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offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2004-01-29 10:40 [#01053446]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag



Please can you help me with a question I have regarding
detuning on old analogue synths:

Please could you describe how pitch detuning sounds,
briefly? Presumably as they heat up (and get older) the
resistance of components increases which causes the
detuning. Does the detuning in the case of pitch cause pitch
waver, or always up or always down? Does the range of the
detuning increase over time? Is the typical quality of
detuning roughly the same in all old synths or does it
differ wildly? Any help appreciated, thanks.

In case you're interested, it's for a detuning patch I'm
making in Reaktor, with a view to perhaps working it into
something for graphical synthesis.


 

offline DeadEight from vancouver (Canada) on 2004-01-29 10:42 [#01053447]
Points: 5437 Status: Regular



ask ISAN, they'll know...


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2004-01-29 10:45 [#01053454]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to DeadEight: #01053447 | Show recordbag



Who're they?


 

offline DeadEight from vancouver (Canada) on 2004-01-29 10:48 [#01053459]
Points: 5437 Status: Regular



they're on morr... to my knowledge, all they use are vintage
analogue synths...

of course... this may be of no use, unless you can get a
hold of them through their webpage... but now that i think
about it... you probably can... yes... you definitely can...
http://www.isan.co.uk/about.htm


 

offline evolume from seattle (United States) on 2004-01-29 11:01 [#01053486]
Points: 10965 Status: Regular



on my roland Juno 106 it has a little tuning knob on the
back so i can correct the pitch. so i guess that has kind
of masked any natural detuning that might have occured.

i suppose that doesn't really answer your question but, it
does kinda suggest that the natural detuning of some vintage
synthesizers might be difficult to detect as it could be
easily masked by other sources.
but, there also must have been some motivation for Roland to
add a pitch knob, and the fact that it can change the pitch
up and down suggests that both directions of pitch change
might occur with time.
but yo, i don't know. i'm just speculating here...
also try www.vintagesynth.com
they have a lot of info on vintage synths.
if you haven't tried there already.


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2004-01-29 17:14 [#01054012]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag



Bump for the night owls.


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2004-01-29 17:28 [#01054020]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker



I was reading an article comparing the Arturia CS-80 to the
Yamaha synth it's emulating - seems the original was a huge
monster with built in fans that cooled the case unevenly,
and you had to tune the oscillators with a tiny fiddly screw
and it was completely fucked up. If you moved it you had to
tune it, if you turned it off and let it cool down you had
to tune it, so studios would just leave it on all the time.

Damn, can't find the article now...

Anyhoo the tuning drifted wildly and it was a mammoth pain
and no one at the time thought the detuning was quaint or
vintage or full of character. :D


 

offline hevquip from megagram dusk sect (United States) on 2004-01-29 18:56 [#01054088]
Points: 3397 Status: Lurker



one my synths that can actually detune themselves (both
korgs), i have a little sliders on the front that you can
use to adjust this. personally, mine never detune for the
time i use them. but they do has a low white noise emission
due to the age of the gear, but typically it's not too
noticeable. but sometimes if i feel like, i'll play with the
detune sliders.


 

offline The_Funkmaster from St. John's (Canada) on 2004-01-29 20:43 [#01054157]
Points: 16280 Status: Lurker



ummmm, yes, sure why not?


 

offline J Swift from United Kingdom on 2004-01-29 22:53 [#01054276]
Points: 650 Status: Regular



Yeah I've got a CS-60 - Which is a scaled-down CS-80 - Same
filters and oscillators and stuff though...

The detuning on a Juno or Jupiter isn't really very
noticable... But on the CS-60 is dramatic, and makes it
sound amazing!

Every oscillator is on a different board and they're all
completely doing their own thing...

It doesn't sound out of tune in the way you'd expect though
- It's just got a kind of emotional quality to the sound -
VERY BoC - Their pads and synths have every oscillator
detuned...

If I'm using a digital synth I'll often put an LFO on the
pitch of each oscillator, just very slow and subtle -
Ideally a bit random too - Can do that on my Roland module
and it works quite well... Still, not the same as the CS-60
- I don't know quite what's going on with that synth!


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2004-01-29 23:02 [#01054281]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to J Swift: #01054276



You mean it's unstable just to the point of being
interesting? Cool - I was under the impression that it
became unusable if you dropped a pencil three doors down.


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2004-01-29 23:23 [#01054297]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Show recordbag



this is the most interesting thread I've looked at in a
while. :) I wish I knew more about the oldschool giants.

Fleetmouse and Jswift = you guys are my heros!


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2004-01-29 23:23 [#01054298]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Followup to fleetmouse: #01054281 | Show recordbag



by the way, is that a bunny with flapjacks on it's head?


 

offline fleetmouse from Horny for Truth on 2004-01-29 23:27 [#01054300]
Points: 18042 Status: Lurker | Followup to Zephyr Twin: #01054298



That is Oolong the famous pancaek bunny.


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2004-01-29 23:35 [#01054305]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Followup to fleetmouse: #01054300 | Show recordbag



aww, that is the coolest bunny ever... im such a wuss when
it comes to these things.


 

offline E-man from Rixensart (Belgium) on 2004-01-30 01:17 [#01054373]
Points: 3000 Status: Regular



usually master tuning knobs or slider are there also for
correcting the pitch to play with other synths/instruments

it seems that on my ms-20 if you leave it play a note
forever the pitch will start to drop noticeably due to the
cheap nature of the osc..., paradoxaly they are also
renowned for being stable under normal use, go figure....

anyway, i think the problem (or quality:p) of detuning is
when their is more than one osc, if not you'll hear nothing,
maybe you'll notice that it is lower or higher than the
pitch at wich it should be


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2004-01-30 01:23 [#01054377]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag



Ta for the advice folks.

J Swift: Yes, I've emulated that effect by putting two
oscillators to the same setting and just altered the pitch
slightly on one- very nice "rich" sound.

E-man, I'm envious of your MS-20... great old machines. Have
you seen that softsynth version of it due out early this
year? I'm skeptical as to how accurately it'll reproduce the
sound.


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2004-01-30 02:08 [#01054419]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Ceri JC: #01054377 | Show recordbag



BTW Swift, I managed to get the Diamond Cup open on
F-Zero... trick is to accept you won't come first in every
race and not boost so much you crash/fly off the track. As
long as you come in the top 3 or so in most tracks you can
afford to even come 10th in one.


 

offline bogala from NYC (United States) on 2004-01-30 07:42 [#01054673]
Points: 5125 Status: Regular



it's called drift. detuning is like 1 to 2 semitones
difference. If you want a chorus have the oscillators at 3
or 5 note diferences. Like 400 is the fundemental, make the
second 405...For drift and random stuff use low frequency
noise oscillators. Tac them one to the oscillators. They
should drift too radically, though.


 

offline bogala from NYC (United States) on 2004-01-30 07:44 [#01054676]
Points: 5125 Status: Regular



shouldn't


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2004-01-30 07:59 [#01054698]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #01054419 | Show recordbag



the diamond cup is easy to unlock. ;)


 

offline J Swift from United Kingdom on 2004-01-30 10:38 [#01054891]
Points: 650 Status: Regular



Haha no way! I just unlocked the Diamond cup too! Did it
with this ship I built myself too...

Still totally stuck in story mode though! Although not tried
it for a little while...

I'm not too sure how accurately they'll be able to emulate
the MS-20 in software - I think the regular synth lead and
bass sounds will be pretty close - But I can't ever imagine
software being able to do those Aphex Classics style
pounding bass drums... The fx in the MS-20 are utterly
insane - When you get the high pass and low pass filters
both self-oscillating and crossing over, it's such a mad
uncontrollable sound...

And the MS-20 can produce such incredibly low frequencies -
Much lower than you'd think you could hear - Like where you
hear every individual click in a square wave.


 

offline Zephyr Twin from ΔΔΔ on 2004-01-30 10:40 [#01054894]
Points: 16982 Status: Regular | Followup to J Swift: #01054891 | Show recordbag



Story mode is so fuckin hard! I can't get past the 2nd
mission.. but unlocking/beating Diamond cup was no challenge
for me. ;)


 

offline J Swift from United Kingdom on 2004-01-30 10:41 [#01054898]
Points: 650 Status: Regular | Followup to fleetmouse: #01054281



Oh yeah, when I read about the CS synths originally I
thought tuning would be some kind of issue - Everyone seems
to rattle on about it - But the tuning instability just
makes a really interesting and rich sound... You have to
leave it a few minutes to warm up when you switch it on, but
after that it's really not a problem..

Boards of Canada take that detuned sound even further by
recording it down to tape and adding wow and flutter effects
- You listen to their synth sounds and they're actually
really simple - Just beautifully detuned - Sounds much more
organic.


 

offline J Swift from United Kingdom on 2004-01-30 10:43 [#01054901]
Points: 650 Status: Regular | Followup to Zephyr Twin: #01054894



Haha, I think me and Ceri are stuck on the third, or it
could be the forth? You've got to come first in this race
against 12 other nutters!

I'm sure there's something I'm missing...

Keep meaning to get back into Zelda - But I stopped playing
it cos I was just sailing around trying to find something to
do with myself...


 

offline Ceri JC from Jefferson City (United States) on 2004-01-30 11:31 [#01054955]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to J Swift: #01054891 | Show recordbag



Yep- The MS-20 Bass sounds on some of the tracks on Mr
Oizo's "Analog Worms Attack" are fantastic. Re story mode-
yep that jump race is the third one...


 

offline J Swift from United Kingdom on 2004-01-30 11:41 [#01054965]
Points: 650 Status: Regular | Followup to Ceri JC: #01054955



Yeah, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing he's using one of those
crazy Korg SQ-10 sequencers - RJ uses it quite a lot, it's
very recognisable cos you can sequence pitch, filter,
anything really, just with these dials...

That crazy noise loop on Wax The Nip sounds like an MS-20 &
SQ-10 - Sequenced noise filtering... You just can't get
stuff like that with anything else..


 

offline evolume from seattle (United States) on 2004-01-30 14:04 [#01055148]
Points: 10965 Status: Regular



i love intentional detuning; that sort of crashing sound you
can hear, i love that little whine. it reminds me of when i
was a kid and me and my sister would just scream really loud
at a high pitch and the harmonic crashing of our voices
would sound like a short-wave radio being tuned or like a
theramin.

know what i'm saying?


 

offline The_Funkmaster from St. John's (Canada) on 2004-01-30 15:10 [#01055211]
Points: 16280 Status: Lurker



ugh... my mind is gone to mush...


 


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