taylor

it's been raining all day, but the evening is clear, damp. the sky is grey and it will be dark soon.

eurorack modular sound sources:
qubit nebulae
piston honda
addac wav player

filters:
pittsburgh filter
intellijel uvcf

modulators:
flame c3
vulcan modulator
zone b.f.


June 11, 2014 (late spring evening)

a small bed of sound that just rests.

sound sources:
toy horn, looped with sound machines UL1 loop module
op-1, looped with modcan cv record
piston honda - static sound
breath from toy horn - noise/static

only one filter used, on one modcan channel, to cut some high frequencies.

June 12, 2014 (a small piece for toy horn, sine waves and noise)

really a simple structure here. the verbos harmonic oscillator being modulated by 5 LFOs and the phonogene capturing and looping a portion of it. the interplay between the phonogene loop and the harmonic loops created by the LFOs is nice.

this is how, to me, the verbos oscillator shines.

sound sources:
verbos harmonic oscillator
make noise phonogene

modulators:
vulcan modulator
zone b.f.

filter:
intellijel korgasmatron

June 16, 2014 (loop lullaby)

continuing the idea of leaving the synth patched overnight and using it again the same way the next time…. this sound is set up the same way as the previous.. just with different settings, different LFOs, etc.

i think i'm approaching what looks like a really effective little live rig…

this is the verbos harmonic oscillator again controlled by 5 LFOs.. some filtering and the phonogene.

June 17, 2014 (like yesterday, but different / verbos harmonic oscillator)

something about this, to me, sounds like a small boat adrift on a dark sea.

eurorack modular + eventide h7600

June 19, 2014 (lost at sea)

tonight's sound is mutable instrument's Frames module dynamically mixing 4 sources from the modular (the frames are being stepped through by a moskwa sequencer).

the mix of the 4 sources feeds into a phonogene, filtered by the intellijel korgasmatron.

it's a nice, dark soupy texture that's almost got a hint of melody.

exploring frames...

June 30, 2014 (dark textured frame)

dreams of distance, of a desire to break out.

July 03, 2014 (dreams of distance)

tonight's sound is a bit of a noodle, but there's something nostalgic about it... an ending.. a walk off into a sunset.

it makes use of the e350 and braids oscillators being sequenced by a rene. the alm SBG module brings my favorite strymon pedal into the mix and the whole thing runs through a lovely tc m2000 reverb.

a good one for nighttime.

July 08, 2014 (into the sunset)

a sketch for two loopers, xylophone, nord lead and cassette.

calming for a dear friend.

July 10, 2014 (music for a friend)

this is the op-1 being looped into a phonogene and the output split off into both an intellijel dr. octature II filter and a piston honda being used as a wave shaper for the noise and dirty part of the sound. i've never used the piston in this way before and will now probably be doing it all the time.

subtle modulations give it some warble and the whole thing sounds like a beautiful tape loop.

at the end i bring the dr. octature into barely self-oscillation and start playing the filter manually, the new, lower melody that shows up at the end is produced from this, a beautiful accident.

July 17, 2014 ((not)a tape loop)

this modular patch i've made is working so well i practically feel like putting it into a case of its own. this is the exact same setup as yesterday, an OP1 being processed by my "tape loop" setup in the modular. this time i'm simply playing the OP1 live and processing as it goes. the sound goes through a few interesting variations throughout it's nearly 7-minute length.

i love how distressed and worn the processing chain sounds... and now i've got some ideas to further expand on it. maybe tomorrow.

July 18, 2014 (further modular "tape" explorations)

quiet waves lapping broken shells and discarded plastics from a distant beach against the grey, sandy shore.

.... same setup as the previous two days. live op1 into eurorack modular. mainly processed by phonogene, piston honda, a dr. octature II filter and pittsburgh modular filter.

this is one of those modular breakthrough moments. like when you're learning a new language and finally grasp an important concept.

i hesitate to break this patch down...

July 19, 2014 (washed against a grey shore)

today's sound, for me, was more about process and learning than final outcome. i paid more attention to the routing and my goals rather than the sound.

what i wanted to do was get the make noise rene sequencer to work nicely with long, slow envelopes. the key to doing that is NOT using SNAKE mode and making sure the rene is being clocked by long gates, not triggers.

the answer to that, in my system, is to use pamela's workout clock module set to a very slow tempo with a couple outputs programmed to be long gates. pamela's is really great for that, the ability to adjust the width of the gates on the outputs... it doesn't just send triggers.

it worked pretty well...  and rene drives a verbos harmonic oscillator and an e350. it's all running through the new make noise erbe verb, which i just picked up this weekend.

rene is one of the most mysterious modules in my system. it's easy to grasp on the most basic level, but quickly gets pretty complex. i have not come to grips with it yet.

July 21, 2014 (rene and slow envelope experiment)

...and crickets and cicadas.

went away for the weekend to my parents house and took a small modular system with me for the purpose of learning the make noise wogglebug more. it's one of my more mysterious modules.

i thought this was an interesting sound. it's the wogglebug modulating the verbos harmonic oscillator.

all i had on hand to record was an old tape recorder that my sister had from the 80s. i just recorded out of a small speaker, through the air, and captured on the tape recorder using its built-in mic.. 

i thought this sound was quite like the sound of tree frogs.. or crickets, or cicadas.. depending on the length of tone playing.

and i did learn a bit more about the wogglebug.

July 04, 2014 (wogglebug tree frogs)

today's sound started as an experiment in using the make noise wogglebug as a sample rate reducer... a trick of the module, which generally isn't known for doing that... where you can sample an incoming single based on the rate of a 2nd signal going in.

in this case i plugged the qubit nebulae into the wogglebug and sampled it with a waveform from the e350 oscillator. the pitch of the oscillator effectively becomes the same rate of the incoming sound, in this case, the nebulae.

the nebulae is in freeze mode and the make noise rene sequencer is sequencing the start/scan point of the frozen sample.

the whole thing goes into an intellijel korgasmatron filter to filter out some, but not all, of the harsher sample-rate-reduction effect. the signal is also being fed into a serge resonant EQ and a make noise erbe verb.

i play a bit with the pitch of the e350 to make those sweeping and bending sounds, which is basically turning the sample rate of the nebulae sample down and up.

the patch started as a simple experiment to try this use of the wogglebug out but i ended up being able to work out a nice looping sound by the end.

thank you to the excellent tutorial on this process by collin russell music on youtube, which is where i learned to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pws9rY9kUhw

July 22, 2014 (deep travel (wogglebug as sample reducer)

a sketch for music box and eurorack modular.

July 23, 2014 (a scarcity of objects)

when i came into the studio this morning i turned on the modular and patched this patch without the monitors on, without hearing it. i got it patched up then turned on the monitors and was pleasantly surprised by what came out. i had to retune the oscillators but everything else was patched blindly (or, deafly?)

i had the simple idea to control 4 oscillator levels, via the intellijel linix, by the vulcan modulator LFO spitting out strange wave shapes via the combined outputs. the LFOs don't repeat at the same times so there's a constant shifting of when each tone comes in and out.

a simple patch, but effective i think. 

July 24, 2014 (four oscillators)

i wanted to make a patch where the make noise rene sequencer just slowly played through various notes.. a slow wander... with something like a bell or an electric piano...

this is pretty simple.. the rene plays a synth tech e350... the phonogene captured a bit of a loop that plays in the background and the whole thing runs through a 12 second delay on an eventide h7600.

this isn't exactly as i envisioned (is it ever?) but it's close and i'll certainly keeping working in this theme to see if i can capture what's in my mind.

July 25, 2014 (a slow wander)

today i received a new oscillator for my modular... the (quite amazing) intellijel shapeshifter. i'm a sucker for wavetable oscillators and the shapeshifter, even though i've only given it under an hour of play, seems incredibly beautiful and deep.

the sound here is only two modules.. the shapeshifter and a make noise erbe verb.

the reverb shape CV out of the erbe verb is modulating the shapeshifter's SHAPE parameter while the shapeshifter drones in chord mode.

you basically get a modulation that's in time with the reverb and as the sound of the oscillator changes, and pushes itself into the reverb, the reverb responds as reverbs do and in turn alters the sound of the oscillator via the Shape parameter... so there's a bit of a cyclic/feedback modulation here which is really nice.

this is just one of my first sounds with the shapeshifter... just an experiment, really... nothing more.

July 28, 2014 (shapeshifter 001)

sound sources:
xylophone
intellijel shapeshifter

processors:
make noise phonogene
sound machines UL1
intellijel korgasmatron
make noise erbe verb
serge resonant eq
eowave zone b.f.
c3 knob recorder

taylor

warrencoleman