Sputnik Oscillator

scottmoon · Post by **scottmoon** » Fri May 08, 2015 11:11 pm

MindMachine wrote:
stephentrask wrote: On the other hand, the manual also has a picture of a cable with the caption "white stripe" with an arrow pointing to a red stripe.
They mean the white stripe on the pcb is -12 so that is where the red stripe goes. I never saw that before either.

This VCO is fantastic. I can only imagine how 2 sound together.

I have 2 plus the Nonlinear Circuits Timbre module. They sound great with lots of options.

scottmoon · Post by **scottmoon** » Tue May 12, 2015 3:01 pm

I did a simple sequence with 1 Sputnik Oscillator with modulation from the waveshape output going through the new Nonlinear Circuits Timbre! module (clone of the easel timbre section). I didn't push it too far. It can get pretty out there, especially if I would have used the 2nd Sputnik Oscillator.
It was sequenced by the Microbe M3TA and eventually worked it way through the Sputnik Quad Function and Quad VCF/VCA. Added a smidgen of reverb for spice.

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Orwell · Post by **Orwell** » Tue May 12, 2015 7:15 pm

Sputnik osc arrived ths morning
Extremely impressed with this osc
I will not hesitate to buy the double osc when released and probally will grab most of thesputnik modules
The osc is definitely providing a 70s bulcha vibe - its not rubbery and angler and agressive like say the dpo, of which I am not a fan of
More a melting pot of a space is the place vibe with organic under and over tones
Thanks Sputnik, very impressive

esmeets · Post by **esmeets** » Thu May 14, 2015 4:04 am

How does this module compare to the STO or Z3000?
I'm looking for a VCO to compliment my Braids

O-Ma · Post by **O-Ma** » Thu May 14, 2015 9:27 am

Love the sound from the module but has anybody else had tracking issues?

Mine seems to drift every now and then. And with the knobs so sensitive it's hard to get the original sound back. Maybe I just got a dodgy one.

Don't have STO but compared to the z3000 it's warmer, bit more organic.
Z3000 is more aggressive n harsher (not in a negative way) and more stable compared to mine anyway.
Actually z3000 is very stable regardless. And quite versatile as well as reasonably phat.

slavetothesync · Post by **slavetothesync** » Thu Jun 11, 2015 2:59 pm

O-Ma wrote:Love the sound from the module but has anybody else had tracking issues?

Mine seems to drift every now and then. And with the knobs so sensitive it's hard to get the original sound back. Maybe I just got a dodgy one.

Don't have STO but compared to the z3000 it's warmer, bit more organic.
Z3000 is more aggressive n harsher (not in a negative way) and more stable compared to mine anyway.
Actually z3000 is very stable regardless. And quite versatile as well as reasonably phat.

Ya- if a long patch cable is touching it and you disturb it ever so slightly tuning jumps around. My major complaint with the sputnik stuff are the cheapy plastic pots. also... I wish all euro manufactures would just put a hi/lo switch on all osc, creating more range while dulling knob sensitivity...

O-Ma · Post by **O-Ma** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 6:54 am

slavetothesync wrote:
O-Ma wrote:Love the sound from the module but has anybody else had tracking issues?

Mine seems to drift every now and then.

Ya- if a long patch cable is touching it and you disturb it ever so slightly tuning jumps around. My major complaint with the sputnik stuff are the cheapy plastic pots. also... I wish all euro manufactures would just put a hi/lo switch on all osc, creating more range while dulling knob sensitivity...
Thank you for the reply but I think it still drifts when I'm not even close to the module. I.e. not in the same rack as the one im manipulating so not much chance of touching any of the cables.

Maybe I do let the cable brush it sometimes? Either way completely agree that the main freq control shouldn't be so flimsy and course.

Also, to correct what I said last time, the Sputnik vco is a bit organic but muffled might be a better way of putting it.

gustavb · Post by **gustavb** » Sun Jun 14, 2015 5:50 pm

muffled as in good?

stephentrask · Post by **stephentrask** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 10:52 am

Personally I would describe the sound as warm not muffled.

LaBelleAurore · Post by **LaBelleAurore** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 10:58 am

stephentrask wrote:Personally I would describe the sound as warm not muffled.

The Sputnik oscillator is capable of an extremely wide range of timbres ranging from dull/warm/low/bass to bright/metallic/bells. The key is using two for their excellent FM capabilities (and more like a true 258 as intended).

MindMachine · Post by **MindMachine** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 3:51 pm

mritenburg wrote:
stephentrask wrote:Personally I would describe the sound as warm not muffled.
The Sputnik oscillator is capable of an extremely wide range of timbres ranging from dull/warm/low/bass to bright/metallic/bells. The key is using two for their excellent FM capabilities (and more like a true 258 as intended).

So true. I am adding a second Sputnik VCO to the rack as my only pair of duplicate vco's. I love their sound. I imagine I will love it twice as much.

couriersix · Post by **couriersix** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 8:29 pm

sounds great this oscillator, really interested in one as a second vco in my little 6u i just started!

What i couldnt find ( or maybe overlooked ) is what the sub out does? is it a square wave or something else, and is it modulated together with the main outputs or is it a totally separate output? only info i found is that its 2 octaves below the main..

oww and its my first post

hello

david_r · Post by **david_r** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 8:37 pm

couriersix wrote:sounds great this oscillator, really interested in one as a second vco in my little 6u i just started!

What i couldnt find ( or maybe overlooked ) is what the sub out does? is it a square wave or something else, and is it modulated together with the main outputs or is it a totally separate output? only info i found is that its 2 octaves below the main..

oww and its my first post hello

Welcome

I don't own one but the webpage states:
Sub – square wave 2 octaves down to original pitch

It is not a separate output as is the case with just about all sub osc outputs I have come across. It follows the pitch / modulation but 2 octaves down.

couriersix · Post by **couriersix** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 8:56 pm

thanks

just checked the site and jup, i did overlook it, a square it is.. duh!

im new to all this euro stuff, and i thought i saw that with some vco's with a sub the modulation doesnt affect the sub output.

anyway, good to hear that this one does..

O-Ma · Post by **O-Ma** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 10:52 am

mritenburg wrote:
stephentrask wrote:Personally I would describe the sound as warm not muffled.
The Sputnik oscillator is capable of an extremely wide range of timbres ranging from dull/warm/low/bass to bright/metallic/bells. The key is using two for their excellent FM capabilities (and more like a true 258 as intended).

stephentrask wrote:Personally I would describe the sound as warm not muffled.

Yeh, it is warm as I said previously. And also cloudy? Not sure how to put it and obviously totally subjective. To be honest. Just don't feel the mojo from it that I get from the warm organic sound I get from my minimoog and other vintage gear. They are warm and also really clear.

Maybe fming the Sputnik will make me appreciate it more. Thanks for the tip. I was mainly just using it as a basic vco to fm other modules.

Dogma · Post by **Dogma** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 11:52 am

I must admit Ive felt the opposite of "warm" when ive heard this one.....didnt really dig it

fakeempire · Post by **fakeempire** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:54 pm

Currently trying to decide between this and the WMD/SSF Spectrum.... both sound great, the spectrum has a little more functionality but the Sputnik has that great sound - 2 very different beasts I guess...

JamieH · Post by **JamieH** » Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:36 am

I have had the Osc for a month or so now, fell in love with it on first sequence, i also have the Sputnik VCF, they go very well together.

The tuning knob on my Sputnik is ever so slightly stiff, tuning has been great or i havent noticed any issues with it or cables touching it and moving it off.

radiokoala · Post by **radiokoala** » Thu Jun 18, 2015 3:15 am

couriersix wrote:thanks

just checked the site and jup, i did overlook it, a square it is.. duh!

im new to all this euro stuff, and i thought i saw that with some vco's with a sub the modulation doesnt affect the sub output.

anyway, good to hear that this one does..

2 remarks..

Sub-osc is near always square, but where it doesn't get affected is pwm maybe. So sub is either square (fixed pulse width) or pulse in 90% cases. Sometimes it can be sine (rare; arturia minibrute for example) or saw, like in SSF/WMD Spectrum, but that is also a newer thing.

As to modulation not affecting sub output, I mostly doubt it (sub is usually derived from master frequency of an osc, which is usually - by schematics, - a sum of all CV present + coarse/fine adjustments, and from there is extracted base frequency for sub.... so that's a bit like saying "there is a bike where front wheel makes 3 spins, but rear wheel does 4"..

)

Anyway, another example of modulation not affecting sub output that I can give (but not frequency related) is mutable instruments tides/sheep, where it has built-in vca which applies to main output but doesn't affect sub. But you don't commonly encounter vca's on oscillators anyway, so this example is non-demonstrative... I just put it here as that's something that I noticed.

kindacloudy · Post by **kindacloudy** » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:03 am

luv it

couriersix · Post by **couriersix** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 3:22 pm

"there is a bike where front wheel makes 3 spins, but rear wheel does 4"

thanks, clear explanation

funny that you mention tides as that is the other contender next to the sputnik for my second source next to a verbos complex osc. I read that you have one, would you think a tides be a better addition to the co than the sputnik, im afraid sputnik and co would be too much the same ( im aware that they are based on different buchla designs but still..) then again, i really do like the sputnik

StanleyHiller · Post by **StanleyHiller** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:20 pm

I've been drooling over these since trying one out at Moog Audio in Toronto. Definitely the next VCO I buy I think. Add one more vote for "warm", I love the tone.

SynthCat · Post by **SynthCat** » Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:41 pm

More oscillators I need. Beautiful sound

ngarjuna · Post by **ngarjuna** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 7:24 am

So I waited all summer for the Dual Oscillator to be released and when it was I decided that I didn't want it…that I really wanted a pair of something resembling 258s and a wave folder (I am waiting for a NC Timbre to cross the ocean right now). I almost went for a pair of STOs as I already have an STO and like it a fair bit. But I decided to go for more diversity and try out the Sputnik Oscillators.

As I was installing them I was sort of regretting my decision: such a simple feature set, so much of what I already have from other sources, blah blah blah. But an hour or so later I patched up something really simple into the Optomix and was simply blown away by the sounds. I've only had a short time to play with them but these do not sound all that much like STOs: the STO waveshaper is arguably more interesting (I think it's doing some kind of wavefolding personally). I also think as a single VCO in a voice the STO is pretty great sounding when you introduce some modulation to FM and/or the shaper; I didn't get quite as interesting a result from a single Sputnik by itself though the raw tones are indeed a bit warmer, more woody, "organic" maybe. But there's something about these Sputniks as a pair that I've never experienced before in my rack (and I do have other dual/pair VCOs), some kind of erratic synergy which spits out some wonderful sounds.

Anyway here is part of that first wiggle:
[video][/video]

matttech · Post by **matttech** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 4:34 pm

mate, that's sounds really nice!

damn....why didn't I order any of these in my last Darkplace order? (that's on its way as we speak)

ummed and ahhed over them for a while, but got some other bits instead.

still, at least it bodes well for the osc I DID order...

MOD WIGGLER

MOD WIGGLER

Sputnik Oscillator

Re: 5v?