Patch Vampire - EG. Recall & Control Ext. ADSR Filters, With Synth's Patches..

[Artesia]

Hi..

Back again with another uninvited idea.. i just let those walk streight through my mind and out onto the keyboard; where mayhem ensues..

Quick forethought: (assuming not implimented) - Internal ADSR's/Envelopes, LFO's &  'Passive channel' Key Trigger added to the midibox CV ...pretty please ! :)

Right, well getting to the point.. ever found yourself sitting there when programming up a patch on your oberheim matrix 1000, rompler or sampler.. and wondered what it would be like to have a ARP, Moog or other choice of filters saved right in there with the preset with no external rewiring & improvisation & headsratching later.. as to how you got that sound working ?

Well one possible way i thought around this matter, was for instance to have a Triggered ADSR envelopes function built into the Midibox CV (im assuming there isnt atm..).. and have the box store the presets for these various envelope settings in bank & presets in an identical fashion to which most synths store theirs.

This way the box could 'piggy back' on the synths midi channel & listen for the program changes (or send them).. and adjust the filter settings (or choice of) ..accordingly. and of course quite importantly, listen for the note event trigger to apply the filter !

Then of course, it would only make sense to also modulate the Amplitude/volume envelope too.. to complete the outboard filtering process.

Noting the fact that modern or just plain advanced synthsizers have no lack of polyphony, complex source sounds &/or routing possibilitys.. they almost always seem to get stuck on the other -major half- of synthsis when it comes to the choice of filters & filter character to shape the signal... With a pallete of choice which is nowhere near as diverse to shape your sound... (often the filter behavior defines & almost souly identfys one synth from the next)

So why end up collecting a ton of synths to get the use of their various filter characteristics ..when you could Take your choice of synth & piggy back that all important section onto the back of it ?

Get bored of using that synth under the filter stack.. just switch it for another one & change the memory stick :)

And what about Synths which are multi-timberal &/or use different filters/filtering rates on sepperate audio chains; before combining them into one signal ?

Well in the case of the Roland JD990 for instance, there are 8 individual sub outputs which lend themselfs to this use streight away.. Then in the case of the matrix 1000.. There are 6 individual outputs from the filters before they are mixed into one signal ..they can be un-bundled & used individually :)

Also With such a powerful filter bank piggybacking on a synth patchset ..the synth at the bottom of it all wouldnt even nessursarily have to be anything special.. anything which could spit out basic waveforms (tri, saw, sqr.. etc) will do...

Also something for thought.. and this gets ever similar to something else i probably once meantioned... how a about being able to save preset information for external effects, like chrousing, reverb, delay... etc ? ...to allow you to create your choice of mutant sound creation device ? :) ...which for all intents and purposes would become one whole instrument ..rather than a tedious collection of small ones you have to tinker with ad-infinitum.. to re-find 'that sound' again.. :)

Infact (aside of adding Envelopes & LFO's to the CV box.. pretty please !) ...that really calls  for a sepperate 'Patch Vampire' box to do the piggy backing & settings recall..

And at this point maybe this 'patch piggybacking' is a function which is best integrated into the 'universal synth editor' ?

...Tho at the end of the day its not for me to say; aside of how cool it would be.

Note: hmm.. polyphony could be a real pain.. to correctly 'key trigger' external filters... except the Matrix Mono (guitar) mode could be enabled to spread the 6 individual voices across 6 channels 1-6 ..which could be triggered for polyphony externally.. regaining complete external filter syncronisation...

So i guess at least the polyphonic Matrix and Monophonic instruments are good building blocks for such sonic butchery :)

Note #2: I really shouldn't 'think aloud' on message boards ..tho the penny just dropped on something else.. which negates some of this... The CEM3396 in the Matrix does indeed seem to be controlled by analog voltage signals for the VCA & VCF.. amoungst other things. assumed that it was all digital controlled ..nope.

In which case (thinking aloud again...) the CV drive signals for this synth can be hijacked with opamps, 3396 inputs jacked up & used as control signals for those external filters. negating the need for external filter recall & control ..as in the case of this synth ..at least the basic internal envelopes & settings would be saved..

Hmm guess that ones up for serious modifycation then..

Short of building a entirely MIOS controlled 3396 synth (http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=midibox_3396&s=matrix+1000)... that'll be the weirdest sounds coming from one of those chips for a while..