Antonus Step Brother DIY - Test Drive w/ A2600, SR-909 and Fractal VP4

video upload by Tumeni Knobs

"It took a couple of months, spending a few hours on weekends, but I got it done! And it's very cool. This demo is pretty rough, but highlights a bunch of the key features of the Step Brother and the "performability" it offers.

See my full build log here: https://www.modwiggler.com/forum/view...

In this setup, the Steda SR-909 is sending midi clock to the Step Brother and the VP4 to keep them in sync. Step Brother is configured to run 2x8 step sequences on channels A and B. Channel A quantized CV output is sent to the 2600 mult and then routed to the CV inputs of oscillators 1 and 2. Channel B quantized CV output is sent to the CV input of oscillator 3.

Step Brother Gate Bus 1 is routed to the 2600 main gate input and triggering the 2600's ADSR envelope. SB Gate Bus 2 is triggering the envelope on the Step Brother and audio out of Osc 3 on the 2600 is routed to one of the VCAs on the Step Brother which is controlled by the Step Brother's envelope. That is then routed back to the 2600's mixer.

Audio out of the 2600 is routed to the VP4, and then routed to the ALA Bartender along with the audio of the SR-909. Output from the Bartender is sent to the iRig Pro and recorded on iPhone with the video.

Cheers!"

Gyroresonant Scattering - Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave - Self Playing Patch w/ Artmatic Designer

video upload by Tumeni Knobs

"This is a "self playing" or "generative" patch programmed on the Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave. There is no sequencer or arpeggiator or midi used, just a lot of patch programming of the synth. This recording is actually two tracks layered together, each one slightly different. One is a fully hands-off version of the patch, and the other is performance recording where I was turning knobs as it played (mostly saturation, cutoff and resonance). This recording of the patch is in Bm, and each track uses different notes in the scale, with some overlap.

The dynamic range this patch produced was amazing, and in the end it required some heavy EQing to cut the lows out so as not to blow speakers when played at volume. Low cut and high cut filters were applied as well as a standard master bus compressor. It still gets pretty glitchy and grungy at times, but it doesn't clip.

There is a little bit of the 3rd Wave's delay effect that goes in and out, but much of what may sound like a delay effect isn't - it's just the way the patch plays. Valhalla Supermassive, applied in the DAW, totally sends this patch into space. Each track has a different reverb applied.

The animation was created in Artmatic Designer in my usual style, but this time, because I used two audio tracks, I used two video tracks layered as well. The base layer is the "as rendered" version right out of Designer, and the second layer is a copy processed in DaVinci Resolve with the Edge Detect effect. That processed layer is manually programmed to fade in an out on top of the base layer which dramatically changes the visuals.

I have a bunch of works like this, but this one seems next level to me. I've watched it a bunch of times now and always with eyes wide open, ears tingling and mouth agape. Hopefully someone else enjoys it as much as I do. ;-)

Cheers!

P.S. Gyroresonant scattering is a process where charged particles, like electrons, interact with electromagnetic waves in a magnetic field, causing changes in their energy and motion. This interaction can occur in environments such as planetary magnetospheres, affecting the behavior of particles within those regions."

Antonus 2600 - Test Drive 2

video upload by Tumeni Knobs

Part 1 here

"This is an extended version of the patch I created for the Antonus 'Patch Challenge'. The 90 second version was featured on their social media sites. :-) I really enjoyed listening to this patch and messing around with it, so thought I should record a longer version. This is a combination of generative and performance patching in that I could let it run for hours and it would be dynamic enough to listen to in the background, but it also was good fun to actively mess around with.

The hardware is the Antonus 2600 DIY version, with the Antonus SidecARP Eurorack expansion case, the Arturia KeyStep Pro and Fractal Audio VP4.

SidecARP modules are, from left to right:
ALM - Pamela's New Workout
Stochastic Instruments - Stochastic Inspiration Generator
Qu-Bit - Surface
Addac - Swell Physics
Molten Modular - Motion MTR
Black Corporation - Deckard's Voice
Make Noise - Mimeophon
Qu-Bit - Nautilus,
ALM - S.B.G Pro
Roland - 531 Mixer

KSP provides a clock signal to PNW and the five step "anchor" arpeggio to the 2600 Osc 1. SIG provides three separate sequences to ARP Osc 3, Surface and Deckard's Voice. The notes are based on the Dm scale. 2600 Osc 2 is LFOing the Cutoff. 2600 Noise is randomly mixed in for added texture. VP4 is used for some subtle flanger and reverb on the 2600 (through the S.B.G. Pro), but I also mix in some clock-sync'd panning and some delay. Surface goes into Nautilus and Deckard goes into Mimeophon. All mixed together in the Roland 531 mixer. Recorded on iPhone 12 Max through an iRig Pro from 531 line outs."

Antonus 2600 DIY - Test Drive

video upload by Tumeni Knobs

"This is my Antonus 2600 - I just completed building it from the synthCube.com full DIY kit. It is a huge project! Working on it in my free time, it took six months for me to complete. But I'm sure a full-time builder could do it in a couple of weeks. I actually love that it took me this long. :-)

Anyway, since I first powered it up I have been testing, calibrating and starting to understand how it works, and yes, it deserves it's reputation as an awesome sounding and very flexible synthesizer.

This video is just me noodling on it using the Arturia KeyStep Pro with a sound/patch I really like. This is actually just one of its three oscillators, but I have the saw and square waves patched in. The other two oscillators are in LFO mode. The oscillator is using the ADSR envelope and the filter is using the AR envelope plus an LFO to modulate it - makes some interesting accents.

Effects are courtesy of the Fractal Audio VP4, which is an incredible pedal.

I thought adding some drums would give this more of a musical context, so I force-fit some patterns from EZ Drummer.

The opening groove is definitely reminiscent of Bluetech's Laika, from the Spacehop Chronicles album. It's intentional. :-) I really like his stuff! Go buy some at Bandcamp.

This signal path for this recording goes like this: 2600 into VP4 into iRig into iPhone. I then applied a little EQ in Studio One, just to trim out the extreme highs and lows - I did not use any compression on this.

Can't wait to make some "proper" music with this amazing synth.

Cheers!"

Weston Precision Audio - Pro2021 & Fractal Audio VP4

video uploads by Tumeni Knobs

"I recently finished building the Weston Precision Audio Pro2021 from the Synthcube.com kit. It was an amazing experience to build an entire synth from a giant box of parts, and I had a ton of fun. This synth is a clone of the venerable Sequential Pro One from the early 80s and it sounds incredible. It may seem limited but it offers tons of sound design capabilities, and it's certainly a lot of fun to play. Like with most synths, once you add reverb and delay you can't really go wrong.

This is just an informal, not very well prepared noodle on it. The Pro2021 has midi and CV control options on the back panel, and here I'm using my modular rack to drive the clock which drives the arpeggiator rate. The audio outs are going into the modular's mixer, and effects are from the Strymon Starlab and Veno-Echo. This particular patch is highlighting the oscillator sync feature, which I love the sound of. The internal LFO is modulating the pitch of Osc 1 and Osc 2 is set to triangle wave. Sounds big and fat and crisp and clean all at the same time. Cheers!"

Fractal Audio VP4... with a Synthesizer. Is it any good?

video upload by Tumeni Knobs

"Oddly, when researching the VP4, I couldn't find any demos of it being used with a synth, so I bought it anyway to see if it would be a good match. And yes, most emphatically yes, it is! It was immediately apparent they would go well together - and having only played around with the VP4 for a couple of hours, I thought this video might help others decide if it could work for them.

Obviously, the VP4 does so much more than Drive, Chorus, Delay and Reverb, but those are bread-n-butter effects, so I stuck with those for this quick sound demo. I've since messed around with other effects in the VP4, and found all kinds of great sounds.

The synth is a Weston Precision Audio Pro2021 - a clone of the legendary Sequential Pro One. I built this from a DIY kit I bought from SynthCube.com. It's a simple mono-synth, with no built in effects, and it really does sound excellent - and even more so with a little effects (or a lot of effects). It's filter is super resonant and easily gets squelchy, but that enables some of the greatest sounds when you play with the cutoff knob. ;-)

The recording is direct mono out from the synth into the VP4, stereo out from the VP4 to the iRig Pro Duo that's connected to my old iPhone 12. I opened the audio file in Presonus StudioOne to see if it needed some EQ or compression or normalizing, but I decided to leave it completely raw. I made no changes to the audio whatsoever.

So, I am completely sold on the VP4. I have a load of other effects pedals, including the Eventide H90, and this thing is amazing. The quality of the effects and the build are absolutely top notch, and the user interface is so easy to use right out of the box. It's way way way easier to mess with than the H90...

Cheers!"