Modal Electronics ARGON8X User manual

QUICK START
GUIDE
Modal Argon8X is an 8 voice polyphonic wavetable synthesiser. It features 120 crafted
wavetables split into 24 banks of 5 morphable waveform sets, 32 oscillators in total (4
per voice) and a huge range of wavetable and oscillator modifiers.
Beyond the oscillators there is a multi-mode filter, 3 envelope generators, 2 audio-rate
LFOs, 3 powerful independent and user configurable stereo FX engines, a real-time
sequencer, a programmable arpeggiator and an extensive modulation matrix.
Shift functions - parameters in light blue can be accessed by entering ‘Shift’ mode using
the button to the right of the screen with a light blue ring. Shift can be momentary by
holding the button and changing a parameter or latched by pressing the shift button.
Alt functions - parameters in light grey can be accessed by holding the button with the
light grey ring in the same section (Velo or Arp). ‘Alt’ mode is always momentary and
you will exit ‘Alt’ mode on release of the button.
Connections
Headphones - 1/4” stereo jack socket
Right - Audio Out for right stereo channel. 1/4” unbalance TS jack socket
Left/Mono - Audio Out for left stereo channel. If there is no cable plugged into Right
socket then summed to Mono. 1/4” unbalance TS jack socket
Expression - user configurable pedal input, 1/4” TRS jack socket
Sustain - works with any standard, open momentary foot switch, 1/4” TS jack socket
Audio In - stereo audio input, to process your audio source with Argon FX engines,
3.5mm TRS jack socket
Sync In - analogue clock in. 3.3v, rising edge, 1 pulse per 16th note signal, 3.5mm TS
jack socket
Sync Out - analogue clock out, same configuration as clock in, 3.5mm TS jack socket
MIDI Out - used to control other MIDI hardware, 5-pin DIN MIDI socket
MIDI In - used to be controlled from other MIDI hardware, 5-pin DIN MIDI socket
USB MIDI - MIDI in/out to a USB MIDI host, connect Argon8 to a laptop/tablet/mobile
device for the optional software editor, ModalApp, full size USB-B socket
Power - 9.0V, 1.5A, centre-positive barrel power supply
Screen Navigation
The two switched-encoders either side of the
screen are used for screen navigation and control:
Page/Param - When this encoder is in ‘Page’
mode it cycles through the parameter pages (e.g.
Osc1, Osc2, Filter); when it’s in ‘Param’ mode it
cycles through the parameters on that page. Use
the switch to toggle between the two modes, the
mode is displayed on the screen with a line at top
for ‘Page’ mode and at the bottom for ‘Param’
mode.
Preset/Edit/Bank - This encoder/switch is used
to adjust the value or ‘trigger’ the currently
displayed parameter. When on the ‘Load Patch’
parameter when the panel is in ‘Shift’ mode this
encoder is used to select the patch bank number.
Presets
Patch/Seq - this button is primarily used to switch
the screen to either the ‘Load Patch’ or ‘Load
Seq’ param for loading patches or sequences,
however this button also puts the panel into
either ‘Patch’ mode or ‘Seq’ mode. This changes
the ‘Save’ and ‘Init’ buttons to either effect
Patch preset management in ‘Patch’ mode or
Sequencer preset management in ‘Seq’ mode.
‘Init / Rand’ - this button/function only responds
on a button hold.
Argon8X can have a large dynamic range so
there is a Patch Gain control that can be used to
equalise patch volumes. Hold the ‘Patch’ button
and turn the ‘Volume’ encoder to control the
‘Patch Gain’ parameter.

Preset Saving
Press the ’Save’ button to enter the ‘full’ save procedure
or hold the ‘Save’ button to perform a ‘quick’ save
(saving preset into current slot with current name).
Once you are in the ‘full’ save procedure, presets are
saved in the following way:
Slot selection - Use the ‘Edit’ encoder to select the preset
bank/number to save into, and press the ‘Edit’ switch to
select it
Naming - Use the ‘Page/Param’ encoder to select the
character position and use the ‘Edit’ encoder to select
the character. Press the ‘Edit’ switch to finish editing the
name.
There are a number of panel shortcuts here:
Press ‘Oct-‘ to jump to lowercase characters
Press ‘Oct+’ to jump to uppercase characters
Press ‘Transpose’ to jump to numbers
Press ‘Chord’ to jump to symbols
Press the ‘Page/Param’ switch to add a space (increment
all above characters)
Press ‘Init’ to delete the current character (decrement all
above characters)
Hold ‘Init’ to delete the entire name
Press the ‘Edit’ switch to confirm the settings and save
the preset.
At any point during the procedure hold the ‘Page/Param’
switch to move back a step.
To exit/quit the procedure without saving the preset,
press the ‘Patch/Seq’ button.
LFO
Turn the ‘Rate’ encoders into the negative range to
access synced rates
Quick Recalls
Argon8X has 8 Quick Recall slots for quickly loading
patches. Quick Recalls are controlled using the following
button combos:
Hold ‘Patch’ + hold one of the eight buttons on bottom
left of the panel to assign the currently loaded patch to
a QR slot
Hold ‘Patch’ + press one of the eight buttons on bottom
left of the panel to load the patch in the QR slot
Oscillators
Hold the ‘Patch’ button and turn the ‘Wave1’ or ’Wave2’
encoder to control the WavMod parameters
Filter
Hold the ‘Patch’ button and turn the ‘Cutoff’ encoder to
control the Filter Type parameter
Envelopes
Hold any of the EG buttons for one second and
then turn the ADSR encoders to adjust all envelopes
simultaneously
Press the MEG button when MEG is already selected to
latch MEG assign
Sequencer
Hold the ‘Mute’ button to clear the sequencer notes
Hold the Anim1 / Anim2 / Anim3 / Anim4 buttons to
clear an animation lane
When the screen is displaying the ‘Linked Sequence’
parameter, hold the ‘Edit’ switch to set the value to be
the currently loaded sequence.
Arp
Hold the ‘Arp’ button and press keys on the internal or
an external keyboard to add pattern notes or press the
‘Rest’ button to add a rest to the pattern
Hold the ‘Patch’ button and turn the ‘Division’ encoder
to control Arp Gate
Global Settings
When the screen is displaying the ‘Reset’ option, hold
the ‘Edit’ switch to trigger the ‘Reset’ function.
Keyboard/Voice
Press ‘Unison’ repeatedly to cycle through the different
unison modes; press ‘Stack’ repeatedly to cycle through
the different stack modes
Press ‘Chord’ whilst holding a chord on the internal or
an external keyboard to set the chord mode chord.
Hold ‘Transpose’ and press a key on the internal
keyboard to transpose all notes, where the central C
key is the root note. Press ’Transpose’ with no keyboard
interaction to reset the transpose value back to 0.
Modulation
To assign a Mod Slot either hold (momentary) or latch
the desired Mod source button - then set a depth by
turning desired modulation destination parameter
When latched in a Mod Source assign mode pressing the
flashing Mod Source button again will exit assign mode
Mod source button + ‘Depth’ encoder - set global depth
for that mod source
Press ModSlot repeatedly to cycle through and view all
mod slot settings on the screen
When the screen is displaying a mod slot ‘Depth’
parameter (most easily accessed via assigning
modulation using the panel or via the ModSlot button),
hold the ‘Edit’ switch to clear the mod slot assignment.
To assign a mod source to an osc’s global frequency
destination, use either of the fine tune controls. ‘Tune1’
will assign to Osc1 tune, ‘Tune2’ will assign to Osc2
tune.
FX
Press FX1 / FX2 / FX3 button repeatedly to change the
FX type of the slot
Hold FX1 / FX2 / FX3 button to reset the FX type of the
slot to ‘None’
Turn the ‘B’ encoder into the negative range for the slot
with a Delay FX assigned to access synced delay times
Press FX1 + FX2 + FX3 to jump to the ‘FX Preset Load’
parameter
UI
GUIDE