"New biofeedback exploration using brainwaves to control a hybrid CV/MIDI Buchla setup with the Soundmachines BI1, Fake Noise - Morphagene, Magnetic Freak - Gaussian, and my own audio samples via MIDI👌🏽
In 2015/16 Instruō began as a video project. Specifically a time-lapse of me designing the original troika module. Ten years later, I’ve returned to that idea with ceithir, a winter holiday project I designed with video documentation in mind.
This video shows the process of ceithir's initial prototype design. The full module interface was the first part of the process. That stage has its own video feature: • Designing a Eurorack Module interface | In...
In this first hardware iteration I focussed on the core functionality of a single channel version of the filter. The majority of the circuit was tried and tested in the I-ō47 module. But I made several additions to the design for ceithir: Temperature compensation of the core Dedicated oscillator mode with stable peak amplitude Stereo output utilising modulated phase shift to create discreet L/R Additional mode morphing to incorporate band-pass response
I forged ahead with a hardware design where priority was not placed on manufacturability of the prototype. It is a two board layout requiring circuitry distributed between two parallel PCBs. This used many header connectors but provided a large "canvas" to lay out all elements of the circuitry in a sectional way that allowed for ease of navigation when it inevitably came to troubleshooting and fixing mistakes/making refinements.
"An 11-minute improvised modular performance using a full Tiptop Audio Buchla system.
This session explores evolving textures, modulation paths, and dynamic interactions across the entire system.
The patch is built for flow and transformation rather than fixed structure, allowing the sound to develop organically over time.
🎛️ System used
• Tiptop Audio Buchla modular system (full setup)
• Oscillators, envelopes, LPGs, random & sequencing modules
🎧 What’s inside
• Long-form modular improvisation
• Organic modulation and evolving textures
• Dynamic use of the Buchla signal path
• Recorded live in one take"
"Long-form ambient and analog music with gentle, evolving grooves. Designed for late nights, focus, and staying on in the background.
This liveset was recorded live in the studio as one continuous flow – no talking, no hard stops, just slow movement and steady pulse. Some moments drift, others gently lock into rhythm, always leaving space to breathe.
If this keeps you company while you work, rest, or unwind, feel free to let it run.
🎧 Extended versions available on Bandcamp (three longer livesets + YouTube version included): https://caughtinjoy24.bandcamp.com/al... Pricing: $9 today $15 this weekend $25 after Monday
Everything here was mixed on my modded 70s analog console, with performances recorded to analog tape. Warm, dense, and inviting tones emerge – transients softened, harmonics glued, time moving a little slower.
If these sessions keep you company while you work, rest, or drift, this is how they continue to exist.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the work.
"A short jam, progressively bringing punch with Shakmat modules, chaos with Qu-Bit modules and tension with the GS-Music e7.
I recently got into (modular) synths and this is the first video about it that I’m posting here. It’s been a lot of fun and I might share some other videos in the future!
This jam is named after Shakmat’s Battering Ram module, which as we say in French: “ça envoie du bois !”
"If you’ve already swapped the Granulita firmware onto your Versio, or you’re getting hands on with the module for the first time, this video walks through three patch ideas you can try immediately while learning how Granulita Versio behaves in real musical contexts.
"The signals of a plant are difficult to interpret — especially when their sound is not naturally tuned to the human ear.
What you hear at first may feel raw, almost chaotic. Not music as we usually understand it, but movement… pulses… living electricity searching for a voice.
In this experiment, I connected a pine tree to a modular synthesizer and did something unusual: instead of forcing harmony, I limited the system to just a few notes and allowed the tree to influence the tempo itself.
The result was surprising. The BPM was not fixed. It expanded and contracted organically — breathing rather than following a grid. This reflects a simple but profound idea once described by Einstein: time is not absolute.
Here, time is not dictated by a machine, but shaped by a living organism responding to the present moment.
The graph linked below shows the smoothed bioelectrical readings of the pine tree over time, revealing natural fluctuations and distinct states. Because life is never perfectly stable. It flows.
With the addition of subtle textures and gentle binaural beats, the sound opens a space for deep meditation, where the mind slows down enough to listen — not with the ears, but with attention. This feels especially meaningful during the Christmas season.
Pine trees have long symbolized continuity, resilience, and life through darkness. And yet, millions are cut down each year — used briefly, then forgotten. This music is not a loud protest.
It is a quiet reminder. A reminder that forests are not resources — they are relationships.
Living systems that regulate climate, hold memory, and support all life, including ours. As the sound unfolds, thoughts soften. There is no past to revisit. No future to fix. Only this vibration. This breath of time shaped by a tree. Peace is not something we create. It is something we remember.
"A non-spoken modular patch performance focused on FM percussive and wooden-like textures, created using the Buchla TipTop Audio 258t and 259t oscillators.
In this session, frequency modulation is used to shape short, transient-rich sounds that resemble struck wood and organic percussive elements.
The patch is fully improvised and recorded live, no post-processing.
🎛️ Modules used
• 258t Oscillator
• 259t Oscillator
• 292t Quad Lowpass Gate
• 245t Sequential Voltage Source
• 266t Source of Uncertainty
• Buchla / Tiptop modular system
🎧 What’s explored
• FM techniques for percussive sound design
• Wooden / organic timbres
• Transient shaping and dynamics
• Live modular performance"
"This is the modular system prepared for Modular Commune 2025. The modules are: Silhouette, Skies, Cold Mac, pe2, Split, WAV Recorder, Listen Four, Ears, US. I want to experiment with an almost symmetrical patch guided just by rules."
A modular synthesiser performance recorded on my terrace in Porto, built around the 4MS Spectral Multiband Resonator and the Serge Random Source Triple Waveshaper [with Play all Day's PlayFader].
This patch became something to play rather than explain, with dense cross modulation and unstable feedback paths.
Watch the companion video looking at the underlying patch structure here:"
Patch Memory #3 | Chaotic cross modulation with 4MS SMR and R*S Triple Waveshaper
"Another patch exploration video, this time focusing on chaotic cross modulation between the 4MS Spectral Multiband Resonator and the Serge Random Source Triple Waveshaper.
This is a short overview of the patch logic rather than a full performance or a repeatable recipe. The sounds are unstable by design and difficult to reproduce exactly.
Performance audio available on Bandcamp, alongside an additional piece here:
