I made a drawing of the waveform transformation but I don't know to to upload the picture
OK, so I never tried this, but maybe can try it and confirm it:
What about having a Rectifier or half rectifier applied to and audio sample, and treat that as an Envelope? A slew can be applied to "round the lines" if necessary, or not.
Also, be patient and set the level quiet. Drone is really "powerful" as its moving energy constantly, and magic starts happening after a while, dont fatigue your consciousness, and use it as a life enhancer that can be done for long periods of time.
As for gear, use filters and EQs, so when particular bands of frequencies stars to clash you can start carving. Don't be afraid of cutting low end, nor high ends. Let pass only what is "beautiful", instead of boosting.
The base tone is the 1rst and most important decision for a patch, since changing it shifts the state that the drone archives.
2 Oscillators ar "minimum" (not really), one for the base, and a 2nd one for color. which can be tuned to 1 octave highers, or a 5th, or a mayor/mir 3rd or whatever you like. My favourite is to tune the 2nd oscillator to a major 11th higher, which is a major 3rds but 1 octave higher.
Filter those oscillators until you find a sweetspot.
Then Modulate: slow modulation for movement you can hear. Slower kodulaton for "structure" so that the sound travels through many states and the drone does not become boring after a short time.
If the filter movements reduce of amplify the perceived level, accompany them by the same LFO modulating the level so it remain "even". The best drone is always changing in quality but remaining almost "flat" in the amount of energy.
Use attenuators everywhere to archive the sweet spot.
Reverbs are key, but use them wisely. All reverbs have a "decay" limit in which they start to "self oscillate" or become "infinite". Look for that sweet spot which tends to be just a little before that and then fine tune it to the sounds that is happening in the moment. Twik all the knobs in the reverb until you found the sweet spot. Don't go above that because the drone will be taken over ry the reverb´s feedback. (delays may be similar)
Once you have something you enjoy, leave it on and go do some other activity in the house while you hear the drone, it "should" enhance those activities, you can hear is passively, but you may hear things to keep micro tunning the system.
Once the drone is done, consider adding other sounds on top: Melodys (generative or pre programmed) sound "FX" (waves, wind, etc) or anything you like. Make this extras enter and leave gradually with really slow LFO`s if they are on for a lot of time, the whole sound can become too intrusive, make the drone be alone for the most, and have everything else be sparse.
I will repeat this: don't be afraid to filter a lot, more than what you are supposed to. Mix for what you are hearing and feeling in the moment.
I will third the 4ms Ensemble Oscillator. You can get some really beautiful drones with it and then use CV to affect the spread and it just gets better.
-- xnax
Modulating Spread and Root (and balance just for levling) makes indeed beautiful drones.
Hello!
Ive been transmitting live for a while, so I want to share my channel here.
Instagram username: dadodetres
Ambient, Drone, generative, live instruments, new age.
MI Rings has 1/2/4 voices I think
-- amethystit does but it's not polyphonic in that way. the voice selection impacts how long a strum is allowed to ring out for. up to four notes can overlap before a strum is muted by a new one, but they cannot be played simultaneously as a chord.
-- bigham
I wonder how "close in time" can be the triggers in Rings to trigger different notes and be percived as a Strumed chord
Hello!
Im new to modular and planning my system, I´m going DIY for the case.
Im considering either 2 long rows, or 3 shorter.
I was wondering why is there a 168 HP limit in Modular Grid ?
168 is not enough for 2 rows. Is there any technical issue im not aware of?
thanks!
Right now, the go-to mixer I'm pointing people at when they need as much CV control as possible in the most convenient space would be Toppobrillo's Stereomix2. Not only does this give you CV over level, pan and AUX sends, you also have mutes on your inputs and you get a "strip to cue" function that sends your audio to the headphone jack from a selected input strip...which is INVALUABLE for live work, tuning purposes, and a bunch of other things. You could even use it as a second (manual) AUX. Plus, this is their rev.2 version, which means it's already debugged and tweaked for optimal performance. It's sort of like the Mixology...on 'roids!
-- Lugia
thanks!
Hi Dadodetres,
Wow, one long nice track + video! Nice goody for the weekend :-) I love that sound you make with the harmonica, subtle yet beautifully done! What kind of microphone or device you use to receive an electronic input from the harmonica towards a mixer?
Thank you very much for sharing this and kind regards, Garfield Modular.
-- GarfieldModular
Garfield! thanks!
For the Harmonica I use a "geneic overseas" elektret microphone. No brand, masivley made. Cost me $15. Its elektret so its really sensitive and Full range. Uses a AA alkaline battery as its pre-amp. Sounds really clear and its very comfortable to hold in the hand and play the harmonica at the same time, way better than when I used dynamic microhones. The Battery is attached to the other end of the system.
The harmonica is plugged to a mini system which consist of VFE Klein bottle. In one channel there is a TC Electronic Flashback, in 100% wet, 7 seconds digital delay. In another channel there is a Strymon Blue Sky reverb. With each indivual channel´s "send" I choss if I want to "solo"/play notes separetely when I send it just to the reverb. Or send it also to the Flashback and "add it" to the feedback of the Delay creating a Drone. If the Fedback of the delay is at 100% the drone just adds and adds and never fades out. If i lower the Feedback then it strats to fade away. This technique is an advace way of "Frippertronics".
Also, there is another way of doing a similar thing without the Klein Bottle and with comercially available gear, since the Klein Bottle its Ultra Rare, if anyone is interesieted I could also share the information, just ask.
Hello!
I uploaded my 1rst video on a youtube account from a Hardware Live Ambient Drone Generative track.
Its far from 100% Eurorack, actually just 3 modules modulating the Hardware synth, so feel free to delete this thread if unappropriated. I thought you might like it and there are more modules on their way so music will be more Eurorack as time passes.
Any feedback is welcomed
Hello!
I'm new to modular, but have been doing analog hardware live sets (actually playing live regularly) for 3 years, the last year I´ve been live streaming over the internet regularly.
I'm a multi-instrumental musician and Audio Engineer, so everything modular seems to be in a steady learning curve so far.
I want to create an ambient / generative / drone system, with many musical elements that come and go, takeing "turns''.
So far I have a XOAC Devices Butami and Doepfter Quad LFO. My idea is to have each of the 4 segments of the LFO (using either module) to modulate the Level and effect send of each element. As the level of each element drops, the effect send goes up into a reverb, and the sensation would be that each sound disappears into the background. So far i've been doing this manually with the mixer level and effect send, but with modular I know it can be modulated in sync automatically.
The LFO`s rate I am considering are between 4 and 8 minutes, so each element fades in and out really slowly.
I dont have the Mixer/VCA yet, which I can assume is the key element for this.
For what I can imagine, I need a mixer with CV over Level, and Aux send.
Also, since I mix in mono, I thought that maybe PAN could be used as "dry vs effect" instead of "L vs R", modulating the Pan of each channel and having L be Dry and R master output into the Reverb (with 100% wet mix) and then having for signals summed into the sound system in mono to both channels. So instead of panning from left to right, panning from near to far.
A 2nd aux send (or 1 if pan is used) is needed to as a second effect send for sonic manipulation. Though having CV would be great, it's not necessary for the 2nd one, I can do this manually.
So far I found these:
-XOAC Devices Praga: CV over level and pan, 1 extras manually controlled effect send.
-Qu-Bit Electronics Mixology: CV over level, pan, and send, looks like a candidate.
-Intellijel Dubmix: DISCONTINUED, CV over pan, aux send, each track master level manually controlled.
*with AUX Expander I can have a 2nd and 3rd AUX send both with CV control.
Also, I found these modules that maybe can do the job, but i'm not sure of what they actually do, so im might be wrong:
-4ms VCA Matrix
-Non Linear Circuits Clump or Cluster
-Grayscale VCAM
Thanks so much for any information, confirmation, feedback, or any other semi-off topic discussion.
I just started a youtube channel for uploading the live sets, I just uploaded the first one, if you want to hear what this is all about.
In this live set I have the Quad LFO into some of the elements Level, having a simpler version of the system im planning.
Here is the link with the first video, though other videos will probably appear as time goes by:
Newbi question:
Would it work if I just take the audio out of any madule and connect a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter and go into a pedal and then return?
Others will have a deeper take, but I googled a bit and think you might find what you're searching for if look at this MuffWiggler thread: https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=190728
For your sake going forward, different filters have different sounds based on their design or topology, which is generally named. By identifying the topology, in this case Steiner Parker filter, you can look for similar filters in Eurorack.
-- troux
thanks!
Hello!
I'm new to modular and come from hardware synths.
I want to produce a sound that i´ve been doing with my hardware synths,
here is a sample:
(it's not the drone, but the Glittery on top).
It's done with a Sample and holds LFO at fast rates (between 5 and 10 Hz) into the frequency of a self-oscillating filter.
I did this sample with either an Arturia Minibrute or Minibrute 2 and I really like how it sounds, but I want to make the modular version, so it takes less space, more parameters can be modulated and it frees the arturia.
I brought my first modular filter which is a Tip Top Forbidden Planet, and though it sounds great for filtering, I tried the Glittery sound and its too harsh. It clicks with every step. I used the Minibrute SnH LFO to modulate it, and it does not reach the sound im after. Also, a little slew maybe could solve it, but the Arturi by themselves archive it, so I think it can be done with the appropriate filter.
I was wondering if there is another technology of filter I need for this sound?
What are the filters that archive this sound?
Any input is welcomed , thanks!
I was wondering if a patch cable is wired tip-to-ring and ring-to-tip, would it reverse the polarity ?
Or is there a posibility of electronic malfunctioning?
thanks!
This: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/doepfer-a-143-9 And yes, you can get those sort of LFO rates in its "L" setting with the application of control voltage at CV1.
-- Lugia
thanks!!
Hello!
Im interested in having 4 LFO´s with the same 90 degrees out of sync. I need the rate to be between 2 and 10 minutes slow.
Im reasearching and maybe the XAOC Butami can do this, setting it to QUAD mode.
The manual says that negative voltage in the "frq/ph/div" CV input will allow an extended frequency range up to 53 minutes, but doesnt specify if all the LFO`s will react to this lowering of frequency, while mantaining the "90 degrees out of phase" relation of the QUAD mode . Maybe only LFO 1´s rate changes.
I email the the official site and havent got a clear response yet.
Anyone have one and now the anwser?
Is there another module that can do this?
thanks!
Hello!
Im coming from the world of not modular and transitionning to semi-modular.
Im already planning on going almost full modular, but effect pedals are a huge part of my sound.
I was wondering how to deal with aux sends with modular.
Do I need a regular mixer for routing?
How do you deal with this?
thanks!
