Two experimental polymetric sequencers for exploring rhythmic oddities and minimalistic patterns.
Alignment and Malignment are two polymeter-based sequencers with a bit of an unusual interface that encourages exploration of rhythmic patterns (instead of the standard approach of focussing mostly on the melodic).
It has 5 voices, each voice is controlled by one row of the grid which determines on which ‘step’ the voice is triggered (it’s done via a binary system, see below for detailed explanation).
When voices are triggered on ‘the usual beats’ (2, 4, 8, etc) you get fairly standard patterns, but once you get away from the usual suspects it’s very easy to discover interesting interwoven patterns that don’t repeat for very long times. Some musical references would be an ambient version of the playing style of polyrhythmic piano wizard Nik Bärtsch, or – depending on your settings – somewhat like Glass or Reich.
There are 2 variations of this patch in a zipped folder, which only differ in how the melodic notes are generated:
ALIGNMENT = a generative and evolving version, the original patch I made.
MALIGNMENT = a manually tuned variation of the same patch, allows you to create and ‘play’ patterns with a bit more control.
The sound engine is pretty basic, but there’s a nice reverb to glue it all together.
Check the details below (and in attached picture manuals) to see the controls, or just load them up and get relaxed in some soothing ambient minimalism.
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[OVERVIEW]
-Input/Output: Alignment has no input (short on CPU), Malignment has stereo into the reverb, both are Stereo out.
-CPU load: Around 102%
-Build: Initial version built with firmware 2.80
-MIDI: I always use channel 10 and if controls are set to CC’s I use CC channels 21/36 (see CONTROLS section for details).
-CV Inputs: Unused.
-CV Outputs: Unused.
[REVISIONS]
1.0: Initial patch.
[CONTROLS]
Most controls are on PAGE0 and are labeled (see below for a “Picture Manual” in the comments). Some additional controls and the Stereo Output module with gain parameter is on PAGE1.
COMMON controls:
Each row on PAGE0 is one voice, and for each voice the controls are:
ADD 1/2/4/8/16 (toggle to add steps to the cycle length; with nothing toggled the voice is triggered on each step)
ENABLE (toggled the voice on/off)
Controls for ALIGNMENT only:
EVOLVE (sets the chance per voice that notes change)
BASS PITCH (sets the fixed pitch of the last voice)
1-NOTE MODE (toggles a variation where voices don’t alternate between several notes)
ZEBU LEFT button = RESET ALL (restart the entire sequence, aligning all voices/cycles)
ZEBU RIGHT button = LOCK NOTES (toggle this to lock all notes, freezing the current melody regardless of the EVOLVE value)
Controls for MALIGNMENT only:
NOTE1/NOTE2 (sets the pitch of 2 alternating notes for each voice)
ZEBU LEFT button = RESET ALL (restart the entire sequence, aligning all voices/cycles)
ZEBU RIGHT button = RESET GATES (restart only the gates, aligning the rhythmic cycle but not the melodies)
Additional common controls on PAGE1:
CLOCK (sets the clock rate)
ATTACK/DECAY (sets the attack and decay envelope for all voices)
STRUM (sets how far apart the voices are triggered when they align, like ‘strumming’ a lyre or harp)
VELOCITY (sets the average velocity at which all voices are triggered)
TUNE OFFSET (tunes all voices, so you can offset the entire melody)
ZOIA LEFT / MID / RIGHT stomp = Unused.
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[PATCH STRUCTURE]
In principle, this is a straightforward patch, but it’s pretty big because everything is x5 due to 5 independent voices. The key concept of ‘a cycle with a certain step length’ is done with a Sequencer module into a Comparator, and the Comparator output back into the Reset of the sequencer. The values of each sequencer step are a BIT higher then the previous, so if you set the Comparator threshold correctly, the sequencer will reset itself at that desired step.
The Comparator threshold to set the cycle length for each voice works with a binary system, where each consecutive grid button (on PAGE0) adds more steps to the total length. With 0 buttons enabled, that voice triggers each step, and the five grid buttons respectively add 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 steps to that, so for example:
Toggle ADD 1 = voice triggers every 2 steps.
Toggle ADD 2 = voice triggers every 3 steps.
Toggle ADD 1 & ADD 2 = voice triggers every 4 steps.
Toggle ADD 1 & ADD 2 & ADD 4 = voice triggers every 8 steps.
Toggle ADD 8 & ADD 16 = voice triggers every 25 steps.
For the ALIGNMENT variant, the melodic voices are Shift Register-type generative sequencers (aka Turing machines), where the two top rows/voices cycle through 3 notes each, and the next two rows/voices cycle through 2 notes. The lowest row/voice is a steady (bass) note, which can be tuned manually, to anchor the generative melody somewhat.
For the MALIGNMENT variant, the generative sequencers are replaced by simple 2-step sequencers. You can manually tune the two steps for each voice, and if you prefer a single note then just tune both notes to the same pitch.
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[TIPS/TRICKS]
>>> Start with only one voice enabled, triggered at every 4 or 8 steps. Then add more voices triggered at different intervals.
>>> Try giving every voice a cycle with just 1 step longer, giving a sort of expanding and contracting cascading pattern.
>>> The ‘odder’ the cycle lengths, the longer it takes before they align again, but having a few voices with shorter cycles (4, 5 or 6 steps) helps to anchor things somewhat.
[THOUGHTS/IDEAS/PLANS]
This patch was more of an experiment, so it’s done for now, no future plans.
Maybe I’ll record something for a Bandcamp release with this one; it’s perfect for a slowly evolving piece that almost never repeats but stays interesting for quite long.
If there’s any bugs/questions/remarks/requests or suggestions for improvement, please let me know!
Enjoy!
(Image: Daniel Portch)
Picture manual for both versions (trying these in ZIPs to prevent spamming the comments section).
Enjoy!
Attachment Manual-Malignment-v1-659bd532b7fb3.zip