There's just something so beautiful and satisfying about the sound of patch cables going in and out of the 2600. I know it sounds strange, but it's really unique to the 2600's and I love it. I also really love the sounds of f*rearms being manipulated, slide racks, mads going in or dropped, shotg*ns being racked etc. Also big mechanical machines, click clack click clack, it's like asmr. I could fall asleep to an hour of just patching a 2600.
Excellent visual and audio demo, tried many of your examples and they worked perfectly. A great way to see if your unit is working properly as well. Thank you for the synth lesson!
Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge. So helpful to get into the concept of the B 2600 and synthesis in general. It's a real cool machine. Love the Mancunian sparkle btw ! :-) All the best.
@14:00 VCA: how about using the Voltage Processor’s Inverter to modulate the ADSR? (Can hardly wait to try this all on my Blue Marvin. Best Ring Mod discussion ever!)
Making modulation as interesting and entertaining, as you do, is always the sign of a very good teacher. Thank you for all of your videos on the 2600, they are priceless. Saludos from Valencia
Cheers, that was really helpful and easy to follow as always. I deliberately avoided watching videos on it for a while so I could suss it out myself as best I could and I am learning so much watching these.
Simply brilliant. I was somewhat lamenting the lack of a general-purpose VCA in the 2600 (as has the Korg MS-20), and there it was staring me right in the face! I should have thought of it, but didn’t. You presented it very clearly. It’s very interesting to compare the trade-offs of the two synths (2600 and MS-20) in terms of their design, routing, and normaling. Obviously, the 2600 is more sophisticated, but the MS-20 still has a lot of tricks up its sleeve. Thanks for the vids!
Ok, that last patch was *sick*, i played with the LFO and internal clock speeds (seems having the LFO on a lower setting than the clock produced better results), and hooked my MS-20 up and started jamming :). Good job!
This is a great explainer on ring mods potential uses. I have an MS-20 mini and this was insightful for many different hardware setups, in a broad sense.
Really enjoyed your tutorial. I’ve recently acquired a B 2600 after many years of focusing on music composition and much less on patching and experimenting. You’ve inspired me to start thinking outside of the box - something :I did more of in the dark, distant past when I was a teen playing with an EML 101 and 400. Fun stuff!
Haha, this is amazing! I got my 2600 today and was experimenting with the RM because I wanted to understand it. I got very confused, but after looking at the 2600 manual (ORIGINAL one, not Behringer's) I found the wave diagrams and realised that the pulse and saw waves were unipolar, and that this explained everything. And now I found your video, showing exactly what I'd just deduced. The algorithm is psychic...! So, if you want to use a bipolar saw or pulse wave in the ring mod in DC-coupled mode (to get particular modulation effects, for example), then I think you first have to subtract 5v from it using the voltage processor. I haven't tried this yet, but I assume it should work. This is also how you'd solve the problem you had at 13:40 when you got negative envelopes - you just have to patch the LFO through the voltage processor, I think, and add 5v to it. Then it will vary between nothing and positive.
I’ve another video on the voltage compressor demoing all that - might be a patreons only thing - but I’ve definitely made one. It’s a very misunderstood but extremely useful part of the synth.
Again, really excellent video. The best explanation of the ring mod I’ve seen. I’ve never really used it because I’v never really taken the time to understand it, but I certainly will now. One wish...I think you need different coloured patch cables so we can see at a glance what your patching is.
Brilliant!! Please do one on the S&H when you can, or show me a link to a good one :) This is my +/- 10th synth, and by far the most fun. It doesn't need a keyboard or sequencer. A real master of the 2600's many ways to speak could give any multi-channel arp a real run.....Rubato, I like to play rubato, darling, as one tempo is not enough to express my love...
This is great stuff!! I remember sitting in my local music shop for a demo of the original ARP 2600 by a traveling rep. I say front row and ate it up! And I REALLY don’t need another monosynth, but this will be the one I get whenever I give in…
Nice job as always. It would be groovy if you used colors for your patch cables. The single color can be hard to follow especially when the cable runs off screen or are twisted around each other.
Random observation: The original ARP manual says that the sine and triangle waves are at opposite phases, which means that if you mix them you get a triangle wave without its fundamental. I think this would be an interesting thing to try - both at audio and LF rates.
not at all difficult on an original 2600 or FS unit, in my experience, to "pick up [an attenuator potentiometer] and modulate"...//...their interface was scaled to the needs of human interaction, rather than to a price point that is a compromise between affordability and corpo profit margin. meaning there is more "resolution" at the human input level due to longer faders, actual fader caps, and spacing between attenuators. I performed an entire undergrad thesis doing so. but I do take your meaning, everybody wants more LFOs... great break down of this module's functionality! edit: processing the triangle with a rectifier would (I think) solve the negative/inverted half of the modulating waveform's period as applied to the EG, though it would effectively double the frequency of the LFO, so you would need to lower the frequency by an octave or, if you have no more room on the slider to go lower, find an additional module that will divide the frequency.
Square waves are generally 50 positive, 50 negative (but not always) - using this you can change it so that you don’t get the negative portion. If for example you used a sq to modulate a VCO tuning you could make it unipolar ie play a note and modulate it up eg an octave. To give a pseudo octave sequence. If bipolar you’d be modulating the same amount but +\~ 6 semitones.
Thanks for this instruction and demonstration of the ring mod on this synth. I’ve been wondering if I should stick with my plan of getting a few semi-modular synths instead of completely modular bits would still allow me to use the modules with other synths and external audio. This seems to show that I can. I’m exploring analog and modular at the moment and the 2600 is on my list of semi-modular synths. I just got an MS-20 and a K-2 (since they can interact or provide a stereo companion to each other’s mono) and a Model D, and I like the immediacy of the hands-on experience compared to the menu-diving of digital synths, which makes up for the lack of preset recall somewhat 😅
Nice tricks - a bit late here as I've just come across this video, but for using the ring mod as VCA to mimic sweeping the ADSR control, couldn't you apply a voltage offset using the voltage processor to just pass the positive values? I'm not in front of my 2600 at the moment, but that seems like it might work.
@@StarskyCarr even later :) but i was thinking the same. just shift the bipolar waveforms up so their lowest point is zero or higher, effectively making them unipolar.
It’s a mono signal fed into the reverb which creates a stereo signal... but I think L and R are simply inverted phase. So yes it’s a definite left and right signal and sounds stereo through a mixer etc... but they’re not unrelated completely distinct separate signals.
hi! great video's on these. question.... i have tried the exact same as you on the barp 2600 (mine is a blue Marvin which will make no difference lol). and get nothing. is there something that you are doing that we cant see? only difference, I've got a cheapish dynamic mic. thanks
Thanks.. no it’s just as simple as I demo. I wonder if the connectors in the mic are outputting anything. Sometimes going from xlr to tr can cause issues. Try putting the output of the preamp directly into one of the mixer inputs to see if there’s a signal.
thanks for getting back! it might be the mic. its a stereo 3.5. i can't try my other one as it needs 48v. would the stereo 3.5 make a difference? thanks
I know this synth was designed as a teaching tool but every time I look at one I feel so confused at the layout, patch points, everything. I think I should just buy one and figure it out myself :-)
It's actually quite simple once it clicks. I made a video describing the functions of the Odyssey for exactly this reason... I don't know why but they look so alien compared to other synths.
When the ARP 2600 was new, I was in college, learning to play the 10-foot wide Univ. of Washington Buchla 100. Back then, most of “us” knew how to wind diodes to make a ring mod, but I never made or heard the variety of sounds in this video. I’ll watch it a few more times. And, take notes!
i just got the 2600 and have it all hooked up via usb port on my mac and outputs into audio interface (using logic daw) . i can get tones out to daw and set up midi regions to trigger 2600 tones , i even made Dalek voice , thank you ;) ... great tutorial .. there are many great ones actually , but everyone forgets the part about how to actually set it up in the first place ... they just start playing cool stuff ... i cannot figure out why my midi keyboard will not trigger the 2600 as i play it in real time . what setting am i missing ??? i know it's gotta be something simple and i'm just missing it ... my keyboard works fine otherwise within the logic daw .. just not with 2600 .. anyone with any kind of hint , your help will be greatly appreciated .
Are you using MIDI rather than USB? And check the MIDI channel. The small switches in the rear of the 2600 determine the receiving channel. It’s normally set to 1 from the factory, but you may have nudged one of them.
@@StarskyCarr ... I am using just usb .. i figured it out though ... in logic i right clicked on midi instrument track i created , at the top it said reassign track , then choose midi instr. , then choose 2600 , then choose channel 1 ... now keyboard works in real time with 2600 ... i knew it would be simple , lol ... i really appreciate you taking the time to get back to me and the information you've shared here ... i'm super amped to experiment with my new toy ... i hope this also helps out anyone else too scared to ask questions that seem dumb .... THANK YOU.
When working with CV it acts like a VCA so modulating the LFO and ADSR will result in the magnitude of the output LFO changing with the ADSR. I demo that in here and have a demo called modulating the modulators on my Patreon which reinforces this.
Yes, it’s super simple once you understand the labelling. In fact you don’t have to do anything g! The standard rematches routing is labelled below each patch point. Simply replace that by patching something else in. The ADSR is already patched in to control the filter, and the ar is already controlling the VCA. Just turn up the faders for the amount of modulation you want.
@@StarskyCarr Thanks. In that way, I would loose the ability to shape the envelope of the VCA output (via AR or ADSR). Isn't that true? What I did yesterday was: 1. Routing the LFO output to the KYBD CV input, to be able to have a depth control. 2. Inverted output to the MULT input. 3. AR output to the MULT input. 4 MULT output to VCA ctrl input.
@@StarskyCarr I sold mine in 1998 to get an EML 101, a real synth!, I never liked it. Slow envelopes. Only the Moog filter was good, the rest way hyped. I prefer the Odyssey white face by far. So if the original was no good, imagine a chinavirus copy by Uli, that degenerate. Best!
There's just something so beautiful and satisfying about the sound of patch cables going in and out of the 2600. I know it sounds strange, but it's really unique to the 2600's and I love it. I also really love the sounds of f*rearms being manipulated, slide racks, mads going in or dropped, shotg*ns being racked etc. Also big mechanical machines, click clack click clack, it's like asmr. I could fall asleep to an hour of just patching a 2600.
Constantly figuring out why it's not exactly doing what I thought it would is why I love it. Every kid should have one.
one of the best synthesis explainers i’ve seen on youtube. good stuff man, thanks!
Excellent visual and audio demo, tried many of your examples and they worked perfectly. A great way to see if your unit is working properly as well. Thank you for the synth lesson!
Glad it was useful. Tanks for the feedback, always nice to hear when it hits the spot :)
Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge. So helpful to get into the concept of the B 2600 and synthesis in general.
It's a real cool machine.
Love the Mancunian sparkle btw ! :-)
All the best.
@14:00 VCA: how about using the Voltage Processor’s Inverter to modulate the ADSR? (Can hardly wait to try this all on my Blue Marvin. Best Ring Mod discussion ever!)
Thanks for such a nice walkthrough of ring modulation, behavior (and misbehavior) of waveforms, and how they relate. This is gold.
Spent half the day experimenting with these patches. Thankyou for the inspiration! The best description of DC that I've come across...
Great to hear! thanks.
Making modulation as interesting and entertaining, as you do, is always the sign of a very good teacher. Thank you for all of your videos on the 2600, they are priceless. Saludos from Valencia
Thats very nice to hear. Greetings from Liverpool :)
Excellent video Starsky!
Cheers, that was really helpful and easy to follow as always. I deliberately avoided watching videos on it for a while so I could suss it out myself as best I could and I am learning so much watching these.
Simply brilliant. I was somewhat lamenting the lack of a general-purpose VCA in the 2600 (as has the Korg MS-20), and there it was staring me right in the face! I should have thought of it, but didn’t. You presented it very clearly.
It’s very interesting to compare the trade-offs of the two synths (2600 and MS-20) in terms of their design, routing, and normaling. Obviously, the 2600 is more sophisticated, but the MS-20 still has a lot of tricks up its sleeve.
Thanks for the vids!
Glad you enjoyed it! Only just read this... so thanks and happy new year.
Ok, that last patch was *sick*, i played with the LFO and internal clock speeds (seems having the LFO on a lower setting than the clock produced better results), and hooked my MS-20 up and started jamming :). Good job!
These 2600 lessons are really good.
Thanks for sharing 😊
This is a great explainer on ring mods potential uses. I have an MS-20 mini and this was insightful for many different hardware setups, in a broad sense.
Really enjoyed your tutorial. I’ve recently acquired a B 2600 after many years of focusing on music composition and much less on patching and experimenting. You’ve inspired me to start thinking outside of the box - something :I did more of in the dark, distant past when I was a teen playing with an EML 101 and 400. Fun stuff!
Thanks... glad you found it useful.
@@StarskyCarr This evening, my wife’s commentary on the sounds I was making: “If insanity is a sound, that’s it.” 😠
@@Mike__G Haha,, its going well then :)
Haha, this is amazing! I got my 2600 today and was experimenting with the RM because I wanted to understand it. I got very confused, but after looking at the 2600 manual (ORIGINAL one, not Behringer's) I found the wave diagrams and realised that the pulse and saw waves were unipolar, and that this explained everything. And now I found your video, showing exactly what I'd just deduced. The algorithm is psychic...!
So, if you want to use a bipolar saw or pulse wave in the ring mod in DC-coupled mode (to get particular modulation effects, for example), then I think you first have to subtract 5v from it using the voltage processor. I haven't tried this yet, but I assume it should work. This is also how you'd solve the problem you had at 13:40 when you got negative envelopes - you just have to patch the LFO through the voltage processor, I think, and add 5v to it. Then it will vary between nothing and positive.
I’ve another video on the voltage compressor demoing all that - might be a patreons only thing - but I’ve definitely made one. It’s a very misunderstood but extremely useful part of the synth.
@@StarskyCarr Interesting! I'm going to be reviewing my Patreon budgets soon, so perhaps I might join :) Thanks for replying.
FANTASTIC! Will be using ALL of these ideas whenever I finally get my 2600!! You are BRILLIANT! Thanks so very much!! EXCITED!!
I got mine on Monday and boy it's a lot of synth and I'm a modular rookie
Excellent- have just bought a 2600 and want to try this
Great… let me know how you get on 😀
I love you for the Dalek voice
Again, really excellent video. The best explanation of the ring mod I’ve seen. I’ve never really used it because I’v never really taken the time to understand it, but I certainly will now. One wish...I think you need different coloured patch cables so we can see at a glance what your patching is.
I did think that half way through!! but I liked the colour scheme :). Maybe for the next one.
Brilliant!! Please do one on the S&H when you can, or show me a link to a good one :) This is my +/- 10th synth, and by far the most fun. It doesn't need a keyboard or sequencer. A real master of the 2600's many ways to speak could give any multi-channel arp a real run.....Rubato, I like to play rubato, darling, as one tempo is not enough to express my love...
Love the final rhythmic patch. Gonna try it today!
This is great stuff!! I remember sitting in my local music shop for a demo of the original ARP 2600 by a traveling rep. I say front row and ate it up!
And I REALLY don’t need another monosynth, but this will be the one I get whenever I give in…
Gray Meanie plus a rack of 100m modules like a few 182 and 172, maybe a 140, in a mixer case is very tempting.
On panning:patch reverb out into switch in, and the two outs to left and right output:”stereo reverb”
Nice job as always. It would be groovy if you used colors for your patch cables. The single color can be hard to follow especially when the cable runs off screen or are twisted around each other.
I just commented this but then deleted and decided to pile on to your comment haha mine was exactly the same. great tutorials though!
Random observation: The original ARP manual says that the sine and triangle waves are at opposite phases, which means that if you mix them you get a triangle wave without its fundamental. I think this would be an interesting thing to try - both at audio and LF rates.
Very informative video - I more or less know what ring mod is, and have a couple of ring mod modules, but I learned a bit from this video. I
OMG your Dalek is hilarious!!
What a great tutorial, thanks!!
There we go! Kudos! 😊
Great job thank you!
Can't wait until Behringer brings out their Booger Foogers!
not at all difficult on an original 2600 or FS unit, in my experience, to "pick up [an attenuator potentiometer] and modulate"...//...their interface was scaled to the needs of human interaction, rather than to a price point that is a compromise between affordability and corpo profit margin. meaning there is more "resolution" at the human input level due to longer faders, actual fader caps, and spacing between attenuators. I performed an entire undergrad thesis doing so. but I do take your meaning, everybody wants more LFOs...
great break down of this module's functionality!
edit: processing the triangle with a rectifier would (I think) solve the negative/inverted half of the modulating waveform's period as applied to the EG, though it would effectively double the frequency of the LFO, so you would need to lower the frequency by an octave or, if you have no more room on the slider to go lower, find an additional module that will divide the frequency.
minter :-) super work fella
14:00 you could use the square wave and slew it to get an always-positive result, is that correct? Isn’t the square wave always positive?
Square waves are generally 50 positive, 50 negative (but not always) - using this you can change it so that you don’t get the negative portion. If for example you used a sq to modulate a VCO tuning you could make it unipolar ie play a note and modulate it up eg an octave. To give a pseudo octave sequence. If bipolar you’d be modulating the same amount but +\~ 6 semitones.
Thanks for this instruction and demonstration of the ring mod on this synth. I’ve been wondering if I should stick with my plan of getting a few semi-modular synths instead of completely modular bits would still allow me to use the modules with other synths and external audio. This seems to show that I can. I’m exploring analog and modular at the moment and the 2600 is on my list of semi-modular synths. I just got an MS-20 and a K-2 (since they can interact or provide a stereo companion to each other’s mono) and a Model D, and I like the immediacy of the hands-on experience compared to the menu-diving of digital synths, which makes up for the lack of preset recall somewhat 😅
thank you so much again!
I fucking lost it 😂 this is brilliant😂
Haha... thanks.
Nice tricks - a bit late here as I've just come across this video, but for using the ring mod as VCA to mimic sweeping the ADSR control, couldn't you apply a voltage offset using the voltage processor to just pass the positive values? I'm not in front of my 2600 at the moment, but that seems like it might work.
If you get it to work let me know. I’m not in front of mine either, but I don’t think so… could easily have missed something though!
@@StarskyCarr even later :) but i was thinking the same. just shift the bipolar waveforms up so their lowest point is zero or higher, effectively making them unipolar.
Excellent!
Great! Would you mind sharing the reference of your xlr female to jack female adapter? I can’t find any so far :( Cheers!
Goobay 27453 XLR Adapter, 6.35mm AUX jack; female to XLR Female - on Amazon (U.K.)
@@StarskyCarr Thanks a lot! 👍
What brand these cables are, they look simple but fantastic !
Could you confirm whether the output is summed to Mono or is it true stereo - thanks
It’s a mono signal fed into the reverb which creates a stereo signal... but I think L and R are simply inverted phase. So yes it’s a definite left and right signal and sounds stereo through a mixer etc... but they’re not unrelated completely distinct separate signals.
hi! great video's on these. question.... i have tried the exact same as you on the barp 2600 (mine is a blue Marvin which will make no difference lol). and get nothing. is there something that you are doing that we cant see? only difference, I've got a cheapish dynamic mic. thanks
Thanks.. no it’s just as simple as I demo. I wonder if the connectors in the mic are outputting anything. Sometimes going from xlr to tr can cause issues. Try putting the output of the preamp directly into one of the mixer inputs to see if there’s a signal.
thanks for getting back! it might be the mic. its a stereo 3.5. i can't try my other one as it needs 48v. would the stereo 3.5 make a difference? thanks
"I can only apologize."💀
Is there a way to Clock Sync the Behringer 2600 ?
I know this synth was designed as a teaching tool but every time I look at one I feel so confused at the layout, patch points, everything. I think I should just buy one and figure it out myself :-)
It's actually quite simple once it clicks. I made a video describing the functions of the Odyssey for exactly this reason... I don't know why but they look so alien compared to other synths.
When the ARP 2600 was new, I was in college, learning to play the 10-foot wide Univ. of Washington Buchla 100. Back then, most of “us” knew how to wind diodes to make a ring mod, but I never made or heard the variety of sounds in this video. I’ll watch it a few more times. And, take notes!
i just got the 2600 and have it all hooked up via usb port on my mac and outputs into audio interface (using logic daw) . i can get tones out to daw and set up midi regions to trigger 2600 tones , i even made Dalek voice , thank you ;) ... great tutorial .. there are many great ones actually , but everyone forgets the part about how to actually set it up in the first place ... they just start playing cool stuff ... i cannot figure out why my midi keyboard will not trigger the 2600 as i play it in real time . what setting am i missing ??? i know it's gotta be something simple and i'm just missing it ... my keyboard works fine otherwise within the logic daw .. just not with 2600 .. anyone with any kind of hint , your help will be greatly appreciated .
Are you using MIDI rather than USB? And check the MIDI channel. The small switches in the rear of the 2600 determine the receiving channel. It’s normally set to 1 from the factory, but you may have nudged one of them.
@@StarskyCarr ... I am using just usb .. i figured it out though ... in logic i right clicked on midi instrument track i created , at the top it said reassign track , then choose midi instr. , then choose 2600 , then choose channel 1 ... now keyboard works in real time with 2600 ... i knew it would be simple , lol ... i really appreciate you taking the time to get back to me and the information you've shared here ... i'm super amped to experiment with my new toy ... i hope this also helps out anyone else too scared to ask questions that seem dumb .... THANK YOU.
Can you ring mod CV? Like the ADSR and the LFO?
When working with CV it acts like a VCA so modulating the LFO and ADSR will result in the magnitude of the output LFO changing with the ADSR. I demo that in here and have a demo called modulating the modulators on my Patreon which reinforces this.
lol @ 11:23 - 11:26 - epic!!!!
WE. ARE. THE SUPERIOR. BEINGS.
Hi @starsky! is there a way with the 2600 to achieve Amplitude Modulation for the VCA (trhough AR) and being able to use the ADSR for the filter?
I have tried routing the LFO to the ENV FOLLOWER, but not getting it
Yes, it’s super simple once you understand the labelling. In fact you don’t have to do anything g! The standard rematches routing is labelled below each patch point. Simply replace that by patching something else in. The ADSR is already patched in to control the filter, and the ar is already controlling the VCA. Just turn up the faders for the amount of modulation you want.
@@StarskyCarr Thanks.
In that way, I would loose the ability to shape the envelope of the VCA output (via AR or ADSR). Isn't that true?
What I did yesterday was:
1. Routing the LFO output to the KYBD CV input, to be able to have a depth control.
2. Inverted output to the MULT input.
3. AR output to the MULT input.
4 MULT output to VCA ctrl input.
@@dagamusik I must have misunderstood your comment as there's no need to patch anything to control the Filter with the ADSR and VCA with the AR.
Does anyone have an example where a ring mod is used in music, in a known song?
For Mash get Smash!😀
this + behrclaw (bucla) should be a nice combo
It seems that the Ext clock input is buggy
mine seems fine (I think), although I've not tested it to death.
Don't worry about the Dalek voices. If you're demonstrating a ring modulator then it's illegal NOT to do them.
Wizard level
Haha.. at last!!
Dalek!!!
Just use the S&H to generate a staircase to escape those pesky dustbins.
That’ll be in the next episode!! I’ll include Mario just for you.
you're supposed to say "i'm now speaking through a ring modulator" then change it and say "i'm now speaking through a ring modulator"
ruclips.net/video/wX9IJJLKt_Q/видео.html
The Dalek’s first directive forbids it. I MUST kiLl the DOCTOR I MUST EXTERMINATE
@@ErichNolanBertussi aaah not heard this before. Nice :)
@@StarskyCarr lmao! i feel this too. thank god i'm old enough to have grown up on curly haired b+w dr who too!
@@StarskyCarr I came across this video again today because i was looking for tips about my roland ef-303 which also has some ring modulatoring..
Use colered cable
Haha but it wouldn’t look so pretty. I’ve got full run throughs of how the patches were made on my Patreon site btw.
.
WTAF!?!?!
.
this toy sounds like a toy, not as an ARP.
nah. it's fine.
If you want to lend me your ARP I will see exactly how much it differs.😉
and you sound like an idiot or troll - you choose
@@StarskyCarr I sold mine in 1998 to get an EML 101, a real synth!, I never liked it. Slow envelopes. Only the Moog filter was good, the rest way hyped. I prefer the Odyssey white face by far. So if the original was no good, imagine a chinavirus copy by Uli, that degenerate. Best!
@@falangistavaleroso9689 I guess I’ll have to find someone else that’s actually got one now to find out how close they are... shame.