PATCH #7
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 simple bass patch designed for the lower octaves. Depending on the setting of the filter cutoff frequency it can either sound more percussive and dry or more sustained and wet.
AUDIO PATH
(the graphic for this patch includes both the audio and control voltage path)
We send a pulse wave from our first A-110-1 VCO and a sine wave from our second VCO to the A-138 mixer. The pulse wave gives the sound its primary character and the sine wave reinforces its sub bass content.
The output of the mixer goes into the input of the A-108 VCF8 filter. The “48db LP” output of the filter goes into the A-131 VCA, and from there to our headphones or speakers.
CONTROL VOLTAGE PATH
We track our A-110-1 oscillators with keyboard/sequencer CV.
We trigger the A-140-1 ADSR with a gate signal from our keyboard/sequencer. Its ADSR output goes to the “CV1” input of the A-131 to create a volume envelope.
The A-171-2 VCS is triggered from our keyboard/sequencer gate. The output of the VCS goes into the “CV2” input of the A-108. This creates short, envelope-like modulation.
"PLAY THE PATCH"
Playing with the resonance (“Emph.”) on the A-108 makes the patch sound smoother at lower values and more aggressive at higher values.
This patch slightly overdrives the input gain on the A-108 on purpose to give the sound a bit more bite and grit. If you want a cleaner sound, turn it down. If you want even more distortion, turn it up. If that wasn’t enough, you can also overdrive the input of the A-131 for even more color!
Changing the pulse width control (“PW”) on the first A-110-1 can have a noticeable impact on the character of the sound.
You could also use a sine wave instead of a pulse wave output on the first oscillator, giving the bass sound a different feel.