I bought a DPO partially because of this video. I've had other complex oscillators, and made a complex oscillator unit for the ER-301, but there's really something special about the DPO.
Picked up my DPO today. Pretty much the best sounding dual vco out there, and I have heard played a bunch in person (sputnik/shapeshifter/verbos/cwejman). Maybe personal taste, but to me, this thing CAN'T make a bad sound. Thanks a ton for the video, I don't think I need to read the manual after that!
I'm just now starting a modular rig for the first time and the DPO is the sound source I went with. Thanks so much for going over so many of the hidden/less obvious ways it can be utilized.
Great video. I heard its not a good idea to have two of the same complex oscillators. I considered having two DPO’s or two Verbos Complex.... Some people have mentioned that its good to mix it up while others say: if you love one, another would be great. Any advice?
that waveshaping made me shudder.. that's never happened before. holy damn i've never heard a better sounding VCO. guess i better save my monies. btw that patch you did for the oscillators modular podcast has an incredibly beautiful sound as well. guess i'm sold.
I only recently picked up a DPO, was really impressed with what you could do with it without even including a filter, but this video opened up a whole new angle on this thing. Thanks!
James, this is a wonderful explanation of one of the most powerful oscillator modules in Eurorack format. Few of us have had a proper hands on with the Buchla 259 and the DPO is certainly a more accessible variant. The sound produced using the modulation and wave folded sounds unique to the 259 and now the DPO are so unique and you reveal the whole concept so nicely in this video, your audience here collectively owes you for that! I think I've watched this video six or seven times, very inspiring. I know these videos are a chore to produce, but please keep 'em coming. ->Carlos
at 6:00, u said u turned up the linear FM on VCOA, when u were actually turning the exponential FM knob, then said VCOA was linear FMing VCOB, which is true because the VCOB linear FM knob was up, but wouldn't that also be FMing VCOA by VCOB? Is there a reason u did this or is it just an accident
Haha, yeah, an accident. I had originally intended to turn up the linear FM knob and just turned the wrong one. I didn't realize I had done that until after I had uploaded it. The main point I wanted to show in that section was the ability for the two VCOs to x-mod each other, not necessarily having one be expo and one be linear (although that is a particularly interesting area to explore) so I decided it wasn't worth going back and re-shooting. Good catch though, you're the first to notice (or at least mention it), haha!
Very helpful video as I’m needing a dual/complex oscillator and this one has been in my sights. The Sputnik Dual Oscillator would be killer as well if I could find one.
Ok im just starting out and looking for an MSTRKRT kind of heavy techelectro sound, do you think this would be a good investment or something that a begginer should avoid? I am on a budget but would rather build a slow and really really nice build than just buy cheap to get lots crammed in! Help what osc would you buy? Tonestar any good? lol help pls!
I don't have any direct experience with the Tonestar, but for a large part, VCOs are VCOs. Sure they can have some subtle tonal differences, but generally saws, sines, etc sound more similar than they do different. I personally think the DPO is a good investment even for a beginner, particularly because you can easily explore sounds that would require more advanced patching with individual modules. It honestly don't have that steep of learning curve either. When starting out it's mainly about restraint and not "turning up all the knobs!".
touched everything except for the "X-Lock", what does it do exactly? i know it locks VCOB to an external signal but what is the use for this locking please?
Lock is another way of saying "Sync" or in this case, "Hard Sync". So it will give you the typical "oscillator sync" sound if you patch a square wave source (or even a downward saw) to the X-Lock input, and VCO B will hard sync to that.
yeah you can, it's a wavefolder, it sounds like a really crazy distortion, sort of like hitting a giant atonal sheet of metal with a huge stick. not particularly useful in a melodic context but it's cool
Usually just once after they warm up for 5min. As good if not better than my guitar does. Analog VCOs can be sensitive to temperature fluctuations - if the room is hot and the AC keeps kicking on, but still having to retune every 15min doesn’t seem right.
Ok. Thanks for your feedback. My room temp is stable but still after half an hour the DPO sometimes changed notes during a gate/pitch combination ... so I returned it and hope that the new unit is more stable ... support said that fluctuations are normal but I guess not so strong that they change notes.
Very strange - have you tried the same patch / pitch control with another oscillator, just to make sure it's not a connection or the pitch CV source doing something weird?
I do, usually with a setup that's pretty similar to a shared system, but with double optomix, a filter (MMG or TwinPeak), Tempi, and a couple other things in place of the Echophone+ErbVerb... I usually use pedal delay+verb. I recently released a trilogy of albums of improvisations recorded in the studio - very similar to what I would perform live. jimdrones.bandcamp.com
Very interesting oscillator compared to most. Especially compared with non modular synths. Modules like this are inspiring me to get into modular...and of course yours and divkids videos. Are there any other complex oscillators in the same league as this? What do you think of zero through Vs linear and exponential?
By now there are quite a few competitors. Furthrrrr generator, CšL, Verbos Complex oscillator, mindphaser, Oberhausen, a few others. Then there is a whole range of analog oscillators that aim at "complex" but aren't dual oscillators, eg the T-Zed or the lowly Captn Big'O
look closely at the knobs on the vulcan modular to the right of the screen and they look like Black Panther Power To The People closed fists....look..👊🏽
Excellent explanation and demo but it kinda seems like the Rube Goldberg Oscillator. Must take a very long time to get it all down. I think you talked me out of it.
Overrated company Make Noise, I sold all their modules, useless. But this DPO VCO is wide and sounds worse than my own VCO with a smaller width of 12TE. :-)
