Strange-R SmallHat

Melodic Contour Sequencer

Strange-R introduces a totally new way to do sequencing: Melodic Contour Sequencing. It’s extremely powerful at generating recursive melodies, loops and randomness, makes generative melodies that sound like human melodies, yet never looses sight of your direct realtime performative control.

The majority of its melodic power comes from just two controls…
ρ (Rho = Correlation = Melodic Direction)
∆ (Delta = Deviation = Melodic Jumpiness)

These two simple joystick controls both originate the melodic material (via a specially modified SI version of the Random Walk), and then also determine how it is manipulated by 3 independent ‘phrase loopers’ to walk or jump the loop up and down.

All this is combined in a unique internal 'micro-patch' with an extremely powerful music-theory aware quantizer (able to do automatic Modal Interchange and Circle of Fifths modulation), two chaotic LFOs, two flavours of noise (with sample rate and bit depth control) full CV control over every function and an input which permits live re-composition and variation of anything you send it. The result is a generative powerhouse and mother-of-all-random source utilities.

• Custom SI Random Walk
• Music theory aware quantizer (automatic Modal Interchange, Circle of 5ths, root note set)
• 3 independent loopers able to hold over 4000 events
• Built in probabilistic TrEG envelopes
• 2 Chaotic LFOs
• External CV Input for live manipulation of an external sequence
• External Clock Input for eternal sync with no lower bpm limit
• Clocks into audio to use as VCO (tri/saw inc.VCO sync!)
• All functions CV controlable
• Non-sprung joystick control with direct JS XY output +/-8v
• CV folder/wrapper
• Quantizer can be used as live input keyboard with chiptune pseudopolyphony
• Full memory recall into 7 scenes
• Special input/output calibration mode
• Firmware updatable via micro SD Card

Strange-R comes in two sizes, the 14hp BigHat Studio Edition (with the joystick) and the 8hp SmallHat Live Edition (ρ & ∆ as pots) for smaller cases. The main CPU board is interchangeable meaning all your settings could be saved from a BigHat in the studio and swapped to a SmallHat 'top' in your live rig to fit in a 104hp budget airline case.

SmallHat also features a custom 3D printed button raft for its (still fully functional) nano-keyboard, in white, red, and glow-in-the-dark white and red for dark clubs!

Strange-R is a homage to Allen Strange (1943–2008), the composer, performer and author of one of the foundational texts of our discipline, Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques and Controls (1972) and seeks to embody the book’s ethos—modelling compositional processes by combining discrete parts into an organised whole. It provides an ultra-compact, highly CV-able generative system whose internal complexities bely an extreme simplicity of basic operation: performative immediacy, gestural potency and melodic expression. By exposing its internal sub-modules to the front panel Strange-R also doubles as a powerful multi-utility unit, offering a range of core functions (‘+Things’) far beyond its footprint and price point.

Over its nearly 3 years of development and design cycles this module has consistently surprised us with the unexpected sophistication of its behaviour. Most excitingly, the final result exhibits a level of emergent musical complexity which we didn’t explicitly program. Algorithmic personality that invites exploration is always an encouraging sign. We’re really pleased with it. We hope you will be too.

Manual: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KIR9YYltkQTQa3_RPCA2l4PnV_vMzlKGQDvNpvCzeqA/edit?pli=1&tab=t.0