Home -> Magazines -> Issues -> Articles in this issue -> View
Patchwork | |
Article from Music Technology, June 1987 |
The Roland Alpha Juno, Korg Poly 800 MkII and Yamaha CX5M are among the machines featured in this month's selection of readers' synth sounds, and there's a review of new voicing tapes for the Ensoniq ESQ1.
MANY READERS ARE now supplementing their patch charts with a short demo cassette of the sounds in question, and this is really good news for our over-worked (and generally hungover) editorial team. Don't worry too much about classic performances and impeccable recording quality; just present your sounds simply and concisely - and convince us you're the best of the bunch.
If you can't lay your hands on a cassette player, don't let that put you off submitting some patches - an interesting description is a good substitute.
Don t forget that if your patch gets published, you'll receive a free year's subscription to MUSIC TECHNOLOGY with our compliments. So send us your favourite sounds on a photocopy of an owner s manual chart (coupled with a blank one for artwork purposes) accompanied, if possible, by a short demo-tape. Include a decent-length description of your sound and its musical purpose in life, and write your full name and address on each chart. And remember, edited presets are all very well, but an original masterpiece is always preferable. OK?
The address to send sounds to: Patchwork, (Contact Details).
Rob Norman, Edinburgh
To be honest, we were swayed to featuring 'Chuffed' after giving Rob's demo a listen. What could have been a very odd 'chiff organ voice was ably demonstrated as ideal for chopping out rhythmic chords reggae-style - so be sympathetic to its performance needs if you want to get the best from 'Chuffed'. The sound is very responsive to dynamics and after-pressure, and has a pretty chunky bass end, too.
Stephen Godsall, Cumbria
It's not too often we come across an authentic-sounding cymbal sound for inclusion in Patchwork, so this one took us rather by surprise. Stephen confesses he spent hours experimenting to create his cymbal patch, but he finally produced a convincing ride sound that provides plenty of stick click, too. He also advises shortening the release time of operator 4 to create a hi-hat patch.
Ron Pritchard, Plymouth
Nice to see sounds for the MkII Korg beginning to filter through to us. 'Soft Strings' (A) is an ethereal, dreamy orchestral string sound, modulating slightly to take advantage of the built-in DDL; a rich, deep bass is produced in the lower register.
The second patch, 'Ghostie' (B), is also extremely atmospheric. It's described by Ron as "a mysterious eerie sound; the 'howl' is created by playing a chord in the upper half of the keyboard, then releasing all keys. The sustained sound is then broken into by playing one key in the lowest octave, which produces this spine-chilling sound."
Sounds like a suitable backdrop for ghost stories...
Lars Sandren, Sweden
The ESQ1 seems intent on making regular appearances in Patchwork, as we receive a steady stream of patches from creative owners. And from a creative Swedish ESQ1 owner comes a warm, fat bass sound that introduces a touch of noise when a key is struck.
J M Poza, Surrey
From six sounds submitted, we chose our favourite, 'Sexy Brass', a short and characterful brass patch that should cut through any mix. Set the bend range to 1 and make elaborate use of pitch-bend. The sounds we received, incidentally, are extracts from two booklets of CZ patches, available from Mr Poza by mail order. Send an SAE for details to (Contact Details).
Available files:
Sexy Brass.syx.zip (690 B)
Single patch for CZ series
ben@muzines | 6th Dec 2019 | Downloads: 85
Arturia CZ-V patch
ben@muzines | 6th Dec 2019 | Downloads: 83
VCZ Sexy Brass.aupreset.zip (5 KB)
Virtual CZ aupreset
ben@muzines | 6th Dec 2019 | Downloads: 73
VCZ Sexy Brass.vstpreset.zip (2 KB)
Virtual CZ VST3 preset
ben@muzines | 6th Dec 2019 | Downloads: 78
801A/B, 802A/B, 803A/B, 804A/B
IMAGINE THIS SCENE for a moment. Proudly clutching a wad of hard-earned cash, you dash into your local music shop, returning several minutes later groaning and puffing under the weight of an Ensoniq ESQ1. Arriving home, hoping your neighbours are watching enviously, you go inside, plug it in, and presto! You've only got 40 sounds to play with. Ho hum.
However, you remember reading that you could get "0-120 in 3.6 seconds". You now realise that you need the "optional" EEPROM cartidge which at around £55 is decidedly not a snip. Once you've bought said cartridge you crave even more sounds, so in march Valhala from the USA, who have just produced eight data tapes with 40 new sounds apiece. And as these only cost £14.99 each, you feel much happier already.
The tapes themselves contain a range of patches including 49 pianos, brass, strings, percussion, lead, bass, woodwind, sound effects and some more conventional analogue-type sounds. Top of the pianos are the clean and lifelike ACGRD1 on tape 801A, the deep and gutsy (especially in the lower regions) LOPNO on 801B, and (also on 801B) SUSPNO, which offers more in the sustain department but less in the way of weight. The Steinway impression on 802B (STEINI) is pleasant, but the FM pianos and FM Rhodes on 804A and 804B tend to sound thin, unspectacular, and all rather similar.
At this point you may have already noticed the main problem with the Valhala range, which is that not all patches of a similar type are on the same cassette. This means you need to buy all eight tapes to make sure you've got all the variations you want, and that once you've bought them, it's harder to keep track of which sound is where.
Basses 1-10 are spread out between 801A, 801B, 802A and 804A. Most impressive is BASS4 with its distinct dancefloor appeal, and BASS2, which is reminiscent of Yamaha's FlapBass on the DX100. Also on 804A is the not-very-good-at-all KORGBS, and the only slightly better ESQBAS.
Strings are even more diverse, with competent patches on every tape out of the eight, although string enthusiasts would be well advised to start with tape 804A, which has some of the best, notably HISTR, DXVIOL and CARLOS. MELSTR (803B) and BACH (801A) are also worthy, while OBX-A (803B) is brassier.
The two lead sounds which really shine, and which would rise above any mix, are WENDYC on 801A and FLTMAR on 803A. The former is powerful and atmospheric, while the latter uses prime, synth3 and sine waveforms on the Ensoniq's oscillators to good effect. Other good patches to watch out for include CHOIR2 (801B), PROFIT (803A) - a sort of heavy metal guitar if you keep your eyes shut - and RPTDRM (803B), a repeating bass drum that changes in tempo rather than pitch as you move along the keyboard.
The prize for the dodgiest name goes jointly to ISAO and TOMITA (803A and 804A respectively), surely a case of misplaced inspiration if ever there was one, though the former is actually rather pleasant.
As with any collection of synth sounds, it's useful to remember that what at first appears to be uninspiring can be made uniquely interesting by a bit of judicious tweaking of the parameters. And layering, say, a choir with a relatively long attack over a bass sound can prove unexpectedly rewarding.
Loading 40 sounds at a time from cassette into the ESQ1 doesn't take very long, and that's when the fun starts. At best, there are some superb and original sounds; at worst, there are building blocks and food for thought.
More from Syndromic Music, (Contact Details)
Patchwork |
Patchwork |
Patchwork |
Patchwork |
Patchwork |
Patchwork |
Patchwork |
Program Notes |
Patchwork |
Patchwork |
Patches |
Load Baring |
Browse by Topic:
Casio CZ-101 - Professional Polyphonic Synth
(IT Jan 85)
Casio CZ101
(12T Jan 85)
Casio CZ101 - Synthcheck
(IM Feb 85)
Central Control - Ensoniq ESQ1 Polysynth
(EMM Aug 86)
CX-5
(MIC Feb 90)
Digital Dynamite
(ES Jan 85)
Ensoniq ESQ-1
(SOS Aug 86)
Ensoniq ESQ1 - SynthCheck
(IM Oct 86)
Fireball CX5M
(ES Oct 84)
Korg Poly 800 II - Polyphonic synth
(MM May 86)
Making More of your Ensoniq ESQ1
(SOS Mar 89)
Roland Alpha Juno 2 Polysynth
(EMM Feb 86)
Roland Alpha Juno-2 - SynthCheck
(IM Mar 86)
Second Time Around - Korg Poly 800II Polysynth
(EMM Apr 86)
System Power
(SOS Dec 85)
The CX5M Revisited
(EMM Mar 85)
Total recall - Cosmology
(MX Mar 95)
Patchwork
(EMM Jun 85)
Patchwork
(EMM Feb 86)
Patchwork
(EMM Mar 86)
Patchwork
(EMM Apr 86)
Patchwork
(EMM May 86)
Patchwork
(EMM Jun 86)
Patchwork
(EMM Aug 86)
Patchwork
(EMM Sep 86)
Patchwork
(EMM Oct 86)
Patchwork
(MT Nov 86)
Patchwork
(MT Dec 86)
Patchwork
(MT Jan 87)
Patchwork
(MT Feb 87)
Patchwork
(MT Mar 87)
Patchwork
(MT Apr 87)
Patchwork
(MT May 87)
Patchwork
(MT Jul 87)
Patchwork
(MT Aug 87)
Patchwork
(MT Sep 87)
Patchwork
(MT Oct 87)
...and 19 more Patchwork articles... (Show these)
Browse category: Synthesizer > Roland
Browse category: Synthesizer > Korg
Browse category: Computer > Yamaha
Browse category: Synthesizer > Ensoniq
Browse category: Synthesizer > Casio
Alphabet Soup - Roland Alpha Juno 1
(EMM Jan 86)
Back to Back
(IM Feb 86)
Back to Back
(EMM Mar 86)
Born Again - Korg EX800
(ES Dec 84)
Brian Chatton on the Poly 800
(EMM Apr 84)
Casio CZ 5000
(12T Jul 85)
Casio CZ-230S - SynthCheck
(IM Jul 86)
Casio CZ-5000 - Synthcheck
(IM Aug 85)
Casio CZ230S Keyboard
(EMM May 86)
Casio CZ3000 - The Obvious Solution?
(SOS Apr 86)
Casio CZ3000 Polysynth
(EMM Feb 86)
Casio CZ3000 Synth
(12T Apr 86)
Customise (Part 1)
(ES Jul 85)
CXtensions - Yamaha CX5M Software
(EMM Dec 85)
CZ Top - Casio CZ5000
(ES Jul 85)
Dial-A-Dream - Roland Alpha Juno-1
(SOS Mar 86)
Ensoniq ESQ/SQ80 Voice Editors
(SOS Jun 88)
Patchwork
(EMM Aug 84)
Patchwork
(EMM Oct 84)
Patchwork
(EMM Nov 84)
Patchwork
(EMM Mar 85)
Patchwork
(EMM Jun 85)
Patchwork
(EMM Apr 86)
Patchwork
(EMM May 86)
Patchwork
(EMM Jun 86)
Patchwork
(EMM Aug 86)
Patchwork
(EMM Oct 86)
Patchwork
(MT Jan 87)
Patchwork
(MT Feb 87)
Patchwork
(MT Mar 87)
Patchwork
(MT Apr 88)
Patchwork
(MT Aug 88)
Patchwork
(MT Feb 89)
Patchwork
(MT May 89)
Patchwork
(MT Sep 89)
...and 17 more Patchwork articles... (Show these)
Program Notes
(MM Apr 86)
Browse category: Synthesizer > Roland
Browse category: Synthesizer Module > Korg
Browse category: Synthesizer > Korg
Browse category: Synthesizer > Casio
Browse category: Software: Sequencer/DAW > DMS
Browse category: Software: Editor/Librarian > Soundbits
Article has file downloads
Topic:
Gear in this article:
Synthesizer > Roland > Alpha Juno 2
Synthesizer > Korg > Poly 800 II
Synthesizer > Ensoniq > ESQ1
Synthesizer > Casio > CZ-101
Gear Tags:
Digital Synth
Analog Synth
Analog/Digital Hybrid Synth
Phase Distortion
Polysynth
Feature by David Bradwell
mu:zines is the result of thousands of hours of effort, and will require many thousands more going forward to reach our goals of getting all this content online.
If you value this resource, you can support this project - it really helps!
New issues that have been donated or scanned for us this month.
All donations and support are gratefully appreciated - thank you.
Do you have any of these magazine issues?
If so, and you can donate, lend or scan them to help complete our archive, please get in touch via the Contribute page - thanks!