The 5TH IN LINE fifths line

bass-mid · bright · 116 BPM (104–124) · C minor · 4 bars · 64 steps

5TH IN LINE3.09Three bars on the fifth of each chord, and a root only in the fourth

Every patch on the Moog Subsequent 37

The technique

Three strikes a bar for three bars, and the first of each is the fifth of the chord, never its root: the key’s fifth over the i, its third over the VI, its seventh over the III.

The fourth bar is one note, the key’s fifth, held for the whole bar. It is the root of the v under it, and it is the first root in the figure.

That last note is the same pitch the figure opened on. In bar one it was the fifth of the i and it sounded unfinished; in bar four the chord underneath makes it the root, and the line arrives without moving.

After the head of each bar, two more notes, on beat three and on beat four, and each pair is a step. Bar one falls a tone from the seventh to the sixth. Bar two falls a tone from the fifth to the fourth. Bar three climbs a tone from the root to the second, and that second is the fifth of the chord bar four is about to land on.

Never play the root of the chord in the first three bars: the key’s root over the i, its sixth over the VI, its third over the III. Each one resolves the bar early, and there is nothing left for bar four to do.

Hold every note to the next strike. The line is legato until the last bar, which is one unbroken note.

Keep it where it is written, from the third at the bottom to the second at the top. The whole figure fits inside a major seventh and it is meant to.

The chords

4 chords over 4 bars, in C minor.

DegreeChordNotesBarsUnder the figure
iCmC · Eb · G1–1●
VIAbAb · C · Eb2–2●
IIIEbEb · G · Bb3–3●
vGmG · Bb · D4–4●

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

The rules

  • Never the raised 7th, on any chord — over v, a major third on the last chord resolves the figure somewhere it is not going.

The notes

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

  • steps 1–8·over i Cm·G2·degree 5·MIDI 43
  • steps 9–12·over i Cm·Bb2·degree 7·MIDI 46
  • steps 13–16·over i Cm·Ab2·degree 6·MIDI 44
  • steps 17–24·over VI Ab·Eb2·degree 3·MIDI 39
  • steps 25–28·over VI Ab·G2·degree 5·MIDI 43
  • steps 29–32·over VI Ab·F2·degree 4·MIDI 41
  • steps 33–40·over III Eb·Bb2·degree 7·MIDI 46
  • steps 41–44·over III Eb·C3·degree 1·MIDI 48
  • steps 45–48·over III Eb·D3·degree 2·MIDI 50
  • steps 49–64·over v Gm·G2·degree 5·MIDI 43

The grid

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

  • —1 (vel 112), 17 (vel 112), 33 (vel 112), 49 (vel 124)
  • —9, 25, 41
  • —13, 29, 45

On the Moog Subsequent 37

Subsequent 37 · Voice

Settings for this voice

Settings for a bass-mid · 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

  • SWING50%(0…100 %)

    50 is straight; it swings the onboard arpeggiator and sequencer, nothing played from elsewhere

    PRESET EDIT, ARPEGGIATOR, SWING

GLIDE

  • ONOFF

    Must be lit for any glide at all

OSCILLATORS

  • OSC 1 · OCTAVE8'
  • OSC 1 · WAVESAWTOOTH

    The knob is continuous; these are its four named points

  • OSC 2 · OCTAVE16'
  • OSC 2 · WAVESAWTOOTH

    The knob is continuous; these are its four named points

  • OSC · HARD SYNCOFF

    Keep OSC 2 at or above OSC 1 or it barely sounds

  • OSC · KB RESETON

    A defined leading edge, at the cost of a click on hard attacks

  • OSC · DUO MODEOFF

    Off: one note at a time, both oscillators on the same key

  • OSC · KB CTRLHI

    Inert while DUO MODE is off; set so FREQUENCY keeps its semitone scale

  • OSC 2 · FREQUENCY0.5st(-7…7 st)

    Centre is unison with OSC 1; fully clockwise is a fifth

  • OSC 2 · BEAT FREQ0.5Hz(-3.5…3.5 Hz)

    A constant beat rate at every pitch, unlike FREQUENCY

MIXER

  • OSC 16.5(0…10)
  • SUB 15(0…10)

    Always a square, always an octave below OSC 1

  • OSC 26(0…10)
  • NOISE0(0…10)

    Pink, not white

  • FDBK / EXT IN0(0…10)

    With nothing in EXT IN this feeds the mixer output back into itself

FILTER

  • CUTOFF2400Hz(20…20000 Hz)

    Fully down closes the filter completely

  • RESONANCE2.5(0…10)

    Above 7 the filter sings by itself

  • MULTIDRIVE1.5(0…10)

    Tube-like warmth at the bottom, hard clipping at the top

  • SLOPE12

    dB per octave: one, two, three or four poles

  • EG AMT3.5(-5…5)

    Bipolar: below centre the envelope pulls the cutoff down

  • KB TRACK1(0…2)

    1.0 is 1:1 tracking centred on C3; 2.0 is 2:1

ENVELOPE GENERATORS

  • ENV · KNOB SHIFTOFF

    Unlit, or the eight knobs below are DELAY, HOLD, VEL AMT and KB TRACK instead

  • FILTER EG · ATTACK2ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • FILTER EG · DECAY160ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • FILTER EG · SUSTAIN3(0…10)

    0 to 100%, calibrated 1 to 10

  • FILTER EG · RELEASE140ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • FILTER EG · LOOPOFF

    On, the envelope repeats for as long as a note is held — a multistage LFO

  • AMP EG · ATTACK2ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • AMP EG · DECAY420ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • AMP EG · SUSTAIN6.5(0…10)

    0 to 100%, calibrated 1 to 10

  • AMP EG · RELEASE130ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • AMP EG · MULTI TRIGON

    On, every note re-attacks even when you play legato

  • AMP EG · LOOPOFF

    Off on everything but a bed: looping the amplitude re-articulates a held note

MOD 1

  • SOURCETriangle
  • HI RANGEOFF

    On, the LFO runs ten times faster

  • SYNCOFF

    Off, so RATE is in hertz rather than clock divisions

  • LFO RATE5Hz(0.1…100 Hz)
  • KB RESETOFF

    On, the LFO restarts at zero on every note

  • PITCH AMT0(-5…5)
  • OSCBOTH

    Which oscillator PITCH AMT reaches

  • FILTER AMT0(-5…5)
  • DESTVCA LEVEL
  • MOD AMT0(-5…5)

This block draws on the Subsequent 37 User's Manual, pp.21-61; its values are starting points.