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: DS-M + M1xXOR = complex grooves

Published on Dec 21, 2015 voltlife

"My previous video demonstrated the response that Syntrotek's DS-M's drum sounds have to different triggers. This video shows how we can use this to create a huge range of drum and percussion sounds out of one module with limited CV control: mixing multiple gate and/or trigger streams together creates varying amplitude inputs to DS-M, which responds not just with simple accents, but with totally different types of drum sound. Animodule's M1xXOR works especially well for this, since we can mute channels with gates to create more complex rhythmic combinations, or play the channels manually in a performance situation."

http://www.synthrotek.com
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: 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: 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: 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: 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)."

Machinery of Dusk

Published on Nov 12, 2015 voltlife

"An ambient modular improvisation at twilight.

Main sequence: Turing Machine Voltages→ A156 → A143-4 square → A124 Wasp Filter BP → VCA with short Maths envelope → Demora (tempo synced, with width, hold and feedback modulated).

Ambient pads: Tri wave from same A143-4 VCO → uFold II → Clouds (with heavy reverb and panning, and density modulated).

Percussion: Kick drum (Function envelope → self-oscillating uVCF) and hi-hat-like noises (white noise → Pittsburgh Filter notch → Optomix) into Erbe Verb. Drums sequenced by Verbos Voltage Multistage, A160/161/166/Branches/Turing Machine Pulses.

Various other modulation and rhythmic variation courtesy of: A149-1, PEG, ViLFO, VCBEND, uLFO, Elby Slope Detector"

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."

Spinatus Tor

Published on Nov 2, 2015 voltlife

"An attempt at making vaguely Raster Noton-style clicky glitch with purely analogue modules and effects that somehow turned into something more like dark industrial.

The clicks are just a sine wave through a VCA with a very quick Maths envelope into a resonant Pittsburgh Filter in HPF mode. The filter's cutoff is modulated by a S&H, while the Maths envelope is triggered by the square sum out of a self-patched A134-4, which also acts as the master clock.

The kick drum is another Maths envelope driving a self-oscillating uVCF, the output of which is also multed into a Synthrotek Dirt filter and A124 Wasp filter to create nasty buzzy swells. Other nasty rhythmic buzzes area created by a couple of Pittsburgh Generator/GenXpander outputs into a R52 valve filter (heavily modulated by a Dreamboat) and a Sea Devils Filter, gated by Optomix or switched abruptly on and off by an A152, which is also triggering various rhythmic elements. The rest of the rhythmic patterns are created by a combination of A160/161/166.

There's also a simple pluck-ish sequence, which is a Rubicon and Mannequins Mangrove through an A108 (I think I used up all of my filters!). The sequence is created by a manually-tuned Pressure Points driven by Brains (which I think was the closest thing to a digital module I used in this patch).

Most elements then went through my spring reverb, which is a Danelectro Spring King pedal that I've hacked up to mount the springs externally. My arbitrary decision to use all analogue modules (I felt I've been relying too heavily on digital modules such as Tyme Sefari II and Erbe Verb for glitchy effects) left me with just the spring reverb for effects, so the overall mix is probably a bit too dry. Time for me to get a BBD delay, I think!"

Dritch

Published on Nov 1, 2015 voltlife

"Drone meets glitch meets weird percussion.

Drone: Verbos Harmonic Oscillator (with tilt and individual harmonics mosulated by LFOs) via Serge Resonant EQ into both Erbe Verb (for clean shimmer effects) and Tyme Sefari Mk II and Demora (for glitched drone). The TSII's loop end is occasionally changed by a Function envelope (and this goes a bit mad when I switch to cycle mode for a while), while Sound of Thunder's pitch input is regularly modulated to pitch the result up an octave. A slow Moskwa sequence modulates Demora's Width to bring in more rapid ping-pong delays at times, while an LFO subtly modulates the Erbe Verb size parameter.

Drums: Pittsburgh Generator through Optomix into Pittsburgh Dual VCA; Maths envelope drives Generator 1 pitch and VCA. Verbos Voltage Multistage Gate Out triggers Maths, while CV A modified Maths envelope length and CV B modifies Generator's Index.

Hi-hat-like percussion: white noise into Pittsburgh Filter; HP out into Optomix. Rhythmic patterns created by A160/161/166 used to strike Optomix and modified Filter cutoff; Dreamboat Gate out modulates Filter Q.

Both drums and percussion go into a Vox DelayLab for rhythmic delays."

VOLTLIFE: Verbos HO weird vocoder

Published on Oct 28, 2015 voltlife

"By feeding a sound source into a multi-band filter, taking each band's output into an envelope follower and then using the resulting envelopes to control the Verbos Harmonic Oscillator's individual harmonics, you can create a very vague approximation to a vocoder. In most cases the filter's bands won't match the frequencies of the HO (and in my case I used a Serge Resonant EQ, which definitely doesn't), so it won't create a very intelligible vocal sound. However, the input will indeed control the timbral dynamics of the HO's output, producing very interesting tones out of complex inputs."

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."