FreqBox X Minitaur X Bit Commander
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:03 pm
Let me first preface this by saying that I have not been working with CV very long and I primarily make experimental hip-hop.
A while back I finally pulled the trigger and got me a Minitaur. I paired it with the Arturia Keystep, which to me is a match made in heaven. Before long it struck me that I had baught a FreqBox for my wife's synth rig years ago, which was now collecting dust in the closet. So I dusted it off, ordered some new patch cords, and started experimenting. Though I found many combinations to be a blast, eventually one combo stood out as most interesting for my music. I worked with that combo (I'll describe in a sec) for a while, but then I found that the Minitaur was so bright and clear that it was not melding with my sampler loops I accompany. So, I took a small risk that paid off huge, and got me a little Biyang Baby Boom reverb. After being totally obsessed with what I had put together, I started getting curious about the potential of a guitar synth pedal, so I went down a long rabbit hole of research that led me to Earthquake Devices Bit Commander.
My signal path explained: I run the mono audio output of the Minitaur to the Bit Commander to the FreqBox, then run the oscillator out of the FreqBox to the audio in of the Minitaur. I then run the headphone out of the Minitaur to the stereo in of the reverb pedal. Then the reverb pedal and the Freqbox audio outs get run to seperate channels on a little minimixer. I keep all this in the same case with my sampler rig, which consists of a Roland SP404SX and a Korg KP3.
The result of all this is that I have a Moog/verb dominated volume knob, and a bit/freq dominated volume knob, to the extent that it functions like two synths in unison. One side is focused on soft atmospherics, and the other side is focused on harsh noise. Before introducing the Bit Commander, I was just letting the audio output of the Freqbox go to waste, so now it's like something has awoken.
OK, so now I am getting curious if I am leaving more untapped potential on the table in regards to the possibilities with the CV on these two Moog units. Initially when I got the Moogerfooger for my wife, she was using it to create a second synth layer when she played her Roland Gaia. It worked and sounded great, but that was years ago and we don't recall the CV cable arrangment that makes the FreqBox match the pitch of the input signal. Part of me feels like that's what I'm already doing, but I could have sworn we had to use one extra cable to patch the FreqBox back into itself. Can anyone tell me what I am doing? It sounds totally incredible to me, but I know with CV there are certain things that are just flat out wrong and dangerous to my gear.
Can anyone explain some of the technical aspects of sending an oscillator out to an audio in, and what the cord set-up in general is most ideal to make the FreqBox's oscillator match the pitch of the input signal?
A while back I finally pulled the trigger and got me a Minitaur. I paired it with the Arturia Keystep, which to me is a match made in heaven. Before long it struck me that I had baught a FreqBox for my wife's synth rig years ago, which was now collecting dust in the closet. So I dusted it off, ordered some new patch cords, and started experimenting. Though I found many combinations to be a blast, eventually one combo stood out as most interesting for my music. I worked with that combo (I'll describe in a sec) for a while, but then I found that the Minitaur was so bright and clear that it was not melding with my sampler loops I accompany. So, I took a small risk that paid off huge, and got me a little Biyang Baby Boom reverb. After being totally obsessed with what I had put together, I started getting curious about the potential of a guitar synth pedal, so I went down a long rabbit hole of research that led me to Earthquake Devices Bit Commander.
My signal path explained: I run the mono audio output of the Minitaur to the Bit Commander to the FreqBox, then run the oscillator out of the FreqBox to the audio in of the Minitaur. I then run the headphone out of the Minitaur to the stereo in of the reverb pedal. Then the reverb pedal and the Freqbox audio outs get run to seperate channels on a little minimixer. I keep all this in the same case with my sampler rig, which consists of a Roland SP404SX and a Korg KP3.
The result of all this is that I have a Moog/verb dominated volume knob, and a bit/freq dominated volume knob, to the extent that it functions like two synths in unison. One side is focused on soft atmospherics, and the other side is focused on harsh noise. Before introducing the Bit Commander, I was just letting the audio output of the Freqbox go to waste, so now it's like something has awoken.
OK, so now I am getting curious if I am leaving more untapped potential on the table in regards to the possibilities with the CV on these two Moog units. Initially when I got the Moogerfooger for my wife, she was using it to create a second synth layer when she played her Roland Gaia. It worked and sounded great, but that was years ago and we don't recall the CV cable arrangment that makes the FreqBox match the pitch of the input signal. Part of me feels like that's what I'm already doing, but I could have sworn we had to use one extra cable to patch the FreqBox back into itself. Can anyone tell me what I am doing? It sounds totally incredible to me, but I know with CV there are certain things that are just flat out wrong and dangerous to my gear.
Can anyone explain some of the technical aspects of sending an oscillator out to an audio in, and what the cord set-up in general is most ideal to make the FreqBox's oscillator match the pitch of the input signal?