Knowledge base
Generative Music
How Can Synthesizer and Modular Musicians Use Chord Voicing, Voice Leading and Probability to Create Better Generative Harmony?
Voicing Chords for Synthesizers and Generative MusicChord voicing is often discussed in the context of piano, jazz or orchestral composition. However, it is… read more
How Does Modulation Shape Sonata Form, Emotional Contrast and the Structure of Electronic Music?
Modulation in Musical Form: Sonata Structure, Emotional Contrast and Electronic CompositionModulation is not only a way to create variety within a chord progression. It can also shape the… read more
How Can Electronic Musicians Use Voice Leading to Create Smooth, Coherent and Generative Music?
Voice Leading in Electronic and Generative Music: Creating Movement Between LayersVoice leading is traditionally associated with the movement of individual melodic lines in tonal harmony. But… read more
What Is Voice Leading in Music, and How Does It Make Chord Progressions Sound Smooth and Connected?
Voice Leading: How Individual Notes Create Harmonic MovementHarmony describes the relationship between chords. Voice leading describes how the individual notes within those chords move from… read more
How Can Electronic Musicians Use Musical Phrases, Cadences and Generative Rules to Structure Compositions?
Phrase Structure and Cadences in Electronic Music: From Harmonic Form to Generative CompositionUnderstanding musical phrases and cadences is not only useful for classical composition.… read more
How does the ARP 2600's Prancing Raindrops patch combine ring modulation, Sample & Hold, oscillator cross-modulation and internally triggered envelopes to generate a continuously changing sequence without playing the keyboard?
A patch that plays itselfThe ARP 2600 Patch Book contains a… read more
How does Cherry Audio Harmonia work, and how does its combination of eight frequency layers, sampled waveforms, harmonic ratios and semitone tuning relate to additive synthesis?
A different way to think about additive synthesisCherry Audio's Harmonia is one of my go-to synthesizers when I… read more
What defines ambient music? Explore Brian Eno’s original concept, the history of ambient music, and how diverse subgenres such as Dark Ambient, Ambient Techno and Acid Ambient relate to its origins.
Does ambient music even exist?Is ambient music a genuine musical genre, with identifiable… read more
How can you patch Kitchen Sink and Pigeon Plink in VCV Rack for evolving FM sounds, feedback loops, ratio modulation and generative sequences?
Introduction: FM as a patching systemKitchen Sink and Pigeon Plink are especially interesting when you stop treating frequency modulation as a… read more
What does the Kitchen Sink oscillator in VCV Rack do, and how can you combine linear FM, through-zero FM, exponential FM, feedback and wave folding?
Introduction: One oscillator, many ways to shape soundAn oscillator is often presented as a relatively simple sound source: choose a waveform… read more