Improvisation IX – Decisions Are Not Random

This is a complicated, long (25 minutes)  and not too easy-to-listen work. Sorry for that. There are six different voices which seem to be independent (but are not independent, of course).

We start with a somehow rhythmic clicking. Basically, this is an A-117 Digital Noise Generator put into an A-188-2 Tapped BBD. The two sum outputs of the BBD are sent into two A-108 Ladder Filters which are modulated by two slow LFOs. BBD frequency and Noise Generator frequency are controlled by an A-198 Ribbon Controller (pressure and position).

Then we have some kind of bass drum. Old and cheap „trick“: a self-oscillating filter (here: an A-101-1 Vactrol VCF) is sent into a VCA (here: A-131). Both are controlled by an A-140 ADSR, the filter frequency is also controlled by an A-155 Sequencer. There’s some white noise fed into the filter to add some grittiness.

There’s an additional clicking thingy: this is a little bit more complicated: Two slightly different tuned A-110 VCOs (Square outputs) are fed into an A-172 Max/Min Selector. This somewhat esoteric module selects the current minimum of both waves and puts the result into an A-115 Audio Divider (low frequency divisions boosted here). Not enough dirt yet? We go into an A-124 Wasp Filter, modulated by an A-143-1 Complex Encvelope Generator (first stage only) and an A-142 VC Decay/Gate. Final Stage is another A-131 VCA.

The next „voice“ is some kind of „snare drum“ (sorry for this slightly incorrect real world analogy). Coloured noise (from an A-118 Noise Generator) is fed into an A-127 VC Resonance Filter and then into an A-137-1 Wave Multiplier I (which makes noise even noisier). Waveshaper and VCA (A-132-3) are modulated by the full A-143-1 Complex Envelope Generator, which does some complex envelopes here. The VCA output is fed into an A-134-1 VC Panning module, modulated by an A-147 VC LFO. The first stage of the Complex Envelope (decay threshold) sends a reset trigger to the A-147.

Finally, we have two beautiful tonal voices (appearing after 9:30 something): Three A-110 VCOs controlled by a second A-155 Sequencer, put into an A-132-3 VCA and then into an A-151 Sequential Switch. The first two switch outputs are sent into an A-106-5 SEM filter, the second one into an A-105 SSM Filter. Both filters and VCA are modulated by an A-140 ADSR.

Then we have some interconnections, especially for clock/trigger signals: A-160 Clock Divider, A-165 Trigger Modifier, A-162 Trigger Delay were used.

Here we go:

Track length is 24:58.

Have fun,

Andreas