Here is my second entry for VCP challenge #73 – create a patch without using a sequencer. https://community.vcvrack.com/t/vcp-challenge-73-september-edition-no-sequencer/18209
For this one I shamelessly stole Purf’s idea to add offsets to each step of an arpeggio at random points of time. https://community.vcvrack.com/t/how-do-i-slowly-inject-fixed-voltages-into-a-given-v-oct-sequence/18235?u=davevenom
The name “Out Of Sequence” has a double meaning. First – of course the patch does not use any sequencers. Second, the arpeggio starts and finishes as a simple ascending pattern, but as offsets are added, the arpeggio pitch pattern varies.
I used my solution of using a dual polyphonic sample and hold to establish CV thresholds for when an offset is added to each step. A ramp LFO “clock” is compared against the thresholds to determine when to add the offsets. The arpeggio starts out as a simple ascending 4 step sequence. Then 5 semitones are randomly added within 8 cycles. Finally 7 additional semitones are added over the next 8 cycles. New thresholds are established every 16 cycles and the process repeats.
According to the challenge rules, I could have used a bespoke arpeggiator. But I felt like that is too much like a sequencer. So I decided to construct my own arpeggiator out of primitive modules that uses another ramp LFO compared against equidistant fixed polyphonic voltages to determine when each channel of the arpeggio fires.
The patch uses an LFO to create 3 ramp “clocks”.
The fastest “clock” one pulse per arpeggio step, and is simply used to clock the Chronoblob delay.
The second is two octaves slower, and represents one measure of 4 arpeggio steps (one arpeggio cycle). This is the “clock” that drives the arpeggiator.
The last “clock” is an additional 4 octaves slower, representing a 16 measure phrase. This “clock” serves two purposes
– Determine when to add each offset to the arpeggios.
– Scaled to two volts and then passed through a Grande QANT quantizer in “equi-likely” mode to establish a descending scale bass line.
The patch can be started and stopped by pressing the Count Modula FADE Start/Stop button. Connect the FADE Gate output to the VCV REC Gate input if you want to automatically record the patch.
