Great documentation, as always. I can confirm that Oskar Sala was the first one to implement subharmonics in a musical instrument. When implementing the frequency divider using a microcontroller (which is what I do as of now) it is possible to adapt the whole scale to well-tempered instruments. However, it is no longer a pure undertone row if you do so.
Great stuff! A question: What actually keeps one from using the instrument in a conventional additive sense so as to build timbres by adding overtones? One would then however need individual amplitude control per harmonic. Can these not be set individually?
Hi, They were built for me by trautoniks. Jürgen worked on Oskar's Halbleiter, or semiconductor trautonium's subharmonic generator, so based on the original design. It's worth pointing out that the saw shapers are quite substantial circuits in themselves on these modules. One can see and hear that they produce very distinct and variable waveforms in the preceding video.
Not wishing to dissapoint, it has no keyboard but a linear controller that you can see in other videos, also it took a long time for me to obtain this cicuitry as it was custom built by trautoniks. It also takes a great deal of practice to be able to play with both manuals at the same time. The sound of these circuits is indeed unique, but there are other more modern linear controllers out there, the Llinstrument and Haken Continuum being two ofd the better examples at different prices. Thanks for your approval though.
Ok,i play this kind of key,with my ribbon contr. on a Solaris J Bowen,but i play it like notes with my fingers.I do the same with aKurzweil ribbon contr. on the PC3k8...its cool,.But ok! i think i understand how it works ! tahnk you!...and thks for the vid for sure!
thank you so much for the video, very interesting! But concerning the calculations in cents you made some mistakes I think. For example C5= 1046.5 Hz, on the trautonium it's the same (2093/2). So I'm not sure why you put C6+1 in the description. The same is true for subharmonic 8 and 16. On both 'piano' and trautonium: 261.63 and 130.81 Hz. All the examples with differences are close but not correct: for example F4: 698.5hz, the trautonium: 697.7 hz (2093/3): -2 not -3. A better example is subharmonic 5: on a 'piano': 415.3Hz on a trautonium: 418.6 So they are certainly not the same (14 cents difference) According to my calculations (which are also found on several websites: 1 c7, 2 c6 3 f5-2, 4 c5, 5 g#4+14, 6 f4-2, 7 d4+31, 8 c4, 9 a#3-4, 10 g#3+14, 11 f#3+49, 12 f3-2, 13 e3-41, 14 d3+31, 15 c#3+12, 16 c3, 17 b2-5, 18 a#2-4, 19 a2+2, 20 g#2+14, 21 g2+29, 22 f#2+49, 23 f#2-28, 24 f2-2.
As stated, these figures were derived from an A-113 module subharmonic row in melodyne. I cannot account for why it should have these discrepancies, other than theory and real world measurements. Which websites, could you post some links?
there is an image on this website showing all deviations in cents for the harmonics, for the subharmonics you just have to change the + into - and the other way around: andrewmeronek.com/music-tools/blue-notes-and-the-harmonic-series/ Now that I think of it, it's only logical that an analog instrument like the trautonium can never perfectly represent all these tones up to the accuracy of a single cent, in fact it did for most of the subharmonics on your instrument which I think is already quite amazing.
Yes, they're beautiful things but not the easiest to work and play with due to the skill and patience required. For bespoke electronics they weren't that expensive, you'd easily pay the same for a second hand 303 in half decent condition as one, maybe both modules on a bad day. Out of interest, how would you use a trautonium in your acidic style? You would need top chops for fast riffs, no midi here, as you know. Best of luck with your E.P. btw.
I forgot to mention these were done with Doepfer modules, before I acquired the grand beasts: th-cam.com/video/x_-fM23Cv-0/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/1MFon_iJr0s/w-d-xo.html
heyo :) first, i still dont use google for replie things here a yt... sorry thats why i'm late. i think there lots of instruments need patience and rehearsel and check out things, also when all comes together its more and more massiv... hahaha its always a question of time and how hot i'm for this when having experiments with an electronic gear. i never have thinked about how to work with an trautonium for my acid but i think this can fit well too it like in a way of use a mono or polysynth for me but without keys. i also would be more interesting to play trautonium because i'm not really a keybordplayer... so i would rehearsel with Trautonium for my track to play live to it (also with subharmonic's) ;) because the most trax i doing or done are made with din sync connection ( more less miditrax atm here). thank you for the -good luck- for my ep ! btw. i still asking myself how the subharmonic generator will work with a 303 :D i know i would like this but its to expensive for me... thank you for all your videos ! thats all very very interesting for me because i still love the Trautonium and the possible amazing sounds of it !
They would lend themselves to old school house parallel chords very well, might be interesting to use some of the heavy odd numbers for a pungent yet exciting lemon & lime sourness with a nasty bass riff. Good old din sync. I ended up with an unwanted google account too, so that's something else we have in common.
Great documentation, as always. I can confirm that Oskar Sala was the first one to implement subharmonics in a musical instrument.
When implementing the frequency divider using a microcontroller (which is what I do as of now) it is possible to adapt the whole scale to well-tempered instruments. However, it is no longer a pure undertone row if you do so.
Amazing instrument, very insightful explanation.
Thanks Christophe
@@GMS267 you're welcome.
A very knowledgeable presentation :) Thank you very much.
Thanks, always good to have the approval of someone likewise knowledgeable on the subject
Great stuff! A question: What actually keeps one from using the instrument in a conventional additive sense so as to build timbres by adding overtones? One would then however need individual amplitude control per harmonic. Can these not be set individually?
Does this use any components of the Doepfer A-113 or is a completely original design?
Hi, They were built for me by trautoniks. Jürgen worked on Oskar's Halbleiter, or semiconductor trautonium's subharmonic generator, so based on the original design. It's worth pointing out that the saw shapers are quite substantial circuits in themselves on these modules. One can see and hear that they produce very distinct and variable waveforms in the preceding video.
Thanks! I post the videos on MATRIXSYNTH and added this as note to the bottom.
I want the same keyboard!!! how is it working please!!
Not wishing to dissapoint, it has no keyboard but a linear controller that you can see in other videos, also it took a long time for me to obtain this cicuitry as it was custom built by trautoniks. It also takes a great deal of practice to be able to play with both manuals at the same time. The sound of these circuits is indeed unique, but there are other more modern linear controllers out there, the Llinstrument and Haken Continuum being two ofd the better examples at different prices. Thanks for your approval though.
Ok,i play this kind of key,with my ribbon contr. on a Solaris J Bowen,but i play it like notes with my fingers.I do the same with aKurzweil ribbon contr. on the PC3k8...its cool,.But ok! i think i understand how it works ! tahnk you!...and thks for the vid for sure!
thank you so much for the video, very interesting! But concerning the calculations in cents you made some mistakes I think. For example C5= 1046.5 Hz, on the trautonium it's the same (2093/2). So I'm not sure why you put C6+1 in the description.
The same is true for subharmonic 8 and 16. On both 'piano' and trautonium: 261.63 and 130.81 Hz. All the examples with differences are close but not correct: for example F4: 698.5hz, the trautonium: 697.7 hz (2093/3): -2 not -3. A better example is subharmonic 5: on a 'piano': 415.3Hz on a trautonium: 418.6 So they are certainly not the same (14 cents difference) According to my calculations (which are also found on several websites: 1 c7, 2 c6 3 f5-2, 4 c5, 5 g#4+14, 6 f4-2, 7 d4+31, 8 c4, 9 a#3-4, 10 g#3+14, 11 f#3+49, 12 f3-2, 13 e3-41, 14 d3+31, 15 c#3+12, 16 c3, 17 b2-5, 18 a#2-4, 19 a2+2, 20 g#2+14, 21 g2+29, 22 f#2+49, 23 f#2-28, 24 f2-2.
As stated, these figures were derived from an A-113 module subharmonic row in melodyne. I cannot account for why it should have these discrepancies, other than theory and real world measurements. Which websites, could you post some links?
there is an image on this website showing all deviations in cents for the harmonics, for the subharmonics you just have to change the + into - and the other way around: andrewmeronek.com/music-tools/blue-notes-and-the-harmonic-series/ Now that I think of it, it's only logical that an analog instrument like the trautonium can never perfectly represent all these tones up to the accuracy of a single cent, in fact it did for most of the subharmonics on your instrument which I think is already quite amazing.
i believe you pretty lucky to have one of this !
Yes, they're beautiful things but not the easiest to work and play with due to the skill and patience required. For bespoke electronics they weren't that expensive, you'd easily pay the same for a second hand 303 in half decent condition as one, maybe both modules on a bad day.
Out of interest, how would you use a trautonium in your acidic style? You would need top chops for fast riffs, no midi here, as you know. Best of luck with your E.P. btw.
I forgot to mention these were done with Doepfer modules, before I acquired the grand beasts:
th-cam.com/video/x_-fM23Cv-0/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/1MFon_iJr0s/w-d-xo.html
heyo :)
first, i still dont use google for replie things here a yt... sorry thats why i'm late.
i think there lots of instruments need patience and rehearsel and check out things, also when all comes together its more and more massiv... hahaha
its always a question of time and how hot i'm for this when having experiments with an electronic gear.
i never have thinked about how to work with an trautonium for my acid but i think this can fit well too it like in a way of use a mono or polysynth for me but without keys.
i also would be more interesting to play trautonium because i'm not really a keybordplayer...
so i would rehearsel with Trautonium for my track to play live to it (also with subharmonic's) ;) because the most trax i doing or done are made with din sync connection ( more less miditrax atm here).
thank you for the -good luck- for my ep !
btw. i still asking myself how the subharmonic generator will work with a 303 :D
i know i would like this but its to expensive for me...
thank you for all your videos ! thats all very very interesting for me because i still love the Trautonium and the possible amazing sounds of it !
They would lend themselves to old school house parallel chords very well, might be interesting to use some of the heavy odd numbers for a pungent yet exciting lemon & lime sourness with a nasty bass riff. Good old din sync. I ended up with an unwanted google account too, so that's something else we have in common.