Advice on slimming system for "breakcore"

[vqlk]

I usually make noise, not very harsh. However, I feel recently that even with the switches I brought - which really opened up my obese eurorack - I don’t need it all. Plus, I want to start making jungle loops!

Can you advise on this setup?

The three modules on the right speak for themselves. The two middle modules are just powerful cv generators: but I am missing an LFO and VCA!

The next two modules are just two modules I don’t want to give up. And the mixer/multiple and pedal interface are for floops, mostly.

Does this give enough control and options for ‘breakcore’, or would I just need say LFO’s?

[Joe]

I don’t know a lot about breakcore. Zadar can make a good LFO. Just set one of the envelopes to infinite repeat and offset it by -5v if you want it to be bipolar.

[vqlk]

Yeah definitely RE the zadar…

Not sure I know much about breakcore either, but it seems like a fun and punky type of ‘music’. Do I need the random? I’m going to go with YES… sales pending ha

[a773]

Where are you sequencing from?

[vqlk]

well, you only need one lfo / clock into the er-301, for its sequencing needs, right? that could be taken from the zadar or indeed via the URA clock out - which could just about function, arcanely.

not sure there’s enough cv there to need a sequencer. the three “cv” modules - zadar, URA, er-301 - can be linked together. i would check the former’s manual again, on chaining, before moving on.

breakcore is quite melodic, so i may have to get a midi to civi box, or similar. though the benjolin doesn’t track very nicely: melodies over more than two octaves would be inside the 301, perhaps via recorded waves.

it looks fun, though i may end up relying TOO heavily on the 301. i kinda wish you could program the front end it on a laptop, a 301 environment, right?

?

[vqlk]

It’s not a very intuitive interface. Just the ADDAC potato finger buttons.

Is there a stand alone - good value - box type sequencer that generates CV suitable to pitches, and triggers? I DON’T want to take up more rack space, as a matter of principle. Carbon looks viable, but expensive… I guess that’s all I can expect.

[a773]

If you’re just the slightest bit serious about this break core thing, you should check out the polyend tracker. Since venetian snares did this video, the world agrees that breakcore is synonymous with trackers

vache

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGsJ2L2Kw11/?igshid=10d9juc72gwek

[bjlogic]

Or… er301 + Nerdseq!!

[a773]

Yeah, but OP asked for external sequencing hence…

[vqlk]

I could house a nerdseq in a beauty box.

Not sure how serious I am. I guess it depends on whether you have all, you need in a 301 to make breakcore… the rest of the modules would just be incidental / extras.

[bjlogic]

Big advantage of nerdseq, there is an i2c expander coming so you won’t need to use up any patch cables/jacks connecting the nerd to the er301… that’s a pretty big deal and probably worth seriously considering!

[vqlk]

Cool, thanks. I just seem to have lost the feel for harsh noise, like it’s all just “stuff” not even sounds. Breakcore is essentially just processed drums, tones and samples, right? The question probably sounds vacuous, but… I don’t want to get into this, i.e. sell loads of gear, without some rudimentary concept of what I will be doing. But I can think about it like A. do drums then B. add some music / pitches C. add extra / noise, that’ll cover the process? The 301 would then be in control of playing everything except the benjolin.

[vqlk]

I have a 101 already… if I need a sequencer, it’s not - I can’t use it - quick. I will probably keep it due to the loss of value for used. Hmm?

[vqlk]

FWIW, this is what I’m going with. I may just make noise with it anyway

and this box is TOTAL SEX haha

I never needed the rest of it

[avenir]

ER-301 is capable of doing anything you want

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAIuP1xHUdC/?igshid=15gp7dfofuk29

here is a video with a test I made a few months ago

[vqlk]

cool video thanks… gently reassuring

[vqlk]

have decided to buy a midi thing and use a midi - for now software - tracker. qtractor looks usable. Wasn’t much into breakcore when it was peaking in underground popularity; aware of it, but no passion I mean. cf harsh noise wall which is - I guess thinking, now - is the only genre style etc. that I ever was. But I’m in a facebook group post breakcore and pretty much all I listen to it in I really like and think is cool ha

@avenir any tips on drum loops in the 301? I’ve never programmed them before…

[avenir]

Sorry for delay…
No particular recommendations other than the advice to use good quality samples

[vqlk]

I still have enough gear to make noise - basically a benjolin coupled with (sending the runglar as input) a trog 676; this sounds pretty OK, and I can also add feedback to the signal. I’ll write two or three melodies for each track, and use them to play a single cycle waveform through a (death metal distortion and) ring mod also fed the noise I’m making live. I’ll also occasionally fade in the same trog/benjolin noise, stretched.

So… I was thinking of triggering a snare with a wave folder, so it would sound chaotic rather tied to a specific time signature, fed an LFO triggering another drum, dunno which, that is randomly turned on / off, synchronized with a bass drum for the BPM, a regular beat which I can fade out and distort / compress live. Does that sound too pared back?

I may also play all the drums through a deflector shield, the only module I’m not using, which may work… so playing the trog/benjolin, time-stretching and messing with the main beat, live