The FUNK ORGAN early-sixteenth stabs on the Moog Subsequent 37

The technique

Four stabs a bar, and every one is on the sixteenth before a beat: before two, before three, before four, and before the next bar head. Never on a beat. That is the whole rhythm, and it does not change for four bars.

Two notes at once, and the same two for the whole bar. Over the i: its fifth and the root above. Over the iv: its third and fifth. Over the VII: its root and third. Over the III: its fifth and root. Across the four bars the top note holds, then climbs a tone and a semitone, and the bottom note climbs a semitone and a tone, then holds.

Short. A sixteenth and off. The gap between stabs is longer than the stab, and that gap is where the beat sits, unplayed. Ring past the push and the stab lands on the beat after all.

The push before the bar head is the loud one. It is the stab that drags the next bar in, and the three before it are the run-up. Play those a little under.

Keep the early placement exact. A sixteenth early every time reads as a groove; a sixteenth early sometimes reads as sloppy. The consistency is what makes the beat sound late instead of the stabs sounding early.

Leave the root to the bass. These are the top of the chord, a fourth or a third across, and the low end is somebody else’s job.

read in

The chords

4 chords over 4 bars, in E minor.

Degree	Chord	Notes	Bars	Under the figure
i	Em	E · G · B	1–1	●
iv	Am	A · C · E	2–2	●
VII	D	D · F# · A	3–3	●
III	G	G · B · D	4–4	●

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

The rules

Enter each chord at least 3 steps after it lands — every stab is on the sixteenth before a beat; the first one over a chord is three steps in, never on the change.

The notes

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

step 4·over i Em·B4 E5·degrees 5 1·MIDI 71 76
step 8·over i Em·B4 E5·degrees 5 1·MIDI 71 76
step 12·over i Em·B4 E5·degrees 5 1·MIDI 71 76
step 16·over i Em·B4 E5·degrees 5 1·MIDI 71 76
step 20·over iv Am·C5 E5·degrees 6 1·MIDI 72 76
step 24·over iv Am·C5 E5·degrees 6 1·MIDI 72 76
step 28·over iv Am·C5 E5·degrees 6 1·MIDI 72 76
step 32·over iv Am·C5 E5·degrees 6 1·MIDI 72 76
step 36·over VII D·D5 F#5·degrees 7 2·MIDI 74 78
step 40·over VII D·D5 F#5·degrees 7 2·MIDI 74 78
step 44·over VII D·D5 F#5·degrees 7 2·MIDI 74 78
step 48·over VII D·D5 F#5·degrees 7 2·MIDI 74 78
step 52·over III G·D5 G5·degrees 7 3·MIDI 74 79
step 56·over III G·D5 G5·degrees 7 3·MIDI 74 79
step 60·over III G·D5 G5·degrees 7 3·MIDI 74 79
step 64·over III G·D5 G5·degrees 7 3·MIDI 74 79

The grid

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

1 ···x ···x ···x ···x

17 ···x ···x ···x ···x

33 ···x ···x ···x ···x

49 ···x ···x ···x ···x

—4 (vel 104), 8 (vel 104), 12 (vel 104), 16 (vel 118), 20 (vel 104), 24 (vel 104), 28 (vel 104), 32 (vel 118), 36 (vel 104), 40 (vel 104), 44 (vel 104), 48 (vel 118), 52 (vel 104), 56 (vel 104), 60 (vel 104), 64 (vel 118)

On the Moog Subsequent 37

Subsequent 37 · Voice

Settings for this voice

Settings for a stab · hard 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 · 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 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 FREQ0.5Hz(-3.5…3.5 Hz)

MIXER

OSC 17(0…10)
SUB 12(0…10)
Always a square, always an octave below OSC 1
OSC 27(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

CUTOFF1400Hz(20…20000 Hz)
Fully down closes the filter completely
RESONANCE4.5(0…10)
Above 7 the filter sings by itself
MULTIDRIVE3.5(0…10)
Tube-like warmth at the bottom, hard clipping at the top
SLOPE24
dB per octave: one, two, three or four poles
EG AMT4(-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 · DECAY150ms(0.1…10000 ms)
FILTER EG · SUSTAIN1(0…10)
0 to 100%, calibrated 1 to 10
FILTER EG · RELEASE110ms(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 · DECAY300ms(0.1…10000 ms)
AMP EG · SUSTAIN4(0…10)
0 to 100%, calibrated 1 to 10
AMP EG · RELEASE120ms(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.