This is a collection of creative patches which is less focused on demonstrating individual features or techniques and more on creative explorations of new sonic landscapes, without disregarding external devices, effects, and unconventional patching. An introduction explains the reasons behind any “idea”, and a video contains a short “performance” in order to inspire new thoughts to the musician.
We’re quite familiar now with the concept of formant oscillators and the sub-harmonic series. But what if we chain together two oscillators? Well, we can create some interesting chords.
SAPÈL has two built-in clocks that run independently. (Un)fortunately, a clock runs steadily, but sometimes we might want unpredictable timing. Today we see how to do it!
Today we used the USTA sequencer in two ways: as a sequencer, and as an oscillator!
Another live patching session where we improvise a patch from scratch based on three random techniques from our website!
Let’s face it, the wobble bass changed the soundscape of electronic music, whether we like it or not. In this video, we approached this technique in a modular fashion, using BRENSO’s dense modulation routing and USTA’s flexible gate modes.
We have neither a VCF nor an ADSR, but we have FUMANA and FALISTRI. While not being specifically designed for this purpose, they can get very close. Let’s take a look!
FM synthesis is more precise in the digital world, but more fun in the analog one! Today we pushed BRENSO’s FM a little further with these four-and-a-half exotic FM patches. Check them out and let us know what you think!
Usually, the “arabesque” technique requires an analog shift register. Which makes sense: it’s the whole point of the game. However, with the USTA sequencer, we’ve been able to create something similar, albeit limited to 16 notes.
We got a request for diving more into the individual outputs of both FUMANA’s bandpass filter arrays.
Here’s some sound design with BRENSO’s FM circuit! Its through-zero linear FM capabilities play well with sounds like glasses, bells, plucked bass, and more.
As per request here’s a video where we explore USTA’s behavior in a bunch of random-clock scenarios.
We’re exploring some east coast sounds on the BRENSO.
FUMANA is great for processing the audio sources, but also the effect return! In this patch, we used it to filter a reverb and create a sort of techno rumble in the modular synthesizer. You can patch FUMANA straight to the CGM return, too!
You might already be familiar with the FALISTRI+321 sidechain technique, but sometimes it may happen that you just ran out of envelopes. That’s what happened to us, so we tried this workaround using USTA’s CVB and… It works great!
Today’s challenge taught us an excellent way to enhance a polyrhythmic experience: use two streams of gates to create a fake analog AND through FALISTRI’s four-quadrant multiplier!
A formant filter usually has three resonant bandpass filters with adjustable frequencies. FUMANA does not resonate and its filters have fixed frequencies. But it doesn’t know! Let’s try to see where we can push it.
Things are getting serious! This time we will see how to take a feedback loop to the next level with the QSC – Quad Stereo Channel and a little bit of USTA as well. With a Eurorack mixer and sequencer, there is much to uncover, and we can even use FUMANA… As a voice.
Want to push your FUMANA beyond its design? We’re here to help! One of the core features of FUMANA is that its capabilities are way more than the sum of its parts. In this video, we cover the most fun among the exotic uses of a filter bank: the feedback. We will see how to create a feedback loop with many tools: 333, 321, CGM, and more.
When we were testing the USTA sequencer, we used one of Bach’s counterpoints to test its capabilities, and we also released it as a teasing video. Someone asked us to show how to program the USTA in such a way, so here we go!
As requested, here’s a step-by-step guide to transforming your BRENSO into a sort of Techno-ish drum machine.
Today’s random picks forced us to build a patch on FALISTRI’s quadrature mode. It is a special envelope chain where an envelope’s stage trigs another envelope’s stage when it ends.
We picked three more random Techniques and improvised a patch from scratch! This time, they lead us to the Unvoiced Input, which is something that we tend to overlook on the FUMANA.
Who says that feedback is just noise? Today we picked three random Techniques from our website that lead us to a nice and groovy patch – with a lot of FUMANA feedback and an odd sequence on the USTA!
This took a lot! The random Techniques that we pick today brought us back to FALISTRI’s release in 2019, but the toughest part was integrating the Varishift parameter in a meaningful way.
The random Techniques that we picked today forced us to create a patch with a lot of FALISTRI, but no BRENSO! At the very end of the video, we managed to use it, but not for what you think…
We had a hard time fitting TWO percussive patches into ONE FUMANA, but we made it! The most satisfying thing about this patch, though, was FALISTRI’s Force Loop input driven at audio rate. It creates a truly WILD sound! It sounded nice even without a sequencer driving it.
Quite an heterodox use of FALISTRI! We routed USTA’s clock through the green generator and used it as a clock delay. However, since it resets on rest, once it passes a certain rate it becomes a clock divider! We paired it with BRENSO’s integrator and pulse shaper for a vintage arpeggiating patch.
This episode is VERY relaxing! We used SAPÈL’s blue noise to modulate BRENSO’s frequency and add a very soothing lo-fi vibe to our sequence. Then, we blended it with some gates to create a gentle polyrhythm.
We improvised a patch where we used USTA as a quantizer to transform a complex envelope into a rollercoaster of ascending and descending swirls of notes!
This time we came up with a nice glitchy drum sound and an eerie pad! We patched the reverb through FUMANA back into the Stereo Channel to create a dissonant feedback that we further tamed with FALISTRI and 321’s combined side chain capabilities.
This live improvisation incorporates FALISTRI as a sub-harmonic generator (or formant oscillator, as you prefer).
Making some kind of “music” without a sequencer wasn’t an easy task. But it was fun indeed! We managed to make two flip sync sounds and create a resonant drone, shaped by FUMANA and SAPÈL.
Today we stumbled upon a classic of our patch archive, the Complex Envelope Technique with FALISTRI. We mixed it with a polymetric patch on the USTA sequencer, as well as some ratcheting gates sent straight into BRENSO’s ping circuit.
By combining USTA’s ratcheting effect, BRENSO’s LFO, and FALISTRI’s Force Loop input, we created this unpredictable patch where each pattern repetition bears different rhythms.
Today we’re going to do an experiment! We try to recreate a popular reel we uploaded on IG. We patched as many Techno staples as we could with just FUMANA, USTA, and BRENSO (ok, also a little bit of FALISTRI): kick drums, acid lines, squelchy filters, and some ambient layers in the background.
This patch uses BRENSO, FUMANA, and the USTA sequencer to create a dreamy soundscape with a gentle creaking background.
IDEA A formant filter usually has three resonant bandpass filters with adjustable frequencies. FUMANA does not resonate and its filters have fixed frequencies. But it doesn’t know! Let’s try to see where we can push it. INGREDIENTS FALISTRI FUMANA BRENSO CGM
IDEA Today we'll create a patch from scratch according to these three Techniques picked at random: 1. Octave Blends; 2. USTA Polymeter 1; 3. Fake Analog AND. INGREDIENTS USTA FALISTRI FUMANA BRENSO CGM SAPÈL
IDEA During one of our last Workshops, a participant asked for a patch with a deep interconnection of BRENSO and FALISTRI. This is what we came up with during a free, interactive improvisation! We chose to split in half BRENSO and FALISTRI and use their yellow sections as oscillators and their green sections as LFO.…
IDEA A feedback loop is something beautiful and dangerous. It is a delicate ecosystem that is always on the verge of collapse. Once we can keep it balanced, it becomes an excellent tool for making music. Fumana is a non-resonant filterbank. However, we can create a feedback loop with a couple of extra modules and…
IDEA The sixteen filters of FUMANA are well laid out on the front panel. What may not be obvious at first glance, however, is that sixteen more filters are laying under the hood, right at the heart of the module. These other filters do not output any sound. Instead, their job is to process another…
IDEA There are many ways in which a musician can combine two audio sources to get new sounds that are widely different than the original ones. FALISTRI wasn’t born as an oscillator; nonetheless, it allows this kind of experiment, and much more. In this patch, we cross-modulate the two generators to achieve rich timbres that…
IDEA Having narrow boundaries often fosters creativity. FALISTRI’s sonic pallette may sound quite limited at first sight, but the raw material can give birth to a lot of unexpected sounds through some tight cross-patching. In this Idea, we’ll use amplitude modulation (through the four-quadrant multiplier) and sub-octave generation (through the frequency divider) to feed FUMANA…
IDEA ‘Why two gates per track?’ We’ve been asked this question quite often, and here’s one of the possible answers! In this patch, Gate A is in ‘Blue’ mode and trigs the main VCA envelope. Gate B, on the other hand, is in ‘Green’ mode, and, through its ratchets, it trigs a second envelope, which…
IDEA This industrial groove is created with distorted sounds, metallic noises and massive rhythms coming from the interactions of two Falistri. A cycling envelope is gated by its own division by 16 and then controls the (only) oscillator’s amplitude: for this purpose, both four-quadrant multipliers are used in series as VCA. The main voice is…
IDEA One of the best ways to foster creativity is to constrain yourself into a small environment and try to get the most out of it: in this case, we show you how to get arpeggios without having an arpeggiator. We used just two FALISTRI and we took advantage of the selectable behavior of the…
IDEA Sometimes it is nice to have control over your sound; some others, it is better to just let the instrument follow its own path. In this patch, we wanted to do both. We set up a simple FM drone sound with FALISTRI and we filtered it with the extremely precise filter array of FUMANA.…
