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5. Berlin School sequencing with Bazille CM

1 Tangerine Dream’s groundbreaking use of Moog’s 960 sequencer module on their Phaedra LP created the template for what became known as the ‘Berlin School’ sound. Characterised by staccato passages with liberal use of tape echo, it’s actually even more popular today than it was in the 1970s. Let’s create a Berlin School sequence using Bazille CM. 2 Once again, we’ll start with the default Init patch. Let’s disconnect the sole patch cable in play and route Osc 1’ s output to the Filter. We’ll also route the Filter’s LP24 output to one of the Out 1 module’s inputs. For now, let’s deactivate the Delay. We’ve now got essentially the same sound we started with, but that’s OK. 3 Let’s reduce the Filter Cutoff to about 87.00 and nudge the Resonance up to 27. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a start. Sequences work best with short, plucky sounds. Let’s turn to Envelope 1, where we’ll set the Decay about halfway, reduce the Sustain to nil, and dial the Release to 26. That didn’t really do a lot, but the release has a bit more fade-out time. 4 Let’s look at Bazille’s Sequencer module. Like the Moog’s 960, Bazille’s sequencer is as much a modulation source as it is a way to trigger notes. Find the second output from the left across the top of the sequencer steps. Drag a cable from this output up to the Osc 1 Tune knob’s mod input. Crank the mod input’s depth knob up full. 5 Note that the first eight steps of the Sequncer run when you play and hold a note from your controller. However, it has no effect on the sound. Let’s set the values of the first eight sliders to 0,3,0, 5, 12, 7, 12, and 5 (Shift-drag for fine-tuning). Play and hold a note. The pitch changes, but the sound fades out. 6 Our envelope isn’t being triggered. We need to do a few things to make that happen. First, set Envelope 1’s Trigger mode to ModSeq2. Now, go to the third output from the left in the Sequencer and drag a cable to, say, a Lag Generator or Inverter. It doesn’t matter where, it just needs an output patched. 7 Notice that the Sequencer is broken up into four sets of four steps. We’ve dedicated the first eight steps to pitch. We’ll dedicate the next four to gating our envelope. Push the ninth and eleventh sliders up full – this will send positive gates from those steps. Values at or below the centre line will send gate off voltages. 8 The four little windows above each sequencer section can be used for choosing beat divisions. We’ll set the first, second, and fourth to 2. Let’s drag a cable from the rightmost output above the steps up to the Filter’s Cutoff, and nudge the associated mod depth knob a bit. Set each of those last four sequencer sliders to different values. 9 Delay is crucial to the Berlin School sound. In the FX:Delay section, increase the Center, Left, and Right Volumes, and set the Delay times to 7.00, 6.00, and 11.00, respectively – as above. That’s sounding very Kosmische! Experiment further as you like. We’ve added some slow LFO modulation to the filter. See if you can figure out our little envelope trick with white noise!