Thank you for your help! My setup was: Clock + Midi Sequencing from Digitakt. But I disabled transport so the play mode on the subh did not start, this way you do not transpose the sequence via incoming midi. That’s why I thought it could be nice to use the sequencer on the subh for other things… anyway thanks for your insight
Subharmonicon experts, I received it yesterday and I’m testing. Wanted to know if this behavior is normal and why
So with seq assign osc 1 on it plays a note and without assignation it plays 1 tone down… ??? it needs any kind of calibration?? thanks for enlight me!
Seems normal to me. So essentially, you can set the oscillator frequency to whatever pitch with its frequency knob and then the sequencer will adjust that oscillator frequency (either positive or negative depending on the sequencer knob setting for step 2 in your case) when it’s assigned. Hence two different notes when you assign the sequencer and when you unassign it.
Remember those tiny sequencer knobs are very sensitive. So you might think you have it exactly neutral but it could be a touch off centre.
2 Likes
Ha! Yes Craig! Thanks! I’ve been spending little time trying to adjust with minimal movements and now they sound the same note. I thought that maybe something was wrong. It is really sensitive…
1 Like
This sounds wrong. Not in front of my SubH, but the Sub OSC of VCO1 should be corresponding to the frequency of VCO1 and not VCO2. Are you on the latest firmware? Maybe a firmware update might help. Otherwise ask for a ticket at moog.
Good luck.
Andre
Thank you Andre,
It is Superweird! Yes, on the latest firmware…
Is it possible to downgrade the firmware?
Yes. Should be possible. But I would recommend raising a ticket on the moog website. On workdays they also have a chat open sometimes…
I’m not sure if I posted my original problem here or if I was just too traumatised to bother, but I bricked my SubH months and months ago after it bailed out halfway through the latest update, and Moog support (pre-buyout) were very responsive but not much actual use.
It would basically blink one LED briefly when powering up, and then go dark and do nothing, which didn’t seem to mean anything to Moog, and eventually I got tired of going in circles, put it aside and tried to forget it.
But after buying a new PC and having to move everything around in the “studio”, I decided to give it one last shot, figuring maybe a Windows sysex app might make some kind of difference, even though it shouldn’t.
And it did!
Well, maybe. After the time of my life finding the right TRS MIDI adapter and a saved copy of the Moog sysex test file for the M32 to check my setup (their old helpdesk system and all its files are now gone), I got the PC sending the update file via the Akai Force, set it to a low speed and just walked away to get a cup of tea, despite the SubH showing absolutely no signs of life or response. When I got back, it was sitting there blinking away, ready for duty.
I’ve no idea what had really changed - same update file, and my MacBook was certainly sending sysex fine to everything else last time I tried, but this attempt via Windows did the trick and I was very happy to be reunited.
The most useful lesson, I expect, is that even if the SubH looks completely dead and it seems all hope is lost, you should still play the sysex file and see what happens (which I had done before, but whatever). And also the Force does a good job of piping sysex from USB to its MIDI ports, which is good to know.
5 Likes
Nice one! I didn’t realize there updates!
Careful, though! I can’t imagine Moog support has improved since my adventure (as I say, they were quick to get back, but mainly just asked me to confirm details I’d already provided and then suggested trying different interfaces, which wasn’t really viable). And as per my post above, their support site has been moved / removed, so lots of search results for help and files go to dead links.
I applied the update because the SubH was skipping beats when synced to MIDI, and the update notes mentioned MIDI clock fixes. Of course I haven’t got round to seeing if that’s now fixed, but there are a few new features to be had if you’ve never updated.
1 Like
I think Moog is now owned by in-music brand
I find the Subharmonicon difficult to fit in a mix with other synth voices and drums (live set - so no proper mixing). Yes - I don’t use all the OSCs, but still it is extremely dynamic when tweaking it. It takes a lot of space. It feels like an advanced, super-dominating music box since patterns just run and run. If it was a person, it would take all the air in the room.
Is it just me? Any advice? Can it do anything graceful?
1 Like
Increasing resonance on a Moog filter cuts the frequencies below the cutoff. Many see this as annoyance but it helps cut low-end mud and to get things sitting nicer in the mix.
3 Likes
I also hardly ever use all the oscillators, and find that it’s relatively easy to aim it either at bass duties or melodic rhythmic patterns that sit somewhere in the mid range…
1 Like
as well as the above suggestions you may get some joy by switching either one or both oscillators to square wave and modulate the respective pwm with the envelopes, at extremes the oscillators “thin out” which can give some space to the mix.
I like the way moog have implemented the envelopes, it allows for some rhythmic pulsing with the volume and filter which may also help create room for other instruments in the mix.
You could also play with implementing the XOR sequencer logic, the manual has a bit (but not much) more info on that…
3 Likes
This is all excellent advice.
I find that using percussive plucks tends to leave a lot of space for other things. When the decay is lengthened, then the SH becomes dominant, shortened, goes back into the mid-background. I suppose this is a pretty obvious trick, but I do find the SH makes very lovely plucks, and the sequencer can generate some interesting rhythmical patterns, so this trick is well suited for the SH.
XOR is useful for this trick as well, and can be accessed through midi CC only. I wish there was a front panel way to toggle this.
3 Likes
Thanks for all the advice! Good advice!
You may find this useful if you are using the SubH with midi in live, allows for quick control of or/xor behaviour
https://maxforlive.com/library/device/8008/subharmonicon-midi-control
4 Likes
I actually started to send clock to the SubH from the Beatstep Pro… that way I can lock in the tempo… and I have the template set up with a midi knob on channel 113 just for that behavior…
@Gobseck
I like using effects with the SubH… delay is AMAZING… but I just used the Syntax Error 2 on a recent jam with all the Semi Modulars all running, and using my Tascam model 12 to mute parts…
wait… let me just put the vid up