Induction Conduction

Published on Dec 30, 2017 davidryle

"The Last Drone of 2017. A modular synth piece. The bass drone is a pair of Q106 VCO's with a ramp and a saw wave into the Q150 Transistor Ladder filter. Modulations coming from some Mega Ohm Audio LFO's. The audio is then sent through a Synthetic Sound Labs S1310 Digital Delay which is modulated by another Mega Ohm Audio LFO.
Mutable Instruments Braids (Frees State FX build in 5U) along with the triple saw mode. A synthesizers.com Q960 step sequencer sends the voltages for the slow changing chords. Frequency Modulation is from the Yusynth Quadrature LFO. The mixed signal is then sent through a Z.Vex Instant LoFi Junky pedal and on to a moogah (Synthcube) SEM filter in high pass/notch mode.
A dual walking sequencer line is faded in and out. It is made with a pair of STG Soundlabs Voltage Mini Stores in a 5 against 7 step pattern. They are sent through quantizers on to a pair of Q106 VCO's. One VCO is sent through a Behringer DD400 digital dely module and the other VCO is sent through a Modcan 73B Dual Delay. They are mixed into an Oakley Audio (Krips1) Diode Super Ladder filter in low pass mode.
A fast 24 step sequencer line from another Q960 is playing a Q106 VCO triangle waveform into a Mega Ohm Audio modified Q109 Envelope Generator and on out to a TC Electric D-Two digital delay. They are faded in and out via a Makenoise Maths and Synthetic Sounds Labs Octal VCA.
The final bell sound is a step sequence from a Q119 into a trio of Q106's. Two of the VCO's are used in an FM sync mode with ramp and saw waves, and the third VCO is a triangle waveform. They are sent to the X and Y inputs of the Oakley Ring Modulator (Krisp1). That is sent to a Q107 State Variable Filter in low pass mode. The filter is modulated by the modulator VCO (triangle output) if the two Q106's in FM mode. The signal is voltage panned to stereo with a Q111 Pan/Fade module.
All timings are taken from Cubase midi out to dinsync via Mode Machine converter. The BPM is 80. ALM's Pamela's Workout, Synthesizers.com Q173 Gate Math, STG Soundlabs Time Buffer, Time Divider and Integer Divider modules divide down the timings for all sequencer events. I just performed final mix fade in and fade out. Additional reverbs and delays are from a pair of Lexicon MX200 delays."

Acting At A Distance

Published on Dec 3, 2017 davidryle

"Far Away...
A combination of keyboard synths and the modular 5U & 3U, multi-tracked to Cubase.
A simple pair of chord progressions outlined with various step sequencer parts and multiple poly sequential controllers feeding a multitude of oscillators and filters of the large format modular.
The Behringer DeepMind12 performed a few delicate arpeggios along side the Roland System 8 and JV-1080 chords.
An Intellijel Metropolis evened out the step sequencer duties with a few tracks of a simple 9/8 round in differing time counts.
All sounds were performed by the 5U. The clock was from a MIDI/dinsync source generated by Cubase and sent to the Suite & Tie Guy Time Buffer and ALM's Pamela's Workout for distribution about the modular.
Video editing in Final Cut Pro."

A Halottak Harangja

Published on Sep 25, 2017 davidryle

"A little early for the haunting season of October, but this project started with a drone from a STG Soundlabs wavefolder and progressed to a new low of morbidity.
The computer reading of excerpts from Edgar Allen Poe's 'A Premature Burial' seemed to fit the theme well."

Cleansing

davidryle
Published on Aug 13, 2017

"A short, ambient drone study in resolving discord with some fabricated sound effects. Using the MI Rings and Clouds with Z-DSP Halls of Valhalla and a pair of Turing Machines to make the intro portion. I added in a single voice from the 5U large format modular and a voice from the JV-1080. The tuning scales were controlled by the Q171 and Q172 Quantizer modules from Synthesizers.com. Starting with a diminished scale and ending with a major scale.
The synthetic thunder and rain were symbolic of the cleansing.

Thanks to Richard Galbraith for the tip on the 'Disasterous Peace' mode for Rings. Clouds was in 'Spectral Madness' mode.

Thunder and rain were made with a Sputnik West Coast Random Source, Q119 step sequencer in random mode and Q110 Noise module into a Yusynth Arp 4072 filter and a Moogah SEM filter, Q107 State Variable filter and Q150 transistor ladder filter. Additional reverb and delay with TC Electronic D-Two, Strymon Blue Sky and Lexicon MX200."

The Eternal Expanse

Published on Jul 31, 2017 davidryle

"Trying my hand at building choir sounds with various synthesizers.

The opening part is a JV-1080 mellotron choir. Then I built a soprano 'banshee' style choral sound with heavily modulated vco's from the Mos Lab 901 trio into the 904-A filter, an Encore frequency shifter and Behringer DD400 delay.

I introduce some noise from the Sputnik WCRS and a Q110. The drone synth part is next from the Prophet '08 with a stacked fast eighth note pattern in the background. Then I played the chord progression from the System 8 as a controller to the OB-6 and JV-1080. The melody over the top is the Deepmind 12 and Erebus.

Finally I bring up the last chorus part from the 5U modular. This is formed from a pair of Q960 step sequencers playing two patterns of three vco's each through a Moogah SEM filter. It is sent to a Modcan 73B dual delay in flange/chorus mode modulated by a Yusynth quadrature LFO. The audio signal from the filter is routed through the Strymon Blue Sky reverb in mod/plate mode before going to the delay.
The loud boom is the Waldorf MicroQ."

Pacific

Published on Mar 26, 2017 davidryle

"Modular synth, Dreadbox Erebus, DSI OB6, Roland System 8 and Behringer Deepmind 12."

Ganymede Terminal

Published on Feb 5, 2017 davidryle

"Space Music, YES. An imagined moon base on Ganymede off Jupiter.

Modular synth for the bass line, percussion and a 16th note octave sequence.

The Oberheim/Dave Smith OB6 for a starting arpeggio, the Roland System 8 for some bridge chords and the Behringer DeepMind 12 for reverb-drenched chorus chords.

The main bass line sequence and percussion were generated by STG Soundlabs Time Modules. The bass sounds realized on the Moslab 901 VCO's and 904-A LPF.

The sixteenth note line introduced halfway in is the synthesizers.com Q119 sequencer to an Ian Fritz/Doug Slocum Double Dekka Ultrasonic VCO fed to two EG's and a Yusynth Minimoog filter.

Delays included Modcan dual delay, Lexicon MX200 (x2) and Behringer DD400.

The snare is a TipTop Audio SD808.

Played live in the studio and recorded to a single stereo track in Cubase. Video recorded with an iPhone7 and edited in Final Cut Pro."

Sunset Drive

Published on Jan 29, 2017 davidryle

"SUNSET DRIVE by Tangerine Dream. From the movie "Wavelength".

An exercise in simplicity of motion. The beautiful ideas expressed by TD were well defined in this piece with six basic elements.

1. The Bass line is made by a combination of two trigger patterns mixed into a row of 901 Moog style (Moslab) oscillators, which are run through the quintessential low pass Moog ladder filter - 904B (Moslab).

2. The wandering, hollow sequence below is a synthesizers.com Q119 into four vco's and another ladder filter - Q150 in -12dB two pole.

3. There are a pair of intertwined ratchet chuff percussive sounds which I took upon myself to imagine. In reality Chris Franke probably used a more common single voice to interplay against the wandering sequence but I found the rapid hocketting sound to fit well in the 1980's era TD style. These lines were generated by an STG Soundlabs voltage mini store sequencer and a Switch module into a pair of Q106 vco's in soft sync.

The bass line and ratchet sounds are both sent through a 73B Dual Delay from Modcan.

4. The stab chord is a unison double-octave G from the Roland JX-8P. The patch is "Whitewidow" and is modified quite a bit. I am not so certain this was the synth used by TD for this particular song, but it seemned to work well.

5. The flute sound is a sample from Sampletron of the Mellotron Mark V 'Mltron Fultes'. I used a bit of delay in Sampletron and a little Valhalla reverb to thicken it.

6. The middle portion glassy sound is again the Roland JX-8P with the 'Waveaura' patch. This patch is all over TD's 80's music and particularly prevalent on"Wavelength". I used the patch as-is and another duplicate track with some modifications. Quite a bit of Lexicon reverb and delay was added.

All clock timings were generated using midi and sync24 from Cubase. The main clock base in the modular was the Suit & Tie Guy Time Divider and Integer Divider modules. The Moon Modular 563 Trigger Sequencer was used to generate the main lower bass line timing and the STG Soundlabs TMS was used for the upper bass line. A Q960 was employed to fine tune the levels between the two bass line elements. A Yusynth AC/DC mixer was used to mix the envelopes and control voltages to the filter and vca.

I am a long time fan of Tangerine Dream and particularly fond of their sequential modular work over the last forty years. The music can be purchased from http://www.tangerinedream.org/."

Forever Ending

Published on Nov 27, 2016 davidryle

"Roland System 8, D-50, Waldorf MicroWave XT and loads of 3U and 5U modular. Multi-tracked in Cubase. Video edited in Final Cut Pro."

Winter on the Plains

Published on Nov 17, 2016 davidryle

"Roland D50 used for the piece.

Additional support modules from the Eurorack are used for coloration and a loop drone at the end. Modules include Zvex Instant Lo Fi Junky, Mutable Instruments Clouds, The Harvestman Piston Honda, Makenoise Maths, Phonogene & Echophon, TipTop Z-DSP (Valhalla Shimmer), and Music Thing Turing Machine.

The D50 was run into a synthesizers.com Q118 Instrument Interface for gain prior to the modular and the final stereo output from the Z-DSP was sent through a dotcom Q113 Mixer.

Seven tracks recorded in Cubase, video edited in Final Cut Pro."

Cottontail

Published on Oct 30, 2016 davidryle

"Large format modular and Eurorack modular with a looping sequence from the Roland System 8.

The System 8 is sending cv and gate info to a Mutable Instruments Rings and Clouds to generate the very last 8th triplet bell sequence sound. That is doubled with the S8 patch in the modular and sent through a Modcan Dual Delay. The timing for the sequence comes from the Suit & Tie Guy Time Divider to the trigger input of the keyboard.

Everything else is clocked from a midi to dinsync signal into the Pamela's Workout divider. The 4MS Quad Clock Divider, Moon Modular Octal Clock Divider, Intellijel Plog and a Dotcom Q962 Sequential Switch are used to generate other timings.

The main bass line sequence is a Q960 in 5 step pattern, row switched through a Q962. The sounds are the Mos Lab 901 suite through a 904 filter and STG digital attenuators.

The secondary upper sequence is a pair of STG Soundlabs Voltage Mini Stores which again are row switched in a five step pattern through a Malekko switch module. The sound source is The Harvestman Piston Honda mk1 into a Music Thing Spring reverb and TipTop Z-DSP with Clocked Delays chip. AR timing is from an Intellijel Quadra+Expander to an MST Dual VCA.

Both of these sequence patterns are transposed with a dotcom Q119 sequencer. Timing for the change is from a Q173 Gate Maths.

Kick sound is a Sputnik VCS through an Oakley VC State Variable Filter and timing from a Moon Modular 562 Trigger Sequencer. Noise swashes are Sputnik WCRS through an Synthetic Sound Labs Segwencer IV into an STG mixer and on through a Jurgen Haible Tau Pipe Phaser. Additional filtering was through a dotcom Q150 and Q107.

The last sequence is from an Intellijel Metropolis to an Ian Fritz and SSL Double Deka Ultrasonic VCO. The VCO is sent through a MOTM 440 LPF and a SSL Steiner Filter (high pass) on through a dotcom EG and Behringer DD400 digital delay. It is then sent to a Strymon Blue Sky reverb in plate shimmer mode. The MOTM 440 filter is frequency modulated by a bank B output of the DDVCO through an Encore pitch shifter.

Recorded in Cubase in one pass. Video edited in Final Cut Pro. Text title made in Motion."

Scenes from the Sideband Filter

Published on Oct 14, 2016 davidryle

"Roland System 8 in Variation 2 Side Band Filter mode. Just endless wankery with a new tool.
Yes, it's digital. Yes, it's fun."

M13 Core

Published on Aug 28, 2016 davidryle

"An ambient aleatoric modular patch.

Noise Engineering Numeric Repetitor sending gate pulses to the Tonnetz Sequent which is sending (modulo) pitch cv to three Q106 vco's. Filtering and EG's are all synthesizers.com and Oakley Audio.

A Flame Chord Machine is also used for pitch duties to three more Q106 vco's and a Mutable Instruments Rings.
There are doubling of the pitch data to a noise patch using a pink noise source and a pair of Q960 sequencer to control a cv FM Radio module to a CGS Real Ring Modulator then through a MOTM 440 LPF into an Encore Frequency Shifter. The FS is cv modulated by a 10v signal from MI Frames. The Down output of the FS is sent directly to Clouds right channel. The Up output of the FS is sent through a Makenoise Echophon in pitch shifting mode. It is 1v/oct controlled from a fourth channel out of the Flame Chord Machine. The feedback output of the Echophon is sent to the left channel input of Clouds the left output of Clouds is returned to the Echophon feedback input and the mix out is back into Frames via a Yusynth Minimoog filter.

Frames is amplitude modulating the Clouds outputs.

Loads of pseudo random voltage and gate timings from two Turing Machines and 4MS QCD. The main clock is from Cubase dinsync to a Pamela's Workout.

Intellijel Plog is used for a Malekko Switch module to shift the vco third and fifth cv's from the Tonnetz, and the input to the Chord Machine. It is also used to toggle the 2nd Tone factor on the Chord Machine.
Two Maths and a Quadra are employed to control timing to the Frames automation.

Other FX include a Z-DSP in Halls of Valhalla, a Behringer Chorus Space pedal and a Strymon Blue Sky pedal. A pair of Lexicon MX200's are used for subtle reverb and delay."

Maynard's Trick

Published on Aug 21, 2016 davidryle

"94 BPM groove with the 3U & 5U modular.
I'm on to Maynard's Tricks."

Alternate Theory

Published on Aug 7, 2016 davidryle

"A second run through a patch. Some changes across the modular included rework of the BDrum & clicky sound and timing to the chord changes on the Tonnetz Sequent line."

In Theory

Published on Aug 6, 2016 davidryle

"It should work...

I took a leap and bought quite a few new modules all at lone to try a rhythm experiment as well as a different direction in tonal work.

Noise Engineering's Numeric Repetitor, Confundo Funkitus, Tonnetz Sequent are in play here along with a Mutable Instruments Grids. Battle plan included trying straight pulse inputs for the clock timing from a 4MS QCD which is picking up a master timing off the Intellijel Metropolis RYK-M185 sequencer. They are playing nice with a suite of STG Soundlabs sequencer modules and Time Divider as well as a Moon Modular 554 Octal Divider to hammer out some pulse timings to the Tonnetz Sequent. A pair of Synthesizers.com Q962 sequential switches are further dividing up the various pulses to the Home and Transform functions on the Tonnetz Sequent.

The tonal chords from the TS is running a trio of Synthesizers.com Q106's sent through a Yusynth mixer to a Behringer CC300 Space Chorus and on to an Oakley Audio Discontinuity Wavefolder and then on through a Jurgen Haible Tau "Pipe" phaser and finally into a Modcan Dual Delay which is cv swept from a Makenoise Pressure Points and Brains. Whew! It was worth the 100 feet of cables though as it sounds similar to an old Leslie driven Hammond organ in places - like!

Mutable Instruments Rings starts the piece with a bit of resonant bleeps dampened to sound like wood blocks a few minutes into the production. A copy of the Metropolis sequence to a Harvestman Piston Honda is split up going to an Echophon, Phonogene, Clouds and Z-DSP for loads of background effects. It is also sent through a Behringer DD400 digital delay paneled into a 5U module before sent to a MOTM 440 discrete OTA low pass filter. This is also part of the opening sounds set. The last thing banging out a nasty bass tone is the Makenoise Mysteron.
Bass drum is a single Q106 vco through a Q109 ADSR. The snare sound is a TipTop SD808 and the clicky hat sound is an pair of Q106's in conjunction with a double resonant Q107 SVF filter in high pass mode and Q109 ADSR. The Q107 is also being modulated by a Sputnik West Coast Random Source FRV probability cv.

It worked for me."

Ancestors

Published on Jul 31, 2016 davidryle

"Echo. Echo. Echo's of the past.
Metropolis to Piston Honda with EG from Maths then into Phonogene.
Phonogene is in Broken Recorder mode with voltage modulation to the organize and gene size parameters from a Turing Machine and an EOC pulse from the Quadra to the vari-speed parameter.
The Phonogene out is run to Clouds in Spectral Madness mode. From there the signal splits to a Z-DSP with Valhalla Shimmer and an Echophon.
Rings in Modal resonator mode and duo polyphony is picking up the pitch cv from the Metropolis and strum from a Turing Machine pulses.
All of the various signal pathways are routed through Frames automated keyframe mode.
Additional delays are the Strymon Blue Sky and Lexicon MX200.
Clocking from Metropolis to 4MS QCD to Turing Machine, Quadra and Clouds trigger."

Nexus 6 Rampage

Published on Jul 24, 2016 davidryle

"Second tracking of the Metropolis patch.

This one added a second "fiddle" sounding voice to make a duet of strings at the beginning. The West Coast Random Source's Fluctuating Random Voltages were run through a pair of S&H to detune the exponential pitch input on the vco's. Their triangle wave outputs were run through 5 Pulsers with LFO sweeps then on to a Yusynth Arp 4072 Filter, a Modcan Dual Delay and finally an SSL 1310 Digital Delay.

The other change was a very slow LFO narrow pulse width wave to the AUX A input of the Metropolis. It was used to shift the root note of the sequence (minor scale) up one half step for a periodic blues passing note.

The 4MS RCD was revived from the last session where I thought it was toast. Trouble was the power input cable. Yay!

Somehow this piece vaguely reminded me of a Blade Runner theme (or ripoff).

Vintage summertime movie fun vibe!"

Life Within the Vapor

Published on Jul 17, 2016 davidryle

"A second feedback patch with MI Clouds, Rings, Makenoise Echophon and Music Thing Spring Reverb. The modular is a mix of 5U and 3U Eurorack.

I used Pressure Points & Brains for a 7 step pitch voltage sequence and strum/trigger to Clouds and Rings.
The Z-DSP is used with Time Fabric (Intervals2) to pitch shift Clouds and Rings. Modifiers from two Turing Machines are used into right/left channels of Z-DSP. Loads of internal feedback applied.

This is my first patch with MI Frames (Parasite) and Euclidean Sequencer mode. A pair of Q106 vco's were used with the channel 3 cv out and FR Step output to do the two note bass line. The Bass Drum is channel 1 from another Q106, the snare is channel 2 of TipTop SD808 and the HiHat sound is channel 4 and a Piston Honda mk1.
The Piston Honda has LSB modified by Turing Machine volts and it is run through an MST Dual VCA with open/closed envelope from a Maths channel 4. The Maths has the Rise/Fall/BOTH input modified from the Turing Machine.
The speaking sounds are a sample capture from a radio broadcast into the Phonogene. Every input control except gene size and SOS mix are modified by LFO's from Intellijel Quadra and Mega Ohm Audio and Music Thing Turing Machines voltage stages.

The final sound voice is a pair of Q106 VCO's in hard sync (PWM*SAW) pitch driven by an STG Voltage Mini Store. It is sent through a Q107 State Variable Filter in high pass mode with the resonance modified by a tempo driven ramp from a Mega Ohm Audio LFO2. The center frequency has a hard sync reset slow ramp from a Q106.
The tempo clock is from the Echophon delay pulse out to various dividers like the 4MS RCD, QCD and Moon Modular M554 Octal Divider. The samples from the Phonogene are switched in and out randomly by a Yusynth Random Gates module then sent into a Modcan 73B Dual Delay in resample mode.

Other filters used were the Synthetic Sound Labs Steiner, Ken Stone CGS77 Serge 1973 State Variable Resonant, Oakley VCSVF and synthesizers.com Q150 transistor ladder 24dB/four pole and an FFB."

Peta Nocona

Published on Jul 11, 2016 davidryle

"An interesting patch of the Mutable Instruments Rings and Clouds with feedback routing through an Echophon and Music Thing Spring Reverb. The Pressure Points was sending a T-Gate trigger to Rings and CLouds trigger inputs. Also two rows of CV to the 1v/oct inputs.

Clouds was in Parasite Resonator mode. Rings in 'string' mode.

The third row of Pressure Points was sending CV to channel 1 Maths both A/R control, which was in loop or LFO mode sending a modulation to the Echophon pitch input.

Feedback was from the Rings Even out to Echophon then back into Clouds. Clouds right channel out to Spring Reverb and back into Rings IN. Rings Odd out to one channel of Z-DSP and Clouds left channel in to the other input of Z-DSP. The Halls of Valhalla dsp was used. Both channels sent to Intellijel Azimuth for final output.

Finally a Pressure Points pressure CV was sent to the Rings Frequency input as negative pitch bend modifier."