The Moog Subharmonicon … who can resist an analog synth based on the subharmonic generative music theory of Schillinger. See it in action, with tutorial. Polyrhythms and subharmonics, oh my. A trip to Perfect Circuit this weekend? Or save $600 and do it in software…

Building a Subharmonicon in VCV rack

Omri Cohen explains how (youtube)

Polyrhythm:

  • Clock
  • 4x clock dividers
  • Octatrig
  • Bus router
  • Sequencer
  • 2x VCOs
  • 4x frequency dividers
  • 2x mixers
  • matrix mixer

Supercollider

A first approximation — copied below for easy references

// Saw wave version

(
SynthDef(\subh2,{
	arg freq = 440, div = 4;
	var osc, sub, env;
	osc = Saw.ar(freq);
	p = PulseDivider.ar(osc, div);
	a = 0.5 * freq/(div * s.sampleRate);
	sub = LeakDC.ar(Phasor.ar(p, 1, 0, inf, 0) * a);
	env = EnvGen.ar(Env.perc(0.001,8), doneAction:2);
	Out.ar(0, Splay.ar(osc + sub * env));
}).add;
)

(
Pbind(
	\instrument, \subh2,
	\degree, Pseq([0,5,9,[0,12]], inf),
	\dur, 2,
	\div, Pseq([[2,4,8],[3,6,9],[4,8,16]],inf),
	\strum,0.2
).play;
)

or

// Square wave version

(
SynthDef(\subh3,{
	arg freq = 440, div = 4;
	var osc, sub, env;
	osc = Saw.ar(freq);
	p = PulseDivider.ar(osc, div * 0.5);
	sub = 0.5 * LeakDC.ar(ToggleFF.ar(p) - 0.5);
	env = EnvGen.ar(Env.perc(0.001,8), doneAction:2);
	Out.ar(0, Splay.ar(osc + sub * env));
}).add;
)

(
Pbind(
	\instrument, \subh3,
	\degree, Pseq([0,5,9,[0,12]], inf),
	\dur, 2,
	\div, Pseq([[2,4,8],[3,6,9],[4,8,16]],inf),
	\strum,0.2
).play;
)

Hardware clones

Apparently Behringer has announced SPICE which is only $249 (versus $600)