These Plugins Sound AMAZING… Except One

video upload by Keith Crosley

"Space Age Strings, Traveler 1.1, Arturia MiniFreak V, and Liminal Space 2 RC6: three plugins I'm excited about, and one that's... fine. Your old pal Keith demos vintage strings, custom wavetable import, Bloom and reverse reverb, and gloriously backward shoegaze. Grab your mod wheel for another episode of your favorite talky synthesizer content show!

First up: Authentic Soundware's Space Age Strings, with gorgeous legatos, vintage ribbon-mic character, and serious Mancini energy. We pair those nine violins with Liminal Space 2's new Space Age Scoring Stage preset and compare the library's built-in reverb with some algorithmic spaciousness.

Then we revisit Traveler! Version 1.1 fixes the big wavetable-workflow frustrations from my previous review: now I can point it at my existing KRC Mathwaves folders without duplicating gigabytes of content. Cue polygonal bells, Morlet wavelet vowels, and a much happier Keith. We also try MiniFreak V's new user-wavetable import. It's great to have it, but I've got opinions about the workflow, the effects, and whether the software version floats my boat.

Finally, we explore my Liminal Space 2 RC6 reverb for macOS and Windows: MIDIverb II-inspired Bloom sounds, reverse-style swells, ACTUAL reversed audio, and instant imaginary Cocteau Twins guitar with Native Instruments' Electric Sunburst Deluxe. We build Bloom effects on piano, shape them with curves and wavetables, and explore Reverse Capture's Diffuse and Clear modes. Then we get dark and wobbly with Clockwarp and the new Vulture 224 filter, inspired by Alex at Vulture Culture. Woot!

Disclosure: Authentic Soundware kindly supplied Space Age Strings; this is not paid placement. I purchased Traveler myself. Liminal Space 2 and KRC Mathwaves are my own products. Liminal Space 2 is demonstrated in RC6; the RC7 Follow feature is teased for a future video."

You can find wavetables and additional resources by Keith Crosley available at https://www.wavetables.lol.

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Drone | Serge La Bestia 3, Siegfried & Medusa

video upload by Akihiko Matsumoto

"Reverb: AethelVerb https://akihikomatsumoto.sellfy.store...
A deep bloom reverb for building large, smooth, slowly expanding ambient spaces.

Serge Modular Synth (Sample Pack) https://akihikomatsumoto.sellfy.store...
This collection documents a complete system built by Random Source, based on the architecture of the Serge Modular Synthesizer. It is not a stylistic imitation. It is a direct capture of a signal philosophy that has shaped experimental electronic music for decades."

Oberheim OB-12 Ambient Sounds – "Ambient Exploration" 54 Programs

video upload by Synth Cloud

"▬▬▬ Download Link ▬▬▬▬
🚀 https://www.synthonia.com/marketplace...
📩 Mail: info@synthonia.com

Ambient Exploration for Oberheim OB-12 is a custom sound bank featuring 54 Programs created for ambient, cinematic and atmospheric electronic music.

This demo presents a smooth and musical side of the Oberheim OB-12, with sounds focused on deep ambient pads, evolving textures, airy layers, soft choir-like tones, cinematic colors and melodic soundscapes.

The collection is designed for players and producers who want the OB-12 to deliver spacious, emotional and performance-ready sounds without moving into extreme FX-only programming. The bank keeps a coherent ambient identity while offering warm pads, darker atmospheres, vocal-style textures, motion-based sounds and wide synth layers.

Reverb, delay and modulation are used to create depth and movement, giving each Program a more immersive character for chords, slow melodic parts, soundtrack cues, ambient passages and experimental electronic arrangements.

Ambient Exploration is a focused sound bank for Oberheim OB-12 users who want a more expressive, spacious and cinematic ambient palette."

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Tunary Instruments Releases Cinematic Soundscape Collection

video upload by Tunary Instruments

Best on headphones. "Every sound in this video was made with four Tunary instruments: VRESK, DRUSK, NIVREN and SILT."

via Tunary Instruments

THREE INSTRUMENTS FOR SCORING SPACE, TEXTURE & MOOD

Deep drones, sculpted grains and self-playing glacial beds. Three sound-design instruments made for film, games and ambient music — the sound under a scene, not the tune on top. Buy one, or take all three.

Additional details on each:

VRESK — Drone, Texture & SFX Engine

VRESK holds one sound and lets you move through it.

A drone, texture and sound-design engine: nine different machines under one set of hands, with two reverb spaces built in. Turn the big ROOT knob and the whole voice moves. Everything else colours it.

Nine engines on a 3 by 3 grid. Two oscillators for rings, folds and hard metal. Four wavetable voices for stacks, swarms and crushed digital. Eight partials for beating clusters, quantised chords and noise-struck metal. The knobs stay the same across all nine, and each engine reads them differently, so one panel is really nine instruments.

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The Genius of the Macro Oscillator feat. Korg Minilogue

video upload by Bloom Music

"Donald Jordan discusses the macro oscillator and how it's an underrated gem of modern synthesis."

Intro: 00:00
A Brief History: 02:56
The Birth of the Macro Oscillator: 04:15
Sound Examples: 06:52
Wrap Up: 17:48

Korg Minilogue User Oscillators and Effects (NO TALKING)

video upload by Bloom Music

"Donald Jordan showcases Logue SDK user oscillators and effects.

All synth sounds in this video were made with the Minlogue XD, with no external effects or processing.

Here is a list of all of the user oscillators and effects in this video, even the ones I didn't call out.
Please support these creators!

OSCILLATORS:

Warped - https://ghosttime.itch.io/ghost-time-...

Beast - https://www.platinumaudiolab.com/beast

JPBOOO - https://edouard.digital/jp-booo/

PULSAW - https://blog.boochow.com/logue/pulsaw

Alpha1 - https://blog.boochow.com/logue/alpha1

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Minimal Audio Current 50 Atmospheric Arp Presets. Sound Demo

video upload by Anton Anru

✨ "Dreaming Motion" is a bank of 50 Arp Presets for Minimal Audio Current 2, combining warm analog-inspired sounds with soft and airy atmospheres.
The collection moves between retro synth character, subtle analog imperfections, dreamy textures, and spacious evolving arpeggios, giving the bank both nostalgic and modern sides.

📦 The download link: https://antonanru.sellfy.store/p/curr...
👤 The author of the soundset is Ilian.

🎛️ Each preset features 4 Macros for shaping the sound, while the Modwheel adds additional movement and expression.
The macros are a significant part of the soundset. They can change tone, stereo width, modulation depth and rate, noise level, distortion, detuning, space/echo/reverb, effects mix, envelope parameters, and others.
You may control them via MIDI controller, use them for automation, or map the macros to your DAW modulators like LFO, Shaper, and others.

📻 The patches are perfect for Electronica, Synthwave, Ambient, IDM, Downtempo, Melodic Techno, Chillout, and experimental electronic music.

🎹 All Arps are designed in either C Major or C Minor, following Current 2’s tonal Arp system. This makes the presets easy to use while keeping their harmonic character consistent. You can change the Scale in the lower right corner of the synthesizer to the one used in your track.

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Hermetic Modular - Launch Announcement - New Open Source Eurorack Manufacture

video upload by Hermetic Modular

"Introducing a new modular synthesis company. Shipping early July.

Hermeticmodular.com

Open source!

Thank you to Victory Nguyen for performing, Justin Benjamin for the good camera work (all bad camera work should be attributed to me), and Greg Dixon for some of the excellent sound design demos."

How do you test 36,700 LEDs?

video upload by Hermetic Modular

"Run a burn in test! Enjoy 10 minutes of the uninterrupted test - an important step in the QA process. This runs for a minimum of five hours per board.

Proper eurorack LED ring pot feedback.

And all 3060 of these LEDs pictured passed :)

Music credit to @adamwonak on IG - "abstract" from 202606 on Bandcamp now."

ECHOA STEREO DUAL DELAY AND REVERB PROCESSOR

Four delay lines total — two per stereo channel. Morph delay into reverb from first principles, from clean digital delay to smeared, textured reflections. Route the four lines in series, parallel, isolation, or spectrally. Presets, parameter lock on every pot, character engines, and more.

TIME
Delay time from 1 ms to 16 seconds, up to four taps per delay line, configurable for your sound design. Feedback up to and past unity, and a dry/wet mix per channel. Freeze delay buffers, set tempo with tap on the line buttons, or patch a clock and lock each line to a musical division. Linear or logarithmic time taper options: a full featured, clean delay line.

SPACE
Bend echoes into reverb. Diffusion sweeps a four-stage Schroeder all-pass network from discrete repeats to a wash. Bloom grows short, fixed loops into long modulated plate and hall tails. Damping is bipolar from noon — counter-clockwise darkens the tail, clockwise thins and brightens it.

ENGINE
Degrade each line's voice across with four engines — digital, BBD, tape, vinyl. Saturation, bandwidth limiting, compander, wow and flutter, hiss, crackle, digital glitches. Depth scales from bit-pristine bypass, to a gentle touch of character, to destruction.

CONFIGURABLE FOR PERFORMANCE ROUTING
Parallel, series, mono, or spectral delay-line topologies.

CV MAPPING
Per-CV destination, with attenuverters on every input.

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Modular Synth & Dave Smith Tempest

video upload by the nightwater

"Fun jam starting with my modular using the Qu-Bit Bloom to sequence Surface. Some additional sounds from the Roland Juno 60 and the Korg Monopoly. Drums are the Dave Smith Tempest. Bass is the Moog Mother 32. Effects from the GFI Specular Tempus, Strymon Bigsky Reverb, & the Hologram Microcosm.

Please check out my music here:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/43pG4...
Apple: / the-nightwater
Soundcloud: / thenightwater
Bandcamp: https://thenightwater.bandcamp.com/"

Benjolin & Ableton Octa Comb

video upload by Akihiko Matsumoto

"Benjolin Modular Synth (Sample Pack)
https://akihikomatsumoto.sellfy.store...
Bringing Harmony to the Edge of Sound
Octa Comb was created in response to a growing gap in experimental music. While modular synthesis and advanced DSP have opened new territories, much of the resulting sound remains inaccessible to broader audiences. Octa Comb offers an alternative path by transforming even abrasive or chaotic material into tonal, resonant textures.


Eight Filters, Infinite Resonance
At its core are eight finely tuned comb filters, capable of extracting pitch content from any audio input. Whether you are working with field recordings, dense modular patches, or raw noise, Octa Comb reshapes the material into harmonic structures that can be eerie, beautiful, or otherworldly.

Control Through Simplicity
Sound shaping is streamlined. Dial in the desired amount of feedback and feedforward. Then choose eight pitch points. Build dissonance, stack chords, or align to your favorite scale. No menu diving, no cryptic modulation paths—just direct and musical interaction.

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Benjolin & Ableton Octa Comb

video upload by Akihiko Matsumoto

"Benjolin Modular Synth (Sample Pack)
https://akihikomatsumoto.sellfy.store...
Bringing Harmony to the Edge of Sound
Octa Comb was created in response to a growing gap in experimental music. While modular synthesis and advanced DSP have opened new territories, much of the resulting sound remains inaccessible to broader audiences. Octa Comb offers an alternative path by transforming even abrasive or chaotic material into tonal, resonant textures.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Ocean Swift releases Tyrian Tine - Free Unstable Chime Engine for Kontakt Player

video uploads by Ocean Swift / Faxi Nadu

"Ocean Swift announces the release of Tyrian Tine - a FREE compact, yet potent Kontakt NKS instrument for generating unique, randomized bell and chime tones. Its asymmetric dual-layer engine pairs a wavetable oscillator - with purposeful instability, morphing, and controlled randomization - with a sample oscillator curated from bells, kalimbas, music boxes, and other metallic oddities. The result ranges from crystalline fantasy tintinnabulation to gritty, bronze-like strikes and haloed sci-fi swells.

Tyrian Tine lives where chapel glass meets starship hulls. Play a note and bells bloom like constellations; strikes flare, then drift into haloed swells that hang in the air like omens. It feels less like triggering samples and more like waking a signal - intimate one moment, cathedral-wide the next, always poised on the edge of a story. Tyrian Tine doesn’t just make bells - it sketches scenes: ruined kingdoms, cold moons, quiet victories."

You can find additional info and the free download at https://oceanswift.net/product/tyrian-tine/.

NOVATION MININOVA / ULTRANOVA ♫ 48 Custom Sounds ► AMBIENT EXPLORATION V1

video upload by Synth Cloud

"▬▬▬ Download Link ▬▬▬▬
🚀 AMBIENT EXPLORATION V1: https://www.synthonia.com/marketplace...
📩 Mail: info@synthonia.com

Ambient Exploration V1 – Patch Collection for Novation Ultranova / Mininova

Ambient Exploration V1 is a complete sound pack of 48 custom-designed patches for the Novation Ultranova / Mininova.
This collection has been carefully programmed to explore the full potential of the synth, offering a wide spectrum of sounds that blend atmosphere, movement and expressiveness.

Inside you’ll find lush pads, textured soundscapes, evolving arpeggios and sequences, dreamlike keys and chords, as well as expressive leads and synth tones. Each patch has been shaped with a focus on musical usability, providing both instant playability and room for personal expression through performance controls.

The sound design is oriented toward creating depth and emotion, making Ambient Exploration V1 a versatile toolset for ambient music, film scoring, downtempo, electronic productions, and experimental projects. Whether you are building vast soundscapes, adding subtle harmonic layers, or searching for inspiring lead sounds, this pack is designed to enrich your creative process."

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Introducing MESS - Multi-Effect Step Sequencer Pedal From Polyend

video uploads by Polyend

Polyend MESS: A sequenceable multi effects pedal

video upload by David Hilowitz Music




"MESS combines a powerful multi-track step sequencer with effects brimming with Polyend character – from classic modulation, delay or reverb to experimental effects never before seen in pedal form. With four fully customizable effect tracks, craft ambient soundcapes, intricate glitch sequences or even a familiar four effect chain – all moving in sync.

4 Effect Tracks
Combine four effects for every preset to create your own unique multi-effect. No limits are placed on what effect each track contains. Run a reverb into a delay or a spectralizer into two bitcrushers and create vibrant tones, suitable for any instrument.

125 Stereo Effects
Want a specralized micro-looping effect with randomized repeats? A time-shifting chorus into a reverb that slowly gets darker over time or simply a traditional modulation, delay, and Reverb chain? With over 120 effects to assign to the four tracks, MESS opens the door to the unexpected.

Why Sequence?
MESS has the sequencer power expected from a Polyend instrument. Control per-track speed and length to create polyrhythmic or polymetric sequences or use chance options to easily create complex generative effects that never sound the same twice. Instantly add movement and musicality to any effect. Reverbs bloom, delays evolve rhythmically, and modulations shift in sync with your tempo.

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Introducing: Bloom v2

video upload by Qu - Bit

"Our fractal sequencer has blossomed into something new, yet familiar. Follow along as we take a quick look at the new and improved Qu-Bit Bloom v2, a 3-channel, 64 steps per channel CV and gate sequencer with a whole lot of tricks up its sleeve!

Pre-Orders are now available. Shipping everywhere May 27, 2025!"

Check with dealers on the right for availability.

Update: press release follows:

Qu-Bit Electronix readily reimagines mainstay sequencer as Bloom v2 with additional features and configurability compared to predecessor

SAN CLEMENTE, CA, USA: Q-Bit Electronix, acclaimed as a California-based modular synthesis brand behind the likes of Data Bender, Nebulae, Stardust, and other premier Eurorack modules, is proud to announce availability of the Daisy platform-based Bloom v2 — readily reimagining its mainstay sequencer as a multi-channel fractal formulation offering an abundance of additional features and configurability compared to its predecessor in ways that its creators collectively could not have hitherto imagined, yet perfectly aligns with an already established ethos of turning a knob and creating musical magic — as of June 18…

As a three-channel, 64-step CV and gate sequencer at its roots, Bloom v2 provides all the bread and butter controls considered necessary for creating a catchy, melodic sequence. Saying that, though, a quick push through the ‘leaves’ — like a tree, the enhanced Eurorack module in question features up to 128 different paths from the eight-step ‘trunk’ sequence’s seven ‘branches’ (taking those eight steps up to 64) to reach those ‘leaves’ and allow everything to musically bloom — reveals just how impressive its available array of controls actually are. After all, Bloom v2 lets users dial in any and allsequence data on a per-step basis — not just the note pitch. Put it this way: while it is perfectly possible to set gate state and length, slew amount, and ratchet amount — read: real (clock-synchronised) ratcheting, no less, users can also allow Bloom v2 to generate any aspect of the sequence by pushing the new reseed button, effectively dice-rolling the sequence for a fresh new take with each push of that button!

“Bloom was really the beginning of our foray into Qu-Bit’s new design ethos, whereby the module can take the wheel and generate beautiful music, if you want it to.” So says Qu-Bit Electronix Co-Founder Andrew Ikenberry by way of an alluring opener, before going on to reveal, “There was so much we wanted to do with the first Bloom, but couldn’t due to the hardware limitations of the time; now, with the Daisy platform, flexible USB port, and bespoke sequence editor, we really feel like Bloom v2 is the de facto Qu-Bit sequencer!”

And advancements have clearly been made above and beyond Bloom. Outside of having an additional channel and double the step length for sequences, Bloom v2 can save and load sequences — and their ‘branches’ — to and from a connected USB drive. Taking things several steps further, Qu-Bit Electronix has gone so far as to integrate a web-based sequence editor on Narwhal (https://narwhal.qubitelectronix.com/), its settings web app, where users can edit every aspect of a sequence — even editing the branch steps, so they can access a fully-programmable 512-step sequence — as well as setting a host of preferential behaviours and settings. Since sequences can be saved as individual files, users can share their sequences with other Bloom v2 users, adding the potential for a rich community of sequence-builders.

Eagle-eyed users of Qu-Bit Electronix’s original fractal sequencer Eurorack module will, without doubt, first become aware of a change brought about by Bloom v2’s updated layout, irrespective of its impressive new features. For instance, the main sequence encoders are now in a horizontal arrangement, with an intricate arboreal pattern weaving between each step. Furthermore, front panel artwork also acts as an eye-catching reference by illuminating which ‘Tune Mode’ the step encoders are using, with five different step editing modes currently available — namely, Note Pitch (illuminated in blue), Gate Length (green), Slew Amount (orange), Ratchet Amount (purple), and Mod Output (white).

Worth noting is the fact that the three channels on Bloom v2 each sport a new output — labelled mod 1, mod 2, and mod 3, respectively — as a CV modulation-focused affair that is fully sequence-able alongside the (self-explanatory) gate 1, gate 2, and gate 3, plus note 1, note 2, and note 3 outputs of the two other channels. But better still, there are three different output modes to choose from when working with those new outputs, Shapes being the default mod output as an LFO shape-builder mode, whereby each step can output a unique LFO shape or ratcheted variant of that shape, allowing usersto build complex modulation strings that are synchronised with the ‘trunk’ sequence; Envelope mode outputs a simple AD (Attack Decay) envelope with per-step peak control; and Stepped Voltage mode outputs a fixed voltage per step between 0V and +5V, perfect for velocity or stereo pan sequencing.

But Bloom v2’s sequences are not just outputted as voltages. Thanks to the new MIDI output and included TRS-to-MIDI cable, it can drive any MIDI-equipped device with its fractal power, and, at the same time, an onboard USB port allows it to become a MIDI host. Try transposing the sequence with a chromatic keyboard or triggering full pattern swaps on the fly with a MIDI controller.

Concludes Andrew Ikenberry: “Bloom v2 really opens up generative sequencing in a whole new way. Indeed, it can be random, while surprisingly intriguing and musical, and I’m excited to share this new evolution of our sequencer with the modular community.”

Clearly, then, Bloom v2 is evolutionary, hitting all the sweet spots as a creative sequencer with its immediacy and fine-tuning abilities all rolled neatly and imaginatively into an 18HP-width Eurorack module that adds a handful of requested additions as well as a few unexpected but game-changing new features. Furthermore, it is future-proofed by being based on the easily-updatable Daisy platform, so Q-Bit Electronix will continue tending their readily reimagined mainstay sequencer while watching how Bloom v2 blossoms throughout the modular community, members of which who can continually content themselves with planting the seeds of their next patch in the meantime.

Bloom v2 is available worldwide from Qu-Bit Electronix’s growing global network of distributors (https://www.qubitelectronix.com/distributors) with an MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) of $499.00 USD or directly via its dedicated webpage (which includes more in-depth information) here: https://www.qubitelectronix.com/shop/p/bloom-v2

Create Ambient Tracks with SpaceBlender

video upload by soundtoys

Follow-up to this post. Two new videos and the official press release below.

"With SpaceBlender, you can quickly and easily turn any sound into a massive musical ambience. In this example you’ll hear three simple sources and three SpaceBlender presets – without any other plugins or automation."

SpaceBlender - Preset Audio Examples

video upload by soundtoys

"In this video, we add SpaceBlender to a variety of sources — cello, guitar, vocals, drums, and more —and use different presets to showcase the plug-in’s power and versatility.

Get SpaceBlender FREE through May 22, 2025. Only at www.soundtoys.com.

00:00 - Cello
02:00 - Pedal Steel Guitar
03:19 - Door Closing SFX
03:49 - Electric Guitar Harmonics
05:05 - Vocal
06:43 - Drum Machine
07:09 - Piano
09:06 - Saxophone"

Press release follows:


Soundtoys Releases New SpaceBlender Plug-in

Free for a limited time only – a $99 value

BURLINGTON, VT – Renowned pro audio effects creator Soundtoys proudly announces the release of SpaceBlender, an experimental reverb that lets you create unreal and imaginary spaces – shapes, textures,and tones otherwise impossible in the real world. Inspired by the pioneers of ambient music, with their extensive use of layered tape loops and delays, SpaceBlender is designed to create massive waves of lush, organic, and evolving spatial effects.

SpaceBlender is available now at soundtoys.com for free – a $99 value – through May 22. Sign up to claim this offer.

Whether enhancing a track’s sense of space or creating dynamic, evolving effects, SpaceBlender is a fun and intuitive tool for sound designers, musicians, and producers looking for creative yet easy-to-use spatial processing.

“We’ve been exploring new ways to build an algorithmic reverb – something with the creative flexibility of convolution and the richness, depth, and soul of classic hardware devices,” said Ken Bogdanowicz, CEO and founder of Soundtoys.

“SpaceBlender is the first product of this research, and we’ve tried to make it easy to play with ‘space’ in a fun and musical way. We’re excited to hear what people create with it.”

Key features of SpaceBlender include:

● Interactive control – move between gate, reverse, decay, and bloom reverb shapes and everything
in-between, in real time.

● Visualizer – see your sound move through the reverb shape as you adjust its sonic envelope.

● Simple control of spectral evolution; reverbs can get darker or brighter over time.
● Deeply embedded modulation creates rich, constantly moving ambient effects.

● Smoothly change the reverb texture from dense and lush to sparse and grainy.

● Extreme range from super short 100-millisecond nonlinear effects to absurdly long 60-second meditations.

The free SpaceBlender offer is valid only at soundtoys.com through May 22, 2025. SpaceBlender will be available for purchase from authorized resellers worldwide on May 23. Learn about Soundtoys’ system requirements and host compatibility.

Gem PK4900 SoulXperience feat. Gem WS2 drum & Gem WX2 Harmony Bloom bassline sequence

LiveJam video upload by VSMI - Vintage Synths Made in Italy

"Gem PK4900 (1980 Strings/Brass/Poly-Mono Synthesizer) Made in Italy by GEM (General Electro Music) based in Mondaino in the first hills close to Rimini. Also know as GEM Polytron & Monotron Synthesizer. Distribuited by CSD Consolidated Sales Division - Saludecio.

Gem WS2 drum pattern play by Patterning Ipad app
Gem WX2 bassline play by Harmony Bloom app"

Fairlight CMI IIX 1982 - Original

Note: links to listings are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this listing

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Minimalism for Modular #5: Hans Otte's Book of Sounds

video upload by Electrum Modular

"An introduction to the ethereal music of Hans Otte, via a modular interpretation of two parts (2 and 7) from his Book of Sounds (1979-82).

Also contains several ideas for generative/aleatory sequencing in a modular system: in particular, decoupling pitch and gate, combining a multi-channel sample player (Disting EX) with a sequencer that has per-step gate outputs (0-Ctrl), and using a series of probabilistic gates (Missed Opportunities) to distribute/alternate pitch variations.

0:00 Introduction
1:41 First patch (Book of Sounds, part 7)
6:28 Second patch (Book of Sounds, part 2)

For those new to Hans Otte’s music, I would recommend his own rendition of The Book of Sounds:



And this 1995 album, Aquarian Music: • Siebengesang (Seven-Song)

PSP Pianoverb free download: https://www.pspaudioware.com/products...



Alexander Holm's Salamander Grand Piano, downsized by j_e_f_f_g, and reformatted for the Disting: https://app.box.com/s/rxl1nz0zv5hl62c...

A special thank you to Silvia Otte, for generously providing the photographs of her late father.

'Le Sacrifice: Introduction' from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, played by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski (78rpm record, His Master's Voice, 1939):
https://archive.org/details/78_first-...

Processed through a bandpass filter, with frequency boost around 3mHZ, and combined with filtered white noise, etc. to create the vintage radio effect

Images of Hans Otte’s “On Earth” (Edition Kölnischer Kunstverein II):
https://archive.org/details/cd_editio...

Sources:
Amy C. Beal, American Experimental Music in West Germany from the Zero Hour to Reunification (University of California Press, 2006) – in particular, for the reference to Otte’s wartime experience.
Ingo Ahmels, Hans Otte: Klang Der Klänge (Schott Musik International, 2006)

Modules used:
Expert Sleepers' Disting EX and Disting Mk4
QuBit Bloom
Dnipro's Metamorph
Cutelab’s Missed Opportunities
Tesseract’s Sweet Sixteen Faderbank
Tesseract’s Step Fader II
ALM's Pamela's New Workout
ALM’s MFX
Doepfer’s Sequential Switch (A-151)
Low Gain Electronic’s Shortbus
Intellijel’s Quad VCA
Behringer Neutron
Make Noise’s 0-Ctrl"

Mastering Feedback: The Art of Sonic Chaos | Audrey II Synthesizer

video upload by Synthux Academy

"Feedback. Some avoid it at all costs. Others find the most haunting, electrifying sounds hidden within the noise. In this video, we explore how controlled feedback can be transformed from an unwanted screech into a powerful musical tool. Using the Audrey II synthesizer, we’ll show you how to capture, shape, and unleash feedback to create everything from eerie soundscapes to rich, sustained tones. Perfect for musicians and sound designers looking to push the boundaries of their craft—discover how feedback can add a whole new dimension to your music."

via Synthux Academy

"Audrey II is a horrorscape synthesizer designed for fearless exploration of feedback. Unpredictable yet compelling, it transforms chaotic sound into immersive soundscapes. From deep, haunting drones to screeching, otherworldly tones, Audrey II is a sonic beast like no other.

FEEDBACK SYNTHESIS?

What is feedback, really? It’s that magical moment when sound loops on itself, evolving into something wild. With Audrey II, we’re taking feedback to the next level using Karplus-Strong synthesis—a fancy term for turning short bursts of noise into rich, self-sustaining tones. Think digital strings, but way cooler.

DIGITAL WITCHCRAFT

Some say analog is the only way to get that sound… We were surprised too when we heard the first burst of noise coming through our headphones. That warmth, the grit, the unpredictability—it was all there. But here’s the twist: Audrey II is 100% digital, running on the almighty Daisy Seed platform.

Built from the ground up to emulate analog chaos, digital bits power every nuance of Audrey II’s feedback, distortion, and reverb-drenched echoes. It’s pure digital magic that doesn’t just imitate analog—it embraces and amplifies it. What you hear isn’t just a close approximation; it’s a whole new breed of sound that pushes digital synthesis into uncharted territory.

PRISTINE SOUND

Powered by the Daisy Seed microcontroller, Audrey II delivers 96kHz / 24-bit audio with the speed of an ARM Cortex-M7 at 480MHz. Equipped with 64MB of SDRAM, it handles complex feedback, drones, and effects seamlessly, pushing digital synthesis into rich, analog-like territory.

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Minimalism for Modular #3: Arvo Part

video upload by Electrum Modular

"There’s a tintinnabuli option hidden in Disting EX’s 'chord engine' algorithm, and it’s led me down the Arvo Part rabbit hole. Here are some ideas on how his unique and beautiful approach to music might be implemented in a modular system.

0:00 Fur Alina
2:31 Arvo Part-inspired piece

This latter piece is inspired by Part’s 'My Heart is in the Highlands' (2000). My favorite version is on this stunning album of guitar renditions of Arvo Part:
https://gunterherbig.bandcamp.com/alb...

NOTE: Although Arvo Part has never called himself a minimalist, and not all music critics embrace the term “Holy Minimalism,” I’m including him in this series on the basis of his return to tonality and to simple processes.

TECHNICAL NOTES FOR DISTING EX USERS:
For tintinnabuli, set the 'Chord Engine' parameters as follows:
7: operation mode: chord
8: harmony mode: SATB
19: Cantus firmus: alto (but here, it’s set to bass; experiment!)
20: Position: select your T-voice (closest or second closest note; above or below)

NOTE: You might be wondering what Disting Mk4 is doing in this patch! It is set to 'Euro to Buchla Converter' (updated version), to convert Bloom’s 0-5V output to the 0-10V needed for Step Fader’s cv inputs. I just realized how useful this algo is for scaling cv!

OTHER IDEAS FOR IMPLEMENTING TINTINNABULI IN YOUR MODULAR PATCHES:
1. For the M-voice, choose a 'pitch center' that is NOT the root of the T-voice triad
2. Try a different scale or chord
3. Try a lower or higher T-voices ('2nd position, superior/inferior' – or -2/+2)
4. Transpose your T-voice up or down an octave
5. Introduce a second M-voice, transposed up an octave and a third
6. Try a different sequencing of T- and M-voice (e.g., a rest in between them; or have the M-voice precede the T-voice, as in Variationen zur gesundung von Arinuschka)
7. Assign a different timbre to each voice

READING
I’ve found these books particularly useful:
Paul Hillier, Arvo Part (1997)
Leopold Brauneiss and Saale Kareda, ed., Arvo Part in Conversation (2012)
Andrew Shenton, ed., Cambridge Companion to Arvo Part (2012)"