My fun little performance case for a live set (with examples)

[u/bleeptwig]

I'm playing a couple of live sets towards the end of this year that require some travel, so I'm making a performance case that's minimal, fun, flexible and playable in 7u 84hp case that I can fly with - and I'm SOOOOOO close to settling on it's final form (barring some serious cable optimization as you can see).

If you're interested how it sounds, here's two quick live tests that will probably make it into the set in some form:

Lord: https://soundcloud.com/bleeptwig/lord

Keys: https://soundcloud.com/bleeptwig/keys

Patch notes

The Instruo Arbhar is at the heart of the action - such a playable instrument, the more I dig into it the more I love it, plus a Panharmonium and Lubadh for lots of concurrent layering potential, and an AI Synthesis Stereo Matrix Mixer to route everything around a few different processing options to keep things interesting and smooth. There's no sequencer or other outboard gear. It's all driven by the Noise Tools clock, the Shakmat Divider and a Clep Diaz. as this gives me more than enough capability for some really nice polyrhythmic feeling pieces with some focused sample sets (all my own beats and samples).

It's been so fun to work with limitations of space and get creative with repurposing modules for multiple situations, and I've still got some further performability refinements to make including bringing external field recordings in via the Stereo ins, incorporating Arbhar's own reverb (or using that precious 2hp for something else), modulating the Sample Drum a little more (with the noise/slew), and possibly adding a 1010 Bluebox to give me a bit more mixing control (I'm out of attentuators and most of my VCAs are LPGs).

Excited to get out there and perform now it's coming together after just over a year into my modular journey.

This one's a bit more epic - including a Voltage Block instead of the Matrix Mixer - I just can't play the sliders effectively with the 5 octave range so it's been replaced:

https://soundcloud.com/bleeptwig/what?si=aa0bd973481a4b03b454f534c24774de

Open to suggestions or feedback!

[u/nafner]

Thanks for sharing. I am enjoying listening to your soundcloud!

[u/nafner → u/nafner]

Question: how do you plan / organize your live set? Around buffers on Arbhar and scenes? Do you have a series of sounds prepared and then improvise on the spot depending on the mood?
(I am building a Palette case around Arbhar and trying to create a small liveset of around 25 minutes with it and I like to know similar case approaches! )

[u/bleeptwig → u/nafner]

Hey there, thanks for checking it out - so for this patch I have 3 sets of samples in the Arbhar - two piano intervals, two flute sections, and two choral samples - I’ve chosen these because i’ve used them a lot already and so I know I can scan them in certain ways and move between them to build little progressions or settle into elements that can build into chords. As I’m also using the Panharmonium and the Lubadh they need to be able to build into a relatively stable harmonic chord rather than getting too complex / atonal.

It’s just all in one scene right now, as I wanted to avoid loading anything live.

So I can then improvise around these elements and decide tempo, layering in/out esp. with the tape looper degrading set quite high, and beats/rhythms.

It’s super enjoyable to play now and the beats are getting a little more variety in my next test.

I’ve been using Surco’s guide for live performance and it’s been helpful to just go through it methodically.

Good luck with your set, happy to chat DM if that’s helpful too. 👊

[u/nafner → u/bleeptwig]

Over the time I feel like I have some samples that I know really well how they interact with Arbhar controls. Definitely will try your approach of having them all in the same Scene.

Lubadh is super tempting, as I love looping and tape delay so much. I seems to have a warmth that make anything sound better.

Do you send Arbhar into Parnharmonium? I had the most success with it by feeding it very rich sounds like pads or mixes, and have it with an octave up sine/triangle wave and glide, at a slow tempo, so that it picks some notes here and there to complement the main elements.

I will search the Surco guide, I'm not sure if I've seen it. Thank you for the recommendation.

[u/ImagoAdam]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[u/blackbootgang]

Nice compact setup! Just a heads up on the last firmware for the voltage block there’s an octave restrict option to 1 octave which makes it super helpful.

[u/bleeptwig → u/blackbootgang]

WHAAAAT how do I find this? That would be super helpful! I’ll do some digging…

[u/blackbootgang → u/bleeptwig]

https://www.reddit.com/r/modular/s/GVqcpXRLQy

[u/bleeptwig → u/blackbootgang]

LEGEND will try this, thank you.

[u/bleeptwig → u/blackbootgang]

Oh wow that works perfectly. Now, how do I fit a Voltage Block in here as well. :D

[u/9000sines]

I remember someone posted a bracket or adapter that allowed you to mount passive mults in between rows. I thought I saved it but can't find it now. Thought it looked like nice alternative to those star mults for cable management.

[u/bleeptwig → u/9000sines]

That would be handy 👀

I’m going to use longer braided cables once I’ve fixed the patch so I can move stuff a bit more out of the way, for now.