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Post by spacedog on Feb 11, 2019 11:36:17 GMT
Amp up your SoundTheme: Create a short example piece, or even a full track, that uses one or more VCAs in a "novel" fashion. Submission window: Monday 11 Feb -> Monday 18th Feb (23:59:59) Background: Voltage Control Amplifers (VCAs) can be hugely useful modules, with many patching possibilities that aren't immediately obvious. This challenge will help to show some of those possibilities and maybe even spark further experimenting. Hopefully, most (if not all) of us should have at least two VCAs with which to experiment, via the 2VCA module. So, again, the hope is that nobody is disadvantaged. It may even be that as result of this challenge it becomes obvious that more VCAs are needed in that setup  Have fun and get inventive. Do note that whilst there is a cut-off date noted above, these challenges stay open for anyone to post past that date.
The challenge is set, and runs during the submission window set out above, however, please feel free to add entries or leave comments after the initial challenge has ended. Each entry should contain:- Link to audio or video example (embedded preferred)
- Short (or not so short) patch notes, explaining how you have built on the above theme
Your entry can be as short/long as you wish, a simple sound or a track, use external fx or synths, do what you can in the time you have - go wild, make the challenge yours! You are welcome to use previous entries, as inspiration, build on them to form something new, or just use in a different way, you are welcome to submit multiple entries. If you are posting on social media (youtube, soundcloud) , please tag with #AEChallenge and #AEModular, and include a link back to the challenge thread here on the AE Modular forum. Everyone is actively encouraged to comment on entries, provide feedback and ideas... you are welcome to continue commenting/discussing outside of the submission window. the more we discuss the more we all learn
This is part of the AE patch challenge series - if you would like more information, or have ideas for the challenge, please post on the patch challenge thread.
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Post by thetechnobear on Feb 11, 2019 12:16:32 GMT
 for inspiration... mylarmelodies delivers |
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Post by spacedog on Feb 11, 2019 13:10:56 GMT
for inspiration... mylarmelodies delivers That's a really interesting video, thanks, thetechnobear. That should certainly spark some interesting submissions. |
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Post by NightMachines on Feb 12, 2019 19:10:19 GMT
Got my video done already! It's a feedback thing again (yawn  ) I'm using my four VCAs and the Nyle filter in a feedback loop through the 4ATT/MIX to generate weird and sometimes dramatic, audio effects. At the end of the chain sits the MULTIFX Flanger then with a little bit of its own reverb too. The patch is basically this, plus a few little extra bits here and there:  |
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Post by thetechnobear on Feb 12, 2019 20:03:41 GMT
cool do you know where the noise comes from? I tried this last night, and for me, it seems to be modulating the cv input when there is no signal, will give you something close to the CV signal. (e.g. put an oscillator into cv, and nothing into in... and you will faintly here the oscillator) |
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Post by spacedog on Feb 12, 2019 21:49:11 GMT
Got my video done already! It's a feedback thing again (yawn ) I'm using my four VCAs and the Nyle filter in a feedback loop through the 4ATT/MIX to generate weird and sometimes dramatic, audio effects. At the end of the chain sits the MULTIFX Flanger then with a little bit of its own reverb too. The patch is basically this, plus a few little extra bits here and there: Really interesting, thanks, NightMachines , something that I will play with myself - maybe even pass it through my Klein Bottle in Reaper. It got really interesting aound the 01:00 mark when I thought the neighbours would be pounding on my wall - that was quite some depth and bass. It reminded me of some of the stomach churning depth at the GAS concert at the Barbican in London, a while back.
And I nearly did a feedback challenge this week I had been trying some feedback myself from the DELAY module back into itself via a modulated filter, through the MIXER. Yours was a whole different way of thinking. Luckily my order for my extension rack went into Robert today, so soon I'll have an army of VCAs (well, two x two) |
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Post by admin on Feb 16, 2019 0:17:29 GMT
Here is my entry for the week. Again this took many failed attempts with some great sounds that were lost when I just changed a little thing. I'm feeding the self oscillating Nyle filter into the 1st VCA which is then patched into the 2nd VCA in some kind of feedback loop which leads to interesting effects. For some reason I can dial in 3 different notes just be changing the CV offset on the VCA! Idea for a new module: have a VCA where the CV offset can be changed via CV Below the "proof" that all 4 VCAs have been fully used in this patch!  |
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Post by spacedog on Feb 17, 2019 23:00:52 GMT
Here is the outcome of my trying to use my VCAs in a "novel" way... well, it was novel to me. I was using a modulated VCA to modulate a second modulating VCA (I think that's right ), plus there was some sharing of the various gates and LFOs. Here's what it sounds like.
In the spirit of hand-drawn patch notes, here's what I did. Probably not novel in the world of modular synthesis, but defintely novel for me - and great fun.
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Post by NightMachines on Feb 18, 2019 14:23:16 GMT
Here is the outcome of my trying to use my VCAs in a "novel" way... well, it was novel to me. I was using a modulated VCA to modulate a second modulating VCA (I think that's right ), plus there was some sharing of the various gates and LFOs. Here's what it sounds like.
Nice! Very musical!!!! I often forget to put a VCA between things, like you did here, although I should really know better. |
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Post by thetechnobear on Feb 18, 2019 20:23:13 GMT
ok, Im creeping in just before the 'deadline' this week... basically because I was overly ambitious this week The idea was simple... VCAs = voltage controlled modulation, so Id find a new source for modulation my Madrona Labs Soundplane. (Ive wanted for a while to get my Soundplane directly connected to my modulars, its feels like a perfect match) only problem was... that meant I needed to actually write the software to get my Soundplane working with Bela so I could have direct CV output, to connect to the AE Modular. Theoretically, not that difficult given the Soundplane software is open source, and Id already started this a while back, In practice, I ended up spending days hacking, trying to track down issues, to do with CPU utilisation and debugging USB protocols. Looking back, this was likely to happen given the pretty limited CPU available on the Bela (think raspberryPi) , and that the Soundplane software was designed to run on a modern desktop computer, but it seemed like a good idea last Monday Finally on Sunday, I zapped the final gremlins, and could turn to the AE modular patch, and then Monday create this demonstration. all a bit rushed in the end... but I got there, and it opens up some really interesting avenues for me "What about VCA's?" - I hear you shout? Did you forget them ? Not at all... The primary aim of using the Soundplane is for the musician to be able to directly perform modulation thru the surface, this comes from the Soundplane (via Bela) as CV targetting VCAs, and given its multi touch, and multi dimensions, we needs lots of VCAs, we have two voices - for each voice: one vca is controlling amplitude from the pressure of the touch. then the Y axis (up/down) is taken, and fed to another 2 VCA's , which cross fade between 2 different oscillators. we do this by taking the Y CV to one CV, and the inverse (using 2ATT) to the other VCA. Theres also additional direction modulation of pressure being taken to the filters. Basically, I stopped patching when I ran out of VCAs, and patch wires more info: Madrona Labs Soundplane : madronalabs.com/soundplaneBela : bela.ioNext challenge is already here... Krell, sounds familiar...think Im going to leverage what I have for that! |
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Post by spacedog on Feb 18, 2019 20:45:25 GMT
ok, Im creeping in just before the 'deadline' this week... basically because I was overly ambitious this week The idea was simple... VCAs = voltage controlled modulation, so Id find a new source for modulation my Madrona Labs Soundplane. (Ive wanted for a while to get my Soundplane directly connected to my modulars, its feels like a perfect match) only problem was... that meant I needed to actually write the software to get my Soundplane working with Bela so I could have direct CV output, to connect to the AE Modular. Theoretically, not that difficult given the Soundplane software is open source, and Id already started this a while back, In practice, I ended up spending days hacking, trying to track down issues, to do with CPU utilisation and debugging USB protocols. Looking back, this was likely to happen given the pretty limited CPU available on the Bela (think raspberryPi) , and that the Soundplane software was designed to run on a modern desktop computer, but it seemed like a good idea last Monday Finally on Sunday, I zapped the final gremlins, and could turn to the AE modular patch, and then Monday create this demonstration. all a bit rushed in the end... but I got there, and it opens up some really interesting avenues for me "What about VCA's?" - I hear you shout? Did you forget them ? Not at all... The primary aim of using the Soundplane is for the musician to be able to directly perform modulation thru the surface, this comes from the Soundplane (via Bela) as CV targetting VCAs, and given its multi touch, and multi dimensions, we needs lots of VCAs, we have two voices - for each voice: one vca is controlling amplitude from the pressure of the touch. then the Y axis (up/down) is taken, and fed to another 2 VCA's , which cross fade between 2 different oscillators. we do this by taking the Y CV to one CV, and the inverse (using 2ATT) to the other VCA. Theres also additional direction modulation of pressure being taken to the filters. Basically, I stopped patching when I ran out of VCAs, and patch wires more info: Madrona Labs Soundplane : madronalabs.com/soundplaneBela : bela.ioNext challenge is already here... Krell, sounds familiar...think Im going to leverage what I have for that!
I love it, thetechnobear. So much went into that, it's impressive. Watching you work the Soundplane put me in mind of Spock doing his thing with the touch screens in the original Star Trek
This would be an interesting performance, perhaps paired with some pitch quantizing - unless you wanted to go full Theremin, of course.
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Post by thetechnobear on Feb 18, 2019 21:25:48 GMT
thanks, was quite an adventure... as on Saturday it looked like it wasn't going to work, looked like the Bela didn't have the CPU needed, and also possibly a firmware bug - was quite a relief on Sunday when I fixed it. (as I spent a lot of time on it !) pitch quantization, yeah that's really easy... theres a slight complexity, as you still want to be able to slide between notes (and new note needs to be quantized), and also allow vibrato, but its not that hard, mostly a digital low pass filter, plus a bit of heuristics to know when the musician has settled on a new note (rather than transitioning) that said, Id like to spend more time playing unquantized, playing by ear... its difficult, but a great skill to pick up. also, some of the off key notes, are coming from the minor battles I'm having with oscillator tuning and scaling on the AE modular, unfortunately quantizing doesn't really help with that, as each oscillator is slightly different (joys of analog). interestingly though... if you play by ear, that is no longer an issue (unless you combine oscillators, as I did in this video - which compounds the problems ) |
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Post by NightMachines on Feb 19, 2019 7:10:10 GMT
ok, Im creeping in just before the 'deadline' this week... basically because I was overly ambitious this week Wow! This is beautiful! Well set up and played! I especially like that you were able to circumvent MIDI and convert the Soundplane's data directly to CV. Keep us posted on your further developments, please |
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