Roland NOVA-MOD SH-101 Manual page 2

NOVA-MOD Details:
Pulse width to near 0%
By closing the pulsewidth to a spike, new sounds can be attained by the SH-101. This "spike" wave source is
very useful for brightening a bass patch. (A bass patch, with only the sub Osc waveform assigned, can be
brightened, but not raised in pitch, by adding a little pulsewidth signal with a manual setting of less than 1%
duty cycle.)
In another application, in which only full ramp waveform is assigned, manually raising and lowering the spike
waveform's amplitude has been compared to sounding like a wavetable sweep.
As well, LFO modulation of the pulsewidth is made more dramatic because of the closer approach to 0%.
Pulsewidth Modulation Source Selection
A six-way rotary switch enables you to chose the pulsewidth modulation sources independently of the LFO's
waveform setting. This modulation source makes many new and interesting sounds. A randomly modulated
pulsewidth is especially unique and pleasant.
The PW modulation sources are:
LFO Triangle
LFO Square
LFO Random
Sub Osc -1 Octave Square*
Sub Osc -2 Octave Pulse *
LFO Noise
* The Sub Osc Mod sources creates a unique bass enhancement because of their higher frequency and
keytracking. The result is a richer and deeper sound. As well, although there are only two sub Osc sources,
changing the sub Osc switch -1/-2/-2 results in even further modulation effects.
LFO Rate Scalar
A three-way toggle switch scales the overall range of the SH-101's internal LFO Clk (the existing LFO rate slider
still functions normally). The scalar settings are Normal/Low/High.
In the Low setting, a cycle of 30 seconds can be attained. This is great for mild changes in "trance" type music.
In the High mode, up to 1200Hz can be used to create interesting cross-mod bell like sounds. Perfect for
"industrial" music and clanging metallic sounds. High mode works especially well when creating a synthetic kick
drum patch or short-wave radio sounds a la Kraftwerk's Electric Cafe and Radioactivity albums respectively.
LFO Clock Input
A 1/4" jack allows the insertion of an external clock signal to drive the 101's LFO. This injected signal triggers the
LFO but does not change it's waveform. Buy applying a clock, LFO AND arpeggiator are both synced to the
external source. This makes for very moving and groovy patterns with only a drum box and NOVA-MODed 101.
A particularly nice application is to modulate the VCF Cutoff with a Random LFO while playing the sequencer.
Of course you can, at the same time, inject a separate clock into the arpeggiator via the 101's Ext. Clk In Jack.
This will enable you to run the arpeggiator and LFO at different speeds (hopefully related in some way).
As a bonus, audio can be injected to drive the LFO. A simple trick is to patch the headphone output into the
Ext. LFO Input. This feedback loop makes for sounds that can be mildly distorted to heavily distorted by simply
adjusting the VCF's Mod amount. [No need for an external distortion processor!] This effect is great for slow
sweeps with a resonating filter setting. Very minimoog-ish.
External Audio Input
A 1/4" jack and toggle switch allows external audio to be injected. A rotary pot controls the amplitude of the
injected signal. It can be routed to one of two sources:
1. directly into the filter along with the OSC's waveforms. External processing of audio through the VCF and ENV
is
a typical feature on some synths however a separate trigger can be applied to fire the SH-101's envelope.
2. into the VCF's cutoff modulation point. (An external FM source)
VCF CV Input
An external CV can be applied to the 101 via this 1/4" jack. This feature is typical on a Juno-60, Jupiter 4 and
Pro-One. A MIDI controller converted to a CV or an "expression" foot pedal are typically connected here.
VCF FM
VCF FM is the most powerful NOVA-MOD feature. It can be used in moderation to simply add brightness to a
bass patch with low frequencies (due to subtractive synthesis). Or it can be used to create powerful cross-mod