[sdiy] Request brain dump on balanced lines

[jhaible]

> To bring in one of the basics.
> What is the 2nd harmonic of a Gm7 chord ??

Depends on the harmonic content of each note in your chord.
And yes, we're entering the domain of intermodulation here.
Which is more complex, but still has the higher order
nonlinearities producing the nastier stuff.

> Same reason why when playing chords, distortion on individual synth voices
> sounds good
> while distorting the same sound after the voices are mixed sounds "not so
> good".

I beg to differ.

You are right that it's easy to create garbage with chords played over
nonlinear functions. But you can also say distorting individual notes
is boring ("just waveshaping"), while experimenting with whole
chords can be great fun.

If you have *severe* distortion, "power chords" with only octaves
and fifths would be most rewarding, but ghost notes with small intervalls
can be very nice to have some "dirt" for phrasing.

If you have only *slight* distortion, you can really run a full major chord
of brass sound thru it and still get a pleasant, harmonic, though a bit
agressive,
result. OB-8 thru SSM2040 in overdrive, and CS-50 thru Moog Taurus VCF
are two of my favorite settings. And the Wasp Filter with its CMOS soft
clipping works great on e-piano sounds with "bell" and long release. I tried
this with the Korg Lambda, and sure there is intermodulation, but it's
quite pleasant. Big Muff is also nice on the percussive stuff of the Lambda,
but this requires a noise gate because of the amplified bleedthru.

JH.