Using Your Voice as a Phase Input Signal to Create Unique Sounds
Tutorial | Jun 28, 2019
In this video, I demonstrated how to use your voice as a phase input signal to an oscillator. I showed how you can use the pulley grid and the hardware input module to phase distort a triangle oscillator using your voice or microphone as an input. I also discussed how you can shape your voice using distortion, high-pass, and low-pass filters before applying it to the phase input. Additionally, I showed how you can use the zero crossing module to create a pitch signal from a sine wave, allowing you to sing and have the oscillator follow your pitch. Overall, using your voice as a phase input signal can lead to interesting and unique sounds in bass lines or lead sounds.
You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon
Questions & Answers #
Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:
Q1: How can I use my voice as a phase input signal to an oscillator? #
To use your voice as a phase input signal to an oscillator, you can follow these steps:
- In your synthesizer or digital audio workstation (DAW), set up a phase modulation or phase distortion oscillator. This can typically be done by selecting a triangle oscillator and enabling the phase input modulation option.
- Connect your microphone or voice input to the hardware input module in your setup. This will allow your voice to be processed as an audio signal.
- Adjust the modulation level of the hardware input module to control the amount of phase modulation applied to the oscillator.
- Experiment with different levels and settings to create unique sounds with your voice as the phase input signal.
Q2: How can shaping my voice before applying it to the phase input create interesting sounds? #
Shaping your voice before applying it to the phase input can enhance the resulting sounds and give you more control over the final output. Here are a few ways you can shape your voice:
- Distortion: Applying distortion to your voice can add grit and character. Depending on the type and amount of distortion used, you can achieve anything from a subtle warmth to aggressive overtones.
- Filtering: Using high-pass and low-pass filters can help shape the frequency content of your voice. This allows you to sculpt the tonal characteristics and remove unwanted frequencies.
- Dynamics processing: Techniques like compression or gating can further shape your voice by controlling its volume and dynamics. This can help you achieve a more consistent and controlled sound.
By applying these techniques, you can create unique and interesting sounds with your voice as a phase input signal.
Q3: How can I record and utilize the sounds created with my voice as a phase input? #
To record the sounds created with your voice as a phase input, you can follow these steps:
- Connect the output of your synthesizer or DAW to a recording device or software.
- Set up the recording device/software to capture the audio output. Make sure to set the recording level appropriately to avoid clipping or distortion.
- Play or sing your desired sounds using your voice as the phase input. Experiment with different settings and modulation levels to create variations.
- Once you have recorded the audio, you can import it into a sampler or audio editing software to further manipulate or process the recorded sounds. From there, you can use the recorded sounds in your music production projects.
Q4: How does the zero crossing module work and how can I use it with my voice? #
The zero crossing module measures the distance between the points where a sine wave crosses the zero line. By doing this, it can estimate the pitch of the input signal. Here's how you can use the zero crossing module with your voice:
- Connect your microphone or voice input to the hardware input module in your setup.
- Add the zero crossing module to your signal chain. This module will analyze the input signal and output a rough pitch estimation based on the zero crossings.
- Connect the output of the zero crossing module to the input of an oscillator in your synthesizer or DAW.
- Adjust the settings of the oscillator to follow the pitch information from the zero crossing module. This will allow the oscillator to generate sound at the same pitch as your voice.
By using the zero crossing module, you can create a synthesizer setup where the oscillator tracks and follows the pitch of your voice in real-time. This opens up possibilities for vocal synthesis and other creative effects.
Transcription #
This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.
[00:00:00] Hey, welcome back to another video on my channel.
[00:00:08] And in this video I want to show you how you can use your voice as a phase input signal
[00:00:14] to an oscillator.
[00:00:16] But before I show you that, I want to encourage you to join my Discord.
[00:00:20] As you can see on the screen I have a Discord where you can ask me questions or ask me about
[00:00:28] certain presets you want to have or samples or something like that.
[00:00:31] Or you want to see a video from a different topic you care about.
[00:00:37] And I also released the two projects from the last screen sessions here on YouTube in
[00:00:46] my GitHub and in the chat here.
[00:00:49] So you can go there and download the project and tweak it and maybe get something from
[00:00:57] it.
[00:00:58] So that's just for your information.
[00:01:02] So back to the topic, I want to show you how you can create sounds with your voice.
[00:01:08] And if you have this pulley grid here and in the default setup you have a triangle oscillator.
[00:01:15] And you can use the hardware input module here and use it as a phase input to actually
[00:01:24] phase distort the triangle oscillator.
[00:01:27] And I'm choosing here my voice or my microphone as an input.
[00:01:32] And when you drive it up you can't hear nothing because I need to press actually a button.
[00:01:40] And when you can hear, I actually have to mute my mic so I'm back.
[00:01:49] I'll be back.
[00:02:09] So pretty interesting.
[00:02:21] I don't know if you can hear me through the phase modulation.
[00:02:38] And yeah, that's a great way of creating overtones for bass lines or lead sounds.
[00:02:45] I don't know.
[00:02:46] But there's also a nice way of shaping your voice before you put it into the phase input
[00:02:53] check here and just use some kind of distortion.
[00:02:58] And sometimes I use a high pass and a low pass maybe to just constrain the input signal
[00:03:08] a bit.
[00:03:11] Something like this.
[00:03:12] Let's try it.
[00:03:23] Yeah, and you can of course just record that.
[00:03:38] Use input polygrid output and just record some bits.
[00:03:58] And yeah, can put this into a sampler.
[00:04:27] And have a great bass line.
[00:04:39] I think it's F.
[00:04:58] I
[00:05:28] will just maybe use it as a wave table.
[00:05:31] Go to cycled mode here.
[00:05:33] Speed to zero.
[00:05:49] Maybe use a macro to actually just offset the position a little bit.
[00:06:10] As you can see, you can create pretty interesting sounds with your voice and as an S and phase
[00:06:26] input signal in the grid.
[00:06:29] And there's another possibility when you go into the grid here back again.
[00:06:35] Let's delete the filtering and distortion and you can use the zero crossing module.
[00:06:46] And what this module does is basically when you have a sine wave and every time the sine
[00:06:52] wave crosses the zero line and you measure the distance between those points, you can
[00:07:01] come up with a rough pitch estimation.
[00:07:06] So you have at best a nice pitch signal coming out of this module here.
[00:07:14] And you can use this pitch signal as an input for an oscillator.
[00:07:19] And yeah, it should be possible that you can sing and the oscillator is following your
[00:07:28] pitch, right?
[00:07:30] So let's try it.