Sweet Berta

Beamed away: a hard-synced saw sparkles upward as the envelope falls, a fast shimmer on osc 1 beneath it, scattered across bright ping-pong echoes into a big plate. Tap a note and let the sparkle rise and fade; tap several for a crew. Macros: Sparkle, Echo, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A round, sub-heavy triangle with a quiet square underneath for a little grit, and a light envelope-to-pitch thump on every note. Play it low and let the kick sit on top. Macros: Cutoff, Squelch, Decay. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

An engine spooling up to jump: low saws and brown noise through a resonant ladder, the LFO throbbing on the cutoff faster and faster over four seconds as the envelope opens, with a sub under it and a warm saturation. The Pedalboard runs it twice in parallel: one lane clean, the other through a driven amp into a steep high-pass, so the engine gains a whine and a grit on top that rise with the throb. Hold a low note until it screams; let go to drop out. Macros: Spool, Throb, Weight, Grit. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

An old computer thinking: osc 2 hard-synced, the sample and hold jumping its pitch fourteen times a second, so a held note chatters in bright, random tones of one family, with short echoes. Hold a note for a stream of data; each key is a different machine. Macros: Speed, Tone, Echo. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Waves on a beach: pink noise through a soft ladder, the cutoff and the level rising and falling together every eight seconds or so, into a wide hall. Hold one note as a bed; a higher key brings brighter spray. Macros: Swell, Spray, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

One strike of lightning and the thunder after it: white noise cracks open through the ladder and rolls down into darkness. The Pedalboard splits it at 200 Hz: the gate kicks a set of springs on the band above for the crack, while a sub swells under the band below for the rumble, all into a long, dark hall. Tap a low note, once, and let it roll. Macros: Crack, Rumble, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A fire crackling: white noise through the ladder, the sample and hold flinging the cutoff to a new place twenty-five times a second for pops and hiss, under a low brown rumble of the flames, in a small room. Hold a note as a bed; higher keys crackle brighter. Macros: Crackle, Glow, Room. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Tuning across a distant radio: the ladder whistles on the edge of self-oscillation over pink static, drifting slowly in pitch, through a narrow, saturated band and a fluttering fade. Hold a note and let it wander; move between keys to retune. Macros: Drift, Static, Band. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A buffer stuck and skipping: a saw and a square chopped hard twelve times a second, the sample and hold giving every slice its own brightness, with short echoes repeating the stumble. Hold a note or a chord for a stuttering stream; tap for single glitches. Macros: Chop, Colour, Echo. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A toy with its wires crossed: osc 1 frequency-modulates osc 2 while the ladder's own output is fed back into osc 1's pitch, so the patch squeals, chirps and lurches unpredictably, into a fuzz. Hold notes and listen to it change; each key behaves differently. Macros: Chaos, Fuzz, Feedback. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

The big hit of a film trailer: a deep triangle and saw drop an octave and a half in pitch with a burst of brown noise. The Pedalboard splits it at 180 Hz: the boom under it is saturated dark with a sub added, the burst above stays clean, then the springs are kicked over the whole hit and a huge hall carries the tail. Tap a low note on the downbeat. Macros: Drop, Weight, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A heavy steel door slamming in a corridor: osc 1 frequency-modulates osc 2, tuned apart for an inharmonic clang, over a burst of noise, with the springs kicked and a hard, metallic room. Tap a note; lower keys are bigger doors. Macros: Clang, Ring, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

The classic saw-and-square house pluck, lightly detuned for width, over a solid 16' sub with a touch of pitch-drop bite. Play it short and staccato; hold one to feel the sub carry the room. Macros: Bright, Bite, Decay. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Manual tip: ATTENUATOR OUT -> RATE IN. With nothing in its input the attenuator is a steady offset, and in RATE IN it takes the LFO past the slowest the RATE knob reaches: one cycle here lasts about a minute, sweeping the cutoff two octaves either way under long, detuned saws. Hold chords and let it drift; turn the ATTENUATOR towards 0 to speed it back up. Macros: Rate, Cutoff, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Manual tip: the LFO played as an oscillator. RATE IN follows a volt per octave, so KB OUT -> RATE IN makes the LFO track the keys, and its WAVE OUT patched into the mixer's EXT IN makes it a third oscillator: a square an octave under two 16' saws, a thick three-oscillator bass. LFO RATE tunes it (65.4 Hz is that octave at middle C). Macros: Sub, Cutoff, Drive. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Manual tip: KB OUT -> RATE IN, at half strength. The LFO follows the keys, so the vibrato quickens as you play higher, by half an octave for every octave, as a singer's does on a high note. Bring the mod wheel up for the vibrato and play a slow line across two octaves. Macros: Vibrato, Bright, Echo. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Manual tip: GATE OUT -> LFO SYNC IN, with RATE at its slowest. Each key restarts the LFO, which steps S/H OUT, so every note you play lands on a new random cutoff, and the resonance rings at a new place: the same riff never sounds the same twice. Play short repeated notes. Macros: Cutoff, Decay, Echo. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Manual tip: OSC 2 -> HPF IN, HPF OUT -> the mixer's OSC 2 IN. Osc 2 is shaped on its own before the mixer: the HPF takes its body away, leaving a buzzy narrow-pulse edge two octaves up, riding on osc 1's full 16' saw, so the brass bites without getting thin. HPF CUTOFF sets how much edge; the mod wheel adds vibrato. Macros: Edge, Bright, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Manual tip: each oscillator through its own filter. Osc 2 runs through the HPF straight to VCA IN, and FILTER OUT joins it there (two cables into one input add, as a mult would), while osc 2's mixer level is down, so the ladder hears osc 1 alone. With VCA MODE on KB RLS, osc 1 plucks and closes while osc 2's thin, high shimmer holds for as long as the key does. Macros: Shimmer, Pluck, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Manual tip: LFO WAVE OUT -> VCA AMT IN, for tremolo. A cable into VCA AMT adds to the envelope's level, so on its own the LFO would hold the VCA open after you let go; ATTENUATOR OUT into the same jack offsets it down by the LFO's depth, so the two only ever dip the level and the note still ends. Soft triangle keys throbbing at 5 Hz. Macros: Rate, Bright, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Manual tip: LFO WAVE OUT -> VCA AMT IN at audio rate, for amplitude modulation. KB OUT -> RATE IN holds the LFO at 1.41 times the note wherever you play, and the ATTENUATOR's offset in VCA AMT keeps the note's end clean, as in the tremolo patch. The sidebands it adds are out of tune with the note: a glassy, metallic chime that grows rougher as it rings away. Macros: Ratio, Decay, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Manual tip: a triangle with one richer wave beside it. Osc 1's triangle carries the note almost pure, and a quiet square on osc 2 an octave up adds the second harmonic, which the key-tracked ladder keeps while it trims the square's own buzz: one partial stands out, with none of a saw's crowd. A breath of pink noise and a soft attack make it a flute; the mod wheel adds vibrato. Macros: Breath, Harmonic, Space. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

Manual tip: modulating osc 2's frequency brings hard sync alive. S/H OUT -> OSC 2 PITCH IN throws the synced osc 2 to a new pitch eight times a second, and ATTENUATOR OUT into the same jack lifts it so it never drops under osc 1, where sync goes quiet. The note stays put while each step is a new vowel-like colour: a chattering, talking lead. Macros: Rate, Bright, Echo. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.

A tight, bouncy square-and-pulse bass pushed hot into the mixer for grit, KB RLS holding each note at full level while the filter does the bouncing, with a pitch-drop "boing" on the attack. Bring the mod wheel up for pulse-width wobble. Macros: Squelch, Glide, Decay. Macro 8, Master, is the output level.