'Pattern Bussing'

This is a demo of a very kewel patching technique for the Q960 sequencer, which allows the performer to selectively alter the reset-points and step sequence, by switching the trigger-gates on a series of trigger-busses.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Q960
• synthesizers.com
• synthesizers
• modular-synthesizers
• cybertron
• morbius001
• sequencers

[Stuadh]

Hi, Il love this technique, but I'm still trying to get my head around it. I don't have any Q960s, but I have a Doepfer A155 and I'm having a 16x4 sequencer custom built with skip and reset, so I hope to start understanding this better. A question, though, does the patch always output a single (monophonic) voltage, or is it a duophonic or polyphonic patch? The voice and effects used makes it difficult to discern.

[morbius001]

... (continued)... With polyphony, all modules used in the patch (VCOs), (VCAs), (VCFs), (mixers)(multiples)(control-vo­ltages)(everything)... must be duplicated for each voice... a massive task, and expense. Plus... with all of those voices being sequenced... it's highly questionable whether 'the waters would be muddied way too much'. Polyphonic synths have a specific use... being polyphonic. Same with mono.duophonic. I don't believe in 'forcing' one to be another. Poor outcome.

[morbius001]

.... Besides... think of these 'sequences', as a sort of 'lead-part' (although, their often not... and a real lead is played over them). Thing is- too much going on... like massive polyphonic-voiced sequences, can be just way too much, for the listener.

One of the most basic, but important 'rules' of audio/recording is to remember this: "LESS IS MORE"! Too much, like I said, muddies the waters, to where it's just to involved for the listener to process... too busy.

[treetrouble]

do you have a flat explanation of this technique posted somewhere? I'm having a hard time following through video bubbles

[morbius001]

@treetrouble I hesitate giving an 'in-depth' description, simply because of all of the times I've screwed myself out of good-paying gigs by "giving away my secrets", so to speak. (Sounds crappy... but it's true).

But briefly- One sequencer acts as the Master Clock, and plays the notes. A 2nd seq. is kept in sync, and it's output triggers are patched to 'certain' steps on the first seq, creating reset-points. By using switches, you select the 'reset-points', which controls the pattern.

[morbius001]

Of course, these 'patterns' have several variables- not the least of which, are the notes tuned on the sequencer. Some tunings sound fantastic, while others sound- well, less desirable. Ideally, whether using 1, 2, 3, or more rows- the tuning of notes on each row have everything to do with a good or great sounding set-up. And- the selection of reset-points also can make, or break it. I started out patching for 8 reset-points, but over time, I found I prefer to use only 4- and all 'on-the-fly'.

[dondorward2010]

@mmm2m8r --your post has indeed confirmed my suspicions that certain individuals could control the earth and its inhabitants with this thing, fulfilling various ,nefarious schemes........

[agerven]

What an impressive video. I'm not necessarily impressed by the size of your system but far more by what you do with it.

Thank you for providing value information with the texts showing what is actually going on.

[iloverush123]

This was awesome. How many modules do you have in that thing?

[johnpmahoney]

Just watched this again for the first time since it was new, seems that I hadn't commented. Well, I still haven't seen anybody else doing this kind of thing. To be fair, very few people post videos, so we don't know if anyone else is doing this type of thing; regardless, I don't think it can be done any better than this (with "analog" step sequencers). Nice work, Morbs!

[keesvangelis]

very wel done thanks for this

[kontube]

the cowboy hat really throws me off

[TheAlphadial]

Impressive. I tried something similar with a Nord Modular patch a few years ago, but sequencer modules take up a lot of CPU on that thing (why?). So I couldn't gang enough of them together to pull it off.

Controlling every knob and switch must be very satisfying, but... have you ever considered doing all the sequencing and control in Cycling '74 MAX, with MIDI/CV converters to your sound generating modules? Seems like it would be a lot cheaper and more flexible, too.

[deadlover73]

beautiful music. beautiful system. beautiful programming.