Random Volt Generator

Random sequencer by Audible Objects

This is a binary sequencer, based around a 16 bit memory circuit called a shift register. You cannot program this sequencer to play specific tunes. You cannot save sequences. You can never go back to a sequence that has changed. It’s designed as a sequencer that you can steer in one direction or another, not one that you can program precisely.

Each clock pulse moves the binary sequence one step through the 16 bit memory. Step 1 is copied to step 2, and so on. What happens to step 16? It’s copied to step 1, but may be transformed along the way. At any moment, the first 8 of the memory positions are being read by the digital to analog converter. 00000000 = 0 = minimum voltage, around 0v 11111111 = 256 = maximum voltage, around 10v 10000011= 131 = around 5v With the main knob at 5pm and the length switch UP, a 16 bit sequence will loop forever. With the main knob at 5pm and the length switch DOWN the 16 bit sequence is split in half, with the 8th step linked to the 1st step.

Things get interesting when the main knob is not at 5pm. The knob controls a randomised switch connecting the end of the loop to its start. In a binary system, there are obviously just two options. It can take the last bit and accurately write it into the first bit. Or it can write inaccurately, flipping a 0 to a 1, or a 1 to a 0. The knob (and the associated CV input) determine how likely each bit is to be flipped: At 3pm, maybe 1 bit in 10 will be flipped. The loop will change gradually. At 12 noon, 5 bits in 10 will be flipped. The loop is filled with random data that never repeats. At 7pm, every bit will be flipped, and the loop becomes a mobius loop. In effect, the sequence doubles in length. With the length switch UP, 16 steps will play, then those 16 steps will be repeated, inverted. NB: This is a binary inversion, not a melodic or CV inversion. The effect on the output voltage will be hard to predict, but the loop will repeat after 32 steps, not 16.

www.etsy.com/listing/127759984/random-volt-generator-eurorack-module