1. This patch only uses one oscillator, set
to a sawtooth wave. In TimewARP
2600, run a virtual patch cord from the
“sawtooth” jack to the VCO 1 input in
the VCF audio mixer section.
2. Using a lowpass filter (in four-pole or
24db-per-octave mode), set the cutoff
about 75 percent open and resonance
at 20 percent. The exact cutoff
frequency on TimewARP 2600 is
2,764Hz.
3. Make the amplitude envelope a simple
on/off type: attack, decay and release at
zero and sustain all the way up.
4. On TimewARP 2600, turn up the
Audio/VCF slider and Control/ADSR
slider in the VCA mixer section, and
finally, turn up the VCA slider all the way
at the right in the Mixer section.
5. Now we have a bland sawtooth
patch. We spice it up by adding vibrato.
Most synths call the relevant setting
something like “LFO depth” or “pitch
mod amount.” In TimewARP 2600, any
of the three oscillators can be switched
to low-frequency (LF) mode, so I
used oscillator 2 (VCO 2) to generate
vibrato.
6. Then, I turned up the VCO 2 slider (the
one in the VCO 1 section) to modulate
VCO 1’s frequency. Use a sine or triangle
wave set to about 7.3Hz with depth
set pretty deep.
Now we’ll add some plug-in effects in the
DAW. I used a subtle amount of Logic’s
Bitcrusher to make the tone a little more “in
your face.” Then I added EQ with a steep
low shelf rolloff from 440Hz down, an 8dB
peak at 1,300Hz to emphasize the nasal
honk, and a high shelf at 6,500Hz to
dampen highs that’d make things sound too
“hi-fi” otherwise. Finally, I added a medium
amount of large, dark room reverb for sonic
space — you can hear a similar one in the
intro of the original MGMT track.