PATCH #5:
Earlier this year, Doepfer announced its new Basic System 3 (BS3), the latest in its line of complete, pre-configured Eurorack systems aimed at beginners, experts, explorers and purists alike.
To accompany the system, Doepfer — in collaboration with Stromkult — has designed a comprehensive Patchbook with fourteen different patch ideas for the BS3. Every patch comes with custom-made patch diagrams and a step-by-step-patching manual, making it easy for anyone to recreate and play with these patches.
While the patches were specifically designed for the BS3 and its configuration, most of the patches revolve around basic "building block" modules such as VCOs, VCFs, VCAs, mixers, envelope and LFOs and thus should be able to be recreated on a variety of systems — above all, we hope these patches may inspire you!
You can download the full PDF of the patchbook with all of the patches here (link goes to Google Drive).
Every individual patch is divided into an introductory overview of the patch, a section for the audio path, a section for the control voltage path and a final "play the patch" section with ideas on how the patch could be further tweaked and iterated upon.
PATCH OVERVIEW
This is a classic synthesizer “string” patch that uses two LFO-modulated pulse waves and a slow, gradually rising envelope. The sound passes through a modulated highpass filter to give it a bit more movement. There is also an additional modulation path for vibrato.
AUDIO PATH
For this patch, we make use of two pulse waves from our A-110-1 oscillators (one octave apart) that are patched into the first two inputs of the A-138 mixer.
The output of the mixer goes into the A-121-2. We use the highpass output, which goes into the A-108 filter and from there into the A-131 VCA, and then to our headphones or speakers.
CONTROL VOLTAGE PATH
We track our oscillators with keyboard/sequencer CV. The “CV1” input of the A-121-2 also receives CV for filter tracking.
The A-140-1 ADSR is triggered from our keyboard/sequencer gate and then goes to the A-131 to create a volume envelope. The ADSR has a very slow attack time to get a slowly rising, stringlike envelope.
With our A-147-4 dual VCLFO we can patch some additional modulations. The first LFO’s sine output goes to the A-121-2’s “FCV2” input for some filter cutoff modulation. The first LFO’s triangle wave goes to the “PW CV2” input of the first oscillator and the second LFO’s triangle goes to the “PW CV2” input of the second oscillator to create independent pulse width modulation on both oscillators.
The patch has an additional modulation path that creates vibrato. The audio input of the A-132-3 DVCA receives a sine output from the second LFO on the A-147-4. The VCA’s “CV” input is also modulated by the output of the A-171-2, which is excited by the sequencer/keyboard gate patched to its input.
The A-132-3 output then goes to input 1 of the A-138j Janus Mixer. The mixer sends an output to the first oscillator’s “PW CV1” input to create pulse width modulation and another output to the second oscillator’s “CV2” input to create vibrato.
"PLAY THE PATCH"
To get the right rhythmic feel for the patch, start playing quarter notes and adjust the rise and fall time settings on the A-171-2, as well as the attack setting on the A-140-1.
By increasing the cutoff and resonance on the A-121-2, you can make the highpass filtering more audible.
By changing the envelope parameters on the A-140-1, especially the attack, you can turn the sound into something more stabby.
With the fine tune settings on the A-110-1, you can make the sound go from fairly clean to very chorused or detuned. Even small adjustments can make a big difference here. The octave (“range”) control also has a large impact on the sound.