The Aegean Organ Phrygian figure

lead · bright · 76 BPM (68–88) · D phrygian · 8 bars · 64 steps

Aegean Organ5.14Greek modal writing in the Vangelis manner

Every patch on the Moog Muse

The technique

Four chords, eight bars, two bars each: i, II, i, vii. A minor chord, the major chord a semitone above it, the minor chord again, and the minor chord a tone below it. The right hand enters on the beat with every chord. An organ has no attack shape, so each note speaks the instant the key goes down, and the phrasing is all in length and release.

Left hand, each chord’s root and fifth only, no thirds. Open fifths are what make an organ sound modal instead of churchy.

Over the first i: the key’s third, then fall a tone to the flat second in the second bar. Cut the third short before the drop and the fall has weight; hold it too long and the two notes blur into one sound.

Over the II: its third, held for both bars. Over the return to the i: the root, up a semitone to the flat second, back to the root. Over the vii: the flat second, falling to the root at the end.

One rule, and it is the whole piece: never raise the second. The flat second is what makes this Phrygian instead of ordinary minor, and it sounds over all four chords, in the harmony or in the line. Play the raised second once and the modal sound is gone.

Since nothing swells, practise releasing. A move inside a chord is played off the held note; the hand strikes on the entry into each chord, and the release is what shapes everything else.

The chords

4 chords over 8 bars, in D phrygian.

DegreeChordNotesBarsUnder the figure
iDmD · F · A1–2●
IIEbEb · G · Bb3–4●
iDmD · F · A5–6●
viiCmC · Eb · G7–8●

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

The rules

  • Never the raised 2nd, on any chord — over i, the raised second destroys the flat second the mode rests on.

The notes

8 bars in D phrygian. Each note is in force across the steps shown.

  • steps 1–12·over i Dm·F5·degree 3·MIDI 77
  • steps 17–32·over i Dm·Eb5·degree 2·MIDI 75
  • steps 33–64·over II Eb·G5·degree 4·MIDI 79
  • steps 65–72·over i Dm·D5·degree 1·MIDI 74
  • steps 73–80·over i Dm·Eb5·degree 2·MIDI 75
  • steps 81–96·over i Dm·D5·degree 1·MIDI 74
  • steps 97–120·over vii Cm·Eb5·degree 2·MIDI 75
  • steps 121–128·over vii Cm·D5·degree 1·MIDI 74

The grid

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

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

  • —1 (vel 88), 65 (vel 88)
  • —33, 97

On the Moog Muse

Muse · Timbre 1

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

VOICE CONTROL

  • UNISONOFF

    Stacks every unused voice onto the first note held, so the timbre plays one note at a time

  • MONOON
  • DETUNE20%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 92

    Between voices when poly, between stacked voices under UNISON, between the two oscillators under MONO

  • TIMBRE A VOICE COUNT8(0…8)

    The counts always sum to eight, so setting this sets the other — TIMBRE B gets the rest

    VOICE CONTROL, then MORE

  • DYNAMIC VOICE ALLOCATIONOFF

    Its printed default. On, a busy timbre steals from the other and the count above stops holding

    VOICE CONTROL, then MORE

PROGRAMMER

  • MIDI IN CHANNEL1

    TIMBRE A listens here

    PROGRAMMER, MENU, MIDI

  • MULTI IN B CHANNEL2

    TIMBRE B listens here under MULTI MODE. Both default to 1, so this must differ or the two timbres double on one channel

    PROGRAMMER, MENU, MIDI

  • RECIEVE CCON

    Defaults to OFF, so the box ignores CC until this is set. The manual's spelling

    PROGRAMMER, MENU, MIDI

OSC 1

  • OCTAVE8'
  • FREQUENCY0st(-7…7 st)

    Bipolar, in tune at noon; a perfect fifth either way

  • TRI/SAW100%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 46

    Triangle fully counter-clockwise, sawtooth fully clockwise

  • PULSE WIDTH50%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 47

    A square wave sits at noon

  • WAVE MIX0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 48

    The slider: triangle/sawtooth on the left against the pulse wave on the right

OSC 2

  • OCTAVE8'
  • FREQUENCY1st(-7…7 st)
  • TRI/SAW100%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 51
  • PULSE WIDTH50%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 52
  • WAVE MIX0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 53
  • SYNC 2▸1OFF

    Locks oscillator 2 to the phase of oscillator 1

MOD OSC

  • AUDIOOFF

    Sub-audio: eight per-voice LFOs, one for each voice

  • WAVEFORMSINE
  • FREQUENCY20%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 25

    The range of this knob differs with the AUDIO button above

  • PITCH AMOUNT0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 31
  • PITCH ▸ OSC 1OFF
  • PITCH ▸ OSC 2OFF
  • FILTER AMOUNT15%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 39
  • FILTER ▸ 1OFF
  • FILTER ▸ 2ON

MIXER

  • OSC 175%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 58
  • RING MOD0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 60

    Sum and difference tones of the two oscillators — inharmonic as they detune

  • OSC 270%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 59
  • MOD OSC0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 61
  • NOISE0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 62

    White noise

  • OVERLOAD15%(0…100 %)
  • OVERLOAD RANGELOW

    LOW narrows the drive range for finer control

    Press MORE in that section

FILTER

  • ORDERSER

    SERIAL, STEREO or PARALLEL — with HIGH PASS this decides bandpass, stereo lowpass or notch

  • LINK FILTERSOFF

    Off, so FILTER 1 CUTOFF is an absolute cutoff rather than the spacing between the two

FILTER 1

  • HIGH PASSOFF

    Lowpass

  • CUTOFF2000Hz(20…20000 Hz)· MIDI CC 67
  • RESONANCE30%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 68

    Self-oscillates into a sine fully clockwise

  • ENVELOPE AMOUNT20(-100…100)· MIDI CC 69

    Bipolar, no modulation at noon

  • KB TRACKING1:1

FILTER 2

  • CUTOFF3200Hz(20…20000 Hz)· MIDI CC 72
  • RESONANCE20%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 73
  • ENVELOPE AMOUNT10(-100…100)· MIDI CC 75

    Bipolar, no modulation at noon

  • KB TRACKING1:1

FILTER ENV

  • ATTACK0.1s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 79
  • DECAY0.8s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 80
  • SUSTAIN55%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 81
  • RELEASE0.6s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 82
  • LOOPOFF

    Looping, the envelope runs like an LFO

VCA ENV

  • ATTACK0.1s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 86
  • DECAY0.9s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 87
  • SUSTAIN90%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 88
  • RELEASE0.6s(0…10 s)· MIDI CC 89
  • VELOCITYON

VCA

  • LEVEL80%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 7

    Light TIMBRE A or B first

  • PAN0(0…100)· MIDI CC 10

    Bipolar, centred at noon — the screen reads 100L through 0 to 100R

  • PAN SPREAD0%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 9

    All voices sit at the PAN position fully counter-clockwise

  • PAN SPRD MODEL/R

    Press MORE in that section

DELAY

  • CLOCK SYNCON

    Both TIME knobs jump between divisions of the global TEMPO

  • SYNC TYPECOMBO

    Its printed default — every division rather than only straight, triplet or dotted ones

    Press MORE in that section

  • LINK DELAYSOFF

    Off, so TIME-L is the left delay time rather than an offset against the right

  • TIME - L1/8· MIDI CC 93

    Straight, against the dotted right

  • TIME - R1/8 D· MIDI CC 94

    Dotted, so its repeat falls between the left one’s

  • FEEDBACK40%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 103

    Single repeat through to infinite

  • CHARACTER50%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 104

    Noon, where the default DJ-style filter on the repeats is doing nothing

  • MIX30%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 105
  • TIMBRE A / TIMBRE BON

    Two separate buttons, one per timbre — engage the one for the timbre this part is on. Disengaged, this part bypasses the delay on a fully analog path

PITCH LFO

  • RATE5.2Hz(0.01…40 Hz)
  • SHAPE50%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 19

    Sawtooth fully counter-clockwise, a symmetrical triangle at noon, ramp fully clockwise

  • AMOUNT60%(0…100 %)· MIDI CC 20

    Bipolar, no modulation at noon; ±2 semitones at maximum

  • ▸ OSC 1ON
  • ▸ OSC 2ON
  • SYNCOFF

    Press MORE in that section

This block draws on the Muse User's Manual v1.4.0, pp.27-111 and the instrument at firmware 1.4.0; its values are starting points.