The Trill Synth ornament

lead · bright · 96 BPM (84–108) · B minor · 4 bars · 64 steps

Trill SynthPoly SynthHeld notes reached through a trill that ends on the bar line

Every patch on the KORG minilogue xd

The technique

Four notes hold this figure up: the key’s root, then its third, then its fourth, then its sixth. Everything else is decoration on the way into them.

The decoration is a trill in the last four sixteenths of the bar, alternating the note you are about to land on with the one a step above it. It finishes as the bar ends and the arrival lands on the downbeat.

The trill goes before the beat, never on it. Move one so it starts on the downbeat and the bar loses its arrival: the ornament becomes the note and the note it was decorating is gone. Worth doing once to hear it.

Bar one lands with no trill in front of it. That is the comparison the figure is for, so play the figure round twice and listen to the first arrival against the three that are decorated.

Play the trill lighter than the note it arrives at. Four even sixteenths and a quiet downbeat is a run; a light trill and a weighted arrival is an ornament.

Never raise the key’s seventh. Inside a trill it turns a decoration into a cadence that this figure is not making.

The chords

2 chords over 4 bars, in B minor.

DegreeChordNotesBarsUnder the figure
iBmB · D · F#1–2●
ivEmE · G · B3–4●

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

The rules

  • Never the raised 7th, on any chord — over i, a leading tone inside a trill turns a decoration into a cadence the figure is not making.

The notes

4 bars in B minor. Each note is in force across the steps shown.

  • steps 1–12·over i Bm·B3·degree 1·MIDI 59
  • step 13·over i Bm·E4·degree 4·MIDI 64
  • step 14·over i Bm·D4·degree 3·MIDI 62
  • step 15·over i Bm·E4·degree 4·MIDI 64
  • step 16·over i Bm·D4·degree 3·MIDI 62
  • steps 17–28·over i Bm·D4·degree 3·MIDI 62
  • step 29·over i Bm·F#4·degree 5·MIDI 66
  • step 30·over i Bm·E4·degree 4·MIDI 64
  • step 31·over i Bm·F#4·degree 5·MIDI 66
  • step 32·over i Bm·E4·degree 4·MIDI 64
  • steps 33–44·over iv Em·E4·degree 4·MIDI 64
  • step 45·over iv Em·A4·degree 7·MIDI 69
  • step 46·over iv Em·G4·degree 6·MIDI 67
  • step 47·over iv Em·A4·degree 7·MIDI 69
  • step 48·over iv Em·G4·degree 6·MIDI 67
  • steps 49–64·over iv Em·G4·degree 6·MIDI 67

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 114)
  • —13, 14, 15, 16, 29, 30, 31, 32, 45, 46, 47, 48 (all vel 52)

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.