The improvised techno thread

The Lounge General Discussion
1713

Don’t get me wrong – I love the Elektron sequencer.

Last night I was jamming with a Digitakt and a Beatstep Pro driving another drum machine. Now, I don’t love the BSP sequencer like the Elektron, but there are some clear advantages that come from a more flat, limited architecture.

  • Dedicated Channel Mute. It’s own button. Doesn’t require being in “mute mode.” Very handy.
  • 16 dedicated trig-on/off controls. Doesn’t require being in “record mode.” Separating these from the pad triggers that indicate when a note fires is super valuable live, and is way more clear.
  • Velocity sensitive pads. Obviously an advantage when playing in drum parts live.
  • Ratchet modifier for playing in 16ths or whatever live. With velocity sensitivity, this is great!
  • 16 encoders – one for each step - for velocity or gate length. Another obvious advantage for tweaking velocity levels quickly.

For me, BSP for the win in live situations. In the studio, I want the precision of the Elektron sequencer, but it feels like 90% of what it can do would be silly to attempt on stage, and the mulitple functions of the trig buttons and their coloured LEDs is a mess in the dark with stage lights flashing.

1714

I’m enjoying refining the FX/Loop config for the DFAM/Swarm into Loopy Pro, lots to explore…

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1715

You can also evaluate Hapax (from Squarp) that is similar to Oxi One, probably with a more streamlined UI/UX, midi FXs and “Algos” for generating/modulating stuff in a controlled random fashion, or the T1 from Torso, that’s an Euclidean sequencer, mainly focused on live performance and generative/evolving sequencing

1716

@kryten42 Would you be able to share your methodology? I really like the tonal palette you’re working with and would be interested to hear about how you’re routing, timing and setting things up with a view to maybe doing something similar with Ableton and a Launch Control user template.

Good work as always.

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1717

@thejewk Of course, I’d be happy to share…
My Methodology is to start with a DFAM and/or Swarm loop, usually 8 steps and I grab a loop of that, then I tweak & grab variations of that loop in LoopyPro. I can grab the loop with FX baked in if I want (FX currently: Cascade reverb, eventide Cystals, Discord4, WOV, Flux Mini 2). 3 out of the four loop groups (orange/yellow/green) are synced and are multiples of a bar, the 4th blue loop group can be any length. Subsequent captures of loops are usually not 8 steps and have DFAM/Swarm filter/env/etc tweaked…my thinking is that they have the DNA of the original loop but add complexity, I can then EQ and bring them in/out as I wish. I can also add different after FX to the loops too, which really opens thing up again, I have Perforator (a type of gating), eventide bit crusher & blackhole, Transit (Andrew Huang) and Bless delay, all these FX have a few presets that I can easily switch between, same as the input FX…which means I when I record a loop I can switch preset to get some kinda weird things going on if I wish. The loops also have speed buttons/switches , so they can be half or 3/4 speed of the original loop.

I have the DFAM thing too which enables me to set loop length, anything 1-8 steps and how they are sequenced (normal, odd/even/bounce etc).

The Xone K2 is MIDI controlling all of Loopy Pro and FX.

To get audio into Loopy Pro I use the EXT send FX on the PX5, so I can also send LXR-02 if I want, not explored that yet…I generally just live jam some presets sounds/patterns on LXR-02 and Digitakt.

I think what’s helping me elevate and get more milage out of an 8 step loop are the additional variations of it and FX.

Also, the LFO’s from the Swarm are modulating a couple of parms of the DFAM.

Hope that brain dump gives you some insights, I’m happy to elaborate more or answer any specific questions.

Here’s a longer one from last night, getting a bit more comfortable/familiar with it now. I did use the Digitakt compressor as a limiter on the main insert, along with Medusa iOS app to hopefully glue things together:

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1718

Thanks for that, understood.

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1719

Really nice explanation about your workflow, thanks for that!

I’m curious about how have you been using the Swarm to not sound too “same-y”, I got in a rut with mine after the honeymoon phase where whenever it’s playing it ends up sounding too much the same, I feel I’m stuck in some pattern of using it that is giving me the same results so I’m asking to get inspired and see if I can get out of this, it’s been bothering me a lot :joy:

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1720

@victorcampos haha, it sounds familiar to me too…I’ve been there and will be there again. In some ways it unavoidable, same with the DFAM…they kinda do what they do right?

With the Swarm, try using some of the other 8 voices , I tended to favour 1st & 5th, but recently using 2/3/4 & 5 too.

Use the perc only & turn down the voice vol.

I clock my externally and turning down the clock rate/division to slower and have long attack/release but less trigs is nice with long reverb.

Patch/modulate the freq cutoff with high resonance, or really low pass it and and slow modulate. …patch it with other gear too, or sequence externally.

Use LFO/Slew out → CV or Mod (top left) and vary amount and rate.

I’m sure if you spend some more time with it again you’ll find new sounds to enjoy :smiley:

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1721

I’ve been using my Swarm in a number of ways.

Patch the Noise into the envelope Trig, with or without slew, and use it to make shifting noise and drone landscapes which I can modulate and sample into the DT.

Sequence monophonically or poly with the Digitakt, using the CC values to set up complex parameter changes to get some really interesting warping voices.

Clocked over midi but sequenced internally with an LFO modulated to activate the reset.

Dial in a percussive sound, with or without the voice, and use the internal sequencer like a keyboard.

Also as the techno riff monster it likes being.

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This arrived this morning, mainly as a studio instrument rather than a jamming one, but I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with the CV outputs.

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1722

Ah @Fin25 's A4 has a new chapter! Nice. I was tempted, but don’t have the space for it. You got a great deal.

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1723

I’m having to brute force some space for it haha.

I had no plans for more spending ATM, but couldn’t resist.

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1724

Sounding great! I’m a fan of Regis, too. Surgeon is amazing. What other artists are from Brum that I should know about?

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1725

This is great!!!

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1726

Hey, an hour of improvised techno and don’t tell me it’s not improvised. :smiley: joke

Modular works generatively and Edge is fun with his 8 step sequencer.

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1727

No this doesn’t count as improvise. You have to patch your eurorack from scratch so we can see. Make sure you are patching without predetermining anything, just patch blindly. Ohh you cannot use the sequencers on the digi’s you should just push the trigs manually freeform. Then you’ll be truly improvising. :tongue:

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1728

:joy:

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1729

@Mutlu_Karakose Nice set, I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

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1730

I enjoyed it too. A decent variety of sounds. If I had one piece of constructive criticism it would be that it is quite flat in terms of overall structure - by that I mean there is not much variety of energy, it’s essentially one level all the way through. But as in all music, that’s a personal preference of mine.

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1731

Set is :fire::fire::fire:

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1732

Thanks for listening guys.

Variety in the set is of course also cool. I like to work on longer live sets with more energy variety and different bpm at the beginning and end, in between sometimes a broken beat, sometimes more melody or hard industrial sound. I’ll record a 2-3 hour set when I get the chance.

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