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RE: RANDOMNESS



Title: RE: RANDOMNESS

>>When even a good drummer plays a two handed hihat rhythm there are very small
timbral variations that occur because the sticks are slightly [giant snip]
Why not apply these kinds of algorhythms to filter resonance, cutoff,   lfo's....................programmable
contrained random deviations from each parameters beginning setting.<<

[more snipped]

hear hear. amen to all that.

I have some tricks with an emu proteus module. these under-rated rompler synths have quite comprehensive modulation matrices &, if you can be bothered to programme them, are capable of synthesizing the analogue character of the "real things".

I discovered all this whilst trying to replicate some of the unpredictable nature of my mellotron; having successfully transferred samples from my own tape-sets into the proteus via an emu sampler & some flash memory cards, I wanted to add the characteristic wow, flutter, playing-more-than-three-notes-at-a-time-pitch-bend & so forth that the mellotron is rightly revered for. also, miscellaneous analogue tape effects such as dropout, noise & never starting a given note from the same point on the tape (because, on the real 'tron, you haven't quite let the tape rewind to the start before playing the note again).

in the proteus module, all of these things can be achieved by using noise or key-random signals to modulate pitch, volume, filter cutoff & even the start-point of each succesive sample replay. & of course, velocity, aftertouch & real-time midi control for a more disicplined version of the same variations.

so.... having got the 'tron imitation nailed, I applied the same techniques to all the other rompler waveforms in the proteus, & suddenly the box came alive.

meanwhile, I have switched my step-sequencing from doepfer maq/latronic notron to the colin frasier p3. this sequencer, which I have mentioned before, allows one to record/over-write the monophonic patterns from a keyboard or whatever, while the machine is running.

there are 8 tracks, which run independent playlists of patterns. it is possible for the patterns to run at different divide-rates, & for the "live-input" to over-write all of the patterns in a playlist or just one of them, each time it comes around.

the patterns also support auxiliary events per step (4 for each track) which can be used to trigger extra notes (so chords are possible), midi controllers & other variable parameters concerning the performance.

the values of these aux events being derived from note or other aux events from the same pattern, from patterns in other tracks, randomly or by other devious means, with accumulators, limiters & so forth being applied as & when.

so even step-sequence looping has access to some controlled chaos.

in fact, we've reached the point in my studio where what the repeater is doing is the only thing that isn't changing all the time. I concur with the notion expressed elsewhere that this very static repetition has a beauty/duty all of it's own.

duncan/r.m.i.



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