Wiardgroup

This has been a great discussion!  Thanks everyone for all the details on 
these RVG modules (UVG?)

While I cannot technically dissect these units to the levels of the good 
doc and others, nor place them well within the pantheon of historical 
electronic music tools, I can offer up my personal take on these modules, 
based on my experience.

I have two Blacet Improbability Drives, as well as one Wiard Noise Ring. I 
will be buying a second Noise Ring this year without doubt.  It is 
probably the most interesting module that I own.

Other than the fact that they can both output 'noise' and 'randomish 
voltages', I find very little in common between these modules.

For me (hardly a modular synth master to be sure), I have found that the 
Blacet excels in some areas where the Wiard is weak and vise-versa as 
well. The Blacet module is exceptional for deriving 'typical' clocked 
Sample-And-Hold voltage outputs, moreso than the Noise Ring which is more 
difficult to use to obtain S&H output that is not either somewhat 
cyclical, or totally and utterly noisy (or in other words 'very 
uncertain').  Additionally, the Blacet is a better module if you are 
looking to synthesize the sound of wind, surf, rain, waves, blizzards, 
hurricanes., etc.  In fact I'd like to say that this module is absolutely 
AMAZING for work like this, and the ability to control every parameter 
with CVs allows for some shifting, morphing changes to your weather 
patterns!   Also of course when you need a burst of noise to add to the 
attack of a percussion sound, the Blacet unit has the edge.

As for the Noise Ring, it is very good at things the Blacet cannot touch. 
For one, if you would like randomish/uncertain events which are somewhat 
cyclical in nature, or slowly changing, this thing delivers the goods.  I 
believe that in the 'official' description, Grant mentions that in music 
we normally have events which slowly evolve over time, with a lot of 
repetition involved.  Well, this describes it well.  I use my Noise Ring 
to create 'uncertain' modulations that have a repetitive factor, perhaps 
that evolves slowly (or quickly!) or not at all.  One of the many great 
things about the NR is that it gives you complete control over how 
random/repetitive these things are.

Another great thing about the Noise Ring - processing external data 
thorugh the shift register!  I believe that you need the second revision 
NR to accomplish this, or you can perform a simple mod to the first 
generation NR to enable this.  For everything from serious distortion to 
completely breaking your sound apart, the ability to do this processing 
brings the NR into 'effect processor' territory, with the added bonus of 
being able to recycle the data your are putting through the shift register 
to create repetitive and evolving voltage loops, similar to the above 
paragraph, but based around whatever data you inject, not just the binary 
noise the standard NR will use for the shift register.

What else?  Someone mentioned the beauty found when the random events 
start to clock at audio rates and act like a 'tone wheel' - I cannot 
overstate how cool this is, one of my favorite things to do with this 
module.

Oh, and when your ears need a rest, the NR can still be used to create a 
pretty crazy light show!

Really, you need both in your system, in my opinion.  Probably two of 
each.


-MM

http://muffwiggler.blogspot.com






"Gary Chang" <gchang@calarts.edu> 
Sent by: wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com
29/01/2007 09:14 AM
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Subject
[wiardgroup] Re: Wiard noise ring versus Blacet improbability drive









"drmabuce" <drmabuce@...> wrote:
>
The method of
> pattern generation just described is very different than the
> sample/hold method used by the I.D. (and MANY other RVG is modular
> synth history). 
> Most importantly, this method yields a very different character of
> output patterns than a sample/hold-based design produces. The noise
> sources are never sampled directly and thus, the output SOUNDS
> different from sample/hold-based output. 

The Buchla "Sources of Uncertainty' is the seminal circuit that
employs a similar use of noise (as a modulator of the sampled source,
rather than the noise being the sampled source itself), and a
recursive structure that can create suprisingly musical patterns in
the name of UNCERTAINTY, which I think is a better term than RANDOMNESS.

I think that Uncertainty is the key to Grant's Woggle Bug and Noise
Ring. Simple randomness is found on virtually every synthesizer -
Uncertainty is found on the Buchla and the Wiard.

gary

 

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