I built a Ukrainian flag on the first page this patch to show solidarity. (It’s supposed to look like it’s flapping in the wind.) I hope it is a reference that will make this patch seem outdated very soon.
This patch, like the previous week’s (Sirens of Titan), plays around with the idea of “quadrature.” The quadrature in question here, however, is inspired by me watching videos about the Tiptop/Buchla Quad Function Generator.
Unlike the quadrature LFO, which features different copies of the same LFO moving out of phase, the quadrature implementation of that module uses end of rise triggers to create cascading envelopes — as one reaches its peak, the next is triggered to begin its rise and so on.
The attack and decay for the envelopes are randomized each time, so that both the sound of the voices changes each time, but so does the speed with which they move through the quadrature arrangement. The range of times is rather long — up to 6 seconds per stage.
The voices are comprised of sine waves, panned across the stereo field. The voices are also fed back into themselves, via an FM input, so their timbre changes as their envelope rises and falls (and the intensity of the envelope is modulated independently for each voice by a slow sine wave LFO).
The note selection is nothing fancy this week; each voice selects a new note from the A major scale upon the completion of its envelope. There is also a slow triangle wave LFO modulating the quantizer input, causing notes to generally drift higher and lower over time (but the output is still randomized, so that may not be immediately apparent).
The voices then pass to a granular delay. This is actually composed of two granular modules — one is pitched down an octave or plays at the original pitch, while the other is pitched up an octave. The first granular module is tapped but also feeds the second. The output of the second goes through a low-pass filter (because some of that pitching up can be rather grating on the ears) and is also tapped, post-filter, before feeding back into the first granular module. The mix between the ‘dry’ synth voices and the granular delay is then modulated randomly. The output of the patch is through a plate reverb.
If you want to join me for one of these livestreams, I generally start them around 8:30 AM (US Eastern time) on Saturday mornings. Stop in, say hi, plug your own stuff, offer a hot take, etc. or just lurk and listen.
My album of generative patches: https://christopherhmjacques.bandcamp.com/releases
Also, I restarted my Patreon, since people have asked a lot about that, if you want to support the stuff I do (overly long livestreams, videos of trees, etc.):
