Today’s question: What is the lesser sound of two loops melding in the murky depths? Like many folks who venture into the dense formation of inputs and outputs that comprise the Cold Mac module (from Whimsical Raps), I benefited from the aftermarket manual developed by Martin Doudoroff. In the very helpful document, Doudoroff explains the many pathways through this module, which appears opaque at first, and then, following a bit of study, clear as geometry. In this case, I’m following one specific path through the Cold Mac, that being the AND path (in contrast with OR). Per Doudoroff’s notes, “If you patch two signals into AND(1) and AND(2), you get the lowest (trough/minumum) of the two signals at any one time from AND(OUT).” And so, two Buddha Machines here are sending different loops into the synthesizer. Both loops are immediately sent to the Cold Mac (by way of a multiples, because earlier in this lunchtime experiment I was trying a different approach), and then into the Make Noise FXDf. The purpose of the FDXf is to isolate a few mid-range bands of the signal’s audio spectrum, because the highs were getting a little too high if I went straight to the mixer. Three of those bands then go to the mixer: one straight through, and two with their volumes being tweaked a bit by slow-moving hybrid LFOs from the Batumi/SPO combo. That about covers it. If you have a Cold Mac, or are simply interested, the manual mentioned above is at doudoroff.com/cold-mac.
Video originally posted at youtube.com/disquiet. There’s also a video playlist of the Buddha Machine Variations.