Cosmos

Cosmos is based on the idea of continuous asynchronous loops as seen in the SOMA Cosmos pedal.

The basic version which auto loads is comprised of 2 loops approximately 2.5 seconds one panned left, the other panned right. The unusual thing about the Cosmos is that it records continuously and each loop length is different. As the loops playback they phase and fall out of step with each other in a marked way – this causes interesting patterns and shifts in the audio – particularly when melodies are played.

Like the SOMA pedal I have included two length possibilities which are accessed by keys C and D. C loads a loop lengths of approximately 2.5 seconds and key D loads 8.5 second loops.

The patch records when pressing and holding the Aux button or a latching footswitch. Once a phrase has been recorded it is possible to de-press Aux and play over the top without altering the loop.
Keys C# and D# allow the option to have 2 or 4 loops running concurrently – that is 1 or 2 loops in each stereo channel.
Key 83 (highest note on keyboard) clears the record memory instantly. It’s a good idea to use this before using keys C,C#,D,D# when you first load the patch – for some reason, which I can’t fathom, occasionally it goes into feedback.

Update: there is nothing stopping you from changing loop length or number of loops AFTER you have recorded some audio – this may or may not give pleasing results depending on your audio and where the shortening of the loop occurs!

Knob 2 Drift – allows cross-mixing of the stereo channels which kind of acts like a stereo delay. It is a non-destructive effect.

Knob 3 Blur – blur actually cross mixes from L>R and R>L in to the delay memory (whether recording is occurring or not!) This effect is destructive and adds (eventually) smearing of the stereo channels together with a kind of reverb type effect. The level is set low internally but will build up quite quickly after a few complete loop rotations and if the level is quite high.

Knobs 1 and 2 are pretty obvious and control the amount of feedback and the loop output level respectively.

The patch will feedback on itself at 100% feedback eventually and it is fairly unforgiving – once you’ve played a bum note it’s there forever! Fortunately there’s a Clear function actioned by hitting any key which wipes all the loops instantaneously.

I like to put my guitar and ebow through it using some overdrive and swell pedal – pretty instant Frippertronics with a bit of Steve Reich thrown in!

If you’d like to see what on earth I’m wittering on about have a look at the excellent Loopop review of the SOMA Labs Cosmos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpUG2Op5jrQ

Thanks to Vlad at SOMA for keeping us continually surprised and thanks to Quad Delay author owen-osborn for the basic framework and screen printing routines!

29 comments on “Cosmos
  • traviedoodle on said:

    I absolutely love this! Thanks for bringing the Cosmos to the Organelle!

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    The pleasure is all mine! I’ve been stuck at home with COVID all week and was rummaging through my equipment and spied the Organelle which I’ll be honest I haven’t touched for a year or so. I was checking into SOMA Labs to see what lunacy Vlad was up to and ended up watching the Loopop review of the Cosmos when the penny dropped how simple an idea it would be to implement in pd.
    I might tweak it one day – I’d like to add the reverse record feature but I’d need to do a re-do of the loop record/playback system using a different method – which is a hill I’m probably not prepared to die on (I’m a bit of pd noob !) Thanks for your feedback! J

  • traviedoodle on said:

    Sorry to hear about the COVID, I hope you have a speedy recovery. At least a great musical tool came out of it! I think it emulates the Cosmos really well. It’s nice to set it on the piano, feed it some notes and let it slowly morph into a lovely sound soup. I think I’ll end up using this more than any other patch, thanks again for your work!

    P.S. – you may have seen it already, but this demo of the Cosmos is absolutely awesome:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA-PFmtfZBk

  • briefcasefromspace on said:

    love this concept… i cant get it to work on my organelle m though… makes a very loud distorted sound when i try to record by holding aux… and no loop action happening.. any thoughts? many thanks

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    Hi there Briefcase – I coded in Pd vanilla 0.52 and tidied it up on my Organelle Mk1. As I’m still at home with C19 if I get a chance I’ll have a look at the differences between the original and the M at what might cause those problems. I’m surprised though as I don’t think there’s anything in the patch which is very complicated. Always worth a delete and reload I guess.
    Also perhaps the M doesn’t like the loadbang settings.
    See if pressing any key and then C and C# helps out. This should say 2 short loops on the screen and will ordinarily load a single 2.5 sec delay loop in each stereo channel.

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    @traviedoodle
    I’ll have a look at that demo and yeah – I switched to some keyboard sounds last night and just played pedalled drone or little tinkly motifs – really nice! I’m super chuffed with myself for starting and actually finishing something for once! I wish I could say the same for my music creation ! XD

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    @traviedoidle – superb video that! I loved the vocals ! Instant Gregorian chant!

  • briefcasefromspace on said:

    Hi @the_burning_trestle. you where correct. i re downloaded it and follow your advice and it worked perfect. the organelle m doesnt like the loadbang… i hit a random key to clear then hit the low c and it works a treat. thank you for working me through that and thank you for making this patch. i am LOVING it!!!! i look forward to the next time you feel the urge to make a patch. this is a winner

  • sydilaxe on said:

    As an owner of the Cosmos, this is quite different but very cool. The magic of the Cosmos is with the Supressor/Compressor. Keep up the great work!

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    @briefcase – glad to hear it. Odd that the M doesn’t like the Loadbang. I might change the way it boots up in future versions.

    Glad you like it – have fun!

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    @sydilax I figured my version would be an approximation as I was working off the idea of the Cosmos having never actually touched one! I suspect the AD/DA converters are probably high end in the COSMOS and a beefier processor than my trusty old Organelle.
    I’m probably going to swap random stereo panning for the channel swap effect and I might tweak the delay times a little.
    How do the fixed delay times compare with the pedal?

  • soxsa on said:

    Fantastic patch thank you! I’ve not used a real Cosmos, all I know is I like this one :)

  • hoovobot on said:

    I just got an organelle m, but was strongly considering a cosmos; now I have a bit of both. :)

    Really love the patch! One of my favorites so far.

    You mentioned implementing reverse (and that it would be a challenge, ha), which I also think would be really cool- particularly if it had 4 switches for reversing the loops individually. Along that same line I can’t help but wish for 4 half speed switches for the individual loops… even if it’s not actually on the cosmos. :)

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    @soxsa thanks! Love your track on Instagram btw! I’ve not got round to recording anything with my Cosmos patch myself yet 😂

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    @hoovobot – we’ll I’m glad I’ve helped your wallet a bit!
    In regard to the reverse loop ideas – currently the patch uses the [writedelay] object which is pretty good for basic delay/loop but it doesn’t offer the option to reverse the audio. As far as I can tell I’d need to write to and from arrays simultaneously to implement a reverse function. The problem with this is that reading an array whilst writing to it can cause glitches. However , mulling over your frankly ridiculous (wink) request for 4 reversible loops helped me think of a way of adding reverse loop playback WITHOUT the glitches and without needing a complete rebuild! Watch this space!
    Ps whilst I can see what you mean about 4 individually reversible loops I’m not sure it would add to the functionality or rather it might push the patch too far away from the simple brilliance of the Cosmos. The loops are set up in pairs so that the loop cycles force the brain to generate new musical patterns from the resulting phasing. The 4 loop setting is set up so that the Left (OR Right) loops move apart more slowly from each other than the relative change between Left and Right. So if I have a crack at the update I’d probably leave it like that – practically speaking this means that the reverse effect would change both Left and Right loops together. I think the Cosmos works this way too.

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    @hoovobot – PS I’m honoured that Cosmos is one of your favourite patches! I wish the idea was mine originally!

  • hoovobot on said:

    @the_burning_trestle gotcha, that all makes sense and agree it’s better to stay in the spirit of the cosmos… but I will look forward to any additional loopy weirdness you may come up with in the future :)

  • ampism on said:

    Can’t wait to try this! Do I unzip first, then put folder on Organelle? Or put the zip onto the organelle and unzip from within?

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    I think so! I have my organelle connected to my Mac permanently so I’m not sure. It won’t auto install like a .zop file so unzip and copy!
    Let me know how you get on!

  • ampism on said:

    Ok cool thanks!
    Organelle is in my “studio”, up in the loft, and I just badly sprained my ankle….so won’t be able to try it for a few days..

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    Ouch! Let’s hope it mends and you get up there soon!

  • mrdarcy on said:

    I love the description, Any audio/video examples of this patch? i dont own an Organelle yet :)

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    See if you can track down @soxsa on Instagram I think – I can’t recall if I made any demo vids myself! It was a while ago and I was recovering from COVID!

  • roma on said:

    thank you for that one!
    i really wanted somas cosmos- but it too bulky and too expensive!
    your patch should help! – but some terrible sound appears – when connect pedal or just push record button! on my organelle m. – so please – can you fix it!

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    Hi Roma ,thanks for your message! there is a bug which I’ve not returned to. It’s important when you load up the patch that you hit the “clear” button (the highest key on the keyboard and then select a loop length using one of the bottom 4 keys.

    There’s nothing complicated about the patch so it should work fine on either versions of the Organelle running OS4.x
    If you still have an issue try deleting and re-installing.
    Please let me know how you get on!

    J

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    Hello again Roma, apologies I realised that I had not mentioned the clear button (key 83) in the patch description! I’ve now updated that and hopefully cleared any confusion.

    J

  • korb on said:

    This is a very nice patch.
    One question about the aux switch. Is it by intension that it is not latching?

  • the_burning_trestle on said:

    Hi @korb
    Since I use a non-latching foot pedal I didn’t think to add latching to the Aux key – I’ll have a look at that if I return to it one day! Glad you like the patch!

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