A while ago I made an interesting little demo video with Michael Claessens, a talented Belgian Harmonica player. We combined his digital harmonica with my modular synthesizer with a patch featuring Steve’s MS-22. I think this really turned out spectacular. Have a look!

Michael Claessens is a Belgian harmonica player who’s interested in electronic music. We hooked up his digital harmonica to my modular system, featuring Steve’s MS-22 dual VCF. This lead to an evening of modular fun, including this funky jazz improv we taped…

Here are some patch notes:

  • Michael is playing a Lekholm DM48 Digital Chromatic Harmonica (https://www.lekholminstruments.com/).
  • We connected the DM48 to the Endorphin.es Shuttle Control over USB host.
  • We use two slightly detuned saw oscillators from the Intellijel Atlantis, which are mixed at 50% each and then sent into the input of Steve’s MS-22 dual VCF.
  • The DM48’s breath MIDI CC is converted to a smoothed unipolar CV and routed in to the MS-22’s FCV jack, modulating the cut-off frequency of the low-pass filter.
  • The MS-22 is set with a high gain and moderate resonance.
  • The high-pass filter is set at a low frequency, not affecting the signal.
  • The output of Steve’s MS-22 is then sent into a Zlob VniCursal VCA, modulated by the envelope of the Atlantis (triggered by the Shuttle Control).
  • Reverb was added by means of the Tip Top Z-DSP with the Valhalla Reverb card.