Compact Kaseta is inspired by the Zlosynth Instruments Kaseta eurorack module, which is one of my favorite “loopers,” in a style I think of as “composition by accumulation.” This might also be a Frippertronics patch, because again, I really am not sure what that term means, but it often involves long delay lines/loops, so let’s run with it and see where we go.
The original Zlosynth module has a recording buffer of up to five minutes (!), but ZOIA’s RAM limits us a little more (if we want to maintain discrete delay buffers, which we do) to four delays of up to 48 seconds. For what it’s worth, that is about the range I use my module in — five minutes is just too long for most applications.
While it may not possess a Herculean recording buffer, Compact Kaseta does have a few improvements over the original module: there is a separate dry signal path and stereo dry output, there is a stereo input (audio is summed to mono before entering the delay network), and because it’s fun, there’s a reverse delay option that allows you to reverse (and re-pitch) the input to the patch.
Each delay line has its own bipolar “COLOR” control, which allows you to low-pass (negative values) or high-pass (positive values) the audio of the buffer. Audio recycles through these filters, too, so they act increasingly on the audio in the buffer, allowing you to clear out different sonic spaces over time.
The time parameter for each delay is broken up into two parts — there is a TOTAL TIME control which governs the maximum possible delay time (at 1.000, that maximum time is 48 seconds), while each discrete delay line has a SUB TIME, which is a percentage of the total time. E.g. if the total time is set at 1 (48 seconds) and the sub time is set at 0.1, then that delay will have a time of 4.8 seconds. There are also pixels which change in intensity in time with the delays, to give some visual feedback.
Each delay line has controls for FEEDBACK, LEVEL and PAN position.
The FEEDBACK PATH control is a macro control affecting all the delay lines. At 0, all of the delay lines feed back only into themselves; as the path control increases, more and more of the delay line’s output is sent to the _other_ delay lines, creating much more complicated repeats.
Along the left side of the patch are “input effects.” These are modulation (based on a Relabi wave) and the reverse delay option. The MOD RATE and MOD DEPTH govern the modulation, while the REVERSE PITCH can be used to re-pitch the reversed delay notes (so you can use the cheat code of reversed, up an octave for pretty sounds).
The LEFT STOMPSWITCH turns on the REVERSE INPUT. You can also use a UI button on the control page.
The RIGHT STOMPSWITCH turns on RECORDING. You can toggle recording on and off, so if there’s something you want to play over, but not add to, you can do so. Once again, there is also a UI button on the control page for toggling recording.
Dry audio is stereo throughout. Stereo input is summed to mono before entering the delay network (which then creates a stereo image using the pan positions of the playback heads).
Correction, this should read:
“The MIDDLE STOMPSWITCH turns on RECORDING. You can toggle recording on and off, so if there’s something you want to play over, but not add to, you can do so. Once again, there is also a UI button on the control page for toggling recording.”
I wrote ‘right’ when I meant ‘middle.’