16 tracks, nuthin' but Zeroscillator (no noise!)

Scot Solida · Post by **Scot Solida** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:58 pm

Okay, there's a little noise... (of course there is - the damned thing is so good at it!) but there are lots of melodic tones too.

Got my Dotcom format Zeroscillator earlier this week and have been whiling away all of my free time getting to know it. With that in mind, I did the following tune:

http://www.theelectronicgarden.com/Scot/ZeroHour.mp3

The only audio in the song was from the Zeroscillator. The only other oscillator used was a Dotcom Q-106, which was used solely as a modulator for the Zeroscillator. No filters were employed. Envelopes, LFO and an Appendage Ribbon controller were used as additional modulation sources.

analogsteve · Post by **analogsteve** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:03 pm

Awesome.

Scot Solida · Post by **Scot Solida** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:06 pm

Thanks analogsteve!

JohnLRice · Post by **JohnLRice** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:09 pm

Great piece, Scot!!!

Scot Solida · Post by **Scot Solida** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:12 pm

Thanks John!

bwhittington · Post by **bwhittington** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:13 pm

This is fantastic. Such a nice variety of sounds!

Cheers,
Brian

Scot Solida · Post by **Scot Solida** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:16 pm

Thanks Brian. I've only just scratched the surface with this thing. It's such a complex oscillator... I have yet to go beyond the basics. It's going to take me a while to get my head around it. Heck, I haven't even gotten around to trying it as a mod source...

Just me · Post by **Just me** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:33 pm

Wow, you're getting a lot more use in a few days out of that thing than I did in a few months! Sounded good. (Maybe I should have tried it more with a keyboard controller! LOL!)
Have you driven it nuts and had it throw a HISSING/SQUELCHING fit at you yet? That sounds so cool and abrupt when it happens.

(The STG stuff is languishing, I've been busy with other things all week.)

sunsinger · Post by **sunsinger** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:10 pm

Nice work! You got a lot of great sounds out of that thing.
It's much cooler than I suspected it would be, given the noise being made about the Zeroscillator from from others.

theparegorickid · Post by **theparegorickid** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:10 pm

Excellent piece. original and well put together. loved it

Scot Solida · Post by **Scot Solida** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:08 pm

Just me wrote:Wow, you're getting a lot more use in a few days out of that thing than I did in a few months! Sounded good. (Maybe I should have tried it more with a keyboard controller! LOL!)
Have you driven it nuts and had it throw a HISSING/SQUELCHING fit at you yet? That sounds so cool and abrupt when it happens.

It hasn't thrown any squelching hissing fits at me that I haven't asked for... (a keyboard controller helps... a lot of those tracks were also played directly from the Appendage Ribbon Controller, with no keyboard)

Scot Solida · Post by **Scot Solida** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:10 pm

sunsinger wrote:Nice work! You got a lot of great sounds out of that thing.
It's much cooler than I suspected it would be, given the noise being made about the Zeroscillator from from others.

Thanks Ron... I've really started to love the Zeroscillator. Wish I could afford another one (or two). Time to look into building a Teezer, I thinK!

Scot Solida · Post by **Scot Solida** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:10 pm

theparegorickid wrote:Excellent piece. original and well put together. loved it

Thank you!

boothnavy · Post by **boothnavy** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:56 pm

It's nice to hear someone using a modular for melodic music.

Scot Solida · Post by **Scot Solida** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:07 pm

Thanks... I kept trying to make it noisier, but you know how those analog oscillators are - it kept drifting back into tune!

doctorvague · Post by **doctorvague** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:37 am

Excellent Scot! Now I need* one of these after all...

*want

Christopher W. · Post by **Christopher W.** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:58 am

Nice track. It percolates and bubbles along beautifully.

hellohihowareyou · Post by **hellohihowareyou** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:32 am

This is the best example I've heard yet of their traditionally musical abilities.

7thDanSound · Post by **7thDanSound** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:38 pm

I have to agree with everybody, fantastic piece of work!

Scot Solida · Post by **Scot Solida** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:44 pm

Thanks guys! I'm thinking I may need another one...

pugix · Post by **pugix** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 4:41 pm

Great piece! Thanks.

The hissing and popping kicks in with the bias switch in the middle (0 Hz). The ZO is the only oscillator I have that can actually stop oscillating. I just found out that if it's in Typical, rather than Thru Zero mode, if it stops, you have to kick it around to get it started again. And do try the Time Reversal input. Sending audio-rate pulse waves into it produces yet another type of modulation.

I recommend Ian Fritz's Teezer VCO, as another through-zero FM oscillator. Its controls are quite different from the ZO, and I'm still trying to understand the Teezer as well.

Does anyone know of another through-zero VCO being offered?

kindredlost · Post by **kindredlost** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 4:47 pm

Wow! Great tune Scot. You had me and my grand-daughter dancing on that one. A great tune regardless of how it was made. Nice demo of the ZO, but a keeper tune none-the-less.

werock · Post by **werock** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 4:50 pm

Agreed, very enjoyable track.

Ulven · Post by **Ulven** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 4:57 pm

Scot Solida wrote:Thanks guys! I'm thinking I may need another one...

Or two...

Scot Solida · Post by **Scot Solida** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:53 pm

Thanks guys. Ulven: egads, if only I could afford two more!

pugix: This entire track was done in "through zero" mode, so maybe that's why it didn't stop oscillating on me. I'm still finding my way around it. I'm liking it much more than I ever expected I would (and I reckoned I would like it a lot). I am definitely going to make room in my cabinets for a couple of the Teezers. They are next in my DIY queue, after a Time Machine, but I may bump one or both to the head of the line.

MOD WIGGLER

MOD WIGGLER

16 tracks, nuthin' but Zeroscillator (no noise!)

16 tracks, nuthin' but Zeroscillator (no noise!)