Subharmonicon - A different rhythm for each oscilator?

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Bork
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 22, 2022 8:17 am

Subharmonicon - A different rhythm for each oscilator?

Post by Bork » Sun May 22, 2022 8:36 am

I'm very new to modular and a have recently purchased a subharmonicon. I'm trying to get VCO 1 to play slowly while VCO 2 plays quickly.

What I'm trying:

Oscilators
VCO 1 - I have assigned OSC 1, SUB 1, and SUB 1 to SEQ 1
VCO 2 - I have assigned OSC 2, SUB 2, and SUB 2 to SEQ 2

POLYRHYTHMS
RHYTHM 1 is rotated all the way counter clockwise (~7 o'clock position) and SEQ 1 is pressed under RHYTHM 1.
RHYTHM 2 is rotated all the way clockwise (~5 o'clock position) and SEQ 2 is pressed under RHYTHM 2.

My issue
If I press SEQ 1 under rhythm 1 (the slow rhythm), VCO 1 plays slowly. However, then when I press SEQ 2 under rhythm 2 (the fast rhythm), I hear VCO 1 triggered each step of sequencer 2. I'm sure it's VCO 1 because it sounds the same and still happens with the volumes of VCO 2 turned all the way down.

Can I have sequencer 2 only trigger VCO 2?

Is there a way to do this through patching?

Bork
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 22, 2022 8:17 am

Re: Subharmonicon - A different rhythm for each oscilator?

Post by Bork » Tue May 24, 2022 12:08 am

I think a section of this article describes what I’m struggling with.

https://www.engadget.com/moog-subharmon ... 11051.html
Now, it’s important to note that the Subharmonicon is paraphonic -- which means the oscillators share a single amp envelope and filter envelope. So when the sequencer triggers one voice, both sound. This means you can’t really have a slowly plucked melody playing over a constantly thumping bassline without some patchbay trickery (or external modules). This is a shame, because being able to trigger the oscillators separately would open up whole new avenues for rhythmic exploration. But there are still plenty of opportunities for them to interact in interesting ways.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what “patchbay trickery” or external modules could be used to achieve this?

Oxix52
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2019 7:03 pm

Re: Subharmonicon - A different rhythm for each oscilator?

Post by Oxix52 » Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:26 pm

Yes, you are running in to the fact that it has only 1 VCF and 1 VCA for both oscillators. Even though there are 2 separate sequencers that can control the pitches of the 2 oscillators, those 2 sequencers still trigger only 1 envelope for the VCF and 1 envelope for the VCA. I just got my Subharmonicon, so I may be wrong, but I think the only way to do what you want is with at least an external VCA to route VCO 2 through. You would also need an external envelope to trigger that VCA independently of the internal VCA. You might also want an external mixer to combine VCO 2 with its subs before going in to this external VCA. You might even want an external VCF(and maybe associated external envelope) for VCO 2. As you can see, it can build up quickly, but that is part of the fun of modular. Like I said earlier, I may be wrong about this. Perhaps there is a way to patch most, if not all, of this with what is there. But I don’t see it yet if there is.

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