DroneCore
Two-voice detuned oscillator core, and the base voice of the Amplified Futures stack. A pair of sine-to-harmonic oscillators run symmetrically detuned around a shared pitch centre, so a single DETUNE knob widens or narrows the beating between them. At 8 HP it is the cheapest way to add mass to a patch — stack several, or run one polyphonically from Harmonic Pressure.
- Add DroneCore. Patch OUT to your audio interface.
- It sounds immediately — PITCH defaults to 220 Hz, a pure sine.
- Turn TIMBRE up. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th harmonics fade in; the tone hardens into a third-bridge stack.
- Turn DETUNE to about 30¢. The two voices separate and begin to beat.
- Push DETUNE past 80¢ for interference rather than warmth.
V/OCT IN ──► [pitch + detune] ──► Voice A (+detune/2) ──►┐
Voice B (−detune/2) ──►┤ mix ──► OUT
│
[TIMBRE] blends 2nd/3rd/4th harmonics
V/OCT IN ────────────────────────────────────────────► V/OCT THRU
| Control | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| PITCH | 82–1319 Hz | 220 Hz | Base frequency, roughly A2–E6 |
| DETUNE | 0–100¢ | 12¢ | Symmetric split — each voice moves ±DETUNE/2 |
| TIMBRE | 0–1 | 0 | 0 is a pure sine; 1 adds the 2nd, 3rd and 4th harmonics |
Every knob has an attenuverter (−1 to +1) and a CV input (±5 V bipolar, scaled by the attenuverter).
| Port | Direction | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| V/OCT IN | Input | Polyphonic pitch input; sets the channel count |
| MOD | Input | CV for PITCH, via its attenuverter |
| CV ×2 | Input | CV for DETUNE and TIMBRE |
| OUT | Output | Mixed dual-voice audio, polyphonic |
| V/OCT THRU | Output | Pass-through at the same channel count |
Orchestral spread. Four DroneCores in unison at DETUNE 6¢, 12¢, 18¢ and 24¢, summed through Choke. Warmth and width without reaching for DroneClone.
Breathing harmonics. Drift SMOOTH output into TIMBRE CV, attenuverter at +0.4, Drift RATE around 0.2 Hz. The harmonic stack fades in and out over roughly ten-second cycles.
Polyphonic chord stack. Harmonic-Pressure V/OCT OUT (COUNT 8, MODE JUST) into V/OCT IN. Each channel gets its own detuned pair — sixteen oscillators from one 8 HP module.
Interference bed. One DroneCore at DETUNE 95¢, TIMBRE 0, into Feedback-Governor at DECAY 0.6. The beating feeds itself and never quite settles.
| Module | Routing |
|---|---|
| DroneClone | DroneCore an octave below as sub-fundamental |
| Choke | Per-voice gain and muting across a DroneCore stack |
| Drift | SMOOTH → TIMBRE CV for slow harmonic wander |
| Harmonic-Pressure | V/OCT OUT → V/OCT IN for microtonal partial stacks |
DroneClone · String-Mass-Core · Drift · Harmonic-Pressure · Music-Theory
Full parameter spec: docs/modules/DroneCore.md