Fun Patch with Moog Matriarch
Channel: Krabby Krab
Date: 2020-06-19

I was just messing around with the Moog Matriarch (and a few other modules) and I ended up liking this patch enough to make a short video...
Good headphones/speakers is advised as the video is in stereo.


Summary of the patch:
- monophonic patch with 4 severely detuned square wave oscillators
- the first oscillator is being ring-modulated by the third and the fourth using AJH Synth's Ring SM, which also adds a sub-oscillator to osc 1 and mixes in noise coming from the Matriarch (since the noise input of the mixer is used for mixing in the SM Ring)
- the output of the Matriarch's mixer is fed into an Instruo tanh[3] to give it a bit of color, then fed into the filter in parallel stereo LP mode
- the outputs of the filter are fed into the other two tanh of the tanh[3] and then into the VCA; the tanh are set differently to broaden the stereo image
- the sound from the VCA then goes to the delay normally
- the Matriarch's sample and hold modulates the pitch of the oscillators
- meanwhile, a LFO from Dreadbox's Utopia modulates the oscillators' pulsewidth at a high rate (around 300Hz) which creates this background buzzing sound at some points
- the filter ADSR is used "normally", and one of the LFO of the matriarch slowly modulates the envelope amount


I kinda love how the setup is a big mess of cables (mostly because of signal redirection). I think the key points of the sounds are:
- the Ring SM and its beautiful sound (especially the second modulation that really 'rings' in a nice way)
- the tanh[3] which is an absolutely fantastic module, that brings this warm, soft clipping and punchy saturation
- the Moog ladder LP filter; what I can say this filter is one of the most iconic ever, period
The interaction of the filter and the tanh is so good, especially when you crank up the resonance, and the tanh limiting effect really shines there.


The last part of the video is obtained simply by pressing a low key on the keyboard, lowering the pitch by 3 octaves; the sound instantly becomes muddy and saturated and sinister and I love it!