An experimental noise patch for testing docb’s dbRackCsound plugin in VCV Rack.

NB: Caveat auditor ! I suggest playing it loud but I must warn potential listeners about what they’ll hear. This is “experimental music”, i.e. I’ve designed and implemented a generative structure that guarantees an unpredictable outcome. However, the patch is not at all random or unorganized, there is always some degree of periodicity and recognition of the audio source, regardless how extreme the processing becomes. So, to be clear: This is a noise piece, with at times very rapid changes of timbre and dynamics. There’s no melody or harmony in any usual sense, the timing is erratic and discontinuous, and the effected sounds may be a bit disturbing to some sensitive ears. You have been warned.

In this patch the only audio generator is a sample player that loops an original soundfile. Output from the sampler is processed by a pair of Csound-based modules, one for each channel from the sampler. The Csound modules both provide the same audio frequency freeze effect, each with slightly differing parameter values. Those modules are routed to four channels of the main mixer and to a pair of resonators routed to another four channels of the main mix. Both resonators run the same mode – a reverb string model – but with differing modulation settings. Only two modulation sources are active, a multi-output LFO based on chaotic attractor shapes and an array with a complex fixed design read at varying rates. The chaotic LFOs are applied to identical CV inputs (brightness, damping, position) of the resonators while the fixed shape modulator controls the speed and direction of the loop playback as well as the v/Oct values for the resonators. Signal routing and mixing are fairly straightforward for the sampler and the freeze modules, but the resonator channels are further treated to constantly randomized level values.

The recording heard here is an edited excerpt from a much longer performance. Further editing and arrangement details were handled by Ocenaudio and Mixbus 32C. At the start of this recording I’ve added about 30 seconds from the original soundfile, a koto-like sound created in another session with VCV Rack. The variations that follow it demonstrate the extreme effects created by combining the sampler’s varispeed with the freeze and resonance functions. I must say that for such a relatively small patch some remarkable sounds emerge from its design.

As always, deep respect and gratitude to the crew:

AS – Flow
Audible Instruments – Resonator (aka Rings)
dbRackCsound – CsoundFX (mono)
Frozen Wasteland – BPM LFO
HetrickCV – Random Gates
Impromptu Modular – Clocked, Tact
Little Utils – Button
NYSTHI – complexSimpler
Ohmer Modules – Splitter 1×9
PdArray – Array
Squinky Labs – Form, ExFor
Stoermelder – uMap
Submarine – TD-202
SynthKit – Clock Divider
Valley – Plateau
VCV – Audio 2, MIDI CC to CV, Recorder
Wiqid Anomalies – Languor, Dual Attenuverter

Special thanks to Joachim Heintz for his excellent Csound processors and to the entire Csound community for their dedication to that amazing resource. Equal thanks to all devs and players in the VCV Rack community. You and your marvelous contributions are all profoundly appreciated.

Dave Phillips
17 Dec 2022