Clandestign NOW PLAYING demo

Published on Jun 2, 2013 MILQUETOASTE·76 videos

"NOW PLAYING consists of 4 digitally-controlled synth voices, each voice running through a digitally-controlled analog filter, realized through 8 custom vactrols. The whole thing is housed in an attractive console case with vintage wrinkle finish and jewel pilot lamp. Data appears via an LCD display, and there's a speaker, output jack, USB port, and power jack for in/out stuff.

NOW PLAYING generates an endless series of tonal polyphonic notes with expressive envelopes and warm lo-fi sound on the internal speaker; cleaner output is available via the output jack.

Sequence of events:

Apply power to NOW PLAYING. USB works, but a wall outlet sounds better. NOW PLAYING is automatically on in USB mode.

If the PLAY switch is on, NOW PLAYING will calculate and play a preloaded routine, forever.

While the 'play' switch is off, NOW PLAYING will be in menu mode, and the parameters of each of the four voices can be scrolled. Pushing the SELECT button allows parameter changing via the SELECT knob while the button is down:

Musical Mode: 33 musical modes: Major, Minor, Adonai, Algerian, Altered, Augmented, Blues, Chromatic, Arabic, Enigmatic, Half Diminished, Bebop, Harmonic Major, Harmonic Minor, Hirajoshi, Hungarian Gypsy, Hungarian Minor, Insen, Iwato, Locrian, Lydian, Hemitonic, Mixolydian, Neapolitan Major, Neapolitan Minor, Octatonic , Persian, Phrygian, Prometheus, Slendro, Tritone, Ukrano-Dorian, Whole Tone.

Musical key: all 12 keys, from C to B.

Octave range: up to 7 octave range.

Bottom: lowest octave in range.

Note length: 200 to 10400 milliseconds, in increments of 100 milliseconds.

Odds: odds of a given note playing for any note length.

Peak: the maximum value of the digitally controlled envelope filter.

Attack: the relative amount of note length it takes the filter to go from OFF to peak.

Decay: the relative amount of note length it takes the filter to drop from peak to sustain.

Sustain: the level of the filter until release.

Release: the relative amount of note length it takes the filter to drop from sustain back to OFF at the end of the played note.

Turning the PLAY switch on will cause NOW PLAYING to calculate lookup tables from the parameter array and then begin to select and play notes and generate envelopes: a tonal aleatron, a Turing musical composer.

"It's like the sound of an AM radio in the kitchen tuned to a radio show from a fictional continent"
-Concerned Citizen

Prototype construction of ventilated steel and anodized aluminum, brass screws, nonglare acrylic, custom hand-wrung code. Rubber feet, speaker and carrying handle."