Disquiet Junto Project 0463: Making the Gradient

[krehg]

https://soundcloud.com/ohm-research/oprit-disquiet0463

Some random ramp wave lfo modulation.

[zndx]

Mesmerizing lights. Layered filters.

[wagneric]

I used naturally-occurring gradients on this, obtained by driving two vertically-spaced 1um platinum resistance temperature sensors through air with my car, recorded on a Tascam DR-680. After looping these signals for awhile I started to hear some patterns at the edges of what I’d tend to write off as chaos. At the end I added a few seconds of pressure spectra (a wind storm recorded with my cellphone’s built-in microphones), for contrast.

[wasabicube]

Five triangle wave LFOs mixed together modulating a sine wave (self-oscillating ladder filter) then recorded to Ableton where they were affected by four plugins all with wet/dry mix automated with ramps or triangles. The four plugins were Unfiltered Audio Byome acting as a pulsing quantizer, Glitchmachines’ Fracture and Hysteriesis, and Puremagnetik’s Fathoms.

[undermulden]

A weird track today. Thinking of gradients, I came up with something that doesn’t belong somewhere specific, but still creates a space of its own and then I thought about sample quantizing and bit crushing. The track loops through different versions of a single theme. It was made with Pigments and UVI’s DSX and Drum designer.

[UntilledSound]

I ended up doing a bit more of a scattered gradient than a straight one. I love playing with uneven clock sources. This patch was mainly made using the Olegtron 4060E.(www.perfectcircuit.com/olegtron-4060e.html) which is a cool little device where you can plug electronic components directly into the module, basically live circuit bending. I used this as both a sound source and an irregular clock, timing the Synthstrom Deluge. The “Gradient” was first slowing down the speed of the Olegtron, which in turn slowed the Deluge, Then bringing a new “Gradient” up by increasing the number of drum sounds on the Deluge. The result was not straightforward, but I ended up with some super interesting sounds.

The title comes from a time years ago during an easter celebration, where one of my friends kids uttered the phrase “That Hits Me Right in the Deeps.” That phrase has stuck with me.

[haebbmaster]

Slow gradient transition between a field recording of the traffic on our street, our nearby recycling facility, and the birds in our garden.
Made with Ardour 6 on Linux. The silence at the end belongs to the piece. Just for meditation.

[architecturalstudies]

First time posting! I was working on a backing track for a video project and thought it would make an interesting starting point for this week. Arpeggiator, random note gates, and spectral filtering.

[billparod]

Birds and violins travel gradients of motion and influence.

[gis_sweden]

Gradients leads to ambient music/sounds.
_Usually.
__Great round!

[undermulden]

@wagneric Way cool! And a great picture How do you connect temperature sensors to the Tascam?

@zoundsabar Great sequence and nice use of the Shuffling.

@DetritusTabuIII This is great and a very nice buildup.

@bassling Freaking cool man!

[zoundsabar]

This is superb! Really fun music with rich textures and nice gradient work.

@undermulden Thanks! Glad you liked it.

[wagneric]

Thanks! The sensors are connected directly via microphone/stp cable, and I supply constant-ish current via a pair (per sensor, to keep everything balanced) of 38k resistors fed from two 9V batteries, to provide half a milliamp or so. Then the sensor resistances – varying quickly with air temperature – are seen by the Tascam as voltage changes.

[undermulden]

Ok, it sounds a bit more advanced than just feeding the sensors with phantom power It’s a fun idea.

[wagneric]

Yeah, I looked into how to feed them from phantom power, but it got too complicated (would be fairly easy with T-power, per older German microphones).

[undermulden]

Cool, so if you e.g. have an old mixer that supports T-power it would be possible to connect the sensor directly to the XLR terminal using a mic cable? I’ve been snooping around for ways to sonify human imperceptable processes in any given environment.

[wagneric]

I just looked and T-power uses 180 Ohm resistors, which are a little low for most sensors. You could probably squeeze a pair of parallel resistor/capacitor sets into an XLR connector (or easily into a Switchcraft S3FM), so AC is passed through directly, but DC is buffered by larger resistors to limit current through the sensor. I’m happy to hash through details, feel free to pm me. Curious what kind of mixer you have, too.

I have the same interest in audiolizing human-imperceptible processes. Microbarom acoustic signals from the ocean, centered around 0.2 Hz, can be detected far inland, according to a scientist I work with. I hope to get my hands on some data to play with and sonify. Same for solar flares (trying to think of a way to image these in stereo).

[undermulden]

That sounds really interesting. The older Sound Devices mixers supported T-power; 302 and 442 and run on AA batteries and external power. I have the discontinued MixPre-d which has the option of lowering the Phantom voltage to 12V, which I mistakenly mistook as being the same as T-power. I have never had to use a T-powered mic so my knowlegde is limited in that regard. I just remember encountering it sometime in the past and a manual mentioning that you have to use a polarity reversal adapter at the input.

[wagneric]

Interesting. I have an old Sonosax mixer that has a “12” setting and I’ve always assumed it was T12 and lived in fear of accidentally selecting it. I’ll have to measure it to see if it’s P12 (the manual specs both so it’s not clear).

[bassling]

Thanks for listening