#62

Much more positive.

It does sound like it has a few quirks that might be irritating and from a UI perspective like it would really benefit from having a small OLED display. But it does look like a lot of fun.

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#63

more useful than a display (which would definitely help) might be more knobs. although I had fun with my Bloom, writing on it was a nightmare due to the UI. knobs perform too many functions and the sequence needs to be stopped while dialing in notes. I couldnā€™t imagine trying to dial in a sequence longer than 8 steps.

I ultimately yanked mine from the rack a few months ago.

#64

You can change notes while the sequence is running, although I agree that the note editing is kind of fiddly. One useful thing is that if you have a multi-page sequence (more than 8 steps), you can loop an individual page & tweak the notes on that page while the sequence is running, which makes it less cumbersome to edit long sequences.

#65

I actually love that ā€œrootā€ transposes diatonically. This way you can do chromatic transposition with a precision adder + chromatic pitch offset; if it were the other way around (chromatic transposition internally) then the diatonic approach would necessitate an external quantizer as well!

Going back to @fyooshā€™s questions, I havenā€™t experienced any issues with mine. I love it for creating endless highly usable pitch and modulation sequences that feel anchored but with room for deviation. However I will echo @yobink about notes being jarring sometimes. Like occasionally a mutation will have a note thatā€™s two octaves away from all the others - kind of unmusical haha.

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#66

Iā€™ve been experiencing a love/hate with Bloom. The love comes from my affection for all things generative/robotic when it comes to sequencers butā€¦ I concur with many of the posts here and elsewhere that there is a lot of fast fingering needed to change parameters. Marbles is still my go to with both in the rack.

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#67

Well I just ordered one for my palette :grimacing:

Iā€™ll be back with questions next week Iā€™m sure.

#68

OK. I typically learn new things by asking dumb questions. Hereā€™s one. I may not have an ample vocabulary to properly explain this, so cut me some slack.

I am trying to figure out if thereā€™s a way to use the Stillson Hammer mk2 to sequence Chord V2 (in harmonize mode) in any key other than Cmaj/min.

Hereā€™s why: The SH2 expects an oscillator tuned to C. You get to pick your key and scale from there, and the module spits out quantized voltages to do its thing. If youā€™re just using the ā€œrootā€ output of chords, all is well. Send it a Cmaj or Cmin scale and all is still hunky dory.

But, if we set the SH2 to play in Gmaj, the harmonic relationship between the chords (when using the mix output) is way off.

There may not be a way to make this work. The answer might be ā€œuse Kria or play in Cmajā€, which is totally cool. Iā€™d sure like to find a way forward with the SH though. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

#69

Why not just tune the oscillator to G for the zero voltage root? Does the sh2 actually display cmaj for the root no matter what?

#70

This works sonically, but the note names displayed on the SH will be incorrect. Which is not the end of the world.

I think I could maybe get where I want to go with custom scales on the SD card. But honestly that does not sound like a barrel of fun. Probably just better to call a spade a spade.

#71

Sounds like itā€™s transposing/offsetting the voltage after the quantizer in order to get you to G from C? Not an issue with a regular oscillator, although tracking may be less accurate on some. This would definitely throw off the qubit system as youā€™re starting on the 5th if thatā€™s the case.

Something like Kria is just ā€˜the scaleā€™ and there are no attempts to relate it to a named root, so less confusing, I suppose.

#72

I think the answer for me is going to be to use Kria/Meadowphysics with the Chord, and let the hammer whack away on STO and Braids. I appreciate the chat! Happy new year!

And FWIW, I am really in love with both Synapse and Chord V2.

2 Likes
#73

Beautiful sound as always @mattlowery! I will definitely be keeping an eye on your YT channel. (Part of my discipline for 2021 is no social media, so Iā€™ll miss your IG updates.)

If my ear understood correctly, Synapse was doing something kind of similar to what you can achieve scanning channels on an RxMxā€“is that approximately correct? Synapse looks really awesome and after reading up on it, I think I realized that I wouldnā€™t really need bothā€¦?

Enough rambling from me. Happy New Year and thanks for sharing more good vibes.

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#74

Thanks so much! Yeah so, basically synapse is a four channel sequential switch that also lets you mix between two sources per channel. The super neat thing about it for routing audio is that the switching is click-free, even when jumping between two very different sources, or even to silence. I really, really like it. And credit where credit is due, @jwm pointed me toward it.

Have not put my paws on one of these, so that very well may be the case.

Cheers and happy new year!

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#75

Question for Chord 2 users:

Iā€™m curious if anyone here has any thoughts on sequencing the voicing. I picked up a Tirana 2 for the job, given that resting on a single voicing can sound a little flat over time. Itā€™s definitely not a magic bullet, but it does add some movement.

The downside to Chord 2 vs v1, is that there is no clear UI for the current voicing, so even if I did have a better understanding of progressions, Iā€™d still have a hard time using it dynamically ā€“ everything I do with it is improvised, so the auto-harmony is great, but again, manipulating voicing effectively remains something I am still making sense of despite having spent a decent chunk of time with it.

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#76

Iā€™m actually setting up a perch right now and am using 0-ctrl for that task. Thereā€™s not a terrible amount of intention on my part at this point, but Iā€™ll let you know how it goes.

#77

I have a 0-ctrl that I have struggled with so far, so Iā€™ll be curious to hear if you find it a compelling combination.

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#78

Iā€™ll readily admit that, this far, Iā€™ve criminally underused the 0-ctrl. I really enjoy it for this kind of thing though; a clocked, very precise sequencer of things other than melody that can also be played/adjusted manually very easily while performing.

In this patch I found three main voicings on Chord that I liked, dialed those voltages in on the pitch lane of 0-ctrl, then sent the fourth gate output to reset. Iā€™m clocking it externally. So, against my 16 note melody there was an ever fresh cycling of three different voicings. I picked a few more down the lane that could be played manually for interest here and there.

Hereā€™s the thing, itā€™s kind of hard to pick it out in this big pot of musical gumbo. Iā€™m still feeling out the Synapse, and tend to make very busy stuff with it still.

I also went back and recorded a second pass on this patch with a bit more filtering on two of the voices (that are unfiltered and obnoxious in this video) and liked it much better.

3 Likes
#79

Do any Chord V2 users find the built in wavetables rather lacking ? I just canā€™t seem to get a good sound out of it really without the use of a filter, which when using polyphony is not possible for me as I donā€™t have 4 filters.

Iā€™m really considering selling it and getting two STOs or two Mangroves instead. Can anyone sell me on how to get good smooth/non-harsh/ambient sounding timbres out of the Chord V2 before I decide itā€™s time for it to go back in itā€™s box ?

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#80

Attenuation is the key and subtle attenuation at that. Also you can always load your own waves. Have fun

Edit: hereā€™s a release of mine where the only voice was a chord 2, if youā€™re interested

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#81

Thanks man, will check out that release and spend some more time with the Chord V2 to see if I can tame it :slight_smile:

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