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

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