Stylophone Gen X-2 & Lofi-12 XT Acid Jam - Men Only Want One Thing And It's Disgusting Acid

video upload by ChrisLody

"Full Disclosure: I occasionally take on freelance work at Sonicware and Stylophone on an hourly rate producing synth & sample sound design, beta testing, checking English text, video manuals, promo content etc. This video wasn't paid for directly but as a result of my work with Sonicware and Stylophone it is marked as Paid Promotion

Time for some more weekend acid it seems!

The good people over at Stylophone sent me the Gen X-2 so I can make some promotional work for them, but of course it needs a good test 😁so time for some acid😈

This jam uses the Korg SQ-1 as a sequencer to control it because the new Gen X-2 model has gate and CV inputs meaning I can create a sequence and get it to sync up with other gear where as the Gen X-1 was played by the stylus only. I'm also running the Gen X-2 through an unbranded Vintage Overdrive that my wife found as a freebie on Temu of all things. To my surprise it's actually pretty good and pairs nicely with the Gen X-2. I did have to use an inline isolator between the Gen X-2 and pedal though as it was generating a lot of digital noise otherwise.

The Lofi-12 XT is being used to add delay and reverb to the Gen X-2 and I'm using the new v1.5 feature of being able to sidechain external sources again because it's super useful for letting the kick cut through on things like this."

Tone Science Module No.10 The Final Patch (DiN:TS10)

"Now available as a double CD with an 8-page booklet & download

Tone Science sub-label, from DiN records, concludes it’s exploration of the world of modular synth music.

Since the first volume in the Tone Science series was released in 2018, seventy-two musicians in total have joined in with this celebration of the musical possibilities of modular synthesis. These artists have been from a huge range of backgrounds but have all shared the unifying purpose of showcasing the incredible variety of sonic possibilities these instruments can offer.

Tone Science sub-label, from DiN records, concludes its exploration of the world of modular synth music.

Since the first volume in the Tone Science series was released in 2018, seventy-two musicians in total have joined in with this celebration of the musical possibilities of modular synthesis. These artists have been from a huge range of backgrounds but have all shared the unifying purpose of showcasing the incredible variety of sonic possibilities these instruments can offer.

The intervening seven years have seen the modular synth world expanding at an exponential rate and whilst one wouldn’t go so far as to say these synths are mainstream, they are certainly far more prevalent than in the past. It’s especially gratifying to see so many musicians now either play solo sets with them or to include them in their onstage arsenal.

Thus we come to this, the final instalment in the Tone Science series. Nothing lasts forever and certainly stopping at this nice round number of ten seems like a good way to not only end the series but to release the Final Patch, a real celebration of what has gone before and perhaps to hint at what is possible for the future. A beautifully packaged double CD featuring twenty artists who have appeared on previous iterations of the series, it really is a who’s who of modular synth musicians. The release is accompanied by an eight-page booklet with an essay by Neil Mason and some final words from the guiding force behind the whole project, Ian Boddy, label boss at DiN. And as Boddy so succinctly puts it in his liner notes, “for me, despite the technological nature of the equipment, the emotional quality of the music is the single most important factor”. The Final Patch certainly delivers on that ethos.

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Going for ACID, but ended up with THIS... (Sound Design on the Oberheim TEO 5)

video upload by Oakland Ghosts

"For my first Sound Design session on the Oberheim TEO 5, I wanted to try to make an Acid style Bass Synth Patch... I ended up with this instead. lol.

I gotta say, designing patches on the TEO is super straightforward and user friendly. Even if you don't know what you're doing yet (see: ME) you can very quickly go from INIT patch to something really cool and inspiring!

Chapters to jump around/explain what I'm doing:

00:00 Start with an INIT patch
01:10 Find a rough Sequence
02:00 Dial in the Envelopes
02:43 Find a better Sequence
03:29 Dial in Second Oscillator
03:44 Add some Noise
04:02 Modulate Noise with Envelope 1
04:50 Still Tuning Envelopes
05:30 Reverb? Sure!
05:50 Play with the Filter!
06:45 Find an even BETTER Sequence
07:29 Add Some XMOD
09:38 Mod Wheel to ENV 1 Amount
10:37 Mod Wheel to Resonance
11:36 Mod Wheel to ENV 2 Decay
13:32 Mod Wheel to OSC 2 Level
16:00 LFO 1 to XMOD
17:40 Mod Wheel to ENV 1 Decay
18:20 Accidentally press Preset Button and LOSE ALL YOUR WORK!!!"

4k Redwood Forrest with rhythmic electronic music

video upload by Saul Stokes - Frequensea

"Expansion was composed in 2018, before a Star's End Gathering performance I did in Philadelphia. The music was intended as a complimentary bonus album for the audience. It's remained obscure, likely also due to the cover, which was drawn by my daughter and is very atypical of electronic music. Expansion has some really chill electronic beats that are unique due to many of them being processed through an old tape recorder. During this time of my life, I was doing a lot of non-multitrack recordings, where I would live mix to compact flash cards in one go. I'm going to be honest and say that the original album had lots of squeaky synth solo work that was a bit too improvised for me. For this Redwood forest video, I performed extensive splicing to remove some of the worst offenders. I think this cut is much cooler with the result being more chill.

The video was created in the Redwood Forest of Reinhardt, Oakland, California. It's an absolutely stunning forest just a few minutes from the city. I had to jump off the main trail onto a small hiking path and then hide the camera. As soon as I left, dancing insects came out in force. If you listen closely, you'll hear some fairies talk in a few portions of the album. Watch the sun slowly move across the plantlife."

Eurorack Industrial Techno Jam – Sovage Engineering Analog Drum System (Uncut 15min)

video upload by SOVAGE ENGINEERING

"Have a taste of a Sovage Engineering analog drum system. If you wonder how I make my videos, this is a 100% uncut 15 minute live stream session of me tweaking and searching for cool loops to keep, with both good and less good stuff lol.

Here I’m using only 4 tracks sequenced by the Erica Synths BLACK SEQUENCER:
Track 1 = Kick by LA REINE DU CHAOS
Track 2 = Synth Voice by LA REINE DU CHAOS x L’ECORCHEUR x FAILLE TEMPORELLE
Track 3 = Perc by BINOME channel 1
Track 4 = Perc by BINOME channel 2
Everything is going into one BAGARRE for its famous natural grit and mix glue! Direct out no post processing, RAW STUFF !"

Shibasaki MOD - Tokyo set song #8 - K.K. Cruisin' Synthchill Cover Animal Crossing

video upload by Arman Bohn

"My synths and device can be found here:
https://distropolisgoods.com/

Song #8 from my set at Shibasaki MOD in Tokyo, April, 2025.

I ended my set with a cover of the K.K. Slider song "K.K. Cruisin'" which is a family favorite. My first experience with K.K. was in Animal Crossing - New Leaf back when it was released for the Nintendo 3DS.

I didn't have a vocoder with me in Japan, so I just sang out into the room with no mic.

---------

The M8 is doing most of the heavy lifting here: bass, drums and sending MIDI notes to the Prismatic Spray MKii.

I'm using the Phantasmal Force (tiny white MIDI controller) to send chords to GREAT CONJUNCTION (purple box). Channel 1 of GREAT CONJUNCTION is in 'keys' mode, while the other two channels playback a some randomized sequences which cause some CONJUNCTIONS and offset modulation to the FM key sound.

The Prismatic Spray MKii comes in to mimic the 'vocals'. M8 is handling the note playback via MIDI and I'm just playing the A and B runes/knobs.

For this recording - I sang through a BOSS VE-500 to get that K.K. robo-dog sound.

It was a great way to end the set with a upbeat feel!"

Learning synthesis changed my life | Workshop registration is open!

video upload by Sarah Belle Reid

"I know that sounds over the top - but it’s true.⁠ ⁠

It taught me to listen more deeply.⁠ ⁠

To embrace imperfection.⁠ ⁠

To find creative flow again, and more importantly… to find JOY in my music-making again.⁠ ⁠

Rediscovering the joy of experimenting, exploring, and making weird sounds just for fun. 🙂⁠ ⁠

I’m teaching a free online class next week – it’s equal parts about getting started with modular synths, AND about simply giving yourself permission to experiment and play.⁠ ⁠

Permission to try something new.⁠ ⁠

Permission to follow your curiosity and see where it leads.⁠ ⁠

If you’ve been curious about the world of synths but not sure where to begin, this class was made for YOU.⁠ ⁠

It’s free, it’s beginner-friendly, and you don’t need any special gear.⁠ ⁠

Go to the link in my bio if you’d like the link to register.⁠"

linkin.bio/sarahbellereid


video upload by Sarah Belle Reid

"When I was first learning modular synths, people would tell me that the best way to learn was to “just plug cables in, turn knobs, see what happens—you’ll figure it out!”⁠
⁠
Even today I sometimes get messages when I share my online modular synthesis course, saying “Who needs a course to learn this? Just plug cables in!”⁠
⁠
On the one hand, I completely agree that exploration, experimentation, & play are super valuable parts of learning any new instrument, & you CAN get really far with modular just by listening, turning knobs, & seeing what emerges.⁠
⁠
But—I also remember how I personally felt when I was told that as a beginner. I’m sure their intentions were for me to feel inspired, lighter, & less concerned with “getting it right.”⁠
⁠
But instead? I felt paralyzed.⁠
⁠
“What do you mean, just plug things in!? Where do I even begin?⁠
What if I break something?”⁠
⁠
I’m sure this works for some; but for me the lack of guidance made me lock up & get super nervous. Instead of experimenting, I felt overwhelmed & stupid for not “getting it” right away.⁠
⁠
I’m sharing this because I’ve realized over the years that this isn’t unique to me. Some folks work well with exploring & others thrive in a more structured environment. ⁠
⁠
I create all my synthesis classes for folks in both worlds, who want to get deeper into their music-making AND want support to help them get there.⁠
⁠
The amazing thing is that for SO many of the ppl who initially feel overwhelmed, as soon as they’re given step-by-step structure & support they immediately feel more empowered to experiment—& from there? They take off 🔥🚀⁠
⁠
PS: If you haven't heard yet, I'm running a free live workshop (online) next week, all about getting started with modular synths—with clarity and confidence, instead of overwhelm and doubt. ⁠
⁠
I'll share the first steps to getting started, a simple process for building synth patches, how to develop your sound design skills, and we'll have an open Q+A to address any of your questions live!⁠
⁠
Go to the link in bio for the link to register! 🥳⁠"

linkin.bio/sarahbellereid

Digigram MidiMic Audio to MIDI Converter Microphone

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

via this eBay listing

This one was spotted and sent in via
M Me.

"🎤 Rare Vintage 1988 Digigram Midimic – MIDI Microphone – Made in France – Fully Working! 🎶

A truly innovative 🎧 MIDI microphone made in 🇫🇷 France in 1988!

This is an ultra-rare collector’s item and a fascinating piece of studio gear: a microphone that outputs MIDI data! 🎼

Perfect for vocals or wind instruments 🎷🎺, and also features an RCA aux line input 🎚️ to convert line-level sources into MIDI, or use as a THRU to route audio to another channel 🎛️.

💡 Incredibly useful in the studio: this mic lets you record your voice or instrument directly to a DAW as MIDI data for unlimited editing possibilities! Use it with hardware or software synthesizers 🎹, expanders, or samplers.

You can literally sing or play your melody and transform it into MIDI notes — ideal for sax, clarinet, violin, solo guitar, and more 🎻🎸.

🎯 Whether you're a singer looking to explore MIDI, or a composer with ideas that outpace your playing skills, the Midimic is a creative game-changer!

🔧 Key Features:

✅ Fully working and in excellent cosmetic condition for its age
🔋 Powered by a brand-new 9V battery (already installed)
📄 Includes a PDF copy of the original Owner’s Manual (English)
🧡 A real vintage gem and collector's item!
🎙️ You can sing into it and control your synth or sound module with your voice — if you’ve ever dreamed of humming a melody straight into your MIDI sequencer, this is your moment! ✨"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Yamaha MU15 Demo Jam - (All sound is MU15, No Talking)

video upload by ChrisLody

"Recently a good friend and YouTuber ‪@clajmo‬ (Clarke Jaxton Motorbike) was nice enough to send me his Yamaha MU15 to play with. This jam is a result of playing around in Yamaha XGWorks to tweak the XG sound banks hidden parameters, then sequencing it all with the Sonicware Smpltrek.

I'll planning a nerdy deep dive on the MU15 because it very impressive for the era and it size. No external effects or even EQ were used on this video. All the sound is directly from the MU15 with only a little limiting used to get it up to sensible YouTube volume levels.

The MU15 is an 'XG' sound module which is an advanced extension of the 'GM' (general midi) standard. It has a huge amount of parameter inside to tweak, like per drum effects send, filter and envelope setting for example, so a lot can be achieved with it.

Btw I'm testing out some images in my jam video thumbnails to try to distinguish them from tutorials, still playing with the style etc at the mo."

EMS Synthi A stolen from Synthorama

Some unfortunate news sent my way vis Swissdoc. Apparently someone has stolen an EMS Synthi from the Swiss synth museum Synthorama. You might recall the video walkthrough just posted here yesterday.

The following is via the curator of Synthorama, Martin Hollinger aka Airböurne (creator of the modular synth by the same name), on the Sequencer.de forum (translated via Google):

"Hello everyone

I finally managed to register on the forum. I'm the owner of the Synthorama and, due to a current event, I'd like to give you a brief update on the museum.

The Synthorama has been around for 25 years and serves to introduce synthesizers to a musically interested public. Almost all instruments can be played and tested here.

But you all already know that ;-)

Unfortunately, there are also people who misuse the museum. Since its inception, there have been four thefts, the fourth on August 2, 2025.

The first was about 15 years ago, when someone stole around 10 modules from one of my Moog modular systems while it was unattended and then filled the "holes" with other modules or even front panels. I didn't notice this for a long time because it wasn't that obvious.

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Complexification of LXR-02 drums with Echolocator & the Zen

video upload by Richard DeHove

"Complexification is a perfectly cromulent word to describe 'A drum machine with two delays; since this is no mere everyday serial setup. Here we have two stereo delays in alternating parallel mode embiggening a single drum pattern. In fact 'chronocomplexification' would have been more accurate but I thought the Youtubes would punish me for being stupid.

The aim is to take a simple single pattern and create variations and interest while having fun. I think everyone knows the feeling of having a single pattern and trying to expand it into something greater. Depending on what machines you use it can start to feel like you're fighting to advance. Here it's all just knob twiddling fun.

In the video I describe the routing of the stereo outputs: One to the AB pedal which is then manually switched to either the Zen or Echolocator; and one channel direct to the DAW 'dry'. In this demo I didn't use any of this dry signal. If this were a "real" finished track I'd probably mix in some of the dry bass drum just to keep things coherant. For the video I thought it more useful to just have the two delays' sound. For a more nuanced routing setup you could change the left-right balance of various voices and use the 'dry' channel to instead go to a third pedal effect which could also be manually switched on and off. Putting a looper somewhere in the chain could also be interesting.

With all this I'm increasingly feeling that moving up to a higher tier in the drums or synth department is perhaps not as significant as investing time and attention to effects.

The video is all one take with no DAW processing - even though I was extremely tempted to EQ the Zen parts to bring out the crunch and distortion. The couple of cuts in the track are from me trying to find slice points to bring it down from 30 minutes. The samples are from a couple of 1950s sci-fi movies just for a little variation.

0:00 Routing and setup info
1:08 Dry pattern
1:25 All tweaking, no talk

Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

5 Fun Electronic Music Gadgets Under $99

video upload by Musical Miscellany

"I collected quite a few electronic music gadgets over the years. I decided to make a list of 5 that I really like. What's more... they're all under $99. You might want these for your studio.

0:00 - Intro
0:32 - LoBlast Bleepler | https://loblast.com/store/p/bleepler-...
1:20 - KORG Monotron Delay | https://www.korg.com/us/products/dj/m...
2:02 - Peacock Media MIDI-Pan | https://peacockmedia.software/drum/
2:54 - Dubreq Stylophone | https://stylophone.com/product/bowie-...
3:49 - BrandNewNoise Space Oddity | https://www.brandnewnoise.com/collect...
4:48 - Final Thoughts

Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/musicalmisce..."

Maniac/Michael Sembello (Circuit Tracks Version)

video upload by Guinan

"Feeling a yearning for a bit of LinnDrum action I loaded up a bunch of samples and it occurred to me to try this song - a bit of a musical 'guilty pleasure' as it has such a distinctive rhythm. I put the song on, donned my legwarmers and had a bit of a 'spin' around the room to the track in my best 'Flashdance' impression. Straight away it became apparent it shouldn't be possible to do it on the Tracks as it has too many tracks. Bass, electric piano chords, arpeggio, melody...and a distinctive 80's guitar solo! Not to be deterred I shrank it down as much as I could and used the layering and extra voices hacks I've talked about elsewhere * and what you hear is the end result.

It was a fun challenge and I hope you enjoy the end result. All you hear was programmed into a single Circuit Tracks and played 'live' just recording the audio outs.

More details for synth nerds

The excellent ‪@CaptainPikant‬ had a great video breaking down how the rhythm track was constructed so I largely followed this guide.

• MANIAC - The most INSANE drum pattern of t... [below]

BPM 155bpm
Synth 1 - mono bass synth
Synth 2 - 'piano'ish patch playing chords, arepeggio and melody lines (at different velocities/ranges)
Drum 1- LM1 bass drum
Drum 2 - LM1 snare and sidestick
Drum 3 - LM1 hihats and combined HH and fake guitar (see below)
Drum 4 - LM1 cowbell and clap

The 'guitar' is faked I'm sorry. My lead guitar skills are not up to this (I did try!) and my friendly local 'shredder' was busy. I used instead the Native Instruments Electric Sunburst plug in instrument to fake a short solo and drenched it in guitar effects. I recorded to 4 bar loops with the hihat pattern duplicated along with them and then triggered the samples at the right moment on the hihat track."

MANIAC - The most INSANE drum pattern of the '80s | Drum Patterns Explained

video upload by Captain Pikant

"The drum pattern of Michael Sembello's 'Maniac' is positively insane. It's what you'd get if you made a Synthwave drum track, decided it wasn't complex enough, glitched it up with a tiny dash of Aphex Twin and then put a second drum track on top of that with over a dozen Tom fills for good measure. Pure '80s maximalism with two of the most iconic drum sounds of that era."

And the original:


video upload by Maniac

HEAL - Electronica #15 // Analog Four, Octatrack, Modular, Subharmonicon and Electric Guitar

video upload by David Falcon

"Estos últimos días necesitaba un rato para hacer música sin mayores pretensiones. La creación de este tema ha sido terapéutico para mí y de ahí el nombre.

Estoy cada vez más cómodo con este setup. He añadido una pedalera Harley Benton Spaceship 80 para tener todos los cables ordenados y recogidos, salvo los del modular por supuesto. Así puedo llevar conmigo el setup a donde quiera.

Analog Four mkii, Octatrack mkii, Subharmonicon y Modular.

En este caso he añadido un segundo filtro, el Dual dagger de Shakmat aunque poco uso le doy en esta Jam en concreto. Filtra ligeramente los sonidos de Arbhar.

En la parte final me apetecía duplicar la melodía principal con un segundo instrumento y me decidí por la guitarra ya que es mi instrumento principal y últimamente no tengo demasiadas oportunidades de utilizarla.

Eso es todo. Espero que os guste y cualquier duda a los comentarios estaré encantado de hablarlo.

(eng)
These last few days I really needed some time to create music and evade myself from everything going on in life. The creation of this one was therapeutic for me, hence the title.

I'm getting more and more comfortable with this setup. I added a Harley Benton Spaceship 80 pedalboard to keep all the cables organized and tidy, except for the modular, of course. This way, I can take the setup with me wherever I go.

Analog Four mkii, Octatrack mkii, Subharmonicon, and Modular.

I've added a second filter to the case, the Shakmat Dual Dagger, although I don't use it much in this particular jam. It slightly filters out Arbhar's sounds.

In the final part, I wanted to double the main melody with a second instrument, and I decided on the guitar since it's my main instrument and I haven't had many opportunities to use it lately.

That's all. I hope you like it, and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to discuss them in the comments."

Plasma Voice: A single sound played like a "normal" synth

video upload by Richard DeHove

"The Plasma Voice module loves being modulated, But how about just playing it as a standard synth voice? Here I twiddle at length with just one of the 49 core sounds. This is bass sound number 2, but it happily scales up and down the octaves. One thing I like about the Plasma is that you don't need to tune it. As much as I liked all my old analog Eurorack oscillators, I absolutely hated tuning them. Often I wouldn't bother, then I'd come up with something good and realize it wasn't going to fit with anything else until I stopped everything, broke the spell, and went back and tuned them :/

Playing a Plasma voice with no modulation isn't what you'd probably often do. It's setup for easy and crazy amounts of realtime change. OTOH it's interesting as a synth voice to play with a range of unfamiliar parameters. Since there's no ADSRs or other standard controls you tend to go in different directions.

Ten minutes of this might be overkill, but as my daughter always says (with a laugh): "Your channel is so niche", so I'm unfazed. It actually felt quite brief to me although the Nightverb was essential to smooth things out.

And watch your ears at the 4 minute mark. There's no compression, limiting or other volume modifications on the audio and the sound gets rather piercing.

0:00 Dry sound
0:54 With reverb
3:32 Jackhammer
4:02 O Lord My Ears
4:45 So low
5:30 Smoothie
6:05 Prod
6:57 Sustainers
8:15 Octaves
9:56 Wet
10:49 Square

Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

Linn LM-1 LinnDrum Computer SN 00035 Built In Roger Linn's Home

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

via this Reverb listing

"RARE piece of Linn Drum LM-1 history. This machine has been updated by the one and only Bruce Forat from Forat Electronics. Bruce is THE repairman for these machines and he has this one cleaned up oh so nice.

Debuting in 1980, these first LM-1 were $5,000 then! During my research, I found that Roger Linn created the first 35 of the machines in a room in his house.This gem is #00035 meaning this was the last one built by Roger before mass production!

This comes with a custom made dust cover and I'm guessing an original manual in a cool shade of Chevy Chase pool blue 80s folder! It will be shipped in a SKB 24x24 case built like a tank.

I've held onto this machine for 25 years and had Bruce tweak it along the way. Now it's time for me to purchase a vehicle so I hope someone else can love it as much as I have. I had Bruce to add the exact signature Prince clap sound as heard on the Purple Rain album. I can also give the winner Bruce's contact information as he is a tremendous resource."

Additional resources: Linn LM-1 page on Culture Wikia

Roger Linn on Sessiondays

CLICK FOR MORE »

"Echoes" ambient jam with Teenage Engineering OP-XY, Walrus Qi

video upload by Aurélien Vieira Lino

"First jam with the incredible OP-XY by Teenage Engineering!
This little device is packed with potential — powerful, ultra-portable, and full of creative possibilities. I’m excited to see how it evolves over time, and I hope the updates keep coming! If you’ve got any questions about it, feel free to reach out.

Enjoyed the jam? Follow me here for more music soon: @aurelienmvl 🎧
You also can check my SoundCloud: / aurelienmb"

A soundscape built around revised "Beeps" module

video upload by ParadisoModular

"This is a demo of one of my vintage modules that I just radically updated. First, a bit of history. Circa 1988, I was browsing the Hosfelt Electronics catalog, and saw a bunch of little circuit boards there that made different 'emergency' siren sounds. Of course, I couldn't resist buying all eight of them that they had, and designed a synth module around them that allowed me to switch (manually or via external signals) the audio output from any of them into the left or right channels on a common stereo mix. In addition to a linear mix, I also combined them via a chain of exclusive ORs (the VCOs on these units produced square waves), again selected by the same gates - this produced kind of a ring modulation sound (Exclusive OR's can be thought of as 1-bit multipliers). On the front panel, I also provided outputs from each oscillator independently, as well as the ability to inject independent voltage control into each oscillator.

Despite my attempts to leverage this module into different patches, it retained a distinct identity - e.g., the sound of a major urban emergency - that limited its usefulness. You can hear a short demo excerpt I recorded on it circa 26 years ago here- http://Paradiso.media.mit.edu/Outgoin... - I'm switching outputs from the alarm circuits randomly to left and right channels throughout - the first half features the linear mix and the latter half the XOR mix. You can clearly hear that this module makes a very strong statement -as such, it didn't appear much in my pieces over the years.

But I still saw big potential in it. 8 oscillators aren't much by today's digital standards, but as I can switch them into different paths dynamically, it's got promise. The main thing I had to do was to be able to turn off the LFO control of each oscillator that made the siren sounds and think about coordinated ways to control this bank.

So a month or two back, I embarked on this journey, enabling the LFOs to be switched out of the audio oscillator voltage control paths (but giving independent access to them all, providing LFO outputs on the front panel and in most cases voltage control of LFO frequencies), plus providing adjustable voltage control of each oscillator as well as different kinds of ensemble voltage control (e.g., controlling all 8, controlling the top vs bottom 4, controlling even vs odd channels), as well as being able to adjust the base frequency of the ensemble and the base for each independent oscillator. Witness the massive augmentation of the front panel, as well as the wild nest of wiring below to do this hack in the midst of this video.

But low-and-behold it's done. This isn't a voiced device - the oscillators are linear, hence don't hold tune collectively as you shift frequencies. This, for me, justified the hack - I've got plenty of oscillators that I can already voice and track harmonically - this unit is now about nudging frequencies collectively and independently to go through different kinds of dissonances and occasionally sweet spots in a deep ensemble fashion. Plus, if I want to, I can switch channels back into siren mode, or use their LFOs in more flexible ways (each of the LFOs sports a different kind of waveform).

OK, IMO it grew into the monster that I hoped it would become, as you can hear in this live recording. Here I routed both the linear and XOR outputs through different complex reverb units, fading them up in different ways and at different times, and switching the oscillator outputs dynamically into different channels using digital gates coming from other modules in my system (occasionally I would hold some or all of the gates to just let the thing drone). I also injected different kinds of ensemble control (all, even/odd, top/bottom) at different times to bend the frequencies a bit, driven by triggered envelope generators. All sounds come from this revamped 'Beeps' unit - one voice was routed through an octave divider to bring it lower, and some effects were used, plus the reverbs nicely put this beast into a dense dreamy space. Despite the complexity, it's one of the simplest patches I've made - you can see it in the little bit of pan-around video I put into the middle of the clip.

My usual disclaimer - heck, only 8 oscillators with simple control paths could be done trivially in software now (one of my hero-pieces, Dave Wessel's 'Antony', an inspiration here, used hundreds on IRCAM's 4x (or 3x back then?) circa 30-40 years ago), and there are probably Eurorack modules around like this now too, including some that I may already have. But this connects to something I made in my relative youth, turning it into the sonic tool that it wanted to be. I hope you enjoy this demo!"

Monome Norns Shield - Overtones script

video upload by TheTrackdriver

"'overtones' is a script for Monome Norns I'm building for myself. It's an additive synth that can generate evolving soundscapes and other sounds. I'm trying to make it easy to program and yet versatile.

I have never been programming before so this is probably an inefficient and ugly piece of code. I admit that I relied a lot on ChatGPT but the script is working, which is most important to me.

00:00 Synth programming
02:11 Presets"

[nanoKEY Fold keyboard. This appears to be the first post to feature one aside from the announcement post.]

Whimsical Patching

video uploads by Whimsical Raps

Playlist:

1. Whimsical Patching // 1. Audio-Rate Modulation

from Dani:
"One of my favorite aspects of modular synthesis is that signals we can hear are made of the same basic building block as signals which provide control and modulation -- they're all just voltage moving at different rates!

When we use an audio signal in the place of control voltage, we're touching into a technique broadly known as audio-rate modulation. Using audio-rate modulation in the Whimsical Raps ecosystem is incredibly rewarding, as it can unlock unexpected behaviors in familiar and new modules alike.

Here, Mangrove (our formant oscillator) modulates Silhouette's (our new 'signal combiner') SPOT, which is mixing six audio channels from Just Friends (our six-voice digital oscillator). I noticed that sending Mangrove into SPOT bleeds Mangrove's audio signal into the mix, so I tuned Mangrove to harmonize with Just Friends. This endowed FORMANT changes with new power, adding harmonic depth to the chaotic modulation -- notice the sizzle around 0:30 as FORMANT is cranked up.

Once INTONE adds distance between the ratios of Just Friends' oscillations, I reduce FORMANT to a low-frequency grumble -- I particularly enjoyed Silhouette's delayed vocalizations of these changes across the stereo field. Manually scanning SPOT offsets the input channels we're highlighting, which reveals the new INTONE-spread pitches. Increasing FORMANT introduces audible discontinuities as Mangrove regains its pitch, which are unique in the left and right channels. A final INTONE adjustment is added for performative spice, which is caught by the bucket-brigade device for a muted splash of stereo color."

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