I´m extremely happy about a new series of articles, ten articles all in all. This new series – we´ve called it “Orchestration for Electronic Musicians – From Synthesiser Sounds to Sonic Ensembles” deals with sonic relations and occurrences far beyond the level of wave shapes.

Also in this issue: A new way to do modular synthesis.

What else do you find in this issue:

* Reader´s Contributions

* Developer´s Corner

* Patching Rhythms

* Interesting Finds on Social Media

* VCV Rack and Voltage Modular

* Cheap But Useful Hardware

* Coding Your Own Modules

List of content:

Signal Path Developer Corner:

Vulpus Labs (Dominic Fox) ………..…………. 05

Advanced Voltage Modular Modules:

JANUS DCO and JANUS BBD Chorus ………….. 10

Advanced VCV Rack Modules:

UZZ Sequencer and UZZ Expander

(by Animatek) ……………………………………...… 19

Patching Rhythms Part 7:

Middle Eastern Rhythms..........…...……………… 32

Interesting Things from Social Media …..…,,,….. 37

A Practical Guide to 

the Basics of Music Theory, Part 11 ...……….…. 42

In Defense of the Amateur (by Jordan Strauch)....... 48

Cheap Hardware That Still Matters:

Korg nanoPAD ………….……………………....... 53

Orchestration for Electronic Musicians, 

Part 1 ………………………………………..…….. 72

RFM Space – Beyond Modular Synthesis .........….. 77

Learn Java + Voltage Modular Designer 

Lesson 14 (by Hans Holema) ...................……...….. 81

You think you know how to sequence?

I bet you don´t.

Human Motives´ new project, the Botanica sequencer, starts a brave expedition into the mostly uncharted land between randomness and composition.

Just read the interview with Chris van der Linden to learn more about it.

What else do you find in this issue:

Signal Path Developer Corner 

Advanced Voltage Modular Modules: 

Sequential Voltage Source WC-46

(by DMT audio)

Advanced VCV Rack Modules:

Elemental Revelator (by Eternal Eclipse Modular) 

Patching Rhythms Part 6:

Latin Polyrhythms and the Clave 

Interesting Things from Social Media

A Practical Guide to 

the Basics of Music Theory, Part 10

Extended and Altered Harmony, Seventh Chords, Ninths, Elevenths, and Beyond 

BOTANICA – A New Kind of Thinking About Sequencing

(by Chris van der Linden – Human/Motives) 

Cheap Hardware That Still Matters:

Instruo´s Pocket Scion (Biosonification) 

Learn Java + Voltage Modular Designer 

Lesson 13 (by Hans Holema)
 

What happens when a great artist meets VCV Rack?

Mykola Yosypenko´s view on VCV Rack is actually far more than the story of an artist´s liaison with a capable music production tool. His contribution to this issue of Signal Path sheds light on the relationship and interaction between tool and artistic idea, between inspiration and concept, as well as the importance of chance.

What else do you find in this issue? Well, of course all of our “traditional” series:

* Patching Rhythms (this month: Balkan Odd Meters)

* Interesting Finds on Social Media

* VCV Rack and Voltage Modular (this month: DMT, Playertron, Aarnville, Shortwav Labs)

* Cheap But Useful Hardware (this month: Super Fuzz SF300)

* Coding Your Own Modules

* Practical Music Theory (this month: Chromatic Harmony, Secondary Dominants, Borrowed Chords, Altered Colour)

You plug the plug into the socket, and the lamp lights up. You patch the oscillator into the filter, and the Sample&Hold into the cut-off modulation jack.

A cable is a cable, source and target are clearly defined. But what if the connections change on their own? Perhaps even randomly? Or shaped randomly?

Imagine you´ve got a huge mechanical sculpture right in your computer. Then you hit it, bow it, kick it, excite it any way you want – and the result will blow you away. And now create such a sculpture yourself?!

What else do you find in this issue? Well, of course all of our “traditional” series:

* Patching Rhythms

* Interesting Finds on Social Media

* VCV Rack and Voltage Modular

* Cheap But Useful Hardware

* Coding Your Own Modules

Just click here, donate 2,-$.  I´ll send you the download link then. Thank you very much indeed.

This issue is a bit of a “Delay and Filter” special with some really innovative and unconventional – but extremely practical and useful – modules introduced in the two “Advanced ...” articles.

The term “unconventional” – and arty – fits also to the approach to music making that the Polish music and sound artist Grzegorz Bojanek describes in his article.

The 7th part of our series about practical music theory blurs the border between a harmonic and a melodic view on composition, and our African rhythms finally reach generative lands.

Hans Holema shows deeper and deeper coding techniques when it comes to making modules in his 10th lesson.

Content:

Advanced Voltage Modular Modules:

Disorderly Dozen 12-Band Delay

(by Borkman)…........................................... 05

Advanced VCV Rack Modules:

ECHO and EMPATH

(Sapphire and Omri Cohen) ….................. 12

Patching Rhythms Part 3:

From Timeline to Algorithm:

African Rhythm as a Generative System .......... 21

Interesting Things from Social Media ….. 26

A Practical Guide to

the Basics of Music Theory, Part 7 .............. 29

“Lo-Fi 303 Ambient with Old Delays and Cassette Tape” (Grzegorz Bojanek) ............. 35

Cheap Hardware That Still Matters:

Dübreq Stylophone BEAT .......................... 40

Learn Java + Voltage Modular Designer

Lesson 10 (by Hans Holema) ....................... 45

Welcome to the 12th issue of SIGNAL PATH!

With this issue our magazine has reached the age of one completed year. It´s kind of a birthday isn´t it?

And as with every birthday there are surprises, which in case of a magazine come as the start of 2 new additional series:

“Patching Rhythms”, which starts with the first part of dealing with African rhythms, and

“Cheap Hardware That Still Matters”, which deals with Korg´s Volca Keys in this issue.

And there are 2 new co-writers, which I´m proud to present in this issue: Tony Horgan, yes, THE Tony Horgan, who is famous not only for his books about the Volca Family, and – presenting a younger generation of musician – William Jacobs. Again: yes, THE William Jacobs.

The advanced Voltage Modular module of the month is Hans Holema´s F_MECHZ oscillator, and the advanced VCV Rack module of this issue 12 is the Glass Pane Sequencer (by PathSet).

“Practical Music Theory” returns to the matter of cadences, and Hans Holema´s series about coding your own modules for Voltage Modular goes into part 8.