VennDiagram - CARBON Sequencer Demo

Published on Dec 8, 2015 KilpatrickAudio

"Music by: VennDiagram
Video by: Kilpatrick Audio

Notes from VennDiagram:

Synth Used - Roland JDXA

3 x Analog Parts each for Kick / Snare / Hi-Hat run on Midi Channels 1,2 & 3
3 x Digital Synth Parts Mono bass / Lead / Poly Pad on Channel 5,6 & 9

Sequencer Carbon - using Midi only

Track 1 - Midi Channel 1 - Kick
Track 2 - Midi Channel 2 - Snare
Track 3 - Midi Channel 3 - Hi-Hat
Track 4 - Midi Channel 5 - Bass
Track 5 - Midi Channel 6 - Lead
Track 6 - Midi Channel 9 - Poly Pad

Carbon Initial Track Configuration

Track 1 Kick - 1/16 step resolution with the sequence using 32 steps total
Track 2 Snare - 1/16 step resolution with the sequence utilizing the full 64 step grid
Track 3 Hi Hat - 1/16 step resolution playing for 48 steps
Track 4 Bass - 1/8 step resolution with the sequence being only 14 steps long
Track 5 Lead - 1/16 Note resolution for a full 64 steps
Track 6 PolyPad - 1/2 note resolution 16 steps

Scene Set Up and Configuration & Process

All six scenes used in total each with different mute settings and different pattern settings.

Scenes 3, 4, 5 and 6 all had their steps lengths and start positions set differently so they started at different points in the sequence and did not play out for the original full step lengths recorded. This allowed me to get more variation within a each scene and the melody parts playing variations on the main melodic theme.

In some scenes I started the sequence with near the end with a number of non-note event steps to rotate the accented point of the kick, bass, hats or snare. Quite noticeable between the intro and the first section starting at around the 30 second mark when I did a manual all track mute with reverb bleed fade out.

The intro scene for the first 30 seconds is only playing small rotating bass line steps against an eighth of the kick pattern and less than half the hats.

At 30 seconds the full original pattern comes in switching from Scene 2 to Scene 1 - this plays through twice with a switch to Scene 3 at around the 60 second mark. This is the same pattern played for 16 steps only on all tracks in use for two repeats before a manual series of track mutes feeding into a reverb and a drilled delay on the JD-XA and entering into Scene 4.

The lead sound is made up of 3 digital “parts or partials” two of which have looping EG’s that are manually switched on an off as the sequence plays to mimic an arp on the melodic line, whilst the pad velocity sensitivity makes notes sound longer around the 1:15 mark before I hit stop and let the reverb fade out and switch to the breakdown.

Scene 5 at around 1:30 has shuffled the bass to the on beat with shorter pattern length on the kick drum so it cycles around poly-rythmically against the adjusted hat pattern. As you can tell the melody and pads have much shorter play regions here too and I play the keyboard down in semitone increments for 5 semitones before bringing it up to the original pitch.

The closing Scene 6 is a variation on Scene 2 with different pattern subsets across all tracks and me switching between the lead sound on track 5 and the pad sound on track 6 and messing about with their start and length parameters as the sequence plays out to its conclusion. The mutes in the last section are triggered manually from 2:15 - 2:30 with an abrupt stop and fade out to reverb.

Intents, Aims and Goals

I wanted to show what could be done with a very simple chord progression, melody, bass line and a series of rhythmic elements in real-time via the use of transposition, sequence start and length modulation, use of the pattern generator and some real-time muting, scene switching and interaction with the sequencer.

By offsetting tracks with dead steps (ie: steps with no note information) at either the start of end of what would normally be a conventionally linear sequence I found you could create a lot of tension and push and pull between elements that wasn't apparently obvious in the first place.

For example in some instances I started on around Step 56 which makes the pattern round robin from 56 through to 64 and then flip around to the sequencers start point at step 1. Combining this with the length parameter can make for some great melodic and poly rhythmic interplay and a few happy accidents along the way.

Considering I had no manual to go by and had been shown features for no more than 15 or so minutes I am amazed at how easy Carbon is to navigate and generate ideas from.

Hopefully this captures some of the fun I had whilst experimenting for a day or two and I look forward to having the opportunity to test it further with a both a broader sound palette and a secondary sequencer to see what sort of interactions and happy accidents I will find with them in tandem."