Slim Phatty poly chain

[jrm1]

First question - do you need a Little Phatty or can you chain together Slims without the keys version?

Second question - If you want to play chords with the poly chain, using the same patch sound coming from each Slim, is there an easy way to distribute the patch settings to each Slim, or do you have to do it all manually? Changing each Slim to a different patch is obviously a powerful idea, but just wondered if I just needed it to be a polysynth how that would work.

[deltaphoenix]

You can do it with just Slim Phattys, my second one just arrived, although I haven't polychained yet, I am going to calibrate them both today or tomorrow.
AFAIK, all the Phattys need the same patch in the same order to allow the "master" one to control them properly. You switch a patch on the master, say from #3 to #4, they all will go from patch #3 to #4. If you want different patches on each, that is fine.

[Stuka]

The Slim Phatty's can definitely be poly- chained just using a a MIDI controller. Of course, they can also be used along with the Little Phatty, and I believe with the Voyager, as well!

You might want to search the main Moog web site and check out some of the poly chain videos.
Also, there's some pretty good discussions about poly chains in these threads:

http://forum.moogmusic.com/viewtopic.ph ... 30#p121627

http://forum.moogmusic.com/viewtopic.ph ... 43#p119394
(There's a LOT of good info in that last thread!)

Phatty poly chains in general are VERY cool, and when running the synths into separate left/right panned inputs on a mixer, the auto-panning effects with the arpegiattors can be awesome! (albeit a bit temperamental at times...)

Well worth the cost and effort, IMHO!



Randy

[jrm1]

Thanks guys, that's really helpful info.

[8bit]

You can do it with just Slim Phattys, my second one just arrived, although I haven't polychained yet, I am going to calibrate them both today or tomorrow.
AFAIK, all the Phattys need the same patch in the same order to allow the "master" one to control them properly. You switch a patch on the master, say from #3 to #4, they all will go from patch #3 to #4. If you want different patches on each, that is fine.

Patches can be pushed from the master (number 1 of x) to all the poly-chained Phattys using the menu system. It's not necessary to pre-load the same patches on each before setting up the chain. I've pushed patches from my Little Phatty Stage II to the Slim Phatty via MIDI.

I just love the way changing a dial on the master, mirrors itself on all of the chained modules. It reminds me of the bridge of the Enterprise or a 1960's computer room with all the LEDs moving in unison like this.

[deltaphoenix]

Wow, that is cool

[weary]

From the Perry Willing of MoogTechSupport:
*Hook a MIDI cable from the Out port of the unit you want to transfer from to the In port on the unit you want to transfer to. (For example, if you want Little Phatty presets on your Slim Phatty, connect the Out port on the LP to the In port on the SP)
*On the LP, press Master and go to the Sysex Menu. Press Cursor and scroll to Send All Presets. Press Enter and select Yes, if necessary. This should send all LP presets to the SP.
*To restore the original presets on the SP, press Master and go to System Utilities -> Restore Factory."
I'm playing my 3 SlimPhattys poly chain by Voyager. This is awesome!!!

[jrm1]

Weary, your Moog rig looks like it must be incredible!

My Voyager turns up tomorrow. I played a few hours with the Phatty this afternoon and that was soooooooo inspiring, so I can only imagine what 3 of the beasts and a Voyager in the same studio must be like to play with...

[weary]

so I can only imagine what 3 of the beasts and a Voyager in the same studio

I will try to record something to make you understand what it is.
More over, controlling phattys by the Voyager is much more convinient, as Little Phatty, which i sold out last year. Voyager has a different knobs for each control parametr. For example, no need to press different buttons to change oscillators parametres, just turn the right knob - that`s it!
And the most powerfull - is that I have two MF-104 delays, one for the Voyager, and one for polychain. When they sound with different RATEs, the effect is so unbelievable, that tearing off the cab of my truck!

[weary]

A little DEMO of my polychain rack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMkQLH6ho1Q

[EMwhite]

That's pretty (very) awesome. I had no idea that the Voyager could map pots into the SP's especially, Octave switching.

Any plans to buy a fourth?

So I had a quick question for you... how well (or not) does the Poly glide/portamento work. I suppose (I'm guessing) that there is a model whereby the first key pressed can go to voice #1, 2nd to #2, etc. If that's the case will Poly always work like it should with no crossing of portamento slide?

Either way, even with [just] 3 voices, very awesome sound. I can only imagine what a full 8 voice of Moog Poly might sound like!

Thanks.

[weary]

That's pretty (very) awesome.

Glad to see that you like this. The video shows only a small portion of what can be done. I almost did not use the CP-251, and with it you can do more in ten, or even a hundred times.

Any plans to buy a fourth?

Yes, maybe even a fifth. Poly chain is a very powerful tool with mad potential. I think, this is the most interesting synth of all new, with a lovely soft sound. Slim Phattys are fully revealed in PolyChain mode.

So I had a quick question for you... how well (or not) does the Poly glide/portamento work. I suppose (I'm guessing) that there is a model whereby the first key pressed can go to voice #1, 2nd to #2, etc. If that's the case will Poly always work like it should with no crossing of portamento slide?

GLIDE works not well. I will try to explain why. When taking a note, for example, on the Slim Phatty #1, GLIDE will start from a note, which was played exactly on Slim Phatty #1, but not chronological. That is, if you play chords - more or less normally. But if you play the notes in a different sequences, GLIDE works very badly. I hope you understand what I mean in a written.

I had no idea that the Voyager could map pots into the SP's especially, Octave switching.

I know that on youtube almost no videos that demonstrate the capabilities of the Poly Chain. So, I think you all can write here any wishes, whatever you want to see or hear in my Poly Chain and other gear. And at the end of the week I will record a new video, which will show all that you want. How do you like the idea?

[cbright9]

I have a Little Phatty, and Im thinking of getting a Slim Phatty here pretty soon. I have a few questions though.

1. Suppose I don't want the Little Phatty to control the Slim Phatty other than the notes? For instance I want to tune the LP's 2 OSCs to something completely different from the SP's? Can I do that? Or say i want to sweep the cutoff on the LP but not the SP? I guess Im asking is it possible to keep the LP's knobs from altering the SP's settings?

2. Is there a setting to keep the LP playing the lower register notes and the SP playing the higher register notes? At GC today I set their LP and SP up in the manner I would if I owned a SP and it seemed like something funny was going on. Like my playing was off or something, I didn't have much time to trouble shoot what was going on but it seemed like something that would trouble me if I owned them both.

Not many people talk negative about Moog products on the forum and thats a testament to the quality of their devices, but does anyone have any negative sides to the Phatty chain?

Thanks in advance,
Clinton

[Stuka]

I have a Little Phatty, and Im thinking of getting a Slim Phatty here pretty soon. I have a few questions though.

1. Suppose I don't want the Little Phatty to control the Slim Phatty other than the notes? For instance I want to tune the LP's 2 OSCs to something completely different from the SP's? Can I do that? Or say i want to sweep the cutoff on the LP but not the SP? I guess Im asking is it possible to keep the LP's knobs from altering the SP's settings?

2. Is there a setting to keep the LP playing the lower register notes and the SP playing the higher register notes? At GC today I set their LP and SP up in the manner I would if I owned a SP and it seemed like something funny was going on. Like my playing was off or something, I didn't have much time to trouble shoot what was going on but it seemed like something that would trouble me if I owned them both.

Not many people talk negative about Moog products on the forum and thats a testament to the quality of their devices, but does anyone have any negative sides to the Phatty chain?

Thanks in advance,
Clinton

Hey Clinton -
Welcome to the forum!

Lots of good LP / SP poly-chain info here:
http://forum.moogmusic.com/viewtopic.ph ... 43#p119394

There's also a LOT of good updated info in the LP OS v3.1 addendum that's not not covered in the original owners manual. I don't think it's posted on their web site (not sure why), but you should be able to get a copy straight from Moog. (A paper copy should also be in the box with the SP). If you plan to poly-chain, you really should get the addendum!

One of the other things covered in the addendum is how the control filters can be set up for MIDI output on the LP and SP. You can actually set up the LP to do just what you are talking about - send notes, but filter out other MIDI messages.

The Phatty's are not setup to support splitting and assigning the MIDI output across specific note ranges. The poly-chain will send different notes of a chord and arpeggio to different synths in the chain, so you could in essence "force" the second note of a chord into a different range on the second synth with your playing technique, but there aren't any options to specify that a specific synth in the chain always plays in a specific range ~ you would need a MIDI processor between your synths to accomplish that.

As far as the LP / SP combos not sounding right in the store, I would be willing to bet the synths were either out of tune (probable if they weren't given enough time to warm up), or needed to be run through the calibration routines. I have a LP and two SP's, and collectively they sound like crap when first turned on. However, when warmed up (and now that I have run the calibration routine on all three), they sound like one big machine with six in-tune oscillators.

On the negative side, I am finding that the LP / SP poly-chain can be a bit temperamental at times, especially if trying to change ARP patterns or clock timing after a poly-chain is already active. But "quirks" aside, I really do think the Phatty poly-chains are worth the expense and extra effort it might take to get to get it going ~ the end result is VERY cool!!

Randy

[Vsyevolod]

Very nice videos Weary! I'm glad that you are pushing through all the obstacles in your way to getting this system set up and sharing it with us. I agree, there are not enough people doing this kind of work and sharing videos of it... I guess it's easier to sit in front of your computer and complain about Moog not making any Polyphonic synths... And yet, you have done just that!

спасибо!

Stephen




.