the release. or end of a sound . No w ret 's see how th e RELEASE swi tch w o rks .

10 Set ATIA CK 10 1 (msec) : RELEASE 10 700 ; LOUONESS SUSTAI N swit ch to left .

11. Depr ess any key ; hold. then release and listen. No tice that the release is notImmediate. but is det erm ined by th e REL EASE co ntro l as you expect.

12. Place the RELEA SE switch to the right . Now no tice w hat happens w hen you releaseall keys. Th e re lease ISshort reg ardles s of RELEASE contr ol setl ing .

13 Try di fferen t RELEAS E control setun qs Wrt h each new sett ing try eac h position oflh e RELEASE swacn.

Wh en th e RELEASE SWItch is to t he fi gh t. th e release of any sound will be abrupt on releaseof all keys regard less o f Ih e RELEASE co ntr ol selt ing in the LOUO NESS CONTOUR sectio n. At f ir stimpression. it may seem that w e are ri ght back w here we began . wi th an o rg an-like sustai ned soun dWith on-off keying Th is IS not Quite so. as the following shows :

, 4 . Place Ih e RELEASE cont rol 10 " 700:'

15. Leave lh e RELEASE svatcb to the right . Check to see that the LOU ON ESS SUSTAINswi tch is to th e left

16 . Play the keyboar d Sound has or qan-like keyboard response.

17. Place th e LOUDNESS SUSTAIN sw itc h in the non -sustain pos it io n to the righ t. Nowplay and hold a key unti l th e sound die s out . Play a series o f sho rt . separa ted notes andthen hold a key unt il the sou nd dies o ut .

The preceding show s th ai wh en bo th the RELEASE swi tch and Ihe LOUDNESS SUSTAINswi tch ar e to the r ight the totlow mq is tr ue (1) The so und can never tast lonq er th an th e combinedselt ings of the LOUDNES S CONTOUR con trols . regardless of how long a key is held : (2) Therelease of a sound w ill alw ays be abrupt wh en all keys on the keyboard are released .

Since the LOU ONESS CONTOUR sections. LOU ONESS SUSTAIN swi tc h. and RELEASEswi tc h can be set in many diff erent combinatio ns to create a var iety of vol tage co ntour s. here is apictor ial rev iew of some of th e possibilities'

49

You might select a soun d SOurce and t ry the above settings to hear the shape of thecontour produ ced .

It is Import ant to reme mber thal/oudn~ss has priority ov er ot her aspects o f sound . Aft er au.if the LOUDNESS CONTOUR and its related swi tches don't allow a sound to be h ear d. it hardlymatte rs w hat the other sections of th e M lcr om oog are doing .

RELEASETIME

KEY RELEASEO

. ~.~~.'? L : ..6 : } .1 1 1

KEY DEPR ESSED

ATIA CKTIME

wo

~o>

TYP ICA L CONTOU R SIGNAL

T1ME --- -IN

SECONDS

The voltage contour may have three parts the rise l ime r\ .set by the Arr ACKcontro l: t he sustain level ;--\ . at w hich the c utoH freq uency may be he ld whe n th eFILTER SUSTAIN swi tch IS to the left : and a release time~ . set by the RELEASEcontro l.

The FILTER CO NTOUR is a contro ller that is connec ted to the cont rol input of the vo ltagecon tro lled FILTER section , Un like the LOU DNES S CON TOUR . how ever. a means lS pro vided tocon tr ol th e smo unt of sig nal that IS allo wed to reach th e control Input . This means is theCONTOUR AMO UNT co ntrol. The CONTOU R AMO UN T contro l acts to ettenue te. or lessen theamo unt of signa l allowed Into th e co ntrol input o f the FILTER sec tion . Sett ing s closest 10 the ce nter"0" poi nt pr ovide g rea test attenuat io n (least signa l), Let' s exp lo re its use.

FILTER CONTOUR Sect ionMost mus ical mstru me nts have dynam ic nrnbr al ch aract enst ics -e-the lone col or cha nges in

tim e The M icr om oog pro vid es fo r such dynamic t imbre co ntro lThe FILTER CONTOUR sect ion is a co ntour (sometimes called "envelope" ) generato r Its

ATI ACK and RELEASE contr ols may be set to p rodu ce a dy nam ic con tro l signa l t hat "c ontours:'o r moves the cu to ff fr equen cy of th e VCF. The FILTE R CONTOUR secti on may be tho ug ht of as an" lOvlslble hand " that moves the CUTOFF co ntro l for you . The assoc iated FILTER SUST A IN SWitch .and the RELEASE sw itc h select t he wayS In which the FILTER CONTOUR secti on works

The FILTER CONTOUR sec ti on IS mdependeot fr om . but Iden tical In Its operauo n to theLOUD NESS CONTOU R sec t ion The d iagr am be low sho ws the genera l fo rm of the signa l prod ucedby Ihe FILTER CONTOU R secuo n

..j j

.n"_.,.....,._...-. .........LQ I",lICIoHe _ CONTO UR

Qg " '0 k1-~~TIME - _ 0 1 I )

INSECONDS

~...~ _--:._- -

~...~ ---

~...~ -~-

~... ~- G (;)......- msec~..... .o..c.a/\..~ ~.

_ ,aaa. /\,LO U OI'onl CO N'TOU A

_.~~...~~ ~

~... ..........~~ ~

~.,.... .~-......-~ ...~....... ..., ~ .......

50 5 1

EXERCISE 12 : Dy namic Tim bre - FILTER Contour ing1. Hold dow n any key on the key board. The tone sounding is static in timbre: the cutoff

freq uency of th~ filter is not being moved .

2 . M ove th e CONTOUR AMOUN T con tra l to " + 5:' Now hold a key down The umbreis dynamic because the filter cutoff frequency is being contoured by the FILTERCONTOU R sect ion . You cou ld ge t the same eHecl by manually moving the CUTOFFcontr ol.

3 . Play. M ove the CONTOUR AMOUN T con tro l back tow ards "0" 10 progressivelyattenua te, or lessen the amo unt of contour.

The CONTOU R AMO UNT con trol lets you determine the amount of the Signal from theFILTER CONT OUR th at is allowe d to co ntro l the f ill er cutoff frequency. As you probably realize f romlooki"g at the gra phics, the CONTOUR AMO UNT control also attenuates an inverte d version of thecontour signal. (See draw ing for the " - 5 " side of the CONTOUR AMOUNT control .) For now. let 'slook at the positive or "normal" side of the CON TOU R AM OUNT contr ol to avoid cc ntus.on . Continuethe exerc ise:

4 , Retu rn th e CONTOUR AMOUNT con trol to ..+ 5:'

The pr eced ing exercise illustra tes th at th e LOUDNESS CONTOUR and FILTER CONTOURsections are identic al in opera tion . Each is a controll er. The LOUD NESS CONTOUR secnon IS usedto con trol the ga in o f the VCA with in t he Micromoog . The FILTER CONTO UR is used to con tro lth e cutoff o f the VC F (FILTER sec tion] . .

On Ihe M icr om oog . th e conn ecti on of th e LOUONESS CONTOUR secti on to th e contr ol inputof the VCA is made at full streng th inte rnally to assure the best sign aJ.t~noise rat io. But theconn ecti on o f th e FILTER CONTOUR sect io n to t he contro l input of the FILTER has th e CONTOU~AMO UNT control wh ich allows us to determi ne the amount and directIon the cutoff frequency WIbe moved . W hen the CONTOU R AMO UN T contr ol is in the negative regio n (counterclockwIse fro m" 0 "1. the con tour gene raled by th e FILTER CONTOUR sect ion is invert ed (tu rne d upside down I.The "- 5" posit ion then represents the maximum amount of this inverted signal. l ook at the panelgraphics to get an Idea of this situation . The CONTOUR AMO UNT control is called a "reversibleat tenuato r :" it ane nuates the amo unt of a signal as it is moved towar d "0 " for eit her normal or

inverted contours.It w ill require some thought to understand wh at happens when you use a negat ive CO NTOUR

A MOUNT set t ing . Everyth ing is reversed fr om norma l. The vo ltage fro m the FILTER CONTOU Rdoesn't sta rt at "zero"- it starts from a maximum voltage. Instead of falling to "zero" when yourelease. the voltage w ill rise to maximum . The follOWing diagram illustrates:

TYPICA L INVERTE D CONTOUR SIGNAL

5 . Play. Contouring of FILTER section is heard.

6 . Place t he ATIAC K con trol in th e FILTER CONTOUR to " 100 " trnsec] . The rise time o fthe contour is now faster.

KEY DEPRE SSED KEY RELEASED

I

7. Place the RELEASE control in th e FILTER CONTOUR to " 100" (rnsec}, The releasetime of the contour is now faster.

The sell ing on th e ATIAC K con t rol determines the l ime it takes the FILTER CONTOUR tora ise the cuto frequency of the filter to a maximum. The CONT OUR AMOUN T determines thevalue of that max imum . The RELEASE co ntrol determines th e l ime It takes the FILTER CONTOUR toreturn the cutoH frequen cy to its starting point . Continue the exerc ise.

8 . Play and hold a note . Not ice that the cutoff frequency is sustained at a maximum aslong as you hold a key. Only on release of th e key does the RELEA SE control gointo effect .

9 . Mo ve th e FILTER SUSTAIN sw itc h to the r igh t. Now play and hold a key, The patt erngenerat ed by the FILTER CONTOUR section now has only two parts whose timing isdet ermined solely by th e ATIAC K and RELEASE control s onth e FILTER CONTOURsection .

10 . Play and hold a key. Not e th at when all keys are released. the LOU DNESS CONTOURRELEASE co ntrol is st ill opera ble (note hang s on .) This show s tha t th e FILTER SUSTA I ~sw itch and LOUDNESS SUSTAIN swi tch work independently.

11. Place the RELEASE swi tch to th e right. Now play and release a key. Not ice that thefinal release will now be abrupt. The RELEASE switch provides immediate release ofboth the LOUDNESS CONT OUR and FILTER CONTOU R sect ions wh en placed to therigh t.

52

MAX

wo

~o>

ZEAO .l. .l L I 1 1 ..TIME - -

AlSO. as in th e case w ith posit ive CONTO UR AMOUNT serti nqs, when th e CONTOU R AMOUNTcontrol is mov ed toward "0 " the signal is attenuated. or lessened. To bett er under stand invertedcontour s. do the follow ing:

EXERCISE13: Inverted Conto ur ing Of The FILTER1. Simply repeat each step of exerc ise 12. but in each case a positive CONTOUR

AM OUNT setting is called for. use a nega tive setting.

53

MODULATION SectionThe MODULATION sectio n rou tes con t ro l signals from several sources to several destina tio ns.

It lets you hook up a con tro ller to the cont rol inpu t ts) of M icro moog sections . The sou rc e selectordeter mines wh ich con t ro ller is selected . The selected signal fr om that controller passes t hro ugh th eMO O AM OUNT wheel where it is attenuated . The ROUTING rot arv sw itch d ictate s wh ere the contro lsignal will go . This "source-dest ination" orien tat ion tor routing co nt rol signals is a way to changetext ures rapidly in perf ormance. It has been likened to a super t raHic cop who routes contro l signa ltraHic . The following diagram illus t rates :

Let 's explore MOD ULATION section capabilit ies using th is exerc ise :

[0 Q~Q 0]~[0~ ~~~I Q

If you rec all exerc ise 1, yo u began by liste ning to th e soun d of the vo lta ge con t ro lled OSCll .LATOR section at a very low fr equ ency. So low tha t o nly a ser ies of clicks wa s per ceived Instead of asound in norma l hearing rang e. That so und was below th e fr eq uency of no rma l heari ng , or it wassu b-eoaio. The modulat ion oscilla to r produ ces w aveshapes In th e subaudio range for co ntro lpur poses W e ca n't use th e mod utancn osc illator as a so und sou rce. but Its effect w ill be drama ticindeed w hen connected to a contro l input o f th e VCO or VCF You have heard so me of the eHecl sf rom precedmg exercise steps

The sam ple 'an d'ho ld creates a ser ies of contro l vo ltage steps In a me lro nom ic fashion w ith arat e determ ined by th e RATE co nt rol. or frequency of th e mo du lation osci neto r, To und erstand howthe sam pleand hol d wo r ks. let 's make an analogy to a camera, A camera " sam ples" (ph olographs )m otion and " holds" a fixed instant in t im e (t he pnntl The sampl e-and-hotd " photographs" (sample s) amov ing vol taqe Signal and "pn nts" [hotds] a fi xed vo ltage level Wh en a sample of a mo ving voltagesigna l is taken . the vona qe sensed at that instant 1$ held un t il the next sam ple is taken The RATEcon trol determin es how o ften sam ples are taken

When the voltage sig nal sampled is random - like noise-a senes of r and om vo ltage steps willbe prod uced . Th e sarnc te-and-ho td o f the Mi cr om oog doe s sample the noise Signal in tern ally. andpr od uce a ser ies of random volt age steps . See illustra t ion .

[0 Q~Q (~l~rQ~ ~~~I ~~Qll~..QI[0Q ~l !Q ~[~ ~ ~.:;o ~-=::,,~

~I

RANDOM PAITERNFROM SAMPLINGNOISE

EXERCISE 15 : OSCILLATOR As Bot h Sound Sour ce A nd Contro ller1. Hold down any key. Nonce that th e OSCILLATOR sw itch is rn th e NORM posit ion (l he

OSCILLATOR sec t ion is Ih e so und source).

2. M ove the FILTER MOO BY OSC swit ch 10 the STRONG pos inon. Now play and not icech ange in sound textu re.

3 Return FILTER MOD BY OSC to th e OFF pos it ion . Place CONTOUR AMOUNT co ntr olto " + 5:' Play. FILTER section is conto ured . Con ti nue .

In the case of th e S&H AUTO mode . the modulation osc illa to r also produ ces " tr iggers" at thesame rate as it ge nerates new sam ples. (Samp ling and tr igg ering are "synchrono us:' )

Now that you 've ex plored th e MODULATION sec ti on and have a feelin g for its capabilit ies, itmigh t be useful to read definit ions for each specific sett ing o f th e RATE. SOURCE . and ROUTIN Gselecto rs (See appropriate pag es of the REVIEW OF FUNC TION S sectio n in thi s manual )

The MOD ULATION sect ion creates many of th e te xture s of whi ch the synthesizer IS capableThe use of the MOO AMO UN T wh eel and th e source-dest ination orien tati on of the MODU LATIONsec tion are import ant perf orm ance features o f the M icrom oog

OSCILLATOR Section As ControllerThe OSCILLAT OR sec tion may be used as a contr o ller as we ll as a sound SOurc e. You have

already used th e OSCILLATO R section as a cont roller in exercise 5. to cre ate "c langorous" sound s.In th ai case. th e sound sou rce Vias th e FILTER sectio n (FILTER MODE swi tc h to TONE ). The followingsound chart shows thai th e OSCILL ATOR sect ion may be used as the sound source, and a con tr olle rsirnultaneousfv :

56

4 . Place FILTER MOD BY OSC to th e STRONG po sition once again . Now play and no teeff ec t.

5 . Place th e EM PHASIS contr alt o " 0 :' Play. Not ice that usc of FILTER M OD BY OSC ismost dramat ic when the EMPHASIS cont rol is set hig h. and the fil ter c uto ff freq uencyis be ing contoured .

The WEA K and STRONG pos it ions of the FILTER MOD BY OSC sw~ch connect the ent ireoutput of the OSCIL LATOR section (DOUBLING included I 10 th e co nt rol input of the FILTER section.The OSCI LLATOR section act s as a cont roller. rapid ly modulat ing fi lte r cutoff frequency . When th eOSCI LLA TOR section is th e sound source . its ow n signa l is modulated by itself , creating a mor ecom plex sound . You might exper iment with use of th e FILTER M OD BY OSC switch w ith any of thesounds you cr eate .

Wh en you mak e clangorous sounds using the FILTER in TONE mode (see Exerc ise 51, th eOSCILLA TOR is used only as a contr oller (OSCILLATOR swi tch to OFF position) . But to ma intainco nsistency of t imbr e over the ent ire keyboar d. the OSCILLAT OR must follow the key board tomainta in the same fr equen cy rmto between OSCI LLATOR and FILTER sections. Even t ho ugh theOSCILLATOR sw itch is placed OFF and the OSCILLATOR sect ion is not he.rd . i l is still unde rkeyboard contro l.

S7

PITCH RibbonThe PITCH ribbon to the left of th e keybo ard is an Import ant perf orman ce con t roller. II generates

a signal tha t is connected to the (frequency) co ntro l input of th e OSCILLATOR section . The PITCHri bbon bend s Ihe pitch of Ihe OSCILLATO R section ontv: It has no effe ct on the NOISE section .or the FILTER section , even w hen in TONE mod e. The PITCH ribbon is a resistance element protectedw ith plastic-coated mesh . In the center of the r ibbon is a dead band . marked \'lit h a bump. Ttus causesno bending of pit ch , and prov ides a way 10 feel the "center" of the pitch. Pitch is bent bV depressingth e r ibbon and mov ing awa y from th e cente r bump. OSCILL ATOR pitch may be bent up or dow nw ith a simi lar mov ement On the r ibbo n , On release of the r ibbo n at any point, pitch is returned to" center," or the origin al pitch instantly. The PITCH ribbon is a most importa nt development thatallow s th e perform er to achieve th e subtlety of pitch bend ing associated w ith all solo-line musicalinst ruments- do n't igno re its usel

Not ice that sound does not necess aril y cease wh en the trigger is " o tt; ' or all keys are released . Therelease depends o n the selli ng of th e RELEASE con t rol in the LOU DNESS CONTOUR sect ion and thesetting of th e RELEASE SWIICh, Wh en th e t r igger ends (all keys released ) that signals the co ntou rgenerator s to beg ;n their Imal release segments .

A most Import ant feature of M icr omoog keyboard t rig ger ing is th e so-ca lled "smgle trig ger ing"pr io rity A new tr igger is prod uced by the keybo ard only aher a pr evious ly held key 1$ co mpletelyreleased. This make s the keyboa rd of the Micromoog sensitive to the keybo ard technique used . lega tokeyboard techniq ue may be used to pr od uce legato passages; several no tes may share the sametrigge r, and each note w ill not receive an mdlVldua l art icu lat ion. Conv ersely . If a detached keybo ardtechn ique IS used - "h ighstepp ing" fin gers -e ach note w ill receive its ow n tr igger. and the contourgenerator s w ill be tri ggered anew for each note . This is most impo rt ant w hen heavy filter contouri ngis being done. The follOWing exercise illust rates:

TRIGGER SOURCES

IIII

KEY RELEASED

~I. _. I

--

[0 Q~Q 01~10~ Q~~ ~~llg.gl1[0Q ~j[O 81 [l.:...