Sandy Hi-Hat
A gritty and sandy hi-hat patch.
Tune VCO-A to A8.
Tune VCO-B to 304 Hz = D#4 -40¢.
Tune the VCF frequency to C9. Experiment with different filter modes. The low pass filters make it sound more like snare.
Raise Q a little. Raising filter resonance accentuates the high frequencies. Don’t raise it too high, or it’ll screech. Find a nice balance.
MIDI Pitch CV controls decay time. Low pitch CV plays closed hats. High pitch CV plays open hats.
MIDI velocity modulates feedback amount.
Use a cymbal alt noise. There are 3 alt cymbal noises. 1: a high pitched hum. 2: a chopping/whirring noise 3: a lower metallic hum. Try them all. 3 is the best, but 1 is good too.
1: Create a gritty noise by patching VCO-A triangle to S&H clock in.
2: Patch S&H, and VCO-B square to the ring mod, and turn the ring mod up in the mixer.
3: Create a feedback loop by patching VCF LP4 to VCA-B in, then patch VCA-B to mixer in 2.
4: Modulate the feedback amount by sending MIDI velocity to VCA-B CV.
5: Patch MIDI pitch to ENV-B shape. Turn the shape slider up.
6: Patch ENV-B to VCA-A level.
Further Reading
See the manual linked on this page, there’s a lot of good information here.
Designing a TR-606 style hi-hat from scratch (Youtube)
Moritz Klein, the designer of the Erica Synths EDU DIY Hi-hat describes how the module works.
Analysing Metallic Percussion (SOS)
Explores the challenges of synthesizing metallic percussion instruments like cymbals, hi-hats, tam-tams, and gongs.
Synthesizing Realistic Cymbals (SOS)
Synthesizing cymbals using FM synthesis and the Nord Modular.
Practical Cymbal Synthesis (SOS)
How to synthesize the cymbals from the 808 and 909.
This article is mostly about bells, but the epilogue at the bottom has a brief description of the 808 hi-hats.