MOTM

>I hope it will be heard when I have finished my next CD. (;->)

Yes, I've heard great things about your last cd, although I haven't heard
it myself.

>But I admit that I don't really make much use of the thousand
>functions of the ES-1. I'm not too good at drum programming,
>and sampling new sounds isn't what I will spend many hours either.

If I used an ES-1, I wouldn't be too good at drum programming either :)
Imho, effective drum programming requires both a drum machine with an
excellent interface, and being extremely familiar with that interface.

I use a 909 (along with its external mode to play samples)  Now, I also
have a 707 which has a sequencer that is almost identical to the 909, but I
never use it to program drums.  Why??  The 909 has a much more ergonomic
and tactile controls -- its bigger and the keys clack.  I think that is
very important, so that you can program it without looking or thinking.

I understand what you mean about not using the "thousand functions".  I
know that many people use MIDI software to program drums, but that has
never worked for me.  I think it is important to actually hit something,
and using the keys on a keyboard just doesn't feel right.

However, I occasionally use Recycle to lift MIDI out of drum loops.  When
Synthesis Technology finally releases the VC Pulse Divider, I'm thinking I
could use it with DIN sync to roll breakbeats :)

>However, I'm using the ES-1 together with one of my home-built
>phasers. This has two independent stereo channels, and the resonance
>is rather "controlled" up to almost self oscillation, and I'm modulating
>the two stereo channels with a Sample & Hold (2nd channel with
>inverted modulation).

I hope you appreciate at this point, that you've probably built more gear
than most people own :)

>When I run the ES-1 thru *this*, it doesn't sound like samples
>anymore (nor like the cheap built-in effects).

Well that's good!!

>The drum samples trigger the almost-self oscillation of the phaser;
>that's 3 BPF peaks on each side, and with the "pole spread" feature
>the 3 BPFs aren't linked in a constant pattern like on an ordinary phaser.
>If you look at these old analogue drum machines, they often contain
>almost-self oscillating filters for some of the instruments, and
>here it is very similar. The difference is that the pitch of these
>"phaser drums" is changed with the S&H every couple of beats,
>and they are triggered by samples (from the ES-1) rather than with
>simple gate signals. It's a very unique drum machine, with new
>instruments kicked in all the time without actually programming
>them. (;->) It's hard to describe in words, but I think the next CD
>will have a couple oft tracks that are based on this.

I used to have a huge ass pile of analogue "drum brains" -- Simmons, Tama,
Boss, etc., but I've sold all of them except one PC-2 and one Dr. Pad.
Besides the fact that they took up a massive amount of space, they weren't
voltage controllable.  As my MOTM system grows I will probably use more
modulated drum sounds.  As it stands now, I tend to use effects -- synced
to MIDI clock, swept by the 320 (which takes a bit of doing to
synchronize), swept by gates run through the 820, or *gasp* using the CV
output of a TB-303 as an LFO.  Unfortunately, the synced LFO outputs of the
Pro4 and Dr. Click are too fast to be useful.

>Well, i think along similar paths, really, but the FAT controller was
>less expensive than the Korg SQ-10 which I had before, and I like
>it so much better.

Oh, I'm thinking of getting a FAT controller, but there is no way I'm going
to go buy a new digital delay.  One thing I don't like about the FAT is
that   you cannot advance stages with single pulses.

>The drawback is the very long settling time for the PLL, so (as someone
>pointed out  on this list before) you'd have to run the clock all the time,
>and not just start it when your song starts.

Which is the case with Roland, or you could just pre-roll (if you were
really fanatical you could add an LED indicator to show when it finally
locks).  Also, considering that a BBD can only be clocked over a limited
range and you wouldn't use a synced delay for chorus or flanging effects,
you could limit the VCO so that it would settle quicker, and even choose a
center frequency based on a typical tempo input (like 140 BPM).  Another
way would be to use digital to calculate the BBD clock.

Then again, I only have one chip left, and I should probably keep it for
repair purposes.  Oh well...

>This is *all* theory - I have *not* tried this (nor will I try it in the
>near future.)

Right, you should spend all your time working on MOTM modules ;)