Experimental Sound Design Piece
Aim:
To create an interactive way of creating melodies with a simple synthesizer and a drum sampler. To
create a simple step sequencer/looper that can be used to perform live with an artist, or by an artist
playing a ‘single note instrument’, like a saxophone, flute, clarinet, vocals, etc. or even an electric
guitar (melodic instrument) accompanying them with bass or a simplistic OneNote accompaniment
and with a drumkit that can be easily controllable and adaptable to change quickly.
To create an interactive way of creating melodies with a simple synthesizer and a drum sampler. To
create a simple step sequencer/looper that can be used to perform live with an artist, or by an artist
playing a ‘single note instrument’, like a saxophone, flute, clarinet, vocals, etc. or even an electric
guitar (melodic instrument) accompanying them with bass or a simplistic OneNote accompaniment
and with a drumkit that can be easily controllable and adaptable to change quickly.
Research:
I saw the video “Raspberry Pi Looper/synth/drum thing” by Otemrellik and I thought I'd be able top
make something similar but a lot simpler as I only had a few weeks left.
I did a lot of research to be able to create a synthesizer with an Arduino board or Raspberry Pi, but
there was just not enough time. So therefore, I decided to make my project interactive by using the
mobile pd controller MobMuPlat.
I followed along on many tutorials from Saturday Night Synthesis. Particularly the Mobmuplat one. I
watched Cheetomosquito’s video on simple sequencers and decided to go in that direction.
By watching more videos on sequencers, I liked the one “How to create a Sequencer in Pure Data!”
by Sound Simulator. I made a modified version of the “Clock” that converted milliseconds into BPM
(which I got from Tobias Hartman on YouTube) for musical usage. I used his spigot system for
the majority of the selectors in my patch, like the synth ‘note fire’ selector, all three samplers and the
step sequencer for the drums.
Lastly, All inputs run through a beautiful delay that I found on the OWL patch library called “Cloud
Delay” which I modified and included built my DAC console.
I saw the video “Raspberry Pi Looper/synth/drum thing” by Otemrellik and I thought I'd be able top
make something similar but a lot simpler as I only had a few weeks left.
I did a lot of research to be able to create a synthesizer with an Arduino board or Raspberry Pi, but
there was just not enough time. So therefore, I decided to make my project interactive by using the
mobile pd controller MobMuPlat.
I followed along on many tutorials from Saturday Night Synthesis. Particularly the Mobmuplat one. I
watched Cheetomosquito’s video on simple sequencers and decided to go in that direction.
By watching more videos on sequencers, I liked the one “How to create a Sequencer in Pure Data!”
by Sound Simulator. I made a modified version of the “Clock” that converted milliseconds into BPM
(which I got from Tobias Hartman on YouTube) for musical usage. I used his spigot system for
the majority of the selectors in my patch, like the synth ‘note fire’ selector, all three samplers and the
step sequencer for the drums.
Lastly, All inputs run through a beautiful delay that I found on the OWL patch library called “Cloud
Delay” which I modified and included built my DAC console.
Technical Process:
I started by building the sequencer following tutorials. I then did most of the work and figured out all
the components through experimentation and troubleshooting. I used the pd thread to to look at
ways to solve simple problems and to make each section of my patch. I wanted my synth to be able
to have notes that were in tune. So, I made a keyboard layout and connected each key to the c1
frequencies making up one octave.
When I connected this keyboard to Mobmuplat editor then the keys only bang once every two clicks
on Mobmuplat editor. I created a workaround which only inputs a frequency into the cache every 2
clicks. I suspect this has something to do with Mobmuplat turning from 1 to 0 and banging on each
numeral. Doesn’t make much sense but it works.
Then I created a selector which would divide these frequencies or multiply them creating a range of
4 octaves. The frequencies are gathered in a switch that I built that can cache up to 8 different
frequencies and then get banged when the sequencer clock (STEPMACHINE) passes over them.
Lastly in the synth section, there is a spigot gate that lets you toggle which notes you want to play
out of the 8 frequencies cached up. This then outputs into the ‘synth voice’ which is just a simple
oscillator and adsr that I built with controllable ADSR. Sustain is controlled by BPM but can get
overridden manually.
The drum machine section (pd snare, pd kick and pd hihat) is just a sampler with 38 samples (13
each for snare and hihat and 12 for kick) preloaded. It uses the spigot system to trigger the bangs
that play the sound. There is also a 909 style kick that I made, by following a kick making tutorial on
the 13th toggle on the “pick your kick” section.
Everything is roughted into the “DAC-MASH” which has veritical siders controlling all 4 parts of the
step sequencers volume individually, it has a built-in delay (horizontal sliders) and a vertical master
fader.
I started by building the sequencer following tutorials. I then did most of the work and figured out all
the components through experimentation and troubleshooting. I used the pd thread to to look at
ways to solve simple problems and to make each section of my patch. I wanted my synth to be able
to have notes that were in tune. So, I made a keyboard layout and connected each key to the c1
frequencies making up one octave.
When I connected this keyboard to Mobmuplat editor then the keys only bang once every two clicks
on Mobmuplat editor. I created a workaround which only inputs a frequency into the cache every 2
clicks. I suspect this has something to do with Mobmuplat turning from 1 to 0 and banging on each
numeral. Doesn’t make much sense but it works.
Then I created a selector which would divide these frequencies or multiply them creating a range of
4 octaves. The frequencies are gathered in a switch that I built that can cache up to 8 different
frequencies and then get banged when the sequencer clock (STEPMACHINE) passes over them.
Lastly in the synth section, there is a spigot gate that lets you toggle which notes you want to play
out of the 8 frequencies cached up. This then outputs into the ‘synth voice’ which is just a simple
oscillator and adsr that I built with controllable ADSR. Sustain is controlled by BPM but can get
overridden manually.
The drum machine section (pd snare, pd kick and pd hihat) is just a sampler with 38 samples (13
each for snare and hihat and 12 for kick) preloaded. It uses the spigot system to trigger the bangs
that play the sound. There is also a 909 style kick that I made, by following a kick making tutorial on
the 13th toggle on the “pick your kick” section.
Everything is roughted into the “DAC-MASH” which has veritical siders controlling all 4 parts of the
step sequencers volume individually, it has a built-in delay (horizontal sliders) and a vertical master
fader.
Relevance in the field of Sound Design:
Can be used to create simplistic backing tunes and melodies to be used in different parts of a game,
can be used to perform live with an artist, can be used as a basic 2 bar drum machine rhythmic idea
generator. This step sequencer is very versatile and can be changed in many ways to sound unique
to the artist who is controlling it.
Can be used to create simplistic backing tunes and melodies to be used in different parts of a game,
can be used to perform live with an artist, can be used as a basic 2 bar drum machine rhythmic idea
generator. This step sequencer is very versatile and can be changed in many ways to sound unique
to the artist who is controlling it.
Conclusion:
I really want to build a hardware system for a sequencer based on this idea. I should’ve gone with a
simpler idea and finalized my plans at an earlier stage. All aspects have been successfully linked to
the Mobmuplat app and this is a very fun sequencer to play with. The 8 steps is a bit short for a
progressive melody but the notes, samples, sequences can all be changed in real time as the pattern
is played through. This also includes being able to change the envelope (adsr), volume of each part,
number of steps and BPM. I think this was a successful proof of concept and can still be used to
perform live or be used to generate music for games.
I really want to build a hardware system for a sequencer based on this idea. I should’ve gone with a
simpler idea and finalized my plans at an earlier stage. All aspects have been successfully linked to
the Mobmuplat app and this is a very fun sequencer to play with. The 8 steps is a bit short for a
progressive melody but the notes, samples, sequences can all be changed in real time as the pattern
is played through. This also includes being able to change the envelope (adsr), volume of each part,
number of steps and BPM. I think this was a successful proof of concept and can still be used to
perform live or be used to generate music for games.
