Suggestions for using S&H?

Christopher J. Boylan · Post by **Christopher J. Boylan** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:04 am

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:59 pm Post subject: Suggestions for using S&H?

I have a voyager, vx351 and cp 251.

I have had trouble understanding the concept of the sample and hold circuit. Can anybody give me an example of a few settings to try so I can hear what's going on, or ways to make the circuit useful?

Thanks
Chris

Chris, (from Chris!)
If you want to hear a great example of S&H being used to modulate the filter, listen to ELP's First Impression. The sound is used to seperate part one and part 2. I just know you've heard it... Greg Lake comes in on top of it with the lyric, "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends..."

Great Sound by Keith Emerson.

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:52 am

Man I don't know the specifics on how it works, but you can hear an example of how I use it if you go to the link at the bottom of my signature, and listen to the song "The Calm" I did that with the Moog, the Rhodes, and a Synsonics Pro drum machine.

It also can be heard on "Hellicopter"

If you like what you hear, please feel free to add us to your friends list or drop me a line and let me know what you thought about it.

(I normally don't do shameless plugs, but it is pertinent to the discussion)

hehe

Eric

GregAE · Post by **GregAE** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:46 am

Christopher J. Boylan wrote: If you want to hear a great example of S&H being used to modulate the filter, listen to ELP's First Impression. The sound is used to seperate part one and part 2. I just know you've heard it... Greg Lake comes in on top of it with the lyric, "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends..."

Great Sound by Keith Emerson.

Chris -

ELP is the best (Emo rules!) and that example you cited is perhaps one of the most well-known S&H sequence ever played, but the song isn't called First Impression. It's called Karn Evil 9, and it's on ELP's 1973 recording "Brain Salad Surgery".

There are three movements to Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, 2nd Impression, 3rd Impression). The 1st Impression was separated into two parts because the entire movement didn't fit on an album side (we're talking vinyl here). The 1st impression, Part 1 is the last song on side 1 of the album, and it fades out as Emo's modular kicks in with the familiar S&H filter modulation. The 1st Impression, Part 2 starts out on the second side with that same filter modulation fading in before Greg intones with the "Welcome back my friends..." lyric.

If you own a CD copy of Brain Salad Surgery (the most recent version was released on Rhino Records), you won't hear a fade out/fade in between Parts 1 & 2 because they were blended together when the CD was remastered.

A classic example of S&H, though. Good call!

DW · Post by DW » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:36 am

If you want to hear another great example of Sample & Hold in use, listen to Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein". It's the title track of the album. Near the end of the song (which is instrumental BTW) there is a break where you only hear Winter's ARP2600 playing a series of descending notes commonly known as staircase modulation:
You connect a low frequency sawtooth in the sample input of the sample & hold and connect the output of said sample & hold to the frequency input of one or more oscillators. You can also use an envelope instead of an LFO and adjust the attack decay and release times accordingly.

You can also hear this effect(faintly) at the beginning of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here."

Christopher J. Boylan · Post by **Christopher J. Boylan** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:00 pm

While we're on the subject of Sample and hold, does anyone know how I can get the keyboard to trigger the S&H ONCE (one single step) with each new keypress? That effect with multipal triggering is an awsome sound and so much fun to play. I just don't know how to do it on Voyager. Hopefully, I can do it WITHOUT having to buy any extra components.

Chris

EricK · Post by **EricK** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:48 pm

On the MicroMoog, there is a control that has like an auto function for the S&H or it can be set to activate it as long as a keyboard is depressed.

I don't know if this is a regular feature or not on the Voyager.

Christopher J. Boylan · Post by **Christopher J. Boylan** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:10 pm

I really wasn't very clear on what I was trying to do. I should have mentioned that I'm trying to get the S&H to alter the FILTER one step ("Vacili, give me a ping... one ping only please ...") each and every time you strike a key. New key - new filter (cut-off) position.

latigid on · Post by **latigid on** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:06 pm

Christopher-

You might try setting the LFO re-trigger to Keyboard and turning the rate down to its minimum. If you're playing really slow, maybe you could send a negative voltage to the LFO rate.

Or, why not patch KB Gate to S&H Gate?! (You'll need a VX-351.)

("Vacili, give me a ping... one ping only please ...")

Is that from "The Hunt for the Red October"?

Christopher J. Boylan · Post by **Christopher J. Boylan** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:23 pm