Berlin Explorer - Exploring the Sounds of Berlin with SNM Modular Presets

Tutorial | Oct 29, 2020

In this video, I showcase my three new presets - Berlin City, Berlin Verb and Berlin Tape - that I created for my five bug subscribers on YouTube and Patreon. I sampled noises from the streets of Berlin to analyze certain things, and I used a special method to create random multiple values in the grid with chapicef modules. I also mapped some MPE sensors to some knobs so you can use your MPE devices for this preset. With the remote controls and the snob, you can change the noise texture, the timing, the envelope, the stereo width, the pitch drift and the reverb. Berlin Tape is a tape emulation that you can bring in a lot of dirt and change the speed of the noise sample. I hope this video was helpful and I look forward to hearing your feedback.

You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon

Questions & Answers #

Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

What noises did you sample from the streets of Berlin and how did you use them in the patch? #

I sampled a variety of noises from the streets of Berlin, such as car horns, construction sounds, and people talking. I then used these noises to analyze certain aspects of the patch, such as the zero crossings to get the pitch out of the noise, and envelope followers to modulate various parts of the synth.

What is the purpose of the chapicef modules? #

The chapicef modules are used to create multiple harmonics from a single value. When I turn the snob, I get different combinations of values, which are not random but rather chaotic and predictable. This means that when I am in the same position with the snob, I get the same kind of combination of values, but when I turn it, I transition from one combination of states to the other.

What is the purpose of the envelope module and how does it affect the sound? #

The envelope module is used to change the attack and release of the sound. When the timing is turned down, the noise texture heavily influences the modulations, creating a more plug-

Transcription #

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

[01:00.000] For my five bug subscribers on YouTube and Patreon I created three new presets called Berlin
[01:11.600] City, Berlin Verb and Berlin Tape.
[01:15.440] So Berlin Tape is of course SNM says, guess it maybe it's a tape emulation, a Berlin
[01:21.320] Verb is a long artificial verb and Berlin City is some kind of synth pad sound.
[01:28.080] And I did some special things here I want to show.
[01:31.040] First up, I created or sampled a lot of noises from the streets of Berlin and I used these
[01:37.880] noises inside the patch to analyze certain things.
[01:42.040] For instance, I used zero crossings to get the pitch out of the noise and I used some
[01:48.060] envelope followers to yeah, modulate a lot of different things inside the synth itself.
[01:54.600] So you can use here below in the device itself with the remote controls, you can change
[02:00.320] the noise texture, I think four or five textures used and you can change these textures and
[02:07.760] then also it changes the sound in the end, the result.
[02:16.480] Not much but you know, it's a bit different.
[02:21.920] Then I have here the snob which is called malt and I used a special method to create random
[02:31.300] multiple values in the grid with chapicef modules here.
[02:36.360] So what I did basically is I used this value module which creates one value and then I go
[02:42.840] into these chapicef modules and these modules create not random but harmonics from a value.
[02:53.920] So in the end, I get one, two, three, four, five different values out of one value and
[03:01.920] also when I turn the snob, then I get random combinations.
[03:07.120] It's not random, it's chaotic and it's also predictable.
[03:10.880] So every time you are on the same position with the snob here, you get the same kind of
[03:15.200] combinations of value.
[03:17.640] But as soon as you turn it, you transition from one combination of states to the other.
[03:24.320] So it's not like that you switch between random combination of states all the time, you
[03:30.520] transitioning to different states or different combinations which kind of is an interesting
[03:36.520] effect because you can turn the snob slowly and fade in between different states which
[03:42.240] makes it kind of interesting and also a bit unique because I never saw this anywhere
[03:49.080] in any synth.
[03:51.680] So it's more like you tweak the snob and you tweak the sound with it and every time
[04:00.240] it's a bit different, it's more like if you remember radios and you have the snob
[04:05.160] wave change the station, it's basically like that.
[04:09.240] Every time you are on the same position, you have the same kind of station selected but
[04:13.960] as soon as you try to tweak it, you know, you fade into noise or you fade into a different
[04:21.760] radio station.
[04:25.560] Also, the snob here is bound to the CC1 which is the mod wheel on your MIDI keyboard and
[04:43.960] I also used here the pressure of MPE devices.
[04:48.760] So I mapped some MPE sensors to some knobs so you can use your MPE devices for this preset
[04:57.160] of course.
[04:58.160] Then I have here the timing which changes the timing of the envelope followers, these
[05:05.320] ones here.
[05:06.320] As you can see, if you turn down the timing then the noise texture is heavily influencing
[05:12.240] all the modulations, if you relax this a bit then you get kind of more of a relaxed
[05:18.600] pad sound, also where if you are trived which amps up the noise texture.
[05:48.400] And we have an envelope module, a envelope knob here for the module and this also changes
[05:57.960] the attack and the release at the same time, as you can see here.
[06:03.800] So you can switch between a plug sound or not a plug sound, more like an AG sound and
[06:12.240] the pad sound.
[06:19.440] Stereo dies you can make the sound wider of course.
[06:26.720] And pitch drift is where you can change how much the noise influences the pitch of the
[06:34.080] oscillator and just slightly so it's more like a drift.
[06:40.680] Okay, and then we have here the
[07:10.600] reverb which isn't long artificial reverb you can see, we have here a lot of different
[07:17.080] mod delays inside, changing values, so it's a big reverb, it's also pretty heavy on the
[07:24.800] CPU but you can maybe use it to bounce down some stuff and yeah, have fun with it.
[07:35.280] And at the end we have here Berlin tape which is a tape emulation and you can bring in
[07:54.160] a lot of dirt and not only dirt.
[08:07.800] As you can hear, so we are basically it changes how much the pitch is changing so I'm
[08:35.800] using some delays, some delays modulated by envelope followers, I use the noise text
[08:42.280] right here to bring in the dirt and you can also change the speed of the noise sample.
[08:58.920] So we are changing basically the pitch and we are like you can change how fast the envelope
[09:07.000] follows react to the noise.
[09:16.920] Noise up HP you can high pass of course the noise, can blend in the noise, can change how
[09:26.720] much the noise influences the amplitude and the envelope follower how fast the envelope
[10:27.320] So I think it's a nice package to play around with experimenting with the mod knobia or
[10:33.000] the remote control, maybe dissecting my patch how I built this and I think there's also
[10:39.160] a tutorial coming on YouTube for free where I explain what I did with the mod knobia
[10:44.920] and the chappy chef modules.
[10:49.440] Yeah the reverb is also nice, I probably used this a lot in my projects, the tape is also
[10:56.280] pretty nice to play with, so yeah if you are a subscriber download it now have fun and
[11:03.160] maybe give me some feedback on it and yeah thanks for subscribing supporting my content
[11:10.680] and basically my lifestyle and yeah have fun with it, I'll see you in the next video, bye.