Moog Matriarch

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#667

Plus, they have a CV in, allowing them to be wiggled with yet another control voltage. And, if I remember correctly, the two on the left are wired up in a clever way to serve as a little two signal mixer. And they serve as constant voltage sources, if only the output is connected somewhere.

This is a really a theme in the Matriarch: It looks deceptively simple on the surface, but it’s full of interesting little, sometimes mindblowing tricks.

I’m sometimes tempted to publish a list of those I discovered somewhere, but I don’t have the time.

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#668

Yes you can use them e.g. to make the delay time veeeeerrrryyy loooooong

very long

very long

4 Likes
#669

Oh, nice! I used it to slow down the second LFO – didn’t know that works with the delay as well.

(Actually, I did it to modulate the delay time very very very slowly.)

#670

I have a Korg SQ1 laying around…:grin:
when hooked up to the Matriarch, i should be entering Easel territory. Only a trick for wavefolding is missing…

Wow…the 666 post in this thread…:japanese_ogre:

Some interesting ideas here:

And some VERY dangerous ideas here, leading to GAS: 3 modules to expand my Matriarch - MUFF WIGGLER

On a sidenote, to avoid GAS, using the A4 CV capabilities to expand the Matriarch is definitely something to explore. Eg. using the A4 as a flexible sequencable filterbank with attached multifx unit.

#671

So hey, about that Matriarch midi problem. I updated the firmware (at least I thought I did), but the problem remains.

Case 1: Midi out ch 2 on the Matriarch, OT Auto channel 2. Pressing a certain note on the Matriarch will scroll down the Octatrack tracks. Pressing a different note will mute and unmute the focused track on the OT. (Forget which notes these are but they’re always the same.)

Case 2: Using the Matriarch to control a VST (I have the midi flowing via the OT), it sometimes sends seemingly random midi cc’s which essentially make it an unreliable controller for other synths and VSTs.

Does this sound like the problem that was supposed to go away with the newest firmware?

#672

I have to say I was a bit disappointed by that Loopop video, but it’s really not his fault. The Matriarch is remarkably complete the way it ships. Of course you can always throw in some effects or replace something, but it’s not easy to find something that really extends the synth into completely new territory or fills a huge gap.

As I said above, the only thing I really wish for in my patching is a slow, tempo synced LFO, so Pamela’s New Workout is the thing that makes a lot of sense to add, from my personal patching experience. Of course, reverb, but I wouldn’t go to Eurorack for that.

I also have an SQ-1 lying around, but I was a bit disappointed from my attempts combining it with the Matriarch. For me Matriarch is all about four note chords, so the two channels don’t really cut it, except for modulation. I also found it challenging to start things in sync.

The Matriarch was pretty much the reason why I gave up on heavy duty sequencers (Eurorack and standalone) altogether. I have a bit of a strange journey through synthesis, as I started with grooveboxes and then moved to modular very quickly. It sounds ridiculous, but the Matriarch is literally my first synth with a keyboard, and that was a eye-opening to a degree that I’ll probably never use a sequencer again. I even had an Instruo Harmonaig in the rack, which I combined with my sequencers, and loved to death, and I was so eager to use it with the Matriarch. But compared to the keyboard and the built-in sequencer (and knowing my way around chord inversions and extensions) it just felt limiting.

Speaking of Easel territory – one idea I find tempting is using a 0-Control with the Matriarch. Has around here tried that?

This sounds silly when I just said I’m done with sequencers, but my main reason would be to get a bit off the grid with the arp and the sequencer. Yes, the internal sequencer does rests (but not the arp), and there is swing viciously hidden in the notorious global settings. But neither is an intuitive way of getting more interesting rhythms. However, you can configure the analog clock in of the Matriarch to act as a “next step” input for the sequencer rather than than a clock in, and this opens some opportunities with the 0-Control. CV would be used for modulation, maybe some kind of velocity. And the interactivity is tempting.

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#673

Ha, just yesterday I was checking out 0-coast and 0-ctrl as expansion modules for the Matriarch. They would be perfect fits imho. 0-coast would add half a Maths and a STO/wavefolder. 0-ctrl a Perfect Modulation sequencer with touchplates.
We all have strange synth pathes behind us. I am coming from a 104U only mutable Instruments system via an Iridium (which I still have) to the Matriarch, which totally blew me away how really modular it is and how much fun! They really balanced the Parameters so that you can go way beyond the standard Model D. I love that!

How did you interconnect the SQ1 with the Matriarch?

#674

0ctrl is great. If you’re interested and don’t want to step up to eurorack it’s hard to beat for a standalone touch sequencer w/ 3 lanes of modulation at once. I sold my sq1 immediately (which I had barely used). And there’s no redundancy with the matriarch itself.

#675

So far only via the analog connections. I tried both ways of clocking (SQ1 -> Matriarch and Matriarch -> SQ1), and I played around with using the SQ1 to step the Matriarch’s sequencer / arp. I remember that starting things in sync was a challenge, and it wasn’t all that inspiring musically.

One big problem with stepping the Matriarch seq / arp from an external source, which I also fear to run into if I got an 0-Control: When the external unit fires it’s first gate, the Matriarch will step into the second step rather than start its sequence on the first one. That’s also a well known problem with Eurorack sequencer. To solve this, the Matriarch would actually be on the last step of it’s sequence before starting to play. With a Euro sequencer, I would typically step it manually until it is at the last step, but that’s tricky to pull off with the Matriarch as there is no visual indication where in it’s pattern it actually is. I get that this is due its large step count, but it is still a problem.

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#676

:thinking: I have to test myself. Didn’t find the time for experiments yet, I used the holidays to rearrange the studio and sell a bunch of stuff to finance a Rytm…
But the problem you described…triggering both M and SQ1 sequencers manually by a keystroke on the M and via Midi for the SQ, wouldn’t that solve it?

Edit: Just found this. Matriarch clocking 0 CTRL:

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#677

Here’s a good one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-207kLusXTc

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#678

Pete did a couple of excellent Matriarch demos.

#679

I don’t like wobbly tape FX on my violin, but i do like it on synths - well, when the FX is already built into a synth like this one. Maybe some will find this vid to be useful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAz0wysLhew

They also put up a video on stereo panning, but I figured that would waste peep’s time here - panning ain’t exactly rocket science on this thing.

2 Likes
#680

Might have to buy that patch and tweak book

#681

It’s a good book, and the original patch and tweak book is even better and thicker :grinning:

#682

My planned route is more expensive.

  1. Get the SubH-DFAM Sound Studio with cute artwork, guided exercises, etc.
  2. Then get the Moog Patch and Tweak book

Not getting the other one because, hello Eurorack hardware GAS vortex…

3 Likes
#683

The original one?

EDIT:
Ah! This one!

#684

Exactly, that’s the one, the eurorack bible :grinning:

1 Like
#685

Here’s one. I don’t know how to link to a specific time in a YT video, but it’s from 46:51 - 56:15:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySatEYHB4kY

#686

Do the colors of the technicolor version offer significant help to keep track visually of how things are configured, status of things, etc.? Or, after you’ve had a Matriarch for a while, there’s practically no difference from the black version beyond aesthetics? Aesthetically, it’s kind of a toss up for me. I’m asking because when one style is out of stock, the other is usually in stock so that when I finally go to purchase one of these, only one style might be available.