modular listening

production: rune johanssen
mixing & mastering: rune johanssen
vocals: calliope cross
lyrics: calliope cross
cover art: pexels (edited by rune johanssen)

STARDUST

to fade like a star
you must show us your scar
and the night won't end for a year
(we will fade)

if you tell no lies
well then i won't say goodbye
it's a dream that's gone all awry

stardust falls away
with no chance to pray
angels falling from the sky
(we will fade)

when i tell you so
don your cape and hurry go
nurse your wounds, you won't die today

far away

don't you recall that night?
it will never be alright
you are banished far from the stage
(we will fade)

fall like stardust then
with a cigarette in hand
all around us angels will die
(fade)

no more brutal lies
you can't say goodbye
we will fall and fade from the sky
(we will fade)

with celestial hips
and your technicolor lips
i think you'll be just fine

STARDUST is an intellectual property of LOST LAVENDER, a music group.

𝙎𝙏𝘼𝙍𝘿𝙐𝙎𝙏

Chime into a world of noise and melancholia. 

Ranging from ambient to 70s Italian film scores. 

Perfect time for a long long walk.  
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/sophie-thatcher/episodes/sophie-thatcher-12th-february-2025

Sophie Thatcher 120225

OD: ER -101/102 Listening Room V.2

This one's made entirely on an Octatrack, with synth sounds and loops sampled from a Yamaha Reface CS and drum loops built on a Volca Sample, then reworked in the Octatrack.

This one's likely to end up on my EP, Lullabies For The Vintage Generation.

Octatrack - Catching Lily

I was fooling around with self-oscillation on the RES4 a lot lately and also wanted to give using the CTG-VC as an oscillator a try at one point in the Workout. So I decided to combine the two for this fun little patch.

It's actually very simple. The RES4 is brought into self-osc by feeding the notch out back to the input (gotta invert it or it kills the resonance) and using the bandpass out for audio. Three bands are tuned to octaves and the last to a fifth. The RES4 master frequency is sequenced by a Doepfer Dark Time and gated with an A142-4 and VCA2P. Then, the four outputs of a PH4 are used to modulate the levels of the individual resonator bands, bringing the four separate tones in and out in quadrature, creating the illusion of a further sequence.

Secondly, the RES4 output that is monitored is multed to the CTG trigger input. The CTG has a nice comparator on the trigger input, it reliably triggers from all sorts of slow sine waves and stuff like that - it doesn't need a fast rising edge (unlike all non-Cwejman envelopes I have here). It works very well at audiorates too, allowing the CTG to be "synced" to a master osc. The attack and decay controls then shape the osc from saw to triangle and ramp, but keeping the frequency of the oscillation. A bit like PWM. Of course, if the combined attack and decay time are too long (i.e., longer than one cycle of the master osc frequency), it "folds" over and basically turns to silence. All sorts of fun can be had additionally using cycling on the CTG (turning it into an actual synced osc), Zero-Restart and modulating the bipolar output level (built-in "ring modulator"!) - but I didn't do any of that in this patch to keep it simple for now. I had only tried syncing the CTG like this to a simple osc so far, which worked great; I thus was amazed to see that it handled a complex input like this "shifting" sequence from the RES4 very well. Gonna have to try a vocal or guitar or something soon, I have a feeling that could be very cool. 

Anyways, the synced CTG and self-oscillating RES4 are mixed with a VCA4MX, given a touch of A199 Spring Verb and then recorded directly. First, only the RES4 is heard; The PH4 frequency is very low and the effect of the Quadrature LFO bringing the individual RES4 bands in and out is very obvious. At the beginning I turn up the PH4 frequency to a low audiorate just to show its effect and the chord used, then bring it down again and start to fade in the CTG and play a bit with its time parameters about halfway through the recording. It should be obvious what the CTG is. Also some tweaking of the PH4 frequency to show what that does with the CTG mixed in. At the end, I'm killing the PH4 modulation to show how the CTG reacts to the sequenced "chord" from the RES4, again bringing the CTG in a bit later so it is obvious which sound is which module.

As always, a slight bit of EQ, compression, reverb and delay in Ableton to bring it all together. No further cuts though, what you hear is exactly what I recorded.

I feel that these are two techniques with these two modules worthy of further exploration. The patch might not be super interesting from a listening perspective, but fun to do and hopefully some food for thought. Hope you enjoy it!

Cheers

Mar 16: Audiorate Transient Generator

Trying out a new 4MS SMR.  Running it in Res (Q) mode.  The level CV modulated by three LFOs from a Modcan Quad LFO in quad mode, and 4th LFO going into SMR Spread.  First LFO also multed into Wogglebug whose smooth output is fed into Cycle of Maths Channel 1, which is cycling channel 4 Maths, and CH 1 and 4 going into remaining 4MS level inputs.  Env out ch 5 on 4MS sent to Maths CH1 Both input.  A little reverb provided by my ancient Eventide DSP4000 Ultra-Harmonizer, using Big Hall preset.  Good fun.

Sorry for the high freq overdrives.  Still learning how to EQ properly.

I enjoy playing this for hours as a generative piece - it never quite gets routine.

4MS SMR Test

A short study:  drum track created in Bastl Knit Rider, kick is Bastl Tea Kick, snare is Bastl Noise2, output to Make Noise Echophone, with delays clocked by Knit Rider.  The droning melody I forget how that was done :) - but probably MN Rene sequencing Moog Mother 32 and given some tension modulation by a Wogglebug stepped out to the envelope generator sent to the VCA.  A little reverb from the Eventide DSP4000.

Echophon Drums Study

Similar to my other 4MS SMR test run, this experiment includes routing the audio through the Make Noise Echophon, which has its Tempo In clocked by Wogglebug which in turn has its Speed clocked from the Modcan Quad LFO using a slow Random wave.  The glitches and bursts of excitement in the Echophon make it a fun unit and crazy addition, if not a terribly reliable delay.  A little reverb added via Eventide Ultra-Harmonizer and then some compression in Logic using the stock plug in.

Denatured 4MS SMR with Echophon

Outside The Trains Dont Run On

Here’s a patch with at it’s heart the Cwejman MBC-3, it is used for compression, colouring and sound design. 

There are two layers:

1. The rhythmical source is a RG-6 clocking a PH-8. The 0 and 270 degrees Saw/Square outputs of the PH-8 are routed to two FSH-1’s. The outputs of the FSH-1’s are routed to a MX-4S which is panned by a PH-4. The RG-6 modulates the two FSH-1’s via the CV1 inputs, and also modulates the PWM input and FM1 input of the PH-8. 

2. The gate output of the RG-6 triggers a CTG-VC, which pings a MMF-1S. This creates the percussive layer and bell-type sounds. The VCA/Mix output of the MMF-1S is routed to the MBC-3. Two of its compressor bands are routed to the audio inputs (no2) of the FSH-1s and are mixed with layer 1. The third (upper) band of the MBC-3 is used to FM the PH-8 via FM input2. The RG-6 also triggers a Turing Machine that is locked into loops. The Seq output of the Turing Machine modulates the frequency of both the MMF-1 and PH-8. This creates the repeating motives.

I wiggle the two frequency knobs of the FSH-1s and the frequency knob of the PH-8. The PH-8 is used in audio rate as well as LFO mode. The latter creates the clicky percussion sounds. 

Recorded in one long take into ProTools via a RND 5059 and Prism AD. Then cut up to make it slightly less boring. Bit of reverb and limiting added on the master fader.

Spil - Plunge

STO through R*S triple wave shaper for bass.

Morphagene.

Shape

cs-l only sound source in this patch. recorded in one take. 5 outs filtered/lpg’ed separately 

top osc getting quantized random, bottom getting a 7 step sequence. 
final output of top osc going into make noise lxd ping with steady clock while also being modulated with an lfo. wavefolding modulated by benjolin 
multiply (ringmod) output going into ryo aperture for the bongoish sound. 
final output bottom osc brought slightly half way though recording more harmonics. 
square/sub out to WMD/SSF MMF filter being tweaked live and modulated by rampage. 

PWM output's of osc one and two are going into Animodule SOB, which gets random pings from truing machine. cutoff turned up halfway though to let filter open fully.  SOB going into reverb.

Instruo CS-L demo

a patch made to complement what happened to be in my Morphagene that day

sigma

Full Set by Crystal Castles at Glastonbury Festival 2008.
////

Crystal Castles // Live @ Glastonbury 2008

Experimenter and dabbler.  Mostly modular.  Posting studies and experiments of gear and ideas.

4MS SMR Test

Andrew Mohr

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