VOLTLIFE: Suboctaves outside the square

Published on Dec 1, 2019 voltlife

"How to use simple utility modules to add a variety of suboctave waveforms to almost any Eurorack VCO."

voltlife videos

VOLTLIFE: Making a soundtrack for data visualisation

Published on Nov 7, 2015 voltlife

"A tutorial and making-of video, describing how I used Eurorack modules to create a soundtrack for an animated data visualisation. The rhythm and timbre of the music follow the ebb and flow of traffic across Christchurch, New Zealand."

VOLTLIFE: feedback tamed; feedback mutated

Published on Apr 21, 2016 voltlife

"Patching a compressor to prevent clipping in Tyme Sefari II's feedback loop, then using it to bring in different sorts of wildness."

VOLTLIFE: SSF Entity Percussion extreme modulation

Published on Sep 13, 2019 voltlife

"Modulating the bejesus out of the Entity Percussion to get rich, varied, and frankly bonkers modular drum magic.

Other modules used:
Trigger sequencer - Four Bricks Rook
FM source - Tromsø triangle output
Pitch sequencer - Mimetic Digitalis
Harmonic sequencer - Verbos Voltage Multistage
Cycling envelope - Maths
Delay (only used towards the end) - Chronoblob 2
Reverb - 2hp Reverb
Kick - 2hp Play (stock sample)"

VOLTLIFE: Roland Aira patch automation

Published on Nov 15, 2015 voltlife

"Using a sample player module (Music Thing Modular's Radio Music) driven by a sequencer to automatically change the custom patches on Roland's Aira modules (Demora, in this case)."

VOLTLIFE: Synthrotek ADSR demo

Published on Sep 25, 2016 voltlife

"A brief overview of Synthrotek's new 4hp envelope module, with some patch ideas. Demonstrating ADSR and AR modes, linear and exponential slopes (plus some tricks for getting other envelope shapes), self-cycling and voltage control."

http://synthrotek.com

VOLTLIFE: Fumana vocoding...and beyond

Published on Feb 19, 2018 voltlife

"A demonstration of Frap Tools’ Fumana spectral editor working as a 16-band vocoder, then taking it to extremes. The carrier is a mix of Rubicon saw & PWM with a Dixie II saw a fifth above."

VOLTLIFE: Kamieniec in the feedback loop of a delay

Published on Dec 31, 2016 voltlife

"It's common to use a high- or low-pass filter in the feedback loop of a delay, but phasers can also produce attractive effects. This is a short demonstration of Xaoc Devices' Kamieniec phaser in the feedback loop of Roland Demora delay module."

VOLTLIFE: Re-M1xXOR!

Published on Dec 2, 2015 voltlife

"Using Animodule's M1xXOR to switch and mix between 4 audio tracks to create a sort of live, glitchy remix."

http://www.animodule.com

VOLTLIFE: DS-M variable trigger response

Published on Dec 21, 2015 voltlife

"The Synthrotek DS-M drum module may only have one CV input, but it responds very dynamically to the amplitude and width of the input trigger. This tutorial shows how you can use this to get much more variety out of the DS-M's percussion sounds without having to manually tweak the knobs all the time."

http://www.synthrotek.com/

VOLTLIFE: performance controls and generative effects with Squarp Hermod

video by voltlife

"An annotated jam showing some ways to use Hermod’s MIDI effects, CV inputs and mute buttons to turn a very short sequence into a performable environment for live exploration. There’s also some self-patching and internal modulation that’s not shown here."

Laurel vs Yanny: an analogue analysis

Published on May 16, 2018 voltlife

"Using an analogue filterbank/vocoder to identify the frequency ranges that solve this acoustic puzzle."

Pretty funny.

Featuring the Frap Tools Fumana.

Update: Below is the source. What do you hear? voltlife in the video above adjusts the frequencies for you so you can hear what different people hear. Apparently when you lose the ability to hear higher frequencies you hear "Laurel". Welcome to the club.  :)

What do you hear?! Yanny or Laurel pic.twitter.com/jvHhCbMc8I

— Cloe Feldman (@CloeCouture) May 15, 2018

VOLTLIFE: Kamieniec quick patch

Published on Dec 6, 2016 voltlife

"My first exploration with Xaoc Devices' Kamieniec phaser. Sorry for the shaky camerawork, but it sounded so good I just wanted to get it out there!

The input is some chords from Braids in WTx4 mode, sequenced by a Verbos Multistage, with occasional changes to the chord timbre. The 4 and 6 stage outputs of Kamieniec are used as a stereo pair, with some delay added externally.

Modulation is mostly simple, but in the last part I run the Kamieniec's LFO output through a Doepfer A189-1, mostly in XOR mode. This creates interesting quasi-fractal stairstep patterns, which is added to the internal triangle LFO to produce a mix of typical phaser swoops and almost chiptune-like chirps."

VOLTLIFE: Soundmachines LP1 melodic performance patch

Published on Dec 7, 2015 voltlife

"Using the Soundmachines LP1 Lightplane as a control source to play melodies and loops. X axis controls pitch (via a quantiser), Y axis controls timbre (by wavefolding), Z axis controls vibrato (by opening a VCA to let an LFO modulate pitch), and gate goes through an ASR envelope with quick attack and decay to open another VCA, thus defining the notes."

VOLTLIFE: Glitch experiment 1

Published on Mar 21, 2016 voltlife

"A quick patch exploring some intentionally glitchy effects with Tyme Sefari II.

A Verbos Harmonic Oscillator provides the background drone through Erbe Verb and Clouds. Three individual outs from the Harmonic Oscillator then go through a modulated crossfader into Optomix, which is struck by random gates, creating plucks at three different but harmonically related pitches.

These plucks then go into Tyme Sefari, which is set up as a short looping delay with feedback. The loop end is modulated by Maths, causing glitchy jumps through the buffer.

I also use two gates, derived from clock divisions of the random gate source, to create further variation. One reverses the buffer direction, and the other switches on a pitch shift via the A Sound of Thunder expander. With feedback, this creates a low-fi version of the classic shimmer effect."

VOLTLIFE: Demora "Superswarm" patch

Published on Jan 3, 2016 voltlife

"A custom patch that turns Demora into a fat swarm or super-saw type of digital oscillator."

VOLTLIFE: Verbos HO plucks and harmonic melodies

Published on Oct 21, 2015 voltlife

"Demonstrating two techniques with the Verbos Harmoinc Oscillator: creating LPG-like plucks with the Width control, while simultaneously playing melodic riffs with the upper harmonics."

VOLTLIFE: Synthrotek ADSR percussion

Published on Oct 10, 2016 VOLTLIFE: Synthrotek ADSR percussion

"A quick demo of using Synthrotek's new ADSR module (see my previous video for a full demo: [posted here]) to shape noisy percussion sounds.

Like many people, I normally just use an AR envelope for percussion, since it's simple and snappy. But for some sounds such as claps and pseudo-gated snares with a sustained portion, an ADSR gives you the ability to carefully shape the initial hit, noisy sustain and release. VC control over the release and whole ADSR time allow for varied percussion sequences.

The ADSR is driven by short gates out of a Pittsburgh Game System, and it opens a Pittsburgh dual VCA. The VCA is fed with a mixture of two noise sources (band-passed white noise and a Braids in CLKN mode) and a nasty FM tone (a Rubicon pulse through-zero modulated by a Dixie II square). In the last part of the video I mult the ADSR output to the Rubicon's FM index to give it more dynamism."

VOLTLIFE: Animodule M1xXOR as a sequencer

Published on Nov 28, 2015 voltlife

"Using Animodule's new M1xXOR module (an interesting hybrid of a gateable mixer and a sequential/VC switch) to create sequences. Simply multing a fixed voltage offset into each channel quickly gives you a basic 4-stage sequencer, but using the gate ins and stage control gives you the opportunity to create complex, evolving melodies."

VOLTLIFE: The birth of Frankensynth

Published on Mar 18, 2016 voltlife

"A montage showing the dismantling of my old studio and its rebirth as a towering wall of synth."