Video:
Live visuals using Body of the Prey (1967) from Archive.org
Video microscope
Sony ZV1
Roland V1-HD
@entropyandsons Recursion Studio
Resolume Avenue
Recorded with Rodecaster Video
Dark ambient audiovisual stuff: https://abreojos.net
Buran - Ableton Push 3 standalone & Eurorack Modular live set up walk thru
Two videos:
1. Buran - Ableton Push 3 standalone & Eurorack Modular live set up walk thru
First gig in a while so I've been thinking about what set up to use and here it is. Come for a wander down the hardware road to see how I am putting this all together, making the modular and Push 3 be friends, module choice, and the why of the set up.
00:00 Intro jam 01:25 Intro ramble & the why 05:28 The Push set up 29:40 The modular overview 31:13 1U MIDI + system clock 35:45 Expert Sleepers ES-10 42:34 Kickain & Perkons Voice 47:33 Kint (Plaits) & Atom (Elements) 53:27 VHIKK-X 58:22 Plasmavoice 1:05:41 Dust of Time 1:13:24 Multigrain
2. Buran - Live visuals video hardware set up walk thru
First gig in a while so I've been thinking about what set up to use and here it is. Come for a wander down the hardware road to see how I am putting this all together. This is the video side of things and the why of the set up.
00:00 Intro ramblings 03:31 Rodecaster Video 06:32 iPad, Sony ZV1, Video Microscope 16:55 Video capture cards 19:28 Recursion Studio & V1-HD 23:55 Nanocontrol MIDI 28:12 Resolume Avenue
NI Maschine+ Eurorack Modular: Forge TME VHIKK-X @knobula_synths Kickain @Endorphines Ghost\Golden Master @EricaSynths Perkons Voice @DivKid DivSkip @intellijel Multigrain 1010 Bluebox Eurorack ALM Pamelas New Workout Novation LaunchControl XL for MIDI control of 1010 Bluebox @NoiseEngineering Cursus Iteritas Alia
Live visuals using Nurse Sherri (1978) from Archive.org under a video microscope with live video feedback. Video processed live through Resolume Avenue Recorded with Rodecaster Video
This is why eurorack exists to me. I would never come to these sorts of results through any other workflow or gear, would never stumble on these harmonies or gently cascading notes, would never feel out the song progression on a computer or even with a more traditional hardware setup. There are many things eurorack doesn't do as well, but moments like this make me realize why it's so special.
Please go give the album a spin.
Three voices: Forge TME Vhikk X, 4ms Ensemble, 4ms SMR
Control surface: Elta TSC 12
Effects: Intellijel FX 1U, Strymon Magneto, Noise Engineering Versio, Happy Nerding FX Aid XL
Modulation: ALM Pamela's Pro Workout
Mixing: Intellijel Mixer 1U, Befaco STMix
"Modular synths are more than tools, they're reality itself. This video explores why digital music can never truly be real, and why analog gear remains the only way to feel sound at the source.
The world is in transit, like it or not. Music evolved from the stage into the box, from real media to streams, and now from streams into learning models, weights, and rewards. We can endlessly debate whether AI is OK or not, but we can’t put the demons back into their bottles.
It’s a non-religious blessing to patch a real machine with real voltage. Every sound I make is Karma: cause and effect, wrapped in a false sense of choice and control. I love it. It’s a sanctuary.
And the VHIKK? Everything I say about it will only give you GAS. It’s one of the finest modules Eurorack has to offer, and currently my #1 module. So maybe don’t watch this video if you’re on a tight budget. Or… maybe watch it very carefully. Because you might just build the ultimate tiny case with it.
All you need is VHIKK and Pam Pro. Don’t forget power, but you won’t even need an output module. VHIKK X can run on USB power. Build a tiny wooden case. Maybe I will too.
We modular people are still a niche. A tiny community moving upstream and uphill — while the world flows downward. And it’s an honor to be part of it."
"AETHERIS NEXUSis a 10-minute descent into modular tension, where structured performance collides with controlled unpredictability. A convergence of control and surrender. Droning analog oscillators stretch across a dark horizon. Sculpted noise writhes in the aether—each exhale a ghost of resonance. Randomized ostinatos emerge like faulty memories. Pulsing bass figures carve a path agnostic to meter—structured, but answerable only to their own internal logic.
Recorded live to multitrack, each voice was captured in real time—a fleeting convergence of structure and volatility. What emerged was part performance, part algorithmic drift: a mesh of voltages and reactive systems colliding in ways that can’t be precisely reentered. An improvisation encoded in circuitry and instinct. Once aligned—now gone.
Liminal Patch 010 marks the end of Series One. Liminal Patches Series Two will return after a brief hiatus.
0:00 :: Intro 0:30 :: Synth layer 01 : Moog Subharmonicon 1:21 :: Synth drone 01 : Archae Loki 1:53 :: Texture drone 01 : Maneco Labs Grone 2 Dark Drone Machine 2:15 :: Bell Sequence : Black Corporation Deckard's Voice 2:35 :: Texture drone 02: Forge TME Vhikk X 3:21 :: Bass Synth : Moog Matriarch 3:52 :: Synth drone 02 : Winterbloom Castor & Pollux 04:20 :: The middle bit 09:08 :: The end logo 09:23 :: A subtle hint
Main Synths: Moog Subharmonicon, Moog Matriarch, Archea Loki, Winterbloom Castor & Pollux. Black Corporation Deckard's Voice, Maneco Labs Grone 2 Dark Drone Machine, Forge TME Vhikk X.
Sequencer: Qu-Bit Bloom
Processors: Make Noise Maths, Happy Nerding 3x Mia, ALM Pam's Pro Workout, Xaoc Devices Zadar, Xoac Timiszoara, Expert Sleepers ES-9, Intellijel Quadratt, Thorn Audio VC LFO, Maneco Labs Clusterverb, After Later Audio Cloaks,
Post-Processing: Abelton Live (tracking), Motu Digital Performer (mixing), Kush Audio, Slate Digital, Valhalla DSP, Waves plugins.
"Creaturae Imaginis is a slow-burning descent into tone, texture, and atmosphere—12 minutes of ambient analog synthesis, layered with subtle generative elements. Recorded live to multitrack, each voice was captured in isolation, allowing for extensive post-processing and detailed mixing. The result is a piece that blurs the line between raw performance and sculpted sound design—a meditation on presence, process, and the strange beauty of voltage in motion.
"A live synth album for your workday, performed on a small setup.
00:00 - Relatively abstemious
07:21 - Occulta semina
13:39 - Trees under Venice
22:15 - Anthropodenial
25:38 - Walsham
Buy the album here:
Sometimes you try something so inspiring that you have to record everything you can from it, as fast as you can. SKETCHES FOR MY SWEETHEART THE DRONE is a collection of songs all recorded live within a 48-hour period.
For all songs, it's the same hardware setup: the FORGE TME Vhikk X (our titular drone) with Teenage Engineering OP-XY (drums, bass, and synth). The goal was to keep the songs simple, hypnotic, and most of the synth parts are played live over simple drum and bass sequences.
The end result is (I hope) a simmering background album, perfect for your work, emails, reading, or otherwise living your life. Thanks for listening."
Don't let the patch points and eurorack format fool you: the Vhikk X is a mostly standalone drone and synth voice that has oscillators, filter, and effects, and outputs at line level if you want it. The only thing it's really missing is a modulation source, which can be your fingers turning the knobs or, here, the Pamela's New Workout. I think Vhikk X and Pam's in a 32hp case would be the most interesting and unique drone synth I've ever heard, period. And then you can patch v/oct CV in, like with a Keystep, and play it like a mono synth!
This is a series of explorations on the Vhikk X, to show you the range of sounds it can produce. The Vhikk X is known for brutal or crushing sounds, but I think it has a lot of subtlety and beauty throughout it, and I've tried to show that here. Hopefully you agree.
I'm planning on turning the last patch into some sort of live performance with a bit of extra synth, so hopefully that will be up soon. For now, I hope this gives you an idea of why I'm so blown away by the Vhikk X.
Recorded to a stereo output with no additional audio processing."
The wait is over, and it has just arrived. Here's my first play with it.
Like the original, it has so much interactivity that you don't really have to modulate it with anything externally. But of course it gets even more lively when you do.
Here's a general overview of the sounds you get with minimal effort.
Ableton Push 3 Standalone Sequencing via MIDI out to HexInverter Mutant Brain 2 X CV + Pitch 6 X Gates 2 X Clock Audio in via MOTU Ultralite Mk5 connected via optical to Push 3 for 8 ins.
Novation LaunchControl XL for MIDI control on Push 3
"Playing around with Vhikk X.
Just a casual sound demo.. full video manual is in the works.
Apologies for the [lack of] lighting and for constantly obscuring the module...
All sounds are recorded direct from Vhikk X outputs, with some CV control added later in the video. V/Oct tracking is also demonstrated."
"The vhikk is a multi-algorithm experimental synth voice for eurorack. It combines wavetable oscillators, filters and delay-based effects into one module with 9 different modes."
"The name of the company is Forge-TME. The module is VHIKK. No, I don't know what any of that means.
The module at its most basic is an oscillator. Several, actually, merged with a variety of self modulation, feedback, and delay connections that make it look, at first glance, like an all-in-one drone.
It ends up being more than that. It tracks 1v/oct just fine, so can be a melodic, even lead oscillator voice. I start this video with the basic drone side of things, but then move over to the sequenced pattern side, which is equally interesting.
I'm not going to try to explain the module in any detail, as its structure is too complicated. You're gonna have to RTFM for that (https://forge-tme.com/vhikk/). On the upside, that complexity doesn't make it hard to use. Wiggle the knobs and lots of great stuff comes out.
Sequencer: Stochastic IG. Envelope: Zadar
00:00 Intro
00:20 Drone - no pitch
04:45 Drone - pitch up
18:28 Slow sequence
23:00 Fast sequence"
"The vhikk twists, convulses and wails in a vortex haunted, spitting dirt and dust and time and raw energy.
Rapid shadows, alien physics, pulsating artefacts, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes possessed.
The vhikk is a multi-algorithm sound source capable of traversing sonic planes complex, raw, dense, electric, erratic, dynamic.
The vhikk trades total control/comprehension/repeatability for a [hopefully fertile] dialogical experience and breadth of sonic palette.
It is intrinsically ephemeral and is designed to encourage exploration and presence - with low cognitive overhead.
The vhikk is happy alone but thirsty for voltages. The produced output can be quite spectrally and temporally full and doesn't necessarily require [but definitely appreciates] further processing to synthesise musically useful material.
The Vhikk is a multi-algorithm experimental synth voice specialising in [but not limited to] complex drones and basses, rich textures, and dynamic sfx. It combines sound generation and effects processing into one module with 9 different modes.
The nature of the Vhikk makes it suitable for situations where a compact, ergonomic, and self-contained sound source would be welcome - for example smaller modular systems, or large systems where a strange sound source with minimised cognitive overhead would be desirable.
The general architecture consists of a bank of wavetable oscillators [the generator] sent through a filter section which then passes into a delay-based structure [the processor] - with the specific architecture and character of these sections dependent on the selected mode.
Some of the modes implement what is referred to here as 'cluster scanning' - a smooth crossfading scan through sets of frequency/wave pairs. Imagine a wavetable scan parameter but each distinct wave position also has an associated frequency offset. In the modes implementing cluster scanning these wave/frequency offsets are different for every oscillator.
The processor in general consists of a delay-based structure which can be smoothly transformed from something resembling a delay [distinct [albeit processed] repeats] to something resembling a reverb [diffused repeats, increasing echo density, modulation].
There is a frequency shifter integrated into the processor, either post delay-structure or in the feedback loop depending on mode and FEED position.
The X jack is a signal input which is merged with the generator pre-filter and passed into the processor. The graphic in the upper middle of the panel is a level indicator for the X input."
