Modulated Clock

Let’s make a patch with simple regular line, make it rhythmically more alive, bring back some of the regularity and at the end add some ”automatic” variation. Download link for rack files and video showing final result can be found at the end of the post.

Rack 1

We start with simple structure. L-Source is sending 16 values (orange line – Link) to P-Range where they are scaled/fit within the desired range. Scaled signal travels to P-Readout where values are aligned to musical scale pre-set by L-Scales block.

Resulting values are sequenced by T-Track S in the second row and used as pitch information for notes sent out from MIDI Note Out block. Timing and duration of notes is controlled by Sync Clock and Sync Gate blocks. Sync Gate block is receiving triggers from Sync Clock and sending gates to MIDI Note Out and at the same time advancing current position of T-Track S.

At this point we have a regular sequence of 12 notes (Steps setting on T-Track S). Remember to press PLAY (upper panel of Reaktor) as Sync Clock and Sync Gate are synchronised to Reaktor’s/host’s clock transport and BPM.

Rack 2

Three block are added to the left side of middle row. Their purpose is to modulate DE-SYNC parameter of Sync Clock used for notes line – to break the regular rhythm of the first rack.

First from the left is Sync Clock feeding triggers to new T-Track S. Values that T-Track goes thtough are inherited directly from L-Source (orange line). Signal from T-Track S is then sent to B modulation input of second (original) Sync Clock and is adjusting the DE-SYNC parameter. In order to somehow ”anchor” the resulting rhythmical pattern, we have T-Position S reseting both T-Tracks every time it loops (trigger signal coming from its FIRST output to RST inputs on T-Tracks).

Rack 3

We are adding two more note lines, harmonically related to first line but clocked in regular intevarls. New blocks are located in the third row – Sync Gate x4 is connected to x2 and x1 output of ”regular” Sync Clock and resulting gates are used to generate notes by MIDI Note Out x4 block on the right side. Pitch information for those notes comes from two Quant Transpose blocks, each receiving same base pitch (from T-Track S) and offseting it by -1 octave and +3 degrees respectively. Both transposing blocks are working within scale pre-set on L-Scale block (same as P-Readout – main pitch line).

At this point patch is tweakble and playable – for example changing Phase control of L-Source or length (Steps) of T-Tracks will lead to development.

Rack 4

We have added 5-Step Mod block (upper left corner) to have some additional movement in the patch.

There are 5 steps on this block, each with corresponding value set directly by slider. In this patch, we are using UNQ (unquantized) output so numbers show above the sliders are not exactly relevant. They are working the same way as in P-Readout case:

  • if nothing is connected to SCALE input, higher display goes from 0-11 (useful when modulation for example DEGREE SHIFT of Quant Transpose) and lower display goes from 1-16 (useful when modulating T-Track’s Steps or First parameter);

  • if a valid Scale signal is connected to SCALE input then lower number indicates octave and higher degree withing the octave/scale.

Steps are accessed in a similar way as in case of T-Track – there are 3 inputs:

  • CLK to advance by one step;

  • RST to reset to first step;

  • RND to jump to random step.

Additionally there is NEXT button to manually advance the step by one.

Not all the 5 steps have to be included in the sequence. Each step has a button under slider that will include/exclude it from the sequence. SHUFFLE button will randomly set which step are included/excluded. Number of steps to be active when shuffling is set by knob above SHUFFLE button (the lowet value when adjusting this knob says ”Set2 – it means it will preserve the current number of active steps). Shuffling action can also be triggered by incoming gate/trigger signal – input under SHUFFLE button.

When the step is accessed, trigger is sent out from output below slider/button combination (labelled 1,2,3,4,5)

In this patch 5-Step Mod block is used to randomly jump through 5 different patch states. Signal coming out is used to modulate Phase knob of L-Source and steps are accessed in random order everytime first T-Track S loops.

5-Step Mod will preserve its sliders positions when patch is saved/loaded but it will not preserve which steps are to be included in the sequence. That is the reason why trigger signal is also connected to SHUFFLE input. With SHUFFLE knob set to 5, all steps will be kept active.

Miso Macura