Simple processes

I've been exploring simple process methodologies for a while now. Plogue Bidule's a very useful program for quickly implementing ideas - that is as long as you keep it simple in my case :).

Anyhow, I put together a patch that uses a looping sample of a scratched guitar string and performs a simple process of repetition, articulation and redistribution.

The repetition [figure A] is performed by a series of 4 Tap Delay, frequency bands are articulated [figure A] using All Pass Filter, custom VCF and pitch shift. The redistribution [figure B] is simply a process of routing the signal to an effect, then sending two outputs - one to the first input of the mixer, the other to another effect, the output of which goes to the second input of the mixer. And so forth.


Figure A

Figure B

The sonic result is probably more interesting when one considers the process which is in operation. It allows a kind of determinant indeterminacy (for the lack of a better term), in that key parameters such as material and settings are determined by the user, though as there are so many different parameters in operation - such as multiple delays - the unfolding process can be unpredictable at times, especially when filters with very low resonance thresholds come into play. In the case of the recording below, the only user intervention consists of changing the grain value of the looped sample.

Excerpts [3:03, 3.3 MB]

It's a rudimentary exercise in many ways, but something that illustrates the efficiency and sonic complexity of using simple processes in consort with each other.