The Duotronic Moogtrons pedal-and-line pad

pad · dark · 76 BPM (64–88) · F minor · 8 bars

Duotronic Moogtrons5.12One note held while the other walks against it

Every patch on the Moog Subsequent 37

The technique

Hold the low root and do not let go of it for eight bars. That is one hand’s whole job. The name says duo, and this is what the second note is for: everything the other hand plays is heard against a note that never moves.

The line is one note a bar, entered on the bar head and held to the next bar head. Over the two bars of the i: the key’s fifth, then its third. Over the VI: the root an octave up, then the third above it. Over the iv: the fourth, then the sixth below it. Over the VII: the fourth, then the second.

What the ear follows is the distance between the two notes. A fifth, in to a third, then out to an octave, a tenth, an eleventh, then in again to a sixth, a fourth, and a tone at the end. The pass then opens it back to a fifth. Play the line for the interval and not for the tune.

The line never goes below the held note. The pedal is always the bottom and the line is always the top, so whichever voice has the low root keeps it for the whole figure.

The last bar is the point: the key’s second, a tone above the pedal, over the VII, where the pedal is the ninth of the chord as well. Two tensions on one bar. Hold it the full bar and let the next pass resolve both at once.

Never raise the seventh. The leading tone over a held tonic turns the pedal into a landing. The pedal is a floor to move over, not one to arrive on.

The chords

4 chords over 8 bars, in F minor.

DegreeChordNotesBarsUnder the figure
iFmF · Ab · C1–2●
VIDbDb · F · Ab3–4●
ivBbmBb · Db · F5–6●
VIIEbEb · G · Bb7–8●

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, the leading tone over a held tonic turns the pedal into a landing.

The notes

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

  • steps 1–128·over i Fm·F3 C4·degrees 1 5·MIDI 53 60
  • steps 17–32·over i Fm·Ab3·degree 3·MIDI 56
  • steps 33–48·over VI Db·F4·degree 1·MIDI 65
  • steps 49–64·over VI Db·Ab4·degree 3·MIDI 68
  • steps 65–80·over iv Bbm·Bb4·degree 4·MIDI 70
  • steps 81–96·over iv Bbm·Db4·degree 6·MIDI 61
  • steps 97–112·over VII Eb·Bb3·degree 4·MIDI 58
  • steps 113–128·over VII Eb·G3·degree 2·MIDI 55

On the Moog Subsequent 37

Subsequent 37 · Voice

Settings for this voice

Settings for a pad · dark 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 · OCTAVE8'
  • OSC 2 · WAVETRIANGLE

    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 RESETOFF

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

  • OSC · DUO MODEON

    On: the two oscillators take independent pitches, so this patch plays two notes

  • OSC · KB CTRLHI

    HI puts OSC 2 on the top note and OSC 1 on the bottom; LO swaps them

  • OSC 2 · FREQUENCY0st(-7…7 st)

    Leave near centre: this is a detune on top of a note OSC 2 is already playing

  • OSC 2 · BEAT FREQ1Hz(-3.5…3.5 Hz)

MIXER

  • OSC 15.5(0…10)
  • SUB 14.5(0…10)

    Always a square, always an octave below OSC 1

  • OSC 25(0…10)
  • NOISE0.5(0…10)

    Pink, not white

  • FDBK / EXT IN0(0…10)

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

FILTER

  • CUTOFF420Hz(20…20000 Hz)

    Fully down closes the filter completely

  • RESONANCE2.5(0…10)

    Above 7 the filter sings by itself

  • MULTIDRIVE1(0…10)

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

  • SLOPE24

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

  • EG AMT2(-5…5)

    Bipolar: below centre the envelope pulls the cutoff down

  • KB TRACK0.5(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 · ATTACK700ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • FILTER EG · DECAY1400ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • FILTER EG · SUSTAIN5(0…10)

    0 to 100%, calibrated 1 to 10

  • FILTER EG · RELEASE900ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • FILTER EG · LOOPOFF

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

  • AMP EG · ATTACK600ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • AMP EG · DECAY1800ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • AMP EG · SUSTAIN8.5(0…10)

    0 to 100%, calibrated 1 to 10

  • AMP EG · RELEASE1200ms(0.1…10000 ms)
  • AMP EG · MULTI TRIGOFF

    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 RATE0.6Hz(0.1…100 Hz)
  • KB RESETOFF

    On, the LFO restarts at zero on every note

  • PITCH AMT0.5(-5…5)
  • OSC2

    Which oscillator PITCH AMT reaches

  • FILTER AMT1(-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.