1.1.2 Firmware is out now!
“…features improvements to the sync engine that keeps the internal arp/sequencer, analog clock, and MIDI all tightly locked in phase; adaptive tempo filtering; an increase in maximum clock output to over 500Hz; and many other firmware enhancements and bug fixes for the instrument based on your feedback.”
I went to the website to read the release notes, and it is now up to 1.1.3! The hits just keep coming.
Anybody using one of these MidiVolts Desktops with their Grandmother? Can’t say I understand what it does but turning a mono synth into a four-note poly/paraphony is pretty cool. Unfortunately it seems these are (currently) sold out.
It looks similar in functionality to this:
Which I bought to create a poly Moog out of Werkstatts (not remotely happened though…)
Yeah that looks similar. I don’t have either (nor do I have a GM) but adding something like this to a Grandmother would kinda make it a Matriarch (which I do have) on a budget. I’ve seen GMs for around 650€ here in Finland so adding a MidiVolts would still keep it around half the price of a Matriarch. Certainly food for thought for people who don’t want to shell out 2k for a Matriarch mostly for the 4-note paraphony.
I’ve looked into it because a 3 voice paraphonic GM sounds great… but I think it doesn’t work as I would’ve liked:
Because the gm only has 1 amp env trigger input, you can only play paraphonicly by setting it to drone mode (which keeps the amp open), or by only playing 3 note chords, because only 1 of the 3 notes will trigger the amp. So no ‘true’ paraphony if I understand correctly 
Ps: i understand the difference between poly- and paraphony, I’m not talking about only having a single amp env for 3 voices, I’m talking about 2 of the voices not triggering the amp env at all.
Like I said, haven’t tried one of those myself. Whatever the settings they’re using, the sounds in the second video I posted are extremely nice, IMO. Reminds me I should use drone mode more often on the Matriarch.
Hey there Grandmother enthusiast and curious,
I just made an acid tutorial with this lovely synthesizer, going online this evening at 19:00 UTC+1, if anyone want to tune in to the chatroom to ask any qustions, feel free to do so.
hi,
I can’t get firmware 1.1.3 to work. It gets stuck with the blinking yellow light and no reboot.
I had to downgrade to 1.1.1 to resurrect the GM
I tried on Mac and pc…
Anybody else?
I got a Digitone earlier this year and wasn’t planning on buying any new gear, but then I was faced with a strange dilemma: pay extra taxes or buy a synth. I mean, I’m very happy to pay taxes, but…
The Grandmother sounds absolutely beautiful and I’m really looking forward to having it next to my DFAMs and Subharmonicon in a few days. But my question is, does the Grandmother have a dark side? What kind of experimental/feedback/noise patches can you create with it?
Very dark side, it slept with my ex.
Hi,
Exact same problem here.
Did you find a way to upgrade to 1.1.3 ?
I’m resurrecting this thread to ask a simple question (well, maybe a couple of not so simple questions):
Does anyone own the GM and the Koma Field Kits? And if so, any patching ideas? Also, how does GM work with Ableton CV Tools? Pretty well? Not so much? I really want to incorporate all this CV I have access to but don’t know quite where to start as far as utilizing the GM. I’m just gonna dive in but hopefully someone will chime in. I know I can somehow incorporate this extra lfo from Field Kit and GM will sound cool going through the FKFX but that’s the extent of it so far.
I own both the GM and the field kits, but I haven’t come around to trying them together? Reading your question, made me wanna try to put the reverb out from the GM, into the frequency shifter from fkfx, and use it’s little 4 step sequencer to control the pitch. Have no idea how it would sound, but might be interesting?
I just tried this myself, and it’s actually pretty cool. I needed to run the output of the frequency shifter through the Field Kit mixer, and crank the gain. It gives some eerie and metallic sounds, bordering on feedback, when I run the output back into the osc 2 input on the GM.
Yes! I got brave and just started trying stuff. S/H out of GM to cv interface of FKFX to Frequency Shifter amount. Pretty fun stuff. Also created an External Audio Effect in Ableton using the Field Kits and an External Instrument for GM. I think there is a lot of potential here for patching them together so if you come up with anything, report back.
I will - and please do the same. Thanks for pointing me in this direction. I think there is a lot of interesting things to be tried.
Any Elektronauts who own a GM please tell me how to get the opening sound in Tom Sawyer…I know it’s a filter sweep kind of thing but point me in the right direction.
Howdy E-nauts,
I recently got a grandmother and I’m having such a blast with it…it’s my therapy, for real. I have run into a couple of minor technical issues which I would like some help trouble shooting (especially syncing with my beloved digitakt!)
1.) I haven’t been successful in syncing the grandmother to my digitakts clock yet. I turned on the “Follow MIDI clock/MIDI start/stop commands” function in the global settings on my Grandmother, and I have all my midi settings correct in my digitakt (I successfully sync with my Korg minilogue all the time)…this doesn’t seem to sync the grandmother to the digitakts clock, though. The MIDI indicator LED light on the back of the grandmother does not light up when I try to slave it to the digitakt, and the only thing that happens when I connect my midi cable to these two synths is the arp/sequencer light that indicates rate/speed/tempo on tbe grandmother turns from red to green (but it’s not synced with DT clock…any other things I can try?
2.). How often are y’all grandmother owners calibrating this synth? I’m having trouble playing having the two oscillators play in tune with eachother, especially when I try to play the super bassy 32’ octave on oscillator 1. All the other octave settings seem to behave (especially after calibrating) but the two oscillators beat too wildly when I have oscillator 1 set to 32’ and I can’t really get the tuning right (even when the hard sync is pressed). Any tuning or calibration tips and or experiences and body else can share (I def give the synth a decent amount of warmup time—and sometimes the tracking drifts after I’ve been playing the synth for several hours.)
Extra credit.) Anybody have any tips for routing a guitar or other instrument through the grandmother. Ive obviously achieved some reverb, a tremolo effect via the LFO, and also a timed-wah effect using the resonance. How can a vibrato or phaser effect be achieved?
Thanks in advance…cheers!
Hey there ! That’s a great therapy tool for sure, I almost consider mine as a family member, or a pet hahaha.
So to answer your questions:
-Use a device that outputs exactly 0v at the lowest octave (in the workshop, we use a keystep at it’s lowest possible note)
-find the V/oct trim behind the faceplate - plug in the device to the V/oct input.
-with a digital tuner plugged into a sine or triangle wave, go up an two or three octaves on the keyboard and adjust the trim.
-adjust the range of the oscillators frequency then trim again.
once its in the pocket for about 5 octaves, it should be good to go!
Then finaly if you want to patch about the patch with external instruments:
-Vibrato can’t be done as it is an play on the pitch of the input signal, there is no way the Grandmother will do that.
