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Ring-Mod Bell Lead

Sounds like: A clangorous, gong-like bell lead with an inharmonic ring.

Sound type: lead · Genre: Experimental, IDM, Ambient · Style: classic ring-modulation bell/gong sound design

A clangorous, inharmonic bell-like lead built from true ring modulation where the hardware has it — two oscillators multiplied together to generate sum-and-difference sidebands that don't sit on the natural harmonic series, giving a metallic, bell/gong character a filtered-oscillator patch can't reach.

Open this patch in the interactive Patchpad

Digitone II

Exact match: WAVETONE MOD = RING MOD

SYN page 1 · WAVETONE

SYN page 2 · WAVETONE

FLTR page 1 · Multi-mode

AMP page

Digitone II's WAVETONE machine has a real ring modulator — page 2's MOD set to RING MOD makes Oscillator 2 ring-modulate Oscillator 1, and per the manual you normally turn LEV2 to 0 so only the ring-modulated result is heard. TUN1 then tunes the sound and TUN2 changes it: a +1755-cent (2.76:1) offset puts the sum-and-difference sidebands on an inharmonic spacing, giving the clangorous bell/gong character. (FM TONE has no ring modulator; WAVETONE is selected with FUNC+SYN.) Cents values are starting points to adjust by ear.

Syntakt

Exact match: SY RAW WAV2 = Ring modulator

SYN — SY RAW

FLTR PAGE 1

AMP PAGE 1

AMP PAGE 2

Real, literal ring modulation — WAV2 set to Ring modulator makes Oscillator 2 ring-modulate Oscillator 1 via an internal square wave. LEV2 controls how much of that ring-modulated signal is mixed in (the manual notes it applies even at LEV2=0, but it's raised here to 90 to make it the dominant, defining character of the patch).

Novation Summit

Exact match: Mixer Ring Mod knob

OSCILLATOR 1

OSCILLATOR 2

MIXER

FILTER

AMP ENVELOPE

MODULATION MATRIX

A real hardware ring modulator between Osc 1 and Osc 2 via the Mixer's own dedicated Ring Mod level knob — pushing it near 100 while keeping both oscillators moderate lets the ring-mod sidebands and some plain oscillator fundamental through together, rather than the sidebands alone. Live control: ride the panel Ring 1*2 knob by hand; the Mod Wheel reshapes the sideband spacing through Osc 2 pitch (Mod Matrix slot 1).

Arturia MiniFreak

Exact match: Osc 2 FM/RM engine RingMod

OSCILLATOR · Osc 1

OSCILLATOR · Osc 2

ANALOG FILTER

ENVELOPE

Osc 1 is BasicWaves with Morph at 50 (pure 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). Osc 2 is the FM/RM engine (Osc 2 only): Osc 1 modulates it; Wave is Osc 2's waveform, Timbre the FM amount and Shape the ring-mod amount. For ring modulation set RingMod high and FreqMod to 0. Values are on MiniFreak's native 0-100 scale.

Dreadbox Typhon

Approximation: No ring mod: VCO cross-FM instead

FRONT PANEL

FILTER ADSR

AMP ADSR

Typhon has no literal ring modulator. The WAVE knob's own labeled 'VCO1 square FM'd by VCO2 triangle' position — the same real mechanism used elsewhere in this library for Typhon cross-modulation patches — is the closest genuine analog: a different underlying math from true multiplication, but a similarly clangorous ear result.

ASM Hydrasynth Desktop

Exact match: Mixer RING VOL

OSCILLATOR 1

OSCILLATOR 2

MIXER

FILTER 1

AMP

ENVELOPE 2

Real, literal ring modulation via the Mixer's dedicated RING VOL level between Osc 1 and Osc 2. SEMI 7 on Osc 2 (a fifth) keeps the resulting sidebands inharmonic rather than collapsing toward an octave-doubled unison, which would sound far less bell-like.

How the synths compare

Ring modulation is literal on Digitone II (WAVETONE MOD RING MOD), Syntakt (SY RAW's Ring modulator waveform), Novation Summit (a dedicated Mixer Ring Mod level knob), Arturia MiniFreak (Osc 2's FM/RM engine type), and ASM Hydrasynth Desktop (Mixer RING VOL). Dreadbox Typhon has no ring modulator, so it substitutes its documented VCO cross-FM position, a real mechanism but distinct from true ring modulation.

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.