July 1, 2000: What's
in Keith's Modular?
I haven't been programming for
the Modular much lately, because I've been really busy with work, but I
thought some of you might be interested in the contents of my Modular right
now -- so here are 231 patches -- some finished, some not, some useful,
some inscrutable... but you might like something in here, so here it is!
Click here to download the KRCSummer00.zip bank
now!
July 1, 2000: All Sounds
Updated to 2.10 Format
I noticed recently that some
of the patches on this site were in pre-2.10 format, so I've updated them.
Everything should work with the version 3.03 editor now. Let me know
if you find any problems!
MP3 Demos: Some MP3
ads made with my Nord Modular
People sometimes wonder what
I do with my Nord Modular besides make nifty programs. Below, you can find
some links to MP3 files that I did for Wired
Planet, a very cool site that features streaming MP3 radio stations.
All the sounds you hear in this spot (including the vocoder and vocal processing
on the background "mission control" voices) were done on the Nord Modular.
Only other equipment used was my Roland VM-3100 Pro mixer (which provided
reverb effects and compression on the mixdown):
Wired
Planet Radio Spot 1 (high-bandwidth)
Wired
Planet Radio Spot 2 (low-bandwidth)
And go check out Wired
Planet to find the coolest new independent music! Many Nord Mod users
would enjoy listening to their electronica station, Oscillations, and Alpha
2.0, a downtempo trip-hop station.
Are
you on the Nord Modular mailing list?
If not, why not sign up
by following
this link! It's a great resource for all things modular.
Scroll down to find some
patches that I've created for the Clavia Nord Modular synthesizer.
To
download these banks, just click on the link. On some browsers, you may
have to right click on the name and then "Save Link As". If you simply
click on the link, the patch file might be displayed as text in your browser
instead of being saved to your local disk (Nord Modular patch files are
just ASCII text files). Once downloaded, you can use the Nord Modular Editor
application to send them to your own Nord Mod.
I hope you enjoy these amusing
little programs! All of the patches on this page are essentially freeware.
Any of these patches can be freely redistributed for non-commercial purposes
as long as they are in their original form with the notes/contact/copyright
information intact. If you like these sounds, have comments or questions,
or just want to say "hi", feel free to send me e-mail to krc@gehenna.com.
And make sure to check out
the Nord Modular related links at the bottom of the page. If you use an
E-mu E4 series sampler or E-synth, you'll also want to check out my
sounds for those machines as well!
The Patches
I haven't been programming for
the Modular much lately, because I've been really busy with work, but I
thought some of you might be interested in the contents of my Modular right
now -- so here are 231 patches -- some finished, some not, some useful,
some inscrutable... but you might like something in here, so here it is!
Click here to download the KRCSummer00.zip bank
now!
--- Keith
231 patches
that are in my Modular right now! Ooooh, fun!
Eleven
new patches for summer! This set features my Nord Grand patch, a piano
emulation for your Modular. Other patches are AstroStrings, DeeTuned, Dirt
Organ, EightAfterEight (808-like drumkit), Heavy Metal, Majestik, OrganicKRC,
Quick Scratch, Squelchy Saw, and Whistler. This will probably be my last
set of patches until version 3.0 of the Nord Modular software is out.
Maybe I'll even do a robust site update at that time.
Twenty new patches from spring
of 99. Of course, I come up with lots of patches, but these are some of
the more interesting ones from my recent work with the Modular. And
yes, I continue to be a lazy bastard and haven't put thes up individually
with little descriptions, but they all have "notes". Patches include: Barbershop
Choir, Breathe, Creature Feature, Dijereedoo, Far Out East, FM Formant
Bells, FM Spectrum Brass, Heaven Bass, Industrial Bass, Keith's Claps,
Metal Synth 1, Mouthing Off, Native 2000, Orbitron, Pizz Synth, Rain City,
String Section, Sync or Swim, The Drive Room, Think 'n' Syncy, and Tiki
Wonderland! Cost to you... absolutely nothing!
Fifteen patches from November
of 1998, including some designed just for Nord Modular software version
2.1. Sorry, no individual descriptions of these yet. You'll
have to unzip the file and read the patch notes to see what awaits you.
Patches include: AutoVox, AutoWah, Busy Box, Comb Stereoizer, Continental
Drift, Ewok Choir, Fairy Tale, LoFi Vinyl, Old Skool, PhatOne, Poing, Snake
Charmer, Sputnik Theme, The Transmission, and Vocal Exercises.
My previous patches in a single,
handy zip file! Now that's what I call convenience.
Theremin virtuoso Clara
Rockmore passed away recently which got me thinking about a Theremin
patch for the Modular. The Theremin is an early electronic musical instrument
whose pitch and amplitude is controlled by the player's hands passing through
an electromagnetic field. It makes a spooky, almost "singing" type of sound.
You'll need a Mod Wheel to play this patch. In this simulation, the Mod
Wheel acts as the "left hand" Theremin volume control. Push the wheel up
to increase the volume of the sound. The keyboard acts as the "right hand"
pitch control. As on a real Theremin, the notes slide into each other.
Velocity controls the rate of the slide -- low velocities make a long slide,
high velocities make a faster slide. Once the slide has finished, a vibrato
effect fades in (as used by classic Theremin players). As usual, read the
notes for more info!
My refreshing alternative to
stale 303 acid bass sounds. This one gets nice and nasty in the lower registers.
Read the patch notes for explanations of the knob assignments. Playing
legato makes the notes "slide", as you might expect. One interesting aspect
of this patch is that it doesn't use a filter module -- instead, an arrangement
of feedback, inversion, and delay is used to create a resonant delay effect.
A rich pad sound. Use the Mod
Wheel to bring in a shimmery vibrato.
"Look at me, I'm Vangelis!"
Now fixed to work with version
2.0! Here's yet another little sequencer line with accompanying analog
disco beat. I'm sure these type of Nord Mod patches will quickly become
cliché... but they're so much fun to program and play with, how
can one resist? This patch has a monophonic synth line (with fingered portamento)
that you can play over the top of the sequence (mod wheel brings in LFO).
Again, there are a full complement of knob assignments. One interesting
programming feature of this patch is the "Alternator" control sequencer
which is used to switch in an alternate pattern every four bars.
FM Synthesis Examples
Here are some very simple FM
patch examples I posted to the Nord Modular list. Read the notes
to learn more about FM synthesis: Example 1,
Example
2, Example 3.
Someone on the Nord Lead list
asked about creating VC switches on the Nord Modular. This patch illustrates
a set of switches that each trigger at a different voltage level. Once
triggered, the switches stay open until the voltage drops below the trigger
level. Read the notes and study the programming for more info. Feeling
on a roll, I also created a second example (Voltage
Controlled Switch Example) in which switches only stay open until
the next highest switch is triggered.
Creates a wide variety of interesting
noises from starship engines, wind, radio tuning, etc. Make a bunch of
useful noises just by twiddling three knobs.
Another
"auto composition" patch that uses the patter generators. This one makes
infinitely varying "chillout grooves". Sit back and let the Nord Mod perform
for you. This one sounds good run through a good amount of reverb. There
are knob assignments here, but many of them do very mysterious things.
Because there are so many independent pattern generators in this patch,
you'll never hear the same riff twice. The pattern changes every 4 bars.
Dial the phone with your Nord
Modular! This patch generates DTMF tones... the tones that dial a touch
tone telephone. Makes tones for all the numbers 0 through 9 as well as
*, #, dialtone, ring, and busy signal! You can actually hold a touch tone
phone up to your speaker monitors and dial using the Nord Mod
An electric bass patch. This
one is interesting in that I've used the note quantize module to emulate
the sound of slides on a fretted bass. As usual, check the notes for knob
assignments. Play with the overdrive and feedback knobs for more of an
"amplified" sound.
As you might expect, this one
crossfades two formant oscillators to say "Wow!". Check the notes for knob
assignments.
Revised for version 2.0! Now
with stereo static, stereo scratches, and a compressor. Need to make "authentic"
sounding breakbeats? Looking for that "off the record" feel? Look no further!
Run a stereo signal into your Nord Modular's inputs with this patch loaded
and get that groovy vinyl sound with limited frequency response, static
crackles & pops, and scratches. Knob assignments let you customize
the effect. Go from subtle turntable effects to beat-up vintage vinyl mayhem.
Make sure to read the notes so you understand the functions of the knobs
on this one!
OK, check this out. I used a
bunch of logic modules and a sample and hold to create an "accumulator".
At the input, it "counts" or stores logic impulses coming in. At the output,
it can deplete any stored impulses. So this logic acts like a battery or
a spring. Riffing off of the spring idea, I created this little music box.
Crank knob 3 quickly to "wind" the music box. The little sequence will
play as long as the spring is wound up! It even slows down as the "spring"
unwinds. I think this one's pretty neat. I'm also working on building a
working clock using the same type of logic... stay tuned!
Sounds like a hammer dulcimer.
This one uses the formant oscillators to create stringed instrument sounds.
Tweak the knobs to get various guitar, dulcimer, lute, etc. sounds.
This patch uses the pattern
generators to make semi-algorithmic bass lines. Examining the logic here
shows how to use the note quantize and note scaler modules (I used them
to limit the pattern to 1 octave and make sure the pitches fall on "real"
notes). One pattern generator controls the rhythm of the pattern, the other
controls its pitch. Hours of tweakable fun with this one. I've got other
pattern based patches that still need to be "finished" so keep checking
back.
A patch that uses the spectral
oscillators and a pattern generator to make "moving filter" sorts of sounds.
It's a bit like a sample and hold effect except that it repeats. Use the
knobs to select different patterns, modulation depths, etc.
A detuned square wave "lead".
Based on one of the first synthesized sounds I remember hearing.
Here's a glassy pad sound that
uses pulse width modulation, audio-rate filter frequency modulation, and
an interesting feedback loop to make its distinctive sound.
This patch illustrates how to
program a switch so that it toggles (or flip/flops) on and off. It's also
a reasonably interesting synth sound in its own right. Too bad they didn't
put any real programmable switches on the modular itself... but those of
you with external devices with MIDI assignable switches will find this
useful. Again, read the notes for more details.
Here's a Jan Hammer-esque sync
lead sound. One sawtooth wave is synced to a sine (which doesn't sound
- it just modulates the sawtooth) and then runs through clipping, overdrive,
and the wave wrapper. Aftertouch brings in vibrato that accelerates with
more pressure. I find this more effective at simulating guitar vibrato
than directly linking pitch to aftertouch. Instead of having vibrato on
the mod wheel, it brings in more distortion (via the wave wrapper). Watch
out for Knob 3, assigned to a feedback parameter. Cranking this up in conjunction
with high mod wheel settings can make things pretty nasty! Unfortunately,
the feedback isn't a nice, ringing feedback like you get with a guitar
but it does make the overall tone more aggressive. Knob 2 adds frequency
modulation which tends to make the sound more like a guitar, but can also
sound a bit cheesy - use with discretion. Knobs 4-6 adjust the various
distortion amounts and 9 and 10 are tied to filter cutoff and resonance.
Put on your pink blazer, use pitch bend on the attack, and rock out...
"Rico, watch my back!"
Kinda like old Simmons toms.
Dyooo! Dyooo!
A relatively simple 2 oscillator
patch that gives 12 voices on a standard Nord Modular. This one puts me
in the mind of early 80's music. This one has a full set of knob assignments
that let you stray pretty far afield of the original sound.
I was noodling around with noise
generators and wound up with this SFX patch. Blaster firing starships swoop
by causing explosions -- from distant rumbles to direct hits. Knob assignments
let you control the degree of destruction.
The
ultimate in low-fi. This is my lovingly authentic simulation of an old,
mildew stained, poorly grounded, likely-to-catch-fire, home organ... just
like the one you found at Grandma's house! Only two knob assignments here:
master volume (on knob 1) and an on/off switch for the infernal machine
(on knob 4). Is this a new low in simulations of "vintage" analog gear???
This is my stab at implementing
a granular synthesis technique on the Nord Modular. Basically, granular
synthesis is when you take little bits of sounds and mix a whole bunch
of them together at high speed. Here I use crossfade modules, modulated
by audio rate sine waves, to mix four source waveforms together. So, it's
not exactly "granular"... It's a little like having a bunch of rotating
speakers or having gain controls that are being spun very rapidly to mix
the source waveforms. The resulting sounds are similar to FM. Often, the
waveforms are very "bright" and can have rather obnoxious overtones. To
keep that under control, everything runs through a lowpass filter before
going to the outputs. The default settings make for a pretty wicked bass...
Play with the knob assignments and see what you can come up with!
About the Patches
I hope you enjoy my Nord Mod
patches! All of the banks on this page are shareware. Any of these banks
can be freely redistributed for non-commercial purposes as long as they
are in their original form with no additions or deletions.
All
programming copyright 1998 -2000, Keith R. Crosley.
If you really like any of
the sounds here, end up using them in a recording, need some custom sound
design, or just want to say "hi", please send me a note to krc@gehenna.com.
Related Nord Modular Links
Here are some cool sites that
have either linked to this page or provide other great resources for the
Clavia Nord Modular.
Clavia
Home Page: The guys who make the gear.
SynthZone:
Lots more Clavia links.
Wizoo
Nord Modular Pages: More sounds for your Nord Modular. Home of the
Nord Modular mailing list! Subscribe
to the list here...
SynthSite:
Reviews and talk about all kinds of synths.
MidiWall::
Mark Pulver's MIDI site - includes Nord Modular reviews, commentary, and
patches.
Marcus
Jentsch: Another Nord Modular enthusiast who has patches for download.
