Trouble playing multiple notes in paraphonic mode

The Moog Forum Moog Semi-Modular Analog Synthesizers
1

Hi,

I’m new to this forum and hoping for some help. I’ve had my Matriarch for under two years and have come across an issue today that I don’t recall noticing before.

When I’ve got it in the two-note or four-note paraphonic mode, I’m noticing the higher note cutting out.

This is happening if I play two, three or four keys at the same time, or if I play the higher note just before playing one or more other notes. Also, if I play an arpeggio going upwards (lower notes to higher notes), there’s no issue because the highest note comes last, but if I play an arpeggio going downwards, the higher note cuts out as soon as I play the next note.

It’s as if any lower keys are causing the higher one to cut out - but only if the higher one is played at the same time or slightly before, and only the first of the higher notes.

I have only noticed it happening today, noting that I have had it on its current settings for a while.

Is this a known issue?

I’m not experienced with synths and I’m not great with the terminology, so I hope what I’m writing makes sense.

2

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I don’t have any Matriarch, but I know how paraphony works and I might have an idea.
On some synths, you can set the filter cutoff frequency to track the keyboard. On a synth that has one filter per voice (that is monophonic or polyphonic), the filter frequency for a voice is set based on the key that control the pitch of that voice: simple.
On a paraphonic synth, it’s different: you can press several keys to hear several notes but only one filter is involved. If it tracks the pitch, the question is: what pitch will it track amongst the notes matching the depressed keys?
I don’t have the answer, however I think that high fllter pitch tracking settings could lead to weird, brutal filtering artefacts when playing very different notes.

So you may want to try to find whether the Matriarch has such a keyboard tracking setting for its filter’s frequency and set it to 0. Then, try to reproduce the problem you describe.

Meanwhile, some Matriarch users may chime in and give other ideas :slight_smile: