Important Safety Information WARNING – AS WITH ALL ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS, care and general precautions must be observed in order to operate this equipment safely. If you are unsure how to operate this apparatus in a safe manner, please seek appropriate advice on its safe use. Please ensure you read this manual and the Modal 001 ‘Quick Start Guide’...
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Index 00. Introduction 01. I just want to play this thing... Power on Screen Controls Patch Screen Load Patch Patch storage 02. Connections 03. Synthesis Engine Oscillators Mixer Filter Envelopes LFO’s Modulations 04. Keyboard, Controllers and Quick Recall Key Modes Keyboard Joystick Mod Wheel...
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Modal 001 is a 2-voice analogue-digital hybrid synthesizer. It features two high-resolution NCO oscillators per voice (plus two sub oscillators), Modal- designed four-pole transistor ladder filter with real analogue morphing, VCA, two LFOs, 2 Introduction modulation matrices and very powerful Sequencer and Arpeggiator. The hardware has been manufactured with high-quality components: FATAR semi-weighted three octave key mechanism with aftertouch, white metal case, aluminum turned encoders and high quality 4.3”...
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Power on I just want to play this thing... Connect the power lead to your 001 then connect the output of the 001 to your mixer, or if you prefer connect your headphones. Also connect the ethernet cable from your router to the 001. If you connect a single 1/4 inch jack to the Right output, both voices of the 001 will be routed there.
Screen controls Hover mode Edit mode Grey cursor and text. Red cursor and white text. Turning datawheel and +/- navigates Turning datawheel and +/- changes values around the screen to different parameters. of currently selected parameter. You can select and change the value of most of the synth parameters directly with the Keypad can be used to shortcut to specific Keypad can be used to type parameter dedicated rotary encoders: the Modal 001 interface is designed to be extremely intuitive and...
Patch screen Load patch After power on you will be shown the Patch screen. This screen shows you the currently If you want to load another patch: selected patch, as well as some useful details about the current patch. • Scroll through the patches either using the Datawheel, or the ‘-/+’...
Patch storage Now feel free to have some fun with your 001: find a patch that you like and tweak some knobs to modify the sound characteristics. Then if you would like to save that sound: • Press the 4th ‘menu button’ (D) - the LCD will display the storage page. You can save many different types of data (including Performances, Sequences, etc.), but since you are working on a mono-timbral patch, the screen will automatically select Patch Storage.
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Connections CV In and Out 4x CV/Gate Inputs and 4x CV/Gate Connect USB (Audio, MIDI) Outputs, 1⁄4 inch TS connectors, to receive and send a scalable 1-volt- MIDI (In, Out, Thru) This is intended to be used with future per-octave signal from/to modular Internet connections.
In this section we are going to have an in-depth look at every section related to the sound engine of the 001. Each section of the synthesiser has a dedicated area on the front panel, defined by printed Synthesis engine grey lines.
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Osc1 Osc2 Oscillators Wave/PW 001 features two main digital oscillators per voice (Numerically Controlled Oscillators - NCO), Wave Rate Osc1 identified by OSC1 and OSC2 labels, each one with its own Sub-Oscillator. NCOs differ from the oscillators found in most virtual analogue synthesisers in that they use Drive LFO-1 LFO-2...
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Osc1 Osc2 Mixer Wave/PW You can easily mix the signals coming from the oscillators in the Mixer section, just on the Wave Rate Osc1 Osc2 CutOff right side of the oscillators’ section. Drive LFO-1 LFO-2 Note Note Slope Osc1: This parameter controls the volume coming from Oscillator 1, with a range from 0 Sub1 Sub2 to 127.
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Osc1 Osc2 Filter Wave/PW Modal 001 uses a classic analogue transistor ladder design to low-pass filter the signal coming Wave Rate Osc1 Osc2 CutOff Decay from the oscillators (or from an external source). Like every true polyphonic synthesiser, Modal 001 has an individual VCF per voice. Drive Attack LFO-1...
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Osc2 VCF-EG Envelopes Wave/PW Modal 001 provides two separate classic 4-stage contour generators (i.e. envelopes), one for Osc1 Osc2 CutOff Decay Sustain the filter (VCF-EG), one for the amplifier (VCA-EG): the former modulates the filter cutoff frequency, if a value different from zero is set for the filter EG parameter (see ‘Filter’ section - previously in this same chapter);...
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Osc1 LFO’s Wave/PW Modal 001 features two individual low frequency oscillators: LFO1 is a simple LFO and is Wave Rate ‘global’ across the patch (so it affects the whole sound); LFO2 has more parameters and is applied ‘per voice’ (so it affects each note/voice individually). LFO-1 LFO-2 Both LFO1 and LFO2 have these parameters:...
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Modulations Detune Source Depth LFO-1 LFO-2 Velo AftT DeRez Sync SubWav The Modal 001 has four modulation matrices accessible on the front panel. Osc1 Wave1 Slope Drive Sources: The available sources on the front panel are LFO1, LFO2, Velocity and Aftertouch. The two other sources are Modulation Wheel and Note (Keytracking), accessible via the screen Key Mode controls on the modulation page within the parameters page menu (press 3rd menu button...
In this section we are going to discuss the bottom-left area of the front panel interface, which includes various settings for keyboard, quick recall options and the joystick. Key Modes Keyboard, Controllers The KeyMode option sets the keyboard polyphony and the allocation method for the voices. and Quick Recall 001 has 3 different KeyModes: Osc1...
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Keyboard Joystick The Modal 001 joystick features 4 individual axes and each one of them is individually assignable. By default: • the 2 horizontal axes (X-, X+) control the pitch of the oscillators (range of -+ 1 semitone); • the down (Y-) axis controls the filter cutoff (half range from current value to max); •...
Mod Wheel On 001 you can use a Joystick axis as a Mod Wheel. Please refer to the ‘Joystick’ page to see details on how to assign different destinations to a Joystick axis. You can also receive external Mod Wheel messages from MIDI In as CC 1. Both internal and external Mod Wheel messages can be used to modulate 8 different destinations, as per LFO1, LFO2 etc.
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CV In CV Out 001 has four freely assignable CV Inputs. These inputs can be sent as another form of 001 also has four freely assignable CV Outputs. These outputs will send out the current value modulation to most of the parameters of the synth. Each input voltage (scalable 1-volt-per- of its source as a control voltage (scalable 1-volt-per-octave signal).
Quick Recall Quick Recall Slot Six Quick Recall buttons can be enabled to build lists of patches, sequences and animations The Quick Recall Slot page shows what is currently on the slot as well as providing options to etc. that can be quickly accessed or stored. load or edit the slot.
In this section we are going to explain three very important features of the Modal 001: first of all, our very powerful 12 row, 32 step Sequencer; secondly, a unique tool called Animator, a note-triggered sequencer for parameters that allow you to create complex modulations; finally, the 001’s Arpeggiator.
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Sequencer Sequencer rows The Modal 001 Sequencer allows you to create up to 12 simultaneous sequences of up In the top menu after the page title ‘SEQUENCER’ the current step position of the screen and to 32 Steps, each of which allows you to create up to 12 rows of notes or parameter/CC front panel is shown.
Sequencer edit Sequencer setup The Setup sub-menu page contains the following options: Mode: allows you to set the direction mode of the sequence. You can use either the dedicated button or the screen controls to change the value of this parameter. The available Mode options are similar to those of the arpeggiator (see end of this chapter) Start: the start step of the sequence...
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Animator Animator setup The Animator is basically another Sequencer for parameters, but it’s triggered by notes: Also the Setup sub-menu page looks exactly the same as the Sequencer’s one with the if enabled, each note starts its own animation when pressed and all the animations run additon of a Relative/Absolute mode: independent of each other.
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Arpeggiator Modes When the arpeggiator page is shown on the LCD, the first 5 LEDs on the first row of In this section we are going to explain the different modes available for the Sequencer, the the sequencer encoders light up in red, indicating the knobs you can use to control the Animator and the Arpeggiator.
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Sequencer/Animator Shortcuts Legato Input As the Sequencer and Animator pages are very complex we have implemented a number of useful shortcuts that can be used as an alternative to using the options on the screen. A full Mode list of these shortcuts are below: Holding down the Mode button and pressing a Sequencer encoder will change the selected step’s Legato value rather than the default step value.
Performance mode Multi-Timbrality Modal 001 can be used as a bi-timbral synthesizer: in normal ‘Patch Mode’ (i.e. the mode we have discussed so far) you can load 1 single sound preset and use the 2 voices available; in ‘Performance Mode’ you can load 2 different sound presets (called ‘parts’ from now on) simultaneously and define a number of options including keyboard ranges.
Performance edit Once you select a part for editing (either by using screen controls or the Assign+QR shortcut), the LCD will show a ‘Part Page’ where you can find: Along the bottom of this main Performance page, you will find: •...
Performance storage When you save a patch in Patch Mode, you store all the synth engine parameters, together with Arpeggiator settings and a link to an Animation (if any used). See Patch Storage section in chapter 1 for further details on how to save a patch. Same thing applies if you store a patch while you are editing a parte (not a performance) in Performance Mode.
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Settings Settings In this section we are going to have a look at the settings page of the Modal 001. You can access this page by pressing the sixth ‘menu button’ (F). You can access the six available sub-menus by pressing the corresponding number on the keypad (or using the ‘-/+/Select’...
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Update Network The update procedure of the Modal 001 operating system is very easy. To enter the Update Before turning the Modal 001 on, be sure to connect it to your local router via ethernet cable: section from the settings page, just press number ‘1’ on the keypad: the main area in the as soon as you turn the synth on, the OS will automatically establish an internet connection.
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MIDI MIDI In To access the MIDI page, you can press number ‘3’ on the keypad: the screen will show you In this page you can individually enable or disable 5 different categories of external MIDI the 3 available parameters. messages received from the MIDI In port on the back of 001.
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MIDI Out Cloud In this page you can individually enable or disable 6 different categories of internal MIDI Coming soon. messages sent from the MIDI Out port on the back of 001. Notes: this parameter enables / disables processing MIDI Note messages (Note On, Note Off and Velocity) Control: this option enables / disables processing MIDI Control Change messages Patch: this option enables / disables processing MIDI Bank and Program Change...
Global Remote Support To access the Global Settings page, you can press number ‘5’ on the keypad: the screen will This feature allows you to get remote technical support from the Modal Electronics team: this show you the 3 available parameters. means that a Modal operator can connect to your unit in order to diagnose and fix potential problems.
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Reboot Reset If you experience any odd behavior on your 001 (see Troubleshooting section), you can reboot If you experience any odd behavior on your 001 (see Troubleshooting section), you can reset the machine with this command: if the rest of the front panel stops responding, you should parts of the operating system with the 3 options in this page.
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MIDI CC Implemention Chart Appendix Function Joystick Sequence Animator Values Mod Wheel 0 - 127 OSC1 - Wave 0 - 55 (0 - 63 in PW) OSC1 - PW OFF = 0 - ON = 127 OSC1 - Note 0 - 48 (-24 OFFSET) KEYB - Glide 0 - 127 VCA - Amount...
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MIDI CC Implemention Chart Function Joystick Sequence Animator Values Function Joystick Sequence Animator Values VCA-EG - Sustain 0 - 127 LFO2 - Slope OFF = 0 - ON = 127 VCA-EG - Release 0 - 127 LFO2 - Resonance OFF = 0 - ON = 127 OSC2 - Note 0 - 48 (-24 OFFSET) LFO2 - Drive...
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MIDI CC Implemention Chart Function Joystick Sequence Animator Values Function Joystick Sequence Animator Values MODW - Slope OFF = 0 - ON = 127 VCF-EG - Shape 0 = LINEAR - 1 = EXPO MODW - CutOff OFF = 0 - ON = 127 JOY - Y+ Depth 3 - 123 (-63 OFFSET) MODW - Drive...
Troubleshooting FAQ’s Appendix My synth doesn’t boot Please do not power cycle your unit: always allow 60 seconds before switching the unit back on. If you don’t wait long enough, you might experience some erratic behaviors, including unusual voice detuning or synth not booting. If your synth doesn’t boot, please leave it off for few minutes, then try again: if the issue persists after 3-4 attempts, please contact support@modalelectronics.com.
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Troubleshooting FAQ’s Hung notes If a voice has a hung note: to get rid of it, just push the KeyMode button on the Key/QR front panel section (you may want to do it 3 times, so that you can go back to the original keyboard mode).
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