Animoog Vector and Wave Sequencing Synthesis

YouTube Uploaded by matrixsynth on Oct 24, 2011
Hit play and read the following, then play it again and watch.
Update Oct 25 1:19 AM PST: made quite a few updates to the following description:

In my original post on Animoog, I touched on the PATH and ORBIT modules and how they reminded me of Vector synthesis on the SCI Prophet VS, Yamaha SY22 and TG33, and later the KORG Wavestation line of synths. The technology started with the Prophet VS and when Sequential went under, the technology went to Yamaha and finally KORG where Dave Smith actually consulted on the Wavestation (see here for some history). The Prophet VS and Yamaha synths were exclusively vector synths while the Wavestation added wave sequencing. The Animoog kind of falls somewhere in between. I thought I'd post this video to demonstrate just a little bit of the Animoog covering wave sequencing and vector like synthesis.

A quick primer: Vector synthesis typically consists of morphing between various oscillators or sound sources. Wave sequencing consists of sequencing through various oscillator wafeforms within an individual oscillator. In the Prophet VS and Yamaha SY22/TG33 you have four oscillators, each of which can be set to a different waveform ranging from your standard analog shapes to more complex digital shapes (note the DSI Evolver and Tempest come with the Prophet VS waveforms, but they are limited to two oscillators for these shapes and two for analog only). With a vector synth you can typically use a joystick to morph between the oscillators, so you have one oscillator in each of the four extremes of the joystick range. You can also set modulation sources and draw paths to morph between the oscillators but you can't see them like on Animoog. With wave sequencing on the KORG Wavestation line of synths each of the four oscillators can sequence between waveforms in addition to morphing between oscillators. Side note: Wavetable synthesis is similar, but instead of morphing between oscillators you sweep through a table of waveshapes for a given oscillator. It's a bit different, but both forms of synthesis can give you animated evolving sounds as they morph through shapes not usually possible with standard analog synthesis. The Animoog to my surprise can not only cover this but it does so rather elegantly. After setting your paths you can then move and adjust them in real time as you watch visual cues that let you actually see what is going on.

As for the video, first of all take a quick look at the animated gifs on this page (previously posted here). You'll note the X/Y pad is broken up with horizontal bars for sound source (oscillator waveforms - you get eight on the Animoog) and vertical bars for sound modulation and processing. Note the path through the eight sound sources is linear and a bit like wave sequencing, however you only effectively have two oscillators to morph through, while on the Prophet VS and other vector synths you have four. However, with the added axis for modulation you can get similar results with Animoog - more so than most other synths. In the video you will see a shape covering the XY pad. This is the path through the XY pad a sound will take once you trigger it. Up and down movement travels through the waveforms and left and right travels through modulation. You can actually see the sound traverse the pad. The "keys" are set to follow the path in line when pressed at the bottom. If I slide up a key, the note drifts from the path. That little moving light is the note (you'll notice additional notes get assigned a different color so you can easily identify each note visually). You can see this happening at the beginning of the video. I trigger the note and once it traverses the full patch, I then move up the key and you can see the sound orbiting the last point. The ORBIT module lets you adjust exactly how it orbits the path, but that is not covered in this video. What you'll also notice is each note works independently of each other so you can adjust the orbits of each note with how much you move up the key touch-plate for each. Think polyphonic aftertouch, something sorely missing in most hardware synths and keyboard controllers. In the video you will also see me adjust the speed the note travels through the path, as well as whether it's one shot (as in the beginning of the video), back and forth (reverse), or looped. In the end you will see the notes take a pentagram shape as I change the path, crank up the rate, and slide up the notes being held to move the orbit out a bit. Diabolical stuff. Note this is a very simple patch. You can obviously get pretty creative mixing different waveforms with different modulations settings, paths, and orbits.

And of course, Moog's description via the original post on Animoog:
"• Anisotropic Synth Engine (ASE) - An exciting new Moog technology that allows the user to move dynamically through an X/Y space of unique timbres to create an expressive and constantly evolving soundscape.

• Timbre page – Assemble unique sounds in the X/Y space from timbres of a wide variety of vintage and modern Moog synthesizers and pedals. Note: this is NOT simple sample playback.

• Polyphonic Modulation - Simply slide your fingers to control multiple modulation parameters in Animoog right from the keys."

Animoog - Moog Music Inc. - iTunes
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