Patchable 0009

Many of you have likely heard the phrase, “You can never have too many VCAs.” The ubiquitous and humble VCA is one of the simplest, yet most versatile modules.  Some folks are left scratching their heads wondering why. Typically one puts a VCA at the end of their patch to control sound duration and volume with the use of a modulating envelope. However, what if you were to put your envelope through a VCA modulated by random CV then send it to the final VCA?  Well, you have now randomly modulated the level of you envelope to get dynamic volume on each trigger of your sound.

Using the same idea as above but with saw wave LFO into VCA and modulate with an envelope to get a rising saw. The green wave shows what the final output would look like.

If you modulate a sound in a VCA with some other audio, then you get Amplitude Modulation or AM synthesis,  If the VCA is Bi-polar and you do the same, you get Ring Modulation.  What would AM processed by RM sound like? Stack the VCAs, put a sound into one controlled by a square wave LFO and run that sound into another controlled by and Envelope and then a third controlled by random. Route modulation through a VCA first and only let that modulation pass when you want, instead of continuously. Create your own CV controlled Send/Return.  The options are many.

The Challenge

Explore the many possibilities of VCAs.  Create a patch and use VCAs in no less than 3 different ways.  Try to use every VCA at your disposal, the more the better. Try to use them in as many ways possible.

HOW TO PLAY

THIS PATCHABLE RUNS FROM JAN 4TH – JAN 17TH

  1. Create an original piece of music following the above challenge.
  2. Include the suffix PATCHABLE-0008 in the track title.  A completed track title would look like this: Spiral Vortex PATCHABLE-0008.
  3. Upload your track to soundcloud by end of day, Friday January 17th.
  4. Include a link to your track and patch notes in the comments below.
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mrwilliam

https://soundcloud.com/w-y-543363470/w-y-hey-look-at-me-im-a-noise-artist-now I already broke the patch down so patch notes will be pretty sparse for this one since I have to do it from memory. The EG from the Pittsburgh SV1 was being trigged from an LFO. That CV went into the input of a Doepfer a-135-2 (quad vca/mixer) and was being CVed by another LFO. The output from that went to channel 2 of the quad VCA and that was being CVed by a channel from Rene. The output of that was multed to channel 3 input of the VCA and to one of the inputs of Clouds. Channel… Read more »

OnlyRuin

https://soundcloud.com/onlyruin/onlyruin-patchable-0009 First attempt at a patchable here. Main voices are Crater, Mimeophon, VCO 2, and BIA. Crater going into the CV in of the Doepfer A-132-3, mimeophon (no input) going into the Audio in. Audio Out split, one going to mixer, the other going into the Milky Way. Milky Way CVs and VCA being modulated by envelopes from Just Friends (which is being triggered by the Crater). VCO2 out into Sisters, (Freq modulated by Just Friends), out into other channel of Doepfer, into the A-103 filter which is being modulated by the Voltage Block. BIA being triggered via Skipmin (all… Read more »

crewcalledself

https://soundcloud.com/crewcalledself/crew-called-self-omg-vca-nyms-patchable-0009

NerdSeq master clock
Divided and multiplied by doepfer
Arpitecht doing pitch cv
Dixie square wave to Forbidden a Planet LP our to VCA 1 in, out of there to mimeophon
VCA 1 cv from Maths ch1 cycling
Maths ch 2 into VCA 2 out to the modulation input of Forbidden Planet
VCA 2 is modulated by an LFO sine wave
Dixie sub out to VCA 3 then out to Pico DSP.
Vca 3 gets its cv from a steady pulse
Mimeophon color is modulated by a slow LFO triangle wave

Ethan James Startzman

https://soundcloud.com/brain-basement/playtime-patchable-0020-0009

Patch notes:
Stream 1:
Erbeverb feedback gated by combination of Quadrax LFO and Maths envelope into a Tangle Quartet. Panning is attenuated by another Tangle Quartet module.
Stream 2:
Instruo CS-L oscillator 1 sequenced by Stillson Hammer into QPAS filter into 2 channels of Optomix. Two Quadrax envelopes combined with two LFOs from Maths. The QPAS filter is being sequenced by 0-ctrl combined with random voltages in Tangle Quartet.
Stream 3:
Instruo CS-L oscillator 2 sequenced by Stillson Hammer into Serge VQVCF into Echophon.

forestine

https://soundcloud.com/forestine1/executive-dysfunction-patchable-0009 I just have a Tangle Quartet (Quad VCA) so I also tried to do some semimodular VCA stuff, plus I looped it so I could use more VCAs. VCA 1 Zlob Entropy Pink noise into SEM filter. Entropy Infra into CV 1 of SEM, LFO from Werkstatt into Clep diaz Clep Diaz bipolar into SEM cv2 Band Pass out into VCA 1- left Slow Pamela’s New Workout triangle wave into Primary Oscillator Fragments CV-In (also technically a VCA) Fragments into right side of VCA 1 to create a periodically fuzzed sound VCA 2 Mimetic Digitalis into Pitch In of… Read more »