Moog Matriarch User manual
Matriarch
Patching with Intention Vol. 1
Get started with patching techniques and explore
deeper synthesis concepts with stereo filter
movement and 2-operator FM synthesis.
Patching with Intention | 2
Patching with Intention
There are many ways to approach patching a
synthesizer like Matriarch. There’s no “wrong”
way to do it, and randomly patching inputs to
outputs can lead to wonderful, unexpected
results.
Other times, however, you may want to patch
with some intention. Perhaps you have an
electric piano sound in mind that you would like
Matriarch to approximate. Or an idea may strike
you while falling asleep: I wonder what would
happen if I patched the envelope generator to
the delay time...
This guide will help you better understand how
to patch Matriarch and help you discover why
you might want to patch it a certain way.
Patching with Intention | 3
Initialized Patch
Before getting started, match your
Matriarch to the initialized patch
settings above. Each section builds
upon the last, so explore them in
sequential order for the best results.
You can find the full patch diagrams
for all patches discussed in this guide
in the accompanying PDF patchbook.
First Steps | 4
First Steps
Matriarch is an extremely
powerful and exible synthesizer
composed of many different
modules based on Bob Moog’s
original designs. Its semi-modular
nature means that, while it is full
of patch points, there are many
patch connections already made
for you under the hood.
Let’s begin by designing a sound that
does not require patching. First, start
by matching your Matriarch parameter
settings to the initialized patch
diagrammed on the previous page. Play
some notes and some chords to get an
idea for how this initialized patch sounds.
This patch results in a nice, clear sound,
but let’s get a bit of movement going. A
common way of doing that is to generate
some extra movement in the lter. When
we press a key the FILTER ENVELOPE
will open the lter by an amount set by
the ENVELOPE AMT knob in the FILTERS
section.
Layering a MODULATION OSCILLATOR
will add a bit of vibrato-like texture to
our sound. This is such a common sound
design technique that we don’t have to
physically patch anything to achieve it.
Turn up the CUTOFF AMT knob in the
MODULATION section and then raise
the MOD wheel to apply the modulation
oscillator to the lter cutoff. You should
hear the lter opening and closing based
on the settings in the MODULATION
section.
Now, let’s try and achieve this same result
through patching. Through this exercise
we’ll learn how to use the all-important
utilities section of Matriarch and get a
better handle on how to use modulation
and patching to greatly expand
Matriarch’s sound palette.
Before we begin, turn the CUTOFF AMT
knob back down and return the MOD
wheel to zero.
First Steps | 5
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
We want to take the MODULATION oscillator and have it move the FILTER up and
down. Our rst impulse might be to simply take the WAVE OUT of the MODULATION
section and patch it directly to the lter’s CUTOFF 1 IN.
While that certainly gets the lter moving, it doesn’t allow us to control the amount of
modulation applied. With this direct patching, the modulation oscillator swings the lter
all the way open and all the way closed.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Let’s explore a way to apply more subtle modulation. In order to have control over the
depth of modulation, we can use an attenuator.
Note: Any of the attenuators on Matriarch can be used for this.
The ATTENUATOR takes the signal applied to its input—in this case a sine wave
oscillating between -5 volts and +5 volts—and decreases it. With the attenuator knob
at noon, the signal is decreased to zero, effectively silencing it. Moving the attenuator
knob clockwise a little bit will raise the signal to oscillate between –1 volt and +1 volt
(for example). Moving it fully clockwise will pass the original signal through with no
attenuation: -5 volts to +5 volts.
Now we can use the ATTENUATOR knob to control the depth of modulation. Moving
the knob clockwise will increase the modulation depth, and moving it counter-clockwise
towards noon will decrease the modulation depth. Moving it further counter-clockwise
will invert the modulation, but more on that in a second.
At this point, we’ve successfully replicated the cutoff modulation that is hardwired via
the CUTTOFF AMT knob and MOD WHEEL through patching! Let’s use this as a starting
point for further patch exploration..
First Steps | 6
Inverting Attenuators and Stereo Movement | 7
Inverting Attenuators
and Stereo Movement
Matriarch features a stereo lter,
which is really two lters layered
on top of each other and routed
separately to the left and right
channels.
Patching the modulation oscillator to the
CUTOFF 1 IN (like we did in the previous
section) moves both lters up and down,
since the CUTOFF 1 IN is normalled to
the CUTOFF 2 IN. This means that a
voltage patched to CUTOFF 1 IN will also
be patched to CUTOFF 2 IN unless there
is something else patched to CUTOFF
2 IN, so we have the same signal from
the MODULATION section moving both
FILTER 1 and FILTER 2 simultaneously.
As it stands right now, we don’t really
have a stereo signal: both FILTER 1 and
FILTER 2 move up when the modulation
oscillator goes up and they move down
when it goes down. Let’s now explore
how to add stereo-depth and movement
through patching.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
By using more utilities, we can easily
patch this stereo movement. Patch
the modulation WAVE OUT to an
ATTENUATOR input as before. This
attenuator will be the knob that controls
the modulation depth. Next, let’s take the
ATTENUATOR output and route it just
above to a MULT input. It doesn’t matter
which of the four jacks in the MULT we
use, but let’s use the top left jack.
The MULT takes a signal and allows us
to send it to multiple destinations. Since
we have a signal patched into one of
the jacks, all of the remaining jacks now
contain copies of that signal.
Inverting Attenuators and Stereo Movement | 8
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Next, patch one of the MULT outputs to CUTOFF 1 IN as before. This just replicates the
patch as we had it before.
The fun begins when we take another MULT output and route it to a different attenuator.
By turning this second attenuator completely counter-clockwise we invert whatever
signal is patched into it. This means that when the modulation oscillator goes up, the
signal out of this inverted attenuator will go down and vice versa.
Inverting Attenuators and Stereo Movement | 9
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
Patch another one of the MULT outputs to a new ATTENUATOR input. Now, patch
the output of this new ATTENUATOR to the CUTOFF 2 IN. Make sure that this second
attenuator’s knob is turned fully counter-clockwise.
The rst attenuator acts as an attenuator for both left and right motion, since the
attenuated version then goes down to the second attenuator which completely inverts
whatever signal is coming in. If you move the second attenuator knob completely
clockwise, we return to mono with both lters moving in sync. Moving the second
attenuator knob back to fully counter-clockwise returns us to stereo space with the
lters moving in opposition directions.
With this patch, we’ve taken a pretty typical subtractive synth effect—an LFO moving
the lter up and down—and created a much deeper stereo version using just a
handful of patch cables and a few utility modules. While utilities like mults and
attenuators don’t exactly stand out as being the most exciting parts of a modular
synthesizer, this exercise shows just how important they can be in creating more
interesting and exciting patches.
Extended Keyboard Techniques: Velocity | 10
Extended Keyboard
Techniques: Velocity
On Matriarch’s back panel are CV outputs for keyboard velocity and aftertouch: how hard
the keys are pressed and the amount of pressure applied to a key after it’s held down,
respectively. These two aspects of Matriarch’s keyboard are not routed to anything by
default and require patching to use.
Let’s expand the patch we’ve been working with and layer on some performance controls.
First, we’ll use the keyboard velocity to control the depth of stereo lter modulation. The
harder we press a key, the wider the lter movement will be.
MAKE THIS CONNECTION
We can achieve this by simply patching the KB VEL OUT (on the rear panel) to the CV
IN of the rst attenuator which controls our modulation depth.
PATCH TO
REAR PANEL
KB VEL
OUT
Matriarch is a hands-on performance instrument that combines the
power and exibility of a modular synthesizer like Moog’s vintage
modular systems with the playable functionality of a Minimoog.
Let’s now explore how patching can be used to enhance creative
playability.
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