Banco del Mutuo Soccorso Synth

[AndresC]

Maybe you might know this prog rock italian band, if you don't and you like this music gendre you shouldn't miss it!

Anyways, for those of you who might know it, there is a particular great album called Darwin, from 1972 or 1974, can't remember. It has an incredibly powerful raw sound, and an impressive use of keyboards, lots of piano, agressive organs and tons of synths.

I want to refer mainly to the synths, I believe they use the MiniMoog for all the synth work but I can't assure that, I think I read it somewhere.
My point is that I own a Voyager, and I can't reproduce succesfully the richness of the sounds. They sound raw, powerful, dirty, resonant, and they have this richness on the upper frequencies which I can't get from the Voyager. I know the classic MiniMoog and the Voyager sound different, so I'm wondering if that's it or maybe Banco used some other synths that I'm unaware. I simply love those dirty sounds, and my Voyager seems to be really nice and clean the whole time.

It wasn't until today when I started experimenting overloading itself, so I might get something from there.

Here is a link for a song that demos a bit what I mean, listen at the synth at 0:47, it sounds crappy thanks to youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tJEGp2Te6w

[LivePsy]

Try an exciter patched in between the mixer and filter. You'll get back some of the higher harmonics the Voyager lacks - its artificial though, you cannot get the true high harmonics of sharp waveforms back. Even the inexpensive Behringer SE200 helps, I have one permannetly plugged in and toggle it on and off whichever suits the patch best.

[AndresC]

Sounds like worth trying!

I have a Presonus Bluetube Preamp, theoretically, applying some tube drive should add some of those harmonics? I know this is about experimenting and simply trying, but, shoould it improve somehow?

Thanks for replying.

[LivePsy]

Distortion (especially clipping) will tend to turn everything into square waves if over done And the intermodulation distortion between the oscillators will probably harm the sound. Anything designed to warm sounds won't add the high end sizzle. If you have a spare digital workstation (its ok, we all have 'em) you might find an exciter fx you can use to at least see if an exciter will help.

I know the sound you want, but the Voyager doesn't generate it.

Cheers,
B

[AndresC]

Hey thanks a lot for the info!

I ll try with the exciter, maybe in the future I might get a real vintage!

[AndresC]

I indeed have a Triton which can help me with the task! However, would it be the same if I pass the signal from the voyager's output through the exciter rathern than inserting the exciter between the mixer and the filter? I ask cause I don't have an insert cable, so would I get similar results doing it that way or should I better buy an insert cable to do as you suggested?

Thanks again!

[Goom]

That lead sound reminds me of an ARP Odyssey ring modulator patch. Here's an old demo of a ring mod patch that also has an octave effect thing going on (I hope the link works):

http://i.imagehost.org/download/0132/Lead_Ring

[AndresC]

Hmmm, I don't think I agree. On that sample you can hear where the ring mod is dialed up, and the final sound is sort of dirty and saturated "artificially", but the lead I'm refering from Banco, simply sounds like the guts of the machine itself.

[Goom]

That was probably a bad example, but it was the only one on my computer that was close. If you listen to the first couple of notes in my example, and envision them with a slow attack and played slowly, it might sound closer.

I did listen to some of the other clips on youtube (from the same album) and some of the other synth sounds were very Moog-like to me.

[LivePsy]

would it be the same if I pass the signal from the voyager's output through the exciter rathern than inserting the exciter between the mixer and the filter?

I like the sound of exciter before the filter. I think it sounds more like bright oscillators, but it is just a trick. Perhaps you have some other synth source for raw waves you could put into the external input of the Voyager?

[AndresC]

LivePsy, I tried the exciter on the Voyager outputs, (too lazy to go to the music store for the insert cable) and it does provides some of the characteristics I was looking for, but it will react differently with every patch since their harmonic content is also very different. I just played like 20 minutes with it, but I can say that it's important to carefully apply the right amount or it could "wash" the textures of the original sound.

I need more time to determine if this will improve the sound I'm aiming for, but my first impression is that it might be of some help if used with moderation cause I don't want to mask the original signal with this new bunch of loud harmonics.

[LivePsy]

Hi Andresc,

An exciter isn't the same thing as real raw waves, I can't lie about that. Maybe the triton exciter insert effect is a bit harsh, I always found it made the dance hats through it too 'spitty'. The behrginer SE200 is apparently a copy of the BOSS SP-1 Specturm pedal. It adds a fixed frequency ringing and doesn't distort the waves to add harmonics. I can only suggest you try it if you can.

I urge you to go crazy and buy an insert cable because there are some really neat tricks you can do with it.

Cheers,
B

[AndresC]

I'll definitely get that cable, thanks for the suggestion!

[LWG]

Hello,

For now, you can squeeze additional harmonics out of the Vger's vco through the use of sync. Remember, this function makes the vco's additive.
That is, vco2's wave becomes an additional set of harmonics of vco1. Your results will depend on use of the correct octave setting, but more
importantly, using the fine tune knob of vco 2 to properly align the harmonics.
The sync function turns the two vco's into one complex one. You would then use vco 3 to add any additional components needed.
The Vger can be programmed to sound "dirty" with no external boxes and one of the feedback loops (no, don't use headphone out).

Regards,


-L

[AndresC]

Hi LWG, I have experimented with the sync button on diverse sounds getting variable results, on my last approach on getting the dirty sound I used it aswell, but thanks to your explanation on it I will try a new and better focused attempt.