Tristan Arp meets Gliss

video upload by Bela Platform

"This video is the second in a series in which we get Gliss in the hands of artists we deeply respect. A native of the Detroit suburbs, Tristan Arp has been making explorative electronic music for more than a decade. In this video he explores Control Mode on Gliss as a strumming interface for Mutable Instruments' Rings.

Check out our blog for the full story: https://blog.bela.io/tristan-arp-meet..."

Gliss Patch Notes: Record mode synced to a clock

video upload by Bela Platform

"Patch Notes is a new series of instructional videos designed to help you get the most out of Gliss and provide a source of ideas for fueling your own experiments and discoveries. Together we will explore possibilities opened by placing Gliss in the midst of a larger patch rather than directly to its final destination, by mixing signals to combine touch control with traditional modulation sources and connecting to unlikely destinations.

In this first installment, we dive into one of Gliss’s most important modes: Record synced to a clock. See https://blog.bela.io/gliss-patch-note..."

Barker meets Gliss

video upload by Bela Platform

"This video is the first in a new series in which we get Gliss in the hands of artists we deeply respect. It is our great pleasure to open this series with Barker, a Berlin-based electronic musician and DJ working on the outer limits of dance music.

Since 2018’s Debiasing, Sam Barker’s influence has helped steer the direction of contemporary electronic music. Despite his being musically active for many years previous, notably in the duo Barker & Baumecker, his recent solo work has managed to shape a zeitgeist offsetting bittersweet longing with hyper-articulated, post-human body movements.

His releases for Ostgut Ton (particularly 2019‘s Utility), and most recently, Smalltown Supersound manage to straddle a line between the high-tensile, pump-action flex afforded by modern rhythmic and timbral programming techniques, with a nigh-on pop-level keenness for lilting, heart-string-tugging chord progressions. It’s this balance, combined with a microbial focus on all things-music composition (from developing solenoid-powered percussion devices to self-playing pianos) that’s made Barker an artist to love for new initiates and production nerds alike.

With Bela’s Gliss, Barker has found a powerful new tool for shaping melodies, chord progressions and timbres in his modular system. In this video he uses a pair of Gliss modules to record gestures that alter the melodic contours of the patch, and offset the root note of the chord, creating one of his signature, soaring progressions with tactile touch control.

Gliss is capable of much more than recording gestures and real-time parameter control. To learn more about its extensive and intuitive capabilities, visit bela.io.

Listen to Barker: https://sambarker.bandcamp.com/music"

Additional Bela Gliss posts

Gliss Video Manual

video upload by Bela Platform

"The Gliss Video Manual covers everything you need to know about your module. Gliss is a 4HP Eurorack module which uses a recordable touch sensor to introduce gestural control into modular systems.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction
02:01 Hardware

03:19 The Menu
03:45 Mode selection
04:14 Settings selectors
05:03 Voltage ranges
06:57 Global settings

09:20 Control Mode
10:15 Control type
11:09 Latching

13:49 Record Mode
15:07 Loop
16:45 Trigger
18:20 Clock
20:55 Wavetable
23:01 Waveshaper

24:49 Signal Mode
25:14 Scale and offset
26:17 Envelope follower
27:45 Clipping

29:08 Notes Mode
29:29 Keyboard
29:59 Sequencer
31:05 Manual tuning
33:10 Tuning via CV
35:08 Sequencer step settings"

Gliss Dev Diaries: Physical Models

video upload by Bela Platform

Gliss Dev Diaries

"In this dev diary we look at Gliss controlling Rings by Mutable Instruments. This is not the original Rings but rather a Pure Data implementation running on our Pepper module. We love Mutable Instruments and take great inspiration from their open source ethos, design philosophy and incredible synthesiser modules. We will miss them!

Gliss is the perfect counterpart for complex synthesis models as you have two dimensions of highly sensitive and high resolution control literally under your fingertips, position and touch size. In the video above we are using touch size to control the Damping and Brightness parameters of the voltage-controlled resonator. The touch position on the other hand is used to control the speed at which the excitation signal is repeated. You'll hear more about Mutable Instruments and Pepper in coming weeks but for now here's a snippet for you to enjoy.

Help bring Gliss into the world and be one of the first to get this module by backing us on Crowd Supply: https://www.crowdsupply.com/augmented..."

Gliss Dev Diaries: Expressive Keyboard Mode

video upload by Bela Platform

"These videos show the current state of the Gliss firmware and each focus on a specific mode. Please note that we are actively working on the firmware for Gliss with a group of beta testers and everything is subject to change. We welcome any feedback you have.

The expressive keyboard mode transforms the touch strip into 5 pressure sensitive buttons with vibrato. Each button can be tuned to a fixed voltage. When you first touch one of the five buttons you will always be in tune and then it is possible to slide continuously between the fixed notes (performing glissandi) for violin or theremin-like performances. The great thing about this keyboard is that you always know that you'll find the in-tune note when you arrive at the centre of the next button.

The vibrato amount is configurable through the submenu. Also to change the tunings of the individual button you just need to go to the submenu, select the button you want to change the tuning of, and then press and drag to retune.

Help bring Gliss into the world and be one of the first to get this module by backing us on Crowd Supply: https://www.crowdsupply.com/augmented..."

Gliss Modular Touch Control Overview Videos

video uploads by Bela Platform

"These videos show the current state of the Gliss firmware and each focus on a specific mode. Please note that we are actively working on the firmware for Gliss with a group of beta testers and everything is subject to change. We welcome any feedback you have.

Help bring Gliss into the world and be one of the first to get this module by backing us on Crowd Supply: https://www.crowdsupply.com/augmented..."

Playlist:
Gliss Dev Diaries: Scale-Meter Mode
Gliss Dev Diaries: Mode Selection and Direct Control
Gliss Dev Diaries: Record and Waveshape Mode
Gliss: Modular Synth Touch Control

Bela Mini Multichannel Expander

"Introducing the latest board in the Bela toolbox: the Bela Mini Multichannel Expander. This expansion board for the Bela Mini brings multichannel audio into your projects to open new frontiers in instrument design, interactivity and sound installations.

The multichannel expander connects to Bela Mini to give you a total of 8 channels of audio in, and 8 channels of audio out while still having all of Bela's high-performance connectivity including analog inputs, digital I/O and plug and play MIDI over USB. All of this in the tiny footprint of the Bela Mini.

Available now at: http://shop.bela.io/collections/bela-..."

And the press release:

Bela is thrilled to announce the debut of the Bela Mini Multichannel Expander, a new extension for our Bela Mini system that packs multichannel audio to an astonishingly small and powerful interactive package and at a very reasonable price.

The Bela Mini Multichannel Expander is an add-on for the Bela Mini system. It sits right on top of Bela Mini and expands audio I/O from two channels to a whopping eight audio I/O.

The Bela Mini Multichannel Expander gives you all the connectivity that creative digital makers need and love, like 16 digital I/O and 8 high-resolution analog inputs. And it’s still tiny - the fully assembled Bela Mini with Multichannel Expander is only 35 x 64 x 34mm, small enough to fit pretty much anywhere. The whole package comes in at just £160.

Imagine being able to capture and process sound from eight individual strings, and diffuse them through a surround sound system. Or being able to make interactive objects that are sonified from every direction, with a different sonic experience at each angle. Or building spatial sound installations that react to listeners, moving sound through multiple locations in response to presence or human interaction. Or field recording with a multi-directional microphone. Or sampling sound live, and being able to process and play it back over multichannel speakers. Or being able to build interactive ambisonic environments. These are just some of the possibilities with the new expander.

A huge amount of audio channels in combination with powerful interactive processing means that the Bela Mini Multichannel Expander can open up new frontiers in designing sound installations, musical instruments, interactive sonic objects, and more. Program it in a multitude of languages right in your browser using the Bela IDE, Bela’s powerful interface for learning and creating that comes loaded with the tools digital makers need, like a built-in oscilloscope, dozens of examples, and an interactive pin diagram.

The Bela Mini Multichannel Expander is available as:

An add-on for the Bela Mini system (includes 6 audio adapter cables) £60.

A starter kit (includes Bela Mini system, SD card, USB cable, and 8 audio adapter cables) £170, £160 introductory price until November 1.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Pepper, a DIY Eurorack module for Bela.

video upload by Bela Platform

You might recall Pepper from this post back in 2019.

"Pepper is a DIY Eurorack module for synth builders. It’s the easiest way to get Bela into your synthesiser case and once assembled will give you a fully programmable module. Code synth patches using C++, Pure Data, Supercollider and Csound

This video gives an overview of the module and demos some of the default patches which come with the board. This includes:

Start 0:00
Module overview 0:10
Tape-style Delay 1:08
Wavetable Drums 3:33
4 Channel Looper 6:09
Vocal Synthesis 9:22
1st Principles Drum Machine 11:50
Dual Inharmonic Oscillator 15:18

Pepper is available now as a PCB and Faceplate kit from our shop (https://shop.bela.io/collections/modu...) or as a full DIY kit from Thonk (https://www.thonk.co.uk/shop/bela-pep...)."

"PEPPER is a DIY kit for hardware enthusiasts who love Bela, modular synths, and building things.

PEPPER consists of a bare PCB with matching faceplate, as well as an additional faceplate for USB breakouts. There is a list of common through-hole components for you to source, and we provide an in-depth, illustrated build guide. Once assembled, attach your Bela board (sold separately) and start prototyping and experimenting with Bela and your modular synth. Both faceplates are matte black with luxe gold print or, if you prefer, white print on the reverse.

Your PEPPER DIY kit includes:

Bare PEPPER PCB, ready for assembly
A matching faceplate and USB breakout faceplate, both made of matte black PCB with gold surface finish (and matte white screen print on the reverse)
Once assembled, PEPPER is 18HP wide and adds the following to your modular setup:

Stereo audio I/O
8 CV inputs (up to 4 can be swapped for trigger ins)
8 CV offset potentiometers (normalised to analog inputs)
8 CV outputs
4 buttons
10-LEDs

CLICK FOR MORE »

Euro-Trill: Touch Sensing for Modular Synthesisers

Published on Sep 27, 2019 Bela Platform

Playlist:
Euro-Trill: Touch Sensing for Modular Synthesisers
Trill: Touch Sensing for Makers
Visualising Trill Sensors in the Bela IDE
Brass instrument with Trill Craft
Granulator with Trill Bar and Trill Square

"Trill touch sensors are the perfect tools for building synthesisers and electronic musical instruments. In this video we demo a Eurorack synthesiser that we created with Trill and the DIY module Pepper. The module is used to control a Moog Mother 32 and a Plankton Electronics ANTS! See our blog post for more details:

https://blog.bela.io/2019/09/27/euro-...

Trill is a new family of touch sensors launched on Kickstarter on 16th September 2019. Brought to you by Bela, Trill sensors use capacitive sensing to precisely track finger movements making it quick and easy to create beautifully responsive touch interfaces. Trill sensors are designed to make capacitive touch sensing easy to integrate into music, art and interactive projects.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/..."

Orac: modular synth for organelle

Published on May 14, 2018 Mark Harris

"Orac a new modular synth for the Organelle.
This video provides a detailed demonstration of Oracs features.
If you would like a broader overview, Id also recommend watching Loopops video" [further below]

CLICK FOR MORE »

Superbooth 2018: Bela Looks Tastier than a Raspberry Pi

Published on May 9, 2018 sonicstate

"...for music use, anyway.
This mini platform is designed for optimum music and sensor use. Looks really interesting."

Crazy tape delay on Bela Modular

Published on Mar 21, 2018 Bela Platform

"Robert Thomas playing around while prototyping a crazy tape delay with mad self oscillations and slidey slew. Written in PureData, running on Bela Modular."

Bela is the platform for audio and sensor processing. See the Bela label below for more.

Introducing Bela Mini

Published on Feb 22, 2018 Bela Platform

"Bela Mini is here! Preorder at https://shop.bela.io.
Bela is the platform for building beautifully responsive audio and interactive applications. To find out more, visit https://bela.io.

Projects featured in this video:
- Strummy
- ChandeLIA https://www.liamice.com/chandelia
- D-Box http://blog.bela.io/2016/11/28/dbox/
- Aural Fabric http://blog.bela.io/2017/01/18/auralf...
- the one-handed bass http://blog.bela.io/2017/02/01/making...
- Axis http://blog.bela.io/2017/02/27/axis/
- Tiles http://blog.bela.io/2017/01/11/percus...
- Vangelisizer

Music: Madrone - Autumnal Arc - Tattletale EP (2014) https://madronemusic.bandcamp.com/"

Bela + Doepfer Dark Energy II: what can Bela do with an analog synth

Published on Mar 31, 2016 Bela Platform

"Back us on Kickstarter, until April 1st 2016 bit.do/belakickstarter

Simple demo of what Bela can and cannot do when connected to a CV-controlled synth.
Using Bela-flavoured libpd to run Pd patches

More info bela.io"

Bela: an embedded platform for audio and sensor processing

Published on Mar 7, 2016 Bela Platform

"An introduction to Bela. This video accompanies our Kickstarter campaign which will be on until April 1st 2016."

This one is in via MATRIXSYNTH reader Giulio who is on the Bela team.

"The most important unique feature of Bela is that it has extremely low latency of less than 1 millisecond from action to sound. This is much lower than can be achieved on any laptop or embedded computer on the market. Low latency is critically important for making intuitive and responsive musical instruments.

Other notable features include 16-bit analog inputs and outputs (8 each), onboard speaker amplifiers and a browser-based IDE (complete with oscilloscope). The project is open source hardware and software. This is basically the platform we've always wanted for building interactive audio systems, and we're excited to share it with a broader community of musicians, engineers and makers!

Bela is currently on Kickstarter where we greatly exceeded our initial goal, so much that we added new features to the board. Extended blog posts, tech specs, faqs and more examples at our website http://bela.io"

CLICK FOR MORE »