First three patches on my new Easel-esque system! Patch notes included:
I love my main sequencer (Qu-bit Bloom), but it doesn’t have cv control over sequence length, direction, clock rate, glide, etc. Then I realized that I had two ingredients to build a more patch-programmable, four-channel sequencer: Disting’s Multi-Switch mode, which offers up to 6 customizable switches, and a fader bank, Tesseract Modular's Sweet Sixteen.
Further patch details in the video...
Nice work.
-- wishbonebrewery
Thanks!
This patch was inspired by hours of listening to Morton Feldman’s exquisite music. It ended up quite different harmonically from Feldman’s pieces, partly due to the limitations of a modular system. The envelope generators and attenuators required some tweaking to get that balance between repetition and divergence, revolving and evolving. In retrospect, I could have left longer silences between notes.
Thanks Arrandan, yes this stays fairly rooted on the F minor chord. I did try transposing the sequence via the root input but I decided I preferred the sense of stasis!
Recently I’ve been playing minimalist pieces on the piano (Phillip Glass, Howard Skempton) that involve both polyrhythms and overlapping hands.
For this video, I transferred the idea to my modular system, splitting an F minor sixth chord across two sequencer channels, and clocking the channels at different rates (x2, x3). The sequencer (Qu-bit Bloom) generates 64 variations on this pattern, a stage sequencer selects 12 of them, and a multisample player (Disting EX) performs them. Further details in the patch notes.
Some ideas for using any VCO/LFO with soft sync to generate complex arpeggios. Detailed patch notes in the video.
Thanks for your kind words, TumeniKnobs. I'm afraid I'm a sucker for hippie nostalgia! GLad you liked the timbre. String modelling was actually my only choice, because it was the only way I could get two separate voices that would sound identical. I clearly need more oscillators!!
Thanks for your support, Sweelinck! And yes, I must re-watch that BBC doco!
There are several modular synth renditions of Terry Riley’s “In C” out there, but none (as far as I know) of his keyboard studies. So here's my take on the first of those studies. I'm using multiple MIDI files and random S&H to turn this into more of a generative piece. Further patch notes in the video.
Buchla Easel + Eurorack cover of Terry Riley's "In the Summer” (1974). Experimenting with the sequencer and envelope slowly shifting in and out of phase with each other. Detailed patch notes in the video.
Some tricks and ideas for combining the one-of-a-kind Buchla Music Easel with your Eurorack modular gear.
Detailed patch notes in the video:
This video suggests some ideas for extracting extra melodic mileage (and an accompanying bass line) from the Easel’s 5-step sequencer, using the keyboard arpeggiator and external delay and reverb.
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Thanks for embedding the video, Sweelinck! And for your kind comment!
This video explores some possibilities for using Eurorack (in particular the Disting EX) as a polyphonic sound engine for your standard digital piano – and to add some effects from Mutable Instruments’ Beads without taking your fingers off the keyboard.
Allemande, from J. S. Bach's French Suite No. 4 in E-flat, BWV 815. Further patch notes in the video:
https://youtu.be/HZhtNBh71Sc
In this case, the Piazza San Marco would be located in Berkeley and the Buchla 100 would be the name of a violin :)
Yet there is an undeniable link: the Berkeley’s Sather Tower was inspired by the Campanile of San Marco in Venice!
-- Sweelinck
And both Don and Antonio liked the number four (quattro stagioni, quadrophonic, quad function generator, etc). The plot thickens!
... to generate an irregular rhythm via the “arpeggiation rate” input, while maintaining the time signature via a MIDI clock....
-- MoogulHi Moogul, thanks for sharing, explaining every step on the way. Very instructive to us non-Easel-ers.
When I first read 'irregular rhythm' in your description I thought of loosely coupled motions as in Relabi -
but no, this stays on a tight grid. Not sure how much of an improvisation this is but It does have a strong sense of form.
I like the swaying back in forth between legato and staccato sections, especially. Very nice!
Thanks for sharing.-- wiggler55550
Thanks for watching the video. Yes, "irregular" may not be the right word. I meant irregular in the sense of getting away from the steady pulse you usually get from the sequencer when it's triggered by the pulser or the keyboard. A sequence of "different note values" is probably more accurate. And you're right, not much improvisation here - all mapped out beforehand, right down to placement of the masking tape! I'm going to read that John Berndt essay now - thanks for sharing the link!
Hi Sweelinck, thanks for commenting. Just imagine what Vivaldi could have done with a Buchla Music Easel!
A two-voice track on the Buchla Easel, with stereo delay and a little reverb added externally. The idea was to generate an irregular rhythm via the “arpeggiation rate” input, while maintaining the time signature via a MIDI clock.
Further patch notes in the video.
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Great work on the design of this patch! Your House Jam took me back to the end of the 80s :)
The ‘second summer of love’ and the years that followed were a truly creative and sincere period.
The good old days.
-- Sweelinck
Cheers Sweelinck, glad to hear it brought back some memories! For me, it was more about Chicago in the mid-90s...
Nice work and breakdown! That bassline especially sounds great 🕺🏼
-- troux
Thanks for watching, Troux!
This patch started out with the idea of using a stage sequencer to generate longer patterns from the Moog Subharmonicon. It then grew into a larger "classic house" track, with funky bass and glitchy vocals.
Here's an exploration of hocketing in a modular system, using Disting EX's "Chord Engine." Detailed patch notes in the video.
Very nice and technically very elaborate. Great video, thanks moogul for post it.-- ferranadsr
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Congratulations on your piece.
Below, a historical example of the hoquetus technique: 'Hoquetus David' by Guillaume de Machaut (14th century), vocal version. A beautiful interpretation and a video in which one can visualise the alternation specific to this technique. There are also many instrumental versions.
Thanks Sweelinck! I really enjoyed this de Machaut piece.
Here's an exploration of hocketing in a modular system, using Disting EX's "Chord Engine." Detailed patch notes in the video.
Or at least the cropping tool? (sounds less harsh than the trashcan!)
Thanks Arrandan, for listening and commenting. I did have a few doubts about the percussion, but by that point I had spent quite a lot of time setting up the drum modules and trigger sequencing, so didn't want to waste that effort! (one of the ways in which modular systems can override musical taste!!). Good luck with the O_C - and do check out the EX some time!
Trying out the new Macro Oscillator2 algorithm on Disting EX, which gives you four independent Plaits voices. I'm using the ipad app, Fugue Machine, to sequence the four Plaits.
Detailed patch notes in the video:
Thanks TumeniKnobs!
This semi-generative piece was based around a method I devised to get Pamela’s New Workout to instantly and automatically regenerate a loop of random voltage every few bars. Three interlocking melodies – a bass line, a treble voice, and (via Beads) a kind of string section – unfold from a single Mutable Instruments Plaits module and a single pitch sequence. This piece was also an effort to get outside my diatonic comfort zone, and use some “outside” chords, in this case an F#maj13 that disturb the Cm and Gm. (How can a major chord sound so bleak?). The overall mood is dark ambient but with warm tones, hence the title.
Further patch details in the video:
Stygian Colors: a semi-generative piece
Lugia's excellent post - especially his remarks about Eno's approach - inspired me to try to emulate the tape-loop version of generative music on my modular:
