The modulation matrix

Three kinds of control signal

Trigger

A very short spike that starts something — an envelope, an LFO or a sequencer. Clocks produce triggers.

Gate

A signal that rises when a note starts and falls when it ends, keeping something going for as long as it lasts. Holding a key produces a gate, which starts the envelope (Gates and triggers).

Wave

A signal of any length that moves between high and low. On the MicroFreak the LFO and the two envelopes produce these.

Where they come from

• LFO — slow, regular waves up to 100 Hz. Send it to pitch and the note wobbles up and down (The LFO).
• Envelope — a single rise and fall. Send it to pitch and the note jumps up then slides back down (The envelope).
• Cycling envelope — an envelope that can repeat, making it a second LFO for more complex shapes (The cycling envelope).
• Keyboard — gates, pitch and pressure from your fingers (The touch keyboard).

Make a connection

1. 1Turn MATRIX to move the lit LED to the point where your source row meets your destination column. The display names the connection and its current amount. Past the last point it wraps back to the first.
2. 2Press MATRIX to edit. The display turns black-on-white and shows MATRIX AMOUNT, and only the selected point’s LED stays lit.
3. 3Turn MATRIX to set a positive or negative amount. You hear the change straight away.
4. 4Press MATRIX again to leave edit mode.

Key combinations

Turn MATRIX

Selects the next or previous patch point.

Press MATRIX

Enters or leaves edit mode for the selected point.

Turn MATRIX

Sets the amount, from −100% to +100%.Edit mode

Hold MATRIX for half a second

Clears the selected point and resets its amount to zero.

SHIFT + long press MATRIX

Clears every routing on the matrix.

Reading the LEDs

• Off — no connection, or the amount is zero.
• On — a connection is made.
• Blinking — the point is selected for editing.

Sources (rows)

Destinations (columns)

Example: modulate Shape with the LFO

1. 1Turn MATRIX to the point where LFO meets Assign 1. Its LED blinks.
2. 2Press MATRIX to enter edit mode.
3. 3Hold ASSIGN 1 — the button above the Assign 1 label — and turn SHAPE. The display confirms the destination as the oscillator’s third parameter, Shape.
4. 4Turn MATRIX to set the amount, then press it to leave edit mode.

Key combinations

Hold ASSIGN 1 + turn a knob

Makes that knob the destination of the Assign 1 column.

Hold ASSIGN 2 + turn a knob

Makes that knob the destination of the Assign 2 column.

Hold ASSIGN 3 + turn a knob

Makes that knob the destination of the Assign 3 column.

Hold ASSIGN 1, ASSIGN 2 or ASSIGN 3 + turn MATRIX to a point

Makes that matrix point’s amount the destination of the Assign column.

Hold ASSIGN 1, ASSIGN 2 or ASSIGN 3 + turn TYPE

Makes the sample slot the destination of the Assign column.Sample select menu open

What you can assign

Modulating a modulation: vibrato depth

1. 1Set up vibrato by sending the LFO to Pitch with a small amount (The matrix).
2. 2Turn MATRIX to the point where CycEnv meets Assign 1.
3. 3Hold ASSIGN 1. The display asks you to choose the point you want to modulate.
4. 4Turn MATRIX to the LFO–Pitch point and press MATRIX. That point’s amount is now the Assign 1 destination.
5. 5Go back to the CycEnv–Assign 1 point, press MATRIX and set an amount. The cycling envelope now varies the vibrato depth — try changing its settings.

Stretch or squeeze a sequence

The keyboard and sequencer already control pitch at one volt per octave. Route Key/Arp to Pitch as well and the intervals grow — a semitone step can become two or four. A negative amount shrinks them to microtones.

Combine the two envelopes

Send both the main envelope and the cycling envelope to the same destination, such as Cutoff or the arp rate. Their sum is a more complex envelope than either can make alone.

Mix an LFO with the cycling envelope

Use both to modulate Cutoff. Adding two modulators together often gives surprising results — the matrix is working as a modulation mixer.

Keep the oscillator moving

Modulate Wave, Timbre and Shape with an unsynced LFO and the cycling envelope running at different speeds. The timbre keeps changing without ever quite repeating.

Automatic transposition

Send the LFO’s random wave to Pitch to transpose a sequence unpredictably, or a slow square wave for regular jumps.

Modulate a modulation

Make a matrix point’s amount an Assign destination, then drive it with the LFO, the cycling envelope or a sequencer modulation track (Assignable destinations).

Self-modulation

Through an Assign column, let the LFO control its own rate, or the cycling envelope control its own rise, fall or amount.

Circular routings

Let the LFO change the cycling envelope’s rise or fall time, then let the cycling envelope control its own level. Loops like this — a speciality of the EMS Synthi — make sounds that are hard to reproduce any other way.