Reader Alastair Wilson shared this example of using a Moog Mother-32 to play a bass line and a melody at the same time.

The Mother-32 is designed to be a normalized modular monosynth. It can be played via MIDI or CV/Gate as a simple synth voice – or its internal patching can be over-ridden to create alternate patches.

In the video, Wilson has patched the Mother-32 to play paraphonically – using the Mother-32’s two oscillators to play two different pitches, but sending those two oscillators through a mono signal path.

Here’s what Wilson has to say about the techical details:

The idea is that the Assign output can send a clock out pulse on each step of the sequence. This pulse can be changed into a constant voltage: make a 1-note sequence, give it 4 ratchets, and turn the tempo up.

Now, whenever the sequence plays, there is a constant voltage output from the Assign output. Attenuate this via the VC Mix knob, and send to the LFO rate.

Tune the LFO to the lower of the 2 notes you want, then press play on the sequencer and tune the higher note via the VC Mix knob. Patch an LFO output to the Ext Audio input and mix it with the VCO.

You now have a Mother 32 which can play a bass line and melody at the same time! Stop and start the sequencer to change the bass note.