Patching with Leibniz - Episode 5

video upload by Xaoc Devices

"In episode 5, we will show you how to make nice evolving pads with just a mix of bit outputs, create a complex VCO with a Leibniz twist, and cook up something more than just a simple comb filter."

00:00 - Intro
00:05 - Patch 13
02:07 - Patch 14
06:50 - Patch 15

Patching with Leibniz - Episode 4

video upload by Xaoc Devices

"Episode 4 and another three patches for the Leibniz Subsystem! This time we're focusing on control signals showing you how to create a delay effect for voltages and an advanced LFO à la Leibniz. On top of that there are more ideas for shaping signals from Berlin."

00:00 - Intro
00:05 - Patch 10
03:56 - Patch 11
06:10 - Patch 12

Fala Versio | Versio Platform | Episode 13

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"Noise Engineering has just released three new firmwares for the Versio, Legio and Alia platforms. As always, they're amazing and they're free downloads for any of those platforms. Fala Versio is a formant filter that's super easy to use. It will add a lot of vocal expression to your patch. On mild settings you can create choir-like sounds, on more extreme settings it will talk. In short, it's just amazing.

This is a simple video, which was a warm bath after my last Leibniz video. I'll be using MakeNoise Strega, Bruxa, Serge Medusa and the Broken Loquelic as my sound sources which create an excellent mood for the time between XMAS and the happy new year. I did not make any 'best wishes' or 'best of 2024' video this year because I couldn't finish it in time. I also realized that my 'best of 2024' are never going to be my all time favorites (except the new Serge Medusa and Instruo Dail).

Obviously I wish you all the best and I am hoping you'll have a great time patching the modular during the holiday season - and beyond. I'll probably post something before the end of the year.

Serge has been a personal discovery in 2024, so instead of getting the latest modules, I went back to 70's tech and it's a dream come true. I also love Bruxa a lot. Objectively the Joranalogue x Hainbach Collide 4 is a major achievement in eurorack, and it's impossible to ignore DivKid's colllab-contributions to the eurorack landscape, including the Droid patch.

I still need to figure out my DivSkip. XAOC Berlin is a must-have in the Leibniz niche, but on it's own it's just a very basic VCO. Another favorite is Oneiroi and it's cool to see that Black Maths is on the bestseller list, proving the old stuff doesn't get old. The new Buchla/TTA modules are also dreams that came true and it's great to finally have an orginal 259 . I didn't have time to dive into the new Qu-Bit StarDust looper, but I bet it will be worth checking out if you want to escape monophony."

Leibniz Unleashed | XAOC Leibniz Binary Subsystem | Episode 04

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"It's been six months since episode 03 (The Road to Berlin). This is mainy because I make videos as I go and as I learn. The Leibniz system, by itself is not difficult to use, but in the audio domain it's impossible to bypass the 8-bit sound quality and harsh noise is inevitable. I needed to take many breaks to make this video and I had to get my knowledge from the manuals and the excellent works of Tom Churchil. I never fully realized you need to make loops for best results and I didn't know how important 'reclocking' is. I experimented with external VCO's before I realized Berlin and Poczdam offer their own Leibniz clocks to manipulate and 'reclock' the datastreams.

I had many 'I did not know' moments while making this video, and often I had to reshoot stuff that did not make any sense anymore. I wanted this episode to be a 'Leibniz Unleashed' experience, showing off some amazing patches that have a lot to offer and complement what's already out on YouTube.

I guess a logical followup for Episode 05 is to explore musical applications some more, especially in the audio domain. Leibniz is just great for CV and rhythms, but (at first glance) not so great in the audio domain (unless you fancy glitch, noise and other raw genres, it excels here).

I hope this video will help you get more production value from your Leibniz set, or help you decide if it's something of interest. Modular is too expensive to just do a leap of faith and figure it out later. It can take a year before it starts to make sense. But it's been a great year!

00:00 Introduction
00:13 Drezno Recap
02:56 Chains and Loops
04:27 Berlin and Jena
08:44 Odessa and Ostankino (expander for Moskwa II)
11:47 Generating rhythms with Lipsk, Erfurt and Gera
15:26 Re-clocking with Drezno II, Rostock, Buchla TTA 258t (20 kHz) and NE Sinc Iter (+4 MHz)
17:43 Re-clocking with Poczdam
19:36 Routing and re-clocking with a full Leibniz System"

Patching with Leibniz - Episode 3

video upload by Xaoc Devices

Patching with Leibniz

"Here is the third episode of Patching with Leibniz. Let's see, if there is something better than Jena to pair with Berlin. How can you spice up this classic pair? Oh, and perhaps you want to master chaos? Leibniz style of course!"

00:00 - intro
00:06 - Patch 7
03:24 - Patch 8
06:25 - Patch 9

Patching with Leibniz - Episode 2

video upload by Xaoc Devices

Patching with Leibniz

"Here is the second episode of Patching with Leibniz. This time, we'll dive deeper into the waveshaping capabilities of Drezno and we'll show you some basic blocks for an advanced gate generator based on the Leibniz Subsystem.

00:06 - Patch 4
02:41 - Patch 5
06:05 - Patch 6"

Patching with Leibniz - Episode 1

video upload by Xaoc Devices

Patching with Leibniz

"We know you've been waiting for this! A series of videos showing Xaoc Leibniz Subsystem patches. In each episode we will present three new ideas. Simple solutions, easy to incorporate into your everyday workflow, some clever and unusual ones, but also a few crazy monsters spitting out unexpected sounds, triggers and voltages! Stay tuned!"

00:06 - Patch 1
02:53 - Patch 2
05:25 - Patch 3

A guide to the Leibniz binary subsystem from Xaoc Devices

video upload by Signal Sounds

"In this video, Tom takes a look at the Leibniz Binary Subsystem from Xaoc Devices: a range of modules that create and share 8-bit digital representations of analogue audio and CV signals in a Eurorack modular synth. It includes an overview of all eight current modules in the range: Berlin, Drezno II, Erfurt, Gera, Jena, Lipsk, Poczdam and Rostock.

Read the accompanying blog on the Signal Sounds website: https://www.signalsounds.com/blog?p=s...

Xaoc Devices products are available here: https://www.signalsounds.com/xaoc-dev..."

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:29 What is the Leibniz binary subsystem?
02:34 What are the Leibniz modules?
04:40 Drezno II, Gera and Rostock
09:13 Waveshaping with Drezno II
12:12 Processing modulation with Rostock
16:05 Berlin and Jena as a wavetable VCO
21:58 Lipsk and Erfurt as a drum machine"

It's a Rungle outthere | Cybernetics EP02 | From Benjolin to Blippoo Box

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"The Benjolin is a powerful module. For many, it's a chaotic noise source, which was exactly the point of the design. The Blippoo Box is less chaotic, more musical and designed as an experimental instrument. It's more a Pandora's Box. Both have the Rungler in common. It refers to a shift register circuit, but also to the 5U module that includes two VCO's and is not unlike the Benjolin's chaotic core. I do not own a Blippoo Box for obvious reasons (it's now priceless) but I do love my Benjolin. It's going to be a noisy video where I'll try the Rungler concept on Marbles and XAOC Leibniz.
Marbles is a cool extension to the Benjolin, and the Benjolin can also be a great conventional complex VCO.

Rob Hordijk designed the Rungler module (and circuit) to cover the space between a fundamental sinewave and the total chaos of white noise. A creative source of designer noise to enrich your patch. And wow, what a designer he was."

Making Music With The Leibniz Subsystem

video upload by Xaoc Devices

"The Xaoc Devices Leibniz Subsystem is a gateway to all kinds of experiments in the Eurorack ecosystem, but it can also serve as a foundation for more traditional music compositions. See how you can achieve this with a few simple patches that you can incorporate into your own system."

The Road to Berlin | XAOC Leibniz Binary Subsystem | Episode 03

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"I got a bit stuck after doing the 2nd episode. Yeah, that episode sucked, but that also happens at the Lab. Dead ends are important if you want to learn to think more in u-turns. In this episode, we're back on track.

I knew the Leibniz Binary system would give me a hard time, but I underestimated that. I had a few weeks staring at my case wondering 'what's next?'. Sure, there's plenty to explore, but it's hard when you don't resonate well with the broken chiptune sounds - which are inevitable. Then, XAOC added 'Berlin' to the list of cities. It's labeled a 'numeric' VCO and it's designed especially for the Leibniz modules. It's basically a simple sawtooth with 1V/OCT, FM and Sync, but it's more like a quality D/A converter for generating waveforms. The Drezno II used to take care of that, but it would make jagged waveforms by summing lots of squares. It sounds very 8-bit. Berlin doesn't have that problem, it sounds great.

In this episode I am not doing a deepdive yet, because I just got the module. Instead I'll try to explain why it's relevant, and how a sawtooth gets all these odd/even harmonics and overtones. Why it's considered 'rich' compared to a sinewave. Then, it's easier to understand why Berlin only has a sawtooth (or scrambled saw) out. When you draw a graph of numbers 0 to 255, you'll get a nice ramp (reversed saw) that flips back to zero and counts up again. Berlin is basically counting up very fast and restarts at 0.

I'll leave the interaction between Berlin and other modules to episode 04, which will probably be posted next week. It's not going to take too long :)."

SUPERBOOTH 2024: Xaoc Devices - Berlin Wide Range Oscillator

video upload by sonicstate

"At Superbooth 2024 we met up with Lukasz from Xaoc Devices who unveiled their new* Berlin* module.* Berlin* is an extemely wide range VCO module ranging from 30 seconds up to 250 kHz. That range is wide! It uses the Leibniz Binary Subsystem interface and can be used as an extremely widerange clock source allowing for manual and voltage control over all parameters. Berlin outputs simultaneous square and saw/Leibniz wave outputs and when combined with the Liebniz Subsystem allows for extensive waveshaping.

Berlin Price: 220 Euros"

See the announcement post here.

Xaoc Devices Berlin

video upload by Xaoc Devices

Xaoc Devices Berlin: the oscillator that opens up the Leibniz Binary Subsystem

video upload by Tom Churchill

"On the surface, Xaoc Devices Berlin is a simple compact VCO offering square and saw waves with hard sync, FM input and octave switching. The most interesting part lies behind the panel and that is the Leibniz Binary Subsystem interface, namely LBZ out and LBZ in. The frontpanel LBZ LINK button and its corresponding gate input switch between the default saw wave and a signal that has been passed through any Leibniz module (or a combination of Leibniz modules) connected to Berlin. Add Xaoc Devices Jena for wave processing and the output is no longer a simple saw wave – you now have a vintage-style wavetable oscillator with a penchant for the experimental due to its open, hackable nature. Berlin operates in a way similar to the classic PPG Wave and Fairlight CMI synths and employs a variable sample rate of an extremely widerange internal clock. As the sample rate changes with the oscillator frequency, Berlin's internal square and saw waves exhibit no aliasing effect. The whole frequency range spans from 30 seconds in LFO mode up to 250 kHz (!) with the clock reaching an astounding 20 MHz. Add to that voltage control over all parameters and the result is a highly versatile module capable of creating a significantly diverse palette of unusual waveforms.

Xaoc Devices Berlin notable features:

– wide-range VCO with LFO mode (over 20 octaves of tracking);
– Leibniz Binary Subsystem interface;
– extremely widerange clock source;
– manual and voltage control over all parameters (including octave switching and LBZ LINK!);
– simultaneous Square and Saw/Leibniz wave outputs;
– extensive waveshaping potential when combined with Xaoc Devices Leibniz Subsystem modules, e.g., Jena or Rostock"

XAOC Sopot | Magic Duct Tape for your audio puzzles (w. MakeNoise RxMx, Plaits & Frames)

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"I got Sopot a few weeks ago, but got focused on the Leibniz modules and forgot about it a bit. It almost never made it to a case because space is limited and I had to make choices. Yesterday I checked out the manual, tried some patches and a wealth of new ideas just popped up. This is a simple 6HP utility, costing around 90 euro, but it can solve a fortune of mixing challenges when a big fancy mixer is not an option.

In short, Sopot is a summing mixer with four stereo inputs (!) four mono inputs (!!) and mid/side outputs, or mono/stereo if you wish. The mono inputs are normalled to the center, but can be panned 50%/50% with a little center spread. This design is amazing. Highly recommended."

XAOC Leibniz Binary Subsystem

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"In episode 1 [posted here], it was fun to dive in. Then I found out that the system isn't just a matter of putting all modules in a case, wiring up the I/O on the back and get to work. It's modular (duh) so it's more a matter of recipes where the order of modules isn't fixed. Having all modules in a case doesn't exactly help to understand them either, there's just too many variables and it's extremely easy to make a wrong connection with the 'pale pink stripe' down or up on the LBZ ribbon cables. You really need to double check and then again. XAOC, make them red. Please.

In this episode I tried to get the Rostock module to work. It's a bucket brigade 'delay' with 64 memory locations. Or a shift register. Anyway, it allows you to accumulate values from the bus and store them so you can loop it. However, with a clock running at 2 mHz you don't hear 64 bytes when millions come by. If it's even audible it's in the nanosecond range. I had to slow down to actually see the module work.

XAOC has provided cool patch examples in the manual and I focused on delaying/looping rhythms with Rostock, Lipsk (bit inverter) and Poczdam (router/binary output). I am also using Odessa in the video, which is a truly amazing VCO which also has a Leibniz header on the back to control partials with bitmaps. I absolutely LOVE this system and can't wait to get started on episode 03."

XAOC Leibniz Binary Subsystem | Episode 01 | Intro & Drezno II

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"My first ignorant impression was 'it's a fancy bitcrusher' which may be 10% right. It's about musical applications with binary logic. Thanks to Bries and Tom Churchil for their masterclasses so I may be able to figure out the other 90%.

As always, I am not sponsored by XAOC. I wish, but it's too late now. I have Lipsk in backorder and that will probably conclude my case.

Dear XAOC if you feel thankful while this series progresses, I still have a short wishlist like Odessa, Batumi, Samara, Belgrad and a mixer. But I am already happy you made these modules!"

Xaoc Devices LEIBNIZ #6 / ROSTOCK / delay and loop 8 bits of information / extensive playthrough

video upload by BRiES

"'ROSTOCK by Xaoc Devices should not be taken lightly' is what I figured out while making this video. ROSTOCK can be easily mistaken for just being a delay, but the patch ideas (provided in the manual of ROSTOCK) prove that with some creative insight you can use ROSTOCK for much more somewhat unexpected and useful things.

This video is a slow burn. I start of by proving that high-fidelity audio rate delay is probably not the strongpoint of ROSTOCK, but just like me there will probably be a lot of people hoping that they can still get away with using it as such. That's why I spend a generous amount of time showcasing this feature of the module. I demonstrate and explain how the clock works on ROSTOCK and how to use the seperate clock inputs, as well as exploring the loop and scramble features of the module. Afterwards I go into detail about the patches provided in the manual of ROSTOCK and you'll soon see that this is where ROSTOCK really shines: auto-generative waveforms, patching up a trigger/gate sequencer or 1-bit multi-tap delay, creating chaos and looping melodies, ... ."

0:00 intro
0:24 a few sounds
1:24 introduction to ROSTOCK
6:03 thank you Xaoc Devices
7:10 summary of the video
8:22 explaining audio delay (intro patch)
15:55 modulating length CV
19:27 modulating the clock
22:50 no clue about Leibniz?
25:30 clocks
27:40 conveyer belt analogy
31:08 loop and scramble
48:18 P.I.1 audio delay and feedback
1:00:49 P.I.2 JENA chaos loop
1:11:37 P.I.3 LIPSK gate sequencer
1:22:34 P.I.4. POCZDAM multi-tap
1:28:10 P.I.5 Turing Machine bonus
1:44:04 thank you for watching!

Xaoc Devices Rostock & Drezno II: new patch ideas for the Leibniz Binary Subsystem

video upload by Tom Churchill

"In this video, I’m taking another look at the Leibniz Binary Subsystem from Xaoc Devices. This is a set of Eurorack modules that let you convert analogue audio and CV into 8-bit digital signals and then process them in all sorts of unique and interesting ways. Using various combinations of Leibniz modules, you can do everything from waveshaping and bitcrushing to sequencing and drum pattern generation.

Xaoc Devices recently sent over the latest modules in the system for me to check out. Drezno II is a new and improved version of their original analogue to digital and digital to analogue converter module which acts as the main front-end for the system. And Rostock is a binary data pipeline, or digital shift register, which lets you delay, loop, scramble and reclock the 8-bit data stream. In the video, I build a few patches that explore some of the musical applications of these tools."

Chapters:
00:00 Intro & patch previews
03:22 Drezno II / Leibniz 101
07:22 Rostock overview
10:33 Complex stepped modulation
16:56 Sequence canons
21:52 Digital chorus and flanging
27:13 Looping drum patterns
32:18 Clock-based destruction
36:20 Generative sequencing

Superbooth 2023: Xaoc Devices - New Modules

video upload by sonicstate

"We spoke to Lukasz from Xaoc Devices at Superbooth 2023, where he introduced five new modules. The first one is Ostrawa, a stereo mixer with four channels with full stereo inputs, a full stereo aux loop that can change from pre-fader to post-fader, manual muting, balance control, two direct inputs, and four inputs for gates for muting the channels of Ostrava. Next we saw, Bohumin, an expander to Ostrava which adds a second stereo auxiliary loop. The third module, Deva, is an expander for Timiszoara, which is a multi-effects module that adds two analog feedback loops with CV control over the return volume and tilt filters.

The last two new modules are from the Leibniz subsystem, which includes Dresno and Rostock. Dresno is a vastly improved new version of one of the first modules released in the subsystem that features a high-grade 16-bit converter, a switch in the middle that switches the range of Fresno, and calibration for chromatic quantization. Lastly, Rostock is a binary data pipeline that is a digital shift register that can delay anything fed into it by up to 64 samples. Users can adjust the number of samples and engage the loop button to create a repeating and regular sequence.

Ostrawa, Deva and Rostock Available June 2023

Bohumin and Dresno available Autumn 2023

Prices: Ostrawa: 180 Euro, Bohumin 260 Euros, Deva 180 Euros, Dresno 2 295 Euros, Rostock 260 Euros"

Xaoc Devices ERFURT / not just for counting and dividing / extensive playthrough

video upload by BRiES

"In this video I demonstrate how you can use ERFURT either standalone or in the context of the Leibniz Binary Subsystem. I talk about the clock, the inputs and outputs and show you how to extract useful signals from the module. ERFURT isn't just an ordinary counter or clock divider: it can drive the wavetables in JENA, produce sequences through DREZNO or lock the Leibniz system to the masterclock of your patch... to name just a few examples.

PS: I mention somewhere that the slowest clock is a 1/46k but it should be 1/64k. It's a simple mispronunciation because of how numbers work in the dutch language (we say the last number first - ridiculous I know).

____________________________________________________________________
Xaoc Devices ERFURT manual: http://xaocdevices.com/manuals/xaoc_e..."

Additional ERFURT posts