Whimsical Patching // 4. Utility Drum Machine

video upload by Whimsical Raps

All parts here

from Dani:
"When I take inventory on why modular synths remain compelling to me, it is because the format puts one in direct conversation with _voltage_. As mentioned in other videos, every signal in a modular synth is voltage -- some of it moves quickly enough to hear, some of it moves slowly and is excellent for modulation, but pushing this common denominator to its edges often leads me to make choices that a computer or desktop synth simply cannot facilitate with the same improvisational ease. But I also love working with computers as an end-of-chain glue -- not just for editing or effects, but to bring a new set of possibilities to the playground.

This video is a supercut of two processes:

a. The core is a conversation between Cold Mac and Just Friends. Just Friends provides cycling envelopes and pulses, which run through a self-patched Cold Mac. Though Cold Mac is primarily known as a utility module, cross-patching its wavefolders and slews creates gnarly delights out of simple input signals. Adding the inherent rhythmic interrelation of envelopes from different channels of Just Friends to the mix can quickly create a fuzzed-out chaotic drum machine with low subs and bursts of noise. Modulating SURVEY, both by hand and voltage, reveals a world of timbral shapes.

b. While (a.) was exciting and revelatory, it was missing something. Whenever I sequence drums, I love to layer percussive hits with additional samples -- so I took to @kriista's Data Knot, which packages FluCoMa's real-time descriptor analysis tools into an army of useful Max/MSP objects. Data Knot allowed me to use audio from my 'utility drum machine' to crawl through slices of @natesmithdrumsofficial's Pocket Change and a Bonnie Raitt isolated vocal track, which filled things out in a really fun way.

Both the original modular-only recording and the responses of Data Knot are layered to create this hybrid result which, to me, feels really organic and fluid."