[WIP] Microlooping/Mangling Patches! (Microcosm, EHX 16 Second Delay, Revolver etc)

#1

Huge thanks to @SirSickSik for the Factotum mod and huge thanks to @MattilynMattroe for splitting the looper out into its own module which really inspired all these patches

Theres a lot of different patches I'm playing with now but I'm not the most focused so some may take some time. Wanted to post up a few I enjoy so far

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Envelope Triggered Looping/Atmosphere - Originally was just looking to do something simlar to the CooperFX Outward pedal that can trigger record and it stretches them out in a pleasing way. Got there more or less but wanted to go a bit further - added a slow lfo to occasionally alternate between foward/reverse play and added a nice spacey reverb to help soften things a bit - then to go even further, I added a freeze module (works like the EHX Freeze pedal, believe I found it on this forum but cant remember who made it) that is triggered by the same lfo controlling the direction.

The result is this lovely ambient pad-esque sound that follows your playing very pleasingly - somewhere between the Outward and the Hologram Microcosm. Added a post-reverb low pass filter to help adjust things so you can keep your dry signal out front of the layering. Right now its set up to my case but can easily swap the GPIO modules for toggles/buttons etc. You can obviously adjust to your liking, I have it set to play Octave up 1 (with a switch for Octave down 1) and somewhere between normal speed and double speed (not sure the exact - but have a switch to flip it to somewhere between normal speed/half speed)

Outward.JPG1841x876 116 KB

Sample Audio
Download Patch: inward.axp (37.1 KB)

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EHX 16 Second Delay - Not super complicated, but fun to play with, definitely inspired by Nels Cline's use of it. Spent a bit more time labeling things and just trying to have it match the use of the actual pedal. Technically, the way its set up, its a 21.8 Second Delay - though I couldn't get it to work just right as just that long of a delay so its just looping (on the 16second the "infinite" footswitch changes from delay to looper) - you can change the table size to change the size of the buffer (I actually like it at 10.9 seconds but you can even go up to 43.7 seconds).

Defaults to "always on" recording into the buffer until you hit the trigger, which locks the buffer, triggers loop play from the beginning, and sends the audio to the output which, as far as I can tell, is the same way the EHX works (ie: you can tap the trigger at any time and it'll be able to loop the previous 2.7/5.4/10.5/21.8/43.7 seconds thats in the buffer. In addition to the Forward/Reverse Toggle and the Octave toggle, I added a toggle to decouple the Pitch & Stretch which gets to be a lot of fun. Like most loopers, the Octave toggle is +1 Octave=Double Speed, -1 Octave=Half Speed - being able to control pitch and stretch separately (again, thanks @SirSickSik & @MattilynMattroe) you can easily drop a full speed guitar loop into bass octave or just slow/speed up in different increments without losing your pitch. Additionally, being able to trim the loop start/end points are very helpful for mangling things as well as the sustain point. Original pedal has a "sweep" section which is more or less a vibrato/chorus so I just added that here as well - again, lowpass added at the end so you can adjust when you want to play over it and cut through

16sec.JPG1647x891 150 KB

Sample Audio
Download Patch: 21SecDelay_Share.axp (25.5 KB)

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Let me know what you guys think! Still working on a bit more - Hexe Revolver, Red Panda Tensor, Hologram Infinite Jets/Microcosm, Chase Bliss Mood (though I think my original Glitch patch does a better job of the Mood sound).. Feel like a lot of these are very possible its just working out the control and such. I definitely plan to post some more as I work through things

Enjoy!

#2

Another fun one I put together just now to remember to work on this week..

Shuffle Looper - Retriggers the loop each time from a different start point so essentially shuffle up the loop. Choose the 8 start/shuffle points and the clock cycles through them to create a new loop sequence. Sounds pretty cool - want to set it to run to a tap tempo and thinking it would be cool to have random chance of doing a pitch or stretch change every trigger

shuffle.JPG1792x782 117 KB

Sample Audio
Download Patch: ShuffleLoop.axp (22.6 KB)

EDIT: No updates but patch can be fun with drum loops. Just testing it and tapped in a few random drums samples from an app on my phone and then started adjusting the trigger points. Can definitely see this being a cool tool for generating rhythm tracks
Sample Shuffled Drums

#3

Now were getting somewhere

Now set to sync to incoming midi clock - can't find much about a 4ppq/24ppq -> Trigger but came up with a little system to divide down to quarter notes and such. Triggers all sync to quarter notes with tap to change the divide - Also added a section for the pitch/stretch (using @MattilynMattroe object to quantize to intervals that works great) tap to go from 2/4/6/8 settings following. Also have the loop length set by the clock with tap for division (though thats been working a little sloppy).

Stays in time nicely with a little drum loop sync'd through VCV - my midi clock is a little odd, I run a EHX 22500 looper and I made a sync track on it that sends to a Keystep and then keystep sends the midi clock to the axo - 22500 is my main looper but it doesn't have normal sync options so I found if I start my clock there it keeps everything in time after.

synctest.JPG1827x929 144 KB

ShuffleLoop.axp (61.4 KB)

SAMPLE AUDIO - Fun little jam over some drum loops I had - patch can easily get annoying to be honest haha but when it works its a lot of fun

Still want to add another loooper after controlled by the clock to work as a stutter that doesn't interrupt the main sequence but that shouldn't be too bad (and will work nicely stand-alone as a sync-able Hexe Revolver).

#4

Chnaged focus to trying to get something similar to one of the modes on the Hexe ReVolver pedal, or many a bit closer to the Mini Glitch Pedal for now.. Some glitchy short loops that can be pitched/speed up or down. Have it running sync'd to the incoming Midi clock same way I did for the Shuffler, just a bit faster.

Right now the pitch/speed (locked together) is just tied to one knob, I'd like to set up buttons to change to do a random pitch/speed each time the pedal is triggered, as well as an option to just select from a few different options for a bit more predictability

revolver.JPG1477x771 116 KB

TwentyTwo_Revolver.axp (29.4 KB)

Sample Audio 1 - I don't think I set up the option to control the pitch yet when I did this, but just a quick little jam with a little Pocket Operator thats also sync'd up

Sample Audio 2 - This is a much weirder way to use the effect.. I just mapped the pitch to a fader on my controller and have my looper at the end of my chain. Just playing around layering loops but it came out very pleasing, I wish I could do it again

Thinking of adding this to the end of the chain in the Shuffler Looper to add a way to stutter the current step...seems like that would be cool

Glitch effect patch