Here is a small effect I did to emulate a vinyl being stopped.

To use the effect, put the combinator in line with the sound you want to stop, then send a MIDI note to the combi. An alternative method is to hit the stop button, but the results are not as good as the one with a MIDI note.

To start the sound again (or if no sounds comes out in the first place), hit the restart button.

The knobs are all cabled for automation purposes, not for human use…

Click on the combi to download the effect.

Now, the idea behind this combinator is simple. The signal is routed directly. When a note comes in, the signal is then routed through a delay, the delay time is increased in an exponential ramp and at its peak the signal is cut.

For the details, here is how it works:

• The Thor is used in junction with the combi to create a big CV machine
• The Thor LFO is used as the ramp to the delay
• The Thor buttons are used as variables.

1/

MIDI comes in, the THOR emits a signal through its CV out 2 and combi knob 3, to:

• Switch to the delayed channel.
• Arm its own button 1. This is the signal to say that the effect is now on, used as an on/off scale to send the delay signal to the DDL1.
• The Thor LFO used to increase the delay is itself key synced, to get the full ramp from zero on.

2/

The LFO ramps up, increasing the delay through combi knob 4, giving the vinyl being stopped sound. It also goes through the combi knob 1, back to button 2, in a way that the button 2 will only be pressed when the LFO has reached higher values (ca. 120), meaning the effect has to stop or the sound will go fast instead of slowing down.

3/

The stop signal goes through the combi knob 2, and mutes all tracks.

4/

The reset button reinitialises all the inner routing. If you kept up with my technical nonsense up to here, I trust you don’t need anymore information.

Techno session.

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Just thought I’d get some technical advie posted here for those who are interested. I’ll keep it in english though, French users can always email / meet me.

Here is a classic problem with electronic music. It lacks groove. Either you use a MIDI controller and are proficient enough with it to get the right groove, or you just don’t groove. In the end, some products such as Propellerhead Reason now have a groove tool, and a bunch of presets to go with it.

But if the presets are not what you like, you still have to go through a controller. Well not anymore. Just get a microphone. Low-fi, who cares. You can sing badly that doesn’t mater either. The whole point is just to go « poum tcha taka taka » in your mic, feel very stupid, and get the rythm out of your voice. Singing along in rythm is easy. And groovy.

Once recorded, you can just get the groove from the wavefile. I use Cockos Reaper’s drumtrigger plugins to get a midi file. Once the file is in your hads, open it up in Reason, get the groove from the clip (make sure you are editing the right groove slot) and apply that user groove to whatever track you want.

Un essai Drum and Bass, accompagné d’un bitcrusher qui reprends quelques thèmes plein de souvenirs.

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A Drum and bass piece, with a bitcrusher to remind us of some well-known sounds.

Une bonne année musicale a tous.

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