ReSynthesizer (Autonomous Synthesizer Installation at MIT's PSFC, Spring/Summer 2018)

video upload by ParadisoModular

"In December of 2017, as part of the 50’th anniversary celebration for MIT’s CAVS (Center for Advanced Visual Studies), I was invited to install my large, custom built-and-designed modular synthesizer system into the experimental hall where Alcator C-Mod was residing, MIT’s most recent tokamak reactor used in plasma fusion research. Known as being a pioneering melting pot for art and technology during the 60s, 70s and 80s, the CAVS was a place where scientific fields like physics would commune with performance and music. Modular synthesizers, as used there by early adopters like Paul Earls, were part of the Center’s original vernacular, and after many decades they are being enthusiastically re-discovered, re-embraced, and in many way re-invented by the current young generation of electronic musicians. Such reflected synergy into the present led to my invitation (as well as this installation’s name), as did the match between the aesthetic and technical grandeur of a large heavily-patched modular synthesizer and the huge mélange of custom, elegantly-kludged electro-mechanical systems that surrounded the tokamak. Similarly, the researchers’ quest to manage the chaotic nature of an energetic plasma (as expressed inside the tokamak’s torus during the peak of plasma confinement) resonated with my efforts to ‘sculpt’ my autonomous and likewise chaotic huge synthesizer patch into a definable aesthetic.

As I have my PhD in high-energy physics (having worked at CERN at various times between the late 70s and early 90s) in addition to having designed, built, and used electronic music systems of various sorts over the last 45 years, I was anticipating having access to actual Alcator data and using it in the patch that I would compose when the installation would go live in late March of 2018. My plasma physics colleagues resonated with this idea, and I was provided with several waveforms coming from various sensors on the tokamak acquired during its record-breaking run from a few years ago, when Alcator C-Mod had attained the largest recorded plasma pressure. Listening to this data as audio, I was immediately transfixed. This didn’t sound like bland digital noise, but instead felt alive – some strange kind of muted rattlesnake here, burbling life forms on a weird water planet there, perhaps other samples evoked the barely scrutable control room of an alien spaceship. These sounds, played at various rates and filtered into audible bands, were strongly otherworldly. This dictated the flavor that I’d strive for in my patched composition. Accordingly, I loaded banks of Alcator’s waveforms into an array of Eurorack samplers that I could control from processes running in my synthesizer. While most of these signals were used as direct audio, some were adopted for modulation envelopes and slow control – the tokamak cycle exhibited a variably noisy build-and-release structure as the magnetic fields were ramped up to concentrate the plasma before it went terminally unstable, which worked well here.

My patch evolved considerably during the installation, which ran from late April through late August of 2018. I worked on it weekly, and it achieved its ultimate balance between form and complexity by the beginning of July. At the end, I used every patch cord that I owned (on the order of 700) and nearly all modules in the synth, in addition to an assortment of outboard effects and commercial Eurorack modules that I coaxed to work with my system. Towards the end, when I was starting to run out of cords and hardware capacity, I resorted to kludging in simple wires and electrical components hanging in the air between modules to attain effects and sounds that I still wanted but didn’t have the modules available to make. This was the most extensive and ambitious synthesizer patch that I’ve yet composed – it pushed me to extremes of being simultaneously a composer, synthesizer musician, engineer, and scientist. Having designed, built or custom-modified nearly everything in my setup creates a special rapport for me that goes deeper than interaction with commercial synthesizer equipment – my system has its own unique capabilities and quirks that reflect my personal audio nuances and what I want to achieve with them.

At various stages during the 4-month run of this installation, I digitally recorded the patch’s stereo mix – in all, I have archived probably on the order of 60 hours of audio. The excerpts provided in this video all came from different sections of this long set of recordings. Aside from cross-fading between different excerpts, there was no manual intervention or overdubbing in these clips – the sound was made entirely from the patch running on its own after I set it on its way, with updates and augmentations I made every week or two based on ideas I got while listening to it stream online. The video also features a brief example of some of the raw plasma data sounds that I used."

And in the studio:

Synth Patch For Chaos Unit, Sitar Pedal, and NightSky'ed Keyboard (August 2021)

video upload by ParadisoModular

"In the summer of 2021, I put in a synth patch to test out my newly-arrived Sitar Pedal as well commemorate the tweaking/repair of my voltage-controlled chaos module. This was a very simple patch compared to my usual - nothing too deep or thought out, and the master sequence is a bit shallow - but it has its vibe. Plus, at 2:30 in, I added a keyboard line over what the patch was doing. This was all live - the synth patch ran autonomously and I just recorded as I played - no preparation, overdubbing, or refinement here - hence it's raw and not even close to what I'd term finished or a 'demo' - but I kinda like its intrinsic 'hopeful' feel.

The basic sequence is running through the sitar pedal, which locks on fine (it can separate the drone sounds and re-synthesized lead into separate channels). I'm running a fixed tone also through my chaos generator, which I move in a complex way into and out of stability - it locks onto subharmonics or devolves totally/partially into noise as it sweeps. This sound goes through several signal processing paths that periodically fade in, involving filters, unstable phase-locked loops, and a Boss guitar synthesizer pedal (which does wonderfully noisy gyrations as it tries to lock onto the chaos signal between stable moments).

At that time, as opposed to collecting Eurorack modules, I was slowly accumulating and modifying pedals - pedals are all about modifying an input sound in interesting ways, and which generally appeals to me (I hack them, of course, to accept voltage control in different ways).

The only keyboard sound here (aside from one chord and arpeggio at the end) is from the little cheezebox Casio 'toy' that the Minskys gave me at a Media Lab event some years ago - I abandoned my more sophisticated synths for this one in this piece, as it fits easily on your lap (that's how I played it in the excerpt here) and it sounds amazing if you feed it through one of the new complex reverb/echo/delay pedals like the NightSky or Micropitch (those pedals can put any sound into an evocative space).

The video is indeed of this patch and me playing atop it (shot while I was holding the phone in my other hand), but it's not the live segment that you hear in the piece, so pardon if things don't line up entirely, but you get the vibe.

OK - I figured I'd let this one get a bit of air in case it hits some resonance... It radiates a bit of melancholic positivity, which is something we all relate to these days."

The Bizarre Beauty Of The Stuber

video upload by HAINBACH

"Peter Blasser's Instruments have been central to my music and live performances for a long time. His Ciat-Lonbarde series is both mystifying and rewarding, balancing chaos and lush sound beautifully. With the Din Datin Dudero edition of oval instruments he has created something even more elusive: what looks like the result of a surfboard and a CDJ getting cozy in a woodshop, the Stuber stereo analog filter instrument is both intuitive and an enigma.

I explored it over the course of ten days, writing 18 tracks for a new album with it as a center piece. I can't claim I am fully aware of how it works, mastery of it is something that needs a long time of practice, but I have fallen in love with it, like with all of Peter's instruments before."

FREE PO-33 KIT: TB-303 Acid sample kit | for Teenage Engineering PO-33 & PO-133

video upload by CNTR RNDM

"Hey, my name is Christian and I have a confession to make...I love ACID music! Over the past few years, I was involved in quite a few acid projects, such as 303 Addict, Stoney Broke Weirdos, Acid Traxx...blah, blah, who cares, right? Anyway, boomer-mode on: when I started out making acid techno, it was all about tracksuits, warehouse raves, you know all that good stuff. However, for me, acid-clubbing was never about taking pills or drinking till you pass out or whatever...I always wanted to know what gear the live acts were using, how they were performing and stuff. I always hated polished disco stuff...I was all about this raw, unpolished, acidy kind of stuff. And you know what? I still remember the first real acid gig I went to, the night I fell in love with acid music, so to say...I don't know which year it was or anything but - nevertheless - I have a super vivid memory of that particular night. So I and a couple of my mates went to this super tiny club in Duisburg called Chism (RIP Chism♥️)...we had heard good things about it but we had never been there...anyway, when we arrived, there was an old man giving out glowsticks and I was like "ok, that's weird but hey, who doesn't love glowsticks, right?"...anyway, we went in and the club was jam-packed, sweat was dripping from the ceiling, the crowd was super rowdy and aggressive (but in a positive way) and Robert Babicz aka Rob Acid was tearing the flipping walls down...it was bloody amazing...so, there was no stage or anything...he had all this gear like in the middle of the dancefloor on a folding table and there was nothing but chaos and mayhem around him...I don't know how he felt that very moment but he looked super cool and calm and played this awesome live set! Thanks for this memory Herr Babicz, Na Zdrowie! Kocham cię, mój przyjaciel!

Ok, I'm going off on a tangent here...sorry about that. You're probably here for the PO-33 kit so let me tell you a bit about it. For this PO-33 kit, I recorded both 303 loops and one-shots using Roland's TB-3 and D16's AMAZING Phoscyon plugin. The one-shots all come from the TB-3 and have been stored in the drum banks. The first two drum banks are arranged as follows:
Pads 1-4, C, all one-shots varying in intensity
Pads 5-8, D, all one-shots varying in intensity
Pads 9-12, G, all one-shots varying in intensity
Pads 12-16, A, all one-shots varying in intensity

The one-shots in the last drum bank have been arranged randomly.
You can download the FREE backup file here:
https://cntrlldrndmnss.gumroad.com/l/...

While we're at it, why don’t you grab my free drums sample pack as well:
https://cntrlldrndmnss.gumroad.com/l/...

Feel free to check my other packs on gumroad as well:
https://cntrlldrndmnss.gumroad.com

All my samples and kits are copyright free - you can use them in your own productions, videos, whatever. The main thing is: have fun with this kit (or any of my other kits or packs)!!!"

Eurorack jam featuring Metropolix, Manis Iteritas, Prok Drums, Zen Delay, and electric guitar

video upload by

"A live, semi-improvised modular performance performed entirely on hardware, with one guitar overdub.

This jam started with a simple exploration of the Intellijel Metropolix, a neat sequencer that helps you stumble into inspiration, along with two voices (the Noise Engineering Manis Iteritas and the Acid Rain Chainsaw). My ambitions were no more than "play guitar with eurorack". But as the song found itself, and more and more was added to the table, it became clear I'd have to add guitar after the the fact.

A big highlight here is the Prok Drum modules being sequenced by the Mutable Instruments Grids. Not only is Grids fast and inspiring, but its modulation allows you to add performability (like the snare rolls I add via a touch pad here) and variety (through its chaos and frequency controls). Special thanks to Michael, a good human and also a member of my Patreon community, for allowing me to commission him to build the Prok modules! You're the best, Michael.

And of course, the Erica Synths Zen Delay works its magic again. Here, it runs everywhere from flanger to filter to gonzo delay, and I just love what it adds to a jam.

The patches would take a very long time to explain, but here are the modules:

Voices:
- Noise Engineering Manis Iteritas
- Squarp Rample
- Acid Rain Chainsaw
- Qu-Bit Chord
- Frequency Central Product
- Prok drum modules

CLICK FOR MORE »

Dune Soundtrack The One Hans Zimmer Cover all analog synthesizers, Moog, ARP-2600, Soma Lyra-8, DFAM

video upload by EthanJamesMusic

"This is a synthwave cover of the soundtrack for The One by Hans Zimmer from the movie Dune. I wanted to see if it was possible to get somewhat close to the spirit of the music using only analog electronic synthesizers with guitar. I am using some Eurorack modular with a Buchla Easel Command and Soma Labs Lyra-8 to create the drone, while the Moog Grandmother is covering the low brass parts, and the ARP-2600 is covering the string (cello and bass) parts. I'm using the Moog DFAM to cover the low drum hits. Finally, I'm using the Sequential Circuits OB-6 to do the end high strings.

I hope you enjoy! This was a fun exercise in sound design and trying to get the spirit of the orchestra into an analog synth orchestra idea."

"If you enjoyed this, please consider supporting my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ethanjamesmusic

Patch Notes:

Eurorack modular:
Instruo CS-L: using final outputs of both oscillators to a Make Noise Optomix to filter some of the high frequencies. The symmetry of both oscillators is being randomized by fluctuating voltage from a Frap Tools Sapèl.
Random Source Serge New Timbral Oscillator saw output to Serge Variable Frequency VCF. Low pass output to mixer. Filter frequency is being modulated by a Zlob modular Diode Chaos, while Q gain is being modulated by a Make Noise Wogglebug stepped output.
Make Noise Morphagene has a guitar loop playing D, and I'm using the knobs to make things change. Audio to an After Later Audio Monsoon (Clouds clone).
Make Noise Erbeverb in feedback mode to mixer.
All Eurorack audio to an Eventide H9 pedal doing reverb.

Soma Labs Lya-8 is in full drone mode with Hold turned all the way up. Most oscillators tuned close to a D with some variation. Audio is going to a Make Noise X-Pan modulated by an Intellijel Quadrax.

Buchla 208c Easel Command is providing more pulse-like ambience with random voltage changing the timbre very quickly. Audio to Make Noise X-Pan.

Moog Grandmother normalled patch with very slow attack and decay that is also assigned to the filter.

Moog DFAM using a very long decay with the two oscillators tuned a half step apart. Oscillator 2 has very low volume, so it's mostly contributing the attack sound.

ARP-2600 normalled patch with moderate ADSR modulation of the filter.

Sequential Circuits OB-6 using a polysaw sound being controlled by the Novation Bassstation II."

Korg Wavestate 2: Modular Clouds 50 Generative Performances (Presets). Sound Demo/No Talking.

video upload by Anton Anru

"Modular Clouds" is a collection of 50 dreamy generative performances for Korg Wavestate. This is my one of the hardest works, I made a huge effort to create this soundset. Wavestate is a very complicated synth, and I dived deep into its features and possibilities.
🔋 Get the soundset: https://bit.ly/36FBL3S
Highlights:
☑️ Each performance is made from scratch: lanes, modulations, settings...
☑️ True wave sequence 2.0 synthesis, extensive and deep use of unique Wavestate features, that make the presets stand out from other synthesizers (subtractive, wavetable, FM...)
☑️ Thoroughly set parameters and complex modulation.
☑️ All 8 Performance Knobs/Macros are assigned to different parameters. They give changes from subtle to dramatic.
☑️ Vector Envelope adds movement. It has its own motion, and you may tweak it to change the timbre.
☑️ ModWheel add expression.
☑️ Making each performance took me about 60-90 minutes.
☑️ No external/additional samples are required.
☑️ Performances' volumes are equalized for a comfortable browsing.

CLICK FOR MORE »

ALLINAIRE - Mandelbrot vs Buchla 259e

video upload by Allinaire

"In this piece the Mandelbrot set ‘plays’ a Buchla 259e and friends (including various Max-for-Live devices). The 259e is my favourite Buchla oscillator as it contains a wealth of tones varying from a simple sine wave to chaotic digital noise - which kind of represents what happens to the points within and around the Mandelbrot set. With a 259e you can make a ton of sounds ranging from pure and harmonic, melodic to percussive, so it is perfect for this experiment.

OK, so this is the first of my explorations into the ‘sound’ of the Mandelbrot set. I’ve been thinking about and working on the idea of ‘sound and fractals’ & order and chaos for some time now. Some of my earlier work is based on these ideas and I intend to release more material exploring the many aspects of these fascinating mathematical constructs and the relationship to sound and rhythm.

This first track and video is relatively simple – I basically look at various points, being real and imaginary numbers, in and around the Mandelbrot set. Depending on where a point starts there is a pattern, or orbit, related to the formula z = z2 + c where ‘c’ is the point of examination. The equation is repeated, and a pattern emerges which you can see by the lines emerging from each point. If the pattern stays within the black area then it is said to be part of the Mandelbrot set and tends to produce a pure or harmonic set of tones. Stable orbiting patterns within the set can also have different periods from 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on, as you can see in the video, these points derive from the ‘bulbs’ off the main set. These periods create the harmonic series tones. Points that are outside of the Mandelbrot set quicky become noisy and chaotic and disappear to infinity.

For this sonic experiment the movement of the original point ‘c’ and the patterns each point creates forms the origin of the notes and gates. The starting point being the fundamental frequency, and the patterns with stable orbits become harmonic ‘chords’. These are converted to midi note data. Changes in the position of the point are registered as a midi note on and off which generates gates and triggers used for the percussive tones. I convert the midi data to cv (control voltages) to drive the Buchla modular synthesiser as well as using the midi within various Max devices. The sounds on the video are derived wholly from the midi / cv data created by the movement of the original point on the Mandelbrot, there is nothing added. The ‘artistic’ aspect of the piece is derived from where I choose to sweep the points and the sounds and percussion allocated to the midi / cv data. I have more in the works exploring Mandelbrot and Fractals! I want to acknowledge that I’m certainly not the first person to do this. There are many many examples to be found on-line and in some instruments. My version is based on this original concept and application code by CodeParade found here:"

Sounds of the Mandelbrot Set

video upload by

"Try it out now! https://codeparade.itch.io/fractal-so... Making music and sound effects directly from common fractals was an idea I though of one night, so I just had to try it out to see what it would be like. The results were really interesting and actually helped me understand even more about fractals and chaos.

Source Code: https://github.com/HackerPoet/Fractal..."

Zlob Introduces the VC F3DB Fixed Filter Bank Eurorack Module

What is a Fixed Filter Bank? | Chaos + Control with Zlob VC F3DBvideo upload by Sarah Belle Reid

"In this video, we explore the history of fixed filter banks in synthesizers (what they are, how they work), demonstrate some classic fixed filter bank concepts, and then dive into a series of patch examples exploring the Zlob Modular VC F3DB.

Zlob Modular's VC F3DB is a filter bank for Eurorack modular synthesizers. But it's much more than just that as well; while it can produce the clean, dry, nasal tones you might expect from a classic Moog or Buchla filter bank, it is designed to leverage feedback, clipping, and per-band envelope followers, allowing it to act as a chaotic sound source, spectral decoder, and intense distortion.

To access extended audio from this video (aaand there's a lot of it!), check out my Patreon page! You're free to use these sounds as materials for you own music, as well:
www.patreon.com/sarahbellereid

Video Timestamps:
00:00 Intro + Video Overview
01:40 What's A Fixed Filter Bank?
03:36 What's a Filter Bank Good For?
07:42 F3DB Module Overview
09:53 Patch #1: Clipping
11:37 Patch #2: Adding Modulation
16:00 Patch #3: Feedback
19:48 Patch #4: Feedback (But Less Crazy This Time)
22:00 Patch #5: Feedback with Modulation
24:43 Patch #6: Spectral Decoder"
Zlob VC F3DB First Look video upload by Brett Naucke

"A first look at this fantastic new 6-Band Voltage Controlled Filterbank by Zlob Modular. Patch examples including manual filtering, drum processing, voltage controlled filter animation, 'vocoding' and some exploitations using the filterbank as a chaotic audio source. This is a GREAT filterbank capable of some very unique overdrive and distortion functions that set it apart from all other filterbanks in eurorack modular."

https://zlobmodular.com

via Zlob Modular

"VC F3DB stands for Voltage Controlled Fixed Filter Feedback Distortion Bank. The simplest description is it’s a 16hp six band voltage controlled fixed filter bank. But with the additions of so much gain, clipping, feedback, and self-oscillation it becomes a very flexible and unique gestural sound sculpting tool capable of; graphic equalization over 6 octaves, multi-band distortion, spectral processing, crude vocoding, multi-frequency envelope following, self-modulation, and even as an instrument on its own. With no input it can be used as a pseudo chaotic “harmonic” feedback oscillator.

The filter frequencies were specifically chosen to emphasize more ambiguous and dissonant intervals. Although the frequency bands are spread out over many octaves I purposely tried to leave out “3rds” besides a major 10th at the top frequencies to even out all the dissonance below. But the frequencies aren’t exactly equal tempered, so it’s relative. The bands roughly equate to F2, B3, F#5, C6, F7, A8.

The design is based on the Moog 914 filterbank, which it borrows the frequency bands from. But this circuit uses active filters with opamps inspired by YU Synth opposed to passive cells using inductors on the original. The 88hz is a low pass -24db/oct and 7k is a high pass -24db/oct, the rest are -12db/oct band pass filters all with a Q around 4.

The hard and soft clipping circuit on the input is fairly standard which appears in many different iterations of classic guitar pedals. But it has a lot of gain and can even boost line level signals. What makes it a bit unique is the feedback on the clipping circuit which needs to be turned on by the GFB(gain feedback) switch and the amount can be controlled by the Gain FB pot which can add some fuzz/bite to the signal depending on which clipping switch is engaged or at the extremes it will self oscillate from audio rate to LFO sort of clicking range. All the clipping stages in the module are using silicon diodes.

Consult the Signal Flow Chart to the left for a rough visual breakdown of the controls,in/outs,normalizations, and optional settings for the module.

Each band can also be muted by the top toggle switches or clipped(at the VCA) by the top slide switch which makes this design a bit different than other filter banks. As well as the overall feedback section(bottom middle) takes the sum/all bands out through a VCA(controlled by the feedback pot and FB CV) back to the input gain/clip circuit. and you can also tap into this using different sends/bands to the FB In jack to break the normalization. With this extra feedback “resonance” you can get more whistley and howly filter sounds kinda like the Serge res eq, which can also go into self oscillation.

All cv ins are expecting +5v to open the VCAs(they wont respond to negative voltage), once you get closer to +8v or so it can clip the vca regardless of the gain settings or clip switches. Output amplitude in high gain settings will exceed 10vpp and can get up to 20vpp. The envelope followers tend to stay around 0-5v out, but with clip switch active they can go up to 10v.

Since this is a high gain module there can be bleed between the bands in certain configurations and situations. Also in high gain modes with higher frequencies the 2.8k and 7k bands can bleed a little with the VCAs closed.

This is a highly involved DIY all through hole project. It is a long build with 5 different pcbs to solder and assemble.

THIS IS NOT A BEGINNER OR INTERMEDIATE PROJECT."

Wild encounters Gotharman LD3 & Plinky

video by Meska

"Testing my travel setup with plinky & the ld3, awesome possibility for 2 small box
All drum are made with the ld3 perc oscilator no sample use
sub is juste one LD3 oscilatore going to my wavefolder/LPG filterboard (proto 1 ^^ ) controled by plinky (1voct follow the arpeg)
one of the glitchy voice going to plinky for same FX than arpeg
all flesh in the Pitch plinky input for chaos FM

Thank you for watching.
My name is Meska of the statik collective . I've been making mostly "dark and expérimental" music for more than ten years now, i'v learn so much online, now it's time for me to share my knoledge, my exploration and this channel is a place to talk about the tools, sound design and techniques to make music with.
i'm tattooist at day jobs and you can found my work here : www.meska.fr

You can stream my albums and EPs at https://statikwave.bandcamp.com/ or on the official YT page : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD-N...

If you'd like to support the channel​ consider buying music from bandcamp ;)"

Soundsauca Roland JD-990 Demos

"1993 must have been a vintage year. The Roland Super JD-990 is a classic digital synth with character.

Though the light from it's near 30 year old LCD may be fading (Photoshop works wonders!), the JD is still a much loved synthesizer today."

Playlist:

1. JD Worship - Roland JD-990 Demo

Spreading the JD-990 love! A little tune I put together with my Roland JD990. No external FX.

Heaven's Horns - a hi-pass filtered horn patch which fizzes down, gradually breaking across the stereo spectrum.

Dark Energy - a disturbing string patch that undulates with ghostly undertones,

Electric Eel - puts the JD990 chaos lfo to use with very short delay FX adding metallic feedback,

Binary Rain - a beautiful patch that sounds like flickering particles - it sounds different every time I play it,

Flangie Angie - a tightly flanged arpeggio sound with velocity sensitive attack, it can sound soft or hard with the mod wheel, tight and loose with velocity,

Magic Clouds - providing the heft down below with thick analog style sweeps,

JD Worship - The inspiration! A classic lead sound with the mod wheel controlling the dry/wet mix of the JD990 effects,

Lunar Mining - A repeating phased noise effect,

JD-8000 - I always wanted to make a supersaw on the JD-990. I finally found the trick, typically after I had bought a JP-8080 :) It does a pretty good impression,

Hazy Freeze - I love this sound! A melancholic lead that morphs into swirling clouds of audio,

Jungle Drums - Snappy self-oscillated S/H filter sweeps create a percussive sound. The JD has these wonderful sample and hold LFOs that slightly soften (slew) the harsh filter transitions. Later JV/XV series synths don't sound like this. The resonance also doesn't blow a hole in your ear drum when up high (always useful!)

2. Roland JD-990 - Superluminal Patches

A collection of 64 finely crafted Roland JD-990 patches. Take the deep dive into the 990’s synthesis, hearing its classic history along with futuristic sound impressions.

Find out more here: https://www.soundsauca.com/sounds/sup...

Superluminal represents a collection of Roland JD-990 patches that showcase my journey programming this awesome synth. From the cosmic interlude of the patch “Superluminal” to some seriously epic pads such as “Vista Grande”, the JD still has what it takes in 2020!

Sometimes I have to remind myself that its existence pre-dates 1993, with the slider infested JD-800 from 1991 and the D-50 from 1987!

I won’t pretend to be the first to praise this synthesizer, as I know I’m walking in the footsteps of great sound designers, but in my own way I hope to contribute to the JD’s legacy. The Roland JD-990 is a timeless classic with hidden depths to it even decades later.

One of the true great digital synthesisers.

5U - FM Drone

video by Precarious333 Music

"Testing out some modules (outside the case). Patch is an ElectroSmith VCO with linear FM from Q106A sine which is sequenced by a SympleSEQ. Saw out from ElectroSmith to Barton BMC034 Switched Resistor VCF (built by Lower West Side Studio) running 2 low pass filters in series. Barton BMC034 is modulated by Encore Universal Event Generator running through the inverter on Q155 with inversion modulated by an audio frequency signal from SSL 1710 5-PULSER which is processing the same Q106A FM-ing the ElectroSmith VCO, introducing a pitch heard as the accented notes. The inverter output is then fed to the Curver section of Q155 modulated by a second Encore UEG. Simple, right? Ha-ha!


Q155 Curver is a really great module. Works great to add uniqueness to modulation signals and audio alike. I'm sure I'll find a place for it in every patch.

A minute into the video I introduce an inverted copy of the sequence controlling Q106A into the Clock input on the Barton BMC034. This is an experimental input on a very strange filter producing unexpected results. In this instance we get a sweet spot that produces truncated versions of the sequence because the filter freaks out creating dead zones. I like that kind of thing. \ (•◡•) /

Things fall into chaos when I exponentially FM the ElectroSmith VCO by another VCO running a different sequence which degenerates into the noise at the end.

#5U​ #MU​ #ElectroSmith​ #LowerWestSideStudio​ #modular​​ #synth​​ #music​​ #SynthesizersDOTcom​​ #DOTcom​​ #MoogFormat​​ #SSL​​ #SyntheticSoudLabs​​"

Mutable Instruments Beads: First Look

video by Patchwerks Seattle

"In this video resident expert Nick Bigelow takes us on a first look at the highly anticipated Clouds successor: Beads.

REINVENTING A CLASSIC
Beads is a reinvention of Mutable Instruments’ Clouds.

The concept is the same, live granular processing of an incoming audio signal, and the labels on the panel remain familiar.

The similarities stop here. The hardware and software have been redesigned from the ground up, with several goals in mind: a crisper and broader sound palette, more control, better playability, and direct access to exciting new features.

DOTTING THE I’S AND CROSSING THE T’S
Beads’ vastly improved specifications allow a higher audio quality, a longer buffer, the use of better interpolation and anti-aliasing algorithms, and key DSP blocks to run at a faster rate. Granular processing can now go to new territories, such as formants, wavetables, hard-sync-like sounds, or crispy noise.

The range of parameters, their response to the turn of a knob or a CV modulation have all been refined, for new possibilities such as reverse playback or percussive envelopes.

CONTROL, CHAOS AND CHARACTER
Control. To trigger or schedule grains, Beads provides new features to divide or randomize an external clock or trigger stream, spray bursts of grains in response to a gate, or get the grain rate to track a V/O CV or the frequency of an external oscillator.

Chaos. Each key parameter of a grain comes with its own attenurandomizer, which allows direct CV control, CV control of the randomization (spread) of this parameter, or internal randomization using some of Marbles’ algorithms.

Character. Beads provides four audio quality settings, which go well beyond buffer sample rate and bit-depth: they affect the clock of the converters, the amplitude limiting and saturation of the signal path, the tone of the reverb, and additional media-emulation effects. From a pristine digital device to a dirty cassette, through a mode reproducing some of Clouds’ characteristics.

MODES?
Beads can operate as a delay without the need to switch to a different mode: just ask it to play a never-ending grain. Its DENSITY, TIME and SEED controls are repurposed to allow various features such as tap-tempo, beat slicing, time-stretching, or comb-filtering at rates tracking V/O.

Without any audio input, Beads will granularize 8 internal banks of wavetables.

All parameters have a dedicated knob.

Learn more about Mutable Instruments Beads here: http://bit.ly/mi_beads​

https://patchwerks.com/
Demo by: Nick Bigelow
Video by: Matthew Piecora (aka EZBOT)
https://www.ezbot.live"

New Mutable Instruments Beads Texture Synthesiser Eurorack Module

Playlist:

1. Mutable Instruments Beads - exploration and tutorial by Tom Leclerc
2. Mutable Instruments Beads (no input) by Robin Rimbaud-Scanner

First play with the Mutable Instruments Beads texture synthesiser. And here's a wonderful surprise - if you leave both audio inputs unpatched, then after 10 seconds it begins to granulise a collection of stored raw waveforms taken from Mutable Instruments Plaits wavetable module. So here's a piece using Beads as the lead voice on this cinematic piece, with no other inputs. I added other instruments afterwards for rhythm and bass, and the singular pulse that holds throughout is from the Make Noise Mysteron. This is just an idea to show Beads in a very musical context

3. Heidi Concrète (featuring Mutable Instruments Beads) by Robin Rimbaud-Scanner

An experimental piece using Mutable Instruments Beads, the texture synthesiser, processing an audio file. No addition effects or processing were used. This is simply a live exploration of a single audio file with Beads. The original voice introduces and closes the piece so you can compare the two sonic worlds before and after Beads. The voice is taken from a scanned phone call in the early 1990s that features on my Delivery (1997) album.

4. A Little Beat with Mutable Instruments Beads (Wavetable Mode) by midcentury modular

This is Beads running in the internal wavetable mode (and a kick drum from plaits). I've got a gate going into freeze that acts as a mute when the kick comes in (sort-of side-chain like), and I'm also manually pressing it to mute and sustain the random sequence.

The pitches are not from an external cv source but generated internally with the peaky random distribution into the time knob. The pitch changes with this parameter seem to be somewhat harmonically related (though I'm not sure what specific scale) to the root set by the pitch parameter.

5. Overdriven Ambient Looping with Mutable Instruments Beads by midcentury modular

This video is some improvised choir sounds (from the Ableton Operator synth, played with a midi keyboard) ran into Mutable Instruments Beads in the delay/looper mode (with "sunny tape quality") Throughout, I add to the buffer by tapping out of freeze mode and back in. When the feedback is up, things stick around, so you can progressively add more and build up the buffer. I'm also experimenting with overdriving the input (by turning up the audio level going into beads from ableton with the top left 1U knob)

6. Mutable Instruments Beads (Scorched Cassette Mode) and Ciat-Lonbarde Plumbutter Deerhorn by midcentury modular

This patch is my attempt at using Beads to add some Cocoquantus-like magic to the Deerhorn. I think the downsampling, lower-bitrate and whatever other DSP tricks are happening in the Scorched Cassette mode are crerating a somewhat similar vibe to the 8-bit dolby loopers in the Coco, and I think this adds some really nice fizzy textures to the warm, raw-oscillator tone of the Deerhorn). Beads is also pitching down the two tones from Deerhorn to add a bit more melodic content.

There is some very subtle modulation coming from the orange out on Deerhorn, but it's not really doing a ton and could probably be left out and you wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference. There is some audio-rate modulation coming out of one of the white deerhorn outputs into the density input, which is modulating some of the AM stuff going on when density is high towards the end of the track.

No idea why the snapping gesture with the density knob caused the "knock on wood" sound, but I think it was a pretty cool accident!

7. Noisy Experimenting with Mutable Instrument Beads, Blades Ripples and Plaits

This patch (at least as much as I remember it...been a while since I made this) is Beads and Blades in a sort-of feedback loop. Blades is over-driven and self-oscillating, and the outs are sent to control seed and freeze on Beads (which is using the internal wavetable generator as audio input). After trying out various ones, I found these two control inputs on Beads the most interesting with audio rate signals. The outs of Beads are going into the audio inputs of blades. Both modules outs are multed out and into veils which is acting as a stereo mixer. Ripples (which is getting some noise into its cutoff modulation input from Plaits) is providing some audio rate modulation to some of the Veils channels.

"Beads is a reinvention of Mutable Instruments’ Clouds.

The concept is the same, live granular processing of an incoming audio signal, and the labels on the panel remain familiar.

The similarities stop here. The hardware and software have been redesigned from the ground up, with several goals in mind: a crisper and broader sound palette, more control, better playability, and direct access to exciting new features.

DOTTING THE I’S AND CROSSING THE T’S

Beads’ vastly improved specifications allow a higher audio quality, a longer buffer, the use of better interpolation and anti-aliasing algorithms, and key DSP blocks to run at a faster rate. Granular processing can now go to new territories, such as formants, wavetables, hard-sync-like sounds, or crispy noise.

The range of parameters, their response to the turn of a knob or a CV modulation have all been refined, for new possibilities such as reverse playback or percussive envelopes.

CONTROL, CHAOS AND CHARACTER

Control. To trigger or schedule grains, Beads provides new features to divide or randomize an external clock or trigger stream, spray bursts of grains in response to a gate, or get the grain rate to track a V/O CV or the frequency of an external oscillator.

Chaos. Each key parameter of a grain comes with its own attenurandomizer, which allows direct CV control, CV control of the randomization (spread) of this parameter, or internal randomization using some of Marbles’ algorithms.

Character. Beads provides four audio quality settings, which go well beyond buffer sample rate and bit-depth: they affect the clock of the converters, the amplitude limiting and saturation of the signal path, the tone of the reverb, and additional media-emulation effects. From a pristine digital device to a dirty cassette, through a mode reproducing some of Clouds’ characteristics.

MODES?

Beads can operate as a delay without the need to switch to a different mode: just ask it to play a never-ending grain. Its DENSITY, TIME and SEED controls are repurposed to allow various features such as tap-tempo, beat slicing, time-stretching, or comb-filtering at rates tracking V/O.

Without any audio input, Beads will granularize 8 internal banks of wavetables.

All parameters have a dedicated knob."

Announcing Three Noise Engineering AAX Plugins

video by Noise Engineering

"Noise Engineering AAX plugins are available now! Our first three plugins are available now for Pro Tools users. They're called Basimilus Iteritas, Cursus Vereor, and Desmodus. For a limited time they are available exclusively at the Avid Store. Learn more about them and purchase at

What's this all about? Learn more at our blog post: https://www.noiseengineering.us/blog/aax"

CLICK FOR MORE »

BURG Session Template 05 - (Goodbye 2020 and Happy New Year!)

ollilaboratories

"If you like my music you can find it here http://bit.ly/BurgMusic and also please consider supporting me at patreon for as little as 1 USD http://bit.ly/BurgPatreon

---

Album info:

Continuing my plans going into 2021 and the writing of my new album, with this i will be posting template jam sessions to YouTube from which I will base and recreate the final tracks. These jam sessions are in no way finalised tracks, but you will be able to hear the main ideas before i start fine tuning the details.

If you join my patreon there will be behind the scenes materials, bonus tracks, stems, sound packs from these sessions and also a possibility to remix the future shortlist single for my release. You will be able to follow the creation of the entire album from idea to final product.

http://bit.ly/BurgPatreon

Track info:

Session 05 is a bit more upbeat style track, the idea was to use the Erebus as main theme, to showcase its nice creamy features.. dub style together with the RE-20 space echo and a huge modulated reverb in the empress really hit the spot.

Also, i wanted to dial it back a bit and make it a tad more minimal than the other tracks. Running at 115 bpm it is still pretty dense, so i hope there is air enough between the sounds making it enjoyable.

Make sure to have a happy new year everyone, i hope that 2021 will bring more music and less chaos. Stay safe all and do something nice for someone today !! Peace !

BURG

GearList:

* Erebus (sequenced by force), main theme + RE-20 space echo and empress reverb
* AKAI force, main kicks + percussion/stabs and sinus low end bass 1
* AKAI force also does the phaser string pads
* Elektron Digitakt, hhs, additional percussion and one dubby stab
* Elektron Digitone, melodies/strings
* Roland TR-707, closed HH and toms
* Avalon Bassline, square melody
* Volca Bass ( sequenced by force ) saw low end bass 2
* Volca Keys + MS70CDR , melody pad

Modular:

* Enorphin.es Furthrrr generator through Clouds, FM style melody controlled by Pressure points
* Intellijel Plonk, clap style percussion
* Intellijel / Noise Tools, White noise, hh style percussion + Ripples VCF
* MI Rings, random melody sequence
* Modulation by Pams, Quadrax and planar 2
* Eloquencer, main sequencer

All is recorded live in one take down on 2-track, Zoom H5. Post processing in DAW, compressor and limiter with Izotope 7 plugins."

Meng Qi : 静止 Static | 流动 Flow

Meng Qi

流动 Flow


"Link to EP : http://bit.ly/WPResoFb

2020 was a bumpy year. But there was a major achievement for me, which is the release of Wing Pinger and Wingie. For so long I've been dreaming of designing standalone synth, for that standalone synths convey more of designers' ideas and decisions. The release of Wing Pinger and Wingie are not just a graduation ceremony for me, it marks a starting point for new adventures.

In 2021, I have two major plans for me. One is several collaborative synth projects with synth designers I've admired for a long time. Once done, it'll fullfill my life goal in some way. Another is working with Annqi for a Chinese synthesizer podcast and WeChat social media, it's called 合成少数派 (Synthesize Minority). You can consider following it if you use WeChat.

At this moment, I would like to release an EP, it's called Wing Pinger Resonator Feedback. It was an experiment I've done in April, by using Ableton Resonator in the feedback loop of Wing Pinger. The thoughts behind was to use Wing Pinger chaos for timbers and dynamics, and to use Resonator to broadly hinting stable pitches. In this case, there is no need to worry about pitch quantization in a chaotic system, but "quantization" happens naturally with resonances. This method frees up the chaotic system, and at the same time providing stable tonal feels.

This experiment inspired me and actually gave me a new way of thinking. It's the start of designing Wingie, as well as a start for a very important collaborative project, and certainly means a lot to me. I choose the first day of 2021 to release it, as I concluded 2020, and start the new year fresh.

Wish all of you good luck in your future endeavours.

http://mengqimusic.com"

Neutron Sound's Dust of Time - The Crash Course

Synth Diy Guy

Update: Build video added below followed by some module details and pics.

"What can I say, this module is like 20 awesome modules in one simultaneously.
This is a fairly complete run through all of what it can do.
Check out my build video if you want to build one, and get a panel/PCB set or a prebuilt one here: https://michigansynthworks.com/produc...

INDEX!
Open 0:00
Turning it on 1:24
Catching Pots 1:41
Loading Presets 2:03
Frequency Controls 2:23
Display Navigation 2:32
Connecting a Midi Controller 3:06
VCA and Routing 3:49

CLICK FOR MORE »

New Zlob Modular Triple Cap Chaos Eurorack Module

Quick Overview Keven Kalay

"The Triple Cap Chaos(C^3 Chaos) is a 2hp analog, chaos based, noise oscillator, pseudo ring modulator/harmonics generator, and audio mangler Eurorack module available as a DIY Eurorack kit, PCB and Panel, or built.

This video demonstrates the X and Y outs, emanate and width controls, some cv control from a triangle wave lfo on the skew fade, and then i input an audio rate triangle wave from the dual vco.

Built $75
Kit $45
Pcb/panel $20

more info at zlobmodular.com"

Additional details via Zlob Modular:

"The Triple Cap Chaos(C^3 Chaos) is a 2hp analog, chaos based, noise oscillator, pseudo ring modulator/harmonics generator, and audio mangler Eurorack module available as a DIY Eurorack kit, PCB and Panel, or built.

It is a unique module, like the Diode Chaos, because it has never existed as a musical instrument until now. There is also no other module to my knowledge that can do exactly what the Triple Cap can do. The circuit(with several modifications) is based on the paper 'Simple Autonomous Chaotic Circuits' by J.C. Sprott and Jessica R. Piper. As opposed to the Diode Chaos that generates control voltage this module focuses on the audio rate.

The “Emanate” potentiometer controls the coarser overall spectrum of the chaos, from lots of activity counter clock wise up to less chaos and more of a steady oscillation. The “Width, CV ATT” potentiometer can be thought of as more of a fine control for the chaos/oscillator. When something is inserted into the “CV” in the voltage normalization from the width knob is broken and the potentiometer now acts as an attenuator for the incoming cv. The Triple Cap is not a traditional volt per octave exponential VCO, and has a sort of narrow frequency range to exploit the chaotic behavior.

It expects a +5v to -5v max signal in to modulate the chaos. The “IN” jack is an A.C. coupled input for audio in, although cv and audio can work for both the “CV” in jack and “IN.” The “IN” will interfere and interact with the onboard chaotic oscillator depending on the frequency of the input, which may take some experimentation. It can create ring mod ish sounds, to added harmonics, to almost bit crushed sounds depending on the “X” or “Y” output. The “X” output is a more windy noisy sinusoidal based output and the “Y” output is more squared off and aggressive, harsher sounding output.

Some quirks about the Triple Cap: The “X” output can offset negatively or positively a little bit depending on the pot settings, but both outputs tend to stay around 10vpp. With the “Emanate” and “Width” pots all the way up the typical frequency will be around 150hz although some will reach 200hz at this setting. With the “Emanate” pot full counter clock wise “Width” pot full clock wise the frequency will be around 250hz. It is possible to send signals into the triple cap that can bring it out of the desired range causing the oscillation to cut out.

The Triple Cap has a double sided panel. meaning one side has the classic graphics and the other is Soulless with less graphics(see image gallery to the left).

Width: 2hp
Panel Material: PCB/Double Sided
Reverse Power Protected
Current Consumption: +12v: 15mA, -12v: 10mA
Depth: 37 mm or 1.46″
Ships with M3 black nylon screws
Expandable: no"

Ciat-Lonbarde Rolzer

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

via this auction

You can find demos of the Rolzer in previous posts here.

"Has a small blemish, clearly imaged above. Ships with power supply.
from CL:
Rolzer is a beat generator add-on for the , a drum and drama machine. The Plumbutter offers complete voltage control of all parameters, including its pulse-rolls, for generating beat tempo patterns. However, when voltage control is added to an androgynous circuit such as the rolz, it has the tends to roll-off the ultrasound chaos present in the original incarnation of this idea, the . So here we have the Rolzer, a collection of geometries graded into tempi by virtue of their capacitors. It is for developing a relationship and searching for the oddest, most alive rhythms, not by twiddling knobs but by making connections.
Here we can bring back the strong sense of idiosyncrasy only offered by non-knobbed geometries, without whimsey, by collaborating with the industrial value system of capacitors, known as "E6". Basically, a ratio of ten is broken logarithmically into six gradations, and these are mapped to a sense of tempo, associating Italian quality with Industrial quantity: presto, allegro, moderato, andante, adagio, lento, and grave become modules of 1, 1.5, 2.2, 3.3, 4.7, 6.8, and 10 microfarad values.
Now, each tempo module contains an assortment of even and odd rolls. From top to bottom: hexagon, triangle, square, pentagon, and hexagon again. There are two hexagons to offer that roll's plexus for connections. Before defining the colors, review the sandrode concept- androgynous nodes that neither input nor output, but perform both functions at different times. In the rolzer, they are simply transistor neurons, with three simple actions: discharge of a capacitor, building up to a threshold, and inverted pulsing another neuron. The sandrode function is at the junction of these three, forming both a sensor and a pulse generator. The rolzer modules' majority of connections are sandrodes, represented as brown nodes. In the language of plumbutter, brown is both a hot and a cool color, so it takes both those attributes, output and input. However, sometimes you just want an output, perhaps for voltage control of a manifesting gong. So, each roll has one orange jack that yields a square wave at the tempo of the roll.

Connections may be stacked, and since all the plumbutter and rollzer outputs have a current limiting resistor, anything can go into the brown bananas. However, note that the brown bananas have no current limiting resistor; this is essential to propagate the paradox wave effect. The impedance of a brown node feels like a diode junction to ground, plus a high impedance to positive. As of 2014, I have not received any complaints of broken browns, because most sensible synthesizers have some kind of current limiting resistor on their outputs. But make note that if you have a very old Serge, you will likely already know about its own smoking modules when outputs are crossed, and that old warning would apply when patching old Surge to a brown banana. In general, the browns are meant to be patched with each other, and connected to the green inputs of plumbutter for drum machine manifestation. Likewise, orange "should" go to blue or purple. And red and gray can come back into the browns here. But experimenting really can't hurt!"

malekko manther growl exploration

impurfekt

"please support the channel: https://impurfekt.bandcamp.com

the malekko manther growl is a synth voice for eurorack based on their manther desktop synth. it includes a cem3340 vco chip and an ssm2044-based analog filter. it has separate levels and outputs for the square, saw and triangle oscillators. it has two adsr envelopes with outputs and an lfo with multiple destinations and an output. it has a wavefolder with two modes: tri or all. the all mode folds all waveforms and the external input post-filter.

i've had my eye on the manther desktop for some time but knew i wouldn't utilize the built-in sequencing capabilities. upon discovering the manther growl i realized i could replace a number of modules in my existing rack (including my a-105 vcf which is based on the same ssm2044 chip) with room to spare.

after spending a few hours with the manther growl i'm very impressed. it's straightforward and sounds as good as the specifications suggest. the filter has a nasty, vintage character. the oscillators are beefy. the wavefolder is a unique addition that introduces unpredictable sonic variety. all the tools i like in a single oscillator synth are there.

my only critique is that driving the levels doesn't seem to alter the tone. the manther growl sounds as though it's always being driven. that said, it's still capable of subtle sounds. what it excels at though are thick, heavy, nasty, dirty tones. in short, it does what is says on the tin.

filter sweeps at 0:05
bass line at 4:30
saw arp at 6:45
wavefolder chaos at 10:31
triangle arp at 14:43

patch notes:
malekko manther growl thru walrus audio fathom x2 and boss dd-8

disclaimer: module was purchased out of pocket for music production purposes"