The Moog Subharmonicon has a very fun pair of sequencers with 4 clocks that make overlapping rhythms. You can patch the 4 clocks, reset, play, tempo and trigger with CV, so lots of potential for time-based jiggery pokery!
11:40- 12:10... is exactly what I like to think Dave Smith pictured in his head before designing his complex and unique routings underneath the hoods of his best synths. You have a gift of really pushing the mechanics side of a synth into a musically pleasing instrument, that's both expressive and dynamic. I love your videos and hope to see many more.
The Mono Evolver was one of my first synths I ever bought. The fact you bring up the clock manipulation within the first 30 seconds is dang cool. Very overlooked feature. These Poly Evolver vids have been bringing me back to like 2006. Really have enjoyed them.
There's a lot to enjoy here, some of which I can imagine applicable to a midi controlled combination of instruments, like most people I don't have a Poly Evolver. What interests me most here is the conservation of a robotic underlying chain of events which in spite of all the changing patterns, plods away underneath, which I like very much. Clearly, the imposition of arbitrary rules upon for instance length of repeating phrases is relatively common on recent multi lane sequencers and of course such things can be done in a DAW but the delightful and sometimes lumpy accidents that can occur are not palatable to some musician and more conventional counterpoint is used instead.
I have ZERO interest in synths, but i've been watching your channel religiously because the passion you exude while talking about your instruments is inspiring. Keep up the good work, my friend!
Dear lord that line at 07:55 🤘Made me switch tabs and rewind haha. You should seriously consider putting some chiptune or keygen on spotify! And you're not kidding that sequencer is sick when you combine it with the hands on controls and that stereo hack.
The sequence evolves beautifully with the timbres and variation you develop on top of it ... but when you start to jam over it, that sounds so fantastic.
Very cool Jameson. I do remember getting my Mono Evolver . A few days later those knobs stopped or started jumping. They sent me deoxit to open the Evolver and apply it. I was furious man. It was 1200 I spend and it was doing that. They asked me if I want a new knob board? It would be 350.00. Also I had Mopho desktop to pair it. It was just a bad experience. When deoxit did work, the step sequencer sang, you can make it animate and sing lol. By 2013, I sold it because I gave up making music and I used that money for my Hawaii trip.
Nice video. I do something similar with the step LFO's on Hydrasynth (which can be configured as step sequencers). modulating the rate of them via other LFO's etc and you have 5 to play with.
Apparently the REV2 has a polyphonic sequencer AND a separate "mod" sequencer that's at least partially inspired by this lineage. Does anybody know how they compare?
The Buchla Music Easel is able to modulate the clock ("pulser" in Buchla speak) in similar ways. Sometimes I like to use the modulation oscillator as an sawtooth LFO to modulate the pulser which creates an interesting rising/falling effect. You're also able to do the same with the sequencer-and any CV source really.
Oh man, you just totally got me back into my P8. I hate the sequencer for notes but I just kinda forgot about its mod source ability. Thanks for that. Be back in about 10 hrs.
I'd love a Poly Evolver. I have the mono desktop and it's a beast. The programming matrix front panel makes it a little less instant, but not too much and there's no menu to worry about. The only other synths I know of with the same sequencer features are all DSI. I also have the MoPho, but the Evolver is my favourite of the two. I'm looking forward to seeing more videos of the PolyEvolver! Thanks for sharing.
I love the Make Noize Strega, a lot of the Dreadbox stuff, the PWM Malvolent... all these really have their own voice and vibe... saddly none are as programable as the Evolvers.
You’re giving me some ideas about expanding my Polybrute patch design. I recently made a patch that modulated the BBD delay time in quantized intervals, making a pitch shifting effect between 5ths. I wonder if I can use the sequencer to add more complex sequencing of the delay time. The reason that this sound interests me as opposed to just a regular sequence is that it changes the whole timing of the sound (like sequencing a clock) and it adds a fun spontaneous flavor.
The Alesis Andromedas can have it’s clock modulated but it’s a somewhat different approach. Quote from the A6 manual “Some examples of A6 functions that rely on tempo are the Sequencer and the Arpeggiator. You can also slave modulation sources such as LFO rates and Envelope stages to the Clock when their timing needs to coincide with a song’s tempo. Normally, the A6’s LFOs run independently of the Clock as they have their own generators for RATE. The same applies to Envelopes whose stages are normally timed by their own circuitry. But when the need arises to synchronize one or more LFOs or Envelope stages to a common tempo, this is accomplished by slaving the desired destination to the Clock. Conversely, you can modulate the Clock’s tempo by an LFO or Envelope or any of the A6’s 71 modulation sources. This is accomplished using SYNC/MOD as described below.”
SH-101 changing internal LFO speed is great, I also like changing speed of DR-55 drum machine triggering it and you could also run another source into the clock input
A fav and heck well done for facing the polyEvolver head on, my monoEvolver is enough and I’ve been at it decades now. There are few users around me who use this as a mainstay of their rig. Now have you ever tried to map things externally as it’s not CC’s - I’d be interested to know.
Hear, hear! The Sequential guy in the other video said that the Evolver is the Smittiest synth Dave Smith ever made. Then they really have no other option than to reissue this blue monster with some tweaks here and there (mainly better oscillators and filters).
One disappointing thing about Prophet '08 is that it appeared 2 years after the PEK, has the same 4 sequencers but you can't record the sequence from the keyboard - instead spending a lot of time setting it up using knobs - and it lacks clock destinations. Don't quite understand why Sequential didn't add all these features considering that both synths are very similar in that regard.
I wonder if you can sequence the clock of the Pulsar 23. It feels like you could do everything with those alligator clamps and 5V 😁 You sounded like you really enjoyed playing with these glitched settings, glad you love what you're doing! I'm saving for a Nord Wave 2 right now where you can also assign everything to everything pretty much (already loved that in the Norand Mono), let's see where that leads me.
Yeah I would think the Pulsar could do it pretty easily. Good point! That’s one thing I love about stuff that uses cv. Tends to be more flexible at doing unorthodox things.
I rewatched that video (as now there's one of those ultra-rare racks available on Reverb) and if I understood it right, the reason for the Poly Evolver's crazy sounds is that you can modulate everything with everything in a bunch of different ways. Did you ever try out the Blackmagic Kijimi or the Norand Mono that have pretty much one LFO for every knob? At least the Norand does make very weird sounds in an instant even though it doesn't quite pack a punch in the low frequencies. Couldn't try the Kijimi yet as it's super expensive (and doesn't have stereo effects 😭).
i feel like you would get a lot from eurorack... if you want to modulate a clock, and use that to sync sequencers or other LFOs or such, you can absolutely do that
If I understand your question correctly, unfortunately the Poly Evolver’s sequencer can only sequence one voice at a time. You can sort of get around this by using combo mode which can essentially split each voice into its own mono evolver. That would give you a 4 part sequencer per voice and allow you to sequence all 4 voices independently.
A good and cheaper alternative, for modding the Sequencer lanes tho the Clock could be the Korg Modwave. The Synth is also capable of routing almost anything from anywhere.
@@JamesonNathanJones I Love it, but it have a bit of a steep learning curve. The best way (for me at least), is to hook it up to a Computer, for better overwiev, while still using the Knops and Controls on the Hardware.
@@JamesonNathanJones ah ok... then, even though it does not have a dedicated sequencer, the Hydrasynth can do it with its LFOs used in sequencer mode. You can even make the LFOs trigger envelopes, etc. It can get really complex in a good way. Modulate the rate of a sequencer LFO with another LFO, while triggering separate looping envelopes with each LFO.
That’s wild this synth is now like $4k on Reverb. Guess i’ll stick with my PX and Pro 2, both of which have cool modulation capabilities. (Pro 2 has an insane step sequencer too, even more flexible than on the Pro 3)
“I don’t make synthesizer I play them”. And you play them really really really well!!! But in the bokeh behind you is a nice massive euro rack that you patched. Sure you didn’t design the modules (I’m guessing) but creating that signal path in my book is creating a synth! The VCOs/DCOs filters, enveloped and sequencers are generally fairly simple circuits. Take that from an EE/CS 😂 It’s the creation of the signal path where the real creative engineering takes place. I do at some point want to make my own synth modules. But in strapped for space and time (not in the quantum sense). So I guess when I retire 17 more years (not counting days, just months 😂) I’ll start at it.
Can’t the ASM Hydrasynth go to this sort of territory? There are five LFOS: each can be a step sequencer (max 64 steps) and each LFO can have it’s rate modulated?
So neat!!! Glad i still have my PEK 😃🕺🏼… btw this is all still only in a PROGRAM mode; PE is capable of playing back 4 programs at the same time in COMBO mode (… even though implementation is not that user friendly)
It seems like just a firmware update can achieve it. I do love my Pro 3. I can get it auto play with some tricks, but it's all the same clock speed. It would really be more interesting if it can auto adjust that too.
Way back when I had a PolyEvolver Keyboard and a PE Rack for 8 voices. Sold them for the Prophet '08; HUGE mistake. Love the "Fiilter". Best thing DSI did until they came out with the Prophet 6.
It sounds like you have the detented version of the encoders. I replaced these myself this last year and was a little depressed that to edit the mod parameters it takes like 3-4 clicks to make changes. Does yours do the same thing?
I am so into getting this shifting clock sound, and have found very few straightforward ways of doing it. If someone made a small midi box that had a basic (even 101 style!) sequencer and arpeggiator on it with a built in digital LFO that could affect the clock I would throw my money right at them. Is there even a software solution for this? Seems so the way to go for the kind of organic-sounding ambient music and looper music that’s so en vogue
Not sure about a software solution, but it is one of my favorite things about clocks in the modular world. It’s just another thing that can be manipulated by cv.
For software, you could probably create sequence patches in cardinal or vcv rack, and route the output to anything you wanted to trigger in software or externally via midi.
Great video man, keep it up. If you want to see the train-wreck that occurs when someone is inspired by your videos to make their own, look up "Wireless Arturia Keystep"...
The Moog Subharmonicon has a very fun pair of sequencers with 4 clocks that make overlapping rhythms. You can patch the 4 clocks, reset, play, tempo and trigger with CV, so lots of potential for time-based jiggery pokery!
Modulating Clock as a sequencer destination?!
THIS IS MADNESS 😍
11:40- 12:10... is exactly what I like to think Dave Smith pictured in his head before designing his complex and unique routings underneath the hoods of his best synths. You have a gift of really pushing the mechanics side of a synth into a musically pleasing instrument, that's both expressive and dynamic. I love your videos and hope to see many more.
This is getting into modular territory. Killer synth. I always like the Evolver’s sound. Never seen the poly. Great vid.
The Mono Evolver was one of my first synths I ever bought. The fact you bring up the clock manipulation within the first 30 seconds is dang cool. Very overlooked feature. These Poly Evolver vids have been bringing me back to like 2006. Really have enjoyed them.
Thanks man! It seems like your kind of synth for sure :)
There's a lot to enjoy here, some of which I can imagine applicable to a midi controlled combination of instruments, like most people I don't have a Poly Evolver. What interests me most here is the conservation of a robotic underlying chain of events which in spite of all the changing patterns, plods away underneath, which I like very much. Clearly, the imposition of arbitrary rules upon for instance length of repeating phrases is relatively common on recent multi lane sequencers and of course such things can be done in a DAW but the delightful and sometimes lumpy accidents that can occur are not palatable to some musician and more conventional counterpoint is used instead.
Hot diggity - that outro sequence at 14:12 is beyond beautiful **chef's kiss**
Thanks!
I have ZERO interest in synths, but i've been watching your channel religiously because the passion you exude while talking about your instruments is inspiring. Keep up the good work, my friend!
Soon you will... Lol
Dear lord that line at 07:55 🤘Made me switch tabs and rewind haha. You should seriously consider putting some chiptune or keygen on spotify! And you're not kidding that sequencer is sick when you combine it with the hands on controls and that stereo hack.
Would love to hear your take on the Korg WaveState or ModWave
The sequence evolves beautifully with the timbres and variation you develop on top of it ... but when you start to jam over it, that sounds so fantastic.
A truly beautiful final piece of music! Gorgeous synth sounds and "living" sequence. I love this piece!
Very cool Jameson. I do remember getting my Mono Evolver . A few days later those knobs stopped or started jumping. They sent me deoxit to open the Evolver and apply it. I was furious man. It was 1200 I spend and it was doing that. They asked me if I want a new knob board? It would be 350.00. Also I had Mopho desktop to pair it. It was just a bad experience. When deoxit did work, the step sequencer sang, you can make it animate and sing lol. By 2013, I sold it because I gave up making music and I used that money for my Hawaii trip.
Nice video. I do something similar with the step LFO's on Hydrasynth (which can be configured as step sequencers). modulating the rate of them via other LFO's etc and you have 5 to play with.
Ah cool. I think I’ve done something similar with the Iridium before. Good tip 👍
Apparently the REV2 has a polyphonic sequencer AND a separate "mod" sequencer that's at least partially inspired by this lineage. Does anybody know how they compare?
The Buchla Music Easel is able to modulate the clock ("pulser" in Buchla speak) in similar ways. Sometimes I like to use the modulation oscillator as an sawtooth LFO to modulate the pulser which creates an interesting rising/falling effect. You're also able to do the same with the sequencer-and any CV source really.
Oh man, you just totally got me back into my P8. I hate the sequencer for notes but I just kinda forgot about its mod source ability. Thanks for that. Be back in about 10 hrs.
Great video, this synth looks wonderful.
As a Blofeld and Modwave programmer, I would love the Poly Evolver.
Ohhh that sounds just absolutely gorgeous!
Thanks!
I'd love a Poly Evolver. I have the mono desktop and it's a beast. The programming matrix front panel makes it a little less instant, but not too much and there's no menu to worry about.
The only other synths I know of with the same sequencer features are all DSI. I also have the MoPho, but the Evolver is my favourite of the two.
I'm looking forward to seeing more videos of the PolyEvolver!
Thanks for sharing.
Great demonstration 👽👍
10:58 “it’s weird and it’s hard to explain”. Basically how I describe my poly to my friends.
Should be at the top of the manual 😂
Fully agree. Most modern synths have fully digital control and sequencers, so it should be absolutely possible to do this.
I love the Make Noize Strega, a lot of the Dreadbox stuff, the PWM Malvolent... all these really have their own voice and vibe... saddly none are as programable as the Evolvers.
This was awesome and very helpful, big thanks!!
lovely
Sounds really beautiful! Great technique to get a less linear sequencer! :D
Thank you!
snagged one for 1800 during covid. man what a beast.
You’re giving me some ideas about expanding my Polybrute patch design. I recently made a patch that modulated the BBD delay time in quantized intervals, making a pitch shifting effect between 5ths. I wonder if I can use the sequencer to add more complex sequencing of the delay time. The reason that this sound interests me as opposed to just a regular sequence is that it changes the whole timing of the sound (like sequencing a clock) and it adds a fun spontaneous flavor.
The Alesis Andromedas can have it’s clock modulated but it’s a somewhat different approach.
Quote from the A6 manual “Some examples of A6 functions that rely on tempo are the Sequencer and the Arpeggiator. You can also slave modulation sources such as LFO rates and Envelope stages to the Clock when their timing needs to coincide with a song’s tempo. Normally, the A6’s LFOs run independently of the Clock as they have their own generators for RATE. The same applies to Envelopes whose stages are normally timed by their own circuitry. But when the need arises to synchronize one or more LFOs or Envelope stages to a common tempo, this is accomplished by slaving the desired destination to the Clock.
Conversely, you can modulate the Clock’s tempo by an LFO or Envelope or any of the A6’s 71 modulation sources. This is accomplished using SYNC/MOD as described below.”
Can't say I understood everything, but the chords were very cool. I enjoyed the video.
Blue synths are best synths! 💙
SH-101 changing internal LFO speed is great, I also like changing speed of DR-55 drum machine triggering it and you could also run another source into the clock input
Dave Smith forever and always. ❤
Thanks for another great vid, always inspiring.
also 100% agreed about the output hack routing being preferable the other way round, seems much more useful
A fav and heck well done for facing the polyEvolver head on, my monoEvolver is enough and I’ve been at it decades now. There are few users around me who use this as a mainstay of their rig.
Now have you ever tried to map things externally as it’s not CC’s - I’d be interested to know.
I’ve had my PolyEvolver since it came out in ‘04. I’ve got serial #14 and I will not part with it. Nothing else like it exists.
Agreed!
Man this wild , when I heard it after you start planning it my mind just screaming 8bit
That bass at 14:40 😮💨
If the Pro 3 is any indication I really Hope we see a new Evolver style poly synth from Sequential. Two VCOs and two Wavetable oscillators.
Same!
Hear, hear! The Sequential guy in the other video said that the Evolver is the Smittiest synth Dave Smith ever made. Then they really have no other option than to reissue this blue monster with some tweaks here and there (mainly better oscillators and filters).
@@montecoucou53 And more polyphony lol
One disappointing thing about Prophet '08 is that it appeared 2 years after the PEK, has the same 4 sequencers but you can't record the sequence from the keyboard - instead spending a lot of time setting it up using knobs - and it lacks clock destinations. Don't quite understand why Sequential didn't add all these features considering that both synths are very similar in that regard.
Soma's Pulsar 23 can manipulate its clock in various ways
I wonder if you can sequence the clock of the Pulsar 23. It feels like you could do everything with those alligator clamps and 5V 😁 You sounded like you really enjoyed playing with these glitched settings, glad you love what you're doing! I'm saving for a Nord Wave 2 right now where you can also assign everything to everything pretty much (already loved that in the Norand Mono), let's see where that leads me.
Yeah I would think the Pulsar could do it pretty easily. Good point! That’s one thing I love about stuff that uses cv. Tends to be more flexible at doing unorthodox things.
I rewatched that video (as now there's one of those ultra-rare racks available on Reverb) and if I understood it right, the reason for the Poly Evolver's crazy sounds is that you can modulate everything with everything in a bunch of different ways.
Did you ever try out the Blackmagic Kijimi or the Norand Mono that have pretty much one LFO for every knob? At least the Norand does make very weird sounds in an instant even though it doesn't quite pack a punch in the low frequencies. Couldn't try the Kijimi yet as it's super expensive (and doesn't have stereo effects 😭).
Appreciate your vidz 😎
hello do you know how to delete a preloaded sequence on the mono evolver?
what are the implications of this video for the mono evolver keyboard? can it also sequence the clock? etc
i feel like you would get a lot from eurorack... if you want to modulate a clock, and use that to sync sequencers or other LFOs or such, you can absolutely do that
Love eurorack for this reason and more :)
I own monoEvolver and it's a fabulous monophonic synth. I'd like buy a polyEvolver 💕 Could you program a preset with a polyphonic sequence ? Thanks
If I understand your question correctly, unfortunately the Poly Evolver’s sequencer can only sequence one voice at a time. You can sort of get around this by using combo mode which can essentially split each voice into its own mono evolver. That would give you a 4 part sequencer per voice and allow you to sequence all 4 voices independently.
@@JamesonNathanJones ok. No chords possible but 4 Mono that play together
A good and cheaper alternative, for modding the Sequencer lanes tho the Clock could be the Korg Modwave. The Synth is also capable of routing almost anything from anywhere.
Ah forgot about that one! I did try it but never quite got along with the UI. Sounded amazing though.
@@JamesonNathanJones I Love it, but it have a bit of a steep learning curve.
The best way (for me at least), is to hook it up to a Computer, for better overwiev, while still using the Knops and Controls on the Hardware.
The Matriarch can do it. The sequencers rate input is a CV input, not clock. Just plug the sequencer's CV output into its Rate input :)
For sure. One of my favorite features of cv clocks :) I was thinking synths with digitally controlled clocks. Pretty rare in those cases.
@@JamesonNathanJones ah ok... then, even though it does not have a dedicated sequencer, the Hydrasynth can do it with its LFOs used in sequencer mode. You can even make the LFOs trigger envelopes, etc. It can get really complex in a good way. Modulate the rate of a sequencer LFO with another LFO, while triggering separate looping envelopes with each LFO.
That’s wild this synth is now like $4k on Reverb. Guess i’ll stick with my PX and Pro 2, both of which have cool modulation capabilities. (Pro 2 has an insane step sequencer too, even more flexible than on the Pro 3)
“I don’t make synthesizer I play them”.
And you play them really really really well!!! But in the bokeh behind you is a nice massive euro rack that you patched. Sure you didn’t design the modules (I’m guessing) but creating that signal path in my book is creating a synth! The VCOs/DCOs filters, enveloped and sequencers are generally fairly simple circuits. Take that from an EE/CS 😂 It’s the creation of the signal path where the real creative engineering takes place.
I do at some point want to make my own synth modules. But in strapped for space and time (not in the quantum sense). So I guess when I retire 17 more years (not counting days, just months 😂) I’ll start at it.
Can’t the ASM Hydrasynth go to this sort of territory?
There are five LFOS: each can be a step sequencer (max 64 steps) and each LFO can have it’s rate modulated?
So neat!!! Glad i still have my PEK 😃🕺🏼… btw this is all still only in a PROGRAM mode; PE is capable of playing back 4 programs at the same time in COMBO mode (… even though implementation is not that user friendly)
Sequencing clock is the IDM secret weapon.
Adjust the clock... you have a eurorack over there. That's what they make clock divider/multipliers for.
I was referring to self contained synths with digitally controlled clocks. This video isn’t about eurorack.
It seems like just a firmware update can achieve it. I do love my Pro 3. I can get it auto play with some tricks, but it's all the same clock speed. It would really be more interesting if it can auto adjust that too.
Way back when I had a PolyEvolver Keyboard and a PE Rack for 8 voices. Sold them for the Prophet '08; HUGE mistake. Love the "Fiilter". Best thing DSI did until they came out with the Prophet 6.
It sounds like you have the detented version of the encoders. I replaced these myself this last year and was a little depressed that to edit the mod parameters it takes like 3-4 clicks to make changes. Does yours do the same thing?
Jameson, you just wrote the next Radiohead album! Seriously!
new promotion !! for every 5000 subscribers Nathan will buy another synth
That’s likely to happen regardless, but sure!
I am so into getting this shifting clock sound, and have found very few straightforward ways of doing it. If someone made a small midi box that had a basic (even 101 style!) sequencer and arpeggiator on it with a built in digital LFO that could affect the clock I would throw my money right at them.
Is there even a software solution for this? Seems so the way to go for the kind of organic-sounding ambient music and looper music that’s so en vogue
Not sure about a software solution, but it is one of my favorite things about clocks in the modular world. It’s just another thing that can be manipulated by cv.
I think you can change the length of individual steps in Logic’s step sequencer…
For software, you could probably create sequence patches in cardinal or vcv rack, and route the output to anything you wanted to trigger in software or externally via midi.
I have the MEK, he's very cartoonish and aggressive.
Great video man, keep it up. If you want to see the train-wreck that occurs when someone is inspired by your videos to make their own, look up "Wireless Arturia Keystep"...
Might just do that 👀
I almost sold mine and then I watched this video .....
Meanwhile PE prices on Reverb…🚀
No, Synths are dangerous enough already. That Courser you fight at Greenetech Genetics is hard on Survival difficulty.
10/10 comment. Railroad forever.