Making it Work #1: Clouds, Disting mk2, FutureRetro Transient

"Making it Work" is a new series that I'm launching. It's new take on the classic "3 module challenge". What I'll be doing is picking three modules at random from my rack and find a way to make a decent sounding patch from them. It's something I'm really looking forward to, and I'm hoping I'll be able to learn more about the capabilities of my modules by doing so.

In this first episode of the series, I make a patch using Mutable Instruments Clouds, Expert Sleepers Disting mk2 and FutureRetro Transient. Here's what I managed to come up with:

Not too bad to be honest! From the start, I knew that I was going to use the Transient to make a beat and have it triggered by a square wave from Disting. But I wanted to use a different mode on Clouds just to make things sound a bit different. Luckily, the Parasite firmware I have on Clouds has a cool resonator mode, which allowed me to turn the beat generated by the Transient into a melody-like sound. Who knew!

Here's the more detailed version of what's going on:

Disting mk2 is in "4-B Clockable LFO" mode. Output A generates a sine wave that modulates the FutureRetro Transient. Output B generates a square wave that acts as a clock source for FutureRetro Transient. Both waves are oscillating at a low frequency (1.5Hz or 90BPM). 

The Transient is set to the "RANDOMeYeS" sample and is being triggered and modulated by Disting. Its output is multed to a mixer and Clouds.

Clouds is in resonator mode; an alternate mode in the Parasite firmware. Position is set to 11 o'clock, Size is set to 12 o'clock, Pitch is set to 10 o'clock, Gain is set to 4 o'clock, Density set to 5 o'clock, Texture set to 12 o'clock and Blend set to just over 9 o'clock. It is outputted to the mixer as well, which now outputs both the raw Transient beat and the "melody" generated by Clouds. 

So I think we can call that a successful first challenge. I'm really looking forward to doing more of these challenges, hopefully they all sound as good as this one!

Happy patching friends,

-Uncle Peter

Ambient Arpeggios using LFOs and a Quantizer

One of the coolest things about Eurorack is that there are tons of neat tricks you can wire up with your modules, to produce some really cool sounds. 

A common trick, one that I recently came across, is the idea of using a LFO (low frequency oscillator) with a quantizer to produce an arpeggio. 

How exactly does this work? It's all in the quantizer, which takes incoming voltages from the LFO and adjusts them such that they match the voltage of a note that belongs to a scale (in accordance with the 1V/Oct Eurorack standard). That's why the outputted voltages (notes of the arpeggio) sound melodic, when connected to a voice. 

Here is a quick graph (not my graph) which should help visualize the concept of quantization.

As you can see, the blue line is the result of quantization; a discrete set of voltages, whereas the red line represents a LFO sine wave.

I decided to try out this trick by using Tides to generate some LFOs, 2HP Tune to quantize the notes and Rings to act as the voice. Here's the result:

Wow, Rings really does make some mystical sounds when you send an arpeggio into it, like the twinkling of a star! I love how melodic it sounds and the relaxing mood it puts you in.

Now let's break down this patch into a bit more detail. As I said, I've set up Tides to generate some LFOs. To do this, I've set the frequency range to 2Hz (yellow), the ramp mode to cyclic bipolar oscillations (red) and the output mode to different frequencies (red). That means that each output is producing a LFO of different frequency. Pamela's Workout is also clocking Tides.

The first Tides output is sent to Shades, to set the range of voltages. It is then sent to the Disting MkII, in full-wave rectifier mode, which takes the absolute value of the voltages (i.e. removes negative voltages). From here is goes through 2HP Tune, which quantizes the voltages to a melodic scale. As I mentioned above, this quantization creates the arpeggio of notes.

Rings is the voice of this patch. In particular, it's set to the quadriophonic (red) alternate "Karplusverb" reverb mode (flashing red) and receives the arpegggio sequence from Tune. This mode, I've found, is great for generating ambient-like sounds, mainly because of the reverb it creates. 

The other outputs of Tides are used for CV modulation, the second output modulating Rings' frequency setting and the third output modulating Rings' position setting. This adds a bit of dynamics to the patch, so it doesn't always sound the same.

The Doepfer LFO provides even more CV modulation, modifying the Tides' slope and frequency settings (this is what speeds up and slows down the rate of the arpeggio) as well as the brightness setting of Rings.

And finally, to add some randomness to the patch, 2HP TM generates a random voltage to set the bias of Tune. This modifies the base pitch of the arpeggio.

And that's pretty much it. It may sound a bit complex but the core idea of this patch, again, is passing a LFO through a quantizer to create the arpeggio of notes. Such a neat idea this is!

Have you tried out this trick? How did it sound for you? Let me know in the comments!

Happy patching friends,

-Uncle Peter

Strings of Time

When I first started building my rack, I remember being very eager to hear what sounds I could actually produce. My first patches were nothing special, an oscillator being fed some voltages, changing the pitch, mostly. But it sounded so cool to me and it was unlike anything I've ever heard before.

After a bit of tweaking, researching and frankly just exploring what each of my modules could do, I managed to put together a patch that sounded pretty decent (at least to me). 

Without further ado, here is my first real patch: "Strings of Time"

Remember in Guitar Hero those notes that you could hit without strumming? That's exactly what's going on here!

When Pluck is strummed, TM varies it's pitch. If the decay of Pluck is fast, no additional notes are heard (staccato), but if the decay is slow, you hear a soft variety of notes. The Doepfer LFO varies the speed of decay. 

Here are the full details:

• Pam's Workout is strumming 2HP Pluck on every 4th beat, triggering 2HP TM every 16th of a beat and triggering Expert Sleepers Disting mk2

• The voltages from TM are put through Shades (in attenuverter mode) to control the range of voltages that pass through. From 12 o'clock, turning clockwise increases the range. These filtered voltages are put through 2HP Tune, to quantize them to a melodic scale (major here), then inputted into Pluck's V/OCT input

• Pluck's audio output is sent to Expert Sleepers Disting mk2, which is set to clockable delay mode. In this mode, Disting mk2 will add a delay/echo effect to an inputted audio source, clocked to a inputted clock source

• An inverted sawtooth wave from the Doepher LFO is sent to Pluck's decay input, to add some modulation to the patch

What struck me most about this patch was that it was exactly the sound I was looking to get out of my rack, an ambient, echo-like feel, with some randomness added to it. It's feelings like these that make you want to explore even more, to see how you can make what you love sound even better!

What was your first patch like? How did it sound? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy patching friends,

-Uncle Peter