Synthesizers.Com Quantizer Bank and Aid

Got my Q171 Quantizer Bank and Q172 Quantizer Aid from Synthesizers. Com yesterday, basically completing a 55-space system. Simply put, these two modules allow me to produce note sequences that conform to the tuning scheme fundamental to Western music. (And, for what it’s worth, to produce micro-tonal sequences as well.)

Perhaps next year, I can begin to acquire additional cabinets and the honking big (eight spaces) sequential controllers and their related switches and VCOs.  In the meantime, I rely on oscillators, LF noise, and sample & hold to generate sequences. Or I can use MIDI and a laptop.

So what does a quantizer offer?

1. The audio example above starts with a very-low-frequency triangle wave with its negative excursions offset to be no lower than 0 volts. That is the basis for the pitch control voltage.
2. At about 01:32, the Q172 Quantizer Bank Aid is enabled, its mode set to Augmented Scale. The result is a very slow series of ascending and descending “A Major-ish” diatonic tones.
3. At about 03:00, I add sampled low-frequency noise. The sample rate is the same fast gate pulse that drives the VCAs (amplitude and “articulation”).
4. At about 04:26, I tweak the VCF resonance knob a little and bring up the pots for the A Major triad passed to the Pan/Fade #2 input.
5. At about 06:00, I add the low-frequency sine wave that sweeps both the VCF frequency and resonance inputs.
6. The Pan/Fade module fades between the filtered audio and the A Major triad.

Other wrinkles:

• The Q172 Quantizer Aid has the options for the fourth input channel, but it’s still the microprocessor on board the Q171 that does the heavy lifting.
• The audio timbre can be altered in many ways, but one of the easiest is by changing its clipping parameters.
• The tuning of the pitch control signal can be quickly altered by adding or subtracting semitones and octaves with the Standards module.
• Moving the modulation wheel to either of its extremes turns off the LF noise.

tl;dr

The result of all this “stuff” is pretty frenetic, but it illustrates vividly the power of quantization.