TONAL DROP THURSDAYS: Soma Labs Pulsar-23 Patch - "Grid Decay"
Welcome to the first-ever Tonal Drop Thursdays!
Every week, we'll be giving you a free, custom-designed patch for a specific piece of gear—complete with the blueprint and instructions you need to build it. Our goal is to give you a foundational sound you can use as-is or expand upon.
This week, we are plunging deep into the Soma Labs Pulsar-23 with a patch we call "Grid Decay." This patch uses a complex web of self-patching to create a dark, pulsating, and self-writing industrial groove. The rhythm of the Bass Drum actually defines the random melody of the Bass voice. Get ready for some complex, generative chaos!
Patch: Shared Clock Trigger and Timbre Modulation ("Grid Decay" - The Generative Bassline)
This patch uses a complex clock division scheme to trigger the BD (Bass Drum) and SD (Snare Drum), while the BD'senvelope is used to clock the SHAOS generator. SHAOS then defines the random melodic sequence of the BASS voice. A random trigger from SHAOS also fires the HH (Hi-Hat).
| Step | Pin Source | ➡ | Pin Destination | Purpose |
| 1 | CLK 1/4 OUT | ➡ | BD TRIG IN | Triggers the Bass Drum (BD) at a quarter-note division of the main clock. |
| 2 | BD TRIG OUT | ➡ | SHAOS CLK | The BD rhythm defines the SHAOS clock timing, creating dynamic randomness. |
| 3 | SHAOS OUT 1 | ➡ | ATT 1 IN | Sends random CV to an Attenuator to scale the pitch range. |
| 4 | ATT 1 OUT | ➡ | BASS PITCH IN | Applies scaled random voltage to control BASS pitch. |
| 5 | CLK 1/8 OUT | ➡ | SD TRIG IN | Triggers the Snare Drum (SD) at an eighth-note division. |
| 6 | SHAOS OUT 2 | ➡ | HH TRIG IN | Uses a random SHAOS output to trigger the Hi-Hat for unpredictable fills. |
| 7 | BD ENV OUT | ➡ | BASS TRIG IN | Uses the BD duration/gate to trigger the BASS voice, linking their timings. |
Execution Process:
-
Set the BASS TUNE knob to a mid-range pitch and turn the BASS DECAY high.
-
Connect CLK 1/4 OUT to BD TRIG IN (Step 1).
-
Connect BD TRIG OUT to SHAOS CLK (Step 2).
-
Connect SHAOS OUT 1 through ATT 1 to BASS PITCH IN (Steps 3, 4).
-
Connect CLK 1/8 OUT to SD TRIG IN (Step 5).
-
Connect SHAOS OUT 2 to HH TRIG IN (Step 6).
-
Connect BD ENV OUT to BASS TRIG IN (Step 7). The BD rhythm now defines the SHAOS rate, which generates a random bass melody, while the SD and HH are clocked/triggered to fill out the rhythm.
Your Turn: Tweak and Share!
The core of "Grid Decay" is built on the Pulsar-23, but the sound you hear in our audio sample was taken a step further in the mix.
For our demonstration, we ran the output of the Pulsar-23 through Output's Thermal plugin for gritty distortion and dynamic modulation, followed by the spacious echoes of Valhalla Delay to give it that wide, industrial atmosphere.
We strongly encourage you to get creative and experiment with your own favorite effects! Try different distortion units, granular processors, or modulation plugins to see what unique soundscapes you can create. This is where the patch truly becomes yours.
When you've perfected your sound, share a video or clip on social media. Remember to tag @sonalsystem and use the hashtag #GridDecay so we can check out and repost your work!
