Macro Performance Pluck

Sounds like: A pluck that goes from a muted thump to a long, bright ring with one knob.

Sound type: pluck · Genre: UK Garage, Lo-Fi Hip Hop, Ambient · Style: expressive single-knob pluck articulation

A plucked tone whose brightness and decay length are tied to one live control, so a single knob motion takes the same pluck from a muted, dark thump to a bright, long-ringing note — an expressive articulation control rather than a static preset.

Open this patch in the interactive Patchpad

Digitone II

Approximation: No macro: p-locks across a pattern

SYN page 1

• ALGO: 1
• RATIO C: 1.00
• MIX: -64

SYN page 2 · Operators A & B

• LEV (A): 0
• LEV (B): 0

FLTR page 1 · Multi-mode

• FREQ: 50
• RESO: 35
• TYPE: 0 (LP)
• ENV: 40
• ATK: 0
• DEC: 30
• SUS: 0

AMP page

• ATK: 0
• DEC: 35
• SUS: 0
• REL: 25
• MODE: ADSR

No live macro knob. The honest equivalent is p-locking FLTR FREQ and AMP DEC together across a pattern's steps — around FREQ 30/DEC 20 for muted, dark hits, up to FREQ 90/DEC 70 for bright, longer-ringing hits — to fake the single-gesture morph a real macro would give live. This has to be programmed per-step in advance, not played in real time. ALGO 1 routes operator A (and B) into carrier C, so LEV (A) and LEV (B) are set to 0 on SYN page 2 and MIX is -64 (the X output, C only): that leaves C a plain, unmodulated carrier.

Syntakt

Approximation: No macro: p-locks across a pattern

SYN — SY RAW

• WAV1: Triangle
• TUNE: 64

FLTR PAGE 1

• FREQ: 50
• RESO: 35
• TYPE: Lowpass
• ENV: 40
• ATK: 0
• DEC: 30
• SUS: 0

AMP PAGE 1

• ATK: 0
• DEC: 35
• SUS: 0
• REL: 25

Compared with other synths: Same p-lock approximation as Digitone II — no live knob exists here either, so the morph has to be programmed into the pattern rather than performed.

Novation Summit

Exact match: Mod Wheel drives filter and decays via the Mod Matrix

OSCILLATOR 1

• WAVE: Triangle
• RANGE: 8'

FILTER

• SHAPE: LP
• FREQUENCY: 50
• RESONANCE: 35
• SOURCE: Mod Env 1
• ENV DEPTH: 40

MOD ENVELOPE 1

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 30
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 20

AMP ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 35
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 25

MODULATION MATRIX

• Slot 1 sA: ModWheel
• Slot 1 Destin: FiltFreq
• Slot 1 Depth: +40
• Slot 2 sA: ModWheel
• Slot 2 Destin: ModEnv1D
• Slot 2 Depth: +25
• Slot 3 sA: ModWheel
• Slot 3 Destin: AmpEnv D
• Slot 3 Depth: +25

Live control: the Mod Wheel brightens the filter and lengthens the Mod Env 1 and Amp decays together through three Mod Matrix slots.

Arturia MiniFreak

Exact match: M1 macro drives cutoff and decay

OSCILLATOR · Osc 1

• TYPE: BasicWaves
• WAVE (Morph): 30 (between square and sawtooth)
• TIMBRE (Sym: pulse width): 50
• SHAPE (Sub): 0
• VOLUME: 100

ANALOG FILTER

• TYPE: Low Pass
• CUTOFF: 50
• RESONANCE: 35
• ENV/VELO: 40

ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 30
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 20

Macros

• M1: Analog Filter Cutoff (+50), Envelope Decay (+30) together: one macro, two destination slots

Osc 1 is BasicWaves with Morph at 30 (between square and sawtooth): the Morph knob runs from a square (0) through a sawtooth (50) to a double sawtooth an octave up (100), Sym only changes the pulse width below 50, and Sub adds a sine an octave down (0 here). Macros: M1: Analog Filter Cutoff (+50), Envelope Decay (+30) together: one macro, two destination slots. Values are on MiniFreak's native 0-100 scale.

Dreadbox Typhon

Exact match: Mod wheel drives several targets

FRONT PANEL

• WAVE: ~10 o'clock (VCO1 triangle, VCO2 off)
• CUTOFF: ~11 o'clock (~50%)
• RESON: ~1 o'clock (~35%)
• EG LEVEL: ~12 o'clock (~40%)
• AMP TIME: ~1 o'clock

FILTER ADSR

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 30
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 20

AMP ADSR

• ATTACK: 0
• DECAY: 35
• SUSTAIN: 0
• RELEASE: 25

MENU · Mod wheel

• Target 1: CUT: +40
• Target 2: AET (amp EG time): +25

Typhon has no macro system, but its Menu > Mod wheel lets one control (the mod wheel) drive several targets, each with its own amount, so one gesture moves them together: CUT +40, AET (amp EG time) +25.

ASM Hydrasynth Desktop

Exact match: One macro sweeps filter and decay

OSCILLATOR 1

• MODE: Single
• WAVE: Triangle

FILTER 1

• TYPE: LP Ldr12
• CUTOFF: 50.0
• RESONANCE: 35.0
• ENV 1 AMOUNT: 40

AMP

• AMP LEVEL: 100.0

ENVELOPE 1

• ATTACK: 0 ms
• DECAY: 150 ms
• SUSTAIN: 0.0
• RELEASE: 100 ms

ENVELOPE 2

• ATTACK: 0 ms
• DECAY: 180 ms
• SUSTAIN: 0.0
• RELEASE: 120 ms

Macros

• Macro 1: Filter 1 Cutoff + Envelope 1 Decay + Envelope 2 Decay together — assign all three destinations to Macro 1 in MACRO ASSIGN

A genuine multi-destination Macro (assigned in MACRO ASSIGN, up to 8 destinations) -- one knob brightens the filter and lengthens both the filter and amp decay together.

How the synths compare

Novation Summit and ASM Hydrasynth Desktop can genuinely assign one macro to multiple destinations, making this concept fully literal. Arturia MiniFreak has real macros but only as two separate single-destination controls. Dreadbox Typhon has no macro system but its always-visible physical knobs give a rough two-handed equivalent. Digitone II and Syntakt have neither a macro system nor an always-visible relevant knob, so both fall back to a pattern-programmed p-lock approximation rather than anything performable live.

Patchpad is a free reference of drum patterns and synth patches written for real hardware: Digitakt II, Digitone II, Syntakt, Novation Summit, Arturia MiniFreak, Dreadbox Typhon and ASM Hydrasynth Desktop.