sin(apse) Feedback Envelope Sequencer Drum Jam

Published on Mar 13, 2016 Bimini Road

Get Audulus for: iOS | Mac | Windows/Linux

"Two things had to happen to make this module possible: 1) I'm terrible at programming drums and want more automatic beat creation tools. 2) I recently got into Congotronics and polyrhythmic African music. The sin(apse) uses LFOs and envelope feedback to create spontaneous, dynamic, and humanized drumbeats.

At the heart of this module is a Demux-Mux pair. This pair is connected straight across - nothing in between, i.e., the outputs of the Demux are fed directly into the inputs of the Mux.

The Demux and Mux select inputs are driven by different sources - in this case, LFOs, and feedback from the module itself. When the Demux and Mux sync up, they pass signal, triggering an envelope.

The signal level passed is determined by the knob in the top right of the module.

The knob to the right of it is the Attack knob. Directly below these two knobs are the Demux and Mux select controls.

Below those knobs are the lower and upper thresholds for the envelope trigger. If a signal coming out of the Demux-Mux pair is lower or higher than the threshold controls, no signal passes.

The knobs at the bottom of the module are display knobs that show the relative position of the min and max threshold. The minimum value is kept automatically lower than the maximum value.

The 3 Mapper nodes control the individual feedback response of the DSR portion of the envelope. The three buttons turn the feedback to DSR portions on or off (off = setting of .01). To keep the DSR controls from going negative (and causing spontaneous time travel), their feedback inputs are clamped between 0-1.

The LFO or feedback is applied to the Demux-Mux selectors, driving the module. The rest of the modulations change the rhythm or amplitude.

The drums are created with oscillators and a noise source. With a 1/oct oscillator, you can plug the output of an envelope to the inputs for pitch and envelope to create a quick, naturally decaying and pitch modulating drum. Big drums like toms and kicks all detune slightly as they decay - if you note this and add pitch modulation to your drum sounds (just a pinch!) it will go a long way to injecting life into them.

http://www.audulus.com
http://forum.audulus.com
http://www.biminiroadelectronics.com"