# Strong-Fundamental Bass Voice - Build Patch: [[Patches/Original/Strong-Fundamental Bass Voice]] Signal path: [[Patches/Original/Strong-Fundamental Bass Voice - SignalPath|SignalPath]] An incremental build of that patch. One or two cables at a time, so you can hear each stage and watch the interesting voltages on the Mordax DATA. Starting points, jack names, and the final cable list come from the patch note. DATA jack names and modes come from the official [DATA User Guide](https://mordax.link/DATA_User_Guide) (SYS V. 01.02.05, updated 230310), linked from [mordax.net](https://www.mordax.net/products/data). **Cable colors:** [[Cable Colors]] after [Learning Modular](https://learningmodular.com/choosing-patch-cables/): ⚪ Gray 1 V/oct · 🔵 Blue modulation · 🟡 Yellow audio · 🔴 Red gates/triggers · 🟢 Green clock/sync · ⚫ Black external ## Before you start - Power the case as usual. Seat the DATA in the main rack if it is not already there. The guide says its microSD card must stay in the slot during use. - Monitors or the Mother-32 output down at first. Listen at the Mother-32's main output; this patch does not use the A-540. - Set every module to the starting points in the [[Patches/Original/Strong-Fundamental Bass Voice|patch note]] before you add cables: Plaits on the two-operator FM model, TIMBRE fully counter-clockwise, HARMONICS at noon; Stages segments 5 and 6 on RAMP, 5's slider near the bottom, 6's about a third up; Mother-32 MIX fully toward EXT, VCF low-pass, CUTOFF around 11 o'clock, RESONANCE low, VCF MOD AMOUNT at 0, VCA in EG mode with a short attack and long sustain, an 8-step bass pattern; Disting #1 on **B-1**, Z up enough to slew the random steps, parameter 4 (Atten B) about half; Disting #2 on **A-2**, Z (scale) at 1; Shades channel 1 around 1 o'clock. - On the DATA, open the **Oscilloscope** program from the main menu. In each channel's pop-up menu, set **COUPL** to **DC**. The guide says you typically want to view signals as DC; AC coupling blocks a steady voltage and will make a clock or a stepped CV sit at 0 V or droop. Use trigger mode **AUTO** whenever the time scale is in the hundreds of milliseconds or in seconds. **DATA jacks, as named in the User Guide:** four **Input Jacks** (±10 V), four **Buffered Through Jacks**, and four **Output Jacks**. This build uses only the inputs and the throughs. The guide: "Regardless of the program running, a signal present at an Input Jack is buffered and sent back out of its corresponding Through Jack for use elsewhere in your patch." The official panel photo on mordax.net numbers those channels **1–4**; each Through Jack sits directly under its Input Jack, with a downward triangle between them. The panel does not silk-screen the words Input or Through; if your panel reads differently, check the panel. The Output Jacks (the right-hand bank, also numbered 1–4) are unused here. **Pass-through habit:** to watch a signal, unplug the destination end, go from the source into a DATA Input Jack, and continue from that channel's Buffered Through Jack to the destination. The cable color stays the color of the signal. The DATA has four channels, so they get reassigned as the build moves. A running plan is at the top of each step. ## 1. Hear Plaits through the ladder **DATA:** channel 1 watches Plaits OUT. Channels 2–4 are free. **Cables** 1. 🟡 Yellow · Plaits OUT (out) -> DATA channel 1 Input Jack 2. 🟡 Yellow · DATA channel 1 Buffered Through Jack -> Mother-32 EXT AUDIO (in) **Set.** MIX fully toward EXT. For this first listen, flip VCA MODE to ON so the VCA stays open without a gate. Bring the Mother-32 output up just enough to hear. **Listen for.** A round, almost-pure sine with a solid fundamental, sitting in the ladder filter. It will drone until the envelope is patched. The internal VCO should be out of the mix. **Watch on DATA.** Channel 1, Oscilloscope, TIME around 1MS, SCALE 5.0V, trigger AUTO, then NORM if the wave steadies. You should see a smooth, nearly sinusoidal wave, not a bright FM clang. The Tuner program can also read this channel (27.50 Hz to 2,960 Hz). **If it doesn't sound right.** Nothing at all: MIX may not be fully toward EXT, or EXT AUDIO may be going in at the wrong jack. A harsh, metallic tone: TIMBRE is not fully counter-clockwise. The Mother-32's own VCO in the mix: MIX is not at EXT. ## 2. Add pitch **DATA:** channel 1 Plaits audio, channel 2 Mother-32 KB. **Cables** 1. ⚪ Gray · Mother-32 KB (out) -> DATA channel 2 Input Jack 2. ⚪ Gray · DATA channel 2 Buffered Through Jack -> Plaits V/OCT (in) **Set.** Flip VCA MODE back to EG, short attack and long sustain. Run the 8-step bass pattern, or play the keys. **Listen for.** The drone now follows the sequence or your hand, still a solid sub, with the Mother-32 EG shaping the output VCA. Plaits itself is still a steady tone, because LEVEL is unpatched. **Watch on DATA.** Channel 2, Oscilloscope or Voltage Monitor, TIME around 500MS to 1.0S, trigger AUTO, SCALE 2.0V, POS 0.00V. You should see a stepped pitch voltage that holds for each note. **If it doesn't sound right.** Pitch never moves: KB is not reaching V/OCT, or the sequencer is stopped and no key is down. Notes jump wildly: you may have the KB output going to a Plaits FM or TIMBRE input instead of V/OCT. ## 3. Shape the note with Stages **DATA:** channel 1 Plaits audio, channel 2 KB, channel 3 Stages envelope. **Cables.** Patch right to left, as the Stages manual suggests, so segments 5 and 6 form one AD envelope. 1. 🔴 Red · Mother-32 GATE (out) -> Stages GATE input of segment 5 2. 🔵 Blue · Stages output 5 -> DATA channel 3 Input Jack 3. 🔵 Blue · DATA channel 3 Buffered Through Jack -> A-180-1 (any jack) 4. 🔵 Blue · A-180-1 -> Plaits LEVEL (in). This opens the internal low-pass gate, which acts as the VCA. **Set.** Stages already as above. Leave the second A-180-1 copy unpatched until the next step. **Listen for.** Each step now has a short, click-free attack and a short decay on Plaits itself. A round, solid sub-bass note on every step, without the chaotic filter motion yet. **Watch on DATA.** Channel 3, Oscilloscope or Voltage Monitor, same slow TIME and AUTO as the pitch. You should see a short rising and falling envelope on each Mother-32 gate. Stages outputs run 0 to 8 V; SCALE 2.0V will show that without clipping the screen. **If it doesn't sound right.** Still a drone: LEVEL may not be getting the envelope, or segment 5 may not be the GATE you patched. Clicks at the start of each note: raise segment 5's slider a hair. No envelope on the scope: patch right-to-left so 5 and 6 are one AD, both set to RAMP. ## 4. Build the chaotic filter envelope **DATA:** all four channels. Channel 1 Plaits audio, channel 2 KB, channel 3 Stages envelope, channel 4 the Disting #2 product after Shades, once that cable is in. **Cables** 1. 🔵 Blue · A-180-1 -> Disting #2 Y (in) 2. 🟡 Yellow · Disting #1 B (out, noise) -> Disting #1 X (in) (judgment call) 3. 🔴 Red · Mother-32 LFO SQ (out) -> Disting #1 Y (in, S&H trigger) (judgment call). Panel label per Mother-32 Users Manual: **LFO SQ** (LFO Square waveform, ±5 V). 4. 🔵 Blue · Disting #1 A (out, smooth random) -> Disting #2 X (in) 5. 🔵 Blue · Disting #2 A (out, random × envelope) -> Shades channel 1 **Signal input** (manual jack 1) 6. 🔵 Blue · Shades channel 1 **Signal output** (manual jack 2) -> DATA channel 4 Input Jack 7. 🔵 Blue · DATA channel 4 Buffered Through Jack -> Mother-32 VCF CUTOFF (in) **Set.** Disting #1 Z up until the random steps become smooth curves. Disting #2 Z at 1. Shades around 1 o'clock, then raise it until the cutoff wobble is audible but not wild. VCF MOD AMOUNT stays at 0, so the only cutoff motion is this cable. The LFO rate can stay moderate; it does not have to match the sequencer. **Listen for.** The same solid bass, but the filter brightness changes a little differently on each note, like a gate-fired envelope whose depth wanders at random. That is Chris's chaotic envelope. **Watch on DATA.** Channel 4, Oscilloscope or Voltage Monitor, slow TIME, AUTO, COUPL DC, SCALE 2.0V. You should see an envelope-shaped bump on each gate, with a different height from note to note. Channel 3 (the plain Stages envelope) is the same rhythm, but its height stays consistent; channel 4 should wander. If channel 4 sits at 0 V, COUPL may be on AC. The Mother-32 VCF CUTOFF input sweeps its full range on −5 V to +5 V, and the Disting can swing wider, which is why Shades is in this path. **If it doesn't sound right.** No wobble: Shades may be fully down, Disting #2 may not be on A-2, or the LFO square may not be reaching Disting #1 Y. Wild slamming: lower Shades. The filter sounds overdriven: lower Plaits or the MIX; EXT AUDIO wants a 10 V peak-to-peak Eurorack signal. If you try Plaits AUX for a lower octave, it is unclear whether the LEVEL input acts on AUX; if AUX ignores the envelope, let the Mother-32's own EG shape the note. ## Full patch These are the cables from the patch note. If the DATA is still in the path, each watched signal is two cables (source to Input Jack, Buffered Through Jack to destination) instead of one. 1. ⚪ Gray · Mother-32 KB (out) -> Plaits V/OCT (in) 2. 🔴 Red · Mother-32 GATE (out) -> Stages GATE input of segment 5. Patch right to left, as the manual suggests, so segments 5 and 6 form one AD envelope. 3. 🔵 Blue · Stages output 5 -> A-180-1 (any jack) 4. 🔵 Blue · A-180-1 -> Plaits LEVEL (in). This opens the internal low-pass gate, which acts as the VCA. 5. 🔵 Blue · A-180-1 -> Disting #2 Y (in) 6. 🟡 Yellow · Plaits OUT (out) -> Mother-32 EXT AUDIO (in) 7. 🟡 Yellow · Disting #1 B (out, noise) -> Disting #1 X (in) (judgment call) 8. 🔴 Red · Mother-32 LFO SQ (out) -> Disting #1 Y (in, S&H trigger) (judgment call). Panel label per Mother-32 Users Manual: **LFO SQ** (LFO Square waveform, ±5 V). 9. 🔵 Blue · Disting #1 A (out, smooth random) -> Disting #2 X (in) 10. 🔵 Blue · Disting #2 A (out, random × envelope) -> Shades channel 1 **Signal input** (manual jack 1) 11. 🔵 Blue · Shades channel 1 **Signal output** (manual jack 2) -> Mother-32 VCF CUTOFF (in) 12. ⚫ Black · Listen at the Mother-32's main output. With the DATA left in as of step 4, the watched paths are: cable 6 through DATA channel 1, cable 1 through channel 2, cable 3 through channel 3, and cable 11 through channel 4. Cables 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12 run direct. The DATA can stay in or come out. To remove it, patch each watched signal straight from source to destination, as in the list above. The sound should not change; you just lose the graphs. **What it should sound like, once the last cable is in:** a round, solid sub-bass note on every step. The filter brightness changes a little differently on each note, like a gate-fired envelope whose depth wanders at random.