Q. How do I get a synthy sound?
A. First, you’ll need to feed the
Xerograph a signal with plenty of
harmonics to carve out. Guitars
and basses are lacking in the rich
harmonics of sawtooth or square
wave sounds common in subtrac-
tive synthesis sounds. A fuzz pedal
is a popular choice to generate
these harmonics.
Second, crank up the Resonance
knob, to about 2 o’clock. Set the
expression pedal to the heel
position, and use the Frequency
knob to select the lowest
frequency of the sweep. Next, set
the expression pedal to the toe
down position, and use the knob
built into the expression pedal to
set the highest frequency of the
sweep. Set the pole switch to the
4-pole position.
Q. How about a dub sound?
A. Set the pole switch to 4-pole, then
turn the Frequency knob down while
playing the lowest note on your instru-
ment. Stop when all the harmonics of
your instrument have been filtered out,
and you’re left with only the fundamen-
tals. Turn the resonance up a bit. Cau-
tion is needed here, because the Xero-
graph is capable of putting out ridiculous
amounts of very low frequencies.
