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Post by spacedog on Feb 25, 2019 15:06:22 GMT
Know Your Limits Theme: Create a demo piece using up to four modules (excluding the MASTER) - now with UNLIMITED patch leads Submission window: Monday 25th Feb -> Monday 4th March (23:59:59) Background:
Create a demo to show off the AE Modular… however, as a twist, restrict yourself to using only up to four modules from your vast array (not including the MASTER) a nd also only using up to eight patch leads to connect them. You now have unlimited patch leads, so patch away. We all love all of our modules and some of us are looking at expanding on a regular basis. Sometimes, less is more and this challenge is designed to push us towards getting the most from a minimal setup. To get in the mood, imagine that you're demonstrating the AE Modular and you have to do so with the new super slick six-module case (remember two for the MASTER) - and, no, this doesn't really exist  . Hopefully that should enable you to come up with something interesting. Input via CV or MIDI is allowed. If you use the MULTIFX or SPRINGREVERB, these count towards your total. To be fair, if you use external effects, that will cost you one module. Remember, the aim is to show off the power and flexibility of your chosen modules and also to promote how even a small system can easily be used for sound production. So, get creative.
The challenge is set, and runs during the submission window set out above, however, please feel free to add entries or leave comments after the initial challenge has ended. Each entry should contain:- Link to audio or video example (embedded preferred)
- Short (or not so short) patch notes, explaining how you have built on the above theme
Your entry can be as short/long as you wish, a simple sound or a track, use external fx or synths, do what you can in the time you have - go wild, make the challenge yours! You are welcome to use previous entries, as inspiration, build on them to form something new, or just use in a different way, you are welcome to submit multiple entries. If you are posting on social media (youtube, soundcloud) , please tag with #AEChallenge and #AEModular, and include a link back to the challenge thread here on the AE Modular forum. Everyone is actively encouraged to comment on entries, provide feedback and ideas... you are welcome to continue commenting/discussing outside of the submission window. the more we discuss the more we all learn
This is part of the AE patch challenge series - if you would like more information, or have ideas for the challenge, please post on the patch challenge thread.
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Post by thetechnobear on Feb 26, 2019 11:12:08 GMT
i think 8 wires is an unnecessary restriction... patch wires cost nothing. I don't think we should ever be restricting patching potential thru connections. also consider the practical side pitch/gate/audio out = 3 wires .. then we have 4 modules , 1 connection between them means we are up to 6 wires... its pretty limiting (not in a good way) to creativity to only have 2 wires left , if you limit the number of modules, then its likely you are going to want to cross patch things.
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Post by spacedog on Feb 26, 2019 13:24:58 GMT
i think 8 wires is an unnecessary restriction... patch wires cost nothing. I don't think we should ever be restricting patching potential thru connections. also consider the practical side pitch/gate/audio out = 3 wires .. then we have 4 modules , 1 connection between them means we are up to 6 wires... its pretty limiting (not in a good way) to creativity to only have 2 wires left , if you limit the number of modules, then its likely you are going to want to cross patch things. OK, fair enough... I'll revise. I did agonise a bit over the best way to create an artificial limit, which was designed to contain the challenge. I went through a few test runs to see if I could do it and it did make me think hard about what I was doing.
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Post by NightMachines on Feb 26, 2019 13:58:53 GMT
Oh, I thought it was a cool idea and I'll still only do it with eight wires. It's a challenge
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Post by spacedog on Feb 26, 2019 14:09:33 GMT
Oh, I thought it was a cool idea and I'll still only do it with eight wires. It's a challenge Having just spotted your Pax Wardrobe project video on YouTube, I would expect nothing less  You obviously love a challenge.
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Post by thetechnobear on Feb 26, 2019 17:38:15 GMT
Oh, I thought it was a cool idea and I'll still only do it with eight wires. It's a challenge fair enough, bonus points for less wires... extra for only using the short yellow ones
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Post by NightMachines on Mar 3, 2019 19:04:24 GMT
Okay! Here's my result: 4 Modules: VCO, VCO, LOGIC, MULTIFX 8 Wires: VCO 1 square -> VCO 2 CV2 VCO 1 square -> LOGIC 1A input VCO 2 square -> VCO 1 CV2 VCO 2 square -> LOGIC 1B input LOGIC NAND -> VCO 2 CV LOGIC AND -> VCO 1 CV LOGIC XOR -> MULTIFX input MULTIFX -> MASTER I/O audio out I set the MULTIFX to Shimmer in Lo-Fi mode and turned just the wet output up at the beginning. Then I play mostly with the VCO pulse width and coarse frequency knobs. The pulse width knob can silence the square wave VCO output when set to max width, so it's a crude way to turn down the volume of the VCO. Of course there is a lot of cross-modulation happening, so there are weird pitch changes, etc. but the Shimmer effect smoothes everything nicely into some kind of ambient drone music 
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Post by spacedog on Mar 3, 2019 22:40:38 GMT
Okay! Here's my result: [...] 4 Modules: VCO, VCO, LOGIC, MULTIFX 8 Wires: VCO 1 square -> VCO 2 CV2 VCO 1 square -> LOGIC 1A input VCO 2 square -> VCO 1 CV2 VCO 2 square -> LOGIC 1B input LOGIC NAND -> VCO 2 CV LOGIC AND -> VCO 1 CV LOGIC XOR -> MULTIFX input MULTIFX -> MASTER I/O audio out I set the MULTIFX to Shimmer in Lo-Fi mode and turned just the wet output up at the beginning. Then I play mostly with the VCO pulse width and coarse frequency knobs. The pulse width knob can silence the square wave VCO output when set to max width, so it's a crude way to turn down the volume of the VCO. Of course there is a lot of cross-modulation happening, so there are weird pitch changes, etc. but the Shimmer effect smoothes everything nicely into some kind of ambient drone music  But you didn't use the little yellow leads...
NightMachines, that works really well and would certainly make me stop and listen if this was being demo-ed from what would be an immensely small setup (the point of the challenge). I was sketching some thoughts out on the tube and I had something slightly similar with feedback loops, but I didn't think of feeding the OSCs back into themselves in that way - that's set my mind in a different direction (again, the point of the challenge).
Fortunately, we have open-ended submission dates  so I can spend some time on this early in the week. Last week was spent issuing two albums of music from 1999 and a new one that includes a lot of AE Modular to produce the soundscape backings. It was quite busy. None of it will change the World, but it was all fun.
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Post by admin on Mar 3, 2019 22:54:47 GMT
Ooh, very nice. And within the limits nonetheless. I'm super impressed and will now endeavour to also not "cheat".
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Post by admin on Mar 4, 2019 11:18:41 GMT
Here is my entry, just hot off the recorder (after some fun with cheesy effects in Windows Moviemaker).
Using only 4 modules: 2OSC, WASP Filter, MultiFX and HPAmp
And only 5 patch cables, one of which is a little yellow one!
2OSC1 (square) -> (in) WASP (out) -> (in) MultiFX (out) -> (in) HPamp
2OSC2 (square) -> (pw) 2OSC1
2OSC2 (ramp) -> (cv) WASP
Then I'm just playing with the CV1 knob on the filter to allow more and less modulation from OSC2. Later I'm turning the OSC2 frequency (which started out at the lowest setting) clockwise to achieve higher and higher states of harmonic oscillation between the filter cutoff frequency and 2OSC 1. The MultiFX sets the stage with the Resoverb .. nice dark and mysterious.
Personally I can't get enough of hunting for harmonic oscillation in offset waves .. for me it's what all the knob fiddling is about.
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Post by thetechnobear on Mar 4, 2019 14:18:36 GMT
here's my offering this week ( with a bonus bit of AEC#7 at the end) details of the full setup are included in the video description. patch details: AE MODULAR: very simple setup 2OSC, NOISE, NYLE FILTER, 2VCA 2OSC : SQR (MIDI PITCH) PWM (MIDI CC20) / SAW (MIDI PITCH) tuned an interval apart -> NYLE LP/HP -> VCA 1 (MIDI GATE) , CV 1 (MIDI PITCH), CV 2 (MIDI CC20) -> AUDIO 1 NOISE : RATE: CV PITCH -> VCA 2 (CV GATE) -> AUDIO 2 PYRAMID : midi pitch / gate : sequenced midi cc 20 : S &H MIDI LFO CV PITCH/GATE : 3 euclidean tracks, each with different pitch , so each has a slightly different feek the 2 audio outputs are then 'mixed and panned' in Organelle , output fed to zoom H5, then onto iPhone. later, (when I say I invite friends) , I bring in some sounds from the Organelle , a simple Rhodes type sound, and a kind of bass synth sound. all with a very light touch of reverb to make it feel like its in a room, and not a cardboard box (Organelle is running my Orac virtual modular patch , basically 4 'chains' , 2 for incoming audio , 1 for rhodes, 1 for bass synth)
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Post by sycophante on Mar 4, 2019 15:52:55 GMT
Here is my contribution, and first Patch Challenge (since I received AEM just last week)
I thought Oscillators from 2OSC FMing each others would be a good basis for some drone, so I have 2OSC and 2ATT has a brain for the patch. Then I have 2 sawtooth going through a mixer then through SV filter. Precisely : - OSC1 Saw -> ATT1 -> OSC2 cv - OSC2 Square -> ATT2 -> OSC1 cv - OSC1 Saw -> Mix - OSC 2 Saw -> Mix - Mix -> SVFilter - SVFilter Lowpass -> Master All that remains is done from tweaking! I'm not too proud of it but, well, this is a first!
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Post by thetechnobear on Mar 4, 2019 17:48:36 GMT
just going thru all entires ... wow, theres some really nice textures in these patches
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Post by arti on Mar 4, 2019 18:11:04 GMT
I've managed to stay below 8 wires limit with this miniature 4 modules (LFO, DELAY, SEQ16, VCO) 6 patchwires: LFO - trigger output to Delay VCO - saw output to Delay/ triangle to audio1 I/O SEQ16 cv output to VCO cv Delay out to SEG16 clk/ second out to audio2 I/O I don't know, is it my imagination or it has some baroque music feeling  
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Post by arti on Mar 4, 2019 21:54:25 GMT
Personally I can't get enough of hunting for harmonic oscillation in offset waves .. for me it's what all the knob fiddling is about. Oh, I see what You mean, they sound fabulous indeed!
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pol
Wiki Editors
Posts: 1,192
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Post by pol on Jul 24, 2022 21:09:27 GMT
My latest attempt at a Patch Challenge:-
Actually had another couple of ideas but went for this one, hope you found interesting. Was going to include some hints & tips but demostrates the 2LFO & Lo-fi Delay modules really well!
POL.
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