Tiny Voice

An absolute monster!

Video manual with lots of demo sounds: https://youtu.be/Y1WCmuwehX0

INTRODUCTION

They say that good things come in small packages. This time a BIG thing comes in a small package. Tiny Voice is a complete synth voice which takes up less than 10% of the screen space of an equivalent patch. Tiny Voice contains 2 VCOs plus a sub octave VCO, 4 flavors of noise, a vibrato LFO, everyone's favorite Syrup filter with all 9 outputs, 2 velocity-sensitive envelope generators, and a VCA. Tiny Voice is capable of producing 90% of the bread-and-butter synthesizer sounds without taking up valuable screen real estate. It also makes a great LFO. Those of you on smaller monitors and laptops are going to love this.

DESCRIPTION OF CONTROLS

Tiny Voice is clearly divided into 4 sections. The blue section on top contains the 2 VCOs. The middle brown section is the Syrup VCF, and the green section is the VCA envelope. Below that are the main I/O jacks. Please notice that the knobs have no panel labels, (which saves a lot of space) -- the labels being on the knobs themselves. Please refer to "The Legend of Tiny Voice" illustration (the 3rd image on this store page) for the locations and definitions of controls. I think one look is all it's going to take because Tiny Voice is very easy to use. Most knobs are continuous controls; for example, the "Fc" cutoff frequency control on the filter, remains "Fc" when rotated. However, 5 knobs are rotary switches: the 2 VCO octave selectors, the 2 VCO waveform selectors, and the VCF response selector. When these are turned, the labels on the knobs change.

VCO SECTION

The first and second columns of knobs include the octave, coarse and fine tuning for VCOs 1 and 2. The coarse control is quantized in semitones which makes tuning a breeze. The third column contains the 2 waveform selectors and the balance knob which controls the relative levels of the 2 oscillators. Available waveforms on both VCOs are: saw, super saw, square, 30% pulse, 15% pulse, 7% pulse, sharktooth, triangle, and sine. Additionally, white and pink noise are selectable on VCO1, and violet and brown noise are selectable on VCO2. Violet noise is brighter than white, and brown noise is darker than pink. VCO1 has a 1-octave down sub-oscillator which is activated by the SUB button. The VIB button enables a pleasing vibrato to both VCOs, and the MUTE button silences the module output and is clickless. The MUTE is very handy to hear their individual contributions when stacking multiple Tiny Voices.

VCF SECTION

Tiny Voice contains a full implementation of the MRB Syrup Filter coupled to an MRB Velocity Envelope with its "Dyn"amics control. If you are unfamiliar with their operation, please see the descriptions on their respective store pages. All 9 Syrup responses are selectable. Should you want to use a different filter or no filter at all, there is a 10th selectable output (labeled "By") which bypasses the filter completely. The "Env" attenuverter controls envelope FM depth. "Trk" controls keyboard tracking from zero to 200%, and there is an external modulation jack with attenuverter labeled "FM".

VCA SECTION

MRB Velocity Envelope contolling a VCA.

I/O SECTION

Not much to say here except that if velocity control is not desired, don't connect anything to the VEL jack.

OPERATION AS AN LFO

You can use Tiny Voice as a dual LFO. Its architecture in this regard resembles the old Moog Sonic Six which featured 2 LFOs with a balance control (a personal favorite of Cynthia Webster). You could produce some very rhythmic, wig-wag sorts of things with it, but Tiny Voice takes it a step further. To experiment, patch the output of one Tiny Voice (the LFO) into the VCO FM input of another (the one you're listening to). On the LFO, turn the octave selectors to LO or 64' and select your waveforms. Turn the VCF response knob fully clockwise to the "By"pass setting, and make sure you have something going into the GATE input to get some signal out (even DC will work for this). Now play with the tuning and "Bal"ance controls to get that compound effect. You can even use the VCA ADSR controls to get delay vibrato or quickly decaying LFO "spits" which are great for brass sounds.

CPU SAVING FEATURES

When the VCO "Bal"ance control is turned to either extreme, the VCO that is not heard is disabled. The same goes for the SUB and VIB oscillators. Similarly, when the VCF is "By"passed, the Syrup code is not executed.

REMARKS

I hope you have a lot of fun with Tiny Voice, and don't forget to download the free presets from the store. When you see what you can do with just one Tiny Voice, just imagine what you will be able to do with two (or more? -- yikes!).