This one is slightly different: As suggested by @Humanprogram, to explore the Analog Cymbal track in a meaningful way we’re pairing it with the the UT-IMP and UT-NS of the three remaining analog tracks.
This means that you can use the following:
Track 9: Utility-Noise or Utility-Impulse. Ping that filter!
Track 10: Same as track 9
Track 11: Same as track 9
Track 12: Same as track 9, plus all Analog Cymbal machines (including cowbell machines)
Please see the main thread for general SSL rules (link at the bottom of this post).
As usual, post your contributions here, including:
Audio file
Project file
Some words on your inspiration, techniques used, and other aspects explaining how you ended up where you did.
Listen to other people’s contributions, comment and enjoy!
For general Science Lab rules, discussions on upcoming Labs etc, please see this thread:
So, this is Impulse on track 9 for the kick and sub, Noise on track 9 for toms and various hats/percussive sounds, Noise on track 10 for the grumpy bassline, and HHlab on track 12 for the lead/synth pattern.
I’ve been using these tracks as creative challenges. I spend about an hour with the Syntakt in my bed, trying things I wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s not super refined, but I post it when I feel like it’s an ok loop that I could listen to for a while.
The basic approach was using LFOs and filter movements with very high multiples to create an FM bass sound, then working on some oscillator tuning, filtering, and resonance for the synth lead. I wish i had the patience to tune it a bit more finely, but I don’t.
The rest is pretty basic: just a crunched-up kick through drive on the FX channel and basic hats drenched in reverb.
There’s some “all track” modulation on the amp decay to create a bit of movement. It sounds like something you’d hear in Berlin 10 years ago. IMPULSE.stprj (5.3 KB)
These are both hella dope. I wish this was on vinyl bro
Ironically enough, these ST challenges make me de-motivated. Yall are too good at this shit hehehe! I’m still stuck at the first one, trying to get a decent kick from the HH Alloy… and failing
Oh no, that’s the opposite of what I wanted to achieve with this! One of my main goals for the SSLs was for all participants to share findings, and improve our Syntakt skills together. If you’re stuck, download a project file which contains a nice kick. Analyze what’s going on, tweak it and put it into your own context. It’s not cheating, it’s learning
My Alloy kick felt weak, but it helped amplifying the few low frequencies this machine has through both the resonant HP filter, and through the FX track (also in resonant HP mode). Only with these two stages of amplification did I manage to get some kind of bass out of it.
Just get weird with it and don’t worry!
Make junk. Make awesome. Just make!
Sometimes people (me) get tired of working on a pattern for too long and just go ahead and record it and toss it out there for whoever to give a listen and raise some discussion.
Go crazy!
I’m hoping to try this one too. I’ve barely used the utility machines for anything beyond hats.
I’ve got no probs making beats with my Syntakt in general, but these challenges make it very clear to me that I couldn’t get much done if I only had access to a few of the machines on offer. But I really like the stuff ppl are posting, shows there are a lot of sounds inside the box I just dont know how to get out of yet.
On the positive side, that just means I’ve got more discovering ahead of me to look forward to
Weird it is then! 4x Impulse. Lots of p-locks and probability, delay through FX track.
Edit: beware of feedback loops and obnoxious frequencies. Sorry! There are also a few conflicting bass frequencies taking a lot of energy here, so the overall volume of the recording seems low. I’ll see if I can clean it up.
Project file, contains the patterns in my previous post too. NODE SCILAB 2.stprj (14.7 KB)
Alrighty!
The lead arp / keys sound here is the CB Classic on track 12, the kick and toms are UT Impulse, and the shaky hats are UT noise.
Kind of messing with the FX as a fast sweeping dippy thing at the end there, but it wasn’t like I remembered using it last. Oh well! Must’ve saved over it.
I’m surprised by the cowbell this time! If you play with the detune and a real high resonant filter at certain settings it has some interesting tones. I had it at 95 in this case.
T9 is UT impulse for a kind of 808 bass
T10 is UT noise with slow attack and resonance for some pad-like sound
T11 is the same as T10 but with fast attack and more plucky. This track, follows the notes of T12 with some offset for density.
T12 is the HH Lab with some fine envelope on the lp filter and max overdrive, that resembles something between a quitar sound or some weird clav keyboard, depending on the envelope amount. I also have some random Lfo on the said amount and volume, so the arpeggios have some variety baked in.
The Fx track has trigs where the arp from T12 is and there is LP4 applied with its own eg amount and random Lfo on it and volume. T12 and the verb both go through the fx.
Not a lot going on in the composition department, as I mostly wanted to showcase the quitar sound:)
Wow! I certainly would have failed at «guess that sound» This sounds amazing tbh, such a vibrant melodic sound. Reminds me of Alan Wilder era Depeche Mode. Beautiful!
One bubbly track of UT Impulse. Slewed S&H LFOs on filter frequency and FX’s delay time. I add more and more Euclidean trigs, mess with filter envelope times and speed up the clock.
Reverb predelay is maxed out and decay time at minimum.
Routed through FX drive at the initial 1.00.
One of my main goals for the SSLs was for all participants to share findings, and improve our Syntakt skills together. If you’re stuck, download a project file which contains a nice kick. Analyze what’s going on, tweak it and put it into your own context. It’s not cheating, it’s learning 
There are also a few conflicting bass frequencies taking a lot of energy here, so the overall volume of the recording seems low. I’ll see if I can clean it up.
This sounds amazing tbh, such a vibrant melodic sound. Reminds me of Alan Wilder era Depeche Mode. Beautiful!