Plan B Dual Timbral Gate...

Just picked one up the other day and I gotta say Im really surprised at the fact that I am really disappointed in a module that I thought I would really like. Is it just me or is the effect so incredibly subtle that you wouldnt know if its even there??

Im using it at the end of a signal path (suggestion from AH) after my vca. Any owners want to suggest simple patches to really hear the effect. I have a plan b osc and tried the patch on plan b page (the chiff test) and didnt get anything remotly similar...but I know the module is working cause the low pass and amp settings work correctly.

Dont know ...considering returning it unless I can get more sound out of it.

wow, just ordered some stuff from AH and I almost picked one up (Had to take advantage of the 10% off deal!)

but I decided not to, I only ordered stuff I knew I wanted/needed.

Do you have an envelope somewhere in there? Because I think its only good for making plucked string sounds. Try an attack of 0, sustain of 0 and release of something fairly fast.

Start with a simple patch, osc into the gate. Don't use a VCA at all, that's what the gate is for. Set the mode to both gate and timbre, and hit it with a sharp envelope or gate. It should ring, that is decay gracefully, also there should be a gentle filtering effect, even with no VCF in the chain.

You might want to try using it with some feedback, too. Try the VC and signal INs, separately, or simultaneously.

yeah tried it with a fast envelope going into a vca then out of the vca into the DTG and out of the DTG into the mixer. I got it specifically for the plucked (ringing) type effect but I have yet to hear it. Sounds great on the plan B site....now if only I can get it to sound like that.

The "in" on the DTG is for audio in right...this is not to take a gate signal is it?

Try this:

Leave out the VCA. Oscillator into IN 1. Fast envelope into VC IN. GATE 1 OUT to amp/speakers. Mode switch to BOTH.

You should hear both volume and harmonics decay in that natural vactrol way.

I'm not sure if the OFFSET control is bipolar or not. It may need to be set near the center of travel if so to make the sound completely cut off.

Let us know how it works.

thanks mate stubb I will try this first thing tonight when I get home....basically Im trying to find a reason to keep this module so I hope I can get it to work for me...I dont think I have tried this config yet....anxious to see if it works...will let you know.

The thing to remember is that despite the confusing name, it IS a VCA. And a VCF. Just with slow control response due to the vactrol inside.

cant imagine why your banned....nothing intelligent to say huh?

ok all, I apologize for almost shunning the DTG....it is staying put in my rack...I got it to work fine. The front panel terminology misled me but when thought of it as nothing more than a VCA it became clear (thanks to mate stubb)...the VC in to me should say "gate in" since it is supposed to take an envelope output....the knob simply opens and shuts the gate....with the gate totally shut...and the envelope set to minimal attach and release...the beautiful ringing quality (which can be shaped easily to sound like various percussion) comes through nice.

Thanks to all.

Don't want to bum you out, but I think you need to rethink the differences between an envelope and gate. The VC in is not a misnomer. A gate is like an on/off switch, it either is or it isn't. An envelope, at a certain setting, can look like a gate, but it should be thought of as a time-based voltage.

yeah your totally right....dont know what I was thinking (maybe one too many beers when I wrote that)...I guess what I was trying to convey is that to really hear the ring (though I have to mess with it more) it needs some sort of short trigger or pulse...such as a short envelope out....but it will easily work with a LFO (preferably square wave) as well. Kinda retarded that I had trouble with it seeing that my doepfer vca is set up pretty much the same exact way

yeah your totally right....dont know what I was thinking (maybe one too many beers when I wrote that)...I guess what I was trying to convey is that to really hear the ring (though I have to mess with it more) it needs some sort of short trigger or pulse...such as a short envelope out....but it will easily work with a LFO (preferably square wave) as well. Kinda retarded that I had trouble with it seeing that my doepfer vca is set up pretty much the same exact way

The good thing is that now that you know what to expect from it, try to find the unexpected.

was that poetry?

if you know what to expect, how can you find something unexpected? If you find something unexpected then you couldnt have expected all of it in the first place.

or something...