BitArp
Added 2017-10-18 16:34:57 +0000 UTCMore flailing with the gadgets as I figure out ways to use them.
The chiptune arpeggio which forms the backbone of this experiment is generated by a Bastl BitRanger, which also provided a master clock pulse which I used to synchronize the drum loop coming from a Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator PO-12. I learned that the PO will respond to sync from the BitRanger, but none of my other gear would recognize the sync signal coming from the PO. So the drum sequence is slaved to the arpeggiator, which is a bit backwards, but it worked. Unfortunately it put the downbeat in an unexpected place relative to the arpeggiator sequence, and despite several restarts I could not persuade it to begin the loop on any other beat. Perhaps with more thought I could have rebuilt the drum loop to sound right, but sequencing drum patterns on a 16 step xox grid is a laborious and unmusical process. It seemed easier to add synth layers to bring that off-kilter beat back into a semblance of kilter.
Much of the kiltering is accomplished by a Soundmachines Nanosynth with its amp envelope pulsing in sync with the master clock. BitRanger is not built to play "notes" in the traditional sense, so I tried to do manual pitch tracking on the Nanosynth's ribbon controller, with limited success. Other noises were generated on Arturia Microbrute and Korg MS-20 and were synced manually (i.e. I just played them while listening to the already-recorded tracks)
