Appreciate hearing how you approach this. I’ve been doing a similar thing (have my Shared System and Machinedrum running into inputs on my interface and then into unique channels in Ableton) but I think I just need to keep practicing and getting better at patching and performing the song that way.
I like how you frame it as coming up with a jam and then “modulating it for 5-6 minutes” — modulating a jam sounds more approachable than trying to create a traditional arrangement or song structure in a modular environment. Sometimes I try too hard to make dramatic changes in a jam rather than just letting it evolve naturally, so I’ll keep that in mind.
Yeah everyone works different but if you think of it as a performance once you get a patch going you may find that you just spent 6 minutes outlining the core a new track. I actually was happy to see Surgeon mention that he does this sometimes in a recent interview.
This started for me when I got my DFAM. My GF would be over and making dinner and I’d be 15 feet away patching the DFAM. I started thinking “god this must sound annoying as hell”, so once I dialed in a patch I started messing with it and entertaining her by building it up and dropping it back down with the different paramters. She actually got really into it and it ended up becoming a track that I finished.
Hey all, many thanks again for all the tips and encouragement back when I made this thread. I wanted to post a quick update to anyone who might be interested.
The main update is: The second month with the Shared System was 10000x better than the first!
I had so many moments where key concepts just clicked into place for me, like things that I had a vague sense about and had seen explained in tutorials but didn’t quite get, and then one day — BAM! Suddenly I understood some larger concept that I could apply across the system in various contexts.
This happened a lot with Rene, like when I learned how to make use of the CV and MOD inputs, or tried sending CV out to other parameters in the system as sequenced modulation, finally wrapping my head around states and how to save / move between them. I had similar moments with how much fun Pressure Points could be, or how to use FM / wave-shaping/-folding in more subtle ways with DPO, how to better incorporate Morphagene (and other useful signal flow tactics). Just all kinds of eureka moments opened new worlds to patching ideas.
Obviously I still have tons to learn, but I guess I wanted to share this update as a sign of hope for anyone who is just getting into modular or thinking about doing so. It’s like leaving a note for people who might be coming up behind you on the trail — the road gets a lot better as you go farther down!
At least that’s my experience so far. Here’s to more struggles that turn into epiphanies.
(P.S. Music-wise, I’ve recorded a ton of material and I’m now working on shaping the pieces into songs, so I’m aiming for my next update to include a Bandcamp link.)
Yeah I really enjoyed this video, thank you! I’ve been giving Qpas a try and some of the modulation options are just bananas, especially sending audio rate modulation — sometimes I get this really nice fuzz/distortion sound if I attenuate it just right.
In any case, always a good reminder to send external sources through the system, I should definitely experiment with that more. I subscribed to your channel so will keep an eye out for any future Shared System vids!
Hey there everyone ! For those using a Shared system on it’s own I made a Morphagene Reel filled with samples of noise sources, taken mostly from my Random Sampling module, made by Verbos Electronics.
As the Shared System does not contain any traditional noise source I thought it would be a fun addition, plus you can mangle those very hard in the Morphagene.
Another long time SS user here! Ventured a few times into other cases and modules, but feel most at home with the SS after spending so many hours with it.
Here’s a couple of albums made primarily on it, all tracks recorded in one take (mostly the older config, with Rene mk1 and phonogene):
Your music is great, really appreciate you chiming in here! I get inspired hearing the SS carrying full song structures like this; my brain tries to pick apart what the patch might be, what you might be doing to evolve it, etc. etc. but regardless, these are just some really rad sounding records. Totally lost track of time listening to these tracks, so thank you!
Lately I’ve been getting a little bogged down in trying to connect the SS with my Elektron boxes. I’ve tried a few different approaches, all of them have pros/cons but none of them really nails what I’m trying to do.
Mostly the problem relates to timing/sync. If I sequence DPO from a Keystep or directly from the Octatrack for example, I can get everything to lock in just fine, but then I lose using Rene for sequencing which I’d much prefer to use. But if I use Rene for sequencing, I can’t get a tight clock sync between my Elektron stuff and Tempi. I’ve fiddled with lots of Tempi settings, I’ve got it to Run/Stop with the Elektron sequencer, but the timing is still not tight enough to sound quite right to me.
I’m kind of coming to the conclusion that the SS is best played on its own, but I’ll probably keep banging my head against the wall for a while trying to get all of my machines to play nice together. Happy to hear any other thoughts/perspectives/tips for this kind of thing.
Yeah I totally get you, I’ve tried to hook it up to other bits of kit and never been hugely successful either.
One thing I’ve done in the past, which works well for extended live performances, is using it with a simple looper (I’ve got an old EHX2880). Quite fun to just grab a loop of what’s playing and pitch it down or whatever, while you get the next patch ready.
One way to be sure you get René in sync is to send a clock directly to it without Tempi in the middle. You loose some funky function for sure but at least you are tight and you can still use division from Tempi to mess around the logic part without affecting the sync too much.
how are you sending the clock pulse to Tempi? when I had a SS, I never had any major sync or drift issues. I sent it clock various ways, as my setup changed. the three I recall were: Kenton midi->cv box, Acidlab Drumatix rimshot pulse output, Cirklon CVIO.
I get your sentiment about how it’s difficult to use it with other instruments though. but I feel this way about modulars in general, really. it’s more fun to just make wild shit, sample it into the OT, then chop it up and make something totally new.
This is a great shout, and I have done some variations of this — the Gate output from Ears is really fun to use when clocking Rene against an audio signal like a drum beat and adjusting the gain to pick up the right transients — but I also want to be able to sync delay and other functions so I’m hoping to lean on Tempi as the main brain for clock.
I’ve tried a few different approaches (though none as badass as the Cirklon you mentioned, that’s the top of sequencer mountain). I’ve tried passing clock through via 0-Coast (works pretty well but I can’t sync the Run/Stop that way), tried using a Keystep as the main clock and sending CV clock out to Tempi + midi clock out to Elektron box of choice (also works pretty well but I don’t want the Keystep to be an essential part of this setup), and most recently I’ve tried using the ALM Busy Circuits mmMidi to convert midi to CV, which may be the answer since it has clock output, Run/Stop, and some CV/gate sequencing that could be useful as well.
My main hangup with the mmMidi right now may be user error — the clock from mmMidi comes in at 24ppq (which ends up being much “faster” than what my Elektron box is tracking as a 16th note for instance), so I have to divide the tempo quite a bit on Tempi to get it to line up with the Elektron, and then re-send it back out into the CV bus as the “master clock” to sync delay and other things.
Am I doing something wrong there? I feel like 24ppq is fairly standard, but in practice it’s just a way faster/multiplied tempo compared to the one I’m sending in. Haven’t been able to find anything about this issue online so I’m assuming I’m doing something wrong. Or maybe I just need to suck it up and divide the tempo to my liking with Tempi and go from there.
I don’t recall the ppq resolution I was using. have you tried sending the mmMidi 8th notes from an Elektron sequence and then just sending the gates to the Tempi? if that’s not clocking it to the resolution you want, you can adjust the note sequence as needed. also, this is a great way to clock Rene; don’t send it a steady pulse though (4ths, 8ths, 16ths, etc), send it weird ones that maybe hits the accents in accordance with your track, or are just random.
also maybe I missed it but do you have an A4? if so, you can send it gates from there. and fwiw I think when I was clocking Tempi from the Drumatix rimshot gate signal, I was just using 8th notes, and the Drumatix was getting midi clock from Octatrack. again, this was very stable.
With the mmMidi, i’m basically just plugging a midi cable into the module and the module is automatically detecting the tempo to send out of the Clock output. So I don’t think I can adjust the resolution that it’s receiving or sending out; I did some digging in Elektron settings to see if that’s an option and wasn’t able to find anything, and the module doesn’t have any settings to adjust.
I know what you mean about sending pulses as a clock source; that’s definitely a more direct method, and I do like the techniques you mentioned like using random pulses or different rhythms, that’s all super fun. The only problem with that method is that it eats up a track, e.g. if I want to send clock pulses out of Octatrack it’s gonna cost me a track, and I need to route that track out of the Cue output so it’s separate from the main mix, etc. etc. It just adds some steps and inconveniences that I’d rather not bother with if I can get this midi clock automatically detected with mmMidi.
But much appreciate all the thoughts here! Perhaps that method will be best if I really want the machines to all sync tightly together.
oh no I meant send the mmMidi a sequence from the OT’s midi sequencer. just 8th notes. the mmMidi will convert those from a midi note into a cv value and a gate. take the gate and put it into your Tempi. so the note value doesn’t matter (you’re not using it). they may need to be pretty short note events, I’m not sure. might require some experimentation.
so basically you define each clock pulse via midi sequence. the mmMidi turns those note events into gates for you to clock Tempi. make sense?
Ahhh, appreciate you clarifying, that is an interesting solution. I’ll have to think on that. In a sense, that approach will still “costs me a track” in the form of a MIDI track, but depending on how I set things up, that may be easier to accommodate.
well you’ve got eight of them though! should be OK, unless you’ve got quite an extensive/complex setup. you’ll use half of your mmMidi output as well. but if it works, it’s better to use these resources than to be without this option, I’d think. and if it works but is an issue giving these things up, may need to look into another solution. but at least you’ll know what to look for then.
Well just in case this update is useful to anyone out there, I ended up more or less figuring out my sync issues after some more fiddling. I just needed to get a better handle on Tempi and the relationship between its clock and the clock I was sending via Rytm and mmMidi.
Since mmMidi outputs at 24ppq (pulses per quarter note), I run the clock out of mmMidi into Tempi’s tempo input and then divide the Button 1 clock by 6 using the Coarse adjust (hold PGM_A and tap Button 1 six times). The thinking is that 24ppq = 96 pulses, divided by 6 gives me 16, which lines up with the 16th notes on my Elektron grid. That gives me a baseline tempo that I can send through the CV bus to clock Rene channels, or sync the delay, or whatever else.
Obviously you can divide/multiply the other Tempi clock outputs from there however you want, but with clock 1 sync’d with Elektron and serving as master clock for the rest of the modules, I at least have a baseline starting point to keep the two machines aligned.
I’m also using the Run output on mmMidi into the Mod input on Tempi to start/stop the Tempi clock in sync with the Elektron play/stop. So everything’s syncing well now. Whew
should be OK, unless you’ve got quite an extensive/complex setup. you’ll use half of your mmMidi output as well. but if it works, it’s better to use these resources than to be without this option, I’d think. and if it works but is an issue giving these things up, may need to look into another solution. but at least you’ll know what to look for then.