AE Modular

This is an ambient track made mostly with the new MS 20 filter, Algodrone and Solina Strings modules. All of this then goes through the Shimmer effect of the MutliFX. When I first tried out the MS 20 filter I was immediately amazed by its beautiful sound. It is even more sonorous than the Wasp filter. Here you can hear the MS 20 filter sing with only a constant pitched sawtooth wave from the OSC/d and the resonance less than half way up. All I’m doing is adjusting the cutoff frequency ever so slightly. The Algodrone and Solina are truly made for each other. Before I had the Algodrone I thought it would be a very aggressive noise module, but it is actually not that hard to “tame” it. Here it is patched with algorithm number 47 into the Nyle filter which adds some resonance in the low pass channel. The Solina works by selecting a base frequency and then selecting a row of matching chords using the Chord knob. Here I’ve chosen minor chords and I’m really only playing the first two.

My first steps in getting to know the new modules ALGODRONE and SOLINA from tangible waves. ALGODRONE is a Bytebeat processor which is filled with an endless variety of sounds that emerge from noise to structure to melodic to bizarre textures … There are 97 different Algorithms each with 3 parameters and they can be looped and granularized … it’s mindboggling and vast and will take years to map the sonic landscape of this thing! In contrast the Solina produces a lush lofi string ensemble of major or minor chords that work best as an underying soothing drone. It complements the sharp edged Algodrone and therefore I think they are two sides of one coin! Each module has just recently been released and I’m still not sure what each of the controls do. So this is my first fumblings.

Just fooling around with the SLEW/EDGE module I discovered that I can get a squelchy bass going. Not sure if this is Acid? I also played with the SEQ16 by patching the reset into different pattern lengths.

This time an experiment in rhythm after all the ambient tracks of the last few weeks.

One LFO is the central clock which feeds the TRIQ164 and SEQ16. Channel 4 on TRIQ164 sends a clock to TOPOGRAF which in turn drives the KICK and DRUM 010. TRIQ164 Channels 1 sends triggers to LOPAG for another percussion voice and channels 2 and 3 go to envelopes that modulate the bass and lead sounds.

The WASP filter’s cutoff CV is modulated by the CV out from the SEQ16. This gives the lead sound some rhythmic variation even though it’s playing the same note for 4 bars.

The bass line is just the OSC1’s sub oscillator going through the NYLE filter.

This is an ambient track with some Topograf rhythms and keystep noodling. The bulk of the sound is created by the 2OSC module with the second oscillator hard synced to the first. Movement is created by sending this through the wavefolder with LFO modulation of the shape. Also modulating the filters with LFOs and even using the MM Divider to create rhythmic sub oscillations.

In December 2019 large parts of NSW and other states in Australia are burning. Thousands of hectares of National Forest have been reduced to ash, many homes have been destroyed and lives are lost. A huge cloud of smoke hangs above most of the state and Sydney looks like a scene from Bladerunner. This track is inspired by this tragedy.