Got my first Moog, the DFAM -- 2 newbie questions.

Mother-32, DFAM, Subharmonicon, Grandmother, Matriarch
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___ee___
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Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:39 pm

Got my first Moog, the DFAM -- 2 newbie questions.

Post by ___ee___ » Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:05 am

I've mostly worked digital and am relatively new to analog/modular, and have never owned a Moog or any legit analog/modular synth before this one, so bear with if these are pretty noob-ish questions.

1) I notice that regardless of whether or not the "Noise/Ext Level" and "Noise/VCF Mod" knobs are set all the way down, there is always a certain amount of detectable noise -- white noise or ground noise or something like that -- to each of the steps. If the volume of whatever sound is being produced is loud enough, it's masked or not very noticeable, but it seems difficult-to-impossible to get an entirely "clean" waveform sound, particularly in the bassiest frequencies. I got the DFAM second hand, so I'm wondering if this is just the nature of the beast with an analog tool like this, or if I should be able to entirely eliminate the white noise with the Noise control knobs. It's subtle, but there is always at least a soft bit of white noise in the sounds. I don't even really mind it so much, if I wanted something super clean I'd stick with digital, but I want to determine if this is typical of the equipment or not, and if not, what might be causing it.

2) I'm just beginning to learn my way around the patchbay, but one thing I'm interested in doing is having an incoming signal trigger each new step in the DFAM sequence. So far I've mostly tried this by patching out from my Korg SQ-01 step sequencer and another custom made step sequencer. However, patching into "Trigger" doesn't seem to do anything, and I haven't been able to entirely make sense of "Run/Stop" either. Patching into "Adv Clock" from SQ-01's "Sync out" works, sort of, but I need to have the DFAM sequencer "running" continuously for anything to happen; and, while it seems to sync up with the incoming signal if I do run it, it seems to be playing like something like 1 step for every 4 or from the incoming sequencer. So any general tips on how to patch in such a way that each new step is triggered/advanced externally, vs. having the DFAM in a constant running loop?

I hope these questions make sense, thanks.

EE

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MRNUTTY
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Re: Got my first Moog, the DFAM -- 2 newbie questions.

Post by MRNUTTY » Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:08 pm

Trigger input will only trigger Envelope generators. It does not advance the sequence - although the TEMPO control will - you probably saw this.

Adv/Clock input will advance the sequence each time there is a positive clock in the sequencer is in RUN mode. This input disengages the internal TEMPO clock.


Idk, about noise, I"ll check it out. I don't get any white noise whatsoever unless the NOISE/VCF MOD control is up at all. Unless the Cutoff is above 2KHz, and VCF EG AMOUNT is non-zero, then I get nasty thumps - did not expect THAT.
VoyagerEB, Minitaur, LittlePhattyII, 4xSlimPhatty, Sub37, MF[2x101,2x102,103,104M,105,105B,105M,2x107,108M], 3xCP251, XV351, MP201;
2xMother 32, DFAM, Subharmonicon;
System 55 and Minimoog clones with lots of mods.

___ee___
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:39 pm

Re: Got my first Moog, the DFAM -- 2 newbie questions.

Post by ___ee___ » Sat Mar 13, 2021 8:38 pm

Thanks for the info.

I think I resolved the noise issue. I was running the signal through a Yamaha MG10XU which itself runs into and out of a PC at 96000hz setting via USB. I fiddled around a bit and tested it outside of that setup and got a much cleaner signal. Now, I'm back to the initial setup but am now running the signal through a high quality Yamaha stereo amplifier before it reaches the mixer at all. This has resulted in a cleaner overall signal and I wasn't noticing the low level noise anymore. I don't know if that's bc of the amplifier or a different set of cables I used or what, but at any rate, I feel reassured that it isn't an issue with the DFAM itself. I was getting a truly noticeable and unpleasant amount of ground noise patching in the Korg SQ-1, but I looked into that separately and that's a common and resolvable issue with the SQ-1 unrelated to the DFAM.

As to the other issue, I'll have to play around a little more patching into the Tempo. Thanks for clarification about the Trigger input, I misunderstood that one.

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