DanT: That-s No Moon

Plugins & Modules
1

Last update: 2024-11-10

DanTModules :: That’s No Moon

Overview

[8hp] That’s No Moon is a generative sequencer that provides a new sequence each day. Every user should get the same sequence to play with on the same date.

It is inspired by a hardware eurorack module by Jonah Senzel called Pet Rock. Whereas Pet Rock generates two rhythms each day based on the phases of the moon, this module uses a random number generator (SFMT) to produce a new sequence each day that has two rhythms, but also a Value and Mod CV signal (not related to the moon, hence the silly Star Wars name).

The components of the module are (top to bottom, left to right):

  • Seed Display - shows the date for the current generation, or the locked seed value, the background colour indicates the generation flavour
  • Sequence Length knob - controls how many steps of the generated sequence are played, from 1 to 64
  • Trig button & input - each button press or trigger input advances the sequence by 1 step
  • Reset button & input - A button press or trigger input will soft reset the module, which returns the sequence to the first step - note that this is different to a hard reset (the Initialize option in the context menu), which also clears any locked seed and sets the length to 16
  • Step Value output - This is the main value for each sequence step, typically the V/Oct component of a sequence
  • Step Mod output + attenuvertor & offset - This is an additional CV value for each step, it might be used as velocity or a filter cutoff for example. This value has dedicated attenuvertor and offset knobs to tune the values.
  • Rhythms A & B outputs - These outputs produce rhythmic triggers based on the current flavour, trigger A should always fire on the first beat, except in the rANdoM flavour
  • Last of Sequence output - This will fire a trigger on the last step of the sequence

Flavours

There are 5 possible flavours for a sequence. The flavour affects how the Step value is generated and the length of the Rhythms

  • Magenta - rANdoM - No discernible patterns
  • Yella - 3x - 3 beat rhythm - values should tend to ascend
  • Green - 4x - 4 beat rhythm - 3rd value may be wild
  • Orange - 5x - 5 beat rhythm - middle 3 values should tend to group
  • Red - 8x - 8 beat rhythm - values should tend to pair

Seeds

Although the module will generate a new sequence each day, and this is intended to breed creativity. There may be times when you want to keep something. Rather than altering your computers clock, there is a context menu option that will lock in the current seed value.

The seed value is what the RNG uses to produce the sequence. So when this is locked, a new sequence will not be generated the next day.

Once you have locked in a seed, it is then possible to edit the patch.json file and change the seed to your liking. Any integer value should work, you might find it fun to go treasure hunting.

Or, more conveniently, you can save a preset with the seed locked to be able to recall a generation from history.

…and I suppose you might edit the presets lockedseedvalue too…

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Submit your That’s No Moon presets

I very much enjoy seeing the creations of others that use my modules, so as I did with the cowbell, if you find a particularly interesting seed, lock and save it in a preset. Share it here and I will add it as an official VCV Community discoverer in the next plugin release.

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One idea here. Automatically save sequences to an archive online of some sort or within an accessible history in the module itself.

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