The Replicant xd inner-voice pad

pad · dark · 68 BPM (60–76) · C# minor · 8 bars

Replicant xdPadSlow minor pad with a moving inner voice

Every patch on the KORG minilogue xd

The technique

Eight bars, four chords, two bars each: i, VI, iv and a major V. Slow enough that each chord is heard settling before it goes.

Three notes, and hold the outside. The key’s root at the bottom and its third on top stay exactly where they are for six bars; the note between them is the only thing that moves, and the ear follows the one line that is moving.

The inner voice goes fifth, sixth, fourth: up a semitone into the VI, then down a minor third into the iv. Nothing else changes and the chord changes its name each time, because the two held notes mean something different over each one: the bottom note is the root, then the third, then the fifth.

On the last chord everything moves at once and a fourth voice arrives. The bottom drops a fourth to the key’s fifth, the inner voice rises a tone to the same note an octave above it, the top falls a semitone to the second, and the raised seventh enters between them. Six bars of nearly nothing is what makes that bar land.

Never play the key’s own seventh while the V is sounding. The chord has the raised seventh in it, and the two a semitone apart is a clash a slow pad cannot hide.

Keep the attack slow and change chords a fraction early. A slow pad reaches full volume after the bar head, so the change has to start before it.

The chords

4 chords over 8 bars, in C# minor.

DegreeChordNotesBarsUnder the figure
iC#mC# · E · G#1–2●
VIAA · C# · E3–4●
ivF#mF# · A · C#5–6●
VG#G# · B# · D#7–8●

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

The rules

  • Over V, never the 7th — the chord is built on the raised seventh, and the natural one a semitone away clashes with it.

The notes

8 bars in C# minor. Each note is in force across the steps shown.

  • steps 1–32·over i C#m·C#3 G#3 E4·degrees 1 5 3·MIDI 49 56 64
  • steps 33–64·over VI A·C#3 A3 E4·degrees 1 6 3·MIDI 49 57 64
  • steps 65–96·over iv F#m·C#3 F#3 E4·degrees 1 4 3·MIDI 49 54 64
  • steps 97–128·over V G#·G#2 G#3 B#3 D#4·degrees 5 5 #7 2·MIDI 44 56 60 63

On the KORG minilogue xd

minilogue xd · Voice

Settings for this voice

Settings for a pad · dark 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

  • PORTAMENTO20(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 DEPTH0(0…1023)

    Left at 0 — turning right crosses into DUO, which spends two voices on every key

VCO 1 / VCO 2 / MULTI ENGINE

  • VCO 1 · WAVESAW
  • VCO 1 · OCTAVE16'
  • VCO 1 · PITCH0c(-1200…1200 c)
  • VCO 1 · SHAPE380(0…1023)

    Shape, complexity, or duty cycle of the selected wave

  • VCO 2 · WAVETRI
  • VCO 2 · OCTAVE8'
  • VCO 2 · PITCH-9c(-1200…1200 c)
  • VCO 2 · SHAPE200(0…1023)
  • VCO 2 · SYNCOFF

    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 · TYPELow
  • MULTI ENGINE · SHAPE400Hz(10…21000 Hz)

    CUTOFF — the low-pass filter on the noise

MIXER

  • VCO 1700(0…1023)
  • VCO 2540(0…1023)
  • MULTI120(0…1023)

FILTER

  • CUTOFF300(0…1023)

    Set too low and the patch may be barely audible

  • RESONANCE180(0…1023)
  • DRIVE50%

    The filter drive circuit, in three stages

  • KEYTRACK50%

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

AMP EG / EG / LFO

  • AMP EG · ATTACK620(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · DECAY760(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · SUSTAIN800(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · RELEASE780(0…1023)
  • EG · ATTACK500(0…1023)
  • EG · DECAY700(0…1023)
  • EG · INT-18%(-100…100 %)

    Negative applies the envelope downwards

  • EG · TARGETCUTOFF
  • LFO · WAVETRI
  • LFO · MODENORMAL
  • LFO · RATE110(0…1023)
  • LFO · INT70(0…511)

    Hold SHIFT, turn INT to invert

  • LFO · TARGETCUTOFF

EFFECTS

  • DEL/REV/MODREV

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

  • OFF/ON/SELECTON

    Hold SHIFT, flip to SELECT

  • DEPTH62%(0…100 %)

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