Achieving phase music with apps?

mercurialization

Is there an app that can achieve phase looping via either MIDI out or sample playback?

[Deleted User]

The file player in AUM has adjustable rate. The other way I’ve achieved it is to have a new sequence for each iteration ( move one step from top to tail )
This one is AUM file player

[Deleted User]

These are discrete sequences...I believe I used Gadget for this.

I_sip_cupps

@waynerowand where was this vid shot? Nice music btw.

[Deleted User]

@I_sip_cupps Thank you. I’m not sure. Currently I’m using archive.org for public domain or Creative Commons images and vids. I think this was made before I knew about that and I’m wracking my brain to remember what service these came from...

aleyas

I’ve been experimenting with phase music / phase looping this past week, cool that you brought this up as a topic.

Well, I’ve been using Drambo for phase looping. There are a number of ways you could go about it

-2 or more flexi samplers loaded with the same phrase. Set to loop or ping pong mode and add a tiny offset to either ‘pitch’, ‘speed’, ‘offset’ or ‘sample start / sample end’

-Unison module sending a ‘spread’ or ‘voice number’ signal to 1 flexi sampler (or recorder module), controlling the pitch, speed, or offset. Add # of voices to the unison module to control how many flex is are playing back in phase with each other.

-Use the ‘jump’ step condition. Put a trigger on the 1st step of two separate tracks. In one of the tracks, add a step condition ‘jump’ and set it to ‘3’. The track will now skip the 2nd step, making a 16 step sequence into a 15 step sequence (or 32 into 31). When played back with the other track it creates phase phrasing, especially at high bpms. You can increase the resolution by adding more beats to your pattern. (This method allows you to send the phase sequencing out via midi also, to other instruments)

-Use multiple CV / gate velocity sequencers. Have one set to 15 steps, the other set to 16 steps. They are both tied to clock by default. You can use the CV sequencers internally, using quantizers for pitch. Or you could convert to midi and sequence external instruments.

In summary, thats 4 different methods to phase sequence in Drambo: multiple samplers with minor offsets, 1 sampler controlled from unison module, using the ‘jump’ step condition, and using multiple sequencers of differing lengths. I’m sure there are more. I’ll update here if I discover something new.

Here’s something I did as I was falling asleep the other night. It’s 4 samplers playing the same 1 note phrase in ping-pong loop mode. They are playing intervals of a minor triad (pitch offset). Each time a loop completes, it’s different from the last.

shinyisshiny

@aleyas this is a really cool technique. thanks for sharing

xor

You can also use two independent clocks in miRack. Here’s a simple example of two clocks driving two sequencers driving a single oscillator. The same basic setup could drive separate samplers if that’s what you wanted to use. You could even use it to generate midi that is sent to an external synth/app.

aleyas

Brilliant. This is why I come here.
I suppose you could also mult the VCO to 2 separate envelopes too if you wanna preserve decay times.

@xor said:
You can also use two independent clocks in miRack. Here’s a simple example of two clocks driving two sequencers driving a single oscillator. The same basic setup could drive separate samplers if that’s what you wanted to use.

xor

You can kind of do this in drambo midi by using a jump in the penultimate (or any earlier) step. This will cause one track to be 1 step shorter than the other. If your track is 64 steps then one will be 1/64th faster than the other. This might be too fast. Also, each track will play at the exact same tempo, only falling out of phase at the very end which may or may not work for what you’re trying to do.

xor

If you want to get your hands really dirty you can use Mozaic to create a simple midi delay. I think something like this would work. It relies on Mozaic buffering up your outgoing midi so I bet there’s a limit to how long it’ll run before blowing up. You might also need a call to Round on the delay value to SendMIDIThru. You might also want to use the OnHostStart rather than OnLoad otherwise you’d need to reload the script before each play.

@OnLoad
StartTime = SystemTime
@End

@OnMidiInput
SendMIDIThru ( SystemTime -StartTime ) * 0.01
@End

Route the original midi to both an instrument and mozaic and then mozaic to the same or different instrument as needed.

I have a feeling that you should be able to periodically reset StartTime as the patterns fall back into phase so that the midi buffer has a bounded size but it’s too late for me to think straight.

Svetlovska

Record or import wav loops in File player in AUM any way you like. Dupe the channel. Mess with the sync speeds if you want. Change the Beat Offset (start point) and/or Rate (playback speed) on one. Hit Start. The loops will move in and out of sync as they play. I’m actually working on a track using this approach right now,spookily enough If you want to push it, assign a Rozeta or (better, more flexible) Art Kerns’ MIDILFOs to the speed parameter, to have the loop speed up and slow down as it plays.

xor

A super easy method is to use multiple instances of a sequencer that can run free of the hosts tempo. Again, here’s drambo.

Not sure what other AUv3 sequencers can do this. It wasn’t initially obvious on my small iPhone screen if StepPolyArp Unit, StepBud or Atom (v1) could. Maybe Fugue Machine? Possibly Riffer.

aleyas

For a simple audio phase looper -
In Drambo you can take a delay rack and set time to 1/4 beat. You can choose from 1 quarter beat up to 16 quarter beats. For the technique to work smoothly, set bpm around 80-100. Route audio input to 2 delay racks. Set first delay rack at 16 quarter beats and the other at 15. Set feedback to 90-100%. Now both delays act as audio loopers, with a loop length relevant to the project or host speed. MKe sure to route audio from each delay rack to a mixer. If you need more time on the delay you can add as many ‘delay’ modules in series to the delay rack as you need.

This is a project using 2 delay racks. The melody began in sync, but there is a .3% difference in timing between the 2 (the loop had been running for 6 minutes prior to recording). The phase loops then get sent to different pitch shifters, allowing changes in melody, while preserving the off phase timing.

@xor ‘s mozaic comment has me thinking about adding a midi delay to the beginning of a track also, and setting up a modulator to incrementally increase delay time each time the pattern repeats. Trying to think of the best way to do that.

I_sip_cupps

@waynerowand said:
@I_sip_cupps Thank you. I’m not sure. Currently I’m using archive.org for public domain or Creative Commons images and vids. I think this was made before I knew about that and I’m wracking my brain to remember what service these came from...

Ah, it looked like Boulder Creek here in Colorado.