Joy of Synths #6: Hearing Protection and Shopping Returns

A non-musician’s guide to creating sounds for podcasts, videos, and sampling for music using analog synthesizers.

Nov 02, 2023

Osc-tober In Review

Osc-tober flew by. A double-handed surgery required caretaking, so thankfully the recovery went well for the one I was taking care of. That experience is a reminder to prioritize health on all fronts. I learned that nerve related surgery is best done sooner than later, so maybe don’t try to muscle through the pain and discomfort and delay treatment. As time passes, nerve damage may be such that a full recovery may take much, much longer.

Percussion and string instruments that require manual dexterity present the risk of repetitive motion injury given the demands of practice and performance. An analog synthesizer requires motor skills to turn dials and plug and unplug cables. It doesn’t require repetitive mouse clicks and keyboard shortcuts. Granted, mind your posture as most synths are anything but ergonomic.

LISTEN TO THIS: HEARING PROTECTION

While a synth is unlikely to cause issues that require surgery, it’s smart to take precautions with your hearing in all facets of life. Ear plugs are useful in concerts and gatherings with a lot of din. They “turn down the volume” by 30 to 32dBs. So a 82dB sound environment would drop to 50dB.

Synths can cause hearing damage. The risk is there with headphones or speakers (monitors). Limit your time in loud environments and give your hearing silence breaks whenever possible.

CONTROLLED BY VOLTAGE

No thanks to a synth’s voltage controlled amplifier (VCA) and their CV (control voltage) in, generally from an envelope/contour generator, you run the risks of overloading your hearing at the height of an envelope’s rising attack.

CV, or control voltage, can come in the form of a low frequency oscillator (LFO) wave shape like a triangle wave. The wave rises up then falls down in the same period, resembling a triangle on an oscilloscope. The lower the frequency, the longer it takes the LFO to rise to peak voltage.

CV somewhat automates things. Rather than turning the VCA dial by hand at different speeds, you connect that LFO to it and increase or decrease the LFO dial to affect the rate of volume rise and fall.

The problem is getting that first sound out. It’s a common reflex to turn the volume up if you’re not hearing anything. By turning up the volume, you’re turning up the CV which turns up the amplifier and/or filter modulation to the point of ear-piercing levels.

HEARING PROTECTION BASICS

First, start with all your output volume dials at zero. If you have a separate headphone volume control, that should be at zero.

If your synth has an output module with an input jack, connect an oscillator to it for continuous tone. Slowly turn up the output volume to midway, and follow with the headset volume dial.

If you listen to your synth with headsets, put those headsets next to the synth and let the volume rise and fall until you are at a safe level to wear them. Just be aware that changes to any dial influencing control voltage may cause a spike in volume. An envelope generator (contour on the Model D) is fun to play with, but a likely culprit for sudden spikes in volume. As is cycling through wave shapes if your LFO allows for that.

Connecting a sequencer’s CV or Gate signal to VCA may cause a low value to +5 or +10 volt rise in amplification. This is why you connect a gate signal to an envelope/contour generator, then connect that output to the CV in of a VCA- to give shape to the voltage so the VCA’s volume varies between loud and quiet.

DYNAMICS & ENVELOPES

This variance of loud and quiet is known as Dynamics, which are worth exploring when recording for a sound library. The Fading up and fading out a sound is possible with a Envelope/Contour generator.

Depending on the Envelope/Contour, you may have controls for Attack and Decay, which is the time to rise to peak and fall to quiet. In MIDI world, that’s note on/off. Envelopes are time-based, so an attack may be a fast attack like a piano key press, then decay slowly, like a drum.

ADSR stands for Attack Decay Sustain Release. These are best played around with to get a sense of the sounds they help produce. It helps to start with Attack full left so it’s fast, Decay past mid-way so the sound holds, and then play around with sustain and release.

Don’t use a sequencer when messing with ADSRs. It’s a time period, so you may only be hearing the attack part of sound if the sequencer is set faster than the voltage’s rise to peak. In that case, you may not hear the Sustain and Release.

Press and hold a key until the sound has time to pass through the ADSR periods.

CV AND FILTERS

Filters are a big part of the sound of a synthesizer. You’re not wrong if you turn the filter dial manually. Filters may have a CV in, which you don’t have to connect anything to. If your synthesizer is semi-modular and prewired you’ll need to “break” the connection. Connecting a cable to the CV in and leaving the other end disconnected will basically set the CV to nothing. Some people cut a patch cable in two so it’s just one plug per half. This indicates there is no connection.

Filters may be “multi-modal,” another way of saying they are more than a low-pass filter. However, a low-pass filter is easier to understand. If the filter is full right, that means that all frequencies of the audio signal are passing through.

As you turn it left, you aren’t necessarily cutting off frequencies but you are attenuating them by a certain amount. With a low-pass filter, the lower frequencies pass through. So at midway, it’s likely that the the left side of that dial is passing through. Which means lower end bass. The higher frequencies to the right of the dial are attenuated, or slowly cut off by -12db or -24db, depending on filter’s specifications.

SOUND PERCEPTION

If you should modulate the filter by CV, be aware that our perception of sound changes based on frequencies. If output at the same deciBels, a lower frequency bass sound is perceived quieter than a higher frequency whistle.

The natural response is to raise the volume when working with lower frequencies. The risk factor is modulation. If the low pass filter cut off dial goes right suddenly, the perceived loudness of the higher frequencies will crash through.

In all cases, if you want to play around with Filter and VCA modulation, keep the headphones off your ears and at a lower volume. Limiting your time on the instrument is another strategy. And again, consider playback volume. Challenge yourself to create sounds that are interesting at a low volume. It’s a different focus than playing loud, because you can always discover textures in loudness. Quiet textured noise is possible. Preserve your hearing and listen for it.

SHOPPING MANIA: NOVEMBER RETURNS

Black Friday is the retail day after Thanksgiving. It was a fabled time of finding great deals on big ticket items. Alas, Black Friday shopping has not been the best time to find deals over the past years. It’s the weeks preceding that feature price drops and sales. A good resource is slick deals.net.

For instruments, it seems price drops occur before Black Friday, then the prices go to MSRP through the New Year. It’s all luck of the draw. For example, the Pittsburgh Modular Taiga synth went down by $100 to $699 at Perfect Circuit.com in a Halloween sale. It dropped to $699 in September Labor Day sale, as well. Look for that price drop to return possibly for Thanksgiving.

I’m out of the market for more instruments as I found a Solina String Ensemble by B. on an Amazon price drop for $199, down $299. This synth is on backorder in most music stores, so it probably won’t ship until May 2024. The Solina was delisted by Amazon, then reappeared as available for world wide shipping from Amazon Japan for $381.57. Other resellers are asking upwards of $500.

AMAZON INSTRUMENT RETURN POLICIES

Sold and Shipped by Amazon instruments are afforded great return policies. Items not sold by Amazon will have their own return policies, so maybe buy direct from the store, not the Amazon version of their store.

I bring this up now because Amazon will extend Holiday purchase windows. So if there is an instrument you’re on the fence over, consider buying now for an extended trial runway. Meaning, order, open, and trial record the instrument in November-early January.

Here’s what Amazon says:

Our 2023 Extended Holiday Returns policy requires that items purchased between November 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023, are returnable through January 31, 2024, except for Apple brand products, which can be returned through January 15, 2024.

This policy applies to seller-fulfilled, FBA, and Amazon retail orders.

RISK OF RETURNS

The risk of returning instruments is a bit more than it is worth, in most cases. Time is a precious resource. It takes time to research, order, unbox, record trials, store, request return, re-box, and physically return the instrument to a Whole Foods or Amazon Store.

While synths can magically appear to play themselves at times, they all have a learning curve. More time on the synth doesn’t always translate to more interesting sound recordings. While you can get your money back, time is non-refundable. Is this time maybe better spent exploring an instrument you already own?

A real risk is damage to the packaging and instrument when it is in your possession. It helps to buy everything as “gift” on Amazon so they hopefully put the instrument box in a box. Otherwise Amazon has shipped Model D in its product box, leading to damage. Even with gift, they may put it in an unpadded envelope. If the packaging is damaged in transit, request a return ASAP and send that back! But if someone should throw out the product box or manuals, you are almost guaranteed to have the return rejected.

On the serious, don’t buy unless you can afford to keep it. While I’m interested in the Taiga, I don’t have $799 to dedicate to a synth. In the event that I order and play the heck out of a Taiga, well, it stands that I should keep it. But I’ve already established that it can be had for $699 possibly from Perfect Circuit. See how convoluted that is? For a synth I don’t need? It’s the Holidays- relax!

November Begins…

Cheers!

End Note 11/2/2023

Joy #7 will arrive on 11/15/23 and really focus on Oscillators and Frequencies. This issue is sponsored by CoWolves. Buy vinyl at https://discogs.com/seller/cowolves.