Chaotic Harmony

I recently built a self-oscillating autonomous chaos circuit by Ian Fritz, called the Jerkster.

The Jerkster Chaos Circuit

I’ll soon publish photos of this module.   The first interesting patch I’ve created with it is demonstrated in this recording.  You are listening to a collection of modules set up to create a random harmony, using the CGS Infinite Melody, two MOTM-310 VCOs, two MOTM-440 filters.  The Modcan Dual Quantizer keeps it on pitch, and the Dual Oakley ADSR-VCA modulates the notes.  All of that is pretty standard.  The interesting part is what the Jerkster does:  First, it provides a chaotic vibrato applied to the filters.  The X and Y outputs (which look fantastic on the Veeblefetzer displays) are used for these.  The Z output is patched to a comparator to produce a random trigger for a sample and holds that also modulate the filter cutoff frequencies.  The random trigger is divided by factors of three and four to gate the envelopes.  The Jerkster is itself controlled by a third sample and hold.

This is unusually mellow for a chaotic patch.  Realize that the chaotic aspect of it is in controlling the rhythm of the notes, as well as in the varying vibrato.  This is aleatoric and runs without intervention.  You hear one of the many scales available from the quantizer.  The 5th-Octaverb effect from the MPX-1 is used here, as well.

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