The Swollen Pad staggered stack

pad · clean · 80 BPM (70–90) · G major · 8 bars

Swollen PadPadChords stacked one voice at a time into a slow attack

Every patch on the KORG minilogue xd

The technique

Four chords, two bars each: I, V, vi, IV. Each one is entered a note at a time, one on every beat of its first bar, from the bottom up, and every note holds until the chord changes.

Bottom first, always. The bass note lands on the head, the next two chord tones on two and three, and the colour note on four, so the chord is heard growing rather than appearing.

Let the notes go together. Everything lifts at the bar line before the next chord and the new bottom note lands alone on the head. The gap is part of the figure.

The top note of each voicing is a ninth or a seventh: the ninth over the I and over the V, the seventh over the vi, the major seventh over the IV. It is the last note to enter and the one the swell arrives at.

Never add the key’s fourth while the I is sounding. It sits a semitone over the third, and a slow attack stays on that clash for a whole beat before the ear can decide it was a mistake.

Set the attack long enough that the first note is still rising when the second enters. If each note has finished swelling before the next, the stack sounds struck.

The chords

4 chords over 8 bars, in G major.

DegreeChordNotesBarsUnder the figure
IGG · B · D1–2●
VDD · F# · A3–4●
viEmE · G · B5–6●
IVCC · E · G7–8●

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

The rules

  • Over I, never the 4th — it sits a semitone over the third, and a slow attack lingers on the clash.

The notes

8 bars in G major. Each note is in force across the steps shown.

  • steps 1–32·over I G·G3·degree 1·MIDI 55
  • steps 5–32·over I G·B3·degree 3·MIDI 59
  • steps 9–32·over I G·D4·degree 5·MIDI 62
  • steps 13–32·over I G·A4·degree 2·MIDI 69
  • steps 33–64·over V D·D3·degree 5·MIDI 50
  • steps 37–64·over V D·F#3·degree 7·MIDI 54
  • steps 41–64·over V D·A3·degree 2·MIDI 57
  • steps 45–64·over V D·E4·degree 6·MIDI 64
  • steps 65–96·over vi Em·E3·degree 6·MIDI 52
  • steps 69–96·over vi Em·G3·degree 1·MIDI 55
  • steps 73–96·over vi Em·B3·degree 3·MIDI 59
  • steps 77–96·over vi Em·D4·degree 5·MIDI 62
  • steps 97–128·over IV C·C3·degree 4·MIDI 48
  • steps 101–128·over IV C·G3·degree 1·MIDI 55
  • steps 105–128·over IV C·E4·degree 6·MIDI 64
  • steps 109–128·over IV C·B4·degree 3·MIDI 71

On the KORG minilogue xd

minilogue xd · Voice

Settings for this voice

Settings for a pad · clean 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

  • PORTAMENTO0(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 · SHAPE300(0…1023)

    Shape, complexity, or duty cycle of the selected wave

  • VCO 2 · WAVESQR
  • VCO 2 · OCTAVE8'
  • VCO 2 · PITCH4c(-1200…1200 c)
  • VCO 2 · SHAPE512(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 · SHAPE2000Hz(10…21000 Hz)

    CUTOFF — the low-pass filter on the noise

MIXER

  • VCO 1760(0…1023)
  • VCO 2500(0…1023)
  • MULTI0(0…1023)

FILTER

  • CUTOFF600(0…1023)

    Set too low and the patch may be barely audible

  • RESONANCE60(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 · ATTACK380(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · DECAY640(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · SUSTAIN840(0…1023)
  • AMP EG · RELEASE640(0…1023)
  • EG · ATTACK300(0…1023)
  • EG · DECAY520(0…1023)
  • EG · INT14%(-100…100 %)

    Negative applies the envelope downwards

  • EG · TARGETCUTOFF
  • LFO · WAVETRI
  • LFO · MODENORMAL
  • LFO · RATE140(0…1023)
  • LFO · INT40(0…511)

    Hold SHIFT, turn INT to invert

  • LFO · TARGETSHAPE

EFFECTS

  • DEL/REV/MODMOD

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

  • OFF/ON/SELECTON

    Hold SHIFT, flip to SELECT

  • DEPTH30%(0…100 %)

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