Scramble your patches - with Tesseract's new module!

video upload by Electrum Modular

"Tesseract Modular sent me their new module, Smith, to review. it’s an 8 x 8 precision-buffered matrix, with trigger/cv control and presets, and it can handle audio, cv, and even pitch cv.

Here are four ideas for using Smith to shake up your patches:
1:22 Percussion scrambler
4:10 Melodic shuffler
7:03 Modulation jumbler
10:37 Module permutation

'Agent Smith' digital art by Hersson Piratoba
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nossreh..."

Of cyclotrons and sequencers: recreating a 1974 “probability controller” in Eurorack

video upload by Electrum Modular

"This is the first video in a new series exploring the University of Iowa’s Electronic Music Studio. In addition to presenting its historic instruments (including a 1968 Moog IIIP with custom-made modules), and the famous musicians who have used them, these videos will extrapolate ideas to use in your own modular systems. This episode examines a unique random sequencer that was developed in 1974 by Paul Dingman, an electrical engineering student at Iowa. It then shows how it might be recreated using the third lane ('time') on Make Noise’s 0-Ctrl. NOTE: several other Eurorack sequencers also have this feature, as indeed does the Moog’s own 960 sequential controller; alternatively, use an LFO to clock any sequencer and patch the sequencer’s second lane/channel (if it has one) back into that LFO’s frequency input.

0:00 University of Iowa's Electronic Music Studio
0:42 Introducing Dingman's Probability Controller
1:58 Demonstrating the Probability Controller
3:50 Recreating the Probability Controller in Eurorack

My new album:



CREDITS

Thanks to Paul Dingman for answering my questions over Zoom.

Film sequences:
'Atom Smashers' (Encyclopaedia Britannica Films in collaboration with the Division of the Physical Sciences and the Institute of Nuclear Studies at the University of Chicago, 1952)

'The Meaning of Time In Science' (Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, d. Kent Smith, 1973); both archive.org

Portrait of Peter Tod Lewis: https://composers.com/collections/pet...

Music: Peter Tod Lewis, 'Gestes II' (1974), from the Mnemothèque Internationale des Arts Electroacoustiques (University of North Texas Music Library). Program notes for an EMS concert on April 13, 1979, described “Gestes II” as “the generation of musical gestures through coordinated operation of sequential controllers programmed to produce a large but finite collection of voltages, controlling variously oscillators, amplifiers, and filters” (University of Iowa Music Library)."

New ADDAC 511 Stochastic Voltage Generator

Chance music: from dice to Addac's Stochastic Voltage Generator

video upload by Electrum Modular

"Addac sent me over their latest module: the Stochastic Voltage Generator. It inspired me to delve into the eccentric history of stochastic (or aleatory or chance) music, from Mozart to Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Iannis Xenakis -- and from Buchla, Moog, and Arp to Eurorack.

The accompanying patch is inspired by Feldman's graphic scores (especially the early "Projections" scores). David Cline's detailed book, The Graph Music of Morton Feldman (Cambridge University Press, 2016), was crucial to understanding Feldman's scores and his complicated relationship to indeterminacy."

Controlled chaos : ADDAC 511 - Stochastic Voltage Generator

video upload by Audiorial

☕ Me soutenir :
✅https://payhip.com/Audiorial
✅Tuto sampling complet : https://payhip.com/b/PO0fq

THE MOST FLEXIBLE VOLTAGE GENERATOR | ADDAC System - ADDAC511 VC Stochastic Voltage Generator

video upload by DANIELE

"This is ADDAC511 by ADDAC System, a fully fledged 4 channel voltage generator capable of all things random, with quantization, probability, distribution, interpolation, time control, clock, states and a 32 step sequencer!"

0:00 Intro
0:26 Overview
1:10 Main screen and buttons
1:36 Channel selection, holds and mutes
2:40 States and their secondary functions
4:51 Voltage screen
6:50 Probability screen
7:38 Quantization screen
9:19 Voltage distribution screen
10:32 Gate out screen
11:52 Smooth screen
13:50 Lock screen
16:26 Time screen
17:24 Time divisions screen
18:15 Clock screen
20:08 CV and logic screen
21:28 Presets screen
21:50 Menu screen
22:40 Patch 1
24:25 Patch 2
25:57 Patch 3

Check with dealers on the right for availability.

"At ADDAC System we love all sources of unpredictability be it by randomness or signal complexity. This module greatly expands on the principles of our ADDAC501 Complex Random from 2013.

This is a fully fledged 4 channel voltage generator capable of all things random, with quantization, probability, distribution, interpolation, time control, clock, states and a 32 step sequencer.

The module panel features a screen for parameter editing, and each button offers access to a single page of changeable parameters. This allows for a fast and fluid workflow across all settings so users can focus on their music. The combination of two encoders along with push buttons allow swift navigation and editing across all pages and their respective settings.

FEATURES

4 independent channels with bipolar CV / Gate outputs and Clock Input that allow all things random.

Each channel can be set to generate either continuous Voltages, Envelopes or as a Quantizer.

Controls over Voltage Range, Quantization with custom scales, Probability, Distribution curves and Smoothing, plus time and bpm ranges, time distribution curves and several clock sources.

A 32 step sequencer per channel that can work completely independent or in sync.

Mutes and Holds per channel.

3 States per channel allow very fast settings changes, from smooth to drastic transitions.

8 Assignable CV inputs and 4 Gate inputs can be internally mapped to any setting of any channel.

3 configurable Logic / clock outputs allows complex logic events comparing different ins & outs or as clock outputs.

Average CV output of all 4 CV outputs. Easy VCO tuning available in the Menu.

Calibration and mapping of all 4 CV outputs is also allowed through the Menu"

CLICK FOR MORE »

small changes: pianola

video upload by Expert Sleepers

"We're delighted to announce 'pianola' by small changes.

small changes is the alter ego of Electrum Modular.

Their thoughtful and beautifully presented videos on modular synth composition have delighted us for some time, and their frequent use of the Expert Sleepers disting EX module made them an obvious choice for an Expert Sleepers label release.

'pianola' focusses specifically on Electrum Modular's interest in the work of minimalist composers, some well known and some less so.

Available in physical form as a limited edition cassette.

Each track on the album has its own video explaining the patch and compositional process in detail:

See Minimalism for Modular Electrum Modular for additional videos.

minimalism for modular #6: melodic expansion/contraction with pamela

video upload by Electrum Modular

"You don’t need a fancy sequencer to do minimalist-style additive sequencing. Here’s a trick that involves a module that’s in a lot of people’s racks: Pamela’s New Workout.
Also announcing my new album – 'pianola,' by 'small changes' (my artist name). It’s a collection of minimalist pieces produced on the modular, all featuring piano multisamples on the Disting EX. It’s now available on Bandcamp:"

Banyan: generative ambient through switching loops

video upload by Electrum Modular

"With Disting EX’s multiswitch algo (6 switches, each with 6 inputs and 4 outputs), you can generate long, melodic sequences with just three voltages. By placing the switches in parallel, so their inputs and outputs overlap, and by adding a few feedback loops, the sequence can get quite complex and unpredictable."

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"

minimalism for modular #4: sample + hold + phase

video upload by Electrum Modular

"Tiny changes over time are essential to minimalist (and ambient) pieces. This video demonstrates how to create gradually evolving sequences with a sequencer and a “sample and hold” that are NOT perfectly synchronized. Any sequencer and “sample and hold” will work! Detailed patch notes included.

The piano multisample is Alexander Holm's Salamander Grand Piano, downsized by j_e_f_f_g. I have reformatted the filenames so they work on a Disting - you can download them free from:
https://app.box.com/s/rxl1nz0zv5hl62c...

Modules used:
Expert Sleepers' Disting EX and Disting Mk4
QuBit Bloom
ALM's Pamela's New Workout
Dnipro's Metamorph
Alright Devices' Chronoblob
Intellijel's Scales"

Peaks & Troughs: Addac's Swell Physics (two patches)

video upload by Electrum Modular

"Exploring the new-ish module from Addac: Swell Physics. A brief explanation of the module, followed by two patches. Both rely heavily on stereo, so headphones recommended.

1:41 Ocean Bloom
5:09 White Squall

Addac sent me this module, but had no say over the content of this video.

Details and manual for Swell Physics:
https://www.addacsystem.com/en/produc...

John Luther Adams’s Become Ocean, premiered in 2013 by the Seattle Symphony under the baton of Ludovic Morlot: https://johnlutheradams.bandcamp.com/...

Source for info on Gerstner: J. B. Zirker, The Science of Ocean Waves: Ripples, Tsunamis, and Stormy Seas (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013) – very accessible, highly recommended!"

Also see NEW MODULE DAY | ADDAC System - ADDAC508 Swell Physics

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)"

Minimalism for Modular #2: Ann Southam's "Rivers"

video upload by Electrum Modular

"I’ve been playing Ann Southam’s exquisite pieces on the piano for a few months, and have been discovering lots of ideas in them that could be applied to a modular system.

This video is also a tribute to a composer who should be a household name like Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Terry Riley.

0:00 Introduction
1:07 Rivers 1st set
4:22 Rivers 2nd set
7:18 Rivers 3rd set

Previous video in this series: [posted here]
Earlier video on polychords on the Subharmonicon: [posted here]

A great starting point for those curious about Southam is Christina Petrowska-Quilico’s recording – amazingly, the only recording – of Rivers:

CLICK FOR MORE »

Minimalism for Modular #I: Additive Sequencing

Patches for minimalist music #I: additive sequencing video upload by Electrum Modular

"In this new series of videos, I’ll be applying the ideas and techniques of minimalist composers to modular synthesis.

First up: the linear additive process.

Modules used:
Tesseract’s Step Fader II
Expert Sleeper’s Disting EX
ALM’s MFX
ALM’s Pamela’s New Workout

Hapi/xylophone multisamples downloaded (free) from: https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2011...

I’m using Dan Warburton’s terms, from 'A Working Terminology for Minimal Music' (1988) http://www.paristransatlantic.com/mag..."

Switches (Eurorack sequencing without sequencers)

video upload by Electrum Modular

"A sequential switch is an essential utility for modular music-making. But Disting EX's multi-switch offers up to SIX switches that can be configured in multiple ways: bidrectional, sequential, random, ping-pong, etc. And each switch is essentially a double switch: it can alternate its inputs AND outputs. Best of all, these sequences can work separately but they can also work together, sharing the same inputs and outputs. Or you could create nested switches.
Here's an experiment with sending three switches to the same output, to create a longer melodic sequence.

Modules used:
Disting EX
ALM’s Pamela’s New Workout
Intellijel's Scales
Tesseract's Sweet Sixteen
Alright Devices' Chronoblob
Mutable Instruments' Plaits"

Generative ambient on the modular (Subharmonicon + Disting EX)

video upload by Electrum Modular

"An ambient piece featuring the Moog Subharmonicon’s sequencer with Disting EX’s multisample player. Detailed patch notes in the video.

Other modules used:
Dnipro's Metamorph
ALM’s Pamela’s New Workout
Mutable Instruments' Beads
Intellijel's Scales"

Inverted echoes (a modular patch idea)

video upload by Electrum Modular

"The aim here – besides trying out the TSNM as an expressive keyboard – was to generate an inverted echo, so that a descending melody comes back as an ascending one, or vice versa. (I stole this idea from Bach, who often used contrapuntal inversion, playing the theme “upside-down”).

Mutable Instruments’ Beads (in delay mode) is perfect for this, but any module with a long delay would work. The other crucial ingredient is a multi-channel mixer/attenuverter such as Make Noise Maths (here, I’m using Acid Rain’s Junction).

Other modules used:
Intellijel’s Bifold
Intellijel’s Dixie II+
Intellijel’s Scales
Shakmat’s Banshee Reach
ALM’s Pamela’s New Workout
ALM’s MFX
ALM’s Pip Slope
Make Noise Optomix
Bela Gliss
Doboz’s TSNM
Doepfer A 121-3
Mutable Instruments’ Plaits
ST Modular’s Shikensa
Befaco MixIV
Disting Mk4"

Performance sequencing

video upload by Electrum Modular

"Most Eurorack sequencers allow for some interaction during live performance - muting and unmuting steps or changing the sequence's length, direction etc. But typically the notes themselves remain fixed.
With the sequencer mode on Doboz's TSNM, you get something closer to live improvisation - almost like a looper.

Other modules used:
Intellijel’s Dixie II+
Shakmat’s Banshee Reach
ALM's Pamela's New Workout
ALM's MFX
Bela's Gliss
Intellijel's Bifold
Intellijel's Quad VCA
Acid Rain's Junction
Make Noise's Optomix
Mutable's Beads
Disting Mk4"

Buchla Music Easel in Eurorack!

video upload by Electrum Modular

"Unveiling of the Easel-esque system! Demonstration includes three patches, with notes on each."

Modules:
ST Modular SHIKENSA (1st post to feature one)
Intellijel Scales
ALM Pip Slope
ALM Pamela's Workout
Intellijel Dixie II+
Shakmat Banshee Reach
Intellijel Bifold
Make Noise Optomix
Synthrotek MIXIV
ART Junction (1st post to feature one)
Mutable Instruments Beads
ALM MFX
Doboz Touch Plate Controller & Gliss
Expert Sleepers Disting

Switches + Faders = Power Sequencer!

video upload by Electrum Modular

"I love my main sequencer (Qu-bit Bloom), but it doesn’t have cv control over sequence length, direction, clock rate, glide, etc.
Then I realized that I had two ingredients to build a more patch-programmable sequencer:
Disting’s Multi-Switch mode, which offers up to 6 customizable switches, and a fader bank, Tesseract Modular's Sweet Sixteen...

Further details in the patch notes

Other modules used:

Shakmat's Banshee Reach
Intellijel's Dixie II+
Mutable Instruments’ Beads
Make Noise Maths
Expert Sleepers’ Disting Ex
Pamela's New Workout
Quad VCA
Dnipro Metamorph
Alright Devices' Chronoblob
Doepfer A121-3 filter
ALM's MFX
Behringer Neutron"

Sonic sculptures (generative modular music)

video upload by Electrum Modular

"(For Paula)

This patch was inspired by hours (weeks?) of listening to Morton Feldman’s exquisite music. It ended up quite different harmonically from Feldman’s pieces, partly due to the limitations of a modular system. The envelope generators and attenuators required some tweaking to get that balance between repetition and divergence, revolving and evolving. In retrospect, I could have left longer silences between notes.
NOTE: no delay effect used here, as it would have reintroduced a pulse.

“Almost all of Feldman’s music is slow and soft. Only at first sight is this a limitation. I see it rather as a narrow door, to whose dimensions one has to adapt oneself (as in Alice in Wonderland) before one can pass through it into a state of being that is expressed in Feldman’s music. Only when one has become accustomed to the dimness of the light can one begin to perceive the richness and variety which is the material of the music...Feldman sees sounds as reverberating endlessly, never getting lost, changing their resonances as they die away, or rather not die away, but recede from our ears, and soft because softness is compelling, because an insidious invasion of our senses is more effective than a frontal attack.”” -- Cornelius Cardew, quoted by John Tilbury in “On Playing Feldman”

Video sequences from Works of Calder (d. Herbert Matter, 1950), an experimental film featuring a soundtrack by John Cage; available at archive.org.

Title image: Tentoonstelling Kinetische Plastiek Am. beeldhouwer Alexander Calder in Stedelij, Bestanddeelnr (October 2, 1969); creative commons.

Modules used:
Expert Sleepers’ Disting EX
Disting mk4
ALM’s Pamela’s New Workout
Behringer Neutron
ALM’s Pip Slope x2
Make Noise Maths
Intellijel Quad VCA
Tesseract’s Sweet Sixteen"

Interlocking hands: Minimalist generative piano (Qu-bit Bloom, Disting EX)

video upload by Electrum Modular

"Recently I’ve been playing minimalist pieces on the piano (Phillip Glass, Howard Skempton) that involve both polyrhythms and overlapping hands.
For this video, I transferred the idea to my modular system, splitting an F minor sixth chord across two sequencer channels, and clocking the channels at different rates (x2, x3).
The sequencer (Qu-bit Bloom) generates 64 variations on this pattern, a stage sequencer selects 12 of them, and a multisample player (Disting EX) performs them. Further details in the patch notes.

Other modules used:
Disting mk4
Dnipro Metamorph
ALM’s Pamela’s New Workout
Doepfer sequential switch"