Multisync Lfo Via Keytrack Device

Tips & Tricks
1

Hello Forum,

i havn’t been around here for quite some time. i’ve just been migrating back to Renoise after a couple of years hardly using it and i absolutely fell in love with the new meta-devices. exactly the level of modularity i can deal with - lots of creative freedom but user-friendly so i can get stuff done instead of just noodeling around…

anyhow, i checked through some device chains people posted here making creative use of the meta-devices. impressive stuff, got my head ticking! i build a couple of chains myself (most of them involve vsts so i cant put them up here), but here’s one i’m working on atm that needs a workover i can’t get done:

multisync_lfo_test.xrns

its an LPC-synced LFO that reacts to note-input. depending on what note is triggered it swings at different beat-synced rates, e.g. LPC 1 on one note or LPC 4 on another. have a look at the xrns, you’ll get the picture…

i can see a lot of things this could be usefull for, like beat-sync modulating

  • track volume for gate-like effects
  • filter cutoff (like i did in the demo i posted) for wobbly basses
  • treshold of a compressor for rhythmic pumping effects (did that in the demo as well)
  • send levels for blending from one effect to another at different rates
  • or (using a a square-wave) changing from one track routing to another
  • …

this i just from the top of my head. i’m sure there are lots of other creative ways to use it.

now to my problem: i use a custom envelope LFO to trigger the several LPC-values of the other LFO(1). dblue’s note-tuned ring-mod got me to that idea (kudos man!). problem is i cant draw in the right values for most LPC-rates in the envelope editor - i mostly get broken values like 15.37 or something and that makes it rather useless for most things i mentioned.

dblue mentioned he wrote an xml(?) patch for his ringmod frequencies and copy/pasted the right values into the custom env LFO. and thats actually what i need to make this device proper i think. so if dblue or someone else equipped with coding magic could help out with the right envelope values for the custom LFO that would be great!! i think this device really has the potential to be very useful for everyone if its done right!

i thought about what values would be most usefull. i think its a good idea to keep the number of different values small to prevent it from getting messy - two octaves=24 values should be enough. for small values i’d like a higher resolution (like one value for every LPC-rate), for greater values only having prominent (aka beat-sync) rates like 64, 128, 1024, … should be enough.

heres a mockup i came up with:

C3 - 2048 LPC
C#3 - 1024
D3 - 512
D#3 - 256
E3 - 128
F3 - 96
F#3 - 64
G3 - 48
G#3 - 32
A3 - 24
A#3 - 20
B3 - 16
C4 - 14
C#4 - 12
D4 - 10
D#4 - 8
E4 - 7
F4 - 6
F#4 - 5
G4 - 4
G#4 - 3
A4 - 2
A#4 - 1,5
B4 - 1

this is of course personal taste and debatable.

so to make a long story short: if someone could make this happen that would make me a happy roach!

regards,
Jan

2

I use this LFO technique all the time myself :)

I have been thinking of creating a tool to help with this kinda stuff, but I could put together this mockup for you in a few minutes if you want.

In the meantime, a nice tip is to build your LFO envelopes in the Automation editor instead. Simply enable automation on the LFO frequency, then you can type in the exact frequency values for each point. When you’re done, just copy the envelope points from the Automation editor right into the custom LFO envelope.

Edit: I’d personally like to see the overall functionality of envelopes expanded into something a bit more like this → Envelope Editor View

But using the Automation view as a temporary LFO workspace is an OK-ish workaround for the moment.

3

Remember you can draw into Automation and then copy and past into the LFO. If you know how large a key range you are going to use it may be worth making a pattern of a multiple of that and then doing it this way. You want the LFO length the same as number of lines in said pattern.

4

Modified version of your example .xrns
multisync_lfo_test_2.xrns

Here’s another example I posted to an earlier thread, which uses a similar technique:
dblue-2010-04-20-lil-wayne-wobble.xrns

And another random one for fun:
dblue-2010-04-10-wobbly-bass-2.xrns

For my own usage, I prefer not to link keys/notes to the LFO frequencies, because I find it a bit restrictive for certain notes to only ‘wobble’ at certain frequencies. I prefer to just reset the LFO manually to whatever frequency I want at that particular moment. I do like to link the LFO reset to notes, though, to make sure that my LFO cycles are always hitting precisely the way I want them to, rather than running wild.

Another thing I find useful is to program multiple cycles into a custom envelope shape on the LFO, rather than use the default sine/saw/square/etc. This allows me to go faster than 1 LPC if I want to, essentially getting double time out of the LFO. Or you could triple it, quadruple it, etc. Depends how silly you want to get. :)

There are quite a lot of fun variations you can do on this technique :)

5

man that was fast. thanks a lot dblue! you rock!!

i’m gonna try that out right now…

btw i dont mind having the LFO rate fixed to one certain note. i usually use a seperate track with an empty instrument just to put in notes to control my device chains (mainly use them as send effects). i do most of my stuff with hardware anyway, using Renoise only as an fx-unit, so that’s a good way of controlling things for me…

your idea of using custom env LFO to get faster than 1 LPC cycles is interesting too. never thought about that. gonna try that too.

the drawing envelopes in the automation editor you and kazakore mentioned is a good idea! gonna play around with this as well.

RENOISE RULES!!

6

just tried it out. works like a charm.

i extracted the device chain from the song if anyone wants to use it:

MultiSync - LFO.xrnt

i did another one where the LFO is reset on note input:

MultiSync - LFO (rst).xrnt

happy tweakin