Re: Shared recording uploaded (Re: mac vst builder(Synthedit) thingy??)

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

Certainly! When mangling Mobius or Augustus Loop in Numerology I use
only MIDI foot pedals to control processing. This leaves hands free
for guitar playing.

Yes, audio input can also be used to control stuff, since Numerology
has an Envelope Follow Module that can be set to listen to the audio
input and put out "CV" data that can be scaled to control any other
parameter in Numerology's modules or in AU plugins (Audio Unit,
Apple's OS X friendly plugin protocol).

"CV" is not really Control Voltage, as in the old pre MIDI analog
sequencers, but since Numerology draws on that routing paradigm the
developer found it accurate to borrow that word into the modern laptop
era. Actually it is about routing parameter control within the AU
protocol.

There is also a good function I forgot to mention: Screen control
modules as the X-Y Vector Pad or the eight track Fader Box have a
parameter called "Glide". This is the same as "Inertia" in Augustus
Loop; meaning if you set "Glide" to a high value and click somewhere
insid an X-Y Vector Pad the two values (X and Y parameter) will crawl
slowly towards the new point. Think about this as having a Kaoss Pad
with adjustable speed for the two values to reach the new point if you
tip your finger somewhere. I find that very useful, because you can
have an expression pedal by foot to set the "Glide" value and then
reach out a finger between playing two notes, or while holding a long
note, and click somewhere on the track pad.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se
www.perboysen.com



On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 11:29 PM, Anders Bergdahl
<anders_e_bergdahl@hotmail.com> wrote:
> VERY COOL Per, I loved the peice.. would it be possible to control 
>this with
> a footcontroler and improvise on other instrument.. Or even cooler 
>could the
> strength of signal and pitch of a input instrument på set to do what 
>the
> joystick does. Sort of letting all these patterns be controlled by 
>audio..
> sort of..
>
> Thanks for sharing..
>
>> Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:19:44 +0100
>> Subject: Re: Shared recording uploaded (Re: mac vst builder(Synthedit)
>> thingy??)
>> From: perboysen@gmail.com
>> To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
>>
>> On Jan 23, 2010, at 6:36 PM, Per Boysen wrote:
>> > http://www.box.net/shared/9f6cov0qh2
>> >
>>
>> On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 8:51 PM, Mark Hamburg <mark@grubmah.com> wrote:
>>
>> > How much preparation do you put in before an "improv" like this and 
>how
>> > much are you really able to pull together on the fly?
>>
>>
>> I would say that the general flow of the piece, understood as
>> directions and movements, is all improvised. Poly rhythm is partially
>> improvised while tonal pitch is not improvised at all, rather
>> automized with a little help of random.
>>
>> The balance between how much you prepare in advance vs how much you do
>> during performance is really totally open. I'd love to explain the
>> process behind this tune, since live sequencing is a big interest of
>> mine. Those not interested can just skip over this mail. ;-) Here are
>> the steps:
>>
>> 1. Discrete sequencing.
>> I don't know where this term comes from originally, but in musical
>> terms it is what King Crimson does a lot in many tunes; you use two
>> patterns of different length where pattern one is the pitches and
>> pattern two is the accents. To achieve this I used
>>
>> A: an Interval (pitch) sequencer of 16 steps. This pitch sequencer's
>> positions for the 16 steps is partially randomized ("partially"
>> meaning not all steps are changed) by a Modulation Sequencer now and
>> then. This modulation sequencer runs at 15 steps to randomize the
>> randomization frequency (yay! how deep can you go...).
>>
>> B; a Gate Sequencer that runs at five steps with all steps active and
>> values gradually going down from beat 1 to 5. While the Interval
>> Sequencer gives the pitches to be played this one gives the note
>> duration. What we get here is a changing 16 note pattern with a note
>> duration pattern repeating every fifth beat.
>>
>> C: a Velocity Sequencer that runs at 6 steps. Values are like
>> "High-Low-Mid-Low-Mid-Empty". This creates an accent pattern in the
>> above reminding of a Waltz rhythm, and with a paus at the last beat.
>>
>> Ok, the MIDI generated by these three sequencers are tonally quantized
>> into a C minor dorian scale. This was all automatic precess prepared
>> in advance. Oh, I also set the synth to juste intonation in C.
>>
>> Here comes the live performance part:
>>
>> The synth sound is programmed to go into a bell like timbre on higher
>> velocity values and more pad like sounding with slower attack at lower
>> velocity values. On the Faderfox I can control the following:
>>
>> 1. base for the velocity sequencer (the fundamental value it starts out
>> from)
>> 2. scaling for the velocity sequencer (how "much" its pattern shall be
>> implied on the generated MIDI)
>>
>> These two control parameters are assigned to a joystick. By turning
>> down the "base" to zero I get only only the three beats "High-Mid-Mid"
>> in half tempo (since it is every second beat and the ones between are
>> silent). This is the typical Waltz rhythm. The "scale" parameter now
>> works as an attack/level control for the synth. If I bring up the
>> "base" value a bit the silent notes between the waltz notes comes
>> alive and the rhythm may as well be experienced as a four beat
>> measure.
>>
>> 3. Groove tremolo. In the audio path after synth 1 there is a groove
>> tremolo effect. I use one knob to fade between full bypass and full
>> tremolo treatment. The tremolo is a little delayed on every second
>> beat ("groove factor"), actually the same groove factor I have set
>> Numerology's global groove clock sequencer to (forgot to tell that
>> initially, but it's just a preference setting). The more this tremolo
>> is applied to the sound the more 4/4 it feels.
>>
>> I added a second synth, bass sound, with a similar setup but now
>> tremolo. Then I also added a drum sequencer that loop a 16 bar "song"
>> containing 8 one bar patterns.
>>
>> These three instrument recourses were then manipulated with the
>> processes described above plus simple volume mixing. As you hear I
>> kept the waltz feel of synth 1 all the way until fading in the 4/4
>> drums, because I found it cool with that odd feeling of the drums
>> appearing like that; for a second you don't "understand" it until your
>> hearing switches over from 3/4 to 4/4.
>>
>> This was a dirt simple example of "discrete sequencing". The cool part
>> of Numerology is that you are not limited to sequencing notes only -
>> you may in fact sequence any sound parameter of a synth, a looper, a
>> sampler or filter plugin. This is why I asked Mark Francombe why he
>> thinks he must program his own plugins, because to me it would be an
>> easier solution to us Numerology that already offers a drag n drop
>> patching matrix to jiggle any parameter in any plugin in any way.
>>
>> Greetings from Sweden
>>
>> Per Boysen
>> www.boysen.se
>> www.perboysen.com
>>
>