hi all,

this is a tremolo sequencer, or — as it is sometimes referred to as among us nerds — a ‘pattern’ trem

how is this different from, say, a REGULAR ASS tremolo???

like this: a normal tremolo has usually got one waveform modulating your audio’s amplitude at a constant frequency. a ‘pattern’ trem mixes this up a bit by changing some of these parameters. say you want the frequency of your tremolo to double every other quarter note? and what if on those beats you want the wave to sound more like a square than a sine??? tremolo sequencers attempt to make these dreams possible

what does slapChopper offer, specifically, and how is it set up?

PAGE 1:
a mono audio in (white pixel) and, just to help demo the patch, a noise source (surf pixel) (you can delete this once you get the gist; I do find it helpful with someone the stuff I’ll discuss in a second, tho)

a way to tap in your tempo (blue pixel) connected to an lfo. I also hooked up a midi clock in to this lfo if that’s more your style. the reason I’m leaving this patch marked as a ‘work in progress’ is because I might load this up on a ZOIA pedal for more foot switch control stuff (but please feel the freedom to implement that yourself in the interim!)

we’ll talk about the purple [value] in a bit. don’t worry about the yellow . beyond that, there is a blue, stereo with a gain control

PAGE 2:

this is where this patch gets cool

so at the top, there is an EIGHT STEP [sequencer] with FIVE tracks

TRACK ONE: this is ratchet control and in connected to the gate of an [adsr]. think of this as HOW MANY WUBS you want per step

TRACK TWO: this is a CV control that modifies the ATTACK of each step. increase this if you want a ramp-up-ish sound

TRACK 3: this is a CV control that modifies the hold/sustain/release of each step. this is like the ‘body’ of the audio you’re letting through; without any attack or release, this will give you a SQUARE-ish sounding trem

TRACK 4: this is a CV control that modifies the RELEASE of each step. increase this if you want to give (what sounds to my ears like a little) more ‘ping’ to your audio

TRACK 5: this is a CV control that will turn on or off a dedicated PANNER that is set at the RATCHET rate. this is weird to explain in words BUT for example, let’s say you have THREE WUBS and you engage the panner — your audio will start in the L channel for the first wub, jump to the R channel for the second wub, then jump BACK to the L channel for the final wub. got it?

‘Brian! jumping back and fourth like that is cool and all, but what it I want the audio to SWEEP across the field all nice and such???’

I’ve got you covered, homie. remember that purple [value] pixel on page one? that is connected to a slew that’ll do just that for you. faster ratchets tend to sound better with a shorter (re: quicker) ramp, but be punk rock and do whatever

and that’s basically it! slapChopper is a pattern trem that allows you to DESIGN the ENVELOPE of your trem for each beat; there’s also a cool, synced up panner thing. with the [adsr], you ought to be able to get ramp-up, ramp-down, triangle (have the same attack and release times!), and square-ish waves… and maybe more??? but I’ll leave that to the adventurous

I’ll be messing around with this, so if you’re interested, be on the lookout for updates. otherwise…

enjoy. knives out. chop chop chop

🔪🔪🔪

brianbuchanan57 ✌️