felix inferious

Catching some Z's

2009-12-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

Z-DSP that is.

Over the last couple months, I've been ever so fortunate as to have been a beta tester for the TipTop Audio Z-DSP voltage controlled digital signal processor. It was an extremely exciting prospect when I first heard about it; processing any modular signal, AC or DC, with a DSP and extending that with external voltage control. It basically meant that almost anything would be possible with this module, even if in the beginning, we would only get a taste. And what a sweet taste it was.

Our beta units came supplied with the Dragonfly Delay algorithm cartridge, which consists of 8 different delay algorithms; some mono-mono, mono-stereo, time-ratio'ed multi-tap, etc, each of which having their own unique set of 3 controls which can be controlled with the manual controls and CV inputs. But it's just the algorithm that makes the Z-DSP special. If the DSP where the engine, the rest of module would be the drive train, chassis, steering wheel, etc.

The Z-DSP, in addition to any done in the algo, has a stereo, patchable, analog feedback path, with independent CV control over the feedback amount for each channel. This allows you to patch any external processing in the feedback path of the processing, in place of, or in addition to any feedback done in the algo. It also allows you have a CV controlled input, if you can sacrifice the use of the feedback loop (rather than use the normal inputs, patch your signal to the feedback in inputs and use the feedback CV as an 'input VCA'). Or, use it as a 2nd set of stereo inputs (again, sacrificing the use of the external feedback). The Z-DSP also has CV selection, as well as directional sequencing of the algorithms stored on a cartridge. With a simple pulse, you can sequence forward through the algos. With a simple pulse and gate, you can sequence forward and backward. And with any arbitrary CV you can scan through the algos. The sounds that can result from this may be subtle and intentional, or wild and chaotic. A very unique approach to signal processing. Equally, if not more, unique is the fact that the Z-DSP offers the ability to inject your own clock for the DSP and override its own. Almost everyone these days is familiar with sample rate reduction, and bit-depth reduction, but actually reducing/varying the processor clock is an entirely different sonic result. Not only can it achieve aliasing and "crunchiness" similar to that of sample rate/bit-depth reduction, but it can lead to insanely glitched out and wild digital instability. Hell, it's possible to crash the DSP (of course, no damage is done in this case).

One might be able to argue "but I can do all this stuff with my computer, why would I want this in a module?". Well, I know that one of the main reasons I enjoy modulars (and the Z-DSP) is because I have real-time, no latency, tactile control over the processing. A physical, "real" interface to play with; wether it's manually twiddling knobs, or using control voltages to replace my hands, having that "real" interface allows me to sculpt what I want sonically much more easily. I'm finding that, even with just the delay (which I use a lot in my compositions) I'm able to get a much better sense of what my final composition will sound like because I'm playing with the delay in real time, and not adding it later as an after though. In this way, the delay becomes part of the composition, not just an effect. For example, the following piece was written after a week with the Z-DSP. It's not exactly a great demo of the Z-DSP per se because it's not really doing anything extreme; no algo sequencing, heavy CV (there is a little CV of the feedback loop amount), or crazy clock mangling, but, without the Z-DSP, this patch sounded lifeless and dull.

<a href="http://felixinferious.bandcamp.com/track/life-in-minor-preview">Life In Minor - Preview by Felix Inferious</a>

I am head over heels for the Z-DSP. And I've only ever experienced the Drangonfly Delay cart. I'm eagerly anticipating not only the Bat Filter cart, but also the various other magic that is being cooked up down at TipTop Audio.

Shooting blanks

2009-12-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

I never gave much thought to blank panels for modulars. It always seemed silly to me to buy a functionless panel just to cover up open space. I understood the fact that there was the possibility of shock by touching power pins when the system is on, but I felt pretty safe in my ability to not do something like that. So, I never gave blank panels a second thought.

Until a little over a month ago when I sold some modules to Stephen @ pro-modular.com and he told me about these laser engraved acrylic blanks that he had started to make and asked if I'd like one. I ended up getting two sizes and in terms of color and what was engraved, I said, "surprise me". And I was surprised.

I ended up with a 16HP clear one and the pictured 28HP black and gold one. I'm still trying to get a really cool shot of the clear acrylic with some LED backlighting, but the black+gold really just jumps out. The acrylic is a little less than 2x the thickness of a standard aluminum faceplate, so it's very sturdy, with very little flex even at 28HP. I could easily see module panels being made the same way.

I've been super stoked on these blanks, especially the 28HP black+gold. I was sad when I had to remove it while testing the Z-DSP as I didn't have room for both. However, now that I've sold off a few more modules and made some room, it's back in the case!

Anyone looking for blanks (or even not looking for blanks), jump on over to pro-modular.com and check them out. Full 19" rack blanks are now possible too!

Back in the saddle

2009-11-22T13:21:00.001-08:00

It's been 6 months since I last posted. I certainly seemed to have neglected things around here, but I'm hoping that will change. I've been spending much less time on the forum lately so I think it's necessary for me to at least continue contributing by way of the blog here.

So, what's happened over the last 6 months... It's hard to remember to be honest.
Buchla lust has come and gone again at least twice, the Harvestman Hertz Donut was finally released, to much jubilation by myself. I finally obtained a Flight of Harmony Plague Bearer (not sure why it took so long) and it's an amazing little module. If you like distortion and waveshaping, you owe it to yourself to try it out. There may have been something else before the HzD and the PB, but I'm drawing a blank. Budgets have been tight around the house here, so I've significantly cut back on expanding (that and I'm drawing near to filling up the Monster Case).

Speaking of filling up the Monster Case, I'm getting closer and closer to understanding the types of modules (and therefore the types of synthesis) that I am most drawn to. It's very clear that FM/AM and other audio rate modulation is key to the process; as is waveshaping of some kind. While I always love a good classic subtractive patch, they aren't the things that really drive my creativity. This is probably why the Hertz Donut has become such a favorite, and frequently-used, module since its arrival.
Low-pass gates seem to also be a strong standout over normal VCAs. The just-not-quite-subtle reduction in harmonics in concert with the reduction in amplitude (and vice-versa) really adds an sonic element that one normally finds with acoustic instruments. It feels like it adds a bit more "life" to the dynamics of the sound. The MakeNoise QMMG has been a fantastic addition here for that, as not only do you get 4 channels of LPGs, you also get a 4x1 mixer as well as LP and HP filters and 'normal' VCA operation. It's DC coupled as well, so it can be used for control voltages, however I must admit to never having exploited that bit of functionality. It sounds quite nice too, which is always a plus.
It's always been very clear that I prefer simple Attack-Decay envelopes over standard ADSR, and that has remained true. My Plan B M10s (I've had two for a while now) are definitely the go-to modules for that. The release of the MakeNoise MATHS module has got me very interested, but at this point I don't *need* more envelope generators, so for now I'm simply keeping a trained eye (and ear) on how folks are using it. I was able to play around shortly with a couple at the annual AHBA get together, and they certainly are very intriguing.
One of my favorite new (or rather, yet-to-be-released) module is the TipTop Audio Z-DSP. I'm cooking up a separate post for that, but to summarize, this will be an essential module in my setup going forward. I'm trying to convince myself that I don't need two.

On the creative side of things, the EP that I had planned for the end of the year has fallen behind. I'm still working on a couple of pieces, but I'm really trying to progress from what I did with Teratoma, so I'm being very careful and specific about which recordings I take and work on further into finished pieces. Speaking of Teratoma, I moved it off of VIRB (since they seemed to have removed the ability to download) and over to a Bandcamp page, where all my future releases will also be available. felixinferious.bandcamp.com/

That's it for now. More posts and more content coming soon.

Flame Clockwork Video Demos

2009-05-11T15:22:00.001-07:00

On the unlikely chance that you haven't found these already through my twitter feed, the Muff forum, or even Matrixsynth, here are my latest video demos, featuring the Flame Clockwork Eurorack module.

Flame Clockwork Demo Pt. 1

Flame Clockwork Demo Pt. 2

Enjoy.

Monomachine Couples Counseling

2009-04-29T19:27:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned back in September, I had traded both my MKI MachineDrum and MonoMachine for a MKII MachineDrum. Then, in December I decided to pickup a MonoMachine again, this time a MKII to match the MD. The initial reason was to try and fend off the severe Buchla lust I was enduring at that time (which I'm happy/sad/confused to say has not fully gone away).

But, in the months since then (particularly, the new year and onward), I had been once again using the MnM less and less, paying more attention to the modular than anything else and working on ideas for a new album. I was coming very close to selling it, I even made a half-hearted post on twitter about it, but there were no takers.

So there it sat on my desk, next to it's sibling, which does still get regular use, unlit and uninviting. It wasn't until I started thinking about putting together performance material that it crossed my mind to fire up the MnM again. I was again considering a small modular performance system, but I tend to like a lot of complex sounds, swirling in stereo, and I like the performance to be somewhat consistent from performance to performance, otherwise I get frustrated with it not sounding right. Both things that the MnM can handle...and there's the whole recall and syncing with the MD thing.

So, for the last couple of days, the MnM and I have been in "couples counseling". i call it that because that's sort of what it feels like. This on again off again relationship that I would really like to make work (then again, I've never been to couples counseling, so I really have no idea).

The first night was spent with just the manual. Just reading over the feature set and mentally re-aquainting myself with what it can do. I purposefully didn't want to sit down in front of it, tweaking randomly with an empty head and getting stuck in a "sound rut" like I had many times before with it. That approach seems to be no problem with the modular, but doesn't really work for me with the MnM for some reason. The manual quickly reminded me of the arpeggiator and more importantly, the independent trigger tracks and how para-locks work with "trigless trigs", a implementation concept which is fundamentally different from the MD in that you can set param-locks on steps which do not trigger any other aspect to the sound (PITCH, AMP ENV, FILTER ENV, or LFO TRIG).

Building ideas on these concepts *before* actually laying hands seemed to pay off quite well. The following evening I had a long session experimenting with sequencing out lots of param-locks with trigless trigs, separate FILTER and LFO trigs, and never actually laying down pitches; simply playing the sequence of "timbre automation" and holding down notes. It made some very nice drone-y noise-y stuff. I'd love to share, but I did this from the comfort of my couch, away from all the accoutrements of the studio.

Another concept that never initially crossed my mind before was using the arpeggiator to play the DBOX drum "machine" (basically the drum sample sound engine). While it was a little time consuming to search up and down the octaves of sounds (each octave of the keyboard is essentially a different sounding collection of sounds, grouped along the lines of a typical sample kit) to find a "chord" of the right samples for the arpeggiator, the results were very good, especially since the arp can run at different rates than the main sequence and can have shorter than 16 steps in length, including odd numbered steps. Using two different tracks with two different arpeggiators was that much more time consuming, but that much more rewarding as well.

Last evening was spent dealing with "the sound". I dare say I've become quite spoiled by the modular and that much more picky about the "quality" of the sound, and I certainly lean more analogue in my preference, but I certainly don't hate the sound of digital. But, many aspects of sound of the MnM just don't sit well with me and in writing down what those were, they were all ones that either attempt to sound analogue, or ones that I expected to sound analogue. Chief among these are the SWAVE machine and the filters. So, I decided to avoid those as much as possible (easy enough to avoid the SWAVE, not so much the filters) and focus specifically on the most digital aspects of this digital synth - the DPRO and the FM+. Now, the FM+ had long been a favorite since it offers pretty complex FM algos with a very simple (if sometimes unclear) set of controls, but I had not really explored the DPRO wavetable machine that much. Once again, diligence to constrain my scope paid off and I found myself getting sounds that I really liked and did not find myself relying on the filters to dynamically alter the sound and instead only found myself using the filters to shape it a little better, more like an EQ. Now, these most certainly did not resemble anything analogue, but it was digital being as digital as it can and I really liked that.

Now, it's not like I'm totally in love with the MnM again, but I have a new found appreciate for devoting time to it and getting better results from focusing on very specific features/functionality of the instrument. I think the MnM, moreso of the MD, requires more mastery of the device to really extract really unique and great stuff from it...at least for me anyway.

Another interesting rule I set for myself in this process was to NOT SAVE ANYTHING. I know, that's weird right, but I starting thinking about how I get in these "ruts" with this thing and a lot of these ruts start because I'm doing more or less the same process over and over again, and a lot of the time it's because I'm starting by revisiting something I worked on last time, when I stopped because I felt in a rut. It's also a practice that's not possible with the modular, and I wondered if the fact that you cannot save or fully and immediately recall your work on modular makes you think that much more creatively and retain more important bits about what you're doing as your explore the instrument. My early conclusions are that, yes it does.

One of the main downsides I'm still hung up on this point is the lack of a common reverb for all tracks. For example the MD has a global reverb and delay, and a reverb and delay send amount for each track. The MnM conversely has an independent delay for each track (which is fantastic for sound design reasons), but to get a reverb you purpose one of the six tracks as an FX track, and even in that case, it's not a send-return configuration like on the MD. You can route multiple tracks to the FX track running the reverb, but you do not have control over the volume level of the signal from each track going to the reverb, so there's no way to control the amount of reverb for each track. :( It's just as well I guess, upon actually recording it's likely one would just take each track out of the 6 independent mono outputs of the unit and mix in the box.

In the end (end of this post anyway, I'm certainly not through with this whole revisiting the monomachine process), I'm glad I didn't sell it and I've taken the time to explore it again. I may just have some Elektron-based live sets worked out after all.

Mr. Felix Visits A Buchla

2009-02-22T23:40:00.001-08:00

So after witnessing my endless back-and-forth Buchla lust over the last several months (and really, it's gone on longer than that), I was extended an invitation to visit the venerable Chris Muir and his Buchla for an afternoon of enlightenment.

Since the Buchla lust had kicked up again as of late, I was bit worried about being exposed directly to a Buchla, but at the same time, I'm practically broke, so I wasn't that worried that I would phone up Don in the morning to place an order. I was anticipating it though.

What I got was something else.

First, the system is as visually striking in person as it is in pictures, this I knew, but after Chris turned up the speakers, I heard something I wasn't expecting. There is definitely something lost when listening to MP3s and possibly even WAV files (I can't remember how many of the demos that I have listened to have been WAVs). There is much more dimension to the sound when you're listening to it through speakers and the details of the sound are much more complex. What came across as almost noise in some MP3s, was a complex harmonic evolution of sound in real life. I'm not trying to be over dramatic, I was just surprised at the very quantifiable difference in hearing the Buchla in real life.

As Chris gave me a tour around his system, it was very interesting to see how he utilized modules in ways that never crossed my mind in the hours I had spent staring at the Buchla web pages and module images. It was equally as interesting to find out that many aspects of the modules worked differently than I understood them to. One thing that excited me was learning that the 291e filter was able to sequence through it's various stages on its own, without an external clock pulse. Each stage of the 291e has a editable time constant which determines the time until it switches to the next stage.

Speaking of the 291e, it was quite impressive. It's definitely not designed to be used as a "standard" synth filter; it's practically half a synthesizer+sequencer all its own. While it's bandpass only, it sounds incredible. It's very clean, clear, and "vocal" sounding, and with some applied audio-rate modulation, has an incredible growl. Listening to Chris make a quick sequence of the filter's stages, with different amounts of FM per stage, and some external CV to the overall frequency, was just stunning. It was like an alien spaceship was somehow singing to me. Once he started using additional nodes of the filter (this was just using node A initially!) it became even more complex. Since the amplitude of each stage is also variable per-stage, it seems to me that a 291e paired up with some kind of source for filtering, is all you need for serious experimental composition.

When we starting talking about how Chris uses his setup again and I was surprised to find that he uses his 210e router almost exclusively as an attenuator for one of his 281e modules and as a audio matrix mixer for FX (delay, reverb, etc) sends. Chris has a basic "base patch" which he builds on and modifies slightly as necessary, but also makes frequent use of the preset abilities of the 200e. While it's always interesting too see how other people use a particular module, it was becoming extra interesting to see how Chris utilized his setup and how much it differed from how I imagined using a very similar assortment of modules. Previously, I believed the Buchla was tailored for a fairly specific use of the system, or at least more specific than say combining your favorite euro/frac/modcan-format modules. Listening to Chris describe how he works with his system really changed my perspective on that. I was clearly underestimating the Buchla.

We focused on the 256e next, which I found out was one of the few modules I had fully understood going in, but it was great to see how much, and to what extent, that Chris used it. Not only does it function as a way to alter and scale incoming CV (including inverting and scaled inversion), it also allows for mixing/cross-fading multiple CV signals as well as VCA for CV.

Over the next hour (or who knows how long it was, time was hard to keep track of), we bounced around to various aspects of the system, and finally settled into the 261e oscillators...or I should say Complex Waveform Generators. To call it an oscillator really is not doing the module justice. Being two oscillators, at least one VCA, multiple waveshapers all rolled into one, the thing is practically a voice all on it's own. While most modular folks balk at the fact that the waveform generation is digital, there are several advantages that come along with that. Chief of those for me was the fact that when Range is set to "Track", the modulation osc tuning determines a pitch ratio, which is maintained as you tune the principal osc. This was absolutely amazing to use in practice. I simple tuned the modulation osc to get the desired FM side bands, and then simply use the primary osc tune to control the overall pitch. Another interesting aspect of the 261e that cannot be discerned by staring at pictures is that there are several modulation modes possible. It's not just pitch, timbe, or amplitude modulation, but rather those individually plus combinations of all of them! Pitch + Timbre modulation was quite possibly a favorite, although amplitude modulation with independent control over Timbre and Symmetry was very cool too. Even more interesting is that the Pitch modulation is always done using sine waves, where as the other modes follow the waveshape setting of the modulation osc. This seems like a limitation, but being able to have Pitch+Timbre modulation, and vary the waveshape of the modulation osc and have that only affect the Timbre was fucking awesome. Limitation my ass! Speaking of which, the variable waveshaping didn't sound that bad at all! Based on various opinions that I'd read already, I expected an almost "unusable" PWM sound, but it wasn't that bad at all. It was no AFG, but it had a very unique and special sound. Along those same lines, the Hard Sync sound is not the ripping harmonic sound that one typically associates with Hard Sync, but it had it's own endearing character. The interesting thing was that Sync on it's own was not that impressive, but Sync mixed with FM+Timbre modulation made sounds like I had never heard before. Like circuits being tortured.

I knew I was going to like the 261e going in, but I had no idea to the extent at which I would love it. The waveshaping (timbre, symmetry, and high-order) combined with FM/AM is just absolutely incredible. The lack of additional "unwanted" side-bands that digital FM offers really brings an amazing pallete of sound to the table when paired up with waveshaping. I literally could have sat there for hours turning those 4 controls (modulation index, timbre, symmetry, and high-order). The ability to go from a simple sine wave to a sound that I can't even begin to describe was...well...fucking incredible! I was also surprised how much the controls interacted with each other. Depending on how much timbre and high-order I had adjusted, Symmetry would yield very different timbrel results. Likewise, depending on how much of the Modulation Index and Symmetry I had set, the Timbre would yield wildly different results. And, I'm no stranger to teaming up FM and waveshaping. Since I picked up the Doepfer A-137, I've been feeding it a steady diet of FM and while the results are fantastic as well, I've never had the control and range of sound with so few controls. I'm really starting to run out of words to explain how awesome I thought the 261e was...and this is 1,000x more than I said to Chris after turing the knobs for who knows how long (Chris, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I simply said "Oh...wow!")

We wrapped up talking about various system configurations, thoughts on the 222e, various methods of control, portability, setup time, all sorts of little things.

At this point, you're probably thinking, "ok, so here's where he starts talking about selling all his euro modules and how the Buchla is the greatest thing ever". Oddly enough, I don't feel that way at all. I thought for sure that after visiting Chris, listening to him talk about his system, and getting quality some hands on time, that I would know, one way or the other, if a Buchla is in my future. Well, I don't.

I certainly know a lot more about the system now, and feel much more educated on its use and its strengths and weaknesses, particularly from an artist's perspective. I feel like I now can make a better, more educated, decision on wether or not to turn my attentions toward a Buchla, and I feel really great about that. I know that if I do decide to walk down that path, I know what to expect along the way. For now though, I'm going to stand here at the cross-roads thinking about both roads.

....

But... I do foresee a 261e and 291e in my future. ;)

NAMM 2009 - MaxMSP - Math

2009-01-27T00:30:00.001-08:00

Once again, long time no post.

With my Serge lust more or less in check these days, I headed off to NAMM '09. I saw many cool things, particularly the new Plan B Zero cases (if you read this blog, you no doubt have already seen pictures), but I was surprised with what caught my eye the most.

The first was Max for Live. Most folks who pay attention to the Ableton community knew that something like this was coming after Ableton and Cycling '74 "joined forces" last year, however I didn't really expect such a simple, yet elegant implementation.

The other thing that really stuck we was the JazzMutant Lemur. I finally got to see one up close and personal and I was very impressed with what I saw. Not only the quality of the hardware, but with the programming environment and the new v2 software.

Lots of interesting new things, and the one thing that it all spurred was for me to take a good look at MaxMSP for once.

I used to own Reaktor and stumbled through that ok enough, but never really pleased with what I came up with. It was probably part lack of knowledge and part lack of direction, but it always seemed like the result wasn't worth the amount of time necessary to achieve that result. I had similar expectation with Max going in, and when I tried diving right in, deconstructing some of the example patchers, I was immediately confused. Rather than get discouraged, which I'm used to doing, I decided to take the less exciting route and go through the tutorials one by one. And boy am I glad I did.

The tutorials are very well thought out, don't move forward in too big of steps, and the overall documentation is excellent. Being able to select an object and hit a quick keycommand to pull up the full documentation on that object is wonderful. My favorite though is being able to just hit 'n' to start creating a new object...just start typing the name of the object that you want it will start auto-completing the various possible objects. Too slick! Max 5 is looking great too, I'm a bit of a picky bastard when it comes to UI and the older generations were always a bit of a turn off.

Another interesting turn is that I've become more interested in the math behind digital synthesis. I was never very good at math, although it wasn't do so much to lack of skill as it was a lack of motivation. Like many more in my generation, I suffer from a severe lack of motivation for things I'm not interested in, and during high school and college, I couldn't have been less interested in math. I could never see a practical use for what I was learning, and being a total smart ass, I would pose that question to my math teachers frequently. I really did want to know though, and I never did get a good answer. Always the "you need to know it" or the slightly more specific "you need to know it for calculus". The last math I actually remember studying was quadratic equations and polynomials. What do know, that's the basis behind much of digital synthesis, particularly waveshaping and filter design. The last few days have been filled with wonderful exploration into the world of Chebyshev polynomials, and their very pleasing results on sine waves.

So, where am I going with this? It's a basic plea to math teachers, should any read this blog (or even if you know some math teachers). PLEASE, please, tell your students some interesting or at least practical uses for the math that you are teaching them. If some student asks "what do we need to know this for", they may not be trying to be a smart ass, they very well would just like to know. I really wish someone had done this for me during my education. I might have come to really enjoy and like math, rather than hate it and, later in life regret, not putting in more effort.

Oh well.

PS. I have a few euro modules for sale currently, if any of you are interested:
http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2935

Cheers everyone and Happy New Year!

The Serge

2008-12-29T22:52:00.001-08:00

I tried really hard to come up with some kind of McCain "the surge is working" joke, but just couldn't. :( So anyway, this is the big Serge post, hopefully it does not disappoint.

As I mentioned in my recent post, over the course of researching the Buchla I started to see things that I did not like in my current system, or put maybe a more accurate way, advantages that I saw in other formats. Let's start with the most simple, and obvious, one. Banana jacks.

Using multiples in 1/4" or 1/8" is annoying as hell. I know it seems trivial, but *every time* I find myself wanting to use a multiple, it requires breaking half a patch down, exchanging cables and then retracing my steps so that I put it back together properly. With banana jacks, it's much more elegant. Need a mult? Just poke a jack in there and that's it. Seems like a small thing, but while it would be nice to have in Euro (really nice to have) it is almost required due to the level of functional density of each Serge module (not panel, but individual module - which is referred to as a "function block" in Serge-land). That brings me to my next advantage of the Serge. Functional density.

In Serge-land, they call this "patch programmability". Depending on how you patch a particular function block, you can achieve different results. The "Smooth / Stepped Generator" (SSG) for example, can not only be a S+H, but also a VC slew limiter, VC LFO (triangle and square), clock, LPF/LPG, lo-fi VCO, zero-crossing detector, and more with any combinations of these (that's right, most of those functions only require one half of the module!). This module is even one-upped by the "Dual Slope Generator" (DSG) which has an unprecedented number of patch programmable functions, yet on the surface, it's just an AD envelope generator. It's this "patch programmability" that really attracts me to the Serge system. The flexibility and range of sounds possible in even a single panel (or even M-odule) is rather astounding. Exhibit A is this fantastic demo from kkonkkrete which surfaced a few weeks ago.

Note that this video features only 2 M-odules, and throughout the video, some portions of the Sequencer A M-odule are not even used. It's quite amazing that the Creature M-odule (the one on the right side) is essentially a fully featured Serge system on it's own! This brings me to my next perceived advantage. Portability.

This is one of the advantages that I found in the Buchla which I think is very apparent here as well. A 3 panel Serge system would more or less be similar in size to a 12ws Buchla case and definitely give it a run for it's money, if not certainly beat it out feature-wise (but this isn't purely about features). My system, as it is now, is almost too large. I haven't even filled the case and I find that on many patches, some modules are just "in the way" and I end up having to work around them. A small detail, but to me it screams "you have to much shit that you don't use", and if I don't use it, it isn't that necessary. Maybe this just one of those "ebb and flow" things, but I like to have an efficient use of space, and when I find myself always turning to the same dozen or so modules, it's hard to fight off the urge to trim the fat, so to speak.

The final advantage is another one taken from my Buchla research and this is the dynamic control/interaction with the instrument. While it's no 222e Kinetic Input, the Serge TKB Touch Keyboard Sequencer is a very dynamic and expressive controller.

The sequencer is not unlike the mythical Milton (or maybe that should be the other way around). There are 4 "rows" of 16 steps. A standard clock steps through each of 16 stages, while a separate vertical clock with step through the 4 rows, allowing for 64 step patterns. Either the combined row output is available, or each row output separately, allowing for control of 4 separate modules for each stage. The direction of the sequencer can also change based on either a manual switch, or a trigger input. There is also a "random stage select" trigger input. When pulsed, it will select a random stage. And, speaking of stage selection, when the keyboard is linked with the sequencer, touching a key touchplate will immediately select that stage. It can be patched so that when pressing the key touchplate, the stage will be held and the sequencer will not advance. There is also key pressure voltage available, for more expression. Basically, it's the perfect combination of a keyboard controller and an analog sequencer.

So, until I've had some one-on-one face time with a Serge system and can make my final decision, I see some Serge in my future. My best assessment at this point would be to start with a Gator and Creature and add a TKB as early as financially possible. After using that system for a while, I'll have a better idea of what else I might need (if anything at all). That's another advantage of the Serge, not only can so much be achieved with only a couple panels, but it's pricey enough that you just don't go off buying more on a whim, something that happens with me constantly with euro. I just lack that willpower I guess.

My dilemma though is that I can't bear to part with a good chunk of my Euro system. Out of the modules that I use in practically every patch, I plan on keeping the following:

Livewire AFG (x2)
Livewire Vulcan Modulator
Livewire Dalek Modulator
Livewire Frequensteiner
Livewire Dual Cyclotron
Plan B M13 LPG
Plan B M14 Voltage Proc
Harvestman Stilton
Harvestman Evin (forthcoming)
Harvestman Tyme Sefari
Doepfer A-132-3

The Plan B M10s and M24 would be in there since those are used in every patch, but they have direct functional equivalents on the Serge. In fact, there's practically the same as the Serge DTG and SSG modules. As time goes on, I would consider loosing the Dual Cyclotron (which will be a hard one) and the Plan B M14 since both could be had in the Serge domain without too much trouble. As I said, I haven't had face time with the Serge VCO and Filters yet, so until I do, I can't imagine giving up the AFG+Frequensteiner sound. Even so, I can't imagine giving it up.

All of this Euro, plus some more, would fit rather nicely in one of the upcoming 9U A-100P portable cases that Doepfer has announced, which is what I would plan on transitioning the euro system into once they are available.

So, I'm not decided 100%, but this definitely feels like the direction that I want to move. Only time will tell.

I've linked to it where appropriate, but the "Ergres - Serge Fans" site has an extensive amount of info on Serge systems, as does Carbon111. They have been extremely helpful in the journey and if you are at all curious, I would suggest checking them out.

http://www.serge-fans.com/
http://carbon111.com/serge_index.html

Teratoma - released

2008-12-19T11:54:00.001-08:00

Sorry I'm lagging on the Serge post, it's coming. This is short though.

Just wanted to say that my first modular album, Teratoma, has been released. Just inside the deadline of the Muff 2008 Artist Challenge. The collections are composed almost entirely of the eurorack modular, except for a few cases where a hand is leant from the MachineDrum and Monomachine, and in one case, a Piano sample patch in Logic.

http://www.virb.com/felixinferious/music/albums/52424

enjoy.

Long time no post

2008-12-11T21:02:00.001-08:00

I'm very sorry for my long absence from the blog here. I'm rather ashamed of it and it's due to little more than lack of time and laziness. Mostly laziness.

What small amount of free time I've had over the last couple months has been devoted to trying to finish up tracks for an upcoming EP/Full length and just general hanging around on the Muff forum. Unfortunately for the blog here, all of my modular-related ramblings and thoughts are getting dumped there and not here.

Time for a change.

To catch you up a bit, in the midst of working on these new tracks, I also got bit by the bug to start performing live again. I've never performed with a synth before, but played a lot of guitar with the bands I've been in over the years. I miss performing for people. So, with that in mind, I started looking at ways to achieve that again. Using a laptop and triggering loops was more or less out of the question. I don't want to look like I'm checking my email in front of everyone, and for the most part it's very uninteresting to the audience, in my opinion anyway. The next step was to work with the SP-404 and come up with different textured loops that I could layer, turning on and off, along with the MachineDrum. I got started with building up loops and it quickly became an aweful, and uninspiring chore. The "sets" that I came up with were not very fun either. The sounds were static and interacting with them was rather...well...uninspiring. At that point my thoughts turned to using a modular live, but clearly the monstercase would be very cumbersome to lug around (although fun to look at, if facing the audience) and of course, had no way to quickly switch patches. And I wanted some dynamic way that I could interact with it, both via some sort of sequencer (which could be handled by the MD + Kenton) as well as some sort of "touch controller".

Enter the Buchla 200e.

First, some history on my exposure to the 200e. It was the first modular system that I looked at when considering buying a modular system. I saw the booth at NAMM and it certainly was the most visually appealing system, and the fact that it folded up *and* had preset recall was like the greatest thing ever. Had the price at the time (and now) not seemed completely out of my range, I would have went for it. The other formats were much more economical.

The 200e satisfied many of the "live performance" criteria I had set for myself.
-Portable
-High functional density
-Ease of setting up patches (preset recall)
-Performance oriented interface (namely, the 222e touchplate)
-It looks fucking cool (ok, that wasn't a requirement, but it is a bonus)

After much toiling and going back and forth on pros/cons for what seemed like months, much of which went on in an epic thread on the Muff forum, I finally came to the decision that I was not going to invest in a Buchla. The main cons were:

-Sound. It doesn't sound bad, it's just not quite my thing...not for that price
-Price. It's not unobtainable, but it would be a significant investment.
-Having to give up Euro. Most of it anyway...part of the previous con.

There were other small negatives too. Audio and CV are different signal paths, some "quirky" behavior with certain features, not the end-all-be-all in flexibility. All of these were personal opinions though, and many of the reasons for these designs were quite valid - I'm not devaluing the system at all. It's just stuff that I did not particularly like and if I was going to make that kind of financial commitment, I had to like it.

Interestingly enough, I picked up a Monomachine MKII. I had begun to miss the MKI (which I had traded, along with my MD MKI, for an MD mkII) and felt I did not give the little guy a fair shake the first time around. I was right and I'm very much enjoying having the MnM back again.

However, a new "problem" arouse. As part of the research into the 200e, I was constantly comparing my current Euro system with the Buchla, in particular looking at what the Buchla could do and what my Euro could not (well, to be more clear, what it could not do as easily or achieve in a more streamlined manner). But what I took away was what I found to be shortcomings of my system, and to some degree, the Euro format/lineup.

Enter The Serge.

Stay Tuned.

Machinedrum + Kenton Pro-2000 = fucking awesome

2008-09-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

I spent about 3 hours last night and 4 hours this afternoon playing with the MachineDrum + Kenton Pro-2000 and it was even better than I had expected!

First, a bit of background on how the setup works.

The Kenton has two (A/B) "main" CV and gate outputs. These are for the usual pitch and gate CV uses; the pitch can be adjusted for 1v/Oct, Hz/Volt, and even 1.2v/Oct. The gates can be configured as standard V-trig or S-trig. And both A and B can be programmed to respond to any one of 16 midi channels (including the same channel). In addition to those CV outputs, there are 6 additional Auxiliary CV outputs, each one of which can be programmed to respond to any MIDI CC message, again on any MIDI channel. Each Auxiliary output can be configured to be bipolar (-5v to +5v) or unipolar (0 to +5v); I didn't actually expect that and it's incredibly useful. It also has two programmable LFOs which can be controlled by any MIDI CC message on any MIDI channel, but I didn't play with those yet.

Now, on the MachineDrum side. The MachineDrum has a "MID" machine, with 16 different "types". Really, they are the same machine, but there's one for each MIDI channel, so if you want to sequence MIDI channel 1, you load "MID 1" on a track. There's nothing stopping you from loading the same channel MID machine on multiple tracks either (although things seem to act a little weird when you do).

The first page of a MID machine has all the basic MIDI parameters. The pitch (as well as two additional pitches, for chords), the length of the note, as well as the note velocity, and pitch bend, mod wheel and aftertouch amounts. All I was using here was the NOTE and sometimes LEN controls (images courtesy of the MachineDrum manual).

The second page is where you find four of the MIDI CC controls. There's two controls for each CC, the first to set which CC message should be used, the second for the actual value. This is really cool because you could set different CC messages and values on each step of the MD sequencer via parameter locks.

The third page has the final two MIDI CC controls as well as a control for Program Change as well as the depth of the MD's track LFO (oh yeah, that can be routed to control any of the parameters of the MID machine too).

So, what I chose to do was simply sequence a few notes (patched from the "A" CV) as well as patch 4-6 of the Auxiliary CV outs to various other controls on the modular, like the filter cutoff, EG timebase, VCAs for LFOs and FM index. I was having a lot of fun, adding a step on the MD's sequencer and manually setting a parameter lock, or just turning one of the knobs in real time, indirectly controlling the modular. It was a blast. The real fun came though when I remembered that you can set parameter locks in realtime record mode; just twist the knobs and your actions are recorded via param locks. With this feature I was now simply tweaking controls while the sequence played and they were automatically recorded. Sequencing filter cutoffs and FM indexes was extremely immediate and intuitive feeling. It was fantastic!

Now, after both long sessions, I sat down to think about what functions that I would be loosing by giving up the A-155, A-154, and A-190 for the Pro-2000 + MD combo.

I wasn't loosing any glide/portamento as that exists on the MD (and I could patch in the dual bissell anyway).
I wasn't loosing any functionality in trigger sequencing. I'm gaining functionality there.
I was loosing some ease of doing "one shot" sequences. It can be done with the MD though, through song mode/linked patterns.
I was gaining an easier way to implement swing to the sequence. Something I had overlooked until now.
...

There was more, but it all either came out as a tie, or ended up being better with the MD+Pro-2000.
All of it except for using the A-155 as an 8 input/output switch, particularly with the A-154 random and CV addressing capabilities. That couldn't be done with the MD. But, then I remembered the A-152. It gets me that exact function, and more. And it's only $175.

So what I've decided (or at least almost decided, still trying not to rush the decision) is to part with the A-190, 155, 154 and pickup the Pro-2000 and an A-152. :D

Anyone in the market for a 155 + 154 combo? A-190 MIDI-CV?

[UPDATE]: The 155 and 154 are sold. A-190 is still up for sale though (includes the AD5 5v adapter)

Sequencer Machine

2008-09-23T23:17:00.001-07:00

While it doesn't have a lot to do with this post, I recently traded my MachineDrum MkI and Monomachine MkI for a MachineDrum MkII (plus some cash). This was a fantastic deal as I had been using the Monomachine less and less since I got the modular set back up and the MD was always my favored one of the two. the MDmkII is great, but I'm getting off track...

Lately I've been coming close to filling up the Doepfer Single Monster Case. I know, crazy right? But I was starting to think about starting to save for a Monster Base. But, it's a lot of money, and it means I would eventually spend even more than that filling it up with modules; not only would it be a tough financial purchase, but it would ensure future financial purchases. I know the modular thing "never ends", but at some point I need to try.

So, while weighing the difference between getting the Monster Base and not, I quickly found that there's already existing modules that I want that I do not have enough room for, let alone whatever really cool shit comes out in the next year or so. Not getting a Monster Base and sticking with the Monster Case would mean getting rid of modules. Tough.

So a couple weeks go by and I'm digging into the MachineDrum more than I have in a while, and one of these things was trying out the MIDI machines, which allow step sequencing of MIDI notes as well as up to 6 MIDI CCs per machine (1 machine per track). I played around with sequencing with these MIDI machines and it was surprisingly in fact, I found it easier than sequencing the MnM. For each step, you simply parameter lock a different pitch, and further different note length, pitch bend, mod wheel, etc. In other words, it was actually a great sequencer for melodies as well as CCs (although I only did a little of sequencing CC values, same principles applied though).

This got me thinking...the biggest module in my system is the A-155 sequencer, and that's without the A-154 controller. Plus, one of my most common uses of the 155 was sequencing triggers, something I very recently found more enjoyable to do via the MD rather than the 155. The other thing is that many aspects of the 154 controller could be programmed via the MD, either via Song mode or linking patterns. Sure, not quite as cool as voltage control, but it means that the MD is almost feature comparable to the 155+154 combo, so long as you have a MIDI-CV converter.

The A-190 has been great, but it's only a single MIDI channel, 2 cv, gate, reset and clock output. Meaning that I'd need at least one second channel to match the A-155's two sequence rows. And of course, what would be better would be two independent channels so that each channel could have and independent clock, one moving at 8th notes and one moving at 16th notes for example. That would be a significant benefit over the A-155.

So I started looking at the Kenton Pro-2000 mkII. This thing really would be the ticket. Not only does it have 2 separate "main" CV channels (each can respond to a different MIDI channel) it also has 6 auxiliary CV outputs controlled by assignable MIDI CC values, also can respond to different MIDI channels, or the same channel). This would mean I would have full control via the MachineDrum sequencer. And, each main CV output is switchable between 1v/Oct and 1hz/Volt scales. It has other features too, 2 programmable LFOs as well as portamento, and more, but the above are the real important ones to me. I've come to the conclusion that the MD + Pro-2000 makes a serious bad ass sequencer/modular controller.

So, let's take it down to brass tax:

Monster Base - $1200 - Additional 336HP (unknown additional cost of filling that case up)

vs.

Pro-2000 mkII - $600 - Additional 82HP (A-155, A-154, A-190).

I know, doesn't seem to quite add up right? Paying 2x as much would get me 3x the space with the Monster Base, but there's that unknown additional cost of eventually filling that up. And the MD+Pro-2000 seems to add a considerable amount of additional functionality, at least in terms of sequencing. Plus, I'd really like to start saving money again soon. ;)

So, what do you guys think? I know it's never fun to hear someone's not trying to expand their system, but I think this is the best move, both monetarily and functionally.

Me and the A-188-2 part ways

2008-09-01T16:26:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to get into the A-188-2 but I just can't. I can't quite figure it out.
I've heard some people make some amazing sounds, crazy feedback, and evolving textures, but I just can't get the hang of it.

If you are looking to pick one up, let me know. Post in the comments or send me an email:
james *dot* cigler *at* gmail *dot* com

Zorlon Cannon Arrives!

2008-08-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

OMG, I love this module!

It's so fun. At first I thought it was going to be kind of kitschy, but the tones that are available are really quite interesting and very unique sounding. It sounds super rad through the Polivoks (who'd a thought, right?!). It's almost not quite enough that you cannot have all 8 different possible tones simultaneously. It's really fun to pick 4 and cycle through them with a sequential switch, clocked from the CLK OUT on the Gates half of the Zorlon.

The psuedo random gates are very fun too; mixing all 4 together with some kind of bi-polar mixer (A-138c) to make a pseudo random pitch sequence for the pitch input of the noise generator is too much fun, and the clock output allows you to clock other modules (like your EGs, or the aforementioned sequential switch) to it.

I know what you're thinking...clips or it never happened...I'll get them soon enough. For now, settle for the pic.

[UPDATE]
Here's a nice demo patch I made last night, but was too lazy to record (that's why the picture above still has cables patched in). The Zorlon Cannon is of course the main sound source, the 4 outputs (4bit-switch down, 5bit and 9bit-switch up, 17bit-switch down) are going to a Doepfer A-151 Sequential Switch, the output of which goes to a Harvestman Polivoks modulated by a Dual Cyclotron and A-143-1, and finally through have of a Plan B M13 low pass gate, opened by an M10 EG. The Pitch for the Zorlon noise outputs comes from the Zorlon's pseudo random gates, being mixed by a Doepfer A-138c bipolar mixer. The Clock Out on the Zorlon is triggering the M10, whose End Of Cycle output triggers the A-151 sequential switch.

So basically what you are hearing is the pseudo random gates generating the pitch sequence, the various noise outputs being "selected" by the sequential switch, and finally filtered by the Polivoks and made "plucky" by the M13 + M10.

Enjoy.

Official Member of the Monster Case Club

2008-08-11T20:59:00.001-07:00

This case is too rad! It's the perfect width, perfect height, and
fits just about perfectly on my desk.

Unfortunately, I seem to have run out of screws, so I wasn't able to
mount all my modules, the Malgorithm and A-188-2 BBD being two stand
outs. However, I'm pretty sure the Eurorack screws are just M35
screws, which can easily be obtained from the hardware store.

On thing thing that I'm also short on is patch cables! :D. It's been a
while since I have been able to cook up a large patch, and I had a
pretty good one going here, until I ran out of cables.

The Tyme Sefari is super fun, and a fantastic performance module. It
feels very natural to "play" rather than "patch-up", but that just
might be my personal preference. I may have to move I out of that
corner, but that seems the most logical place for it, towards the end
of the signal path. All that playing with the TS got me thinking
about a Harvestman only performance system again!

The Plan B M17 module is fun too, and actually much more useful for my
kind of patches than I realized. I like to have certain events
trigger other events, so I generally really like modules that have
trigger outs, particularly ones that occur at the end of some stage
(like the M24, M10, A-143-1 and -2). What the M17 basically does is
add trigger outs for other modules that don't have any such feature.
A perfect example would be an EG where you wanted a trigger or gate at
the end of the attack phase. That's easily handled with 1/3 of the
M17. The NOT outputs for gates/triggers is also extremely useful for
trigger other events when the rest of the M17 is not triggering
anything.
Very cool with sequencers and EGs, the trigger outs are also awesome
for firing the vactrols on the M13. This really is a fantastic
module, I'm surprised they are not more popular.

I hope to get to more videos soon, but the next two weeks are going to
be pretty busy for me. We shall see.

Doepfer Single Monster Case

2008-08-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

Went to Santa Monica yesterday to pickup the case as well as have
lunch with Shawn and <a href="http://
noisesource.blogspot.com">Noisesource</a>.

In addition to the Tyme Sefari and A-134 and A-165 that I ordered,
Shawn easily persuaded me on a used Plan B17 and Malgo that he had,
which you can see pictured.

I also got to hear the Elby Synthacon filter which is absolutely
crazy. It sounds super mean and aggressive.

I can't wait to get this thing home and all the modules racked up.
We're driving back up Monday morning, so expect some pics late Monday
night!

AFG Harmonic Animation inputs

2008-08-08T00:27:00.001-07:00

So, I just noticed this, otherwise I would have put this in the video,
but the PWM +/- and PPM +/- input pairs in the AFG are normalled. For
example, if you apply some voltage to PWM- in, it will also apply to
PWM+. Patching PWM+ then breaks the normalization.

Pretty handy and a great feature!
Kudos Mike!

AFG Demo Video Pt 1.

2008-08-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

I elected to only do part of my planned demo for the AFG because, I just don't feel prepared to do it justice yet. I haven't spent as much time with it as I had the other modules before making video demos, and I don't think I could adequately show off what it's capable of.

However, what I did think I could do was to show off what most folks are interested in regarding the AFG, and that was the Anti-Matter mode and Harmonic Animation Saw/Pulse waveforms. I hooked up my $40 ebay scope and got to demoing.

[UPDATE] I forgot about YouTube's (lame) 10 minute video limitation, so I had to split "part 1" into two parts. :P

AFG Waveforms

AFG Harmonic Animation

For those who just can't wait for Pt. 2 here's a patch I worked on last night while watching the trash_audio livecast last night. It's two AFGs, one (triangle wave) FMing the other (alien saw wave) with harmonic animation being modulated by the Vulcan. The pitch is being distributed to the Exponetial inputs of each AFG via the Plan B M23 ASR, which is sampling the Ring Mod output of the Dalek Modulator. The M23 is also distributing to one of the FM inputs of the Freuquensteiner, which is also being modulated slightly by the Dual Cyclotron. The machinedrum is providing the rhythm as well as the clock for M23 ASR (using the MD's GND-IM impulse machine). The random stereo panning is provided courtesy of Ableton Live...which reminded me that I need to pickup an A-134 panning module.

I'm working on this track further for my album. This track is entitled "A Visit To The Shroud".

Enjoy.

AFGs Arrive!!!

2008-07-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

Of course they have to arrive in the morning *before* I have to go to
work!

[UPDATED]

Ok, so I played around during the day at work - shh, don't tell - and I am absolutely blown away! And, I'm pretty sure I've only just scratched the surface.

As most people have no doubt guessed, the real stand outs of the AFG are the harmonic animation features of the square and saw waves and the Matter / Anti-Matter. You no doubt have guessed what the harmonic animation sounds like (PWM on steroids) but you probably have no idea what the Anti-Matter mode does. Well, it makes it sound fucking awesome, that's what it does!!

Here's the first short demo. This is the animated square output, with the two oscillators of the Dalek in LFO mode and modulating the PWM+ and PWM- parameters (note, this is only half the parameters for harmonic animation). The start of the clip is with no modulation, and slowly I increase the CV amount for PWM- first and then PWM+. I let it get a little crazy and "bottom" out the PWM- cause I think it sounds cool. Then comes a sweep of the Frequensteiner filter. After the sweep, I engage the Anti-Matter mode. BOOM! Another filter sweep, then a quick pop back to Matter mode, and then back to Anti-Matter mode.

In this demo, we're listening to the standard square wave output. First a filter sweep, then engage Anti-Matter, then another sweep, and another quick A/B between Matter mode and Anti-Matter.

Finally here's the PWM output (yes, the PWM is separate from both the Square *AND* the Animated Square !!!). Same deal, starts with no modulation, I increase the modulation, filter sweep, Anti-Matter mode, another filter sweep, A/B Matter and Anti-Matter one more time. The PWM is absolutely sick!

Remember all of these sounds are with *A SINGLE AFG*!

So, on to a less "educational" patch. Here's the Sine outputs of each AFG into each half of the ring mod of the Dalek Modulator. The pitch changes are from the Plan B M23 Analog Shift Register. It's sampling the output of the Dual Cyclotron, clocked by Difference and Square outputs of the Vulcan modulator (I switch halfway through the patch), and each of the 4 outputs are going to the FM inputs of each AFG; one is set to Linear response, and the other Exponential on each AFG. It reminded me of a retro computer. About halfway through the clip, I start playing with Anti-Matter mode. First on the "modulator" AFG, then on the "carrier" AFG, and then finally on both.

And, at last, here's the piest de resistance. I've been into drones lately, so here's a patch I worked on throughout the day.
It's one AFG, using the Animated Saw output. Each half of the Vulcan is modulating the PPM+ and PPM- (I like these on the saw instead of the PWM+/-). The Sub Out of this AFG is set to Saw and plugged into it's own FM input, set to Exponential and adjusted just a tiny bit. This really fattens it up. I must say, I really like the FM'd saw sound on the AFG. I didn't like it at all on the M15, but I really like it here. Finally, the AFG is in Anti-Matter mode.

The "whine" sound in the clip is the Dalek modulator ring mod out, tuned to a harmonic of the first AFG. The "dry" saw part of the drone is just that...it's the second AFG tuned to the same note as the first AFG, using the Saw output. I can't remember now if it was using Anti-Matter mode, but I think it was not.

The Frequensteiner filter is being modulated by the Dual Cyclotron, both the Aux and Main outputs. Throughout the clip, you'll hear me adjust the volume of each of the sounds, the filter cutoff, and the modulation amount of the filter.

Enjoy. Video demo should be ready end of day sunday. i hope.

Substitute Rig

2008-07-24T22:59:00.001-07:00

This is what I've been working with the last few days. It's actually
really fun to take away a bunch (in this case, like half) of your
modules and just see how well you can work with just a select few.

In this particular patch, I was getting re-aquainted with using the
Livewire Dual Bissell to smooth out the rising and falling edges of
the square waves coming from the Dalek Modulator. You can really get
some subtle timbre changes with that alone. It's like being able to
low-pass filter only parts of the waveform. Actually, that's not what
it's like, it's what it is!

Another fun thing that I was doing here was driving the sequencer
(clock) with the MachineDrum. One of the MachineDrum machines, GND-
IM, sends a simple impulse, which happens to be plenty hot enough to
function as a trigger for the modular. So I simply sequenced the
pulses in the MachineDrum and the modular locked perfectly to it.
I'll definitely be exploring that functionality more real soon.

Speaking of triggers, I've lately taken to using trigger pulses
instead of EGs to hit the M13 low pass gates. Those vactrols respond
so smoothly, you'd never know an EG wasn't used. In this patch, I'm
using two of the trigger rows from the A-155 sequencer to open each
gate on the M13.

The basics of this patch are two halves of the Dalek, processes
through the Dual Bissell, and then each half goes into each half of
the M13, which are being opened, as I mentioned, by the triggers on
the sequencer, which is being clocked by the machinedrum.

Finally, to add a bit of character, I'm taking the ring mod out of the
Dalek, gating it with a A-132 linear VCA (opened by the M10, being
triggeres by the sequencer) and processing that through the A-188-2,
and mixing it in with the main signal described before.

I'm still having some trouble with the interface, so I'll leave it
patched up until I can record it.

I'm BAAA-ACK...

2008-07-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

...in the saddle again!

So here's the latest. I'm going to be getting a Single Doepfer Monster Case. Shawn's hooking a brotha up, as always. I'll be picking it up the weekend of August 9th, I'll be down in LA anyway, so I'll just swing by the new AH shop :D.

In the meantime, thanks to the boundless generosity of mr. bdu, I have a loaner 6U Doepfer rack to tide me over until I take delivery of the Monster Case.

Once I got it home, I immediately picked a few modules (Livewire Dalek, Vulcan, and Bissel, Plan B M13 and M10, Doepfer A-155, A-138c, A-132, A-188-2, and Harvestman Polivoks) and started in on a patch.

This was my first time with the A-188-2 and it seemed so well suited to noisy stuff, I went in that direction.

Unfortunately, I seem to be having some issues with my audio interface and can only get a few minutes of recording before it dies. This is the longest clip that I was able to get.

The sound source is the Dalek Ring Mod out, with one row of the sequencer controlling the pitch of one oscillator. That is being filtered by the Polivoks and run into the A-188-2. The Polivoks has a bit of self modulation (BP output patched to CV1) being attenuated by one half of the Vulcan and the A-132 VCA. The other half of the Vulcan is clocking the A-155 sequencer.

The A-188-2 has two outputs, each output has it's own delay tap mixes as well as overall Wet/Dry balance. One output of the A-188-2 (the noiser part of the patch) is going to half of the Plan B M13, being opened by the M10, which is being triggered by one trigger row on the sequencer. The other half of the A-188-2 is going to the other half of the M13 which is being opened directly by one of the trigger rows of the sequencer. The M13 vactrols almost make EGs unnecessary for plucky sounds.

So the intro is that second half of the A-188-2...I'm turning the mix from 100% wet to about 15% wet. Then, I slowly turn the balance on the Plan B M13 so you hear more and more of the noisy signal.

After that, it's just messing with adding triggers on the sequencer rows.

Then it cuts out >:(

I left the patch together, just in case I figure this interface problem out tonight.

Enjoy.

PS. Got Twitter? hit me up: twitter.com/jamescigler

A hero lost

2008-06-22T22:52:00.001-07:00

Not synth related at all...but one of my heros has just died.

RIP George Carlin. You were the greatest.

Modular Cabinet Update - EPIC FAIL!

2008-06-22T17:39:00.001-07:00

The title just about says it all.

I should have listened to that voice in my head six months ago that said "whatever you build, it's not going to be 'good enough' and you'll just be disappointed. You'll justify it by reminding yourself constantly that you saved money". That would have been mildly valid had I been able to build the case in short order...but I didn't, it's been six months since I sold my Doepfer A-100P cases. For just $150 a month during that time period would have paid for the difference of the Doepfer Monster Case.

I spent all this morning and majority of the afternoon gathering the up the final materials (of which only 80% was obtained) and started building the case. I even got some nice red oak wood normally used for kitchen cabinets and had the guys at the lumber yard cut it for me, since all I have at home is a shitty old jig saw and oak is hard shit. Oh yeah, and it was $80 of Oak so I didn't want to fuck it up.

I was able to finally find some small corner brackets that I could use for mounting the Vector rails. They would work, but they weren't perfect. A minor issue, but it bugged me.

I searched everywhere for a nice thin, but sturdy piece of wood for the back of the case. Plywood was overkill, and ugly as fuck. Even though I wouldn't see it, it just seemed wrong to screw down this shitty plywood on $80 of sweet Red Oak. Everything else was too thin and flimsy.

After driving around most of Campbell and Saratoga to all the various hardware stores (Ace, OSH, and Home Depot...the trifecta), I finally returned home and got started putting the case together.

Of course, I have no jigs or anything...not even a proper workbench, so the glueing process started to get messy. I thought, "fuck it, I'll just skip the glue...the corner brackets should be fine". Well they weren't, the case was flimsy as fuck. And, despite what looked like an extremely well planed piece of Oak, it wasn't perfect and the corner joints did not align well and there were some slight gaps/overhangs. Again, not a big deal, but it was another one of those "fuck it, it's just cosmetic" things.

At this point, the sturdiness of the thing was starting to bother me. If you would have pushed it a little hard from the side, I'm sure all the screws from the corner brackets would have ripped right out of the Oak. "Well...", I thought, once I get the module rows mounted in, that will reinforce it well. So I brought one row outside to mount in the case.

But, as I was sliding the row in, I found that the inner dimensions of the case were to small...the rails were too big by about 1/8 of an inch.

FUCK! <- I yelled this so loud, I'm pretty sure my whole neighborhood heard me. One guy thought I had drilled my hand or something.

I spent the next half an hour thinking about what would be better/easier... using the spare couple feet of Oak that I had left to replace the one side, making the case slightly too big *or* take the vector rails down to a local metal shop and get 1/8" trimmed off each one.

The latter seemed extra complicated since 1) I didn't know of a local metal shop setup for this and 2) If I fucked that up somehow, then I'd been even more set back. And, of course, it would be more downtime...the modules still wouldn't have a case.

So I opted for the former, which would make the case less sturdy (since the rails wouldn't be butted right up against the wood...the mounting bracket would make up the difference, and it would look sloppy...oh yeah and there would about 1 foot and 1/2 of extra Oak that I would have to cut with my crappy old jig saw.

After measuring twice, I made the best cut I could with the jig saw. It actually took 3 minutes to cut through 10" of 3/4" thick Oak with that fucking saw and I had to actually pause twice to catch my breath and get a grip on the saw handle. After it was done, I re-attached the side and took a step back. It looked like shit! And it wasn't level! FUCK FUCK FUCK!

"You're 90% there", I thought to myself, "just mount the rails and see how it looks". So I did, well one row anyway, which was all I had patience for. The row wasn't perfectly parallel with the front edge of the cabinet and because the mounting brackets were making up the extra space, the whole row could slip around a lot. The case was barely any less wobbly than when the rails were not mounted.

And it looked like absolute shit.

So that's it. I'm fucking done. I'm ordering a Doepfer Monster Case first thing Monday. I'm too pissed off at this point to chalk it up to a learning experience. And, the only thing I learned, if anything, is that I should listen to initial gut instinct.

So...

Now that you've read this horror story...if you are thinking of making your own cabinet, I have parts which I'd love to sell to you ;) No, seriously, the Vector Rails (including nuts and screws for the modules), the +/- 12V/15V 3A power supply, and Doepfer power bus boards are all up for sale. If you are interesting, just send me an email. I'm sure to have calmed down by then, and promise to be as helpful as I can.

james.cigler at gmail dot com

In the meantime, I'm going to hang myself... and try not to fuck it up.

Modular Case - Progress Made!

2008-05-31T18:21:00.000-07:00

I decided that I would finally get some shit accomplished this weekend and so far, so good.

I went to the local surplus store and got the right length screws this time. They actually have Torx heads, which looks really cool compared to regular phillips head screws. I didn't go through and remove the screws for the modules that I had racked up already, but I'll do that eventually.

I racked the rest of the modules into the vector rails and stacked them up. Now all I need is to find some 90 degree angle mounting hardware for the rails and some nice looking wood to build the case. I hope to have that wrapped up this weekend too, although, the yard really needs some attention too.

The spaces in the top row are completely arbitrary, although Harvestman Tyme Sefari, Zorlon Cannon and Malgorithm will go up there somewhere, hopefully all in the very near future.

The large open space on the lower left is for the AFGs, which are due to arrive anytime now, since I've got two from the first batch. The 2nd open space, in the lower-middle is for a Plan B M14 Voltage Processor and the Livewire Chaos Computer, whenever that gets released.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with how it looks. It's actually not as big as I thought it would be in terms of size, both height and depth. It should still be very portable (it's a little smaller than a Doepfer Monster Case).

Off to the hardware store!

I LOVE the MonoMachine

2008-05-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

What a great way to follow up the previous post, eh?

I'm not sure what took me so long to post about it, but two weeks ago I took delivery of a MnM mkI. It's fantastic. It's just as fun (and creatively challenging) to program as the MachineDrum and the sound is very unique and punchy. I won't say I'm totally wild about the sound yet, but it definitely has some rad qualities. I'd have to say my favorite machine so far is SID (SidStation / C64 emulation) but I have barely dipped into the FM-based machines.

Since I'm still in my "Reason phase"† with it, I can't really talk much to the depth of it's functionality or my connection to it yet.
However, Jyoti Mishra (of whom I have no idea) made a very succinct post that explains my thoughts much more clearly than I could.

Check it out.

† A "Reason phase" is my term for the time period in which you have just recently purchased some piece of gear and the easiest thing for you to make with it is repetitive techno. It's named this because for the first 6 months that I had Reason, all I made was awful, repetitive, techno. :D

I fucking LOVE the MachineDrum

2008-04-25T21:46:00.001-07:00

I <3 MachineDrum.

Thursday night, after a long frustrating day at work, I came home and I just needed to do something creative...I had to make some music and just relax. Since the modular is still down without a case, I fired up the MachineDrum and dug into making a pattern; something I hadn't done in a while.

I quickly started to remember why I told Surachai that it was my "desert island" piece of gear. If someone came into my studio and said "All this shit has got to go...you can only keep one" it would be the MachineDrum, and I feel this way now more than ever.

Starting off, designing a "kit" is extremely intuitive and the range of "machines" is pretty impressive. My favorites tend to be the E12 (E-Mu SP1200) and the TRX (Roland TR Series) and, of course, the ROM machines (playing stored samples). With all of these machines, you have a serious amount of tonal control; pitch, decay, filter, ring mod, sample start/end, retrigger, delay send, verb send, and more. The more you think about each machine as "tone generators" and less as "drum sounds" the more flexible the MachineDrum becomes in your hands.

Where the MachineDrum really shines though is it's sequencer. From a basic overview, the sequencer is a simple 808/909 style sequencer, with each machine in the kit having it's own track (16 in total). However, where it really takes off is with the sequencer's "Parameter Locks". At any step that is enabled to trigger a sound, you simply hold down the button for that step and tweak any of the parameters for that machine and at that step, those parameters are used. It's like super easy DAW automation; it can even be tweaked in realtime record mode. At any step, if you don't like some parameter locks, just hold down the button for the step again and click in the appropriate param knob and you clear the lock. You can use this to make accents, change filter freq, or even program melodies (have to do by ear, but possible).

It doesn't end there though, each MachineDrum kit has 16 LFOs. By default, each LFO is setup to control it's own track, but simply turing the first parameter knob allows you to assign any LFO to any track and then to any parameter on that track. There are also settings for LFO trigger/reset as well as two separate LFO waveforms with a blend between the two shapes. A couple of the LFO shapes are actually Attack-Decay envelopes, allowing to you use the LFO to program step triggered envelopes.

There's also a great Mute mode (allowing you to mute tracks while play back for performance) a realtime (vs stepped) recording mode, and all sorts of other bells and whistles. All together it makes for a damn fine music box. I feel calling it a drum machine really limits what it's capable of.

Here's the pattern I came up with Thursday night. All MachineDrum...track mutes performed live as I was recording the clip.

I'm now on the hunt for a MonoMachine. After browsing through the MnM manual, I see the same well thought out flexibility as I do with the MachineDrum. Anyone looking to off a MnM SFX-60 MKI, hit me up. Why the MKI...well cause it's gonna be cheaper, but mainly because the MKII is thinner and having it next to my thicker MKI MachineDrum would drive my OCD "fucking crazy". XD

Livewire stuff never shows up on ebay

2008-04-25T19:05:00.001-07:00

It doesn't!

I have RSS feeds for all sorts of shit from eBay and accept for a few items at least 8 months ago, no Livewire modules have shown up on eBay. None.

I don't know what that means...it's just a passing observation. (and no the feed is not broken because I always see tons of "livewire cables").

New Plan B lineup - M21c Mini-Milton

2008-04-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

Plan B Summer/Fall lineup
Via the Plan B list (and probably Matrixsynth too...I haven't peeked at my feeds this morning.

The new line up is seriously cool, and much more than I expected from the teases on the Plan B list. The Vector Plotter is very cool and finally gives us eurorack folk something on par with the Blacet JAG.

The 4HP ELF ADSR is also an excellent module. Especially since it has a expansion module that adds CV for each stage as well as a re-trigger. All that in 8HP is practically priceless, although, will no doubt be extremely affordable. The ELF LFO is fairly bare bones, but its range is amazing and there's no range switches! It goes from 1 cycle every 30 seconds to 10k. :D It does, however use a switch for waveforms. You can either have simultaneous Saw and Pulse or simultaneous Triangle and Square. The last ELF in the lineup is one that I've had my eye on for a while, the Analog Shift Register (ASR).

The Model 21c Mini-Milton really stole my heart though. Not only is it small (18HP), it's full featured (even has CV Direction and individual Gate outs) it's also designed in that Buchla in-a-circle style. I'm totally sold on that one.

Congrats Peter, on a job well done. Hopefully they will be available soon.

Mario Paint Composer

2008-04-20T22:24:00.001-07:00

Holy crap! After a shitty day with no results on my overdrive prototype, this made my day:

Mario Paint Composer

I used to have Mario Paint on the Super Nintendo and this was my favorite part of the "game". I used to spend hours sequencing stuff, and back then I had no musical training/experience/anything.

I can't wait to dig into this again!!!

A days worth of nothing

2008-04-20T11:41:00.001-07:00

Well I practically spent all of yesterday and part of this morning trying to figure out my prototype overdrive pedal doesn't fucking work. A large part of yesterday was assembly, but then the rest was trying to figure out why everything bled to ground when the input was plugged in...after about 2 hours of checking continuity between everything I realized it was because the tip connector of the jack was touching the LED bezel when a cable was plugged in, bleeding the input signal to the chassis and thus, to ground. After that, true bypass was working, but the actual overdrive circuit was not. At that point I gave up and played Rock Band for the rest of the evening. This morning, taking a look at the circuit I realized I put the transistors in fucking backwards! Since I didn't socket them, this tool about and hour to do and clean up the mess of solder. Just after that, my cheapo multimeter decided to complete stop working. Everything looks right with the circuit, but I can't check it without the multimeter. So now I can only stare at my physically represented failure thus far. My spirit is broken. Time for liquor.

The Ebb and Flow

2008-04-16T22:44:00.001-07:00

So I know it's been a long time since I posted, so I figured I'd drop in and post something with some real substance and maybe spark a discussion, rather than post my usual "der...I've been busy" excuse post.

This post is titled 'The Ebb and Flow' because that's a syndrome I've always had with music gear. There's always a period where I can't stop thinking of enough new gear that I need. The key word is need. It's like I have some kind of physical need to some new gear otherwise I '"can't achieve some sound/project/song/etc that I want to creatively". This is the core of the oft-reported Gear Acquisition Syndrome (G.A.S.) that so many of us music types have.

Modular synths seem to be the perfect match for this 'Ebb stage'. There's practically limitless options available, and if you decide to go with multiple formats, god help you and your bank account. It's practically never ending.

Invariably, there's some point in which this stage stops for me, and the "Flow" stage begins. I'll start to think "I now have too much gear now and I'm unable to achieve what I want with all these choices draining my workflow". Quickly, the same time and effort spent trying to acquire all this gear in the Ebb stage, is now spent trying to figure out how to trim down to the core of what I need to "get things done".

I'm at the start of the Flow stage now.

I don't know if it's because I haven't had the modular up and running again, but I'm really missing a simple selection of modules in which I have a decently flexible "instrument". That's a part of it too; I feel like I don't have an "instrument" but rather a bunch of tools that I can string together in some way. Fantastic tools yes, but a collection of tools does not make an instrument. It's difficult to master an instrument that is practically infinitely re-configurable.

Another aspect is that what really drives me creatively is limitations. I like to be presented with limitations and the opportunity to work within them to achieve what I want. I find that a satisfying challenge, both purely intellectually as well as musically.

So I know what you're thinking now, "So you're saying you want to sell all your modular stuff that you spent all that time and money acquiring?!?" No. Not quite. What I want is something I can play, something I can perform and enjoy becoming a master of. I don't want to toss aside all the modules I have, but I do want to put together some kind of small, semi-portable, modular "instrument".

Do I regret selling my Doepfer cases. One of them, maybe. Do I regret planning out this large modular case? Taking this long to wrap it up yes, but deciding to make it no.

I guess I don't know completely what I want. I guess I'm just looking to hear your thoughts...do you go through the same Ebb and Flow? Do you feel your modular is a instrument, along the lines of a guitar, or waterphone, or pan flute?

Let's hear your thoughts.

Devi Ever Master Control

2008-04-02T14:41:00.001-07:00

While I've been *really* slow on getting it finished, this is pretty much exactly what I had been working towards with my two joysticks.

Nice job as usual Devi!!!

I hate April Fools Day.

2008-04-01T11:24:00.001-07:00

It's sad too, because I used to love April Fools day. I used to come up with pranks and friends and I would execute them to much rejoice.

But these days, very few "real" pranks are done...you just get weird announcements or stories on the internet.

This ultimately has lead me to just not believe anything I read on the internet today [April 1st].

Take for example this info about Analogue Haven moving to a new store front:
http://www.analoguehaven.com/

Via Stretta, they [edit: Plan B] also are apparently going to turn focus away from selling individual modules and instead move to full systems.

On top of that, the place (possibly a store) moving into the now apparently vacant AH place is called NoiseBug...who are now the exclusive distributor of Plan B modules. Yes, that's right, AH no longer carries Plan B.

I'm thoroughly confused. Both are very big changes. Both have been announced on April 1st. All I can do based on these facts is assume it's a prank. I just can't trust anything on April 1st.

:/

PS. There's also new teases up from Moog and Elektron. I have reason to believe both are actually real, and not AFD pranks. Then again, who knows.

Make Noise ModDemod

2008-03-21T00:04:00.001-07:00

I totally just bought one of these.

Limited edition of 20. Hand painted. Makes weird sound. $126. How can you go wrong?

http://www.makenoisemusic.com/moddemod.html

AFG Pre-Order

2008-03-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

I did it! Two AFGs have been Pre-Ordered as of this morning.

What's also cool is that these pre-order units will be a limited edition run on gold and black PCB, hand signed by Mike Brown.
I really hope I've got my case all finished by the time they arrive! I can't wait to fire them up.

Check out the info page for Pre-Ordering or just to check out some audio clips.

http://www.livewire-synthesizers.com/

[UPDATE]: I got an email from Shawn, I'm #'s 18 and 19! WooHOO!

Korg MS-10 for Nintendo DS

2008-03-12T11:44:00.001-07:00

This is so bad ass I can hardly speak...

http://www.aqi.co.jp/product/ds10/en/index.html

I have tons of fun with Elektroplankton on my DS...I can only imagine the fun that can be had with this.

Notice how the sequencer can actually accept realtime changes from controls like parameter automation that would be found in any common DAW.

It's Japan only...but I'll be looking to snap it up through some importer once it's released.

Felix on Trash Arcade: Now annoying even more people

2008-02-29T22:22:00.001-08:00

I'm extremely pleased to announce that I've been invited to contribute to Trash Arcade.

My first post is already live. Subscribe and enjoy.

Best Fucking Fucker vid yet!

2008-02-28T09:34:00.001-08:00

I don't know why I didn't see this one already, but it's awesome.

This is why Eric is my hero.

Devi Ever Dream Mangler (hypedition)

2008-02-26T22:06:00.000-08:00

Video demo of the Devi Ever Dream Mangler...my possibly one of a kind, Hypedition!

Enjoy.

Devi Ever Bit Mangler

2008-02-26T22:00:00.000-08:00

As promised, video demo of the Devi Ever Bit Mangler.

Enjoy.

The downtime is killing me

2008-02-19T23:05:00.000-08:00

Fuck...it's been forever since I updated here. All I have are the usual excuses...

It's busy at work

I'm tired

The modular case still isn't put together

waahh waahh wahhh

Fuck.

The Devi Ever Bit Mangler and Dream Mangler showed up! :D Expect a video this weekend.

OMG! - Tesla coil guitar amp!

2008-02-12T12:58:00.000-08:00

Bad. Ass. !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSAExHBrfwU

Electrical Engineering is Hard

2008-02-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

So after a long sit-down with one of my engineer friends at work, I finally had enough understanding to make my first working circuit (an op amp booster w/low cut)! I've been able to play around with it further, as well as incorporate things from other schematics and still have it work, so I'm stoked. It's pretty simple as far as pedals go, but I'm happy to actually have accomplished something now. The hours spent obtaining no result where starting to become very frustrating and VERY un-motivating.

My experience so far with electrical engineering is much harder than my experience with software engineering. It's quite confusing...most of which probably brought on by many incorrect assumptions. In particular, I keep thinking of the flow of the circuit like the flow of an audio signal. Which, in some ways, is very similar if not the same, but it's also in many ways, not the same at all. For example, I was looking at an example schematic of how the TubeScreamer tone control works (I'm not looking to build a tubescreamer...yeck...just looking for academic purposes). The tone control was basically a pot with it's wiper connected to ground through a capacitor...with it's 1 and 3 lugs going from the negative input of an op amp back to the audio input. What I couldn't understand is how this worked as a bi-polar tone control...why does turning it one way roll off highs, and the other way roll off bass...I could only see that it would roll off highs. That is, until I realized that turning the one way caused the audio input signal to flow to ground through that cap too!

I've made up the following mnemonic to help me remember:
SAWTGTG
"Shit Always Wants To Go To Ground"

:D

I made another trip out to Halted yesterday...god I love that place. They didn't have several of the things I was looking for this time though; particularly nuts to replace those Vector nuts for the rails. Their screw/nut stock ratio is a bit lopsided...many more screws available than nuts. They were a bit short on potentiometers as well... It certainly is *THE* place for resistors, caps, diodes, and transistors though...ICs as well. I'm sure Halted is going to be a weekly visit for a long time to come.

Fun stuff for this weekend is now officially over though...it's time to do the taxes.

Time is going by really really really really slow...

2008-02-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

I don't know, we made brownies...and I think we're dead...

"Real" Guitar Hero

2008-02-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is fucking rad! It's like Guitar Hero/Rock Band, but with a real guitar, playing *REAL* notes!

:D

I've always been really bad with practicing, this would certainly get me to do it more often.

http://www.guitarrising.com/

Eric Says Fuck You

2008-02-04T23:49:00.000-08:00

The infamous Eric Barbour of Metasonix has officially moved his personal blog off of myspace onto Blogger.

Go read his rad shit...now!

Modular Case: Row 1 Complete

2008-02-03T14:30:00.001-08:00

Now that I have screws that fit the Vector Nuts I have been able to assemble one row. Why only one? Well because I seriously fucked up the estimate if how many nuts I would need! Next weekend I'm going back to Halted to see if I can find regular Hex nuts that will work with the Vector rails. The Vector Nuts are most definitely not cost
effective...I've learned that the hard way I suppose.

Well since I'm blocked on working anymore on the case, I've got a good
excuse to work on that guitar pedal prototype. It's not the "Chop Shop" one that I mentioned last time, but rather a more immediately useful one. More details once it's working. :)

PS. I've signed up on VIRB. If any of you also have a VIRB page, hit me up.
http://www.virb.com/felixinferious

Halted Electronics

2008-02-02T15:21:00.001-08:00

I went to Halted this morning...holy crap this place is awesome!!! I wish I made the trip (all 20min of it) out there a long time ago. There's walls of resistors, 4 isles of caps, power supplies, scopes, function generators, oh, and tubes!!! :D. Metasonix fans: spot the BN6s in that picture.

I also found 4-40 screws for use with the Vector nuts, I picked up 50 of them for...wait for it...50 cents!!!

I got some extra parts for a guitar pedal idea I'm working on, plus a 3rd-hand tool, nicer wire stripper...walked out of there spending less than $40!

Offcially my new favorite place.

And now...guitar pedals

2008-01-26T22:48:00.000-08:00

As if I haven't started (and not yet finished) enough projects, I've now begun brain storming and sketching out a couple guitar pedal designs. I've got 4 partially worked out so far:

Murder Box - distortion (of what character I'm not yet sure)
Chop Shop - i don't even know what type this might be...the closest thing might be a tremolo
Wicked Switch - a pair of serial true-bypass loops with variable feedback in each
Strangler - a footswtich-able power sag box (to simulate dying battery)

I'm fairly excited about all of these, particularly the Chop Shop, as they are tools that I've wanted from way back when, but until recently, didn't understand were as easily achieved as they are. I know a lot of people get into DIY synth stuff when they get into modulars, but I seem to have gone full bore into guitar pedals.

While these are for my own personal use, I'd definitely be open to making and selling them if there seems to be a demand. I could see the Chop Shop being something people would really like, at least, if it turns out like I think it will. I'll save the details until I get closer to actually soldering the thing up and making sure it will work like I think. I've yet to make anything like it, so there's a high probability it won't work at all! ;D

In other unfinished project news, the Vector rails for the modular case finally arrived yesterday, but I've realized I've order the wrong AC inlet + fuse part which I'll have to exchange. I should come together fairly quickly though...I hope.

NAMM recap

2008-01-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

First off, I noticed my first few posts didn't have the body text for some reason, so I've scraped the text off the emails from my sent folder and updated the following posts:

Wretch Machine
Livewire AFG
Livewire Chaos Computer

NAMM was pretty fun this year, but I felt rushed and didn't get to see as much as I wanted to (or if I did, not for as long as I wanted to)...nor did it seem like I had enough time to talk to everyone I wanted to. Part of it was only being there for 2 days, the other part was getting a late start to the show both of those days (almost 1pm on Saturday and 12 on Sunday). Seems like 5-6 hours would be enough each day, but it's totally not enough.

I'm now just trying to catch up on work and the pile of emails in my inbox...any spare time I have will be either spent working on a pair of mastering projects I need to get done before next week or just trying to figure out how I'm going to be able to afford all the cool new shit this year. Oh yeah, and make the modular case, and finish the joystick controller, and make some BYOC guitar pedals...maybe make some music too ;)

Elektron MonoMachine mkII

2008-01-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

I've always had this soft spot for "studio in a box" types of boxes,
especially quality ones and ones that are not marketed as "techno/
groove boxes". I'd really like to pick up a Monomachine, but I think
I'll get most of the modular stuff out of the way first. But, I love
the MachineDrum and this guy is the perfect parter.

Elecktron MachineDrum mkII

2008-01-21T13:15:00.001-08:00

I absoultely love my machindrum UW and if you might be on the fence
about getting one, it's better than ever. 64 steps, thinner chassis,
and better powersupply. Best. Drum Machine. Ever.

Moog Mulitpedal

2008-01-21T13:00:00.001-08:00

Ok, this thing is RAD!!! Not only I'd it a programable MIDI
expression pedal (meh) it's also a 4 out CV expression pedal; each
output of which can be programmer for a different range or even
direction! Oh yeah, and those settings can be stored as presets! Man
if this thing also had some programmable patch bay (Moog, please
please please make this) this would be the ultimate expression pedal.
This is definitely on my short list.

MXR Silicon Fuzz

2008-01-21T12:55:00.001-08:00

Pretty cool fuzz...I much prefer Devi's fuzzes, but for a true fuzz
afficiando this might be one to add to the collection.

MXR Carbon Copy

2008-01-21T12:52:00.001-08:00

This is one of MXR's new pedals and it sounds pretty cool. I couldn't
find and spec sheets around, but I would guess from the sound it's
around 400ms. It also has some pretty rad green sparkle paint.

If you are the market for an analog delay, give this one some thought.

Doepfer A-138e Crossfader

2008-01-21T11:40:00.001-08:00

They ain't just for DJs kids! Seriously though, this was possibly my
favorite of the new Doepfer modules and one that I will definitley
picking up.

It's actually quite complicated and has different functions based on
what inputs are patched...I'm too lazy to type it all out (by fingers
are starting to cramp too) so just jump over to Analoguehaven or
Doepfer.de and read about it yourself. Snap.

Doepfer A-137-2 Wave Multiplier

2008-01-21T11:32:00.001-08:00

Here's an excessively blurry shot of the new Doepfer Wave Multiplier.
This is essentially the same type of module as the Cyndustries Saw
Annimator. While that comparrison might not be accurate for how they
are desinged (I'm no EE, I have no idea how each gets the job done
under the hood) the audible effect is the same. They both take in a a
wave with some of ramp (Dieter even gave me a demo using a sine wave)
and mix in duplicate waves with phase ofsets...create a fat lush sound.

Where they definitely differ, however, is the Cyndustries one uses
built-in pitch-tracking LFOs to modulate phase while the Doepfer uses
manual controls with CV inputs.

I can see advantages with both approaches. The Cyndustries defintely
is the most stright forward and simple approach, especially if you
want the effect to track though a keyboard's range. But the Doepfer
seems like it would be more flexible since you can use your own LFOs
or any independent modulation sources as well have a greater deal of
timbre control in a static patch (no CV of phased waveforms). The
downside is it would be a little more complited to make it do what the
Cyndustries does in a single module; you're gonna need extrea LFOs/mod
sources.

The final difference is price, with the Doepfer being considerably
cheaper.

I was planning on getting the Cyndustries Saw Annimator but with
Deiter's new entry, I just might have a descision on my hands.

Metasonix Fucking Fucker

2008-01-21T11:11:00.001-08:00

I finally got around to play the Fucking Fucker on Sunday and boy was
I surprised (although maybe I shouldn't have been). This is an
incredibly versitle guitar amp! The clean channel is fantastic...I
wonder why other amps have never included a phase knob, the variance
of tones available just with this knob alone was surprising. It might
be rediculous, but the clean (I mean, Happy) channel might have been
my favorite. The Reverb totally put over the top.

The Angry channel was also just as versitile, able to get tones
anywhere from a light over drive to an edgy/agreesive blues-y kind of
tone, to brutal crunch, to crazy distortion that reminded me of some
sounds from my TM-7.

I thought for sure that this amp be for those of us who already
understood Eric's modules and their unique sonics, but this amp is
truely for any guitar player. The current $5k price estimate probably
puts it out of the immediate reach of many (me included
ubfortunately), but any guitar player who doesn't scope this out as a
serious option for an amp is a serious idiot.

Consider this my official review. Eric, you win Bad Ass Mo Fo of the
year...get in touch with Samuel L. Jackson for your prize.

PS. I did get to see a pair of "middle-aged tone-questing" looking
dudes scoff at it while I was playing...I gave them a big shit-eating
grin and played the most obnoxious chord I could think of...with a
little bend thrown in for hood measure. That might have been the
highlight of the show.

STG Monkato Filter

2008-01-21T10:54:00.001-08:00

I honestly don't full understand how this guy works but it made some
rad sounds! I tweaked it for a few minutes then took this excessively
blurry shot.

UPDATED: From the comments from the Suit and Tie Guy himself:
well it's pretty simple. it's just a plain old four-pole lowpass filter with regeneration. however there's a positive output and a negative output at every pole.

this allows you to use the Mankato as a quadrature oscillator. also, it has an _extremely_ useable frequency range going from subaudio (one cycle every minute or three) into superaudio (eh ... way up there.)

Doepfer A-189-1 Bit Crusher

2008-01-21T10:41:00.001-08:00

One of the new Doepfer modules that caught my eye was this voltage
controlled bit crusher. Fairly straightforward CV control of bit
depth and sampling rate as well as a manual "Mode" knob which selects
the various possible audio abusing methods. Having a CV for the Mode
would have put it over the top for me, but this is an awesome no-
nonse, straightforward audio mangler.

BTW, I asked Dieter about the black knobs...they are on the new
modules only so that they are easily locatable as the new models in
his huge double monster size cases...they are not switching to black
knobs for production modules.

The Harvestman Zorlon Canon

2008-01-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

The Zorlon Canon has been on my list for a while, buy I was mainly
interested in the random gates, I didn't think I'd be to into the
pitched noise aspect of it.

Well, I was totally wrong, the pitched noise is really cool! I was
having flash backs to some of my favorite video game sound tracks the
entire time. It's actually very musical in a lo-fi way and would make
a great percussion sound source. I can't believe I forgot to do this
since Scott had one in his case, but I was really curious to hear what
it would have sounded like through the Plan B Model 13.

Another aspect of the pitched noise half that I didn't actually think
about until now is that each output works individually and
simultaneously, so you could also mix together the various noise
outputs for an interesting timbre...especially if the mixer could also
phase invert, like the Doepfer A-138c or Plan B Model 14.

The Harvestman Tyme Sefari

2008-01-21T10:21:00.001-08:00

As all of you regular readers know, I can't wait for this module. It
is *so* much fun and finally getting a hands-on was fantastic! Scott
has done an awesome job with the panel layout...the module is
definitley one of those ones where you see yourself tweaking a lot in
realtime and the layout makes this really easy, even with cables
plugged in.

The switches are also really nice feeling. The are heavier duty that
the usual switched found on modules and feel like you can be a little
more "enthusiastic" with them during a performance. I'm so in love
with this module.

The Sound Of Thunder expansion module is fantasitc fun too...this is
definite a must have. Getting a wacky loop going and then flipping
those switches brought the biggest smile to my face!

Scott said he's got a few final tweaks to make to it and then its
ready to roll out!

Livewire Chaos Computer

2008-01-19T23:24:00.000-08:00

Ok I was pretty much sold on this thing from the first time I saw it last year, but after listening to a few short seconds I am completely smitten.

The Chaos Computer is the perfect blend between random and sequenced. The patterns it creates are random, but they tend to repeat and evolve slowly into different patterns. It's very musical.

The outputs were not what I expected either. The Gate output on each side is the straight clock signal (speed set by frequency knob) whereas the Binary out is a gate signal which occurs depending on the periocity of the shift registers...the random clock basically.

Also, I thought the Uniform/Gaussian outputs meant Stepped and Smoothed, but that's not the case at all. Both outputs are stepped; Uniform and Gaussian refer to the weighting of the voltage levels (or "notes" as Mike put it). So for example, using the Wide output under Uniform would be a large range of possible notes with an even weighting for all notes (meaning each note had the same probability of occuring). Fucking rad! This one is defintely a can't miss module for the eurorack crowd. Oh yeah, and the 8x8 LED matrix is cool as shit to watch in action! :)

Livewire AFG

2008-01-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

I can't even begin to explain how huge this thing sounds. I had
anticaped a bug sound, but it's fatter than I had imagined! Just the
PWM alone sounded like two oscillators...with the dedicated Sub Out
(octave down) it's absolutely massive. I practically soiled myself.

Mike says it's just about ready to roll out the door; he estimated
only a couple of weeks...I'm so stoked!

The Wretch Machine

2008-01-19T21:25:00.000-08:00

S-1000 was on display in the AH room complete with ribbon controller.
After playing with this kind of config @ AH Bay Area and again here @
NAMM, I'm convinced that this is *the* way to play the Wretch Machine!

I'm an idiot...

2008-01-19T16:29:00.001-08:00

Well, you guys might want to kill me, but I left my digicam back
home...I know exactly where too...sitting on the floor charging. :p

I've spent most if this morning in the Analogue Haven room. Lots of
cool stuff coming. I finally got to meet Mike Brown, Scott Jaeger,
and Dieter Doepfer. I talked to Peter for a while as well and he gave
me a sneak peak of his new Model 30 (or maybe its the 23). Either way
it is super rad!!! He said he was going to offcially announce it in
the next day or so, so I won't steal his thunder by letting the cat
out of the bag. Everyone will be really stoked though (and maybe
surprised). I also ran into Devi Ever and Eric up in the AH room...it
was like all my heroes were there in one place. I didn't get a chance
to play "The Fucking Fucker" yet...I have one more meeting today, so I
might not getvto it until tomorrow. Eric did say he's had hundreds of
people by each day so far! I'm stoker he's getting so much interest.

That's it for now, iPhone pics tonight when I have time to write some
captions.

Beatiful Anaheim, CA

2008-01-19T00:38:00.000-08:00

NAMM 2008

2008-01-17T21:10:00.001-08:00

Just a test post before the show.

NAMM coverage

2008-01-17T17:42:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm heading off tomorrow afternoon for Anaheim.

As I said before, I won't have my laptop, so in depth "Hi-Fi" coverage for those of you who've asked me to check stuff out won't be up until I get back on Tuesday.

However, being inspired by Devi's NAMM blog I'm going to email in posts from my iPhone periodically from the show. Lo-Fi coverage. ;)

BTW, anyone else interested in staying on top of the very latest from NAMM, the sonic state RSS feed seems to be a great source. As of course are the regular outlets, like Matrixsynth.

Also, Brandon's pics of the latest from NAMM are always great. He's even more artsy with the shots this year.
http://www.fdiskc.com/syn/namm/2008/index.html

An update before the break

2008-01-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

Not much has been going on here...just getting this sorted out before the trip down to NAMM.

I've been playing a lot more guitar lately and my guitar pedal fetish is starting to flouring. I want the new metasonix amp more than anything, but it's price point (though I'm sure well worth it) puts it out of my league for the time being. One day! In the meantime, I plan on building a bunch of BYOC kits as well as making an even more serious effort to obtain a TX-1 and TX-2.

The other reason for my increased guitar playing (other than it being fun and needing to work the rust out of my fingers) is that the modular is currently in shambles. Yes, shambles! I sold both of the Doepfer A-100P cases (thanks guys) but all the parts to put the custom case together have not arrived yet. They are estimated to arrive by next week, so I'll be getting started on that as soon as they arrive. It was actually kinda fun taking the modules out and getting a peek at their circuit boards, which I haven't seen since they were first put in the case. I had forgotten about some of the messages screened on the Livewire boards. :D

I'll also be without my laptop for an undetermined amount of time. I'm dropping it off tomorrow. I'll have my iPhone with me so I may be able to make some spurious posts from the NAMM show floor, but they might be rather brief so it might not be worth it. But I plan on taking plenty of pictures and will have a sizeable post when I return.

In the meantime, to tide you over, I present a composition originally done for a Xmas employee composition which, due to some serious hate from Logic, did not get finished. It's still not finished, but it's in a fairly progressed state and since it's the only real recording I've done in a while, I thought I'd share it. It's largely the MachineDrum and several tracks of the modular. There's a piano part in the break which is from one of Logic's sample sets. UAD Neve 88RS plugs were used to process each track and there's a little UAD Plate 140 and UAD RE-201 for ambience.

Comments welcome.

Enjoy.

PS. If anyone gets the reference made by the title, sound off in the comments. You'll win some nerd points. ;)

PPS. The first few seconds are only the sub-bass kick. If you don't hear anything, then yo speakers ain't big enough cuz!

Guitar Hero is officially out of control

2008-01-08T17:37:00.000-08:00

Ok first off, this isn't, technically, a music/synth related post. I've tried to stray away from posting random shit I'm interested in and instead stay on task with music/noise related gear, but this one is close enough that I couldn't pass up.

Let me also say that I love playing Guitar Hero. I have GH1 and GH2 on PS2 and it's a blast, particularly when playing with friends (and with beer).

That being said, this Peavey Riff Master Pro System for GH is fucking ridiculous. If you are going to drop that much money on what essentially is a gutted real guitar and real PA system, just buy a fucking guitar and learn to play it. Start a band. Start a cover band if you must. This quite possibly could be one of the lamest things I have ever seen.

What I'm actually more puzzled by (actually *afraid of* might be the better choice) is if there are actually bands that play GH in front of people. And I don't mean like friends get together at a bar and watch others play...I mean there's a real show and venue and everything. Are there girls there? If I saw such a show I think I would throw up...right before I imploded. I don't know wether to be sad for or mad at the target market of this thing.

oh well. back to real life.

New year's update

2008-01-03T21:06:00.001-08:00

Once again, it's been too long since my last update...

Firstly, I hope everyone had a good and relaxing holiday break!

No new modules since the sequencer, money has been slow, but I have got a few more mastering projects coming my way and I did get some money for the holidays but I'm trying not to blow through that so fast. That and, as you'll read, I've got more uses for it. That, and I've learned my lesson about buying stuff before NAMM.

Over the break, I got back into playing guitar more. It started with playing around with the TM-6 as a wah and for about a week I played guitar more than played with the modular. It was involved in a few sounds, using the filters mostly, but I generally was just using the guitar and having a lot of fun. Even not having played (or practiced, which I never did much anyway) I haven't gotten too rusty...it's certainly a lot easier to come up with riffs/lines on the guitar than the synth/keys for me and that's probably why I had so much fun.

This new attention to the guitar also rekindled my lust for pedals. I've always liked pedals, but was always buying and selling them as they didn't hold my attention very long...the few that did though, I have kept and I feel now, years later, that my ears have improved enough that I'm able to pick and choose pedals better.

Through Pete @ Leisure Cove, I got turned onto Build Your Own Clone and the DIY pedal kits that they offer. BYOC has quite a few kits, one that I am particularly excited about, the "Lazy Sproket", a Boss SG-1 Slow Gear clone. Despite it's simplicity, I really liked that pedal, but it was always way too expensive. It's the pedal that actually got me browsing eBay way back in 99 or thereabouts. I was always hunting for a Slow Gear...and was always outbid on the few that came up. Well now, I can build the thing myself for $74.99. Fuckin-A.

All of their kits are very interesting and very well priced. The other's that particularly interest me are the "250+" DOD 250/MXR Dist+ clone as well as their Digital Delay. The icing on the cake is their forum, which has a very active membership with what seems like hundreds of various mods to the kits. I'm *really* excited about getting into this.

In modular news, I've ordered the majority of the parts for my custom case and they should be arriving very soon. I actually ordered 2 extra of the Vector T-strut mounting rails since it was only a few more bucks to get the price break for 10 of them. So if anyone wants 2 rails, let me know and I'll give you a great deal; I don't think I'll have a use for them. I'm hoping to finish the case quickly and not drag ass like I have with the joystick controller. The fact that having the case finished will allow me to sell my Doepfer A-100P suitcases, therefore having money for modules, will be a big motivator. Which reminds me, I'll have 2 Doepfer A-100P cases available for sale soon too; if you are in the market for one (or both!) let me know.

I'm looking forward to NAMM again this year; I always have a good time, but I have very few work-related meetings lined up this year so I'll pretty much be cruising the show the entire time. I've got a few people to say hi to in person now which will be fun to. If any of you want me to check out anything specific @ NAMM, please leave a note in the comments (or this thread on the Muff Wiggler Forum) and I will make sure to check it out and get as many details as possible.

It's not all rainbow farts and sunshine here though, my MacbookPro has fucked itself up nicely. For the last month or so it's been acting oddly when charging batteries and I actually had to replace one of the batteries as it no longer held a charge for more than 30 minutes or so. Now, it simply refuses to run when the battery is used; it will only work when connected to the AC adapter. The battery is fine too, I've tested it with several colleague's MBPs as well as tried their batteries. The shitty part is that my MBP is out of warranty and I didn't buy the extended applecare. I've bought the extended applecare for every mac I've ever owned and never needed it, and this time, ever so ironically, skipped it with this laptop.
Actually the really sucky part is the fact that the wonderful MagSafe connector comes out so easily by design (to save your laptop from flying across the room should someone trip on the power cable)...now if I pickup the thing wrong and the plug pulls out, the computer dies...which has happened like 5 times in the last 2 weeks. Bad sectors anyone!? I've yet to back my system up and take it in for repair, so I'm in for an unknown charge in the near future (another reason to not go splurging on modules.

That's it for now. Adios.

Way Cool Controller

2007-12-13T17:26:00.000-08:00

I'm sad that my joystick controller will not be as cool as this, The Thummer:
Via Paul S. on the AH list.

The Devils Carrousel

2007-12-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

So here is the patch I mentioned last night after getting the Doepfer A-155.

The A-155 has Pre/Post outputs for each sequencer lane. "Pre" is pre-S+H/Glide processing and Post is post-S+H/Glide processing; but if you don't do any S+H/Glide processing, these are essentially a mult. That's how I used it in this case, with the Pre out going to the 1v/Oct in on the Plan B Model 15 and also into one oscillator's CV in on the Livewire Dalek Modulator which was set to a sine wave and put into one of the Freq CV inputs (linear) of the Model 15. The sine wave output of the M15 is then fed into one half of the M13 Dual Timbal Gate set to "Both" with the level all the way up.

The second lane of the A-155 is controlling the other oscillator of the Dalek, set to square wave and fed into the other half of the M13 Dual Timbral Gate, set to "Filter", with the Level all the way down. This gate is being opened by the Plan B Model 10 Poly EG.

The clock for the A-155 is the square wave output of one half of the Livewire Vulcan Modulator. The Difference output of the Vulcan is set for both square waves and it is being used to trigger the M10 which is opening that lower gate on the M13.

From the SUM output (mix) of the M13, the signal is fed into the Livewire FrequenSteiner, which is then modulated slowly by the triangle wave on the other half of the Vulcan as well as the Auxiliary output of the Livewire Dual Cyclotron. This gives an interesting sound because you don't really notice the Cyclotron's effect on the filter frequency when the Vulcan has swept it all the way up, but as it sweeps down, you can hear the Cyclotron's effect...it makes that kind of square wave gurgling sound when the filter frequency is in the lower range.

Finally, the volume is controlled by one of the EGs on the Doepfer A-143-2 which is being triggered by the Gate row on the A-155 sequencer. The release time is slow so it's really adding only a slight bit of dynamics to the sound. I'm also controlling the overall volume with one axis of my joystick controller inverted through the Doepfer A-175 Dual Inverter.

The final touch is the Moog delay (MF-104) with the Frostwave Resonator in the feedback loop to give it a bit more band-limited tape-delay like sound.

Enjoy.

I Finally Got a Sequencer

2007-12-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

As I previously mentioned before, I've been on the lookout for a sequencer, the Doepfer A-155 in particular since the Milton is vaporware for the most part. I actually lost an auction one two weeks ago on ebay, and had been waiting for another to show up.

Then, yesterday, I saw a post to the AH list (I'm just a lurker, not a member) from a guy who was looking to sell one, and he was in Santa Cruz! I went and got it on my lunch break, and pretty much started at it on and off for the rest of the day. I ended up being at work until pretty late so it was about 10pm before I actually got around to plugging it in.

Before hooking it up though, I thought I would give organizing the "portable" system a shot. It wasn't really working out...I couldn't fit all that I wanted into 1 A-100P case...not with the Sequencer. If it was like 12HP or so smaller, then *maybe*. So I'll be starting on a custom case ASAP. With the Sequencer installed, I'm down to 22HP free.

So anyway, everything I said about not wanting a sequencer was simply uneducated bullshit rationalization on my part. I LOVE the sequencer...I think want two now! Just having one row patched to a 2 OSC FM sound was fantastic fun. I played around with it for about 3 hours, trying different clock sources, messing with using one of the trigger rows patched into the sequencer Reset to play with the sequence length in realtime, etc, but I think I've only just broken the surface of using this in patches. The A-154 controller will no doubt be in my future as well, especially if I decide on picking up a second A-155.

I did leave a patch up that I did at the end of the night, I just didn't record it; I'll do that tonight and update the post here with the audio.

Computers Make Me Mad

2007-12-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

A disclaimer: I love computers. My day job is testing software. I use computers 18 hours out of every day. They still make me mad.

Case in point, at work they've decided to do this company compilation and give a copy of it to everyone for christmas. Everyone (who wanted to) was supposed to submit at least 1 track. I of course didn't find out about it until the last minute and only had a weekend before the deadline for submission. And by "weekend" I mean Sunday afternoon.

I actually was able to compose the backbone of the track on the MachineDrum Saturday night while "watching" TV. I also had a couple of modular patches in mind, both utilizing one of the joysticks that I've gotten wired up to a pair of patch cables. So I was rather excited because that short window of time on Sunday would simply be for tracking and quick mixdown. Easy peasy japanesy.

So I sit down Sunday afternoon, tweak on the patches for an hour or so and then decide to get down to tracking. I wanted to get each of the 12 tracks/sounds of the machine drum recorded onto it's own stereo track (stereo tracks because the machinedrum sounds had stereo verb and panning and delay on them and I wanted to preserve that). This meant syncing to MIDI Clock...no big deal right? Well, after about 20 minutes of hooking all that shit up, finding the sync settings on the MD and setting the right stuff up in Logic+AudioMidiSetup I finally got it going. Hit play in Logic...MachineDrum starts playing. Sweet! :D

Add new stereo track-> Solo kick track on MachineDrum -> Record 4 bars -> Stop -> Playback -> WTF!?

The recorded audio was actually being printed earlier than it should off; effectively making each hit fall earlier than the beat in Logic. I know it should not do this so I spend the next 2 hours trying to figure out why it was doing it...I gave up out of frustration after that. No new track, and more stress on the weekend. Fuck.

I still have no idea where the problem lies. I'm keen to blame Logic as that is a favorite pastime, but I don't necessarily know if it is purely at fault. I imagine it's a combination of Logic settings, the midi interface connection (Elektron TM-1) over USB and some good ol' MIDI slop.

The thing that really sucks is I can't let it rest until I figure it out...I know I'll end up in there tonight cursing and yelling and kicking things. Heroes isn't on, I'll have nothing else to do but lock myself away in the nerd cave and get pissed off.

:p

I'm also pissed off in general that this kind of setup doesn't "just work". I know it could be the USB hub, or just midi slop or some other unavoidable thing like that, but IMO, that's unacceptable. If MIDI Clock is supported it should fucking work, rock solid...if it's sloppy, what the fuck is the point, don't even put it on there. Same thing for USB midi interfaces...if you can't make it work reliably connected to a hub with a keyboard, mouse and dongle, don't fucking bother! It's not like I have cheap shit either.... ok, I'm getting off on a rant. :/

Fingers crossed for a happy ending.

Decisions, Decisions

2007-12-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned somewhere in the past, I want to build a larger case for my modular but keep one of my A-100P cases as a "portable" system. I'm having a really hard time deciding either a) What exactly would go in this "portable" system or b) just not have a "portable" system and only have one larger case, which wouldn't be that much more less-portable.

The B case is very tempting. The case size I'm thinking of is ~28-32" wide and ~15" tall so it's still pretty portable as far as cases go. It wouldn't necessarily fit in the overhead compartment of a plane like the A-100P, but the likelihood of me traveling by plane and taking a modular with me *anytime* in the near future is pretty small. Plus, when I would take the modular somewhere (friend's studios, AH meetups, etc) I would have everything with me...I wouldn't be saying "if only I had x from my main system with me". The final benefit is that selling both A-100P cases would net more cash than just selling one...which means more money for modules.

The A case is tempting because I like "portable" gear in that kind of form-factor. I've always though the Buchla Music Easel was one of the coolest things ever. I would really enjoy having something like that. The reality is, I don't take stuff from my studio that often, and when I do, it's usually for doing audio processing over at a friend's studio...and typically that means filters, ring mods, etc and not oscillators or other "synth" components. The other crux with the A case is that I can't decide what to actually put in the system since it is a small amount of space and the modules that I really would want to have all the time are fairly large. Examples.

1) Livewire AFG - 28HP
I know it's not out yet, but I know I will want this osc all the time.

2) Livewire Vulcan Modulator - 14HP
After using this so much, I don't think I could substitute a pair of normal LFOs and not miss it. Sub-ing 2 LFOs might actually take up even more space. Add an extra 8HP for the Selector Expansion module when it's released.

3) Livewire Dalek Modulator - 14HP
Not only does it provide the ring mod functionality, but it's my main source for audio rate modulation. I couldn't imagine using the AFG without this. Sub-ing 2 oscs, even without ring mod would take up even more space.

4) Plan B Model 10 Poly EG - 12HP
Again, here's a module I couldn't see not having all the time, I would miss it's functionality if I subed in a standard Doepfer EG, which would only gain me 4HP anyway.

5) Plan B Model 13 Dual Timbral Gate - 12HP This one I might be able to live without all the time, BUT, it could also double as the main VCA (so long as I have some overall output atten somewhere) so that could actually save space.

6) Livewire FrequenSteiner filter - 16HP
This I've thought about over and over. The multi-mode is a basic requirement, the HP sounds really good and I would miss that. Also, self-oscillation is a requirement, so that would put out the Plan B M12 as a possible replacement (which would only save 2HP anyway). It also has a sound that's not too gritty, but not to smooth...it's rather perfect in the "character" range as far as filters go. It also has two CV ins, each with attenuators. These latter two qualities put it a bit ahead of the Polivoks as a substitute, that and the HP mode, which I would miss.

7) Some kind of mixer/attenuator - 8HP minimum
The Plan B Model 9 would be perfect here as it's both a mixer and attenuator simultaneously. It is 14HP, however. At a minimum, I'd need my Doepfer A-138c, 8HP.

So that brings us to 104HP, which leaves 60HP free. Despite my earlier statements on sequencers I actually do think I want one now and having it in here would be great...or at least, I would imagine I would want it once I got used to having it. That scratches off 50HP right that at a minimum. The other side of having a sequencer is that when I did take this system over to my buddies place for processing/sound design, I know he's gonna want to sync it to MIDI so that would take us into negative space with the MIDI-CV and clock divider. Plus, I didn't even count utility modules like VCAs and mults.

I guess I could go without the sequencer, toss in the Dual Cyclotron (28HP) or the Chaos Computer (28HP) whenever that actually gets released. The Chaos Computer might actually make an ok "sequencer" of sorts. You wouldn't necessarily be able to directly program the sequence, but you could influence it.

The final problem is that while I might have 60HP free, it's not 60HP in a row...it might 10 on top and 50 on bottom or 22/38, or something else. This can also restrict which modules I can actually choose.

I'm starting to loose track of thought now... Having one single case seems to be the simplest, sanest, least complicated way to go...but I've still got a soft spot for that "Portable" system. :/

What do you guys think?

Polivoks Sawtooth Wave

2007-12-02T22:17:00.000-08:00

So, I remembered I do have an oscilloscope...of sorts. I have Audiofile Engineering's Spectre, which does have an oscilloscope, but it's limited to what your audio interface can do, and unfortunately my 828mkII is not DC-coupled, so I can only use the software scope for audio rate stuff.

So anyway, that works perfectly for checking out what the waveform looks like when having the Harvestman Polivoks self-oscillate and have it's BP output FM itself.

I mentioned in the Polivoks review that it has a "saw-like sounding hybrid" when doing this...well I wasn't quite right...it IS a sawtooth!

It's a little quiet (amplitude-wise) than say, the Plan B Model 15, but it's a very cool and usable sawtooth wave. I had a lot of fun gating it with the Model 13 Dual Timbral Gate and even layering it with the Model 15, tuning it to harmonic intervals.

This is my first state-variable filter which has simultaneous LP/BP/etc outputs so I'm curious if other filters have a similar response when patched in such a fashion. Sound off in the comments if you know.

Ghost In The ICs

2007-12-01T17:15:00.000-08:00

Before sitting down to wrap up another mastering project and start on yet another (when it rains, it pours) I decided to patch up something on the modular for a while, making a specific effort to use the Polivoks.

After messing around with that sound of the Polivoks self-oscillating with the BP out FM'ing itself that I mentioned in the review, I started a patch using it as a regular BP filter and came up with what I called "Ghost In the ICs".

This quite possibly could be my favorite sound I've come up with yet. I think it could have been even more expressive with the joysticks involved, but it's hard at this stage to play them without the alligator clips popping off or having a flaky connection. Here's what the patch consisted of:

The lower register of the sound (the slightly formant like one) is one square wave oscillator from the Dalek Modulator with a little bit of x-modulation. That is being fed into the Harvestman Polivoks which has it's resonance about 3/4 of the way up, getting a slight modulation of it's frequency by the Auxiliary out of the Dual Cuyclotron (both cyclotrons set to "discrete"; square waves), and the Bandpass output going into one half of the Plan B Dual Timbral Gate with the level up @ 10 o'clock. The gate level is opened by the accent out on the first 8th note of a triplet on the Plan B Model 28 Tap Clock.

The upper register of the sound (higher pitched sine wave-ish one) is the sine wave out of the other half of the Dalek Modulator, also with a little bit of x-modulation. That is going directly into the other half of the Plan B Dual Timbral Gate, with the level also @ 10 o'clock and the gate in "Filter" mode. The gate level is closed slightly (not being opened wider) by a Plan B Model 10 Poly Env, with the envelope going negative (~ 11 o'clock on the knob). The Poly Env is being triggered by the triplet gate output on the Model 28 Tap Clock, with the middle 8th note set to Rest.

The mix/sum output of the Dual Timbral Gate is going into the Frequensteiner with it's Resonance set to ~ 10 o'clock and set to LP mode. It's modulated slowly by the Triangle out of one half of the Vulcan Modulator as well as getting an Accent on the first eighth note (so accents on the quater note beat) from the Model 28.

Finally, the Frequensteiner is going into the main VCA (Doepfer A-131) which is being held open via the "clock divider always on trick" and also slightly modulated by the Triangle out of the other half of the Vulcan Modulator.

I added a little UAD RE-201 and UAD Plate 140 in Logic after recording it.

Enjoy.

Polivoks Filter Arrives

2007-11-30T12:58:00.000-08:00

This is actually a couple days late, but I haven't had the time/energy to get around to writing up a post. Yes a video demo is planned, but technically the Plan B M15 is in line before it so for now, don't hold your breath. I also want to try and wrap up the joystick controller before moving on to more demo videos. If I don't finish a project within a week or so of starting it, I have a habit of abandoning it. So here is the initial [text] review:

It sounds awesome! It's not as dirty as I thought it would be based on the description at Analogue Haven. I was expecting something different by the "self-oscillates with a dirty pulse" line. It sounds very similar to my SSM A-105 Doepfer LP filter, but a little edgier. The bandpass output is also pretty edgy, especially at high resonances. Overloading the filter (by using both inputs and turning them up all the way) sounds really cool too; a little more mean sounding that the Frequensteiner can be.

The bipolar attenuator for the one frequency CV input is a really nice touch. I wish the second input had one as well; it has no attenuator.

I did some FM of the filter while it was self-oscillating (no input) and I was very pleased. The Frequensteiner tends to saturate a bit when doing the same thing but the Polivoks stays nice and biting. I will enjoy using this as an extra sine wave source; something that I find the frequensteiner doesn't do as well. When you are really FM'ing the heck of it, it sounds really gritty and dirty, almost like noise (as in white, not "hiss")...very cool. One of my favorite sounds I have discovered so far is to listen to the LP out while the Polivoks is self-oscillating (no audio input) and patch the BP output into the non-attenuated freq CV in. The result is this saw-like sounding hybrid. I wish I had a scope so I could see what it looks like, but it sounds very interesting.

The one downside I have experienced is a personal one. The knobs, while very smooth and easy to turn, are a bit "wobbly". If anyone has a Dual Cyclotron, it's similar to the 3 selector pots which have a slight wobble to them. I've begun to get used to it, but it was a bit disappointing at first. I've noticed that no complaints have come from anyone on the harvestman list or back to Analogue Haven about this on the Polivoks or the Malgorithm so I think I'm being a bit overly anal; something that is not a rare occurrence. ;) I'm sure once I have a few more Harvestman modules in my collection, it won't stand out as much. It of course has no impact on the sound, just my OCD.

All in all, it's an awesome filter and definitely needs to be in your collection, especially if you like having many different filter flavors.

Modulars = crack (aka the Sawtooth Animator post)

2007-11-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I now fully understand the modular addiction. I knew before that it was one of those "black hole" hobbies that will always have some new thing to buy or entail some never ending quest to have "the ultimate" setup. That's all well and good...but when you start rationalizing dipping into savings or not buying certainly family members christmas presents, that's an addiction my friends.
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
I should know better too...I have an addictive personality. I don't gamble, cause I know that would get me into trouble...I quit smoking several years back, which is still difficult to fend off urges, and I'm very careful about not drinking outside of social/recreational means. I guess I always rationalized "gear" as not being an addiction.

Then again, maybe I'm being over dramatic. It's just that there are all of sudden more things that I want than I can afford...and I have money, but it's the "don't touch this except for emergencies and save until you are old" money. And of course, I'm trying to rationalize new modules that I want as "emergencies".

The Cyndustries Sawtooth Animator is the newest item to the WANT BAD list. This comes in right after the Livewire AFG...I have wet dreams of what the two sound like together. Previously, this was only available in the Cyndustries usual Modcan A format and I had seriously contemplated starting a small satellite system in that format simply so I could have the Sawtooth Animator. Well, now it's coming to Eurorack and Frac formats!!! Muff and Matrix have already got the jump on it. You must check out the audio demos here.

Aside from making me extremely excited, it also makes me a tad bit depressed that I'll either have to wait to have it, or be poor for a while. Back-alley sexual favors for modules is most definitely out of the question.

Joystick Proto - very early

2007-11-27T11:29:00.000-08:00

So this weekend I finally dragged my ass down to Radio Shack and picked up a few necessary parts (protoboard, alligator clips, voltage regulator, etc) to start working on my little joystick controller.

Because I'm an idiot, it took me about 2 hours to do what should have taken about 5 minutes. I didn't fully understand the whole two hemispheres of the protoboard and this caused me to burn up 2 LEDs (2 *overpriced* LEDs I might add) as well as not get the voltage regulator working. Once I finally understood that, I succeeded in almost burning up one of the axis pots of the joystick. See, I didn't (don't, actually) understand the whole "shit's gotta be goin back to ground" principle and I have ~5V just sitting there in the joystick's pot. :P

Anyway, by the end of the sitting, I had a working prototype which is what you see in the picture above. And I did had a few hours of fun hooking it up with the modular and I'm really excited about getting it done. In addition to the one joystick pictured, they'll be a second joystick (without it's retention springs removed) and a handful of trigger/gate buttons. This weekend I hope to find a nice enclosure and start soldering stuff together. Of course, I'll document the rest of the process as much as I can.

Workspace and Environment

2007-11-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

My interview for Trash_Audio's Workspace and Environment series is now up. Stoked!

http://trashaudio.blogspot.com/2007/11/workspace-and-environment-james-cigler.html

ZombieThunder

2007-11-18T16:35:00.001-08:00

So I'm the processes of trying to narrow down what modules that I will keep in a single Doepfer A100P suitcase as a "portable" system; the rest will go into a custom case which I am about to start working on.

I started this decision processed basing the results purely on space, but pretty soon that became too difficult and I figured it would be best to just start taking notes on what modules I use most when making patches. One of the more interesting patches I happened on was this one, which I named, ZombieThunder. It sounded like thunder and something I would have heard in a zombie movie soundtrack.

Of course, I took notes on what modules I used, but I didn't on exactly how they were patched...I'm describing it from memory here....

Plan B Model 15 sine is main sound source
Dalek Modulator sine wave was FM'ing the Plan B Model 15
Dalek Modulator other sine wave was FM'ing the FrequenSteiner (LP mode)
Plan B Model 24 stepped voltage (smoothed through Livewire Dual Bissell) was controlling pitch of Model 15
Plan B Model 24 smooth voltage was controlling the 2nd sine wave freq on the Dalek (the one FM'ing the filter).
Livewire Vulcan Max out was also modulating the Filter (although much more slowly).
Plan B Model 10 in LFO mode was opening up the main VCA.

Enjoy.

Livewire Dalek Modulator Demo

2007-11-18T16:35:00.000-08:00

This is a demo I have been looking forward too for a while. The Dalek is one of my fav modules because it is so useful, not only as a tone source, but as a modulation source; the latter I use the most frequently.

I tried to showcase it "on it's own" as much as possible since all the other video demos I have done so far have feature the Dalek in some shape or form. So without further ado...here's the Livewire Dalek Modulator.

Enjoy.

Trash Audio Studio Tour

2007-11-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

After being sick last weekend and busy all week (and saturday with a mastering project) I finally got around to making a video tour for my upcoming Workspace and Environment interview on Trash_Audio. It was Surachai's idea to make a video and it came out better than I expected.

Rather than narrate this one, I thought I'd give you all a break from my voice and instead write a quick piece as the sound track. And, it made sense to use the stuff being shown in the video.

Enjoy.

The Wishlist

2007-11-08T20:08:00.001-08:00

I don't think I've posted a "wishlist" yet. I know I've mentioned modules that were "in the pipe" for purchase, but that isn't quite the same thing...so here' goes:

1) Livewire Audio Frequency Generator (AFG!...is it here yet?! Is it here?!)
2) Plan B Model 9 Mixer/Atten. <- this is a rad module...simple and effective and multipurpose. And cheap!
3) The Harvestman 1973 Tyme Sefari <- I've been excited about this one for a while, but now that it's getting farther along, I can't wait. I might be more anxious to get this than the AFG.
4) Livewire Chaos Computer <- who knows when this thing will ship...but when it does, I want it.
5) Plan B Model 14 Voltage Processor <- So much more than just a mixer, this thing is a full on voltage tweaker; a must have if you have many modulation sources.
6) The Harvestman 1986 Zorlon Canon <- Another Harvestman that I'm getting more excited about as it nears shipping. The pitched noise sounds like it will be very cool, but I'm fantasizing about using the various gates to drive the Chaos Computer
7) Plan B Model 21 Milton Grande <- An evasive beast like the Chaos Computer, but this is the only sequencer that I've seen that really makes me want to get a sequencer. Once it's released and cash is plentiful, it will be mine.

Filters
I'll list the filters separate because I like having several different filters to choose from, but I don't want more filters as bad as some of the above modules. Maybe that's a good testament to how pleased I am with the Livewire Frequensteiner. ;)
1) Plan B Model 11 Evil Twin <- I love bandpass filters, but I tend to like to get filters which have more than one mode. Based on the sound demos though, this bad boy is the exception.
2) The Harvestman 1982 Polivoks VCF <- A fresh off the assembly line release and it's a brilliant idea; and it's a dead-on reproduction, even using Russian ICs and not US counterparts. It was also developed with the help of the Polivok's original designer. Based on what I've heard of the Polivoks, this thing is mean as hell. It also has simultaneous Lowpass and Bandpass outputs. Actually...this guy will probably bump the Model 11 out of the number one spot...audio demos will be final judge.
3) Cwejman DMF-2 <- If my thirst for filters isn't quenched by both the Harvestman and the Model 11 (and the Metasonix TM-6 and the Frostwave Resonator) then I will have to pick this guy up. I've been told that the Cwejman's don't have the character that I usually go for in a filter, but a "matched" stereo set would be a little too much to pass up...I love stereo filtering.

Well, that's the list. For now anyway. I only hope the bank account can survive it all.

Livewire Dual Bissell Generator Demo

2007-10-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

As promised, it's a two for one weekend ;) Here is the video demo of the Livewire Dual Bissell Generator. A simple module, but one of my favorite "tweaking" ones.

Enjoy.

Plan B Model 10 Demo

2007-10-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

Man, I was really off my game today. Tripping over my own words and loosing my train of thought mid sentence. Thank god for video editing. I almost thought of keeping a gag reel, but it takes up so much HDD space.

With that said, I proudly present the Plan B Model 10 video demo.

Enjoy.

Controller Quest

2007-10-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

So in the process of mulling over this idea of making a custom Eurorack case, I finally decided that I do want to keep one of the Doepfer suitcases with a select few modules as a "performance" system; everything else would go into the custom made case. Hell, I might not even make the custom case and just get that Plan B case that was announced a while back...either way, I'm keeping one Doepfer suitcase as the "performance" system.

So that got me thinking about a controller for it. I don't want to have to use the Doepfer A-190 MIDI to CV converter as that will take up valuable space. I'd also like to have a unique (and better) controller than a shitty little MIDI controller. It's also a perfect opportunity for me to build something myself.

So my first thought was something with a joystick. I had wanted to get one of the Doepfer A-174 Joystick modules, but it always seemed like it would be taking up valuable space. Well, it turns out you can get the bare joysticks from Doepfer, and rigging them up as 0-5v+ attenuators seems relatively simple. Apparently they also come spring loaded (so the stick is always in the center). You can easily tear the springs out and make them free floating as well. Ripping the springs out is irreversible, however, so I thought of getting two joysticks, ripping the springs out of one, and adding a couple of buttons for triggers. Maybe lay it out similar to an old arcade game; I could probably even find the same style buttons. Perfect, this is simple, unique, and in theory, easy for me to put together.

But...it got me to thinking that, at some point, I will undoubtedly need to play something at standard pitches. So I revamped my design...keep the two joysticks, add a 2 octave keyboard, and maybe keep the trigger buttons if necessary (I could always use a keyboard key to trigger). Probably even add mults, and possibly even VCAs directly on the controller rather than take up more of that valuable space in the suitcase.

Well, I can't really find a definitive schematic or anything for taking a regular keyboard (like a fatar replacement, or even ripping the one out of my cheapo m-audio oxygen 8) and converting that to CV.

Does anyone have any leads on making your own CV keyboard? I spent a while googling around, and aside from this item on musicfromouterspace (which might not even be the right thing) I can't find anything.

PlayThing-amagoop

2007-10-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

The comments (mainly Zerosum's) on the last Thingamagoop post got me thinking about demoing one application of the Thingamagoop. I was initially thinking of video ideas, but as I was playing around I got to jamming with it and it was too fun not to capture.

There is some modular processing applied:
The Thingamagoop (Ghost of Robot TB1X model, although that doesn't really matter) was plugged into the Doepfer A-119 Envelope Follower into the Ext. In of the Dalek Modulator. Ring Out of the Dalek into the Frequensteiner in bandpass mode, through the Doepfer VCA and then finally into the Moog MF-104 delay. There's some slight slow modulation of the Frequensteiner by the Vulcan Modulator and a touch of filter FM from the Plan B Model 15, the amount of which is being randomly controlled by the Dual Cyclotron.

Where the trick comes in is that I have the Threshold on the Envelope Follower set so that when I have my finger over the Thingamagoop's nose (blocking it's photocell), there is no gate output (and therefore no output from the Thingamagoop+modular). So I'm able to mute the sound just by putting my finger over the photocell.

Now, the modular processing imparts only a little bit of character; 90% of what you hear is the Thingamagoop and me flipping it's switches and playing with the LFO speed. It's pretty much impossible to pick out exactly when the FM of the Frequensteiner happens and the Ring Modulation is not that aggressive. I could have easily just run the Thingamagoop into the delay, but the modular added a nice character.

The left most switch on the Thingamagoop selects the "gate mode". Up is a square wave gate, controlled by the LFO speed. Down is no gate at all. It's pretty easy to hear when I switch back and forth. The right most switch is the pitch range. Down is low range, and up is high. You can hear me switch this a few times, in particular there are a few times where I simultaneously switch the gating off and the pitch to the high range...moving your finger over the photocell in this configuration leads to some really cool modulated tibres (which you'll hear). Adjusting the proximity of the "LEDicle" to the photocell of course also changes the pitch and the amount of modulation; I'm moving that back in forth in front of the photocell as well.
I'm able to do this all with the Thingamagoop cradled in both hands...my left thumb over the photocell, right hand fingers moving the LEDicle and switches and my right palm, and sometimes fingers, moving the LFO knob.

All in all, it's really fun to perform and improve with like this! :D

A simple Machinedrum pattern was used for some rhythm (no modular involvement there).

Enjoy, and please comment.

Latest poll...the winner is...

2007-10-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

The Plan B Model 10 Poly EG!

Unfortunately, because I have family visiting this weekend, I won't have time to make a video.

However, because the Livewire Dual Bissell was leading the poll in the beginning and finished in a close second, I will do two videos next weekend! One of the Model 10 and one of the Dual Bissell.

So look forward to those for next weekend.

The Ghost of Robot TB1X

2007-10-13T15:42:00.000-07:00

I already had one Thingamagoop, but when I saw the special Halloween editions, I couldn't help myself.

Not only do I now have a special edition Thingamagoop, but I now have a different sounding one. Yes, they sound different and compliment each other quite nicely. I've had a lot of fun so far making each one self modulate the other.

I'll probably draw the line at 2...unless more special editions come along. I'm a bit of a sucker for special editions.

Plan B Model 15 Arrives

2007-10-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

The Model 15 Arrives!!! My first oscillator that can track 1v/Oct. Color me ecstatic.

First off, let me say how bad ass Analogue Haven is. Shawn and Chuck and everyone there are the most incredible and nicest guys. I have always had a warm fuzzy feeling inside after giving them money; and it wasn't just because that meant gear was coming my way. If you are not currently giving them money, you should be. Shawn, you are the man!

Ok, so I've only played with it for a few hours last night, so the following is early impressions.

PWM. I see what people are griping about now. The "usable" pulse width range on the knob is pretty small. It's like from 10 - 2 o'clock on the knob, any further on the knob and the sound cuts out, presumably from the pulse being so small. HOWEVER, I completely see why Peter kept this feature. The sound that it makes as the pulse goes from really thin to kate moss thin sounds REALLY cool! It reminds me a bit of some of the sounds that Metasonix modules can make with the right knob settings. I think this feature of the Model 15 is very cool and really makes it stand out of the crowd. It's not your standard PWM, and I really like that. Personally, it would be nicer if it was spread out on the range of the knob a little more, like say 8 - 4 oclock. I don't mind the "dead" spots, just wish they were smaller.

Sync. I particularly like this Sync sound. I know people have complained it's not hard sync, but it has a unique character that is a nice timbral alternative. I have similar feeling towards it as I do the unique PWM; it's not the "standard" sound, but I like it. If you need the "standard" sound, get another VCO and now you have double the possibilities. Or for those who need to have a module that does everything; the Model 15A Expander sounds like it will clear up people's grips with PWM and Sync.

Waveforms. Holy waveshaping batman, these waveforms sound awesome! Granted, I don't have a lot of experience with the various available modular format oscillators, but I have played a lot of both analog and digital synths and I must say that this has the coolest sounding triangle wave I've ever heard. Normally, I hate triangle waves. To me they always sounded overly dull, almost as if something was not working correctly. It was like the inbred cousin of the sine and saw waves. In fact, I only listened to the triangle wave in this case because I accidentally plugged it in when I wanted to hear the sawtooth! Lucky me! Maybe the reason it has such a nice triangle is because it's the core waveform for the VCO. I don't know for sure, I just know I like it!
The sine wave is also incredible. It's very clean and loud, with the slightest touch of character. The sawtooth is still my favorite though. It's very "woody" and "organic" sounding. It pairs up perfectly with the Model 13 low pass gates for beautiful pluck sounds.

Bipolar Attenuators. I love bipolar attenuators. Love them. The only gripe I have about them is that very few modules (none actually to my knowledge) have knobs with detents at 0. This makes it very hard to actually have full attenuation (aka "0"), it's always a little positive or a little negative. This is especially true on the Model 15's Freq CV inputs because they are so sensitive. It's pretty difficult to actually have a CV patched in and have the knob set to 0; not without extremely gentle tweaking. You're not going to be able to turn it up during a performance and get it back to where it was very easily. This isn't really a problem with the Model 15 itself per se, more of a general problem with bipolar attenuators with non-detented knobs. And furthermore, maybe it's just me who gets a little bugged by this.

Morph Output. Man this is cool! I really dig the Sine - Saw morph, it's like another flavor of a PWM sound, but more unique sounding. Blending this output with the sawtooth outputs leads to some cool timbres; likewise doing Sine - Square and combining that with the square wave out. Audio rate modulation enhances this. Use of an envelop makes for a very cool "evolving sound".

Overall, this gets a glowing review from me. 2 thumbs up, if I had a third hand, I have that thumb up too. :D

I do plan on making a video demo, however, I want to spend more time with the module so that I really know it well before doing the demo. I'll also see about getting a loaner 15A Expander so that can be included in the demo since I bet a lot of people are going to want to see that as well.

Hardware Hacking

2007-10-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

I've always been interested in electronics and how they work, but whenever I would decide to actually try and learn about schematics or whatever, the particular information source was always too "clinical" or assumed that I knew more basic fundamentals than did. Long story short, I always walked away going "ahhh, fuck it".

Since getting interested in modular synthesis I've been able to understand some of the more abstract fundamentals and concepts to general electronics. Also, through the brain-picking of colleagues I've been able to have a general idea of what resisters did, what capacitors did, etc. I still wasn't able to actually look at a schematic and understand what it was.

So I had been looking for ultimate beginners books that went about teaching through application; ie. making something, not just explaining everything like a spec sheet.
At AH Bay Area, I won a copy of the "Best of Analog Dialog" book which was a compilation of various application examples using Analog Devices ICs. I thought I finally had exactly what I was looking for... But, my heart sank when I started to dive into it and once again was saying to myself, "ahhh, fuck it".

Fast forward to the most recent TapeOp (no. 61 Sept/Oct 2007) and an interview with Nicolas Collins. Nicolas Collins is an "electronic musician" and teacher at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago. His book, Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking, is essentially based on his course of creating, modifying, and otherwise "abusing" electronic devices in order to make sound. Basically, it's like old school circuit bending (it's not exclusive to electronic toys) with a healthy dose of circuit design.

I must say, this book is absolutely brilliant. It's not written like a typical course book (in fact I wouldn't have known it was based on course material had I not actually read the intro) and it does not delve into great deal about general electronics or "engineering", it just gets right into actually making something.

Some fantastic examples are wiring up tape heads from cassette recorders or answering machines and swiping them over credit cards. Or making a piezo microphone and dipping it in "Plasti-Dip" (a plastic normally used to coat hand tools) so that it is water proof and usable to record under water, or even the sound of water freezing / ice melting!

By far my favorite part (thus far, I haven't even gotten half way through) was using a cheap CMOS inverter chip to create several square wave oscillators. He didn't actually explain schematics until you had a working circuit on a breadboard (with actual photos). I can now actually say that I understand many aspects of schematics now thanks to this. The way he will show you a modification to the circuit (swapping a resister for a potentiometer) with a real picture and then with the schematic representation made prefect sense and allowed me to better understand what the schematic meant. A picture is worth a thousand words, after all.

So anyway, long post short, go by this book. It's awesome. I already have several ideas for cool little instruments that I want to make, AND thanks to this book I feel like I can actually make them. Thank you Nicolas Collins!!!

Now I might actually understand what that Analog Dialog book is talking about after all. :D

Recent pictures of the modular

2007-10-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

>>>
It's hard to believe, but I haven't actually taken a picture of the modules all racked up before! :/

So here it is, in all it's glory. You'll no doubt notice these somewhat strategically placed holes. From top to bottom, left to right, they will be filled as follows:

Livewire Chaos Computer (not yet released)
Livewire Vulcan Expansion selector thingy (not yet released)
Plan B Model 14 Voltage Processor
Livewire Audio Frequency Generator (aka 'AFG', not yet released)
Plan B Model 15 Complex VCO (ordered and in transit)

Pretty different than the original "mock up" images from way back when. I hadn't even really planned a 2nd case at that point and now I'm already debating how I'm going to handle further expansion. Muff was right, it truly never ends.

Oh, coincidentally, this shot is of the patch I posted about last night; DalekInvasion. Kinda hard to see cause the shot was taken with my phone, but might help if any of you were having a hard time visualizing what I was explaining.

DalekInvasion

2007-10-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

This track is more interesting as far as the patch goes than it actually sounds, but I wanted to share anyway...

The main sound source is one square wave oscillator from the Dalek Modulator. It's pitch modulation comes from two sources:

The first is the "stepped" output of the Model 24 Heisenberg, which is paced by one square wave LFO from the Vulcan Modulator, and fed through one half of a Livewire Dual Bissell Generator (slew limiter).

The second source is the other square wave oscillator from the Dalek Modulator, set in Low range and run through the other half of the Dual Bissell Generator. The rate of this oscillator is modulated by the other square wave LFO from the Vulcan Modulator.

Both of these sources are then fed into a Doepfer A-150 Dual Voltage Controlled Switch (only using one of the switches). The switch is controlled by the Model 28 Tap Clock. Every time the quarter note gate is output, it causes the A-150 switch to change from using the first modulation source to using the second. So what you are hearing is the two modulation sources "trading off" every quarter note.

Beyond that, the "main output" of the Dual Cyclotron is modulating the filter cutoff. The Dual Cyclotron has become my favorite filter modulation source. There's something very organic and chaotic about it's modulation and that leads to some very cool timbres when used to modulate a filter (sparingly of course).

Finally, the output of the modular is going into a Moog MF-104 Analog Delay, with the Moog MF-102 Ring Modulator patched into the feedback loop. If you listen carefully, you can hear the delay repeats slowly get more "spacey" sounding. In some cases, it sounds like is almost slowly starting to play in reverse.

Enjoy.

Clock divider "always on" trick

2007-10-08T22:56:00.001-07:00

So I thought of also adding a category covering "tips and tricks" as I find them. Hopefully you all find them useful. Obviously some will be specific to certain modules, but hopefully some, like this one, will work probably work for any brand of similar functioning module.

I found that with the Doepfer A-160 Clock Divider, when it's powered on without a trigger source, several of the outputs will be "on", sending out a positive gate signal.

When I'm working on patches, a lot of time I want the main amp VCA to be open all the time until I get a patch to where I want it. Until recently, I would patch the output of the filter directly to the mixer, but this was usually more effort since the volume of the signal from the filter might be too loud, or I would have to re-patch a few things when it came time to use the VCA (and then re-adjust gain levels).

Now that I've discovered that the Clock Divider will output a constant "on" for several outputs, I just patch one of those directly to the gate input on the envelope controlling the main amp VCA. Then, once it's time to "play" the patch, I can just un-patch the cable from the Clock Divider into the Gate output from the keyboard and I'm ready to roll.

:D

The new look...and polls!

2007-10-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, I took the time yesterday to update to the newer post-google Blogger templates. I mainly wanted to do this to try out adds (I'm not selling out or anything, I'm just curious on how much, if any, money that might bring in), but also mainly to add a Poll.

The first poll is in regards to the next demo video, it's on the right-hand side of the main page. Please vote so I can get a general idea of what you guys want to see next in terms of modules.

Thanks everyone!

Vulcan Modulator Demo

2007-10-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

I feel like a right ass for not posting in so long. Work has been a bit busy and beyond that I've just been too lazy for my own good.

In effort to make amends, I bring you the Livewire Vulcan Modulator demo.

Enjoy.