Cracking the Code on Complex Guitar Pedals

Yes, this is an issue I have found myself running into from time to time, as I didn’t think to upgrade the CPU when I bought my iMac ~2 years ago. It has run up against the limitation only 2x I can recall recently, but it was enough to make me start looking at what kind of hardware supplement I could get to take places with me, in the event that my iPad Pro and my older (and nowhere near as powerful as the iMac) MacBook Pro choke on what I am trying to do with software. A hardware supplement that can do some of the Audulus work for $500 is not a bad deal, IMO. I dunno if you have watched the videos of the ZOIA (guitar pedal version of what will be the EuroBuro) and there is like nothing this thing cannot do.

Also, I don’t want a $500 sound card, at least at this time, which is why I ended up going with the MOTU M4, and it has 4 of each DC coupled ins and outs, which I figure will be enough to help me to understand if CV I/O is something I will be using a lot. This saved me from having to blow the big bucks on the ES-8/9 (although I did think ahead and bought the CRE8 Audio rack starter kit, as it is deep enough to fit either one of those sound cards, and really not much can’t fit in it, if I am not mistaken, it is almost 60 MM deep!). :smiley:

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TBH, some people buy the intro things and then decide if they like a hobby. Other save and save for the red bike in the window. You can spend a lot getting “deals.” Also remember, you can move gear on reverb. I sold an Analog Four I bought a year ago and made $200 on it. Then I found a digitakt floor model for $200 less than new. It only took me 4 days to sell the Analog Four.

I didn’t realize the MOTU had 4 ins and outs for cv. That’s good. I am sure you will figure all that out. One thing I would say is, for me, mostly the key seems to be understanding what I am doing. This is why I am more taken with @stschoen’s array of FM/PM synthesis modules than I am with, say, the elektron model:fm synth thingy. That is, I spent hours and hours trying to figure out how it all worked. Seems when you know what’s going on, you hear more in it. @RudigerMeyer’s work on Hordijk’s stuff is a great example of this. At the same time, I wish I was working harder at the techniques, getting quiet and digging around in Audulus, but not necessarily opening the modules to look at DSP algorithms, but remaining at the level of simulation, so that I understand “synthesis” no matter what gear I am using.

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I had posted some videos on Dark World from Chase Bliss Audio on a reverb thread, but this video from Knobs has me inspired to try some things. For me, the forum is like a scholars library where things are underlined in books. So to work on something often involves reconsulting these threads and building out ideas. Kind of strikes me that this is very new territory — to be so digitally equipped. To go back to an idea from a year ago and be able to read what was thought.

Just collecting and appreciating, drifting along with Knobs. So nice :slightly_smiling_face:

I think what has occurred to me just now, is that it isn’t so much a special algorithm, it’s more about experimenting with node logics (by node logics I am thinking broadly of Deleuze and Guitarri’s rhizome) getting character and movement out of the reverb.

But that’s a lot of talk. I just looked at the patch a few posts ago. That oscillator bassline was an interesting idea but did not quite fit the mood. So I just deleted it from the patch and went simple. Kick, hats, looping ukulele with effects. I am trying to make the case for how easy it is to create some soundscapes with some looping and delays in Audulus — this one with the Flux Capacitor. Love how I can get some FM tones out of a ukulele.

https://soundcloud.com/futureaztec/looper-experiments-1-1/s-lwvQ7

Looper patch #1.audulus (1017.8 KB)

  • looking forward to getting home and working on something much better — it’s a private share. It’s okay to share ugly drawings.:rofl:
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Had to…rhizome…

Blooper goes dawless

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I passed out on that video. I get kind of disinterested in looper as effect pedal stuff. I like what he comes to at 10:00 here though.


I have been enjoying having Audulus patches as complete tracks that unfold and you jam them out into a recording. But I also like the idea that I could grab and loop certain elements on the fly so I could then load up another patch and bring it in.

I keep wanting to do a set with just patches but I am cpu discouraged with my iPad mini 4 next to a faster iPhone. It would be fun to see what is possible with two ipad pros, but then what kind of jerk has two iPad pros.

I think of digitakt as a slow sample gathering d3vice that can then sequence the samples. Imagine the ditto x4 had 4 inputs, so you could independently loop channels from the es8.

Maybe when we get a sample node in Audulus 4, the challenge will just be about having a foot switch to control Rec/dub, but then also having a tactile knob controller like the Twister. Still, I do not enjoy hooking up a bunch of stuff to a camera connection kit that I wire to a USB hub.

All that being said, I also just like exploring and coming to understand synthesis. That is, I like routing virtual gear but not real gear.

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Not sure how I missed this one! :guitar: :ballot_box_with_check:

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It’s pretty neat to use @J031’s effect modules to FM a ukulele; then stacking some reverse delays from @stschoen and running his looper. I am looking forward to this thread evolving.

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I need a latched gate? Not sure what to call it. I’d like to be able to ready a gate that a clock opens; or, I want to be able to tell the looper just before the end of a playback phase, that I want it to start recording exactly when it repeats the next phase.

This is basic loop pedal stuff, where you arm the pedal to start overdubbing in sync with the start of the first loop. I have a messy waste of time I am fooling with. At least I have a count in…


Empty Patch 10.audulus (465.2 KB)

I always feel like I get caught between the simple and the complex. Even though I understand that an “and” is composed of an “if, then,” there is still the inner circle of Audulus customs that make tool building turn into hours of hacking and confusion. It’s so simple, but draining. That’s why I just ask — so I can get to the modular synthesis part and away from the computer programmer part.

So you want to have the switch from playback to overdub wait until the start of the loop? I can probably do that, let me look at it.

I think what matters is being able to choose. To be able to say, okay when it comes back around, having already engaged the switch, automatically flip to record at the beginning of the phase.

But then, also, being able to not have it on, and just loop. For most others they could augment this with simple tools. I always have a hard time. But, I also think that the possibilities moving forward are outstanding. Most of the interesting guitar pedals are digital anyway. So it’s about interfacing.

The next step, which shouldn’t be hard and may just require external routing, would be to get at the idea of effected layers, as with the Blooper pedal. And, of course, layered looping tracks.

It seems like, performance wise, being able to move swiftly is the key to looping. Nothing too fancy, but getting at variations fast enough to keep it interesting.

The master clock designs actually give us a leg up on other loop pedal/pedal board setups. Mainly because you can arrange lots of changes to happen at certain bars. In this case here, I just need ways to intercept or, oppositely, prepare a change with a switch — with switches.

Just at a brainstorming stage…

I tried adding a second looper. Immediately two things occurred to me.

  1. It would be nice to have some sort of visual counter on the master clock so that one could tell at a glance which bar the clock is on at any time. The idea being that, by seeing where the main clock is at in the cycle, one could arm the second looper and get ready for the whole patch to begin again. Maybe just the same neat time meter you put on the looper itself, but on the master clock as well? Or Something that said Bar: 63/64?

  2. The quick and dirty way to “arm” seems to be to, again, have a gate that can be inserted between one of the master clock bar division gates, on the one side, and the looper record button, on the other side of it.

Even fancier (but foreseeably useful for many applications here), would be to have this switchable gate have two types of buttons in one module.

Button A) When engaged, this gate remains open, as when disengaged, also remains so.

Button B) This would be the same as button A, except it has a separate gate input that can tell it to close. The idea here is to have separate gate Inputs for opening and closing. This would make it possible to have a synced record start when the clock starts but, once in playback mode, at anytime a guitarist could decide to “arm” the overdub as soon as the clock completes the bar cycle.

I understand that a lot of this is probably ultra simple and kicking around but, when you aren’t a builder, many of these small modules aren’t where you go to look for them in the libraries, or there are two or three other details that get in the way of them working straightforwardly. For example, a new user would probably get tripped up by not realizing how important the “gate to 10ms pulse” is to get things to talk to each other properly. Also, sorry if the above is confusing. It’s not easy to communicate without a standardized vernacular, which builders would be more familiar with in speaking to on another.

Here’s a working patch:


2 loops.audulus (528.7 KB)

I tried inserting a clock divider between bar 64 and the 2nd looper’s record/dub button. The reason being that on any start of the master clock, all bar gates fire. It looks like the clock divider remembers its place when one closes the patch. That’s an issue.

Another issue in this setup is that the count in starts the looper 4 beats after the clock starts, which puts the looper out of time with the clock. I wanted to share this so you could see what arises as you start to use the looper in the context of other modules, but also in the context of a person holding a real instrument plugged into Audulus, wanting to work smoothly. Again, I think the possibilities are incredible, but getting the basics really tight seems key. In the past I have found ways to scramble and just make stuff work in order to get songs finished. But it would be nice to start to make more complex music, while remaining in the mindset of one take/performance based audio production.

I am wondering if the best approach might be to mostly alter the clock, making a looper specific masterclock. This might include a “count in phase,” which would be generally useful to all musicians wanting to live accompany a patch. “And a one, two, three, four…” which would happen only once when starting the clock for the first time, where once counted in, then the whole clock starts its master cycle,

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I modded the master clock to provide a count-in function. You can set the count in to 0,1,2,4,8 beats. The count-in starts when the run is toggled. Let me know how this works for you. If it seems OK, I’ll look at the looper.
Master Clock V1.2.audulus (214.9 KB)

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BTW The type of gate you’re talking about is a latch. Here’s an example. The set button will set the output high (1) and the reset button sets it back to low (0).
Latch.audulus (9.1 KB)

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That’s really awesome, thanks so much. :grin:

Ukulele into flux capacitor, reverse delay, K-Pasa.

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The Master Clock v1.2 doesn’t seem to be cascading through the bar gates. Did I the count in throw it off?

I thought I had that fixed. Let me take another look.

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