#62

@architecturalstudies

I understand you. The piano roll can be very annoying visually. External step sequencer is a great idea.

@krakenkraft

Nice to see other Caustic users around. I plan to actually release some of my Caustic creations here. I enjoyed making them while staying in bed. But ‘Follow action’ is an Ableton feature not Caustic, right?

Note: I am still new here and learn how to comment. When I don’t want to comment on the soundcloud track directly I see the only way is as a reply and then everything has to be in one reply. Please tell me if there is a better way. Thanks.

1 Like
#63

My two tips from this year are represented in this track, which I made from a Pure Data patch I’ve enjoyed constructing and playing around with a lot this year. I use Automatonism in Pure Data, which I find to be an incredible tool that really opened up ‘computer music’ for me.

The first tip is to use the Parameter Nudge module in Autom, which will when triggered (either by button press or by a trigger signal) nudge every parameter in the whole patch by a certain (adjustable) amount. This has fantastic potential for creating generative systems, controlled randomness or absolute chaos. I don’t use modular, but even if I did I would not be able to tweak every knob in the rack several times a second!

The second tip is pretty basic, but it was valuable to me: get a midi controller! I always associated MIDI with keyboards predominantly, which doesn’t do much for me as I’m not playing songs or writing melodies. But I picked up a nice and cheap Nanokontrol this year so that I could control Pd / Autom patches with knobs and sliders over MIDI CC, and it’s made a huge difference. As I can map the controls freely, I’m essentially building instruments and playable systems now, which opens up a huge amount of potential. (Old news to most lines folks I’m sure…)

The first half of this track is a generative chaos patch ‘frozen’, e.g. I’ve switched off the master clock, so no parameters are being nudged, and I’m fading the four channels up and down with the controller. Then I trigger the master clock on, and the nudges start firing again and the soundscape gets very fast and busy and noisy. I continue to work on the channel faders throughout. Enjoy!

5 Likes
#64

I identify with three modes of making so-called music: experimentation, composition, and transcription. With transcription, the goal is to produce a sketch of what’s in my head as quickly/easily as possible, and I use my iPad with the Auxy app for that with the idea that I’ll go back in and finish it with better hardware/software “someday”.

The present piece is an orchestration of words rattling around in my head: “Goodbye 2020, and thank you for the crazy ride” (assuming we make it through the last couple weeks). The only sample is “goodbye” from an automated trash collection reminder on the phone.

4 Likes
#65

Follow Action is Ableton, I just mentioned Caustic because the new thing in 2020 for me was to learn Ableton, instead of staying in the easy & trusted comfort zone of the very nice Caustic app, which unfortunately is apparently not being further developed.

2 Likes
#66

I watched a YouTube video, during lockdown, by Mary Spender, the guitarist and singer-songwriter, in which she discussed problems preventing creative people from creating. The discussion resonated with me as someone trying to find a voice in electronic music, without much formal musical training, and caught in an argument, with myself, between creating what I think people want versus whatever ends up coming out the pipe when I turn the handle.

At one point Mary quotes from Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic:

Recognising this reality – that the reaction doesn’t belong to you – is the only sane way to create.

This went a long way for me to decide I should put stuff out there and let the reaction be whatever the reaction will be. I’ve even turned a corner and have stopped apologising for my output being “music (for some definition of music)” and for the first time, this year, started calling myself an electronic musician.

This week’s track was made predominantly with my small modular synth. I built some of the modules during lockdown and have added to it since we were lucky enough to resume a relatively normal life down here in NZ. During lockdown I worked from home and had the modular close by my desk. I very much enjoyed setting up generative patches that played quietly in the background during my working day.

The track is composed of a self-oscillating ladder filter being played by a four-step sequencer then passed through a resonating SEM bandpass filter and finally through a Wasp filter. The SEM and Wasp filters’ frequencies are being modulated separately. The SEM from a bipolar comparator triggered every three beats, driven by a four-step sequencer and a Turing machine. The Wasp is modulated by a slow triangle LFO. During the recording I altered the bipolar comparator’s inputs and manually changed the cutoff frequencies of the SEM and Wasp filters.

After recording a take I added drums and percussion in Ableton and increased the tempo from the original 108bpm to 130bpm.

As always, the Junto stimulates me to push my boundaries and find my voice. Thank you for that. And thank you for whatever reactions you have, or don’t have, for my contributions.

5 Likes
#67

Of late, I have been inspired, determined really, to explore more of what I already have for making and recording music/sounds. In fact, as I can, I have been investing more time with odds and ends and things I have had for a while but not spent enough time with. In turn, I have been making an effort to go deeper, learn more. This track is a modest byproduct of that effort.

4 Likes
#68

I ran across a Krell-ish patch for MIRack (doesn’t sound good at all in Rack itself), and have spent a good part of the last month experimenting with tweaks and repatching of this same basic patch. I’ve also been teaching myself the ins and outs of Ripplemaker, since it seems I am doomed to never get an order in for an actual 0-Coast.

So this one’s five differing instances of the Krell patch, with Ripplemaker playing along and being morphed from one configuration to another.

2 Likes
#69

Short, sweet, and serene, perfect musical gesture here…
thank you for this music :beers:

#70

One of the other goals when I recorded this piece, aside from working within the context of the weekly prompt, was to create something that musically didn’t overstay its welcome. Your feedback leads me to believe it stays just long enough. Thank you for the positive comment, Rabid. Cheers!

2 Likes
#71

This one has such beautiful release near the middle(and i love the command of bass range in this track throughout), definitely felt like a triumphant ‘goodbye’ to 2020 :+1: With a nice ‘pensively-onward-looking’ style to the ending. Thank you for the uplifting feels!

1 Like
#72

this was continuous joy to listen to: somehow felt like being mesmerized by a colored light show… has some kind of synesthetic effect on me. nice one!

and…
@krehg
your track had a wonderful tension that seemed like it was constantly resolving, almost sounds like the machinery of a saw, somehow continually transforming into a gong. a beautiful effect! :ok_hand: and the overall feel, makes my mind go ethereal, hard to describe, a pleasure to hear. thanks for this!