Creating a soundscape from pure resonance

video upload by Richard DeHove

"Who needs oscillators when you have self-oscillating resonance? Here the Erica Synths Acidbox III with high resonance is fed into a Fairfield Circuitry Roger That, then to a Gamechanger Audio Light reverb pedal and finally to the Erica Synths Zen Delay.

The Acidbox is configured so the right output feeds into the control CV input, but the box itself is getting no external audio, just it's own resonance.

The Roger That pedal provides a little extra texture and noise but is not an essential component. I tried all sorts of different pedals in this position including distortions, drives and bitcrushers but almost all of them had very little effect. I think there simply wasn't enough for those pedals to chew on.

The Light pedal is mainly on the 'harmonic' setting and I sometimes switch it to feedback. The Zen delay is on the tape ping-pong setting. Filter is on highpass in case things get out of hand and the drive knob adds some good grit.

The input gain on the Acidbox and Zen were fundamental to the sound. Both were usually quite low but if you want something with more noise and distortion it's there if you just pump those up.

A few years back I had a Lyra-8 which I always say is a great personal meditation machine. Yet imo it doesn't compare to this setup in terms of flexibility and expression. Here you can go high and delicate or low and cone-shaking, peaceful or disturbed all in a few knob turns. And what big glorious knobs they are.

I do believe this type of playing is personally very therapeutic. If I was an indulged academic I think it'd make an interesting research project to look at the brainwave state of someone engaged in prolonged resonant drone knob twiddlings. Might there be a connection between the played harmonics and brainwave frequencies and that in certain moods you'd gravitate to harmonics of that emotional state? Or would your playing perhaps reduce agitated brain frequencies toward a more dreamlike state? Who knows.

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