Why you need smooth random voltages - The key to making interesting sounds

Today we’ll have a look at smooth random voltages in eurorack land. It’s a great tool for making interesting sounds! I’ll quickly explain what I mean with smooth random voltages and why they are interesting. But in the biggest part of this video we'll go over some patches with random voltages to help you get started, get new ideas, or see if random is something you’re interested in.
Timetable:
00:00 - Intro
01:17 - Smooth random
02:42 - Subtle dynamics
04:17 - Patches
If you want to support my project:
Patreon: / monotrail
Bandcamp: monotrail.bandcamp.com
Special thanks to Legendary Patrons:
Michael Rutchik
Wayne Cowan
Steve Williams
Glnds
Let’s connect!:
Instagram: / monotrail
Facebook: / monotrailmusic
Soundcloud: / monotrailmusic
KZbin: / monotrailmusic
#eurorack #modularforbeginners #randomvoltage

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Hi, and welcome to my first new video of the year! I had a bit of a rocky start, but moved to a new studio, bought a new camera, and have a lot of ideas, so I’m excited about this year! I’m glad you’re here to join me :) - From now on patch & block diagram illustrations are available to Patrons ;) www.patreon.com/monotrail

[@BoardgameBaker]

I’m learning more interesting things from ten minutes with this guy than a year at school.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Time to change schools! But thanks ;)

[@Wojohomack]

Another stellar video packed full of knowledge and simple to understand patch diagrams. IMO these are the best tutorial-type videos available. Know that your efforts are appreciated.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thank you so much! These kind of comments help me to go on, all the best :)

[@bkvision2]

I'm always inspired and blown away by how much interesting patchability and variation your case has!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks! It was a huge part of collecting a modular for me to aim at a compact flexible system, it's very possible :)

[@risro.O]

pamela's new workout can put out 8 channels of random slewd voltages. I almost always use at least few outputs of pamela's to put out randomness. edit: oh yeah awesome video as always

[@BenWasted]

Also the output can be attenuated internally. :)

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Boy I have to get myself around to reading the manual on that one, its so incredebly powerful, there's always someone mentioning more features. Seems to become something id make good use of if we ever get to play live again. And thanks! Glad to see you around here ;)

[@risro.O]

@@MonotrailTechTalk oh yeah definitely check out pamela's. it's definitely my most used module 👍

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

@risro good to hear. How is your experience with the interface? Do you generally "program" its functions and then use or perform with that set of features. Or do you find it's pretty easy to switch functions on the fly?

[@risro.O]

@@MonotrailTechTalk it's a bit menu divy, but there's really only one menu level per channel so it's not bad at all. once you get it set no real need to touch it anymore and there are two cv inputs so if I want to mess with stuff more easily i just set those up an use maths or something to tune them on the fly also should probably mention that I'm just a beginner sharing my experience so take everything I say with pinch of salt

[@TayTayMakesBeats]

I'm so happy I found your channel! These videos are incredibly informative! Future patron when I get my money figured out!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Glad to hear you like them! All the best :)

[@MrPetrake]

Awesome series, thank you very much!!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks for letting me know, all the best!

[@NimrodScott]

I just “found” your channel today. After 4 years in modular I’m learning that there is still much more to learn. Your channel fills in the gaps of my knowledge better than practically any other. Your approach to teaching seems effortless, yet its full of content and examples. Thanks! I’m a new subscriber!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Hi there! Thank you so much! This still feels like a fairly new project to me, but I'm really excited to recieve quite a lot of really positive comments like these. It really makes the effort worth it. I'm happy to contribute to this community! All the best :)

[@mymodularjourney]

Excellent video again. More inspiration to start patching.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Glad to hear it, thanks and enjoy!

[@frywolny]

Thank you for this explanation. Easy to follow, to the point, with practical examples, and perfect pace. I'm embarking on the ER advanture, so this is super helpful. Keep it up!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks for the kind words! These kind of comments are so motivating, glad to hear it. Have fun with your journey!

[@LarsBjerregaard]

Great tutorial Rijnder! You're very good at explaining things.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thank you so much, glad to hear it!

[@5tablenet]

Really well done. Congrats!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thank you so much!

[@AndreaCichecki]

Super! Really like the way how you explain! Keep going with your channel and thank you for sharing your knowledge :)

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Glad to hear it! And as long as people leave me nice comments I will :) All the best, and the same to you! I'll keep an eye out on your channel.

[@AndreaCichecki]

@@MonotrailTechTalk yes, I gonna try your patch suggestions today. Curious how it will sound in my rack. Enjoy your weekend!

[@alexbarn]

Great start to the year, awesome patch ideas as usual, ty!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thank you Alex! All the best :)

[@bsbazzman]

i love how you approach things. Looking forward to exploring more of your vids. Cheers!

[@Ralf-CGN]

Your diagrams are very useful. Thank you very much!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks for letting me know, glad to hear it!

[@giovannigramegna8566]

Great ideas. Great video.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks!

[@fvmurphy3071]

Hard sync! Love it!

[@bentheintern]

Really great video. Clearly explained the concepts with informative diagrams and great personal input on everything. Hope you keep making awesome content

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

So glad to hear you liked it! And I plan to keep making about two videos a month for a long time :)

[@NickTheMuteChalntoupis]

awesome work here in all the videos of this channel

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thank you very much! Cheers!

[@SallowKyn]

Still the best Eurorack teacher around, great stuff.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

:) Cheers!

[@TiminatorFL]

Another great video. Looking forward to more in 2021! Your patch suggestions always expand the possibilities with just a few modules and I always learn something. Bravo.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Glad to hear you get value out of these! Thanks for watching!

[@in_10z]

Man your videos are so helpful! I've watched countless demos, tutorials, and performances by others, and the way you lay your vids out is just spot on and packed with clever and useful patch tips. Keep 'em coming and danke.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Hey, so glad to hear it! Im really happy with these kind and enthusiastic responses, makes it so I want to do a lot more of these! So no worries ;)

[@yogawithdom]

Another brilliant video! All your tips are so inspiring because they are actually going to help me achieve the musical results I’m imagining! Thank you 🙏

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thank you very much! Glad to hear it's helping out, wish you all the best :)

[@jgrzinich]

Thanks so much! Your videos like this have been the most informative and helpful tutorials on modular that I have found (and we know there are many). I really like the graphics with the signal paths (even though it goes a bit fast and I end up pausing a lot). Keep up the great work, looking forward to more.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Hey thanks! The illustrations are really a big reason for me to start doing this, hoping it would add clearity, so i'm glad to hear that! Cheers!

[@jamesriedy6825]

I really appreciate the diagrams you put up with your explanations; incredibly useful for my mind. Learning modular has been a slow process for me, thank you for your help. The visuals make a lot of difference. Cheers ~

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Hey, glad to hear it! Really thought the illustrations could add to the community, it's nice to get such positive feedback! Hope to start a full beginner modular series this year!

[@massimopetrozzi1451]

very interesting video...as usual. thank you!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Glad to hear it, thanks for watching!

[@MaxRichardsonMusic]

Great vid! I've been really struggling lately with my patches feeling a bit stale, and needing variation - this vid was exactly the medicine I've been after!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Glad to hear it's helping out! All the best!

[@petri..]

Your videos are greatly appreciated! I'm about to invest in my first modular gear but there's so much to get in to and a bit difficult to know and express what I want function and sound wise but thanks to you the picture is getting more clear, thank you. 🙂

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Hey, thats great to hear! Thanks for the kind words, and of course enjoy your journey!

[@BlastPast]

Always great to see a new tech talk video, thanks for sharing! :) are you planning to do more jam videos? Best wishes ✌

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks for letting me know! And I have decided to stop the weekly Jams, as I found it started getting in the way of working on more finished tracks. I aim at releasing a few EPs this year, and plan to come back very soon with new music videos on the Monotrail music channel. They will be more irregular, but higher quality studio jams/sessions!

[@nx01craig]

I just got into modular in December of 2020 and just discovered your channel. Thank you for explaining things so even a noobie like me can understand what's going on and still explore complex patching that keep things interesting for more advanced players. Well done! Bravo!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thank you so much! That was exactly my goal when I started this series :) All the best!

[@-erikros-]

Great!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks!

[@bazsinator12]

thank you! :)

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

You're welcome!

[@lemonlemon396]

NLC Triple Sloths is my fav smoothed random voltage

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Ah yes! Great module. I should get my hands on one of them some time :)

[@a_boundless_plangency]

Another excellent video. 👌I like the long hair!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks! And yeah, I don't let it down so often :)

[@alexandershchegretsov9615]

cool!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks :)

[@cardboardmusic]

Nice, I love random voltages (and your videos). By coincidence I was looking at the Verbos Noise & Filter module (very tempting). I guess this could be very useful with your patching ideas?

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Random voltages are still my favorite, hope to update this video soon with something exciting!

[@cardboardmusic]

@@MonotrailTechTalk Just ordered a Intellijel Flurry, which looks ideal for these type of things.

[@23Gears]

Oh my! This is exactly the sort of information I need coming into modular through the route of making interesting electronics projects and wanting to make ambient sorts of sounds, but not having a background in synths. This explains the processes in such a clear way and provides jumping off points for lots of exploration. Thank you! And the notation you use will be very helpful for structuring my thinking around how patches work. This is setting off all sorts of new pathways in my thinking.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Hey Stephen! Thanks for the comment! It's these kind of messgages that makes it worth it :) I felt I could add to the community with simple videos with clear animations. I have been working on some things to pay the bills the last two months, but almost ready to get back to making videos. Also planning to do a full introduction to modular series! All the best with your modular journey!

[@_goldfarb_]

Thanks! good tips! I'll never understand why white noise is still so common, Perlin (or Simplex) noise is far more musical, I don't know of any modules that have it but it would make so many things better.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks for watching! And indeed, much more interesting signals than white noise :)

[@nxn-analogxanalog5739]

Thank you very much for this great explanation and all the ideas how to use smooth random voltage! Do you also have plans going in depth with ring modulation? I think this is also a classical modular element offering a wide range of applications (for CV and for sound) but is highly underestimated and/or not understood… Oh sorry, checking your channel, I just detected your video on Erica Synth. Have to look it first… 🤭

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Glad to hear you liked it! And indeed, might do a seperate video at some point to clear things up. But covered some parts on the ES Ring-XFade, as well a the video on VCA alternatives, also recomend ring-mod/polarizers in that one :)

[@TheNewNumberTw0]

I like doing this with a turing machine!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Ah, yes, wonderful device! Maybe I should get my hands on one of those as well :)

[@rafiquejohn9406]

I wish a lot more people subscribe this channel..tq so2 much for the knowledge..will contribute when my income allows me..

[@KPsTboy]

Good busy man 😏. Smooth (random) modulation to me is what it’s all about in eurorack. To have more control I bought myself a WMD S.P.O in order to - apart from attenuation - also be able to offset the (random) voltages, which you of course can also do with your Triatts. I was really curious to know what you fed into the Intellijel wavefolder @ 9:45, as combined with the filter, it had that 0-coast feel to it. Care to share that?

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thanks! And my thoughts to! Looks like I'm just feeding a simple sine-wave from the intellijel Dixie II to the folder, and then the Doepfer wasp filter. Nothing fancy!

[@a2o545]

You definetly should try the Acid Rain Maestro with up to six smooth random timed voltages. They can trigger/ reset each other.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Hmm, thanks. If they can be smooth random that would be powerful indeed. Ill have a look at it :)

[@peamarte]

Great as always, Also interesting is the Peaks LFO that I don't usually use and so you made me want to test it. Here you use (from Peaks) the stepped or random? Thanks:)

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

I use it as a dual lfo with both of them set to smooth random pretty much 24/7 these days. If I look at peaks I just see a dual random voltage generator, but it's so much more powerful :)

[@peamarte]

​@@MonotrailTechTalk to tell the truth i its also useful with the firmware Dead Man's Catch. it's a truly infinite module with both firmware :) And anyway I believe that the 808 bussdrum is always of excellent quality (although modeled digital).

[@GeorgeLocke]

Comparing the room here vs your more recent studio overview, somehow it looks bigger now even with more stuff in it. Maybe just the daylight? Or advancing cinematography skills????

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Haha, yeah this was funny to watch! No tricks though, just a bit of impovement over different things. Mostly light, and placement of stuff. In the new video I also cleaned the side of the room you can't see, so the camera can be deeper into the room.

[@gstyle11]

Bravo! Useful to the Max. How do you clock the smooth random modules in your examples? I am considering becoming a Patreon supporter . Do you offer your Diagrams there? Thank You

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Thank you! So glad to hear you get some you use out of it :) None of the random voltages in this video are clocked. Or maybe I misinderstand the question? And indeed, I offer pdf sheets with pretty much all the patches in my videos on Patreon. Some of the early videos I still have to do.

[@bartjanc]

How do you use the MI peaks as noise? Drum mode? Which one specifically? Thanks!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

I don't! Unless I misunderstand the questions, but I don't use peaks as a noise source. Did I make an unclear patch? :)

[@bartjanc]

@@MonotrailTechTalk my bad, i rewatched and you said the peaks does smooth random voltages, right after you mentioned (in the video) using noise & sample/hold as random voltage. Thus i concluded the peaks made noise and you used that. I was thinking about using attenuated noise as chaotic modulation source, such as the chaos lfo’s in serum. Do you happen to have thoughts on that?

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Don't know the the chaos LFOs in serum. But noise is a great modulation source. It mostly works as 'adding texture' though. Noise is to fast to sound movement over time. But noise to a filter, frequency, wavefolder, etc, all good ideas :)

[@jonbrouwer4300]

There should be an Ochd for smooth randoms

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Keep an eye on the channel for the next months ;) All the best!

[@markhammer643]

A few years ago I tried an experiment and came up with something that is sort of the inverse of smooth random voltages. Sample and hold units "freeze" a noise voltage in a storage capacitor, between two high-impedance paths. I wondered what would happen if there was a not-so-high impedance path that let the storage cap bleed off. I had built a clone of the old Maestro/Oberheim S&H so I decided to try it out. It worked. The result, which I call the "droop" function, lets the stored voltage bleed off at a rate set by the bleed/drain resistance. Of course, the faster the clock rate, the lower the resistance has to be to allow the declining voltage to be audible before the next clock pulse. You can hear a demo at the the start and around the one-minute-15 mark in this poorly-recorded demo I made. kzbin.info/www/bejne/faGqZ6iCitaIoa8 Thinking about it a little more, if the sample clock rate was slow enough,, you could follow a slow "droopy" S&H with a faster conventional S&H to generate "descending stairs" that each start at a different point, as the declining sampled voltage gets converted into discrete samples by the 2nd unit.

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Interesting experiments! Thanks for sharing.

[@PercivalThe23]

which knob in which postion makes it random?

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Depends on which mode you're using. But ehichever is the waveform knob, far counter clockwise are the random waveforms. mutable-instruments.net/modules/peaks/manual/

[@PercivalThe23]

@@MonotrailTechTalk there i find nothing,seems i have to look at the sheets,should have them anywhere, but thanks!

[@MonotrailTechTalk]

Yeah that was for the different modes and waveform knobs. The LFO waveshapes have stepped random and smooth random as heir last waveforms fully clockwise.