DYNO / testing out the Alesis QUADRAVERB / JORANALOGUE and co / eurorack

video upload by BRiES

"I'm testing out a newly aqcuired Alesis Quadraverb which - together with the Lexicon MPX500 - will take care of the spaciousness from now on.

The Joranalogue Audio Design modules take care of most of the gating and transposing of the random sequence. I've found BIAS2 to be a really versatile little unit, in this patch I used the bottom half as a precision adder for pitch and the top part I'm using to route -2.5V to STEP 8 so it only generates negative CV. ORBIT 3 modulates a filter and PIVOT 2 which routes a saw or alternatively a triangle to DELAY 1. One GENERATE 3 is on modulation duty for the time parameter of DELAY 1.
ROUTE 4 is an awesome addition to any sequence: it let's you automate (or randomize) gating and transposing of several sequences. FILTER8 is used as a the final filter in the chain (instead of using a VCA).

I'm pretty pleased with the verbs on the QUADRAVERB. Hainbach was right about this unit, it does 'sit' well in the mix."

Soundforce (µ)CHORUS / nostalgic and versatile eurorack chorus / first jam (inc. all the mistakes)

video upload by BRiES

"In this very first jam with these modules by Soundforce I'm figuring out what to do as I go. Keep in mind that this isn't necessarily the best representation of the capabilities of these modules, nor is it a demo or tutorial.

On the big one I cranked the mix slider to be 100% wet, which gives a wide stereosound that I really really like (especially in manual mode) but the original Roland Juno chorus (and the µCHORUS) is only 50% wet. But hey, these parameters are there to use and abuse!"

Joranalogue Audio Design PIVOT 2 / extensive playthrough / a clever routing and chain utility

video upload by BRiES

"In this video about PIVOT 2 by Joranalogue Audio Design I go over the basic functionality of the module first, before diving into applications such as voltage controlled panning, crossfading, or using PIVOT 2 as a (ducking) VCA for both audio and CV.

PIVOT 2 is a very dense module that packs a lot of functionality into just 4HP. Understanding the signal flow can be a bit challenging sometimes so for this video I chose a very methodical and perhaps clinical approach. I hope my video helps you get an idea whether PIVOT 2 is something you want or need in your system.

I'm a bit biased when it comes to Joranalogue Audio Design. Not only were they the first to 'give me a break' to doing videos about their modules, but probably more important is how these modules are conceptualised... something about it really gels with the way I approach modular systems. It's the 'patch programmability', the perfectionism, the quality and the well designed controls that make all the difference to me."

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Malstrom ARKAN / versatile dual vca / first patch

video upload by BRiES

"ARKAN by Malstrom has just arrived this morning, so it's way too soon for a deep dive, but the perfect moment for a first patch clip of this dual VCA with a few tricks (offset or bias, linear/exponential response, saturation, ... ) up its sleeves."

Klavis GRAINITY (and TWIN WAVES) / granular filter for eurorack / first patch

video upload by BRiES

"This is a genuine first patch with the new Grainity filter by Klavis, it's also my first patch with the Twin Waves.

I still haven't read the manual for neither Twin Waves nor Grainity. It's both to challenge myself and to figure out what the things are that I need to spend some time on when doing an extensive playthrough. If it looks like I don't know what I'm doing, it's because at this point for the most part I simply don't.

I'll do some more exploring before diving deep into the inner workings of Grainity."

Additional posts featuring Grainity

PTERODACTYL / Joranalogue Audio Design DELAY 1 / karplus strong sound processing / eurorack jam

video upload by BRiES

"Something I really only realised after making a few vst plugins (running on the Decent Sampler platform) is that karplus strong effects with a delay can create these wonderful outerworldly sounds. Something about the harmonics speak to me when you tune the delay line just right... I hadn't actually tried this type of synthesis (aka running a sound through a delay and then finding the right frequency on the delay). Instead of creating plucks I've never tried karplus strong as a processor.

So that's what I did with this prototype of DELAY 1 and I'm glad I did.

The newly annouced ROUTE 4 is taking care of the pitch sequence for both the lead and the bass (transposing, muting and gating a 6 note sequence coming from Moskwa 2. They all play really nice together, I think they're going to be friends."

Joranalogue Audio Design / STEP 8 and ROUTE 4 are a match made in heaven

video upload by BRiES

"The newly announced ROUTE 4 by Joranalogue Audio Design is so very useful. I didn't think I would immediately like it this much. In this video I use it to transpose and change up a sequence from STEP 8, and it transforms the 8 step sequence into 16 step patterns. Very very cool."

Joranalogue Audio Design / ROUTE 4 first patch / BIAS 2 / PIVOT 2 / DELAY 1

video upload by BRiES

"This is an ultra-short edit of a long 'patch from scratch' video I made with the recently announced modules of Joranalogue Audio Design.

You can support my work by following any of these links.

https://www.patreon.com/madebybries
https://www.ko-fi.com/bries"

See the announcement post for Joranalogue's ROUTE 4 here.

Nontemporary Toolbox: Subharmonic Memory Unit v1

demo and how-to video upload by BRiES

"In this video I explain the features and controls of my latest Decent Sampler instrument based on the concept of subharmonics.

You can download the instrument here: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/nt-..."

NT Subharmonic Memory Unit v1: the making of (from concept to finished instrument)


"I shot this video while conceptualising, designing and programming my latest virtual instrument called Subharmonic Memory Unit for the Nontemporary Toolbox. My voice was recorded on the camera's built-in microphones and as a result of me not setting the levels properly the audio can be (very) noisy at times."

via https://www.pianobook.co.uk

NT: Subharmonic Memory Unit v1
This instrument was sampled from a modular synth and based on the concept of subharmonics. It has a challenging but interesting control surface aimed at experimentation.

The story
In my experiments to create plugins with a rather leftfield control surface (inspired by modular synthesis techniques) I decided to make this virtual instrument based around the concept of subharmonics. To make the sounds I used a square oscillator routed through a module called ‘Maths’ which is a function generator (amongst other things). All samples are recorded straight from the modular synth into my interface (5 samples for each bank) and then mapped to the different layers.

The ‘random’ toggle switch engages a random engine that chooses a layer for you, you can turn it off and select the layers yourself with the little switches for every bank.

By adjusting the drift setting you’re able to decrease or increase the pitch drift (this is independent for every bank).

I added a ‘memory unit’ to the instrument that enables the user to loop phrases. There’s a spring reverb (convolution*) and a 7kHz low pass filter."

Joranalogue Audio Design PIVOT 2 / filters and audio rate modulation

video upload by BRiES

"In this clip I used the seperate LP and HP outputs of the MA SVVCF filter routed through PIVOT 2. By changing the pivot parameter you can change the order of the filters. In the middle position they are running in parallel. It's not as straightforward as you'd first expect because I'm connecting both sends to the same filter, so there's always going to be some kind of mixing of the signals or feedback in the filter. It's kinda hard to get your head around in a setup like this."

Joranalogue Audio Design DELAY 1 / first patch

video upload by BRiES

"DELAY 1 by Joranalogue Audio Design is a 21st century revisioning of the classic BBD delay. It sure is clean as a whistle in terms of BBD whine and this is achieved by going supersonic with the clock-rates (as far as I understand). I'm not going to list all its features right now (I'll link the webpage below) because I still need to figure out what all the inputs and outputs exactly do, which is usually the case when I post a first patch video."

Joranalogue Audio Design PIVOT 2 / feedback paths are fun but confusing

video upload by BRiES

"Feedback patches really confuse me. The left part of PIVOT 2 is going through a waveshaper while the right part is routed through a filter. The output of PIVOT 2 is going through that same filter (SVVCF).

I gave up trying to understand the signal flow (I resisted drawing it out) and just enjoyed the patch. Later in the video I add even more feedback routes between the Joranalogue Audio Design modules and the R*S Triple Waveshaper."

Joranalogue Audio Design PIVOT 2 / a few basic patches / variable signal router

video upload by BRiES

"In this video I approach PIVOT 2 by Joranalogue Audio Design a little bit more methodical.
First I send one sound into PIVOT 2 while using the send outputs as a left and right stereo pair. Then I send 2 sounds into the returns and use PIVOT 2 as a crossfading mixer. The last clip is a patch where both a wavefolder and a filter are connected to the send/return pairs on PIVOT 2, using the module to change the order of both processors (in - waveshaper - filter - out / parallel operation / in - filter - waveshaper - out)."

INTRANINE / full system eurorack jam / outboard mixer and effects

video upload by BRiES

"I'm going from the modular to the mixer with a Voltage Vibes breakout module and a bunch of adapter cables (I still need to drill a hole in the back of my case so the cable mess is out of sight/out of mind).

In this video I'm using 2 stereo outputs routed to my interface, but there's a third stereo group connected just in case I need 3 seperate stems. One group is going through a DBX 1066 compressor. The mixer channel for the kick is wired into the SC input on the compressor so I can do some ducking if I want.

I have a few eurorack effects connected to the aux sends on the mixer and the Lexicon MPX500 is connected to an aux as well. Now I can send reverbs into delays and back again with the twist of (a few) knob(s).

I'm very pleased with how it all turned out. There is some groundloop but it's very silent (less than -40dB) so I'm going to ignore it.

I already had this large mixer (A&H GL2200), I just wasn't using it (in fact it was obnoxiously in my way) so by going this route I actually created some space and saved money in the process. The eurorack solution for all of this flexibility is unfortunately far more expensive than the cost of a few XLR and adapter cables."

SERGE by Random*Source TRIPLE+ WAVESHAPER / a more detailed look / synth & guitar

video upload by BRiES

"In this video I run a guitarloop and a saw wave through the waveshaper. By adding modulation you can drastically alter the behaviour of the module. You can follow along on the scope.
Later in the video I link the three waveshaper sections and add loads of modulation (slow and audio rate) to completely mangle the original saw wave."

Threetom Modular Introduces Steve's MS-22 Modular Bagpipe

In reality, via Threetom Modular:

"Steve’s MS-22 [eurorack format] is now in stock!

Hey everybody, I’m happy to let you know that you can grab your very own Steve’s MS-22 from either myself or Signal Sounds (UK). Don’t wait for too long, there’s only a small number of units currently out there!"

Also:

"Behind the scenes at THREETOM
Maybe you missed this documentary last time around. Be sure to check out BRiES’ two-part visit to my workshop and lab, and take a unique behind-the-scenes look at how MS-22’s are built and calibrated."

Part 1 here

Part 2 here

Joranalogue Audio Design PIVOT 2 / first patches and exploration

video upload by BRiES

"In this very first video with a pre-production unit of PIVOT 2 by Joranalogue Audio Design I experimented with a few different ways in which the clever signal router can be used to route signals to and from each other. PIVOT 2 is also suited to transition smoothly between serial, parallel or inverted serial processor chaining. I use PIVOT 2 as a voltage controlled panner, to crossfade between two modulators and to create feedback paths. Lastly I use the module as a simple VCA.

I'm in the process of learning how to work with Final Cut Pro so please don't mind the video fx and unelegant video and text transitions."

You can find additional details in this post.

SYNCOSOFT/ I synced my modular to a 4 track cassette recorder / eurorack / soft piano

video upload by BRiES

"It can be done. By first recording a clock (it would probably work better with a very short audio rate trigger) on track 3 and 4 of the cassette while recording a piano on track 1 and 2 I was able to sync the modular. I used the output of the tracks with the clock to clock STEP 8 and a Dual LFO, which sequence and modulate a VCO, filter and Rings. I could even slow down the speed of the cassette player and the modular just followed along.

Proof of concept. The video is not a step-by-step tutorial on how to do this (I did a lot of things wrong here), but I could make a one of those if that's something you're interested in. Let me know."

North Coast Synthesis MIDDLE PATH VCO / all the features demonstrated / no talking

video upload by BRiES

"In this playthrough I let the MIDDLE PATH VCO speak for itself. The way the normalizations are used in this module is very clever and useful. The center section (aka the Middle Path) is a full blown waveshaper circuit that reminds me a lot of a single circuit of the Serge by Random*Source Triple Waveshaper. You can use it with the internal VCOs or just run external sources through them or use any combination of hard or soft sync and create timbres that are very hard to reproduce using any other single module.

I'm VERY impressed with this module (both for its functionality and build quality).

I realized too late that I didn't demonstrate how to make a pure sine in the video. On page 7 and 8 of the extensive user manual you can read all about it, it involves running the saw output into the waveshaper section (instead of the normalized triangle). Then you get 2 quadrature sines (from 'sin' and 'cos' outputs) and a sine with twice the frequency from the 'both' output. I'll add this note to the description of the video.

The manual can be found here:
https://files.northcoastsynthesis.com...

______________________

0:00 intro
0:15 triangle outputs
0:45 sync
2:53 saw outputs
3:29 sync
4:16 square outputs
4:28 sync
5:14 V/oct inputs
5:44 FM inputs
7:26 PWM outputs
8:27 PWM modulation
12:00 waveshaping internal
15:50 waveshaping external
19:44 waveshaping sync
20:20 middle path mayhem"

SIDETRACKED / figuring out recording setup / eurorack

video upload by BRiES

"I got sidetracked so much the last few weeks trying to figure out a better way to record signals from the modular. It's not at all straightforward. Here I recorded the bass onto a seperate channel to get the 'oomph' back into it with some nice pre-amp plugin... sounds like a good fix right? But now I can't run it through the sidechain compression which means I can't hear how the track SHOULD sound when tracking it. SMH.

After recording this video I've adopted the 'outboard mixer road' completely. It's a hell of a mess of cables but the flexibility of an outboard desk with 3 stereo outs and 6 aux sends is hard to beat. The mixer I have has a great sound to it as well and after a lot of consideration I realised creating an environment for making music and sounds should always primarily be based on sound rather than practicality (even though both matter and it sometimes is a difficult balance)."