010//Synapse - a semi-self-generating Eurorack track

Published on Feb 20, 2018 Alastair Wilson

"A melodic, semi-self-generating modular patch using a small Eurorack setup sent through an Eventide Space shimmer reverb and an Eventide Timefactor on filterpong setting. No other processing has been applied.

This patch is only semi-random because I wrote the basic drum and melody sequences, but they are randomly reset and hold on some notes. All the filtering is also random.

I enjoyed making this patch, because there are a few interesting features:
- Firstly, the lower Mother 32 is the drums. I used a variation on the patch Moog demonstrated on their channel, but I used high-pass filtering rather than low pass, which changed the patching a bit. This Mother 32 is recorded straight into Ableton without any effects.
- Secondly, I used the AJH DH-ADSR to act as sidechain compression effect. It gets triggered on every drum hit, and I used the inverted output to mute the melody and bass when the drums sound, which adds a lovely pumping effect to this track.
- Thirdly, I used a square LFO to clock the 2 Mother 32s - but with the higher Mother 32, I used a trick of having it play at a very slow tempo when I patched the LFO into the tempo input. On the Mother 32, this uses the LFO as the clock source, but the Mother 32 actually runs at a slower but rhythmically-related speed, a quirk which I exploited to create the melody's syncopation.
The AJH VCO is supplying a drone bass, which is quiet, but you'd miss it if it wasn't there.

Also, trying out new lighting! Cheers to progression!

If you want to recreate this patch, you can find it here:
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/patches..."