Today I went swimming and followed Xuan Ni to learn freestyle. I feel like I can learn it by summer. But who knows if today is the only chance to go swimming this year.
I registered for Distrokid and want to try releasing some dance music in the future. I've been practicing how to make rhythmic music live for the past few months, and it's not as simple as I thought. No wonder many professionals still play pre-recorded tracks or prepare pre-looped segments with specific timing in Ableton.
I've always used Ableton as a post-production tool, except when I used Push for live performances, but that was just for adjusting tones and creating melodies, not for large-scale projects lasting 20-40 minutes. Since I started performing electronic improvisation live frequently with VCV Rack/MiRack, I've been researching how to use VCV to prepare live projects.
First, I tried pattern mode, but it was too short and difficult to use for longer structures.
Then I tried song mode, but it was still too short.
I initially thought a feasible method would be to use a clock and modulate it. This way, I can quickly enable/disable modules by pressing cmd+e, partition the modules needed for different "tracks" of tones, and select and enable/disable them simultaneously.
After trying this, I think this method should work, but there's one problem. If the trigger for the envelope of the effects in the tones uses the same clock source as the tones, the rhythm becomes too rigid, like a military parade. The solution to this problem is to use a clock to trigger the envelope and then use the envelope to trigger the tones. A regular single envelope module is definitely not enough, but luckily there is a module like this - Befaco Rampage - a Dual ramp generator, also a polyrhythmic gate generator. With both channels synced between each other, it generates several "complex rhythm" gates.
This is the modified patch:
The track created using this patch:
shiny-d(el)ays
It's more diverse than before, but the rhythm is still not quite right, except for when the tones switch between 40 and 120 bpm.
Why is the rhythm not right? Upon closer inspection, it's actually because the mapping between the effects of the tones and the envelope module is not "interesting" enough. So I added another envelope module and used the two outputs of the gravity ball ChUTE as inputs. And I routed the outputs of the two delay modules to the CHOPPING KINKY module, using CHOPPING OUT to affect the two CHR ONO BLOB modules. So any changes in the two delay modules of the HIHAT will change the tones, and even the melodies, of the two sets of tones using kickball as the sound source. What's amazing is that by slightly modifying the three parameters of the gravity ball, both the rhythm and the tones will have interesting variations!
This is the screenshot after the modification:
The track created using the modified patch:
hamster wheel
I think this is the closest I've come to being satisfied with what I've done recently. It has also improved my familiarity with the operation. In one take, it has a certain coherence, and although there are rough and imprecise parts at the transitions, it doesn't deviate from the overall structure. And it has a high level of playability, allowing for many variations, so the recording duration can finally be longer...
No more patching today!