Ambient Strumming with 2HP Pluck, Clouds, Rings and a DIY Dual VCA

It's exciting times for me at the moment, in terms of Eurorack. I've just finished building my new DIY 2-row rack. Because of the extra space now, I've been able to add some DIY modules that I've built to the rack. Posts about both of these topics are coming soon!

I've been on a "ambient patch" binge lately as well (mostly because of my purchase of Mutable Instruments Clouds), trying to see what cool and different sounds I can come up with, while still making it sound ambient in nature. 

I decided to see how one of my favourite modules, 2HP Pluck, sounded when it is passed through Clouds. But I wanted to incorporate some of my DIY modules also, mainly a Dual VCA and a mixer. I kinda felt that I needed to, since they were the newest additions to the rack.

So here's the result of all that, something I'm calling it "Ambient Strumming", featuring 2HP Pluck as the main voice, Rings as a backup voice and some gate sequencing with the DIY Dual VCA and Pam's Workout, all sliced and diced together with Clouds!

To be honest, this is probably one of the most awe-inspiring (to me, of course) patches I've managed to wire up to date! I was completely surprised by the sounds that this patch produced. It's such a relaxing sound, delicate, yet clear when each note is triggered, from both of the voices. What's also cool is the different feeling the sound gives off at different tempos (who knew a change from 40 BPM to 60 BPM could make that much of a difference)!

Let's break down this patch now, since there's some pretty neat tricks I've included it in.

As I said before, two voices are present here. The first is 2HP Pluck, acting as the main voice. It's being triggered rhythmically by 2HP Euclid and given quantized voltages by 2HP TM and 2HP Tune every quarter of a beat (16th note). The other voice is Rings, in quadriphonic (red) modal (green) mode, acting as the backup voice. To be honest, I wanted to play down the role of Rings in this patch, mainly because I didn't want this to be another "Rings into Clouds" patch.

Each voice is then sent through a VCA, via the DIY Dual VCA, which receives gates from Pam's Workout (gate sequencing). Each gate is one beat in length, thus a beat's length of sound is outputted from each VCA; Pluck on the first beat and Rings on the third beat. This is something that I found to sound similar to call-and-response pattern found in various types of music.

The VCA-controlled voices are mixed together via the DIY mixer and inputted into Clouds. Clouds is in granular mode, with all its blending parameters set to 12 o'clock except for reverberation, which is set to ~4 o'clock. A gate from Pam's Workout that opens every fourth beat also controls the freeze parameter. I particularly like this setting of Clouds that I've found. As I said in a previous post, many people find Clouds very finicky, so I'm content to keep this setting for now.

The Doepfer LFO is generating three LFOs; a triangle wave, attenuated by Shades, to modulate Pluck's decay parameter, an inverted sawtooth wave, to modulate Euclid's outputted rhythm, and a sine wave, to modulate Rings' brightness parameter.

So that's pretty much what's happening. On a final note, I was really torn about what tempo to set for the patch, simply because each tempo generated a completely different mood. That's why I decided to go with both.

What did you think of this patch? Let me know in the comments below!


Happy patching friends,


-Uncle Peter

First Look at Mutable Instruments Clouds

I've gone into much detail about the Mutable Instruments brand in a few of my posts. They really do offer a vast range of powerful modules and are some of the most recognizable.

One of their most famous (now discontinued) modules is the texture synthesizer Clouds. Clouds is a really genius module that takes incoming audio, divides it up into tiny samples and, frankly, does some pretty crazy things with them in terms of reverberation . Early on in my patching career, way before I even owned a module, I heard some ambient patches using Clouds and was instantly hooked!

So I took the plunge. The good thing is that there are plenty of manufacturers that make a replica of Clouds, or its thinner counterpart uBurst; the original models can be very expensive no doubt. My first impressions of it were positive, from the bit that I've explored. The reverberation feature is pretty mesmerizing, to say the least, and the density parameter can really do some funky things when modulated.

After playing around with it for a bit, here's a patch I'm calling the "Mutable Instruments Trifecta"! Rings into Clouds (a very common practice), both modulated by Tides v2.

Not that bad. I'm getting a cool space-like vibe from this, "space strings" or something to that extent. The contrast between the background hum and sharp sequence of notes is pretty cool as well.

Let's look into this patch a bit more.

Clouds is in its basic granular mode, with all its blending parameters set to 12 o'clock except for reverbation, which is set to ~4 o'clock. This is what adds that nice reverberation to the patch.

Rings is in quadriphonic (red) sympathetic strings (yellow) mode and sends both its odd and even outputs to Clouds. The reason for using the quadriphone mode here is to add as many notes into the mix as possible, all of which contribute to the ambiance. 

Tides is in 1/8 Hz (green) cyclic bipolar oscillation (yellow) mode, set to output different shapes (LED off). Output 1 is an LFO that modulates Rings' damping parameter. Output 2 is a low-frequency triangle wave that modulates Tides' own shift/level parameter, which in turn attenuates Output 1's signal. Output 3 is a gate that controls Clouds' freeze setting. It opens at the end of the attack phase of the main signal and closes at the end of the oscillation.

The Doepfer LFO sends LFOs of various shapes to Tides' slope and frequency parameters, Clouds' position parameter and Rings' brightness parameter. Yes, that's six LFOs in total now, which may actually be a record for me at this point!

As always, perhaps a personal favourite of mine, 2HP TM sends random voltages (quantized via 2HP Tune) to Rings. 2HP Euclid sends a Euclidean rhythm to trigger Rings. Finally, Pam's Workout is set to 126 BPM, and triggers TM every quarter of a beat (sixteenth notes) and Euclid every half beat (eighth notes).

I will admit, many users of Clouds experience finickiness with their patches and to a lesser extent that was the case with this patch. It was a bit challenging to figure out the exact sound I wanted Rings to send to Clouds such that the reverberation did not die away too quickly. In my case, varying the damping parameter of Rings even the slightest has dramatic effects on decay time of the reverberation. But hey, it was pretty fun experimenting around with it, so I don't see this challenge as something negative. 

That sums up my first attempt at using Clouds. Naturally you can expect more videos featuring Clouds for anything ambient-related; I really want to learn the ins and outs of this module and what each mode is capable of.

Also, if you've been following me on Twitter ( @UnclePeterMod), you'll know that this is my last video in my current 1-row case. I just finished building a new 2-row case, maybe I'll make a post about that too, it was pretty fun to make!

Do you have any suggestions on patches to make using Clouds? If so, leave a comment below!

Happy patching friends,

-Uncle Peter

Funky Electro Beats ft. Future Retro Transient, Rings and Tides v2

Most of the patches that I post about are ambient in nature. That's no surprise, seeing as a majority of the modules that I have were bought for that reason. 

There is one module that I haven't featured yet in my videos. It's the Future Retro Transient, a versatile sample-based percussion module, with over 250+ modifiable samples in its register. I've mostly used this module to overlay some low bass beats over patches and I'm pretty happy with it (from the little I've explored).

Recently, I've been thinking of ways to make the Future Retro Transient jive with the rest of my modules. I remembered from creating a few of my previous patches that Mutable Instruments Rings can produce some funky beat-like sounds when it's parameters are CV modulated over a wide range. 

So that's what I tried with this patch. Here's the result. 

I have to admit, I was pretty surprised with how cool this patch sounded. It's like a mix between funk and electro beats, maybe even some EDM? An added surprise was that changing the attack/decay of the LFOs modulating Rings acted as a way to build the beat, changing it into a more synth-like sound; I had to throw in a little pitch sweep too because of that! And the Future Retro Transient, although just providing a simple bass drum, fits in so well. 

So what's going on in this patch?

As you've seen in previous patches, I use Mutable Instruments Tides to generate my LFOs, mainly because it offers many options for waveshaping. Tides is in 1/8Hz (green) cyclic bipolar oscillations (yellow) mode and being clocked by Pam's Workout every beat (quarter notes at 126BPM). It is producing four clocked LFOs of varying frequencies (red). 

Rings is in monophonic (green) inharmonic strings (red) mode. It is being strummed by Pam's Workout every quarter of a beat (sixteenth notes) and receives CV modulation of it's brightness and damping parameters from Tides's LFOs. 

2HP TM, through 2HP Tune, sends quantized voltages to Rings, to change it's pitch every quarter of a beat (sixteenth notes). The randomness is about 50%, as indicated by the 12 o'clock position of the "prob" knob of TM.

The Future Retro Transient is set to output the "INDUSTRIAK" sample; a tight mid-pitch bass drum. It receives a quarter note trigger from Pam's Workout. I really like this sample because you can adjust the tightness and pitch of the drum, without it having a lot of structure.

And finally, both outputs of Rings and the output of the Future Retro Transient are mixed together via Shades, then outputted. I realize that this, in effect, negates the stereo output of Rings, but at the monment it's the best I ca do. 

This was a simple patch, but a real eye-opener for me. I continue to be amazed at all the features and possible sounds that can be created from my modules. It really makes me want to explore them even more.

A tip to myself for next time: perform a pitch sweep using TM's OUT dial, so the sweep is quantized by Tune.

Do you own a Future Retro Transient? What's your favourite sample on it? Let me know in the comments.

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

Sequencing with Pamela's Workout

Pamela's Workout was one of the first modules that I added to my rack.

From the start, I knew it was a powerful module that had a variety of features (kudos to ALM for that). In my videos, you've mostly seen it as the clock source for my patches and I must say it does a very good job at that!

A couple of days ago, I was going through the user manual of Pam's Workout and found a small paragraph saying that the module could also be used as a sequencer. For those who do not know, a sequencer is a module that generates a sequence of notes, with defined lengths and pitches.

I decided to give it a try and create a four beat sequence. Here's how I did it:

1) Set four trigger outputs to /4 (division of 4)

2) For each trigger output, press and hold to bring up the "advanced settings"

3) Scroll to the "n" setting. This changes the "length" of the trigger (essentially turning it into a gate). Setting the value to n = 50 represents an eighth note and N=1 represents a quarter note and so on.

4) Scroll to the "r" setting, which sets the order of the sequence by offsetting the triggers. For my output 4 -> 3 -> 2-> 1 sequence, I used the following settings:

Output 1  -->  r = 1 (Gate)

Output 2  -->  r = 2 (Gate)

Output 3  -->  r = 3 (Gate)

Output 4  -->  r = 0 (Trigger)

Not too bad! A pretty melodic yet mellow sequence. You can definitely hear which notes are eighth notes and which are quarters. 

Let's get into the details the patch:

Since I didn't have a four-channel mixer, I had to get a bit creative. I send the first three outputs of Pam's Workout (which are producing gates/voltages now) to Mutable Instruments Shades, which is in attenuverter mode. This allows me to adjust the pitch of the notes via the knobs of Shades and mix the three inputs to a single output. This output is sent to 2HP Tune to be quantized to a scale.

The fourth output of Pam's Workout is actually a trigger, the start of the sequence, which I send to 2HP TM to generate a random voltage. This voltage is sent to change the bias of Tune, which offsets the scale, essentially changing the pitch of the other three notes, randomly, but still following the sequence. You can think of it as randomly setting the root note of the sequence. 

Finally, Tune sends the quantized voltages to Mutable Instruments Rings. Some CV modulation from the Doepfer LFO adds some depth to the sounds as well. 

And that's it! This was a pretty fun patch to build and it's always interesting to try out unorthodox ways of using modules.

Have you ever sequenced with Pam's workout? Want more details about the patch? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy patching friends,

-Uncle Peter

Ambient Sounds with Rings

One of the main reasons I got into modular synth/Eurorack was because of the music you could create, specifically ambient generative. 

Ambient generative is a subset of the ambient genre. This is music that is ambient in nature but the music itself is self-developing and randomly changing. No two songs are the same and in fact, it is quite hard to replicate a patch, even if you wired it up identically. The idea behind using a modular synth to create ambient generative patches is that no human input is required to develop the music, it does it all on its own!

This is my first attempt at something that you could quasi-call "ambient generative" and it features the Mutable Instruments Rings module. I've gone into much detail in previous posts about how powerful of a module Rings is and in particular, I'm using it in this patch as the main voice. 

I'm very happy with this patch! It hit all the notes (no pun intended) that I wanted it to, that smooth ambient strumming, all randomly modulated and changing! The randomness, particularly with the rhythm generation was something I was experimenting with for quite a bit.

Now let's break this patch down in detail, as it is slightly more complex than previous ones.

Rings provides the "ambient" component to the patch. It is set to duophonic sympathetic strings mode (yellow-yellow), which allows for those overtones as the pitch changes from note to note. Rings receives notes from 2HP Arp.

The "generative" component is provided by 2HP TM and the random octave mode of Arp. TM generates random notes, which are then quantized via 2HP Tune to a melodic scale. The quantized notes are sent to 1) Arp, to set the root note of the octave, 2) the length input of 2HP Euclid, to set the length of the rhythm Euclid generates and 3) the steps input of Euclid, to set the rhythm that is generated. Euclid also triggers Arp.

So every time TM generates a note, we have a new pattern, pattern length, root octave note and, as a result, a new sound.

To add some more randomness to the patch, I use Mutable Instruments Tides as the clock source, in cyclic oscillation - different shape mode (yellow, OFF, yellow). Tides tells Pam's Workout when to turn on and commence the triggering for TM and Euclid.

And to top things off, I use the Doepher LFO to modulate the slope function of Tides so that the on/off gates generated by Tides for Pam's Workout are not of equal lengths, but varying lengths. This means that sometimes notes will be generated quickly and others slowly.

Whew! That was a lot to explain. I hope it all makes sense. And of course, here is the diagram of the patch, which will hopefully make things a bit clearer:

If you have any questions or suggestions, let me know in the comments below.

Happy patching friends,

-Uncle Peter

Rhythmic Clocked Modulation with Tides v2

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently added a Mutable Instruments Tides module to my rack. As I began experimenting with it, I began to realize just how powerful of a module it really is. 

As part of my learning process with Tides, I watched a very informative Youtube video from Ali the Architect about Tides v2. The 22-minute video covers many of Tides's features and was immensely helpful to me; I highly recommend it if you've recently purchased this module.

One of the topics that Ali mentions is using Tides for "rhythmic clocked modulation" (i.e. CV modulation that is synced to a clock). In other words, sending a clock input into Tides and having it output various oscillations that are "in time". 

Here is my take on some rhythmic clocked modulation

A Mutable Instruments marriage we have here, with Tides sending rhythmically clocked CV to various parameters of Rings! The CV modulation here results in Rings producing unique synth-like sounds, from the long, drawn-out tones to short, beat-like staccatos. The notes sound as if they're coming from a mixture between a harp and a synthesizer! It really is such a unique sound.

So what's going on in this patch?

• Tides is set to generate 2Hz order (yellow) cyclic bipolar oscillations (yellow). A clock input is given to Tides via Pam's Workout, allowing Tides's outputs to oscillate on time. Rings is set to duophonic sympathetic string mode (yellow-yellow).

• With a clock input, adjusting Tides's frequency multiplies or divides the inputted clock signal, allowing Tides to output oscillations of different periods, when in varying frequency output mode (red). Counterclockwise divides the time and clockwise multiplies the time

• Outputs 1, 2 and 3 are used to modulate the brightness, damping and position functions of Rings, respectively, which is also being strummed by Pam's Workout. It's as if we are quickly turning the dials of Rings, in time

• 2HP Arp sends voltages to the V/OCT input of Rings and is being triggered by 2HP Euclid. 2HP Arp's mode is set to random notes spanning an octave

• 2HP TM, via 2HP Tune, sends quantized voltages to 2HP Arp, to set the root note of the octave, and sends triggers to reset and change the number of steps of the rhythmic triggers that 2HP Euclid generates

On a side note, as you probably have noticed, most of my patches involve 2HP TM and Tune. I primarily use these modules to incorporate a bit of randomness into the patch, so there's a low chance of pitches and rhythms repeating.

Again this is just a single feature of what Tides v2 has to offer. If you have Tides, let me know in the comments below how you use it. And be sure to check out Ali's video for more things to do with Tides.

Happy patching friends,

-Uncle Peter

Suspenseful Strings with Tides v2 and Rings

When you look at what are the most popular module manufacturers in the Eurorack industry, a certain name always comes up in the mix: Mutable Instruments. And it's for good reason! Mutable Instruments make some of the most versatile and unique modules, each with a variety of features, abilities and control.

After a bit of reading and searching online, I found two Mutable Instruments modules that I believe suited my needs: Tides v2 and Rings.

Tides is a tidal modulator and acts, in essence, as an AD envelope generator, varying voltage up or down in unique and customizable ways. Slow enough and it acts as an LFO, fast enough and it acts as a VCO.

Rings is a resonator that can take (or generate) a plain audio signal and give it a full-bodied sound, all when triggered to do so. It contains various resonator types, all which produce unique sounds, with parameters that can also be adjusted.

When playing around with the modules, I was particularly interested in sending audio from Tides into Rings. Here is a cool and "suspenseful" patch I tried out, where Tides generates a chord that is reverbed through a rhythmically strummed Rings.

It's a simple patch but I really like the sounds that Rings is producing here; that deep, space-like background hum, with the soft plucking that varies in intensity. And add to that the smooth chord created by Tides. Such a simple sounds with lots of depth and suspense!

So what's going on in this patch?

• Tides generates audible tones where each output is a different frequency. To achieve this mode, I set the frequency range to audible (red), the ramp mode to cyclic oscillations (yellow) and output mode to different frequencies (red). To get a chord, I take the last three outputs and mix them together using Shades

• The chord is inputted into Rings, which is set to duophonic, sympathetic strings mode (yellow-yellow). This is an interesting mode as it is meant to mimic the phenomena that occurs in strings instruments, in which the strings are not directly plucked, but respond to the vibration of other strings. The result is a fuller sound with more overtones and undertones. Sending both Rings's even and odd outputs to a stereo mixer allows for "odd" and "even" strings to be distinguished. 2HP Euclid also strums Rings rhythmically.

• 2HP TM sends random voltages to 2HP Tune, which quantizes them to a melodic scale. A minor pentatonic scale here is chosen to add to suspense. These voltages are then sent to Tides's V/OCT input, to change the starting note of the chord, Rings's V/OCT input, to change the main frequency of the resonator, and 2HP Euclid's steps input, to change the rhythm it generates.

• Lastly, the A-145-1 LFO is used to CV modulate the damping and brightness settings of Rings. This is what changes the softness of the strummed chord over time.

This patch can definitely be added to, however, in terms of complexity and sounds. I've barely scratched the surface with what these modules can do.

Have you used Rings or Tides before? Let me know in the comments below, I am really keen on learning the ins and outs of these modules.

Happy patching friends,

-Uncle Peter