ARP

Minoru Koike

SOUNDS: Minoru Koike

2015.07.07

Minoru Koike: Performs bass, keyboard, and short wave radio. Koike contributed songs to, performed on, and co-produced “KoPpu,” the second album of the violinist and musician Pauchi Sasaki, who is active around the world—mainly in South and North America. Koike also contributed to the albums “Fiction” and “Monolith and the Sea” from the singer-songwriter/guitarist Taiga Yamazaki as a bassist, and he also performs live as the bassist of the Taiga Yamazaki Quintet. As the musical director of the YMO tribute band “O-Setsu-Y,” he provides performance backup. As a shortwave radio performer he is active in the trio “Minoruz” with Miki Naoe (another shortwave performer) and Minoru Yonemoto, a musician and creator of self-made electronic musical instruments. In 2009 he published his own album “Tiny Sketches from a Different Window.”

Sync Lead

This sound uses oscillator sync, which is one of the distinctive features of the ARP Odyssey. The VCO2 pitch is 1 octave and 4 semitones higher than VCO1 (pressing C will sound an F one octave higher). Since oscillator sync is on, only VCO2 is used in the audio mixer section. The type III filter is used, but the filter is almost completely open. The ADSR settings are fairly percussive, so the filter effect is produced by reducing the VCF cutoff. The ARP Odyssey is designed so that VCO1 is low-note priority and VCO2 is high-note priority. This means that if you're using oscillator sync, and you hold down a low key and then play a high key, the overtone structure of the resulting sound will change dramatically depending on the pitch of the key you play, creating an electronic version of Tuvan “khoomei” overtone singing. It's effective as a gimmick during a live solo—or add plenty of reverb and use it as an unusual drone sound.

Sync-Lead

S&H Wobble Bass

This is an acid bass sound with drive turned on for the Rev.1 filter. Sample & Hold (S/H) is used to give movement to the sound, and the S/H OUTPUT LAG is maximized to create smooth random changes; these changes are used to modulate the VCF cutoff frequency. VCO1 uses a pulse wave, and VCO2 uses a sawtooth wave. The AUDIO MIXER combines the output of the two VCOs, as well as the output from the ring modulator. If the two VCOs are set to the same pitch, this creates a somewhat distorted character of sound from the ring modulator, and mixing this with the VCO output produces a thicker sound. Type I (Rev.1) is used as the VCF Type to obtain the bright and fat sound that is distinctive of this type. AR is used as the VCA's EG. On the other hand, the ADSR with relatively percussive settings is used for the VCF cutoff and for VCO1 pulse width modulation (PWM).

SH-Wobble-Bass

ARP Timpani

This sound simulates that of the timpani, or “kettledrum.” The VCO2 square wave is modulated (FM) by the VCO1 sawtooth wave, creating the inharmonic interval of the body resonance while still keeping a sense of pitch. The pitch of VCO2 is slightly modulated by ADSR, re-creating the subtle pitch change that occurs when the instrument is struck. In the audio mixer section, the signal from the noise generator is mixed to create the complex sound of a percussion instrument. Since VCO1 is used only to modulate VCO2, set its level to zero, and maximize the VCO2 level. For the VCF, use Type II for its distinctively rounded tone, and slightly lower the cutoff to restrain the high-frequency region. To make the cutoff change according to the pitch you play, maximize the keyboard CV level. (This means that the pitch of the note being played will vary the cutoff by a proportion of 100%.) At the same time, the percussive envelope created by the ADSR is slightly applied to the cutoff, re-creating the sense of attack present when the instrument is struck. Use AR as the VCA's EG, and raise the release time slightly to simulate the decay after the timpani is struck.

ARP-Timpani