I recently got my hands on a Tetrapad + Tete. I’ve been using Metropolix pretty heavily for over 6 months, so as I’m learning what Tete can do, I’m very interested in how to use it with Metropolix.
Here are a couple approaches that have occurred to me so far:
Sequence pitches in Tete’s notes mode, and assuming you are sending the base pitch (output 1) to a voice, send it to a buffered mult first. Send a copy of that pitch to one of Metropolix’s X/Y/Z inputs and set it to either pitch pre or pitch post. Than attenuate as needed so everything plays the same base pitch (the manual says these inputs track 1V/oct but I found I needed to attentuate about halfway). I often use a mod lane to control pitch pre/post and make longer sequences. Now I can make much, much longer sequences with Tete. You can sequence a bassline and/or chords on Tete and have Metropolix on melody + counter-melody duty. It’s like a whole band at your fingertips!
Send a mod lane’s value out Metropolix’s A or B output. Use this as the bank CV for Tete in voltages mode. If you like chaining Metropolix presets, you might consider sending a constant CV from Metropolix per preset. Tete’s voltages can be a macro control for your whole patch, so you could change timbres, enable/disable FX, etc, when changing Metropolix presets in order to create more contrast between sections and do interesting transitions. Also seems like it could be fun to send separate mod lanes out A and B, and control Tete’s bank X and bank Y CVs respectively.
I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface so far. Anyone have some techniques they’d like to share?
This is a great idea for a thread. As an owner of all of these modules (and only a recent owner of Metropolix), I’m surprised to realize that I don’t use them together more often, as they seem like a great complement to each other. I’m eager to see what ideas come up here.
I just got Metropolix 2-3 weeks ago, and am just starting to get my head around it. I saw a video of someone using it with a Sinfonion, and started wondering if I might use it with Scales. Then I thought of using it with Tetrapad/Tete (which sit immediately beside it) and saw this post, which looks like it has some far more interesting options, leaving Scales free for another part of the rack. Looks like I have some experimenting to do.
FYI, I eventually realized I needed to attenuate because the “PItch Pre” aux destination acts like the diatnoic shift feature on the Scales module. Each 1/12V shits by one scale degree, not by one semitone, so it only tracks correctly if you use the chromatic scale.
This is problematic if you are using the non-chromatic scale in Metropoplix (which I pretty much always do) and the pitch CV you are sending to an aux input is being mult’d and controlling a synth voice like a bassline. They won’t play the same pitch unless you fudge it and find the attenuator sweet spot where the pitches mostly line up correctly. This is workable, but it’s not perfect.
Intellijel could update the Metropolix firmware to add a new aux destination where it tracks 1V/oct for all scales. This will make it much easier to do my idea #1 in my original post here. I made a feature request about this: Metropolix feature request: Chromatic Pitch Pre aux destination