Your best LFO tips on the digitone

Oh I see! I thought you meant using the plocks in a straightforward way to sequence the synth parameter, not to retrigger the LFO. Interesting!

Exactly! Sorry, reading my sentence again, I can see that it can be understood both ways :sweat_smile:

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If I remember right the OT LFO hold mode works like this. It assigns the trigs random values but will lock that randomness into the pattern until you touch the LFO values again.

If you have a free running lfo (which can be triggered by a ‘1st-only’ conditional trig) timed by a bpm divider/multiplier … then a sequence of a step number (non-divisible, polyrhythmic style) then this kinda does what you’re after. I think

For example:
7 step sequence
Lfo multiplier set to 4/8

{forgive me if my terminology is not quite right. I do this technique on Korg Monologue … channeling it’s inner Buchla … a lot but I can’t quite remember how the Digitone denotes bpm-related timings}

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Interesting! Lots of cool ideas to try!

I didn’t read any of the tips so props if these have already been shared:

Use LFOs if you need extra envelope to control something. You’d be surprised how interesting sounds can get when you throw an envelope on a parameter that doesn’t normally have one, like Harmonics. :wink:

Use NOISE wave running on 2k free speed for pitch or filter with just a tiny bit of depth. This is my ‘secret’ to getting ‘realistic drums’. Real drums don’t perfectly ring, they’re noisy and imperfect.

All your favorite dubstep and dnb bass sounds that wob are because of FM LFO…throw a tempo matched LFO on one of the (just one!) A/C or B1/B2 level for all kinds of wub wub fun.

Use a square wave and single run through on amp volume to get nice immediate gating of a sound. Also great for ‘realistic drums’ if you’re looking to get something that feels ‘sampled’. Having no tail, but still having the volume dynamics from ‘amp’ can do the trick.

Use 2nd lfo to control speed of first lfo for spacy stuff. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what LFO 1 should be mapped to. :slight_smile:

ALWAYS play around with the phase offset of LFOs. There’s great stuff hidden in there…turn a soft sound into a hard attack simply by starting the LFO in different places, for instance.

LFOs are what keep Digitone from being weak in the FM department, so never skimp on the LFO routings!

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wow interesting, what destination does LFO 1 have then? Surely cutoff won’t result in granular stuff?

Not granular in the traditional sense, but since each note in the chord causes the LFO to play at a different speed, it creates a similar sound to low density granular synthesis.

cf. the chords in this:

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Nice effect. Can you explain better how to achieve this?

You can buy the sound pack and find out for yourself :slight_smile:

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Digitone LFO trick I do a lot:
LFO1 Square shape, in Hold mode, modulating Pitch by exactly 6. Random LFO2 -> LFO1 Speed. This randomizes which octave a note will appear in, and helps give some variety to a simple sequence. I learned this trick from reading Suzanne Ciani’s 1975 National Endowment grant report.

Other LFO ideas:
Random LFO in Hold mode, modulating Pan. Puts each note in a random place in the stereo field.
Random LFO in Hold mode, modulating Amp or Filter envelope decay. Good for humanizing drum sounds.
Fast triangle LFO modulating FM Level by just a little. Gives a nice shimmery effect on pad or lead sounds.
Fast exponential LFO in “One” mode, modulating pitch. Essential for all kinds of drum sounds.

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I assume this? Haven’t read it yet, but plan to unless I forget lol. Is it more universally useful or more buchla specific?

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I found it fascinating, and some ideas are applicable to systems other than the Buchla. But it requires some understanding of the workings of the Buchla 248 “Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator”, or “MARF”, a very complex, unusual sequencer. I recommend checking out the MARF manual before reading Ciani’s paper.

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LFO1
Wave: ramp
Mode: Free
Dest: filter cutoff, for example

LFO2
Wave: Random
Mode: Hold
Dest: LFO1 speed
Depth: Around 10-20

Make sure PLAY MODE (in the sound setup menu) is set to POLY.
This means each voice has its own, free-running LFO.

From the manual:
9.5.6 PLAY MODE
Here you can set if a Sound is poly- or monophonic and if the LFOs for every voice are synced or not.
POLY The Sound is polyphonic, and the LFOs for each voice are running independently of each other.
POLY M.LFO In POLYPHONIC WITH MONO LFO mode, the Sound is polyphonic, and the LFOs for
each voice are synced together with the first voice LFO. The LFO of the first voice played determines the cycle of the LFOs, and the subsequently played voices’ LFOs are synced to this cycle. This makes the LFO behave like a single or monophonic LFO. This is useful, for example, if you want to use the LFO for a tremolo effect.

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In case it’s not already mentioned, set an arp sequence and assign a free running lfo to modify the release time effectively modifying the arp length.

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Bumping an old thread for any new/fun ideas. Lots of great ideas already.

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amp page overdrive has hard snap sound when flipped from 0 to any positive value.
you can use that snap sound to generate a tone if modulated with lfo, giving you an additional pseudo oscilator. or just a fizzle effect :v:

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Nice, I’m well trying this tomorrow :nerd_face:

LFO for random cycling grooves:

  • Set shape to random
  • LFO speed at 0 in free running mode = freezes random LFO value for each individual voice
  • Voice settings now act as pattern length for random groove
    (EG: if you limit track to 5 voices, random cycle will repeat after 5 note presses. if you dont limit voices, it will cycle every 8. Also stealing priority setting now can affect LFO value playback order, which is fun)
  • You can generate new random sequences by setting LFO speed to bigger than 0, and then back to 0 again, freezing new values in place.

you now can insert repeating non 4:4 modulation grooves into standard lenght patterns without changing amount of steps in the tracks sequencer.

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