Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Today’s topic is about creating longer generative pieces that continue to develop and stay interesting. I hear lots of folks say that it’s easy to make simple loops and patterns, but evolution over time can be tricky…
My biggest recommendation is to make sure you’re thinking about control voltage on multiple time scales.
For example, you could have one timing source (like a clock, LFO, etc.) that is determining how often new notes are played in your patch, and you could have a 2nd timing source that is MUCH slower, determining what happens on a phrase or even section level. (Hint: some LFOs will go as slow as one cycle every few minutes, and certain function generators cycle way slower than that!)
That slower timing source could be used to:
- trigger a sequential switch (like in the video above^^) to move you between multiple melodies
- start/stop a sequenced pattern
- trigger samples
- slooooowly open/close the cutoff of a filter to reveal another voice
- slowly modulate levels on a mixer
Etc.!
For really slowly unfolding events, you can even run a slow moving LFO into a clock divider to stretch things out in time even mooooooooooore.
This video demonstrates some ideas using a sequential switch + clock divider (but sped up a bit for demonstration purposes!)
What other questions / topics should I cover in this Generative Music + Modular Synths series? Comment below to let me know!
Today’s topic is about creating longer generative pieces that continue to develop and stay interesting. I hear lots of folks say that it’s easy to make simple loops and patterns, but evolution over time can be tricky…
My biggest recommendation is to make sure you’re thinking about control voltage on multiple time scales.
For example, you could have one timing source (like a clock, LFO, etc.) that is determining how often new notes are played in your patch, and you could have a 2nd timing source that is MUCH slower, determining what happens on a phrase or even section level. (Hint: some LFOs will go as slow as one cycle every few minutes, and certain function generators cycle way slower than that!)
That slower timing source could be used to:
- trigger a sequential switch (like in the video above^^) to move you between multiple melodies
- start/stop a sequenced pattern
- trigger samples
- slooooowly open/close the cutoff of a filter to reveal another voice
- slowly modulate levels on a mixer
Etc.!
For really slowly unfolding events, you can even run a slow moving LFO into a clock divider to stretch things out in time even mooooooooooore.
This video demonstrates some ideas using a sequential switch + clock divider (but sped up a bit for demonstration purposes!)
What other questions / topics should I cover in this Generative Music + Modular Synths series? Comment below to let me know!
