This year is already moving at a pace!

as i did last year and have done for a bunch of the last few years, at the beginning of january i set myself some goals to achieve for the coming year - it gives me some positive aim and something to focus on when things are seeming their most grey, null and void. to this end, last year my main goal was to finish building a live modular techno rig, become adept enough at using it to play live and perform at least one live show before the end of the year. thanx covid for squishing that dream flat - guess i shoulda seent it coming, it's all my fault it turns out, sorry folks!

this years main goal i therefore chose to be something that wouldnt care if covid restrictions were in place and yet would still have relevance and life after the lockdown is over - it's a continuation of a project i put on the back burner to concentrate on the live techno rig even though it has a number of similarities in the requirements for me to achieve it:
i'm going to finish off building my 'installation art' piece, a modular synth that can be powered up and will compose and play music continuously as long as it's powered without any input from a human being whatsoever - melodies chord patterns, drum rhythms, basslines, the works! it will produce constantly evolving new songs made of distinct timbres and sounds, with recogniseable variations on previously heard themes making up individual songs and so be enttertaining and quite fascinating for long periods of time.
There's even the possibility of letting the machine have access to inputs like weather sensors, human movement or presence, brainwaves or even just the electrical signals travelling around everyday objects like houseplants and mobile phones.

i have previously described the basics of what goes into making such a device early on in this blogs beginnings, and written a little about the theory behind how it is patched to provide the resulting generatiive music that it's destined for. now as its my main focus for the next while i'll be talking about the specifics in depth and maybe even a little about possible funding from some kinda arts council or similar, and even shows with visuals associated with and connected to, the music...

i guess i should start by posting a few screenshots so you can see what it is thats being discussed and exactly the reality versus the ideal diagrammatic world:














The above is the ideal, diagrammatic temporary set up i have - some are proposed modules, not in my possession yet - (bottom row, LHS on left case and top row RHS on right case) - to give you an appreciation of the reality of these things compared to those nice tidy well aligned and neatly fittted together layouts, here are some real life photos of the damned things:














the reality is that the only affordable yet portable way to house that many modules in a protected [waterproof, dustproof, generally impact resistant] shell, and do it in an accessible manner with no sacrifices towards useability or hindering the view for fascinated onlookers, turned out to be 19" 12U rackmount tilting mixer flight cases. with a few bolt on rails procured from modular case part suppliers and some relatively simple power access solutions, the empty space below the modules when the cases are closed will host the multiple 4way power distro plug extensions, power bricks and other hardware needed to run the damned things, and the lids are sufficiently roomy to allow them to close with the modules patched - kinda essential when constructing the final patch will likely take days, if not weeks or even months!

the basics of the set up is clear that it splits clean down the middle - two cases, one is 12U [four rows] of eurorack modular for sequencing - a huge load of modules that perform the functions some may be familiar with as parts of an analogue computer - modules that act to multiply, divide, add, subtract, integrate, differentiate etc. electrical signals - and further there are more advanced modules that can do chaotic attractors, fractal geometry, and other complex mathematical functions - along with basic switches and countes and oscillators and amplifiers etc, the remaining magic is in a few specialised modules like quantifiers [modules that create a signal that controls other dedicated 'voice' modules in a tuneful manner rather than random notes or off key wailing] and similar specifically musical controllers/source modules.
this sequencing case ill be pacted up togther to orm a big spaghetti mess like the one in the photo above an eventually run otself to produce signals to control the pitch, tempo, rhythm, timbre and other musical aspects of the modules in the second case - the 'voices and output chain case'.
the voices in the other case consist of a Behringer pro1 [an exact clone of the circuitry in the sequential circuits pro1 analogue synthesiser but in a compact eurorack modular compatible format], a roland system 1m [similar to the behringer but a digital synth that emulates the analogue circuitry of other synthesisers loaded in using the 'plug-out' technology roland have developed - effectively i can load in the model of an sh101 or system 100 synthesiser and have its sounds reproduced along with the behaviour of its circuits accessible to control or be controlled by my eurorack modular since it's compatible with the control voltage electronic functioning of the eurorack world]. finally there is some actual modular voice stuff - a Xaoc Devices Odessa - a 2500 partial additive synthesiser that has a 'Hel' expander alowing it to be controlled as 5 separate 512 partial voices so allowing complex pad chord sounds and beautiful harmonically rich soundscapes to back the other instruments. the Behringer will provide big fat analogue basslines and the roland sys1m tthe leads or arpeggios or whatever particular sound(s) are needed to fill out the musical canvas.

the 'voices' case also contains a number of 'output chain' modules which go toward adding colour, character and effects to the otput of the voices. the chain is as follows:
- the stereo output of voices into a Happy Nerding PanMix mixer module and are panned appropriately to be setup for mid/side encoding next:
- output of PanMix mixer into worng electronics LRMSMSLR mid side encoder module so that from here on all stereo effects are actually mid/side effects, and:
- outs of the LRMS into a R*S serge resonant EQ fixed resonant filterbank to pull out the best frequncies of the mix:
- res EQ outs into an after later audio typhooon [a mutable instruments clouds clone, complex digital reverb and granular processing tool] to provide space and trippy effects of all sorts:
- out of clouds clone into a bizarre jezabel mimosa tube saturator which wll be used very subtly to introduce just a hint of warmth to the very electronic sounds from even the best of analogue instruments:
- output of the tube saturator into a bizarre jezabel 'athrá' tape emulator and delay - again, used sparingly to add a touch of the flavour of tape wow, flutter, high end roll-off and saturation n bias effects.
- finally, the tape emulator is routed back into the worng MSLR decoder to return the sounds to a stereo L/R mix ready to be routed to a sound desk of a live PA, mixer of a club or inputs of a gallery speakers or whwerever the machine is being demonstrated and shown.

when patched up according to the system i described in a previous blog entry and considered as a collection of objects that perform a certain limited number of possible tasks, the initial source, a pair of low frequency oscillators, will provide the raw electrical signals that can be converted into tempo defining cclock signals, 1v/oct pitch instructions, grooving rhythmic drum pattern triggers, note length gate instructions and timbre modifying modulation cv's all necessary to make the stuff in the vooices case produce music that is then enriched by the output chain to give it that final polish before it is heard by the audience and enjoyed.

[n.b. i do have 25+ yrs of music making experience and 9 yrs experience of working specifically with analogue eurorack synths including being part of a diy module design and production company, LjungrennAudio RYO, and so have a lot of hard won knowledge backing me towards my goal and so avoiding wasting lots of cash on buying the wrong modules or knowing how even just to patch the damned things to get the desired result!]

Finally, as mentioned at the start of this entry, completing this machine is the main goal i have set myself to achieve this year - BUT, although covid lockdowns may continue and hence all i'll be able to do is spend countless hours gradually learning to patch the thing as best to get the most wonderful music i can from it, on the offchance that the vaccine is successfully distributed widely and works etc then its quite possible even part way into this coming year i will be ready to take this machine out to galleries/arts houses/makerspaces/etc. and let the public see and enjoy it. to this end my secondary goals are to learn to patch it to the fulllest extent possible, and hopefully actually take it out into the public before the year is out.

if i achieve these goals then i may try quite seriously to acquire a funding grant from somewhere to allow me to take it on the road and tour around showing it off and raising some attention and hence doing good PR for my music in general. what comes after that is just pipedreams at this stage i guess...