Thoughts on Generative Music – Part 15

(Excerpt from my e-book “A Systematic Introduction To Making Generative Music With Modular Synths”, Volume 1. Read more here: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/331)

Chapter 5.8:

Instruo “harmonàig”

(Modules that are especially useful when making generative music)

“harmonàig” is a quantizer, a 4-voice chord quantizer. It´s available as hardware (Instruo) and as Software (VCV Rack). It´s part of this chapter and this book because of its abilities to manipulate chords, scales and modes and bring a whiff of polyphony into our generative patches. It generates a chord from a single CV. Let´s have a look at the details. And don´t worry: music theory concerning modes, scales, chords, harmonies etc. is not a matter in this book. If you want to learn more about these things, then send me a message. I´ve produced a 5-part workshop containing PDFs, patches, sounds and video about the matter (it´s a bit expensive, but it´s very deep and extremely practical).

Well, back to “harmonàig”.

It´s a good idea to tune the module before we start patching it. To do so we simply use the right-click menu in the software version, and choose the UNISON mode.

With the hardware we press and hold both the DIATONIC button and the TRANSPOSE button.

Now we can tune the module, and exit the unison mode (right-click menu with the software and pressing the C-BUTTON with the hardware).

There are two more modes we can the module switch to. The Quantiser Mode will be the most important one for our purpose, as that is the mode we use when we feed pitch-CV in the unit and make it transform this single CV into 4 CV corresponding to a chord. That is the default mode.

The third mode is the PERFORMANCE mode. Here the keyboard of the module can be played like a normal MIDI keyboard.

We switch between the modes by pressing and holding the TRANSPOSE button and tapping the DIATONIC button (hardware) or by using the right-click menu (software).

I´m going to talk about the QUANTISER mode in this book, only about the QUANTISER mode. Let me repeat the principle:

We feed pitch-CV in the jack in the upper left corner, adjust the attenuverter potentiometer next to the input jack, and we get 4 different pitch-CVs out at the 4 jacks on the upper left side.

… to be continued.

to part 1: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/335

to part 14: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/427

to part 16: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/557