OK, this isn’t technically studio journal stuff. But all of the testing, trial and error, etc has been done up here in the attic…
This is the first portable case configuration I’ve come up with for September. It is geared primarily towards cycling melodic sequences ala Cluster’s Sowiesoso and/or Music for 18 Musicians. The master clock is the TipTop Trigger Riot which is programmable, and I’ve also added a Mutable Instruments Branches right next to it so I can can tweak the trigger probabilities in real time.
The sound sources are two Modcan FMVDOs. My preferred digital FM oscillator. There is a Dave Smith Curtis filter (with integrated VCA) for each. The envelopes are from Make Noise Maths.
The two voices go to the Modcan dual delay module which can sync to the Trigger Riot (or not).
The sequencers are two Suit and Tie Guy Graphic Sequencers.
The quantizing is done by Intellijel uScales and they are controlled by SoundMachines LS1s which can select the 12 scales saved in the uScale. So with 12 scales for each uScale there are 144 possible combinations (many of these would not be musical and it’s my job to figure out how to only use the musical combinations).
Routing of CV sources to CV destinations is done by the WMD Sequential Switch Matrix, and the SynthTech E102 Quad Temporal Shifter (the best shift register ever).
Various VCAs and attenuators, etc will allow combinations and contortions of the outputs of the two sequencers to be used for non melodic modulations.
There will probably be a Meng Qi Voltage Memory sitting next to this case to move between preset FM values (ratio and index), etc, by hand, or sequenced.
This is the instrument I expect to play with Roedelius in Berlin. I will construct/compose a flexible piece which could exist alone or with others. In my dream he he will improvise melodies above my arpeggios.