Experiments with music and electronics by Lanthan O'Ide

Published on Mar 11, 2018 Lanthan O'Ide

Playlist:

1. Cathode Ray Anthem - Oscilloscope music with Waldorf Blofeld (256 subscriber special)

Let's hook up a synth to an oscilloscope! Am I able to make pretty patterns and something one could call "music" at the same time?
Watch and see!
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Last week or so the 256th of you subscribed to my channel! What a nice round number!
At this point I would like to send a huge "thank you" to each and every one of you.
Thanks for all your support and comments!
It continues to be a great source of inspiration for me.
I hope you'll keep an eye on my channel, maybe even recommend it to other people!

Now, about this video.
I decided to do something different this time.
Instead of focusing on making a sound... well, sound good, I made it look good.
Well, it's not even close to what Jerobeam Fenderson, the master of oscilloscope music, created,
but, on the other hand, it's more complicated than trivial Lissajous figures.

Unfortunately, some details of the audio signal were lost in compression,
so you won't get the exact same images if you run the audio of this video through your scope.
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The "making of":

I am using two oscillators on the Blofeld. Both generate sine waves, one of them is detuned by one cent.
The signal flow is as follows:
Oscillator 1 ⇒ Filter 1 ⇒ Right audio out ⇒ Channel 1 of the scope ⇒ vertical deflectors
Oscillator 2 ⇒ Filter 2 ⇒ Left audio out ⇒ Channel 2 of the scope ⇒ horizontal deflectors

Playing one key at a time creates a simple rotating circle / ellipse on the scope.
(As seen at the very beginning)
When I play more keys complex patterns emerge.

And in case anyone cares: That's a Voltcraft 2040 scope.
Straight from 1986.
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In case you like my music and would like to hear more of it:
I've uploaded some to Soundcloud!
Here's the link: https://soundcloud.com/lanthan-oide
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Thanks for listening, and have a nice day!
- Lanthan

2. The Music Box - Melodic & Polyphonic Playing On Korg Volca Sample (DIY MIDI-Translator Demo)

A short proof-of-concept demo. I recently learned how to build a MIDI-In port, and used that with an Arduino to be able to play a Korg Volca Sample both melodic and polyphonic.
So here is a music-box-style song with that setup. (I think I've heard to much Wintergatan in the last few weeks. :D )

(But fear not, new synth stuff will come again. ;) )
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About the setup:
On the one end of the signal chain is a Korg Volca Sample,
on the other an Arturia Keystep.
In between is an Arduino doing some... magic.
(Details on the programming are below)
A 6N138 optocoupler is used in the MIDI-In circuit.

And I had an acoustic metronome running.
Boy, this may be a short tune, but it shure was difficult to play this with accurate tempo to make it sound "mechanic". :)
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About the program:

[To avoid confusion: "Sample" (with capital "S") refers to the device, "sample" to a short audio recording]

I know that the idea of playing a Sample melodic and polyphonic isn't new,
in fact it has been achieved by others before and is even commercially available.
BUT: As far as I know those systems only have a range of two octaves, which means plus / minus one octave above the sample's original pitch.
(That's the range in which the speed parameter can be set more or less accurately to semitone values via CC)

My system has a range of not two but three octaves, and could easily be adjusted to cover the entire range of MIDI note numbers.
(But, as I'm playing with a two-and-a-half-octave keyboard in the video, I restricted the range to gain a higher polyphony. What that has to do with each other? Will be explained below.)

So here's how I did it.
Instead of loading one sample into multiple slots of the Sample I chose multiple samples with different original pitches.
And I've programmed the info what pitch is in which slot into the Arduino.
When a note is played via MIDI, the Arduino determines the slot with the closest original pitch.
If this slot is already playing then the second-closest slot is chosen.
If both are busy, the one wich has been playing longer is chosen.
In any case, the difference of the note's and chosen slot's pitch is calculated,
matched to a CC value, and send as a MIDI CC, followed by a note on command on the slot's channel.
(And a note off command, of course)

The range of this system is determined by how many samples you have per octave.
In total, a maximum of 10 samples can be used.
In my case, I chose 3 samples/octave, which brings me to a range of
10 samples / 3 samples/octave = 3 octaves + 4 semitones.
But if you choose 2 samples/octave, you can get
10 samples / 2 samples/octave = 5 octaves.

But, there is a tradeoff:
If you play many notes very closely together, say C, C# and D, one of them will get pinched off, as there are not enough slots nearby.
(Or, if you allowed further away slots to be pitched, will have a decrease in audio quality)
The less samples you choose per octave the less close the notes will have to be for this effect to occur.
(Maximum polyphony is always at 10, though. It's just some sort of "polyphony density" that is reduced.)

Oh, and since multiple samples are required, more memory on the Sample has to be filled.
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Last but not least, a link to where you can find more of my music:
https://soundcloud.com/lanthan-oide
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I hope you enjoyed the video, and have a nice day!
- Lanthan

3. Far North Station - Berlin School Experiment With Korg Volca Sample, Arduino & Waldorf Blofeld

Today is a good day for some mad science! ^^ I've come up with a way to use a Korg Volca Sample as a sequencer for a synth, in this case a Waldorf Blofeld. An Arduino is used to translate the Sample's signal to midi.
It's a little glitchy, but it works.
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About the concept:
I've enjoyed a lot of videos on Youtube where people are improvising with a Volca's or SQ-1's "active step" function,
and wanted to do something similar with sounds from the Blofeld.
Slight problem: None of my MIDI-sequencers has such a function, and I don't want to have to buy another one.
I have a Volca Sample, which has the desired feature, but no MIDI-out...

So the problem was to make the Sample send information in a way the Arduino could receive and understand,
and make the Arduino relay the information as MIDI-messages to the Blofeld.

Now, the Arduino is capable of measuring voltages (in audio terms: volume / amplitude).
And the Sample has a feature called "motion sequencing", which, among other things,
allows me to set the volume of each step individually.

All that is left to do for the Arduino is measuring the peak of the incoming signal,
fetch the corresponding MIDI-note from a look-up-table and send it out of its serial port.

Oh, and to make the soundscape more interesting I added a simple,
green push-button to start / stop the background drone. :)
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Finally, if you like the music I make and want to hear more of it:
I've uploaded some to Soundcloud!
Here's the link: https://soundcloud.com/lanthan-oide
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Have a nice day!
- Lanthan

4. Into The Unknown - Sequencer Experiment With Arduino & Waldorf Blofeld

Hi there! I've taught a microcontroller to improvise. Yeah, thats right! It plays a sequence and changes it every now and then however it wants. In this video I'm taking that algorithm for a test drive, and play along with some pads.
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About the setup:
An Arduino sends notes as MIDI-signals through an Arturia Keystep to a Waldorf Blofeld, which generates all the sounds.
The Keystep is used to play the pads.
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About the algorithm:
(Feel free to try this with a dice and a sequencer)

At first, a sequence is generated at random, with the following rules:
1. The sequence is 8 steps long.
2. Every step is set at random either to an A3, D4, E4, G4 or A4.
3. A step must not be set to the same note as the previous or next step.

Then the sequence is played two times.
Afterwards one of the 8 steps may be chosen at random and its note be changed.
Again, rule 2 and 3 have to be followed.
Then the sequence is again played two times, is changed again, and so on.
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Finally, if you like the music I make and want to hear more of it:
I've uploaded some to Soundcloud!
Here's the link: https://soundcloud.com/lanthan-oide
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Have a nice day!
- Lanthan

EDIT: Whoops, I just realized I accidentally used the old title of this project in the video. Unfortunately, Youtube doesn't allow me to change the video-file anymore. So... I'll have to change the title back to the old one. Sorry for the confusion.