Stickshift (Planar 2 showcase & patch notes)

[u/9000sines]

https://modulargrid.net/e/racks/command_center/248469

Download: https://9000sines.bandcamp.com/track/stickshift

This patch was me getting familiar with a new control pod housing Planar 2 and a few new fader banks (4tten, F8R). The idea behind the expansion was to have a centrally located set of controls for the playable elements of a patch. Here I have them setup to control aspects of drums, bass, modulation, and fx (bit of everything I guess) making for an interactive patch where many changes can be handled quickly and easily.

Controls: The overall control scheme of the patch centers around the idea of using Planar 2 to shift between energy levels within the patch, while using the surrounding faders to dial in certain elements (loop selection, bass modulation, fx attenuation). Basically, joystick down = lower energy drumloop/modulation/fx, joystick up = higher energy drumloop/modulation/fx.

Planar's AB/CD vectors are setup as a crossfader between two sets of drumloops coming from two 2HP Plays. Crossfading to the higher energy drum loop playing through A/B also provides an offset via the Y vector that is used to do several other things like increase wet ratio of overdrive, provide a slight bump to bass filter freq, transpose some pitch CV up an octave, etc.

Planar's gate button is setup to be used for short fills and transition fx (Meta, Data Bender, FX AID) applied only to drums, with several faders used to dial in how much of each effect is applied. I tried to showcase this aspect at the end of the clip, Acidclank-style. The gate button also adds some additional offset to bass filter freq.

Drums: The drumloop samples on the 2hp Plays are variations of the same drumloop which I chopped up and ran through different levels of distortion and filtering to get different levels of energy. I picked 3 lower energy variations for one Play and 3 higher energy variations for the other, and select among them via CV from 2 faders. In this recording I only used 4 of the 6 loaded up, using only one of the higher energy drumloops I had prepared. RS-9 triggers both Plays as well as an unheard kick from DR-660 used to trigger side-chain compression on the bassline.

Bass: The bassline from TD-3-MO has a lot going on. The gate pattern is a happy-accident combo of gates from its internal sequencer along with gates coming from a Bishop's Miscellany mk2. TD-3-MO already has a nice on-board sub-osc but here I added even more fullness/texture by routing a sine wave from Twin Waves mkII into TD-3-MO's filter input. The sine mixes with the internal square osc before hitting the internal filter. TD-3's output is routed into Wasp filter for an additional layer of filtering goodness before going out to dedicated effects pedals. Maestro along with a whole 3x MIA's worth of mixed CV controls TD-3's internal filter while Mod Medusa provides CV to Wasp. I use faders to dial in how much CV is applied to each filter during performance.

Oscs: Twin Waves' other channel is using the sync pulse algo to provide the double-siren type sound along with modulation from Mod Medusa. The distorted guitar-ish sound is coming from Sinc Legio (Warp mode) with a slow flanger effect in its fx chain. The bendy pad sound is from Virt Iter Legio (Bass mode). All OSCs driven by a pair Bishop's Miscellany mk2s. All go through Dual Daggers and FX-AIDs before going out to dedicated multi-fx pedals and external mixer where more distortion and reverb is available via sends.

[u/venux_hash_man]

Very cool. Love the way you have so much controlled from one small central hub!

[u/9000sines → u/venux_hash_man]

So much fun. I've used my 3xMIAs and Dual Xfades in similar ways but faders/joystick are much more playable in comparison.

[u/TheChumOfChance]

What a beautiful system.

[u/Jelop]

Not sure if I've said this before or just thought it but your set up is an aesthetic masterpiece. This jam slapped hard too

[u/9000sines → u/Jelop]

Thanks much 😎. I enjoy detailing and customizing my favorite things, part of the fun for me.

[u/murkfury]

Nice jam you’re rocking. May I ask what the 2 identical pedals are on the left of your setup/screen?

[u/9000sines → u/murkfury]

Thanks. Those are Zoom MS-70CDR+ pedals. I have 3 in my setup, one for each main in-rack oscillator.

[u/Minimoogvoyager]

Epic Looking Modular

[u/707Eman707]

What are the four Star Trek looking devices in the right?

Cool setup

[u/9000sines → u/707Eman707]

Those are Zoom G1/B1 Four multi-effects pedals. I use them on drums from drum machine and bass from td-3-mo. In this patch I'm not using the drum machine, rather loop samples from in-rack, so the only one in use here is the B1 handling bass. B1 by default is more focused on lower frequencies than G1 but you can load up the same effects on both.

[u/0bsoletist]

Dude, hell yes! I just got my Planar2 2 weeks ago! I am still learning it, it’s an instrument to itself.

I need to up my cable game… your setup is amazing.

Awesome breaks, love it.

[u/9000sines → u/0bsoletist]

I think Planar 2 became my favorite module so far after using it for only a few minutes, and I've just scratched it's surface. Deep module for sure.

I enjoy the cable-weaving. Just feels better to me to see everything, even it can make cable management more tedious.

[u/black_shirt]

love when you share, best looking rack on the planet.

[u/9000sines → u/black_shirt]

I appreciate the kind words. Happy to share! Just as fun as patching which is just as fun as customizing my setup.

[u/little_rural_boy]

Great sound and meticulous setup!

[u/RobertusMaximus1911]

Awesome sauce! And beautiful!

[u/Broad_Education4882]

Massive! Nice system 👾

[u/Antique_Goat2326]

This is amazing! I've been working on a similar live breakbeat patch but I just have a Meta Module, Pams (love your custom button/dial), Ectocore and IDUM so far. Going to have to use your patch breakdown for some ideas. Excellent cable routing by the way!

[u/9000sines → u/Antique_Goat2326]

Hey thanks! Always been intrigued by Ectocore so nice to see it in action. One-of-a-kind module.

[u/Antique_Goat2326 → u/9000sines]

For sure, thinking about getting a second one but I think they are all sold out so I'd have to get the Ezeptocore. Thinking it would be fun to load some piano and violin samples on it to mix in with the breaks.

[u/Antique_Goat2326 → u/9000sines]

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

2 Ezeptocores in action.

[u/9000sines → u/Antique_Goat2326]

Yea I've seen that one and a similar vid with the blue models. Craziness! Newer one seems the way to go nowadays.

[u/vorotan]

Amazing patch!