peaks and nulls

Although I was initially quite pleased with my Jamuary 2406 recording, upon listening back closely I realized there was something not right. Once the delays faded in, I could only hear them in the Right channel, but not the Left. In fact, I couldn’t hear any of the melody in the Left channel with any real clarity. Chords are there. The granular processing is there. Reverb on the chords and granular processing is there. But the melody is all but completely missing. So rather than start a brand new patch from scratch, I decided to both fix and improve upon this one. I really liked the direction Jamuary 2406 was taking, and so felt like experimenting and pushing it was a better move than abandoning a promising patch in its infancy without exploring the possibilities.

Troubleshooting a problem is rarely any fun. Sure, there’s the knowledge gained as a result of your toil, and if there’s a problem maybe it’ll be fixed. If you conceptually plan your troubleshooting section you can cut down on time, but the process itself is tedious and time consuming. I want to do cool new stuff, not fix old stuff that doesn’t work right. But sometimes the frustration and tsunami of cuss words as potential solutions fail one after another and available avenues begin to dwindle pays off big and can teach you valuable lessons.

The problem with the recorded patch is that the melody is scarcely present in the left channel. It’s there, but just barely. The right channel comes in clear, its brightness piercing first through silence, then through a thick fog of delay, reverb, and grains spewed about in every direction. The patch is designed so that the melody should be prominent. The left channel is the “Main” output of the Joranalogue Fold 6, with the right channel being the “Alt” output. Both outputs go to individual channels of the Rabid Elephant Natural Gate with identical settings, and on to the matrix mixer. I knew the problem was likely to be in the left channel’s audio path, but didn’t discount the possibility of the control path being an issue, or the that there could be an equipment malfunction (which seemed the least likely).

So onwards I trekked through a web of cables, many of which either coming from or going to very crowded modules, to find my problem. I had thought about the possibilities and made a fairly detailed examination of the patch so that I could streamline the process, and I’m glad I did. I started at the beginning (the VCO), and moved methodically through the audio and control paths of each channel, and then Bam! I found my discrepancy. The “Material” switch did not match. The right channel was on the hardest surface, while the left channel was on the softest. I wanted the attack of the softer surface, and so switched the left channel downwards, but then the melody was now just barely there in both channels.

And this is why troubleshooting is so valuable. Because you may learn something crucial in the process, which was absolutely the case today. Although I’m very familiar with LPGs, I have several that I really enjoy using and have had several others, Natural Gate is new to me, so I had no idea why the level dropped so much between the different surfaces. It turns out that mimicking the real world was definitely a priority when designing the attacks for their different material settings. Not only does the softer material have a slower attack, it’s also a lot quieter. A gate to the “Hit” input is not enough to bring a quieter sound up to a good listening level. So after RTFM, I discovered that an envelope to the “CTRL” input was what I needed. And although it helped, it still didn’t do the trick. So I looked back at my written plan, and saw starkly:

“I’m unclear on how the different attenuators function.”

By “different attenuators” I meant specifically those for the “CTRL” inputs. So I turned them. Better but still not quite right, I turned them some more. The same, just louder. A quick adjustment to the envelope, and I was in business. 2 channels playing what I wanted at the correct level. Success. My problem was fixed, and I learned something about Natural Gate that I will now use forever.

But I didn’t want to just correct the technical problem, hit record, and move on. There were improvements I wanted to make too. I wanted to tame some of the modulation, and I wanted something that was a lot more wet so we could move the patch in a more abstract direction. I’d start with the melody line, but then fade it in and out throughout, while continuously sending the melody to a highly modulated Holocene Electronics Non-Linear Memory Machine and Error Electrinics Brinta, with those going through the beautiful Vongon Ultrasheer reverb.

So I busted out my trusty 0hp attenuators and went to town adjusting and tempering the modulation from NLC”s The Hypster and Joranalogue Filter 8, and played with the modulation settings on the Error Instruments Brinta. I also adjusted some of the settings on the Bizarre Jezabel Seju Stereo (as well as the attenuation on its modulation), which is filtering chords from the Acid Rain Technology Chainsaw.

The patch is still not perfect. I like many of the sounds, but it’s time to start thinking about arrangement, pace, and getting to the business of composition, not just building a nice sounding patch. It’s time to start evaluating what is missing and what needs to be trimmed or de-emphasized. What needs to happen to turn this patch into something special.

Today’s Jamuary is a much better effort than yesterday, and actually accomplished the result I was after, even if by using a different method than I originally imagined to attain it.

After pondering the patch for several hours last night, I came to the conclusion that a shift register wasn’t the right tool for this particular chord job, particularly with such a fast moving sequence. There was too much change too quickly. I didn’t want chords shifting as the same rate of the melody, but much slower. So after consulting my Notability folder where I write down stolen patch notes from YouTube videos, I happed upon a very interesting patch by the quite soothing, always creative, and ever educational Tom Churchill that essentially does exactly what I was wanting to do, so I decided This Is The Way.

When I walked into my studio space this evening, I was set to make the chords I badly failed at yesterday. I immediately undid yesterday’s web of patch cables to help scrub my brain, but while doing so decided to use the same set of modules, with a couple of small exceptions. I’d need to use a clock divider, not a shift register, a cascading buffered mult for 4 identical copies of the pitch CV, and as many S&H modules as I would want voices in the chords. I decided to simplify it and change a couple of modules in order to streamline things a bit.

If I was happy with anything from yesterday, it was the direction of the sequenced melody line. It wasn’t perfect but it was a good start, and I wanted to pull on that thread more to see what might lie beneath. I also decided to stick with the Chainsaw for my chords. Since nailing the chords was a primary goal, I decided on simpler 3 note chords to keep things relatively tamed. Add to that the Chainsaw is self contained, keeping tuning easier. Today I used some chaos from Orbit 3 to modulate Fold 6, rather than an envelope, and I think the envelope is better for this kind of source material. In fact, I didn’t use a separate envelope at all, but Natural Gate for the melody line. I also chose to simplify the filter on the chords, so used Seju Stereo rather than Pkhia and its 3 simultaneous stereo outputs.

There were other changes too, but I won’t make this long story even longer. Suffice to say that I’m quite happy with how this one turned out.

This piece was performed and recorded via the Expert Sleepers ES-9 in AUM on iPad in 1 take.

Modules Used:
Oxi One
Doepfer A-160-2 Clock Divider
Calsynth Changes (Mutable Instruments Stages)
2hp Buff
Joranalogue Generate 3
Joranalogue Fold 6
Joranalogue Orbit 3
Joranalogue Filter 8 (in LFO mode)
Rabid Elephant Natural Gate
AI Synthesis 018 Stereo Matrix Mixer
Acid Rain Technology Chainsaw
Bizarre Jezabel Seju Stereo
Holocene Electronics Non-Linear Memory Machine
Error Instruments Brinta
Nonlinearcircuits The Hypster
Knob Farm Ferry
Vongon Ultrasheer

I’ll be the first to admit today’s product isn’t my best. I’m tired. I’ve worked very late the past 2 days, and unexpectedly today, which has left little time for planning my wiggles and wiggling my plan. To add on, I was wiggling unfamiliar modules in unfamiliar ways, and although some parts of this patch are decent enough for a quick twist, (I’m largely pleased with the melodic line and how its audio and control chains worked out), others are not really that great at all. My sequence is jacked (foiled again by my son, lol). Modulation is haphazard. Delays aren’t really well synced. My chords are muddy.

But I did learn a valuable lesson: it matters not how much you want to use those tape delays on everything, they don’t work well for everything. See the chords in today’s Jamuary for Exhibit A. They’re a muddy mess.

In this patch I was centering on experimenting with the Joranalogue Step 8 as a shift register to create polyphony. Inspired by DivKid and his Step 8 Tutorial, I sent my v/oct signal to Step 8, with various Analogue Outputs sending pitch CV to Generate 3, and the 3 v/oct inputs on the Acid Rain Technology Chainsaw. The melody was played by Generate 3 and its chain (VCO > Wavefolder > VCF > LPG), while the Chainsaw provided some chewy chords to run through the Pkhia, with all 6 outputs mixed to one stereo signal, and everything sent to delay and reverb before going out.

Today is the first occasion I’ve had to experiment heavily with the Bizarre Jezabel Pkhia. I’d run something through it just to test its functionality, but I’d never really played with it intently. What a beautiful sounding filter, particularly with the DJ filter mode. The stereo movement it creates is mesmerizing. I made a point to use all 6 outputs, for chords that swirled. Unfortunately, the swirl is mostly a mushy mess.

My patch today didn’t really work in the way I had imagined, but I also see room to improve upon it and get it where it needs to go. Not every Jamuary day will be a good one.

Modules Used:
Oxi One
Joranalogue Step 8
Joranalogue Orbit 3
Joranalogue Generate 8
Joranalogue Fold 6
Joranalogue Filter 8
Joranalogue Contour 1
Rabid Elephant Natural Gate
Acid Rain Technology Chainsaw
Bizarre Jezabel Pkhia
AI Synthesis 018 Stereo Matrix Mixer
Knob Farm Hyrlo
Knob Farm Ferry
Mutable Instruments Veils
Nonlinearcircuits Triple Sloths
Vongon Ultrasheer
Echofix EF-X2

For Jamuary 2nd I decided to revisit a sequence that my younger son “made” over the summer. And by “made” I mean that he came in and altered permanently a sequence I had been building, but had not yet saved. I decided to save his for future use, and that future use is now.

The sequence is sparse, but provides a good set of notes to be mixed up and thrown in a soup of delay, granular synthesis, re-synthesis, and reverb. The result is a slightly futuristic ambient stroll on the moon.

Ordinarily I’d have a patch diagram, but not today. The audio and basic control paths are simple enough. A sequence going from Oxi One to Brenso. Brenso’s sine and triangle wave are output to Cunsa inputs 1&3 (which normal to 2&4 respectively). The grouped outputs are used in a stereo configuration. This goes out to the stereo matrix mixer and on to several effects. But there is heavy modulation throughout, and that’s what I won’t attempt to diagram. That said, I do have a couple of pics….

Let’s Splosh does most of the heavily lifting for modulation in this patch. Four outputs from Triple Sloths, which is itself modulated by The Hypster, feed the Splosh inputs. Virtually all of Splosh’s outputs are modulating something on Veno-Echo, Cornflakes, or Cunsa.

I didn’t get the result I had originally envisioned when deciding on using all 4 Cunsa filters in a stereo configuration. Initially I was going to slowly modulate the cutoff and resonance of all 4 filters independently, hoping to find some quad peaks, but I decided it was more important that I explore the “LPG” functionality of CUNSA, so instead modulated the filter cutoff with envelopes. I’m not sure this is the correct material for that sort of business anyways.

Today’s patch ended up with 2 separate recordings. The first was a bit more intentional. I wouldn’t go so far as to say composed, or even written, but it was roughly planned to go the way it did. Start with the sequence drenched in reverb, followed by delay, granular, and finally the Endless Processor.

The second recording was a lot of twisting knobs on the matrix mixer to see what sort of craziness I might unveil. I didn’t get into any feedback patching with the matrix mixer, so we didn’t really get out of hand, but we do have some silliness here.

Modules Used:
Oxi One
Frap Tools Brenso
Frap Tools Falistri
Frap Tools CUNSA
Nonlinearcircuits The Hypster
Nonlinearcircuits Triple Sloths
Nonlinearcircuits Let’s Splosh
AI Synthesis 018 Stereo Matrix Mixer
Venus Instruments Veno-Echo
Blukač Endless Processor
Miso Modular Cornflakes
Knob Farm Ferry
Vongon Ultrasheer

Both variations were performed and recorded in 1 take on January 2. Recorded in AUM via the Expert Sleepers ES-9 on iPad.

I’ve never participated in Jamuary before, but I’m excited to do it this year. I can’t promise something everyday, but I can vow to make something as often as possible through the month.

This first piece is a playful bit that’s been floating around my head for several weeks since I received the Verbos Harmonic Oscillator and Multi-Delay Processor combo. As I heard it in my head I’d always imagine a young boy galavanting carefree down a dirt country path, his curiosity piqued by everything but nothing grabbing him for longer than a moment.

Modules Used:
Verbos Harmonic Oscillator
Verbos Amp & Tone
Verbos Multi-Delay Processor
Metabolic Devices Moonwalker
Make Noise Maths
AI Synthesis 018 Stereo Matrix Mixer
Knob Farm Ferry
Echofix EF-X2

This piece was performed and recorded via the Expert Sleepers ES-9 in AUM on iPad in 1 take.