3 Modules #1: Maths, STO, Rings

Published on Apr 15, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"My current eurorack setup looks like this: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/v...

Disregarding the 1U row, there are 10 separate modules. This means that there are a total of 120 different three-module combinations possible with my setup. In this video series I intend to explore each and every one of those combinations.

To start it all off: Here’s a drone piece featuring Maths, STO and Rings. I’m using a feedback loop through Rings, which is in «sympathetic strings» mode, over a low drone from the STO. And, of course, Maths provides some complex modulations of the sounds.

Patch illustration: http://imgur.com/a/0hbNA

In principle, each patch will consist of only the three modules in the given combination. HOWEVER, the 1U row is «fair game». Some combinations may necessitate mixing, attenuation or an input clock signal, and this is why I won’t count the bottom row of utilities as separate modules. I’ll be happy to take requests as to which combinations to try out next."

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Morgasmarings!

Published on Jul 9, 2018 Comparative Irrelevance

"Lately I've been spending some time with my new Morgasmatron! I've been a big fan of the MS-20 filter for a long time, and the Morgasmatron builds on that heritage but takes it to a different level in terms of flexibility and modularity. Still, that wonderful grit and scream is there once you start to push its limits. I think it makes a great pair with Rings' natural, clean timbres. It's almost like plugging a guitar into a crunchy tube amp or analog distortion pedal: all sorts of little gritty artifacts start popping up in the cracks of the sound.

I used this combo in the "Foehn Wind" video I published the other day [below] with just some sparse patch notes, so I figured I'd make another video to take a closer look at Rings+Morgasmatron. Now, this isn't patched up exactly like in Foehn Wind. In that video I used Pam's New Workout and µScale for sequencing Rings' pitch and Structure in the same way that I show in 3 Modules #64 [below]. And I used a sine wave LFO in addition to Sheep to modulate the cutoff, and modulated Sheep's wavetable selection with Mod Tools. I also used Clouds for reverb and additional "lofi-ness".

Here I've simplified a little, and I'm sequencing Rings with my SQ-1 (off screen), which is being clocked by Sheep's 1-bit output. Sheep is also modulating Rings' Position and the filter cutoff for both filters in opposite directions, which can make for a neat stereo effect at more extreme settings.

Rings is in sympathetic strings mode (yellow) and I have Damping set to fully open for most of this recording, which produces almost indefinite sustain. Morgasmatron takes care of the dynamics.

Most of the magic just comes from pushing Morgasmatron's input levels, Q-drive and resonance. Here I'm taking it into pretty overdriven settings.

✌︎

See you around! :)"

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3 Modules #50: Dual Looping Delay, Clouds, Ears

Published on Mar 22, 2018 Comparative Irrelevance

"I know a lot of people build Eurorack systems to process external audio, and Clouds and DLD are both good candidates for that purpose, so let's give it a stab.

By the way, what are your thoughts on using external audio in this series? Do you think it goes against the premise of "just three modules"? My feeling is that it flies as long as it's just a basic sample or loop like this. It should be pretty evident what the raw sample sounds like and what sounds or effects are produced by the modules, and the majority of the "performance" should take place in the rack, so to speak.

I'm not planning on relying too much on external audio, but I think it makes sense to include it occasionally as it's a pretty common way to work with the modular, and it makes for a more musical use of "effect module" combinations like this one. Perhaps I should get a sample player like a TipTop One in place of Ears, as a way to integrate that aspect more closely with the rack?

Patch notes:

Patch wise, this is pretty simple: audio comes in from my computer (playing a short piano loop I recorded earlier), is passed through Clouds' granular mode and then into the DLD, where I'm using the two channels in stereo.

I'm using Ears as a sort of "performance control", with the envelope follower output patched to Clouds' Position and Density. That way, I can scrape and push the contact mic surface to access different parts of Clouds' frozen buffer. With the Density knob set to 12 o'clock, no grains are produced as long as I'm not touching Ears. Hitting/pushing the contact mic harder leads to a higher density of randomly distributed grains, so there's a somewhat logical connection between the tactile interface and the sound produced.

I'm using Clouds to produce "impulse" sounds, with lots of reverb to make long, sustained tones from short snippets of the piano sample. DLD to makes a backdrop of short, rhythmically pulsating loops – using different subdivisions of the clock for each channel can make for some really hypnotizing rhythms.

In the beginning you can hear the clean sample passed through for a while, before I turn up Clouds' dry/wet blend to full. From there on you're only hearing the sound as processed by the modules until I turn the blend down again around the 8 minute mark.

* * *

Thanks for watching!"

Pastime & 3 Modules #24: Maths, Rings, Peaks

Published on Sep 13, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"A patch for the patient.

***

A fairly simple self-playing setup using Brain Seed for sequencing, and Rings/Clouds for the sounds. The 'strumming' motion is created with Maths.

I love how the tempo/density of notes is completely self-regulated, and creates variations that are only evident over a longer period of time. This is done by using a slow, random S&H from Noise Tools to regulate Maths' cycle rate and to occasionally let Brain Seed select new notes when the S&H signal passes above the ReSeed threshold. The number of notes in a given phrase depends on how long the ReSeed is "open" and how fast Maths is strumming while it is.

Repeated notes and negative voltages equal silence. In this patch I'm deliberately allowing quite long pauses to arise between phrases in the lower range of intensity, so this one's not for the impatient. :)

The only thing I'm manually controlling during this recording is the µScale, where I'm changing the available notes every 10-20 minutes, or so. And a very minor tweaking of Rings' structure/dampening towards the end."


Published on Sep 21, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"Taking a page out of the Pastime video I posted a little over a week ago. Let's have a closer look at making strumming triggers with Maths.

Patch notes:

I'm using Maths' envelope functions and their respective gate outputs to create phrases consisting of a series of rapid triggers (a "strum").

Maths' channel 4 is cycling with a medium long rise and fall time, and the EOC gate output is active as long as the envelope is rising. Let's call each active gate a "phrase trigger". In other words it outputs a phrase trigger that last as long as the rise time with pauses between the phrases that are as long as the fall time. Now, that fall time is modulated by a slow random signal from Peaks' channel 1 (in LFO mode), which means that the pauses between phrases will be of random duration.

Maths channel 1 outputs the "strum triggers". It receives the phrase trigger from channel 4 to its cycle input, and with short rise and fall times the EOR output then starts spitting out rapid strums for the duration of the phrase. However, the fall time is being controlled by the channel 4 envelope, which is rising throughout the phrase. This means that the fall time increases, effectively slowing down the strum triggers. They start out fast, and gradually slow down a little over the course of each phrase.

Now that we have our strum triggers, let's feed those into Peaks' channel 2 which is in four-step sequencer mode. Each trigger advances the sequence by one step, and the sequence is fed into Rings' V/Oct input. Since each strum will – more or less – cycle through the entire sequence, the result is more like a strummed chord than a melody. I have Rings set to maximum polyphony to allow the notes to sound simultaneously.

Finally, I'm also using the random signal from Peaks' channel 1 to modulate Rings' dampening. As the signal gets higher the pause between phrase triggers gets longer and Rings' notes will also sustain for longer, and vice versa: more frequent phrases = shorter, dampened notes. Since Rings is in the "alternate red mode", the dampening parameter also adds reverb, which results in a strange, unreal atmosphere when modulated.

Thanks for watching!"

3 Modules #15: Maths, Braids, Clouds

Published on Jul 15, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"Here are some more pleasant sounds to follow up on the idea I originally had for the previous episode: sending the SUM output from Maths into the internal quantizer on Braids, to create an evolving stepped sequence.

Patch notes:

Braids is in 3 x Sine wave mode, and the internal AD envelope is applied to the VCA, to create separated notes whenever the pitch changes. The quantizer is set to pentatonic minor. Towards the end you'll see that I'm reducing the bit depth and sample rate as well.

Maths' functions (ch. 1 and 4) are cycling slowly, and ch. 3 is patched into the cycle rate of both to serve as a "master tempo control". The sum output is sent to Braids' V/Oct input, which means that the ch. 1 and 4 attenuators set the range of notes, and ch. 2 offsets that range by a set amount.

Additionally Maths' other outputs are used to modulate Braids' timbre and color, and Clouds' position, size, blend (feedback, in this case), texture and freeze.

Clouds is in the standard granular delay mode, providing an ambient "bed of sound", to harmonize with the notes from Braids.

Thanks for watching!"

3 Modules #3: Rings, Peaks, Brain Seed

Published on Apr 17, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

All parts here.

"Wanted to go with a simple and pretty one to follow up the messy episode 2. This is one of my favourite patches.

Patch notes:
Peaks ch. 2 produces a simple, skewed ramp wave LFO which feeds into the Brain Seed seed input. Brain Seed treats this kind of like a sample and hold signal input, and samples the ramp wave to produce V/oct CV for Rings.

However, unlike a regular sample and hold module, Brain Seed doesn't react to a trigger signal. Instead it stores the 8 most recently sampled values, and moves between them as directed by the Cycle CV input. In this case, I'm using a smoothed random LFO from Peaks ch. 1 to modulate this movement. Since it's a random signal, the sampled values are output in random order. But since it's smoothed, it "strums" through adjacent values to get from one point of the sequence to another.

By switching on and off "ReSeed" on the Brain Seed, I can choose to lock down the 8 sampled values (ReSeed off - cycle LED flashes green) which leads to somewhat repeating patterns, or allow new values to be sampled (ReSeed on - cycle flashes red). I'm using this to create movements and repetitions as I see fit."

3 Modules #17: Rings, Peaks, uScale

Comparative Irrelevance
Published on Aug 3, 2017

"Mmmm, Rings… It's raining heavily outside, and I could sit and listen to this meditative patch for hours, as it blends in with the rain. I had to cheat a little and add some open air recording from my balcony into the mix about halfway through, to give you an impression of what this sounds like on my end. :)

Patch notes (really simple this time):
Rings is in the 4-note polyphonic setting, which means that up to four notes can be ringing at the same time, and the notes are alternated between the left and right outputs.

Both of Peaks' channels are in tap tempo LFO mode. Channel 1 is producing a stepped triangle wave, which is quantized via µScale and then becomes the "base arpeggio" that Rings is playing.

However, Peaks' channel 2 is producing a slewed random wave which is sent to µScale's shift input, causing a meandering, random movement centered around that base arpeggio. Because the random signal is slewed, Rings passes through all the intervening notes from step to step, in a sort of strumming movement.

I tapped the tempos for Peaks' channels *almost* in time with each other, but made sure that they weren't identical so that there would be a hint of rhythmical phasing in the pattern. Of course, the range of the random wave also determines how many notes will potentially be played between each step – larger random intervals equals shorter time between each note played within that step (I hope you're following me? This feels easier to visualize, and more complicated to type out).

Finally, the second output from µScale – which is just the arpeggio without the random shift – is patched to Rings' brightness. The signal is inverted, so that higher notes should be less bright and vice versa.

As you can see, I'm periodically changing what notes are allowed through the µScale. Towards the end I'm also twisting the top parameter on Peaks. This is the LFO amplitudes, i.e. the range of notes spanned by the stepped triangle arpeggio and the random shift.

As always, thanks for watching!"

3 Modules #22: Maths, Brain Seed, µScale

Published on Sep 7, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"We all suspected Maths is evil. Now there's proof.

Patch notes:
I'm using Maths as a dual oscillator drone voice by cycling both functions at audio frequency rate. The "both" inputs are handy for this, as they let you change the rise and fall rates simultaneously, without altering the waveform. Unfortunately they don't track 1V/Oct, so I'm using channel 3 to attenuate the incoming pitch sequence to try to approach some semblance of musical intervals here. As you can see I'm also continuously tuning the oscillators via "the blue knobs"™, looking for interesting beating or harmonic intervals between the oscillators. Changing the rise or fall rate individually has the neat side effect of changing both pitch and harmonics (waveform) at the same time.

To control the drone pitch, I'm using brain seed to generate a stepped sequence. It's receiving a steady external clock to get the patch going. This sequence is then being quantized by the µScale, just to narrow down the random selection a bit (because Maths doesn't track pitch anyways, remember).

Finally, I've cheated in some extra delay and reverb here, to get that proper evil drone ambience going.

Thanks for watching!"

3 Modules #73: Dixie 2+, Marbles, Maths

Published on Sep 6, 2018 Comparative Irrelevance

"I call this one 'choking pulse waves'. Who knows, maybe Eurorack Generative Lo-Fi Video Game Boss Music will be the next big thing?

This patch consists of two voices, where both take advantage of pulse width modulation to "choke out" the sound between notes. I don't know if there's a technical term for this ("this" being pulses that are extremely wide or slim to the point of disappearing), but it reminds me of dying batteries. In the world of effect pedals – analog distortions in particular – a dying battery or underpowered PSU can sometimes be used deliberately to achieve a certain sound. This is called a sustained voltage sag, or voltage "starving". So starving or strangling is what comes to my mind when I hear the sound of disappearing pulse waves. Lovely.

Patch notes:

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3 Modules #4: Clouds, Ears, Ripples

Published on Apr 25, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

All parts here.

"Wow, this one turned out to be a lot of fun! As you can hear, this patch is capable of a wide range of craziness – all without using any "support" modules, and without any added reverb or other out-of-the-rack effects. (show more)

I figured the "obvious" way to go here, would be to use Ears' contact mic as a sound source, filter the audio through Ripples, and tag on the Clouds as a delay/reverb effect at the end. So, naturally, I decided to do something completely different. :)

Patch notes:
This is basically a feedback loop, from Clouds' output via Ears, through Ripples' 4 pole LPF, and back into Clouds. For most of the patch, though, Ripples' resonance is at full, which means it produces sine tones – the audio input is virtually inaudible at max resonance.

However, by using Ears' envelope follower output to control the gain on Ripples, there's still a feedback response, even when the audio input is drowned by the resonance peak. I think it's easy to forget that Ears is more than just a contact mic/external audio input. Its envelope follower and gate makes it ideally suited to control feedback loops in this manner.

The sine tones/fed back audio is passed from Ripples to Clouds, which chops it up into grains, pitch shifts those grains, and adds reverb. I'm manually modulating the grain size, density, texture (i.e. grain envelope shape) and reverb mix level. The pitch is modulated with an audio signal from Ripples BP2 output. However, since the pitch is set "per grain", the result is more akin to a S&H pitch modulation than audio rate FM.

Thanks for watching!

The series overview spreadsheet can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/..."

3 Modules #2: uScale, Brain Seed, Branches

Published on Apr 17, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"This is probably the silliest three module combination I can put together: none of these modules produce any kind of signal on their own, and even with external input they're not really meant to produce sound. (Patch notes below)

Patch #1:
Noise tools generates an audio rate pulse wave, which feeds into Branches. Branches produces two signals from this input: a pulse wave at an octave below the input (ch. 1) and a sporadic series of triggers (ch. 2).

The pulse wave is then fed into the slew limter, as a basic low pass filter to smooth it out a little. It then passes to the uScale V/oct, which functions as a kind of bit crusher (disabling steps leads to a lower "bit depth"). The output from uScale is the audio signal we hear.

The triggers from Branches are used to step through a sequence of random values on the Brain Seed. These values are then sent to the uScale shift input, which causes the audio signal to sputter and jump around to different pitches and tones.

Patch #2:
I actually made this one first, but it felt a bit "cheaty" because of the heavy use of the shimmer reverb and filtering via the noise tools slew limiter, and also the uScale didn't really contribute much. Anyways, here's what's up:

Once again, the noise tools provides an audio rate pulse wave. Branches and Brain Seed are used to divide the signal into different sub-harmonics, and uScale is used to bitcrush one of the waves.

These three drones are mixed together in the Quadratt, which is what I'm tweaking most of the time, and then the sum is sent through the slew limiter/LPF on its way out to the Big Sky reverb."

3 Modules #7: STO, Ears, Brain Seed

Published on May 15, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"This one is pretty basic, but uses a neat trick with the STO to create amplitude modulation without the use of a VCA.

Patch notes:
Ears is used as a manual trigger. The gate output (which only fires on extra hard hits) is connected to the Brain Seed, cycling through a random eight step sequence. This sequence is quantized to a minor scale, and sent to STO's V/Oct input.

Ears' envelope output is sent to STO's "shape" input. When this parameter is at 0, the output is a sine wave in opposite phase of the dedicated sine wave output. This means that the two outputs cancel each other out when mixed directly. As Ears' envelope moves the shape parameter, it produces a change in amplitude as well as timbre, because it adds harmonics that aren't cancelled by the sine wave.

I'm using a Strymon Big Sky for some added delay/reverb.

Thanks for watching!"

All parts here.

3 Modules #14: Maths, Braids, Ears

Published on Jul 8, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"'Oh yeah!', it's the first episode featuring Braids!

Frankly, I was just fooling around trying to make Maths do something weird and non-repetitive (so excuse the mess of cables in this one), when suddenly a voice was seductively moaning: OH YEAAAAAH! Naturally, I had to get my camera out and record some of this.

Patch notes:
The basic idea was to use Braids' built in quantizer in conjunction with a complex CV signal from Maths/Ears to create an interesting step sequence.

There's too many connections going on with Maths to thoroughly explain everything here. I was trying to create a sequence of slow movements that wouldn't repeat identically every time. However, that idea was left half cooked when I stumbled across this vocal sound. I'll probably be getting back to a more concise take on this idea in a later episode.

It all becomes kinda convoluted here, and I know all of this is totally unnecessary to achieve that funny "oh yeah" sound: all you really need for that is to sweep Braids' 'timbre' in a certain way.

I'm using the VFOF mode on Braids, and the internal quantizer 'converts' Maths' continuous CV signal to steps. I was using the JAPAnese scale (I know, I wrote minor pentatonic in the video. Whoops!). Additionally, I'm using Braids' internal envelope to modulate the "color" parameter every time the pitch jumps from one step to the next.

Ears is following the envelope of the inverted sum output from Maths, and sending the resulting signal back into a bunch of Maths' parameters. I found that with this patch I could use Ears' amplitude knob to sort of 'lock' the sequence of notes into a certain range, in a way that would only slowly take effect when the knob was moved – interesting!"

Symbiote

Published on Jul 21, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"A quick little jam, playing around with integrating my Sub Phatty with the modular. I absolutely love the round, punchy sounds of the Phatty, but it obviously lacks the sequencer of its bigger brother. No problem at all when you have a little eurorack at hand!

Here are some abbreviated patch notes (not going too deep into this one, there's nothing particularly out-of-the-ordinary going on here. If you have any questions about the patch, leave them in the comments!):

In the rack:
Braids and Rings are both sequenced by the Sum output from Maths' cycling functions. You may have seen me play around with that concept in the 3 Modules series. Here, without any module restrictions, I've expanded on it a little: The Sum output is sent through Noise Tools' S&H, and then into the µScale. One output from µScale is sent to Braids, and the other (which is transposed via the Shift input) is sent to Rings.

Branches is used to make some gaps in between the sequence triggers, creating some space in the arrangement.

The outputs from the sound sources are mixed together, and then processed with Clouds at the end of the chain. Clouds' is in the default mode.

Sub Phatty:
The SP is being sequenced by the Brain Seed, which is clocked by the Noise Tools. The same clock signal is used to drive everything in the rack as well, so everything is nicely synced up.

Thank you for watching!"

3 Modules #28: Maths, Clouds, Ripples

Published on Oct 23, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"Turn off the lights and get ready for some sedate dark ambient tones! I love this slow, pulsating movement, and the warm, heavy thud of Ripples' sine sub. I also like the effect of modulating Clouds' dry/wet blend here: it serves a dual purpose as a VCA for the bass notes and a sort of side-chain compression for the granular sounds.

Note: this recording contains a very wide range of frequencies, from very low bass to piercingly high treble. I recommend using good headphones or full-range speakers to hear it all.

Patch notes:
I'm using Ripples as an oscillator (with some occasional self-FM for richer harmonics) and feeding little snippets of sound into Clouds' buffer, which stays frozen most of the time here. I then tune Ripples to a nice bass frequency and leave the rest up to the modulation that's controlling Clouds.

Maths channel 4 (slow, looping envelope) is controlling Clouds' position, density and blend, which is the dry/wet mix in this case. This is set up so that the wet mix will quickly drop, letting Ripples' bass tone through, and then slowly drift back up to 100% wet while the density gets sparser (moving from counter clockwise towards noon setting) and the position moves forward through the frozen buffer.

Maths channel 1 (quicker looping envelope) is modulating Clouds' texture and size parameter, to create some interesting movements and sonic artefacts.

Occasionally I'll manually change Clouds' pitch setting for variation. I also load different buffers throughout the recording – both by unfreezing and recording new sound from Ripples, and by loading stored buffers from Clouds' memory. Actually, one of those recorded buffers contained something I'd stored forever ago, and I have a feeling it's sampled from Rings, but it sounded so pleasant I couldn't resist using it anyway. The other buffers contain only sounds from Ripples, that I recorded while setting up the patch.

Thanks for watching!"

3 Modules #39: Dual Looping Delay, Clouds, Ripples

Published on Dec 28, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"Do you guys like tuba ambient? It's seriously the best. This patch was inspired by the works of tuba ambient man Tom Heasley. Go check out his music!

Really nothing too fancy going on in this patch. This one's just about turning the right knobs at the right time.

Patch notes:

I'm using Ripples to produce sound by turning the resonance up to self-oscillation level, and I have the BP output patched back into the FM input for some richer tuba-like timbres.

The audio is fed into Clouds, where I'm using the Density parameter to control when the sound is passed through. I'm also using Clouds' pitch shifting to control the pitch of the notes - had to practice a little to find just the knob positions I wanted here. Clouds also adds a bunch of reverb, of course, and then passes the audio on to the Dual Looping Delay.

I've set each channel on the DLD to very slightly different delay times (using the "unquantized time control" by holding down ∞Hold while turning the Time knobs). This creates a little stereo movement in the loops when each channel is sent left and right respectively."

3 Modules #25: Rings, Clouds, Ears

Published on Sep 28, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"This week's video is a two-parter. First I had a go at using an inverted gate from Ears to create an 'automatically latching drone' with Clouds. But then it felt like a missed opportunity to not flip it around and go from Clouds into Rings instead of the other way around, so I went back and recorded a second part. I think part 2 sounds more interesting, but part 1 had a little bit more going on patch-wise so here they both are.

Patch notes:

In part one I'm sending audio from Ears' contact microphone through Rings' resonator and then into Clouds. I'm "cheating" a tiny bit with the Quadratt to invert Ears' gate output, so that the gate goes high when the audio signal is low (instead of the opposite). I'm then using this inverted gate to freeze Clouds whenever the audio goes below the gate threshold. In other words, Clouds will unfreeze the buffer whenever I tap Ears hard enough, and then immediately freeze the buffer again.

Finally, I'm using Clouds own audio outputs to modulate position and size. Using an audio signal like this is virtually like randomizing those parameters.

For part two I flip Clouds and Rings around, and instead send audio from Ears into Clouds, freeze it, and then process the output with Rings' resonator. Pretty simple, but very cool way to make some moody "dark ambient"-esque drones. I'm changing a lot of the parameters manually here, but you could just as well use CV modulation to make it interesting over time. I especially recommend using a slow LFO to modulate Clouds' position – sweeping through the recorded buffer.

Thanks for watching!"

3 Modules #19: Clouds, Ripples, µScale

Published on Aug 17, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"Clouds! Clouds for days! I can't seem to touch this thing without it spitting out lovely ambient pads.

There's a couple of interesting things going on here, I think. For one, this patch dabbles in what granular synthesis literature typically calls "wavelets". This is just a word for grains with basic waveform contents, but they tend to produce nice granular... clouds.

Second, it "exploits" the fact that Clouds V/Oct sets the pitch per grain – kind of like a S&H – instead of continuously changing it. In other words, you can use an audio rate signal to set the pitch and still get nice sustained notes as long as the grain size is relatively high.

Patch notes:
Ripples' resonance is turned up to self oscillation levels (but not completely maxed), in order to produce sine waves at the outputs. One of those outputs is fed into Clouds – as an audio source.

Another is sent to µScale, quantized, and then passed to Clouds' V/Oct. You may notice that the pitch rises when I turn up the resonance. This is because the increased resonance amplifies the produced sine wave, which lets µScale reach higher notes. With subtle resonance adjustments you can hear the output move through different inversions of the quantized chord.

The third sine wave is sent back into Ripples' FM input. By turning up the FM amount, a more harmonically rich signal is produced. You can hear this at around 4:30, as I unfreeze/re-freeze Clouds' buffer. At about 6:00 we're back to the sine wavelets.

High grain density coupled with Clouds' built in reverb, means that the output sounds like full chords instead of individual notes. Playing around with the notes on µScale lets me change the harmonies.

Thanks for watching!"

3 Modules #41: Kinks, Braids, Rings

Published on Jan 11, 2018 Comparative Irrelevance

"I wanted to try a little idea for Kinks this time: to split a random S&H sequence into two different sequences using the logic and signal processing sections.

Patch notes:

A slow external clock gets the S&H sequence going, and this is sent into Kinks' LOGIC section. Since the noise that's normalled to the S&H input is bipolar, the resulting S&H sequence contains both positive and negative voltage steps. We can take advantage of that, along with the fact that the logic inputs are normalled to 0V, to split the sequence into only the negative and only the positive steps. The S&H sequence goes into the LOGIC input A, and the Max and Min outputs contain only the positive or the negative steps respectively (and otherwise rest at 0V). Finally, I'm using the signal rectifier to flip the "negative sequence" to positive.

Braids and Rings play the sequences. Braids is in WTx4 mode (4 voice wavetables playing chords) and I'm using a version of the Rings sequence to modulate Color, which chooses what kind of chord is played. I'm also using the internal envelope/VCA and quantizer here.

Rings is in Karplus-Strong mode, and I'm sending it white noise from Kinks in order to make sustained notes.

As you can see I'm using the volume controls on my µJack to mix the two voices together – the stereo output signal is summed to mono in the mix.

* * *

Thanks for watching!"

3 Modules #8: Maths, Peaks, Clouds

Published on May 21, 2017 Comparative Irrelevance

"I call this one 'demented drummer'. Clouds and Maths means you know this is going to be intricate and unpredictable. I love how the results can shift wildly by the slightest adjustment of the controls here, and how tweaking one knob on Maths can affect multiple parts of the patch in different ways.

Patch notes:
The sound source is Peaks’ secondary drum mode, the digital drum synth, which has four controls (from top to bottom): pitch, FM/pitch sweep, decay time and tone color (from tonal to noise). I’m manually changing these parameters to tweak the sound. Peaks’ channels are triggered by Maths’ EOR and EOC gate outputs respectively.

Maths is also modulating itself, to create some interesting "drum patterns". The EOR/EOC gates each trigger cycle mode for the opposite channel, and the sum and inverted sum outputs modulate the cycle rate for channel 1 and 4 respectively. This means that as the rate of one increases, the other decreases.

Peaks’ outputs are mixed together in the Quadratt, and the mix is sent to Clouds, which is in "looping delay" mode. Delay time (position) and loop size (size) are modulated by Maths’ unity function outputs from ch. 1 and 4 respectively. Freeze, which loops the delay buffer, is engaged by the OR output from Maths. I’m manually tweaking Clouds’ dry/wet mix, feedback and reverb amounts, as well as the input filter (texture) and pitch shift to create changes in the patch.

No external effects are used this time. :)

Thanks for watching!"

All parts here.