The Square Drone one note on the KORG minilogue xd

The technique

One note for the whole figure: the key’s fifth. Strike it at each chord change and hold it until the next. You are not playing a line, you are keeping a note while the harmony moves.

Over the first chord it is the fifth. Over the second it is the major seventh, which is where it stops sounding plain. Over the third it is the third. Nothing in your hand did any of that.

Over the last chord it is a tritone and it is meant to be. Three bars taught the ear that the note belongs; the fourth keeps it while the ground moves. Let it sit there for the whole two bars.

Strike it again at each change rather than holding straight through. Held, it is one long note under four chords; restruck, it is the same note walking into four different rooms.

Never play the key’s root while the last chord is sounding. It is a semitone off that chord, and reaching for it to steady the clash makes a worse one.

Same velocity every time. The note is not building to anything and an accent would say it was.

read in

The chords

4 chords over 8 bars, in C minor.

Degree	Chord	Notes	Bars	Under the figure
i	Cm	C · Eb · G	1–2	●
VI	Ab	Ab · C · Eb	3–4	●
III	Eb	Eb · G · Bb	5–6	●
bII	Db	Db · F · Ab	7–8	●

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

The rules

Over bII, never the 1st — the tonic is a semitone off the flat two, and reaching for it to steady the clash makes a worse one.

The notes

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

steps 1–32·over i Cm·G3·degree 5·MIDI 55
steps 33–64·over VI Ab·G3·degree 5·MIDI 55
steps 65–96·over III Eb·G3·degree 5·MIDI 55
steps 97–128·over bII Db·G3·degree 5·MIDI 55

The grid

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

The grid is 2 bars and the figure is 8: play it round 4 times.

1 x··· ···· ···· ····

17 ···· ···· ···· ····

—1 (vel 96), 33 (vel 96), 65 (vel 96), 97 (vel 96)

On the KORG minilogue xd

minilogue xd · Voice

Settings for this voice

Settings for a texture · soft 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

PORTAMENTO64(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 · WAVETRI
VCO 1 · OCTAVE8'
VCO 1 · PITCH0c(-1200…1200 c)
VCO 1 · SHAPE260(0…1023)
Shape, complexity, or duty cycle of the selected wave
VCO 2 · WAVETRI
VCO 2 · OCTAVE4'
VCO 2 · PITCH14c(-1200…1200 c)
VCO 2 · SHAPE300(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 · TYPEPeak
MULTI ENGINE · SHAPE300Hz(110…880 Hz)
BANDWIDTH — the peak filter width

MIXER

VCO 1620(0…1023)
VCO 2560(0…1023)
MULTI240(0…1023)

FILTER

CUTOFF460(0…1023)
Set too low and the patch may be barely audible
RESONANCE160(0…1023)
DRIVE0%
The filter drive circuit, in three stages
KEYTRACK50%
100% moves the cutoff with the key, centred on C4

AMP EG / EG / LFO

AMP EG · ATTACK760(0…1023)
AMP EG · DECAY820(0…1023)
AMP EG · SUSTAIN900(0…1023)
AMP EG · RELEASE900(0…1023)
EG · ATTACK700(0…1023)
EG · DECAY800(0…1023)
EG · INT18%(-100…100 %)
Negative applies the envelope downwards
EG · TARGETCUTOFF
LFO · WAVETRI
LFO · MODENORMAL
LFO · RATE150(0…1023)
LFO · INT180(0…511)
Hold SHIFT, turn INT to invert
LFO · TARGETSHAPE

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
DEPTH72%(0…100 %)

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