1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,759 Speaker 1: and how that tech are you. It's time for a 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: classic episode. It's a Friday, so let's listen to part 6 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: two of the two part episodes that I did started 7 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,639 Speaker 1: last week. This is the Mogue Story, Part two. If 8 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 1: you have not heard part one that published last Friday, 9 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: so you should go check that out. This episode originally 10 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: published back on February ten, two thousand sixteen. Enjoying filters. 11 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: You probably heard about filters, right. You run this through 12 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: a filter. What filters are are doing is there specifically 13 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: changing the harmonic content of a signal, and it lets 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: you narrow down the range of frequency that are allowed 15 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:05,319 Speaker 1: in any produced sound, like you can specify which harmonics 16 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:07,679 Speaker 1: are allowed to go through, which ones are not allowed 17 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:11,919 Speaker 1: to go through, and that alters the quality, the tonal 18 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: quality of any sound you make. So I'm going to 19 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: start talking about some particular filters, and our producer, extraordinary 20 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: Knowl is going to provide us with some examples of 21 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: some of the stuff we talk about. So from this 22 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: point forward. Uh, Noel is really gonna have free rein 23 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: to go crazy Broadway style. I encourage him highly to 24 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 1: interrupt us as often as possible with strange noises. If 25 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 1: he hasn't already, I expect him to do so from 26 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: this point forward. As the wonderful thing about Noel not 27 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:41,040 Speaker 1: being in the room where we record, we have no 28 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: way of knowing what he's going to add after this 29 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: is done. But at any rate, Uh, so you can. 30 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: You can change the amplitude, which obviously changes the volume, 31 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: and you can change the frequency, which changes the pitch. 32 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: Those are very basic, right, but beyond that you can 33 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: start to really have fun with it. So filters are 34 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: ways to change the timbre of the sound, even within 35 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: a single note. So you can press a note with 36 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: no filter, it's gonna sound one way, and then you 37 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: apply a filter and press that same key to create 38 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: that same note, but it's going to have a different quality. 39 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 1: So one of the basic types of filters would be 40 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: what's called a low pass filter or a high pass filter. 41 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 1: Very simple concept. The name tells you what it lets 42 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: it do. So a low pass filter and let's low 43 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:35,639 Speaker 1: frequencies pass through. It blocks high frequencies now you can 44 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:40,119 Speaker 1: define what where's your cut off, so you can say, 45 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: like any frequency above this is not allowed through. Anything 46 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: that's lower than that can go through. Now I'm going 47 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,960 Speaker 1: to ask the question I think some listeners may be wondering, 48 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: Hold on a second, why would there be multiple frequencies 49 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: playing when you've got a single tone playing? Shouldn't that 50 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: be one frequency? If you're playing one pitched note, you 51 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: could be playing one pitch note if you're if your 52 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: wave is just a sign wave, right, A sign wave 53 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: is a pure tone. It means it's a fundamental frequency. 54 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: There's no harmonic added to it. But that's the it's 55 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: only one type of waveform you can play with a synthesizer. 56 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: You can actually create different types of waveforms like saw 57 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 1: tooth waves or square waves or triangular waves, and each 58 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: of those contains harmonics, harmonics being uh multiples of your 59 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: fundamental frequency. Your fundamental frequency is always going to be 60 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: the loudest, the one with the greatest amplitude. Right, So 61 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: the note you're playing, there's a specific frequency associated with 62 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,119 Speaker 1: that note, its amplitude is going to be the greatest 63 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: in the full sound wave. But with these other waveforms triangular, square, 64 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: and saw tooth, you get multiples of that particular frequency 65 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: that also show up, and those are harmonics. But if 66 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: you don't want to hear any of those high harmonics, 67 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: you just want that deep, nasty bass rumble. Yeah, you 68 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: could do it a low pass filter. And what that 69 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:14,360 Speaker 1: does is it actually you would think it would be 70 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: like a really base sound, but it really kinds makes 71 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,480 Speaker 1: it sound sort of muffled and dark. And then if 72 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: you wanted instead to do the opposite, you could put 73 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: a high pass filter. On high pass filter, obviously, the 74 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 1: higher frequencies are allowed to pass through and it blocks 75 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,839 Speaker 1: the lower frequencies. Sounds kind of bright and jangle exactly 76 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: much much brighter sounds. So Noel, I'm sure can give 77 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: us examples of what sounds like to listen to some 78 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: tones played through a low pass filter and some tones 79 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: played through a high pass filter. There are a couple 80 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 1: of others that I want to mention that also are 81 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: our pass filters, but they are a little different from 82 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,920 Speaker 1: low and high. Uh. There's the band pass filter, which 83 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 1: allows a group of frequencies that are between the high 84 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: and low ends to pass through. So in other words, 85 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: you're saying, alright, anything below this frequency. I want you 86 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:15,599 Speaker 1: to cut out anything above this frequency. I want you 87 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 1: to cut out everything in between can pass, and that 88 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: gives you a different sound or band. Reject filters which 89 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:27,840 Speaker 1: specify a specific range of frequencies that are not allowed 90 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: to go through, but everything else can. So it's essentially 91 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,720 Speaker 1: like bouncers. Okay, here's a list of people. They absolutely 92 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: are not allowed in the club. My name is always 93 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,359 Speaker 1: on that list all the time. At least that's what 94 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: they tell me. Um, but apparently my friend, uh, Benjamin Franklin, 95 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:49,159 Speaker 1: he gets in all the time. Now, beyond those filters, 96 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: you can do some other fun stuff. For one thing, 97 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,039 Speaker 1: you remember I said that an analog sound wave is 98 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: continuous course, right, so it doesn't have a quick you know, 99 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 1: a discreete uh you where there's a stop start. Partly 100 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: because of that, cut offs like where you say, here's 101 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: where I want the filter to begin, are a little hazy. 102 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,720 Speaker 1: So uh, when you when you have your these uh 103 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:25,040 Speaker 1: these filters, you also have a transition band. The transition 104 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 1: band is a small band of frequencies that will still 105 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 1: play through where you've set your cut off. So, in 106 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: other words, if you say you're cut off is five 107 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,960 Speaker 1: thousand hurts. Anything below five thousand hurts cut that off. 108 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: It's not a hard stop at that frequency. There's actually 109 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: it trails a little bit, which gives kind of an 110 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: interesting effect. Right, So that's really cool. But beyond that, 111 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,279 Speaker 1: you can start to do things like adjust a filter 112 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: while you're actually playing a tone. You can do this 113 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: by hooking up different modules together. I'll talk about some 114 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: of the other modules in this I can. And that's 115 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: where you get like, like the frequency wah, well maybe, 116 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,840 Speaker 1: because I mean it's the way it sounds like the pitch. 117 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: The pitch remains the same, but the tone of the 118 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: of the note is different. So the pitch doesn't change, 119 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: but the the quality of the sound changes. Noel, I'm 120 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 1: sure it could play for us the sound of a note, uh, 121 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: where the filter is changed while the note is still playing, 122 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: so that we can kind of get an idea of 123 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: what that sounds like. And another thing you can do 124 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: is play with resonance. Uh. And one way you can 125 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: play with resonance is you take the frequencies that are 126 00:07:56,880 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: close to that cut off frequency where you know you've 127 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: you've set the filter boundaries, and instead of just having 128 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 1: them play out to a speaker, you feed them back 129 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: into the filter. This creates a feedback loop and I 130 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: believe it's called lopeo. How many more times are we 131 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: going to have that joke? All right? So it creates 132 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: a feedback loop, and it also changes the timbre and 133 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: volume of of the pitches that you're playing, which is 134 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: really cool. Um. So that's all in just talking about filters. 135 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: There are other modules that we can mention that. That's 136 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: just one subset of modules. Another one is called the 137 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:36,719 Speaker 1: envelope generator. You know, there's a great scene in that 138 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 1: documentary where I don't know if you saw this one, 139 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 1: because I think you saw part of it where Bob 140 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: Mog himself is showing off one of his machines and 141 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 1: he sort of like rubs his hand luxuriously over the 142 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: envelope while he speaks of it. Does it get uncomfortable? No? No, no, 143 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: it's kind of sweet. You can tell he you know, 144 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:01,559 Speaker 1: he has he as a love for this envelope. He 145 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: has a relationship with this envelope. And you might wonder, well, 146 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 1: what the heck is this thing? Anyway? Well, it's another 147 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: section of the board. Yeah, and and it's you know, 148 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,959 Speaker 1: as you might imagine as we're talking about these different oscillators, 149 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:18,679 Speaker 1: these different waveforms, and these different filters, it's already starting 150 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:20,720 Speaker 1: to sound pretty complicated. I mean, you've got all these 151 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,680 Speaker 1: different knobs and stuff to control things, and maybe you 152 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:29,200 Speaker 1: want to have various effects apply to your music, but 153 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: you can't by hand constantly adjust this or employ a 154 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:37,559 Speaker 1: second person too on the fly make these changes to 155 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,080 Speaker 1: filters so that the notes you produce have the quality 156 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 1: that you want. Envelopes are kind of like macros in 157 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: the software world, where you make shortcuts where you hit 158 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 1: control and a letter and suddenly it creates like a 159 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: series of commands that otherwise would take you multiple mouse 160 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: or key strokes to actually execute the same sort of thing, 161 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 1: except in this case we're talking about analog circuitry UM. 162 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: So envelope generators can react to an incoming signal and 163 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:12,680 Speaker 1: then send out a new signal to a different module. 164 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: And so it's another if then gates. So if signal 165 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:20,960 Speaker 1: X comes into the envelope generator, then send y signal 166 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:24,079 Speaker 1: to this other module so that you get the effect 167 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,560 Speaker 1: you want. And one type of envelope generator, one common 168 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: one is the A D S R, and that stands 169 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: for attack, decay, sustain, and release, which are kind of 170 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,360 Speaker 1: like four phases in a note. So have you ever 171 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: played with a synthesizer where you pressed down on a 172 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,840 Speaker 1: key and the sound kind of comes up to a 173 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: level and then backs off just a little bit. Oh yeah, 174 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: that's the slow attack. That's the attack. Yeah, that's the 175 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: attack in decay actually, because the rise in volume is 176 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:55,959 Speaker 1: the attack when it hits its peak and starts to 177 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 1: come back down just a bit. Like let's say that 178 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:00,839 Speaker 1: there's a scale of zero to one, you press down 179 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:03,680 Speaker 1: the key, it goes from zero up to one, then 180 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 1: it falls back to maybe point seven. That that fall 181 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 1: back to point seven would be the decay phase. So 182 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,200 Speaker 1: the attack phases going from zero to one decay than 183 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: one to point seven. That part happens usually pretty quickly, right, 184 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 1: And then you still got the key held down. As 185 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:20,720 Speaker 1: long as you have the key held down, the note 186 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 1: is playing, that's the sustain. When you release the key, 187 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: you get to the release phase, which trails the note off. 188 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 1: And you can adjust all of these things. You can 189 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 1: adjust it so that the attack takes longer, so that 190 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 1: the build up to the peak and then the decay 191 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:43,520 Speaker 1: is more you know, it's it's taking kind of the 192 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: scenic route, or you can make the release last a 193 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,199 Speaker 1: really long time so that the note trails off like 194 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,760 Speaker 1: you have a long, sort of sustaining note. Um. All 195 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 1: of these are things you can adjust using this type 196 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:58,800 Speaker 1: of technology, which gives you an incredible amount of flexibility 197 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:02,080 Speaker 1: when you are tried to create a specific sound. And 198 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 1: one of the things that I think really makes synthesizers 199 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:10,480 Speaker 1: in general, and the mogue in particular, incredibly special. It 200 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:15,360 Speaker 1: makes me wish that I were capable of playing one. UM. 201 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 1: I only plink around on keyboards, so it's pretty pathetic. 202 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,720 Speaker 1: Noel is like a master Jonathan. What's the song you 203 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,320 Speaker 1: always play when you sit down at a piano. Everybody 204 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:28,959 Speaker 1: has that annoying thing. They do the one song they 205 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 1: know how to play, and they sit down and they 206 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,080 Speaker 1: do it well. There are two songs that I tend 207 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:34,960 Speaker 1: to play. One is the theme to Raiders of the 208 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: Lost Arc. I mean, that's great triumphant music and it's 209 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: Nazi killing music, it is. And then the other one 210 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,520 Speaker 1: is Jesu joy a Man's Desiring. That's that's kind of 211 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: the two that I do. But I also I've also 212 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: been known to do oh de Joy. Okay, so that's 213 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:54,199 Speaker 1: a bit of the old that's right. I've been obviously 214 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,600 Speaker 1: the the actual Joy movement, which is from you know, 215 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 1: a much longer symphony, the Ninth Symphony. It's only that 216 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: one section that I do. I can't play the any 217 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: of the rest of it, and I can't really play 218 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: that one very well. It's like two finger typing. It's 219 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: like that, except with keyboard. I'm sure you're an astonishing blinker. Yeah. Occasionally, 220 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:15,479 Speaker 1: you know, if I get want to get fancy, you know, chopsticks, 221 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:19,320 Speaker 1: that's where it's at. A big fan of the Jaws 222 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:22,880 Speaker 1: theme myself. Yeah, nice, nice. I've been known to to 223 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: do the uh, the musical motif from Close Encounters of 224 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,480 Speaker 1: the third kind um, which you can play just on 225 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:33,080 Speaker 1: the black keys. We'll be back with more on the 226 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:45,640 Speaker 1: Mogue story after this quick break. There's one other thing 227 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 1: I want to mention. A couple other things, actually. One 228 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: is the low frequency oscillator low frequency office oscillators also 229 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: known as lfos UH. They control other modules by sending 230 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,680 Speaker 1: a low frequency. It's so low that sub audio you 231 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: can't you can't hear it. It's beneath it's below twenty 232 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:05,959 Speaker 1: hurts um and they send a signal to other modules 233 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:08,680 Speaker 1: to alter a sound. So this is one of the 234 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:12,600 Speaker 1: ways you can make that uh, that sort of vibrato 235 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 1: sound in a in a sustained note is altering this 236 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,760 Speaker 1: by using a low frequency oscillator gives it that wave 237 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 1: equality maybe noel can demonstrate. And then you can always 238 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: use a control signal to change the frequency of another module. 239 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,680 Speaker 1: That's called frequency modulation or FM. By the way, all 240 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,080 Speaker 1: these things I'm talking about about changing frequencies of electronic signals. 241 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:53,640 Speaker 1: It doesn't just apply to synthesizers like frequency modulation oscillators, 242 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 1: changing these things. This is all basic electronics, whether you're 243 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: making a sound or doing something else. It's not just 244 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 1: in in creating music. But where of course specifically framing 245 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 1: it in that because the topic is the mog. Uh 246 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:13,920 Speaker 1: So these are all super cool elements that give the 247 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: mogue that that quality it possesses, that really unusual sound, 248 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 1: that that unique sound. Maybe instead of unusual, I wouldn't 249 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: want to say something that would have offended mog himself. 250 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: By unusual, I mean unique, not bad um And uh yeah, 251 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: you can these things can get monstrously huge, like I've 252 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: seen synthesizers that didn't have any keyboard attached them at all. 253 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:45,040 Speaker 1: It was just the various modules to demonstrate what the 254 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,239 Speaker 1: modules do. So all you had were the various modules, 255 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:53,280 Speaker 1: cables to hook physically hook the modules together and unplugging 256 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:56,200 Speaker 1: cables and turning dials. And you would have have maybe 257 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: in a scilloscope to see the wave form, so you 258 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,920 Speaker 1: had something visual there too, but it was all just 259 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: plugging and unplugging cables, patching and filters, taking filters out 260 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:12,560 Speaker 1: by directly connecting modules. You know, that's interesting because when 261 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 1: when mog and Deutsch were originally designing the mode, the 262 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 1: you know, the synthesizer that would maybe it was the 263 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 1: Abomba Atron, I don't know their original model. They were 264 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: talking about the idea and they were discussing whether or 265 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: not it should have a keyboard. The keyboard is sort 266 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: of the obvious way to control the variable of pitch. 267 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:42,080 Speaker 1: But the question is should we have gone with something else, 268 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: because does the keyboard inherently suggest this is really just 269 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: a different kind of piano, which modified piano. You should 270 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,960 Speaker 1: approach it like a piano, use it like a piano. 271 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: You bring your piano playing behaviors to the machine, and 272 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: they were they were torn on that because they were thinking, well, 273 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:05,080 Speaker 1: what if we didn't include the keyboard, might that help 274 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: encourage people to use this to generate sounds in a 275 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:10,920 Speaker 1: way that's truly new and doesn't mimic the way we've 276 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: used other instruments before. Of course, we know they did 277 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: end up going with the keyboard, and that kind of 278 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:18,720 Speaker 1: makes sense because the keyboard is a very useful and 279 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: intuitive way to control pitch, but especially when you get 280 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: to a point where you're capable of producing more than 281 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 1: one one tone by pressing more than one key at once, right, 282 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,679 Speaker 1: some early synthesizers were only capable of performing like you 283 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:33,760 Speaker 1: press one key and that's the sound you would get, 284 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:36,399 Speaker 1: but you would not be able to create harmonies with 285 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,960 Speaker 1: some early synthesizers where you know you were if you 286 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: change from key to key, you change the pitch, but 287 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: you couldn't hold down a chord and have all three 288 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: notes play, and some early early synthesizers. I think that's 289 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,360 Speaker 1: the case with the mogudn't it. I believe so, and 290 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: that that would mean that you could change out the 291 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: keyboard for something like a lever. Then you pull the 292 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 1: lever and maybe when you pull the lever in one direction, 293 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 1: the pitch increases, and when you put push the lever 294 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:06,959 Speaker 1: the other direction, the pitch lowers. That could have been 295 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,639 Speaker 1: the control device or anything else. Really it didn't have 296 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:14,359 Speaker 1: to be the keyboard, but they decided ultimately to have 297 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: the keyboard because again it I think you're right. I 298 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,719 Speaker 1: think it makes it easier to understand how to produce 299 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: the sound you want to produce. It becomes less It 300 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:28,159 Speaker 1: slightly steps away from the element of performance art the 301 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:30,160 Speaker 1: way a theoreman kind of is like, you can get 302 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:35,000 Speaker 1: a really skilled thereman player to create particular sounds and 303 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:38,720 Speaker 1: even play particular pieces of music, but it is hard. 304 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:41,640 Speaker 1: It is is It is an art to learn how 305 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,840 Speaker 1: to do that, and even then it's very imprecise. I 306 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:49,120 Speaker 1: think they probably should have replaced the keyboard with a big, 307 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 1: big row of holes filled with a putty like a 308 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 1: google that you have to insert your fingers into to 309 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,199 Speaker 1: play the note. Starting to make me think of like 310 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 1: some sort of comedy aation of a musical instrument, and 311 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: that the tree of Death and Flash Cordon reach inside 312 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:09,720 Speaker 1: and discover the true tones of the future. Right, So, uh, 313 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: let's talk about wave forms. Because we mentioned them a 314 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,400 Speaker 1: little bit with sign waves, square waves, triangle waves, sawtooth waves. 315 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 1: What what the heck do all of these mean? Um? 316 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:21,119 Speaker 1: And we've already talked about what a waves period is, 317 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,679 Speaker 1: We've talked about frequency and amplitude and uh. For for 318 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:26,879 Speaker 1: a lot of this, I'm going to be looking at 319 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,240 Speaker 1: using the example of a one hundred hurts um wave 320 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: or frequency rather one hundred hurts frequency, so that it 321 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:39,159 Speaker 1: makes it easy for me to use the math to 322 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:41,919 Speaker 1: describe the different wave forms, because if I go with 323 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,440 Speaker 1: something that's not easy, then I would have to do 324 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of different calculations. Of so I mentioned 325 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: earlier sign waves are that pure wave? Is that fundamental frequency? Uh? 326 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 1: This would be the same as if you were to 327 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:58,640 Speaker 1: take a tuning fork and ring it. It's going to 328 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: create a true to own with no harmonics. It's a 329 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: single sound. Uh. And so at one hundred hurts, you 330 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: would have a wave where it's period is being repeated 331 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: one hundred times every second, and that's all you would get, 332 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,639 Speaker 1: just that, and it would be at a steady amplitude 333 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: unless you were adjusting the volume. So again, amplitude refers 334 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:30,360 Speaker 1: to how loud it is in this case for for sound. Uh. 335 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 1: And also what's really neat is that you know, you 336 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,719 Speaker 1: we depict this with the the peaks and valleys on 337 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:39,120 Speaker 1: a on an X Y axis, whereas the like the 338 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,199 Speaker 1: x axis the horizontal axis that represents time, and the 339 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:46,680 Speaker 1: vertical axis represents the the amplitude the volume. Uh. If 340 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: you were to match up two sound waves that are identical, 341 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: but the peaks of one sound wave are matched with 342 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 1: the troughs of the other sound wave perfectly, they cancel 343 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: each other out. So you play these two sounds simultaneously, 344 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: if they line up in that way, they cancel one 345 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:06,800 Speaker 1: another out. It's like it's like all the atoms can't 346 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,440 Speaker 1: move because they're pushing against each other and not actually 347 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,119 Speaker 1: creating the vibration required for you to hear a noise. 348 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:16,639 Speaker 1: Noise canceling headphones work on a pretty similar principle to 349 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:20,639 Speaker 1: this to some degree. So that's kind of interesting. All right, 350 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:22,880 Speaker 1: So let's talk about saw tooth waves. If you look 351 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 1: at these, it looks like a ramp and then it's 352 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,000 Speaker 1: like the ramp goes up into the right and then 353 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:32,000 Speaker 1: immediately drops off like has a vertical drop, and then 354 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 1: moves up into the right again, and that's why it's 355 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:37,480 Speaker 1: called saw tooth. It looks like the teeth of a 356 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,520 Speaker 1: saw blade. Um These when you play them, have a 357 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:43,960 Speaker 1: buzzing sound that's really strong and clear. So this is 358 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:52,199 Speaker 1: what a saw tooth wave sounds like. Now, those are 359 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: made by combining a series of sign waves at different 360 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:58,359 Speaker 1: frequencies and volume levels. The loudest sign wave defines the 361 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 1: frequency of the overall saw tooth wave, and that is 362 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:05,280 Speaker 1: the fundamental frequency, and the other side waves represent the harmonics, 363 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 1: which are deally at a frequency that complements the fundamental one. 364 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: So generally what we talk about are multiples of the 365 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:14,560 Speaker 1: fundamental frequency. That's why I'm going to start with a 366 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: one hurts. So at a hundred hurts, your next multiple 367 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,160 Speaker 1: like harmonic harmonic. The first harmonic would be number two 368 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,400 Speaker 1: because number one is your fundamental that's one hurts. Number 369 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:27,880 Speaker 1: two would be two hundred hurts because it's the multiple 370 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,320 Speaker 1: that's the harmonic. Number three is three h hurts, four 371 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,280 Speaker 1: is four hundred hurts, so on and so forth. Multiple 372 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:36,240 Speaker 1: and harmonic number are the same thing as what I'm 373 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,399 Speaker 1: trying to get across. All of those are playing at 374 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:42,919 Speaker 1: the same time, but the amplitude of the harmonics is 375 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: lower than the amplitude of the fundamental frequency, meaning they're quieter, right, 376 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:52,160 Speaker 1: They're not overwhelming, Otherwise you would just have noise. So uh, 377 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:56,040 Speaker 1: it drops with each step further away from the fundamental frequency, 378 00:22:56,359 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 1: and it stretches on effectively into infinity. I Eventually it 379 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: gets to a point where it's so low that it's 380 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:07,200 Speaker 1: impossible for us to understand. So yeah, while the wave 381 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 1: effectively or the the harmonics effectively go on into infinity, 382 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: eventually one you hit a frequency that humans cannot perceive 383 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: and to its well, in general, humans have trouble perceiving, 384 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,399 Speaker 1: and it's at an amplitude that's so low that you 385 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,119 Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to hear it anyway. The volume is 386 00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:25,720 Speaker 1: too low for you to be able to detect it. 387 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 1: But that's the that's what gives the saw tooth wave 388 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: that tonal character. Then you've got square waves, which look 389 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:36,439 Speaker 1: very square. I mean, if you were to look at 390 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: they almost looked like like the the battlements you might 391 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: see on the top of a castle wall or something. 392 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 1: And uh, square waves contain harmonics like a saw tooth wave, 393 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:50,480 Speaker 1: but it only contains the odd numbered harmonics so you 394 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: don't have harmonic number two. If you start with one 395 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: hundred hurts, you wouldn't have two hundred hurts as a harmonic. 396 00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 1: It would be skipped. But you would have three huh 397 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,639 Speaker 1: and five hundred and seven hundred and nine hundred. But 398 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:05,479 Speaker 1: you skip all the even numbered harmonics. You only include 399 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:09,679 Speaker 1: the odd ones. And there's an actual formula for how 400 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: quiet those harmonics are. What you do is you take 401 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:19,000 Speaker 1: the harmonic number and then you do the inversion of that. 402 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:23,119 Speaker 1: You invert it. So harmonic three you would invert to 403 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,440 Speaker 1: one over three or point three three three three, It 404 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: would have that that would be its amplitude compared to 405 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: the fundamental frequency. Five would be one five of the 406 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: amplitude of the fundamental frequency. Seven would be one seven, etcetera, etcetera. 407 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,480 Speaker 1: All the way down the line. We'll be concluding the 408 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: Mogue story after this quick break. So a square wave 409 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,439 Speaker 1: is going to have a a tone that a lot 410 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,040 Speaker 1: of our listeners are going to recognize because it's the 411 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:03,040 Speaker 1: type of wave generated by classic video game console systems 412 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,720 Speaker 1: like the Nintendo Entertainment System would be a great example. Yeah, 413 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,720 Speaker 1: so you gotta stop, you gotta stop and tell me 414 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: what's your favorite NES eight bit video game music? I 415 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,480 Speaker 1: know it's kind of lame to go with such a 416 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: popular answer, but I really like the Legend of Zelda. 417 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,760 Speaker 1: That's a great one. Yeah, you know. I also really 418 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:29,119 Speaker 1: I really like Super Mario Brothers and it's great. I 419 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 1: really remember liking the music that went with the old 420 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: ne NES Batman game, which the only movie based games 421 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 1: for the NES that wasn't horrible. Yeah, that wasn't wasn't 422 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,640 Speaker 1: like a just a complete travesty of the franchise rights. 423 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,640 Speaker 1: It was pretty good game, you know. That's what I'm saying, 424 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: is that great music. You remember, Do Do Do Do Do? 425 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: And I never owned it an e s, but I 426 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:54,280 Speaker 1: have a friend who did, and he had that game, 427 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:56,520 Speaker 1: so I do remember that. But anyway, this is what 428 00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:59,880 Speaker 1: those square wave forms sound like, in case you want 429 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: to to know. So, yeah, you could tell. They're a 430 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,720 Speaker 1: little a little less buzzy than the saw tooth waves. 431 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,160 Speaker 1: The square ones are slightly less buzzy, but they still 432 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 1: have some character to them. And then we have triangle waves. 433 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: Triangle waves hate person waves. They have a fight triangle wins. Also, 434 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,520 Speaker 1: they have a really more mellow sound than your square 435 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,160 Speaker 1: waves or sawtooth waves do, so they kind of sit 436 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 1: between square waves and sign waves. They also have harmonics, 437 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,480 Speaker 1: and they also have only odd numbered harmonics like the 438 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:38,840 Speaker 1: square waves do, so just three, five, seven, nine, etcetera. 439 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: You don't have any even numbered harmonics in the triangle waves. 440 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:46,639 Speaker 1: And in this case, the amplitude of the harmonics is 441 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:52,520 Speaker 1: the drops off faster than it does with the square waves. 442 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,639 Speaker 1: So in square remember it's the inversion of the harmonic number, 443 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: so three is one third, five is one. Five with 444 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:03,280 Speaker 1: triangle waves is the inversion of the square of the 445 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,920 Speaker 1: harmonic So it's one over three squared or one over 446 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:11,520 Speaker 1: nine or point one repeating. So that's it's that amplitude 447 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:16,400 Speaker 1: compared to the fundamental frequency. And then etcetera down the road, 448 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:19,120 Speaker 1: so it would be one over five squared, one over 449 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:22,200 Speaker 1: seven squared, one over nine squared, etcetera. And that would 450 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 1: be your amplitude of your harmonics to the fundamental frequency. Ah, 451 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,120 Speaker 1: so that that's your basic ones. Oh, in a triangle wave, 452 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: we should definitely hear what that sounds like. It sounds 453 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: like this, So those are your basics, like that's you know, 454 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:41,720 Speaker 1: those are your base the basic qualities of sound you 455 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:44,240 Speaker 1: could use. You could you could choose which type of 456 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:49,359 Speaker 1: wave you wanted the oscillator to generate with your moge synthesizer, 457 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,720 Speaker 1: and then put that through the various filters and other 458 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:57,000 Speaker 1: modules that we talked about to create all sorts of 459 00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:02,800 Speaker 1: interesting sounds and and really give your music a very 460 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 1: interesting character before you even start playing a melody. So 461 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:12,119 Speaker 1: with all of the richness of a variety of electronic 462 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:16,360 Speaker 1: music that you can create with synthesizers, I mean, we're 463 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,240 Speaker 1: focusing on analog synthesizers today, but really with any kind 464 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,960 Speaker 1: of electronically generated music, there's a lot you can do. 465 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,120 Speaker 1: Why DoD Why does some people still regard it as 466 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 1: fake music? Because some people just I think, are narrow 467 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,000 Speaker 1: minded jerk faces. No, I don't want to, I don't 468 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 1: want to really suggest that I think. I think though, 469 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: this is one of those things that historically we've seen repeated, 470 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,200 Speaker 1: you know, many times, even before the age of electronic 471 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: music at all, we saw this, like just with composers, 472 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: styles and you you've heard stories of how after the 473 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: performance of a particular symphony and audience might riot in 474 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,800 Speaker 1: reaction because it was so different from what came before it, 475 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: and I think that's part of it. I think there's 476 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 1: some people who just have trouble accepting the idea that 477 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,520 Speaker 1: something different from what has come before has any can 478 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: add any value, and if it doesn't fit their definition 479 00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:18,440 Speaker 1: of what is music, it therefore cannot be music. Um, 480 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:20,440 Speaker 1: I don't believe in that. I mean, I will go 481 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: so far as to say, like, there there's definitely some 482 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: experimental music out there that to me sounds indistinguishable from 483 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 1: random noise. Like there are some performance art pieces, and 484 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:32,480 Speaker 1: some of them are meant to be like that, like 485 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: dropping objects onto piano wires from like twenty feet up 486 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:40,720 Speaker 1: so that you can create these these loud noises. It's 487 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:44,720 Speaker 1: not like that's done with surgical precision to create a 488 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: very specific sound, and that's not what the intent of 489 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 1: the piece is. Uh, and it it's it gets tricky 490 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:55,160 Speaker 1: for me to refer to that as music because it 491 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:58,719 Speaker 1: doesn't fit my definition, my personal definition of what music is. 492 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: So I'm even guilty too of that to some extent. 493 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: You know, one example I think of that that comes 494 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: up is, for example, drum machines. Yeah, you hear that 495 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:12,840 Speaker 1: criticized all the time. People are like, oh, you know, 496 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 1: the music these days, any idiot with the drum machine 497 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 1: can just make some loops and then and then they 498 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:23,440 Speaker 1: were a musician. That's not real music, or or people 499 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: who program music into like it's possible to program music 500 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,440 Speaker 1: into a computer file without ever touching any kind of 501 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: musical instrument. Right, you could, in theory, create music just 502 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 1: by manipulating numbers if you have a great enough affinity 503 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: for that. I don't think that makes the music any 504 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,520 Speaker 1: less valid than anything else. I don't think that there 505 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,240 Speaker 1: should be a In fact, how different is that from 506 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 1: being a composer who creates, who composes music for a 507 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:56,120 Speaker 1: symphony and doesn't play it him or herself. Right, yeah, 508 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,920 Speaker 1: I would argue that is very similar. And and I 509 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 1: also just think that that the creation of music goes 510 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:07,840 Speaker 1: beyond how skillful you are at tickling the ivories or 511 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: being able to plug strings. Sorry, what did you just 512 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:16,520 Speaker 1: say to tickle the ivories? Tickle the ivories? That's playing piano? 513 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: Where on earth did you learn that expression? What are you? 514 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,640 Speaker 1: Are you kidding me to look tickle them tickle the ivories? 515 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,040 Speaker 1: You've never heard this phrase? Are you telling me that? 516 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, well I am older than you are. Uh? 517 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:35,360 Speaker 1: Tickle the ivories is a phrase that means play the piano. Okay, 518 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:37,680 Speaker 1: I guess, I guess I'll just have to go home 519 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 1: and beat up my guitar. Well, I'm just saying a 520 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:46,520 Speaker 1: phrase that doesn't matter at any rate. Like I don't 521 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,640 Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think that musical ability. I'm 522 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 1: gonna go roughly chop my drums. I don't think that. Look, 523 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,880 Speaker 1: I'm about tickling the ivories, and you're going into abuse 524 00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,400 Speaker 1: all the bizarre things you can do with your hands 525 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:05,560 Speaker 1: that are not playing a musical instrument. Okay, well that's 526 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:09,200 Speaker 1: that's fair. So I'm sorry. Now I'm the one being judgmental. 527 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,320 Speaker 1: I apologize, Jonathan. I think you should feel free to 528 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 1: tickle the ivories however you like, and and I won't 529 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: judge you for it. I just can't believe you've never 530 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: heard that phrase before. Okay, well, it's it's pretty common 531 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: down my way. Um But at any rate, we had 532 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 1: a lot of ivory ticklers when I was growing up. Um. 533 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 1: So at the point being that, I don't think that 534 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:36,719 Speaker 1: there's any particular skill that you have to possess in 535 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,520 Speaker 1: order to be someone who makes music other than the 536 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:44,240 Speaker 1: ability to create a melody or or you know, to 537 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:48,200 Speaker 1: actually create the music in whatever whatever mode you use 538 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 1: to do it doesn't matter, well, I mean regardless, Like 539 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: why would we even consider ourselves in the business of 540 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: certifying what counts as being a musician or not? This? Like, 541 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,360 Speaker 1: why is that our job to tell people know that's 542 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,680 Speaker 1: not real music? This honestly reminds me a lot of 543 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,440 Speaker 1: the debate of whether or not video games or art 544 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:13,520 Speaker 1: or video games just contain art. So in other words, like, yeah, 545 00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,560 Speaker 1: the graphics in a video game can be considered art, 546 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 1: the music accompanying a video game can be considered art, 547 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,880 Speaker 1: but as a video game itself art And there's people 548 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:27,800 Speaker 1: who very violently say absolutely not, there is no way 549 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,880 Speaker 1: a video game itself could be art. Do they have 550 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:34,200 Speaker 1: some kind of like philosophical principle in forming this opinion? 551 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:37,479 Speaker 1: I think they just have some sort of ridiculous narrow 552 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:41,960 Speaker 1: definition of what they think art has to fall in. Yeah, 553 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:46,040 Speaker 1: so I would say that this that the electronic music 554 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 1: has fallen into that same thing that some people. For them, 555 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,440 Speaker 1: they have a very narrow definition of what music is. 556 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: An electronic music falls outside of that definition, so therefore 557 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: it cannot be music. By by definition. Problem is that's 558 00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 1: not everyone's definition, and I have a much broader opinion 559 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: of what is music, maybe not as broad as other people. 560 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,359 Speaker 1: In fact, certainly not as broad as other people. I 561 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:10,680 Speaker 1: know there are folks who like music that I just 562 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: find uh, baffling, like there's no appeal to me. So 563 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,400 Speaker 1: I know that I'm also guilty of that, but I'm 564 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:23,799 Speaker 1: at least aware of it. I hope you enjoyed that 565 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,800 Speaker 1: classic episode that two part are on the Moge story 566 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 1: the mog synthesizer or the Moog synthesizer. It's one of 567 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:38,000 Speaker 1: those really distinctive instruments that was incredibly influential and remains 568 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:43,040 Speaker 1: incredibly influential. It's still used in lots of modern compositions 569 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,759 Speaker 1: and songs and stuff, and it just is one of 570 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 1: those super cool sounds that, uh, that's really appealing to me. 571 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,400 Speaker 1: So I hope you enjoyed this two part episode series. 572 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:55,880 Speaker 1: If you have suggestions for topics I should cover in 573 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,080 Speaker 1: future episodes of tech Stuff, you can get in touch 574 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 1: with me a couple of different ways. One to use 575 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:04,399 Speaker 1: the I Heart radio app. You can navigate to the 576 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: tech Stuff page using a little search icon. There's a 577 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:11,560 Speaker 1: little microphone icon you can click on. Click on that, 578 00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:13,920 Speaker 1: you leave a voice message up to three seconds and like, 579 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:16,799 Speaker 1: or you can head on over to Twitter. Send me 580 00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:21,080 Speaker 1: a message via Twitter the handle we uses tech stuff 581 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,319 Speaker 1: hs W and let me know what it is you'd 582 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:26,719 Speaker 1: like me to cover in future episodes, and I'll talk 583 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:35,560 Speaker 1: to you again really soon. Text Stuff is an I 584 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:39,160 Speaker 1: heart Radio production. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, 585 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:42,680 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 586 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:44,280 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows