5pulser and resonant lowpass gate
Sunday 6 June 2010 - Filed under open
This is an audio test of two new modules that I built: the Ian Fritz 5Pulser waveshaper and the Thomas White/Buchla resonant lowpass gate. These modules, along with two oscillators in an FM configuration, define the bassline character in the clip below.
The 5pulser is a simple but potent audio waveshaper that converts incoming triangle and sawtooth waves into a “pulse train”–essentially multiple sequential square waves–at the output. The number of pulses per waveform cycle are configurable from one to nine, with voltage control of the number of pulses (depending on the front panel switch settings). In this patch, both the lowpass gate and the 5pulser are being modulated by stepped voltages.
The Thomas White resonant lowpass gate is a direct take on Don Buchla’s original lowpass gate, except that it adds a filter mode with resonance and two three-channel mixer sections (one for CV input, the other for audio input). I chose to build this module with the faster VTL5C3 vactrols. The filter mode is surprisingly growly and reminiscent of the Wiard Borg2 filter in lowpass mode. The amplitude does not drop with an increase in resonance. Also, the resonant lowpass gate self-oscillates, making it useful as an oscillator in itself.
The secondary voice that comes and goes in this recording is a Harvestman Hertz Donut being processed by a Korg KP3. Also present is a Korg EMX–1 (kick drum), a tr-606 for occasional hi-hat and cymbal elements, a tr-707 and a little dash of machinedrum.
2010-06-06 » admin