House Bound: a live jam with Squarp Pyramid and Friends

I'll admit that I haven't really felt very creative in the last, what 88 days or so? I think I started working on this in March. It's now June and a lot of things are happening outside.
I wish I had the time to make this shorter. As it is it's more than 14 minutes long. Long enough to allow for subtitles.
Gear Used
- Squarp Pyramid: main sequencer
- Nord Drum 3P: melodic percussion + live pads
- Synthstrom Deluge: 2nd sequencer and drum machine
- Modor NF1-m: main chords
- Waldorf Blofeld: lush pads
- Preen FM2: FM bass
- Behringer Model D: synth bass
- Yamaha MU-80: Brass section
- Rare Waves Hydronium: acid squeaks
- Bastl Instruments THYME: modulated delay
- Plankton ANTS!: CV Modulation
- Dreadbox NYX v1: synth lead
Music Gear: kit.co/o0/musique-electronique
Video Gear: kit.co/o0/music-video-gear

[@therealmattmann]

I keep coming back to this track over and over! I love it….it’s so funky!! 🤘🏼😎🤘🏼

[@ArkaHtun]

Great compact set up . Impressive and inspiring

[@explodingtiger]

Lovely jam. Your instruments look so happy hanging out in the grass :)

[@luke3055]

high quality jam, bang on!

[@yvesbajulaz]

Really cool, great bass sound.

[@jrodohio]

I absolutely love this!

[@OlivierOzoux]

Thanks 🙏🏼 appreciate it!

[@mintpillow]

I loved this. I want to be in that room. The grass. Ya' gave me some Pyramid ideas too - fun watch and great listen, cheers!

[@SynthDad]

Top gear and top tune too. Very interesting to see the interplay between the Pyramid and the Deluge. Nice to see you building the pattern live on the D too - that’s always fun to do when playing.

[@christianssonicspaces494]

Somehow missed this video. Nice to see you back with a great live jams :-) I haven't get my live jam setup back running since I moved for a new job :-(

[@jmcbeady8210]

Excellent performance! Well worth the wait. I appreciate the 14mins. Waiting for the next video.

[@OlivierOzoux]

Thanks for hanging in there until the end! 🙏🏼❤️

[@UndertheBigTree]

Bravo on pushing through your sadness and getting some creative work done, Olivier. I know how hard it is with the world as dark as it is right now. I struggle with it too. Thanks for these videos - I bought a Pyramid last week as the new brain for my MIDI/modular rig, and I'm learning performance practice from watching you do your thing. :)

[@OlivierOzoux]

Thank you, comments like this absolutely make my day.

[@OscillatorSink]

Well, it's definitely summer now.

[@jadisperdu9412]

It’s being a long time !

[@OlivierOzoux]

I know right.

[@jonaskeusch5114]

Where did you get those custom Pyamid knobs? :O

[@effebidi9677]

Hello!! I need an advice. I work only in hardware but the meaning is the same, more or less. I had Pyramid for two years ( sold it only because of the song mode and the relation between screen and pads) and now I use Deluge with fits better my needs (expecially for the arranger view) but really lucking: 1-Midi FX 2-Lots of Arps and Chords and Repeat note combined. Finally the mapable touchpad , all in a small format. 3- Of course the all the midi implementations and routings. BUT I know Pyramid is stronger and deeper sequencer but the Deluge's Arranger view wins in the final match for me. SO Can Pyramid work well as slave and to be "only" a midi controller, midi recorder, midi fx processor and midi splitter , for Deluge as master clock and sequencer(like a sort of ana expensive midi hub fx processor but more)?

[@am5790]

wow! this is super impressive mature "composition/arrangment"....well done. What are the role of two sequencers? Pyramid and deluge ...are you using pyramid to control deluge ( as sound source?) ****I should have bothered to read the description.***** :)

[@OlivierOzoux]

There's a description, notes throughout the entire video... I don't know what else I can add. 😝

[@OlivierOzoux]

In this particular case, the Pyramid sends the master clock everywhere, so the Deluge is a slave. also the Pyramid sends Start/Stop messages, which also syncs the Deluge's internal sequencer. I don't always work like this, but it's a valid workflow

[@PaulBoos]

This tune is awesome - love how it came together. Nice trick with Ants! and the Hydronium. I haven't paired them together yet... Curious if you plan to get a Subharmonicon and/or the 0-CTRL?

[@OlivierOzoux]

patch points are patch points, doesn't matter if you have modular or semi-modular gear. I often use the Ants as a modulation source, because it has so many LFO available. I try to keep myslef to a fixed amount of studio space, and it's currently full, so I'm not sure what I would let go of in order to bring something else into the mix. Also size is a huge factor for me, with space being a constant, 2 small box can fit where a big one used to be.

[@OlivierOzoux]

To be honest, I'm not sure the Subharmonicon or 0-CTRL are that interesting to me.

[@PaulBoos]

Olivier Ozoux got it. I find the 0-CTRL interesting in that I can see new ways of not only controlling the 0-Coast, but the Microvolt, and Ants also. The Subharmonicon interests me a good deal only because of the demos that show faster polyrhythms; the slow ambient sounds I’ve heard are nice, but also a tad boring. I’m more into tunes like what you built here. I’m trying to opportunistic on where these may be discounted as my first choice is saving up for a fusebox.

[@PaulBoos]

Olivier Ozoux yeah I’ve done that a little and it has allowed me to be super focused on the modules I have acquired to something Ants can’t do. I just haven’t used it beyond an LFO source yet and never paired it with the Hydronium yet.

[@adamcarter6013]

Hello there, I'm interested in your opinion of Squarp vs. Deluge for sequencing duties. I have both (started with Pyramid and have basically switched to Deluge for all sequencing.) I'm thinking of selling the Pyramid but am wondering if there are reasons you would recommend keeping it. The Deluge is so easy and intuitive to use as well as versatile and it gives me a headache to think of sorting out midi routing with two "brains" in my set up if I were to try to incorporate both. I appreciate the euclidian and random possibilities in the Pyramid but I don't think it could ever displace the Deluge in my workflow. Am I missing a killer setup if I axe the Pyramid? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[@OlivierOzoux]

That's a big question. To me the initial barrier to making the Deluge the main brain, is the fact I have way more than 16 channels worth of slave midi devices. Pyramid can control 3x more. I haven't updated to Deluve v3.1 yet, but I'm looking forward to the new nudging edit mode. This is definitely something use a lot on the Pyramid, sliding notes and chords around, playing with offsets, note length and velocity until everything is just right. Doing that with the selection system in the Pyramid ( mono / poly + note/range/page/all selection ) and 4 dedicated encoders is much faster than the Deluge single note create/delete or the somewhat awkward zoom to copy/paste workflow. Lastly. I really like how quickly I can add life to patterns with MIDI FX ( I almost always use a little bit of randomized velocity, love the midi delay, ... ) and find pattern groups in the Deluge less convenient than Sequences on the Pyramid. But a lot of people find the Deluge better for their needs, and of course it's way more than just a midi sequencer, so everything else has no match on the Pyramid side, which is why I'm keeping both. But in the "studio" most of the time the Deluge is just one of many sound sources at my disposal.

[@adamcarter6013]

@@OlivierOzoux Thanks for your considered reply. This really has got me thinking that it will be worthwhile to incorporate both into my system. If I can crack the code it will definitely be worth the inevitable midi headache. Cheers!