The Broken Toy music-box stumble

lead · bright · 104 BPM (96–116) · A major · 4 bars · 64 steps

Broken ToySFXMusic-box tune that stumbles and corrects itself

Every patch on the KORG minilogue xd

The technique

A tune a child could sing, above middle C: up the triad, root, third, fifth, and back down to the root, then the fifth below it to lead round again. Four bars, and it goes wrong twice.

The first stumble is an extra note. In bar two the top note is struck twice as sixteenths where bar one had one eighth, and the tune is a sixteenth late for the rest of the bar. Late, it has no room for the rest and the low fifth that ended bar one, so it walks down instead, the second then the seventh, and steps up a semitone onto the root at the head of bar three. That is how a music box catches up: it fills the gap it fell into rather than skipping ahead.

The second stumble is a missing one. In bar three the second half of beat four is silent, and the pickup arrives late, on the last sixteenth.

Bar four is the ending: the sixth three times, then the fourth, the second, the seventh, and the root held. It is the only bar with notes the tune has not used, and it lands on the head of the loop.

Never play the key’s fourth while the I is sounding. The tune stumbles in time and never in pitch; a wrong note is a different broken thing.

Every note the same weight, like a comb plucked by a pin. The only accent is the bar head, and it is a small one.

The chords

4 chords over 4 bars, in A major.

DegreeChordNotesBarsUnder the figure
IAA · C# · E1–1●
IVDD · F# · A2–2●
IAA · C# · E3–3●
VEE · G# · B4–4●

The figure is played over these chords; supply them separately if your rig allows.

The rules

  • Over I, never the 4th — the tune stumbles in time and never in pitch.

The notes

4 bars in A major. Each note is in force across the steps shown.

  • steps 1–2·over I A·A5·degree 1·MIDI 81
  • steps 3–4·over I A·C#6·degree 3·MIDI 85
  • steps 5–6·over I A·E6·degree 5·MIDI 88
  • steps 7–8·over I A·C#6·degree 3·MIDI 85
  • steps 9–12·over I A·A5·degree 1·MIDI 81
  • steps 15–16·over I A·E5·degree 5·MIDI 76
  • steps 17–18·over IV D·A5·degree 1·MIDI 81
  • steps 19–20·over IV D·C#6·degree 3·MIDI 85
  • step 21·over IV D·E6·degree 5·MIDI 88
  • step 22·over IV D·E6·degree 5·MIDI 88
  • steps 24–25·over IV D·C#6·degree 3·MIDI 85
  • steps 26–27·over IV D·A5·degree 1·MIDI 81
  • steps 29–30·over IV D·B5·degree 2·MIDI 83
  • steps 31–32·over IV D·G#5·degree 7·MIDI 80
  • steps 33–34·over I A·A5·degree 1·MIDI 81
  • steps 35–36·over I A·C#6·degree 3·MIDI 85
  • steps 37–38·over I A·E6·degree 5·MIDI 88
  • steps 39–40·over I A·C#6·degree 3·MIDI 85
  • steps 41–44·over I A·A5·degree 1·MIDI 81
  • step 48·over I A·E5·degree 5·MIDI 76
  • steps 49–50·over V E·F#5·degree 6·MIDI 78
  • step 51·over V E·F#5·degree 6·MIDI 78
  • step 52·over V E·F#5·degree 6·MIDI 78
  • steps 53–54·over V E·D6·degree 4·MIDI 86
  • steps 55–56·over V E·B5·degree 2·MIDI 83
  • steps 57–58·over V E·G#5·degree 7·MIDI 80
  • steps 59–64·over V E·A5·degree 1·MIDI 81

The grid

Every step below strikes the note in force at that point. The grid is where the figure is played.

  • —1, 17, 33, 49 (all vel 96)
  • —3, 7, 15, 19, 31, 35, 39, 51, 55, 59
  • —5, 9, 21, 29, 37, 41, 53, 57
  • —22, 24, 26, 48, 52 (all vel 60)

On the KORG minilogue xd

minilogue xd · Voice

Settings for this voice

Settings for a lead · bright voice on this box, written here. They are not the preset’s own values: load the preset to hear it as it ships.

Settings

MASTER

  • PORTAMENTO30(0…127)
  • SWING0%(-75…75 %)

    0 is straight; the arpeggiator uses the same value

    EDIT MODE, PROGRAM EDIT, button 7

VOICE MODE

  • VOICE MODE TYPEPOLY
  • VOICE MODE DEPTH760(0…1023)

    Right of 0 is DUO: two voices stacked and detuned per key, so this patch plays two notes at a time

VCO 1 / VCO 2 / MULTI ENGINE

  • VCO 1 · WAVESAW
  • VCO 1 · OCTAVE8'
  • VCO 1 · PITCH0c(-1200…1200 c)
  • VCO 1 · SHAPE520(0…1023)

    Shape, complexity, or duty cycle of the selected wave

  • VCO 2 · WAVESAW
  • VCO 2 · OCTAVE8'
  • VCO 2 · PITCH300c(-1200…1200 c)
  • VCO 2 · SHAPE600(0…1023)
  • VCO 2 · SYNCON

    Locks oscillator 2 to the phase of oscillator 1

  • VCO 2 · RINGOFF

    Oscillator 1 ring-modulates oscillator 2

  • CROSS MOD DEPTH0(0…1023)

    Oscillator 1 modulating the pitch of oscillator 2

  • MULTI ENGINE · NOISE/VPM/USRNOISE
  • MULTI ENGINE · TYPEHigh
  • MULTI ENGINE · SHAPE14000Hz(10…21000 Hz)

    CUTOFF — the high-pass filter on the noise

MIXER

  • VCO 1700(0…1023)
  • VCO 2640(0…1023)
  • MULTI80(0…1023)

FILTER

  • CUTOFF780(0…1023)

    Set too low and the patch may be barely audible

  • RESONANCE340(0…1023)
  • DRIVE0%

    The filter drive circuit, in three stages

  • KEYTRACK100%

    100% moves the cutoff with the key, centred on C4

AMP EG / EG / LFO

  • AMP EG · ATTACK60(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · DECAY480(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · SUSTAIN760(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · RELEASE380(0…1023)
  • EG · ATTACK40(0…1023)
  • EG · DECAY420(0…1023)
  • EG · INT34%(-100…100 %)

    Negative applies the envelope downwards

  • EG · TARGETCUTOFF
  • LFO · WAVETRI
  • LFO · MODENORMAL
  • LFO · RATE210(0…1023)
  • LFO · INT60(0…511)

    Hold SHIFT, turn INT to invert

  • LFO · TARGETPITCH

EFFECTS

  • DEL/REV/MODDEL

    Selects which effect the two knobs below are setting; the other two keep their stored values

  • OFF/ON/SELECTON

    Hold SHIFT, flip to SELECT

  • DEPTH36%(0…100 %)

This block draws on the minilogue xd Owner's Manual E 9, pp.17-41; its values are starting points.