Hey all,
Is there a way to dynamically control the number of channels of a polyphonic audio signal? I have a polyphonic signal (POLYCON16) controlling the pitch of an oscillator and I would like to dynamically change the number of voices that are being played. If I adjust the number of channels on POLYCON16 I get undesirable clicks.
Thank you! Omer
There’s not a single simple answer for this. What oscillator? Some oscillators behave better than others with changing number of poly channels.
My solution most of the time is to deal with the issue on the audio signal end. So always send the maximum number of channels as cv to the oscillator, and then use mutes on the audio signal channels as needed.
You can get more elaborate with Moots and Venom MultiMerge or T Append, both of which do a perfect job of squashing down a mix of mono/poly signals (some of which may be nulled by Moots) into a single poly without clicks or artifacts.
But to answer your actual question, Computerscare Toly Pools has an “output channels” input where you can modulate the mumber of channels.
I’m using the Warp Core oscillator.
I tried the Toly Pools but I still get clicks.
I would like to try your suggestion of muting the signals on the channels that are not needed but I’m not sure I understand how it can be done with Moots.
maybe you can add a very short slew limiter to the audio output just to tame the clicks?
beside this you can send the polychannels to a split module and mute the channels you don’t want from its output.
You can also expriment with this module on the output.
There is also a polymute+ where you can also solo channels
I can’t promise that it won’t click in your setup, but might be worth trying out Polyphonic Mute by Count Modula:
There is a small example patch at:
Another one to try could be the Polyphonic Selector from the Sparkette’s Stuff plugin:
A small sample patch at:
Removing a channel will always click because of the order of operation, adding is : add a channel and raise the volume (slew), removing should be lower the volume then remove the track, a slew can’t help you there. I think this is something for Formula One.
After reading the other replies, I’m now further convinced that you need to do this muting AFTER the oscillator.
The key thing to keep in mind is that a 0-volt signal sent to the oscillator will still produce a sound on that channel at middle C (or whatever you have the default value set for that oscillator). A 0-volt signal after the oscillator is essentially muted.
If you can create a poly cv signal that is simply 10v for any channels you want to “sound” and 0v for any channel you want to mute, you can do this with any VCA that is polyphonic. LIke the VCV vca or Bogaudio vca.
The result output of the VCA will always be a 16ch poly cable, but any of the muted channels will be a flat 0v.
You shouldn’t get clicks that way, but if you somehow do, then you insert a slew limiter with very fast settings on the CV signal going into the VCA (not on the audio signal).
I tried to follow some of your suggestions.
Using the Polyphonic Selector I could select which channels to mute but the clicks didn’t disappear even when I placed it after the oscillator.
I tried inserting a Slew Limiter afterwards which got rid of the clicks but introduced some other forms of distortion.
I would like to try waldo’s last suggestion: “…create a poly cv signal that is simply 10v for any channels you want to “sound” and 0v for any channel you want to mute”
any idea how I could do that? I basically only care about the number of channels that are sounding and not on which specific channels they are.
Mmm that’s almost there… I want to have a knob in MindMeld PatchMaster that controls the number of channels. Unfortunately there is no input on this Polygate module which would allow for adjusting the active channels from outside. Any further ideas?
In that case, I think you can also first sort your column of signals with Sort by T, then truncate the list to the number of desired channels using PolyUtils - Mask by Amalgamated Harmonics.
You could use 8FACE mk2 by stoermelder.
Load the example using STRIP++ (stoermelder) to preserve PatchMaster mapping. Just in case, you’ll find instructions at: Expandable sequential switch - #8 by Alphagem-O.
PatchMaster to Polygate_20241218.vcvs (46.2 KB)
Would you like to share your patch with us?
Great, this is working well! Thank you
