This will be my dashboard for the coming weeks. VCV Rack – the free open source, virtual modular synth. It will be the platform for the course I’m taking in Sound Synthesis. I already had it installed but my previous attempt was pretty intimidating.
This time it will be different. I’m looking forward to learning, but I’m not sure I’m looking forward to adding more tools and options for my music making. On the other hand, it might take me in an unexpected direction. Let’s find out.
My idea for today was to see if I could make the Microbrute sound soft and beautiful. I ended up with three tracks.
1 – A step sequenced descending melody on Microbrute through Empress VMSD with its reverse granular delay setting. I have it pretty dry at the beginning and turn up the wet later on.
2 – a descending bass with tempo synced PWM (mostly square wave I believe).
3. And last – a flutey sound that I played by hand. The delay was set with tap tempo and drifts off a little, or if it’s my timing that is off. I’ll call that human for now.
Oh, and just to get some texture I quickly picked a field recording of rain and thunder. Not really the weather around here right now. But it was a quick choice.
When doing these kind of jams I just start. I stay on the white keys so I’m in key. Getting lost and finding your way out is not a bad idea for exploring. I have a similar experience when finding my ways through unusual tunings on guitar. In a way, it’s counter-productive because I’ve found I often gravitate towards establishing very simple structures like I – IV- V. On the other hand, these simple structures take on a new beauty when I’m lost, whereas I would find them just bland and boring if I had been doing it in standard tuning.
Here’s today’s jam:
The Gentle Kind 