Golden Master

Over the past year I have been using and loving five12’s modular sequencing application, Numerology.  Numerology introduced me to the idea of modular sequencing.  I even posted a full review of the program here:

 

Numerology Review

 

These days, modular synthesis seems damned popular.  There’s an incredible amount of analog synthesis modules available from different companies and everyone and their mother (every rich guy and his mother, at least) seems like they have acquired or are on the road to getting a modular synth.  Well, that’s great, and sure, i’d get one if I could afford it.  To me, though, modular *sequencing* is a lot more interesting than modular *synthesis* right now.

 

 

Modular Sequencing in the nord g2

 With modular synthesis, you design signal paths to create sounds.  But with modular sequencing, you can design sequencer networks to create musical structures!  If you have interesting control data, you can create better sounds.  And if you have interesting structures, you can make sounds  more interesting by creating a compelling musical context for them to exist in.  With a good sequencer, you can send complex control data to even the most boring synth module to make it come alive.

 

There are a few options i know of for doing this kind of sequencing.  Numerology is one of my favorites, but there are other platforms too.  I have been doing a lot of sequencing on my g2 modular, which has excellent sequencing modules that are fast and intuitive to use.  This track, for instance, was completely sequenced from my G2:

 

Archytas’ Alaap Mp3 audio

 

And in case you were interested, this track actually features one of those greek scales I was discussing in my previous blog.  It’s Archytas’ Enharmonic Scale.

 

The g2 costs over $1000, though.  And it’s discontinued.  And Five12’s Numerology only runs on OSX!  What’s a PC user without a g2 system to do?  Well, I’ve been so intrigued by the possibilities that this type of sequencing offers, that I decided to make my own modular sequencing system in Reaktor that is inspired by my experiences with the g2 and Numerology.  So hopefully, i’ll be creating another option for interested parties.  The thing about modular sequencing is that the whole is much more than the sum of its parts.  You can use a few very simple sequencing modules, if you find a clever way to control them, to create very nice evolving sequences.

 

 

snapshot of the beta version of my reaktor sequencer

This sequencing system is very much in Beta.  Actually, I just started on it this week.  But hopefully there is going to be more modules soon.  And as soon as I have something more comprehensive going on, I might write up some simple documentation.  So, for now, this ensemble is not for the reaktor n00bs out there.  But feel free to give it a go!  Just have it send midi to somewhere.  Look inside the structure and see where the control data is coming from.  have fun!

 

Here is a very simple demo track I made with this sequencer.  I am only using the “gate seq” and the “control seq” to send a monophonic sequence to my tx81z.  Just an experiment, but I think there is a lot of potential!

 

Reaktor Sequencing Demo

 

Here’s another demo, also, just straight midi being sent to my tx81z:

Reaktor Sequencing Demo 2

 

 And finally, here is the reaktor ensemble:

 

Reaktor Modular Sequencing ensemble (beta)