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Made Noise – Sketch 23

When I walked up to the synth today, I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted something reasonably simple sounding (even if the technique isn’t simple at all) and slow moving. I’ve been intently listening to an incredibly well done drone-y album by ambient artist Fields We Found, which inspired me to move back into a particular sound I enjoy intensely, but with a twist.

The drone that starts the piece is about as simple a patch as they come. A saw wave from the Sub output of Spectraphon’s Oscillator A through QMMG in LP mode with a high dose of resonance, and the cutoff frequency modulated by an attenuated triangle function from Multimod which produced a throat singing or “Ooooooooohm”-like sound. I never wanted too many harmonics to peak through. Its entire point was to be the foundation of everything, but more of framework off of which everything else might be supported, not a focal point. Everything in this patch was moving, and it needed some kind stability, though not stillness. Despite being the first sound in the piece, this bass drone was the last part to come together. I’ve found that I often compose in the same way I write. An idea will start to materialize, which leads to other ideas. These different ideas get synthesized together (literally!) which lead to yet more ideas for further combining. It can all be quite fluid, but very rarely is it sequential.

QMMG’s output was patched to the Bruxa for texturization and a bit of growl. It seems that no matter the context of a patch, Bruxa can find a way to fit in. It’s one of those modules. In this patch both Decay and Absorb were modulated by Spread triangle functions from the same Multimod modulating QMMG’s filter cutoff, with a side of patch programming its CV output to Time (the one with the attenuverter).

If you’ve read this site at all in the past you’ll know that I adore using very slow, free moving, unsynced waves to modulate the level of sounds in and out. To me it’s an incredibly inspiring sound that never gets tiring. These sorts of drones put me in a peaceful mindset quickly, and that’s something my soul can use of late. In the final track of the aforementioned Fields We Found album there’s one particular tone that is being modulated, either via frequency or amplitude modulation (I suspect it’s the former), and I wanted to try and replicate that sort of feeling, only throughout this patch.

Although I initially imagined Sketch 23 as a patch that would be predominantly be played within the NUSS, I ultimately decided to use a mixture of Spectraphon and DPO as the four oscillators that made up the bulk of the patch. Each oscillator was tuned to a different chord tone. Harmonically it’s a simple CMaj7 chord comprised of a C Major triad, C, E, and G, plus the major seventh B at the top. I know that when I imagined the patch I initially wanted to use a slightly more edgy C7 chord, but for some reason I just didn’t. At first I used the sine wave outputs from each oscillator, but later decided on adding some texture. For the two lower notes, C and E, I used the mixed outputs of each Spectraphon oscillator, though neither were modulated at all, both were set with a relatively low number of upper harmonics, and both had a smidge of FM as each oscillator modulated the other. The two upper notes of the chord, G and B, were sine waves from DPO, with Oscillator B FM-ing Oscillator A. All four outputs were patched to the first QXG, which received CV signals from Polimaths’ channels one, three, five, and seven.

One of the features that has me smitten on the Make Noise Polimaths is that it has a built-in ability to do amplitude modulation as a core part of an envelope. It’s a very unique sort of AM in that it contours with the function itself rather than separately acting upon the function or already modulated audio in a second VCA. And it was this feature, inspired by that one tone in “part five” of that Fields We Found album, that I wanted to not only use, but feature in this patch.

Polimaths is a wonderful module. Though not fit for every modular application, there are many for which it might not just be a good tool, but perhaps the best in all of Eurorack. It’s innovative in so many ways, and was built for polyphonic applications like this one. Even if you don’t pair it with Multiwave or use it with the rest of the NUSS it can find a place in any case. This patched started with already long rise and fall segments, only getting longer via its very excellent Spread Modulation scheme. In this patch lower pitches were controlled by longer envelopes, with higher pitches being progressively shorter. This helps form the pyramid shape of the parts for this piece. Lower, fatter sounds tended to be around longer, with notes becoming gradually shorter as the pitches move upwards. The oscillation amount and rate were equal for all four of the functions I used. Polimaths was set to both cycling and bipolar modes. I didn’t want constant sound. I wanted each chord tone to float in and out on its own terms, each fluttering about through the stereo field. One thing I’d probably change is that once the patch was recorded it seems like the oscillation amount was a bit too high. It doesn’t ruin or distract the listener, but I was going for a more subtle effect. It was more like a medium tremolo as opposed to a light fluttering of each note. It’s just not quite as delicate as I initially imagined, though still quite beautiful and compelling. In fact, it makes me want to learn how to patch these sorts of functions so that I might be able to use them in applications on Subsystems. These sorts of oscillating functions are ultra-cool, and useful in so many ways. All four functions were modulated in QXG such that they panned throughout tye stereo field throughout the piece. Each tone not only gently faded in and out, but also slowly danced from left to right and back again.

With the chords sufficiently flitting about the soundstage, it was time for ornamentation. The chord tones was the major point of the patch, but it was clear that something was missing. Although I tried several different ideas, none of them stuck. Either they were too dry or just didn’t fit. Then I remembered a passing scene in one of the original Echophon videos, and decided that was my path. I was going to finally figure out how to tame the beast. I have a funny relationship with Echophon. It’s definitely not a delay for every type of patch. It can be used like a standard lofi digital delay, but that buries the lede. Echophon isn’t a standard delay. It’s a pitch shifting maker of sonic wonders, but it definitely takes time to learn. And while Echophon is quite old, over a decade old at this point, I haven’t had one for very long, and I just haven’t really tried to flesh out its strong points. But that video gave me ideas, and I was bound to explore them.

Normally with delays I tend towards longer delay times. Most of the stuff I make moves rather slow, and much of my delay use isn’t to induce echoes or repeats, but as a means to stretch out and lengthen tones; a means to fill in space and make already long tones longer. But I quickly discovered that although Echophon can delay up to 1.7 seconds, that’s not where it really shines.1 Echophon has a signature sound. It’s pretty easily identifiable when you hear it. It’s covered up with digital aliasing. The mix knob is controlled by a vactrol so it’s never fully dry. Sometimes that sound is great, but when it comes to much longer pitch shifted tones that sound can become distracting. But with the right input, and the right delay time and feedback settings, those metallic tones from Echophon can sound like Candyland in all the best sorts of ways. A shimmering wonderland of bouncing partials that spirals upwards.

The input for this voice was simple. A sine wave from STO, enveloped by Contour via Optomix, sequenced by sending a negative offset and attenuated triangle function from Maths to the input on Wogglebug, while using its Burst output to quantize the Stepped output in René’s X Channel. These notes by themselves were a bit plain; plain sine waves with a snappy envelope. But once they went through Echophon’s pitch shifter and recycled through its feedback Loop 1, these tones turned into dancing sparkles that floated upwards and away like fireworks. It’s these sorts of tones that the Echophon excels at, and I’m glad to have finally discovered some of its secrets. The only modulation was a slow moving triangle function from Multimod to the Mix knob which was at about 50% attenuation, though I think it did go full wet. The mix of a delay isn’t something I’d normally modulate, but with this input, constant repeats got very busy, very quickly. Adjusting the mix was the best option I could come up with, which worked great, especially since, because of being controlled by a vactrol, even full CCW on the Mix knob is never fully dry. Normally this sort of vactrol bleed is undesirable, though I’ve learned to really lean into vactrol bleed in other contexts, but in this piece it worked out wonderfully. It wasn’t until this patch that I was able to coax out some of Echophon’s magic sauce, and I’m here for more.

All three parts, the bass from Spectraphon and QMMG through Bruxa, the fluttering chords from Polimaths, and the crystalline pings of STO and Echophon, were sent to Mimeophon with a fairly long delay time, and the Maneco Labs Otterley for reverb. The end of the piece, after the STO pings fluttered away for the last time, saw Otterley’s Reverb 2 make an appearance with its reverse granular delay at an octave up, which created a choir-like response that ended the piece perfectly.

Modules Used:
Polimaths
Spectraphon
DPO
QXG
QMMG
STO
Bruxa
Echophon
Mimeophon
Wogglebug
Contour
Optomix Rev2
René Mk2
Maths
Multimod
Channel Saver
modDemix
CV Bus Mk2
Maneco Labs Otterley

Outboard Gear Used:
Noisy Fruits Lab Lemon

Plugins Used:
Klevgrand Haaze 2
Klevgrand Luxe

Improvised and recorded in one take on iPad in AUM via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

  1. There are likely many, many settings which use longer delay times to great effect. I, however, have not yet found them. ↩︎

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Made Noise – Sketch 22 rev3

This patch is one of those patches that ended up very differently than it began. I suppose such is the life of many patches. Sometimes it’s because the electrons just aren’t flowing how you imagined, while others are borne from a drastic difference between the sound you heard in your head, and the one the synth is actually creating. Modular synth can be funny that way, and oftentimes the instrument guides you where it wants to go. It’s up to us to tame its moodiness and create something musical despite our initial intentions. Today was one of those days.

Initially I was looking for an unstable sound via Spectraphon’s Noise mode. Something wobbly and uncertain. And although I was able to find that instability, it just sounded…bad. Not “bad” bad in some objective (or even subjective) way, but kind of like when you go to take a huge gulp of Coke, only to discover too late that it’s Dr. Pepper in the cup. I was set on a particular sound, and when I thought I might have produced it, it was something wholly different. I can’t tell you how long I futzed with the patch to try and finally squeeze out the sound I was hoping for, but it was all to no avail. Fortunately Spectraphon with its four modes is ultra-flexible, and although it came as a result of a much longer process than just using and tweaking Spectraphon, I was finally able to find a nice, wobbly starting point from which to use as the base of the melody line while in standard SAO mode.

This patch begins with Tempi and René driving a very slow bass line, the progression of which was ripped directly from Alessandro Cortini’s piece, ERA, from Make Noise’s album Strega Music, showcasing the then new Strega standalone semi-modular synth and FX unit. Despite a deep back catalogue, ERA has always been one of my favorite Cortini pieces. The entire sequence is but four repeated notes, E1, F#1, G#1, and B1. It’s a deep and rich bass line; its major key giving off vibes of triumph. My first inclination was to keep the bass line a pure sine wave, but that was overtaken by my desire to instill some kind of evolution and movement to an otherwise short, repeated phrase, so I mixed in the Odd and Even outputs. Initially Partials, Slide, and Focus were only very lightly modulated to create subtle movement. Partials with a slow moving Smooth random output from Wogglebug(1), with Slide and Focus both being modulated by two separate Multimod outputs, which are Time and Spread adjusted copies of the Smooth random output of Wogglebug(2). I decided, however, to use a seldomly triggered oscillating function from Polimaths to Spectraphon’s Focus CV input, which resulted in some very compelling movement in the stereo field, while not actively serving as a distracting feature. Between us, this oscillating movement in the bass line, despite its sparseness as the patch progresses, is one of the most interesting parts of this recording.

The piece starts off with the bass line progression’s pure sine notes, but on the third repeat of tye sequence the Odd and Even outputs were slowly mixed in. The sine wave was enveloped by Contour, using gates from René’s Y-GT output to both trigger the envelope, and also to determine its Hold length before ending with a fairly long decay leading into the following note in the sequence. Although the piece starts with what appears to be a pretty heavy repeat of the note’s initial attack, something I still don’t particularly care for in the recording, once the Odd and Even outputs were introduced that rough jump smoothed out and was never evident again. The Sine wave was sent directly to the output mixer. The Odd and Even outputs, however, went through a slightly different process. In an attempt to keep this part of the bass line as subtle as I could while still allowing it to be dynamic and interesting, and as I’m wont to do in many of my patches, I patched the Odd and Even outputs to channels one and two of QMMG, and used a slow moving triangle function from Maths to modulate the cutoff frequency. This allowed the various partials, sometimes fluttering about in the stereo image, to remain subtle, never truly pushing any other voice to the sidelines, while still giving the bass line depth and a bit of complexity. Mixed together, the sine wave allowed the bass line to retain its heft in the middle of the stereo field, while the Odd and Even outputs widened the image a bit in a very compelling way to keep it interesting. Despite being a short four step sequence repeated over and over, it never really sounded the same on any given repeat of the sequence. It was always subtly changing.

The melody line was also borne of a familiar patching process. Tempi drove René’s X Channel in a five step on, five step off pattern using the Start/Stop parameter on the FUN page, while feeding Spectraphon’s Oscillator A v/oct input. The sine wave output was sent to QMMG. Its first stop was for some volume control in VCA mode. Perhaps it’s just a perception, but it seems to me that Spectraphon’s outputs run on the hot side. Even when I’m going straight to the mixer I often feel like I need to tame the signal first. But a hot output wasn’t the only reason I wanted to use a lower level into the filter. I was trying to induce wobble for instability in the melody line, and one of the key factors using a filter to get that wobble is that the sine wave’s level needs to be somewhat low. I discovered this technique accidentally a little over a year ago. Once I lowered the level by about 45%, the output was patched to another QMMG channel in Low Pass Filter mode, with moderately high resonance and a bipolar triangle function from Maths moving the cutoff frequency, though at a different rate than the function controlling the bass line. I really adore this technique of playing sequences using start and stop clocks with unsynced, slow moving signals moving the cutoff. It allows for surprises, while still remaining essentially pure. The 16 step sequence, between the five step start and stop clock that drove it along with the ever moving cutoff frequency which frequently goes low enough to hide notes, never repeats. The sequence itself never changes, but its manifestation is also never the same. Sometimes notes are brought in subtly. Other times they scream from the high, nonlinear resonance of QMMG. But even though the notes themselves never change, the melody line is always morphing. There s never a sense of repetition, but familiarity from Deja vu.

The filtered sine wave melody line was then patched from QMMG to Bruxa. Normally I would start off a performance with Bruxa running at a moderate input level somewhere around or just below unity level, and with the mix fully dry, before easing in more volume or a higher mix level (or both). But because the volume of the output was Spectraphon was lowered before being filtered in QMMG, I had Bruxa’s input level maxed from the start, and the slightly wet output from Bruxa was the finishing touch for the sort of wobbly unease I was seeking. In this patch, Bruxa was thoroughly modulated, using a Time and Spread shifted Smooth random outputs from Wogglebug(2) to both the Decay and Filter parameters, slowing moving those parameters around, while both of Bruxa’s CV outputs self-modulated Absorb and Time (the one with the attenuverter CV input). Modulating Time in this way, so long as the attenuverter is set very low, creates an almost flanger-like sound, which I find intoxicating.

I don’t think it’s a secret that I’ve come to adore Bruxa. In almost every patch it seems to add some missing ingredient or another that elevates the result. It’s become nearly a must-use in most of my Make Noise patches. It’s a master at adding grit and texture to anything you run through it; the answer to lots of questions. Need some noise? Bruxa. Need a wall of sound? Bruxa. Need to wash everything out? Bruxa. Need some subtle wobble? Bruxa. Though I won’t go so far as to say we need a stereo Bruxa, I would say that I wish there were one. But even though it seems unlikely that we’d ever get a stereo Bruxa, faking it can open up a wide array of possibilities.

Though there are many ways one might widen Bruxa’s output to form a stereo image right in the case, both QPAS and Mimeophon do great, I’ve come to using a plugin for this job. I’m not a huge fan of using plugins. I’m most definitely a hardware guy. I love my buttons and knobs. But sometimes a tool is so very useful and unobtrusive that not using it actively detracts from the final result. For me, that tool is the Klevgrand Haaze 2, a plugin designed to liven the stereo field using several different methods from the Haas Effect to mid-side processing. It works great for both mono and stereo sources, and opens up Bruxa’s mono output to fill the stereo field in a way that feels natural and complete. Haaze 2 has become a staple for me when using Bruxa. The difference is immediate and transformative.

The output from Bruxa wasn’t sent only to the output mixer, however. The signal was multed via the excessively useful CV Bus before being sent to Multimod(2) for some fun play with it as a delay. I originally bought a Multimod the day it was announced. In fact, I ordered it the second the video stated it was a modulation source. I had long thought that modulation sources was a weak spot for Make Noise. Sure, there is Maths, Function, Wogglebug, and others, but before Multimod, no matter the patch, I always seemed to run short on modulation. But by the time I watched Sara Belle Reed’s introductory Multimod video, which heavily showcased using Multimod as not only a CV source or a way to spread around modulation, but as a pitch shifting delay, I went and ordered a second Multimod specifically with the intent of using one to spread modulation about, and the other as an audio processor. Before I got a third 4-Zone CV Bus Case, I had this second Multimod in my effects section of the case. This isn’t the first time I’ve used Multimod as a delay. But it always surprises me when I do. The result is almost always much cooler than I expected, and is always full of surprises. This patch was no different. After experimenting with several different outputs, I ultimately chose outputs five and seven, which were Spread such that they were at 2x and 4x the input respectively, creating an echo at one octave up in the right channel, and two octaves up in the left channel, while the input, the melody line, played steadily through the center channel. These delays created a lot of movement as the piece progressed, and was a compelling way to accentuate the very slow melody line.

All three voices, the Spectraphon bass line, Bruxa infused melody, and the delayed outputs from Multimod(2) were all sent to Mimeophon for delay, as well as the Maneco Labs Otterley, via a high pass filter, for reverb. Everything was mixed before being processed by the Klevgrand Luxe plugin.

I won’t try and hide my excitement about this patch. I’m very taken aback by this one in a way I haven’t been in a long time. It’s quite beautiful, with a high sense of hope and maybe even triumph. It’s a feeling I need of late, and this patch and its recording has served as a sort of cathartic outlet for a lot of frustration and discontent in my personal life.

Modules Used:
Tempi
René Mk2
Spectraphon
QMMG
Bruxa
Mimeophon
Multimod
Optomix v2
Contour
Function
Maths
Wogglebug
Polimaths
Channel Saver
modDemix
CV Bus Mk2
Maneco Labs Otterley

Plugins Used:
Klevgrand Haaze 2
Klevgrand Luxe

Improvised and recorded in one take on iPad in AUM via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

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Made Noise – Sketch 21 rev6

Although last year I immediately made a patch once Jamuary was over, this year was a little different. Jamuary really wore me down, and I just wasn’t ready to step back up to the synth. A patch a day everyday for 31 days is a lot of patching. They all seem to run into one another in a huge blur. But as tiring as Jamuary was this year, I knew it wouldn’t be very long before I had an itch to scratch, and this one came suddenly.

It’s amazing sometimes where one might get inspiration. Sometimes it’s a bird singing or the sight of something special. This time, for me, was the last place I might have thought. A short snippet from Sarah Belle Reid’s video documenting a Buchla 200 system, one of the first to have been built, wherein she did a patch using two smooth random voltages to modulate the wave shape of the Buchla 258, and two unsynced cycling triangle functions to control their respective levels. There was nothing fancy about the patch, nor was it particularly musical in context. It wasn’t designed to be anything more than a very simple demonstration of the 258’s waveshaping abilities. But something about that sound really captured my attention. I listened to that section several times, and decided that was my next direction.

Sketch 21 started with two Contour envelope generators cycling unsynced. I’m not sure why I went with Contour, a discontinued take on an ADSR envelope generator, when I have several AD function generators in the Make Noise synth that are quite like the Buchla 280 Quad Envelope Generator used by Sarah. Perhaps it was because I had just received my second Contour to complete a pair, as well as the “legacy” section of my Make Noise Synth.1 My plan was to use two Make Noise Classic workhorses DPO and STO, after all. Or perhaps I thought I might use the Sustain parameter on Contour. In any case, I decided to use it and quickly discovered one of its “shortcomings.” Contour is old school. Yes, it can cycle, but you have to do it via patching the End Of Cycle output to the Gate input. There is no “Cycle” button or switch like there is on Function, Maths (at least the modern Maths), or Polimaths, which necessitated manually triggering each Contour using a PrssPnt and quickly switching patch cables in order to get the patch started. This wasn’t a problem, per se, and it’s not really a “shortcoming” that Contour needs manual triggering to start a cycle. The Buchla 280 functions in exactly the same way, but it is a conscious step that must be affirmatively taken, and it needs to be executed properly in the right time frame lest you be forced to start the patch over again. Fortunately both envelopes were quite long, approximately 10 and seven seconds long at the start of the patch, but I won’t say I was perfect on every run through. Once I set this part of the patch, however, I was pushed into changing it slightly. Contour is a Make Noise version of an ADSR. In order to sustain notes, a gate is required. But the End Of Cycle output on Contour only outputs a trigger when it’s patched to cycle. To get around this small hurdle, I patched the EOC gate outputs on the Contours to René’s X and Y clock inputs, with both channels set to output gates on each step, which then gated each envelope as it cycled. As each envelope completed, the EOC trigger moved René, which in-turn gated Contour to restart the envelope, with the benefit of a gate to use for the Sustain parameter. That said, I’m not really convinced that those gates were long enough to activate the Hold parameter. I couldn’t really hear a palpable difference, but stuck with the patch.

The envelopes created were fairly long, about 10 seconds and 7 seconds total, with an Onset (read: the A and D in an ADSR) long enough to hear the volume move in, as opposed to having a hard transient, and a long Decay. The timing of the envelopes moved the sequencer, but the functions themselves also controlled the articulation of each of the two oscillators used in the patch. I regularly use slow moving waves to control oscillators like this. Like, a lot. Most often they have rather long attacks, but I wanted the attack of these envelopes to be more like bow strokes than long fades. Smooth but not overtly long. A noticeable rise, while still exhibiting some measure of haste.

Once the envelopes and their general cadence were set it was time to move on to the two voices. My first thought was to really modify this patch by using Spectraphon and thinking about waveshaping via modulating its Partials, Focus, and Slide parameters, but I quickly moved away from it. Instead I took the route, in Sarah’s footsteps, of using oscillators with waveshaping as an explicit parameter, choosing a mix of the sine and Final outputs on DPO for the bass, and a mix of the sine and Shape output of STO for the higher voice. In Sarah’s video, she very specifically used a Smooth random output to modulate the wave shape for each oscillator of the Buchla 258 so that the timbre and tone was constantly shifting in unpredictable ways. That was the entire point. And while I initially followed Sarah’s patch by using the Smooth output from Wogglebug, by the second or third recording I had switched to using a modulated chaos signal from Spectraphon, via a Spread Multimod. Throughout most of the six recordings of this patch I used four of these Multimod outputs to modulate the waveshaping of both oscillators. Shape, Angle, and Fold on the DPO, and Shape on the STO. But something felt odd in the modulation on the DPO. It would too often cause the bass to all but disappear because of how Shape and Angle interacted with one another. This is, of course, expected, but it had worn out its welcome after several iterations and constant adjustments to try and mitigate the issue. Once I arrived at this final revision I was using DPO’s Oscillator A to modulate the B side, via the Mod Bus, at audio rate. The results are a richer bass throughout, with sometimes wild timbres and textures. I stuck with an attenuated, moderately slow moving chaos signal from Multimod to modulate STO’s shape, which, to my ears, creates some of the most interesting movement in the piece.

As each oscillator was introduced, both started as humble sine waves. Even as gain was added, the bass note never seemed to lose that “saturated sine” sound, but the higher voice from STO was very woodwind like. At times one might hear something like a clarinet or a bassoon. But as the piece progressed, I introduced the Final and Shape outputs via mixing in a pair of modDemixes. Each mix output was sent to QMMG’s channels one and four respectively. I tried every sort of amplitude processing I had in this synth. My initial thought was to, like Sarah, use vactrol controlled low pass gates. Then I experimented with using a low pass filter with the cutoff fully closed, but that wasn’t as nice. Then, on a whim, I tried modulating the level in regular old VCA mode. To my surprise, this allowed for the sort of response I heard in my head, and I stuck with it (though I did revisit these experiments at least once more through the tweaking process). Alongside the oscillator outputs I also introduced a form of noise2, courtesy of the Woggle output from the Audio section of Wogglebug. Each noise source was enveloped in a DXG using the same Contour envelopes controlling the rest of the audio, before being high pass filtered through QMMG’s channels two and three using inverted versions of those same envelopes. As audio from each oscillator fades in, so does the noise, and as it gets louder, it also gains a bit of low(er) frequency information to fill out the sound.

All four sounds, the oscillators and noise, exited QMMG via the mix output before being sent through Bruxa for even more heavily texturizing of the sounds. As the patch began, Bruxa’s input level was set moderately with no distortion. As the piece progressed I added distortion to both voices via QMMG’s feedback knob, as well as by eventually pinning Bruxa’s input level before introducing the wet signal. This allowed for a slow build and lots of harmonics to chew on in Bruxa’s filtering and delay processing. As the recording progressed I slowly raised Bruxa’s mix to full wet, allowing its cryptic feedback loop(s) to introduce its own chaotic behavior. But I also wanted more movement, and decided to repurpose two of the chaos signals from Multimod that had initially modulated DPO by using them to modulate Bruxa’s Decay and Absorb, while modulating Time with one of Bruxa’s CV outputs. The resulting sounds are huge, oftentimes almost cinematic in scale.

Bruxa’s output was sent to the output mixer (AUM via an ES-9), where it was stereo-fied by a brilliant plugin called Haaze. Though at its most basic level Haaze does use the Haas Effect, it has a full cabinet of tools one might use to create a stereo signal from a mono one, or liven up a pedestrian stereo signal. It’s a subtle yet impactful way to process a mono signal to create as wide a stereo field as you want. I chose to remain a bit more modest. The stereo field is there, but not overtly wide.

This signal was then sent out of the mixer to Mimeophon for some stereo delay. The third repurposed chaos output from Multimod was patched to color just to create a bit more subtle movement. Everything was sent to the Maneco Labs Otterley for reverb. And what was interesting is I finally found a way to utilize its Reverb 2 as one of my favorite effects: granular delay. These sounds leave a trail of pitch shifted grains in the wake of a sound like a bio-illuminescent trail in the water. At times they sound like an accompanying string orchestra echoing back with tremolo strokes in an intensely beautiful way.

If I’m being completely honest, this recording wasn’t originally conceived of as a normal post on peaks and nulls, but as a recording for something to be released. But I was never able to quite capture the magic of this patch in a single performance. Feel-wise, rev2 is by far my favorite of the recordings. Everything seemed to line up perfectly. The modulation was at the perfect speed. The interactions between modulated signals was ideal. But that was a very early recording before a lot of tweaks were made. Most of those changes improved the recordings immensely, but I see this patch as one that got away. Something was lost amongst those revisions, never to be recovered.

Modules Used:
Contour
René Mk2
DPO
STO
QMMG
Bruxa
Maths
Spectraphon
Multimod
modDemix
DXG
Wogglebug
Mimeophon
CV Bus Mk2
Maneco Labs Otterley

Plugins Used:
Klevgrand Haaze 2
Klevgrand Luxe
Toneboosters Equalizer 4

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

  1. Although not all of the modules in this section are officially discontinued, some of them are (Echophon, Contour), while others are all but discontinued, not having been made in several years (Optomix v2, LxD), and the DPO is an OG DPO with 6 vactrols (last made in 2014 or early 2015). The only readily available modules in the row are Maths and STO. ↩︎
  2. Count me among those who would do unspeakable things for a simple white noise output in Make Noise’s catalogue that doesn’t require patching and using complicated modules. It’s noise! Even Buchla and Serge thought it appropriate to provide a noise output. ↩︎

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Jamuary 2631

Well, the last day of Jamuary has come, and even though I initially wanted a special send off patch for the final day, life just didn’t work out that way this year. See the theme for 2630 for more details.

This patch was a simple restructuring of 2629, substituting Echophon, with Bruxa in the feedback loop, as the main effect on the ring modulated melody line. I really enjoyed this patch and using 0-Ctrl as the primary sequencer for the melodic voice. For more detailed patch notes, see 2629.

Modules Added:
Echophon

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

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Jamuary 2630

Today is somewhat of a cheat post. I didn’t record this on 1.30. Unfortunately, as we were wisely taught in the 80s (yet it’s a lesson many seem to have either forgotten or never learned), shit happens. I wasn’t able to record a patch on Friday. But I do have a bonus patch. I recorded two patches on the 28th, though I only posted one.

This patch is virtually identical to 2628, only rather than using Echophon as my main effect, I used Bruxa, which seems to me to be an improvement in almost every way. Enjoy!

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

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Jamuary 2629

I had a goal when I walked up to the synth today: use at least two sub-patches that I haven’t used during this Jamuary. I knew one technique I was going to use off the bat. It had been a while since I did a “pinging QPAS” patch, and it was conducive to the mood I was in. The other manifested as I looked at modDemix. “Ring modulation! Of course!” To me this patch is almost a stereotypical Make Noise Patch™️. It’s the kind of sound that comes so very naturally from a Make Noise synth. The sort of patch that it was made to do.

This patch was made up of two basic parts. Tempi clocked both channels of René which sent out two trigger sequences from the X and Y channels to both inputs on QPAS, using the Low Pass outputs to create a stereo percussive beat. René was being modulated by two sample and hold signals in order to change the Snake of each channel and keep the trigger sequence from repeating itself. QPAS was highly modulated by Wogglebug’s Woggle VCO output, which is the first time I’ve ever use any of Wogglebug’s VCO outputs for any reason. I started this portion of the patch to serve as a percussive base. And although I think this part served that function admirably, it’s hard to describe many of the sounds produced by QPAS as something reminiscent of percussion. Maybe percussion stretched out like putty. Or a DJ scratching a turntable. The audio rate modulation from the Wogglebugs to both Radiate inputs fundamentally changed the sounds to something I very much enjoyed, though it’s quite hard to explain. The Burst outputs from both Wogglebugs also modulated the !!¡¡ inputs, while a fast moving Ramplet signal from Multimod modulated the cutoff frequency. Resonance was set high enough, about 10:30), for fairly lengthy tails on each ping, though, as with any ping from any filter, higher pitched notes were shorter than lower pitched notes. The result is more like the results of a loosely evolving drum circle with funky instrumentation where the only requirement was “stay in time” than a real groove of some type. It’s background noise to create a mood.

There is no real science to this part of the patch. It’s a bunch of triggers to the inputs, and a bunch of high frequency modulation being thrown at about every CV input except Resonance. But it’s also why using Make Noise is often special. One can get deep into the weeds with complicated patching techniques, patch programming, and circuitous routing of both control and program signals. But one need not do that in order to get good results that are fun and unique. Make Noise is one of those modular environments that really takes modulation well. As with anything one can go overboard and really muck a patch up, but generally speaking Make Noise modules tend to take high levels of modulation gracefully.

The second voice in this patch was made up of two sine waves from Spectraphon ring modulating each other at a 1:1 frequency ratio (I.e., they were tuned to the same note) in modDemix. Spectraphon was sequenced by 0-Ctrl, with one of its gates reversing direction. Although it’s useful in many respects, I don’t use modDemix very often for any “important” role. I’ll sometimes use it as a simple mixer and a simple VCA with a unipolar envelope or gate, but most often I’ve used it as a simple level attenuator for a too hot signal. Though I do have times when I’ve used it as a ring modulator, those times are few and far between. It’s just not really a sound I use that much (and when I do it’s almost always in a context very close to this patch). But today ring modulation was the point, and I really dig the result. Improvising the gating of the sequence was a kind of fun I don’t normally have when using the modular. It was lots of knob-twisty goodness. That said I had hoped that the short decay envelope from 0-Ctrl would have been shorter. I’m not sure whether it was because of being externally clocked or whether there was an actuator problem, but there just didn’t seem much difference between using the Dynamic Gate and the Dynamic Envelope outputs (which signifies my lack of understanding the Strength Control(s) and how it related to the Speed control, and thus the longer-than-desired envelopes being an actuator issue). These Dynamic Envelope hit a LPG in QMMG. From QMMG, the signal was patched to Bruxa for some light echo and texture. Bruxa, once again, provided a bit of magic to the sound. The ring modulated tones were great on their own, which is why I never overdid the wet/dry mix on Bruxa in this patch, but the bit of added echo and noise to the ring modulated sequence was special.

Modules Used:
Tempi
René Mk2
QPAS
0-Ctrl
Spectraphon
Wogglebug
QMMG
modDemix
Bruxa
Mimeophon
Maths
Multimod
CV Bus Mk2
Maneco Labs Otterley

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.







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Jamuary 2628

Today’s Jamuary patch was about cleaning up 2627. There isn’t much that’s substantively different. I used slightly less modulation to Echophon’s Feedback CV input and QPAS in general, and removed Echophon’s Freeze gate. The sequence is the same. These changes made a palpable difference for the better. Everything is more clear and much less disjointed. I also added the Maneco Labs Otterley in lieu of using Halo.

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

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Jamuary 2627

I’ll admit that I was pretty hyped about 2626. It’s not a sound I typically create, and sometimes a change of pace is what’s needed to gather perspective. In that light, when I walked up to the synth for 2627 I knew I wanted to continue down that path and further explore this sequence with different patch routings and effects. Yesterday I used Mimeophon for both the melodic sequence and the bass line. Mimeophon was a logical choice, it’s a crazy good stereo delay, but I had other ideas I wanted to try. Other textures I wanted to explore. Although I’ve been heavily invested in using Bruxa of late, particularly during this Jamuary where I’ve used it several times, I wasn’t yet ready to delve into un-clocked texture creation. I still wanted a delay that’s controllable, or at least clockable. Echophon was calling my name.

Other than being a certified delay junkie, I’m not sure what drew me towards Echophon. It was discontinued years before I was involved in Eurorack, is only mono (input and output), and it has a very opinionated sound. This isn’t your everyday digital delay with clean repeats. It is an unabashedly lofi pitch shifting digital repeater with an external feedback loop, and sound signature that, if you know it, is unmistakable. It can be harsh. Notes alias with regularity. It’s quirky, weird, and it can be unruly. And in that space it’s perfect.

The core of this patch is the same as 2626. Tempi clocked René, which sent out pitch and gate sequences for a highly modulated Spectraphon arpeggiated line, and a multi-output mix of oscillators from Spectraphon and DPO through a QMMG for bass. And despite the bass line still using Mimeophon (primarily as a means to thicken the sound up), the melody line was patched to a clocked Echophon. Pitch shifting was set to what I’m pretty sure is a fifth above the input pitch. Initially I wanted to this patch with no delay before introducing some of the wet signal. But because Echophon uses a vactrol to control the wet/dry mix, the wet signal is never fully closed off. Having a shadow of the delayed signal, however, was an interesting effect in itself, and so chose to lean into a bit at the beginning. As the recording progressed, I added modulation from Wogglebug’s Stepped output, which also acted as a control signal on several facets of the patch, to Feedback. Not long after I also added a clock-divided gate from Tempi to toggle the Freeze function, which repeated the buffer while the gate was high. This is also when I introduced the feedback loop to and from a heavily modulated QPAS and completely transformed the output.

Although I enjoyed using Echophon for this patch, something led it awry. Whether it was too much modulation, Freezing too often (or at all), or the feedback loop, there was something disjointed between the dry signal and the affected signal. They didn’t always seem to go hand-in-hand. The dry signal sounded dry, and the wet signal didn’t always resemble what went in. Upon listening back multiple times, I think it’s the Freeze that is pulling the output away from the input. It seems to repeat a small section too often and for too long without allowing itself time to breathe in between Freezes.

Modules Used:
Tempi
René Mk2
Spectraphon
DPO
QMMG
Wogglebug
Channel Saver
Multimod
Echophon
QPAS
Mimeophon
CV Bus Mk2

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

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Jamuary 2626

After several days of using chaos and random to control entire patches, it was time for a palette cleanser. Every patch for the last several days has revolved around the NUSS, and I was ready for something a little more in the Alessandro Cortini vein. I don’t normally create rhythm-based music. Most things I make probably can’t be said to have any sort of time. But I wanted to do something different today. Something more structured than the free flowing patches of the last several days. It’s been a long last few days as we’re still trying to chip our way out of what ended up being a pretty epic ice storm, and I was tired. And as I unpatched 2625, a short five step melody popped into my head. It wasn’t complicated, and it wasn’t much to work with, but I started there and allowed the patch unfold organically.

This patch started with Tempi. I patched a A x5 clock from Channel Two to René’s X Channel with but five active steps. Though this melody was short and simple, I gradually added steps as the recording progressed, up to as many as 10. At the climax of the piece I changed the notes of one of the 10 steps, introducing just enough variation to create intrigue. As the performance started to wind down I removed steps randomly. It was simple, but felt right. It flowed naturally.

The oscillator for the melodic voice was a heavily modulated Spectraphon in SAO mode. The x5 clock that drove the melodic pitch sequence also clocked Wogglebug’s sample and hold, which served as modulation for large chunks of this patch, particularly Spectraphon. Partials, Slide, and Focus were all modulated with Wogglebug’s Stepped output, which created a unique timbre for each note. I initially tried using DXG for Striking Spectraphon’s Odd and Even outputs with the trigger from René’s XT-GT output, but I didn’t care for the precise decay response in this patch, and pivoted towards a vactrol-based LPG that would ring out a bit longer, specifically QMMG. Although I patched both Spectraphon outputs and pinged both of them separately in QMMG, I ultimately opted to use the mix output. I could have just used the Mixed output on Spectraphon and only one channel in QMMG, and I’m not sure why I didn’t re-patch this section to clean it up a bit. The mixed output was patched to the output mixer before being sent off for effects.

In contrast, the bass voice was much more complex, being made up of three separate oscillator outputs. The first was the Sub-Saw output from Spectraphon’s Oscillator A, which was patched to the crossfading section of Channel Saver along with the wavefolded Final output from DPO, mixing the two sounds before being patched to QMMG for leveling and low pass filtering. This mixed wave was quite rich, and had lots of harmonics, but I didn’t want all of them all of the time. An attenuated copy of Wogglebug’s Stepped output was used to modulate the cutoff frequency, while another even more highly attenuated copy modulated the filter’s squirrelly resonance. This movement in time gave the bass line life, some notes exposing harmonics, and some with a smidge of squelch. The output from QMMG’s filter was then mixed again with the sine wave output from DPO to provide a firmly planted sub bass fundamental. Once mixed, the full bass voice was output to the mixer before going to Mimeophon.

The mixing of several bass voices aside, this patch was not a technically difficult one. It’s a simple sequence that was improvised, with a single modulation source, Wogglebug’s Stepped output, that controlled vast swaths of the parameters patch-wide. Five of the six modulation destinations were controlled by that one signal, with the sixth being a trigger to DPO’s Strike input.

Modules Used:
Tempi
René Mk2
Spectraphon
DPO
QMMG
Wogglebug
Channel Saver
modDemix
Mimeophon
CV Bus Mk2

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

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Jamuary 2625

After a lazy day yesterday, I had a vision for today’s Jamuary patch. I explored using chaos to drive a full patch during 2623, and during that patch I noted several facets I wanted to clean up. I’ve been a chaos fan since I started modular. I don’t really have an explanation for why I never explored Make Noise’s version of low frequency chaos before a couple of days ago, but now that I have, there’s no turning back.

Today’s patch was similar in intent to 2623, but very different in execution and result. Though both patches share techniques and basic layout, how I went about accomplishing 2625 was very different. I cleaned up a couple of voltage polarity issues, added two pieces in the audio chain, and was more careful with using chaos to control more of the patch.

A pair of chaos signals from Spectraphon controlled almost every parameter within the patch from patch programming itself, the sequence, NUSS activations, QPAS’ Frequency and Radiate controls, Jumbler’s Radiate and Rotate controls, Multiwave’s Oscillator A Pitch control, and perhaps more.

The first change was to the engine that drove the entire patch, using positive offset to move the voltage from the bipolar chaos signal into positive unipolar range. In 2623 I patched a chaos signal directly to Wogglebug, with its Stepped output controlling the sequence in René as well as Activations in the NUSS. My initial attempt used bipolar voltage as the source for Wogglebug’s sample and hold, which works great with the Span input on the NUSS, but is a no-go for René’s CV input as it accepts 0-5v. I tried to fix this voltage discrepancy in 2623 by using a positive offset on the Stepped output, whereas today I positively offset the chaos in a Channel Saver before going to Wogglebug’s External input. This change meant that I could send the exact same signal to both destinations, attenuating at each input, which allowed René’s sequence and NUSS channels to move in concert rather than out of step. This change was a drastic improvement, particularly when honing in attenuation. It facilitated easier adjustments down the chain, and was more streamlined than previously. With the sequence running smoothly, it made it much easier to alter and change different parameters throughout the patch.

The second change was to lower the base frequency of the NUSS. I’m not sure how far down I tuned the oscillators, but it was probably an octave or more. This changed was a major improvement over previous iterations. It allowed me to keep pitches in a more musically useful range, and allowed for honing in Oscillator A, in Integer Multiply Follow mode, to keep the system from producing too many pitches that are just too high in the frequency spectrum to be musically pleasant. Getting this balance right took a goodly amount of close listening and effort, but worked out great. There were still pitches in higher registers, but the distribution of pitches from low to high was much better, and ultra-high frequencies were largely minimized.

In previous versions of this patch, I took the output straight from QXG and patched it straight to the mixer. But this time I took a different approach by patching the NUSS output to QPAS first, then by running six of its eight outputs through Jumbler, similarly to 2616. Chaos from Spectraphon (pre-offset) was used to modulate the cutoff frequency and both Radiate parameters. I need to take better care, however, when using attenuation. Sometimes I just don’t use enough, and the results can sometimes be jarring, especially when using a signal with drastic voltage changes. I don’t know whether the problem was with the cutoff or with Radiate, but there are occasional spots where the modulation becomes noticeable in itself, which I don’t generally regard as a good thing.

Although the audio path is similar in this patch I didn’t want to use the exact same approach as with 2616, and chose to use QPAS’ Smile Pass in lieu of the High Pass outputs, and patched four of Jumbler’s outputs, one, three, four, and six, to X-Pan and cross faded them using two slow functions from a Multimod. The result was a swirly soup of chordal goodness. Jumbler is turning out to be a treat. I’ve still only used it as a sort of basic mixing switch-like utility for audio signals, functioning something like a crossfading mixer, but I’ve really enjoyed this sort of functionality, and look forward to expanding my use case scenarios with it.

As per usual, the output was sent to the mixer before delay and reverb with Mimeophon and Otterley. But I also added in the Chase Bliss Audio Generation Loss Mk2. I’ve actually used it several times this Jamuary, but have liked the results as much as I’d hoped. Today, however, was a different result. It’s the first time this Jamuary I’ve liked the affected output more than the unaffected. It’s one of those tools where a lot seems to go a very long way. Neither Wow, Flutter, nor Failure were ever past nine o’clock, but they all still seem to be more prominent than I’d generally liked. I declined to use one of the models today, preferring a result that wasn’t also overlaid with other sound signatures.

Modules Used:
Spectraphon
Wogglebug
René Mk2
Multiwave
Polimaths
QXG
QPAS
Jumbler
Mimeophon
Multimod
Channel Saver
CV Bus Mk2
X-Pan
Maneco Labs Otterley
Knob Farm Ferry

Outboard Gear Used:
Noisy Fruits Lab Lemon
Chase Bliss Audio Generation Loss Mk2

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

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