Uploaded July 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Highlands Jam : Patch Notes
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Yet another modular synth jam using my smaller case. Just added Mini-Slew and Warps to the case. Anyway, the overall tune was inspired by my experiments to get more movement from the SMR and use it for more than spooky background noises.
Involved modules
==============
Intellijel 1U Random/Clock
4ms Rotating Clock Divider (RCD) and Breakout
Mutable Instruments (MI) Tides
MI Clouds
MI Warps
MI Veils
2 x MI Peaks
4ms Spectral Multiband Resonator
TipTop ONE
Intellijel 1U Quadratt
Intellijel 1U Buffered Mult
Intellijel 1U Digitank Reverb
2hp Reverb
2hp Delay
2hp 3:1
Transient Modules 6ch Mixer
Pittsburgh Outs
Routing/Control
============
Main rhythmic/bass/whatever voice
-----------------------------------------------
4ms SMR. I really tried to get a different kind of sound/feel out of the SMR, since I feel it has too obvious a “character” sometimes. Ironically, I may have succeeded in just making it sound like a normal oscillator-based voice. Anyway, at least it’s “chords”! I experimented until I found a bank/scale combo that resulted in at least some concordant chords. I couldn’t tell you what bank the SMR is in, but on my copy it’s the third bank (starting from white as “1”) it’s blue-ish in color (the order of colors I see doesn’t seem to match the manual, even after a reset), and is on the 5th scale of that bank. The SMR odd/even INs are fed triggers from the /2 and /3 outputs of the RCD in gate mode. Light ring starting location and SPREAD amounts were carefully experimented with until I found some a position and some SPREAD settings that worked nicely together as chord changes. I then sequenced these settings using Peaks #1 channel #1. Pretty easy to do if you manually trigger Peaks while setting the knobs.
To give SMR a bit more bite, I mixed the ODD/EVEN channels and fed into Warps. Warps ALGO is roughly between the two ring mod emulations, and this is modulated by Peaks #1 channel #2, VERY attenuated to keep it within the ring mod range for ALGO.
During the tune I manually modulate the RES(Q) control for the appropriate effect (blippy vs. weird organ/pad/dying bear sound).
Warps output is fed to 2hp Delay, and on to final mix.
Main melodic voice
----------------------------
Tides in VCO mode, “sequenced” by O+C Quantermain in Turing Machine mode. SHAPE, SLOPE, and SMOOTHNESS and LEVEL all modulated by Mini-Slew acting as EG, which is triggered by RCD /6 or /1, based on manual changes to the patch. Mini-Slew output sent directly to LEVEL of Tides, and multed to a Quadratt channel in bipolar mode, then on to the aforementioned waveshape inputs.
Plenty of manual wiggling of Quadratt knob to change the overall timbre of Tides. Tides BI and UNI mixed in Veils and sent to Clouds and on to final mix. (This was done only to capture a sample of Tides being sequenced in a separate session. Clouds FREEZE is active during entire tune.) Clouds has no modulation other than me modulating POSITION and BLEND at key times.
Drums
---------
Bass drum from Peaks #2 channel #1. “Typewriter” sound from TipTop ONE triggered via 2hp 3:1 (gives varying triggers when LFOd or gated). Sounds mixed in Veils, sent to 2hp Verb and on to final mix. Floating mult/hub used to convert 1 mono channel to 2 mono channels sent to mixer (since I don’t have a panning mixer in this rig).
Audio/Video Notes
=========
Camera: Sony RX100III on a small tripod pointing down at the synth case from above (final video flipped)
Audio recorded on a Zoom H2 using the mic input (the line input is busted).
Edited in Apple iMovie.
#eurorack #modular #synth #synthesizer #performance #music #electronic #mutable #instruments #rings #clouds#peaks #tiptop #ONE #sample #player #2hp #verb #smr #spectral #multiband #resonator
Highlands Jam : Patch Notes
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Yet another modular synth jam using my smaller case. Just added Mini-Slew and Warps to the case. Anyway, the overall tune was inspired by my experiments to get more movement from the SMR and use it for more than spooky background noises.
Involved modules
==============
Intellijel 1U Random/Clock
4ms Rotating Clock Divider (RCD) and Breakout
Mutable Instruments (MI) Tides
MI Clouds
MI Warps
MI Veils
2 x MI Peaks
4ms Spectral Multiband Resonator
TipTop ONE
Intellijel 1U Quadratt
Intellijel 1U Buffered Mult
Intellijel 1U Digitank Reverb
2hp Reverb
2hp Delay
2hp 3:1
Transient Modules 6ch Mixer
Pittsburgh Outs
Routing/Control
============
Main rhythmic/bass/whatever voice
-----------------------------------------------
4ms SMR. I really tried to get a different kind of sound/feel out of the SMR, since I feel it has too obvious a “character” sometimes. Ironically, I may have succeeded in just making it sound like a normal oscillator-based voice. Anyway, at least it’s “chords”! I experimented until I found a bank/scale combo that resulted in at least some concordant chords. I couldn’t tell you what bank the SMR is in, but on my copy it’s the third bank (starting from white as “1”) it’s blue-ish in color (the order of colors I see doesn’t seem to match the manual, even after a reset), and is on the 5th scale of that bank. The SMR odd/even INs are fed triggers from the /2 and /3 outputs of the RCD in gate mode. Light ring starting location and SPREAD amounts were carefully experimented with until I found some a position and some SPREAD settings that worked nicely together as chord changes. I then sequenced these settings using Peaks #1 channel #1. Pretty easy to do if you manually trigger Peaks while setting the knobs.
To give SMR a bit more bite, I mixed the ODD/EVEN channels and fed into Warps. Warps ALGO is roughly between the two ring mod emulations, and this is modulated by Peaks #1 channel #2, VERY attenuated to keep it within the ring mod range for ALGO.
During the tune I manually modulate the RES(Q) control for the appropriate effect (blippy vs. weird organ/pad/dying bear sound).
Warps output is fed to 2hp Delay, and on to final mix.
Main melodic voice
----------------------------
Tides in VCO mode, “sequenced” by O+C Quantermain in Turing Machine mode. SHAPE, SLOPE, and SMOOTHNESS and LEVEL all modulated by Mini-Slew acting as EG, which is triggered by RCD /6 or /1, based on manual changes to the patch. Mini-Slew output sent directly to LEVEL of Tides, and multed to a Quadratt channel in bipolar mode, then on to the aforementioned waveshape inputs.
Plenty of manual wiggling of Quadratt knob to change the overall timbre of Tides. Tides BI and UNI mixed in Veils and sent to Clouds and on to final mix. (This was done only to capture a sample of Tides being sequenced in a separate session. Clouds FREEZE is active during entire tune.) Clouds has no modulation other than me modulating POSITION and BLEND at key times.
Drums
---------
Bass drum from Peaks #2 channel #1. “Typewriter” sound from TipTop ONE triggered via 2hp 3:1 (gives varying triggers when LFOd or gated). Sounds mixed in Veils, sent to 2hp Verb and on to final mix. Floating mult/hub used to convert 1 mono channel to 2 mono channels sent to mixer (since I don’t have a panning mixer in this rig).
Audio/Video Notes
=========
Camera: Sony RX100III on a small tripod pointing down at the synth case from above (final video flipped)
Audio recorded on a Zoom H2 using the mic input (the line input is busted).
Edited in Apple iMovie.
#eurorack #modular #synth #synthesizer #performance #music #electronic #mutable #instruments #rings #clouds#peaks #tiptop #ONE #sample #player #2hp #verb #smr #spectral #multiband #resonator
