#81

So after a long break from all internetforums which has lasted about a year, the urge to discuss has returned with a vengeance along with plenty of new ideas for music and music making. Naturally this was the first place that sprung to mind.

So to start things of, I’d like to ask the community for some suggestions since I believe this might be something this community can both appreciate and provide some ideas for.

I recently saw the post from Make Noise on instagram (link below) where they use a contact mic to record the sound of pencil drawings into the modular.

Cool idea but as I’ve been thinking a lot about expressive controllers for Eurorack lately (think Expressive E Touche and the like) I thought this idea could perhaps be taken a bit further.

Let’s say you attach a contact mic to a board or lid on top of which you place a piece of paper. Let’s assume we placed the mic at the left side of the board. Naturally, the mic should pickup a increasingly stronger signal if I put a pencil on the board and draw a line from right to left right?
If you put this signal through an envelope follower (such as the one included in Mutable Instruments Ears or Maths for example) the envelope for that gesture should look like a ramp which could be used to control filter cutoff, VCA’s etc.

In my mind this could create some very cool results where you would end up with an abstract drawing after each recording/playing/practice sessions which mirrors the recorded sound while simultaneously acting as an expressive controller capable of creating continuously shifting envelopes not unlike using a viloin bow.

The idea could be taken further by processing the envelope in the modular (inversion etc) and of course with multiple mics and envelope followers. Perhaps try different mediums by using brushes instead of pencils?

So far so good.

My question is basically, would this work as well as I’m imagining that it could? Unfortunately I do not own any contact mics to test this out.

Let me know what you think!

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#82

This is a good idea! However, in my experience contact mics do not change their signal much due to the proximity to the mic. My Music Thing Modular Mikrophonie picks up direct tapping of the panel and tapping the case at relatively the same levels. I would think that you would need some kind of expansion to get enough change in the envelopes to produce the desired effect. Strings and bows probably work the best for this kind of thing.

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#83

Thats exactly the kind of input I was looking for, thank you!

Perhaps going with a bow and strings would be a wiser choice then.

I’ve been looking at picking up a cheap electric violin and just use the envelope produced by the bow as a old-school version of the Touche controller. Might process the tuned open strings and add as a background layer but mainly interested in the envelope since pitch will be controlled by keyboard/sequencer.

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#85

I’ve done similar things to use a bow with a contact mic. You don’t need a violin. Just the bow and a contact mic to a small piece of wood gives you a nice controller (and a nice noise source too).

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#86

Interesting to hear that you could get away with just the bow. I actually splurged today and ordered the Expressive E Touche to give myself 4 CVs for expressive purposes. If it does not turn out to be as intuitive to use as I hope, I’ll give your solution a shot!

Thanks!

#88

I‘ve a VERY strong Gag reflex with the word Arbeitslager…don‘t wave this into my face…

#89

One of my co-workers made this crazy sequenced combo organ, here’s a video they posted a video explaining the theory behind it.

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