Here is “113 Steps Toward the Prime Directive” from my May 23 Virtual Open Mic performance. The patch is based on prime numbers to commemorate VOM #113, as requested by Rob Hinkal, the VOM founder.
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That kosmische + flute is an unusual and quite pleasing combo, there Dave. I don’t know that I would have called that one. Kudos to you for continuing to explore beyond the well-trodden path.
Also, nice shirt! 
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Thanks Drew.
Ever since I discovered the Native American flute in 2009, I’ve been interested in combining its expressiveness with all manner of eclectic instruments. Some of my most memorable live music making moments are spontaneous jams with whatever instrumentalists I could coerce to join me at an open mic. I’ve been able to perform with cello, violin, double bass, electric bass, fretless electric bass, guitars, mandolins, harmonica, steel pans, all manner of drums and percussion, trombone, sax, Chinese erhu, harp …
Then there has also been semi regular groups with interesting lineups:
- Drifting Spirits (cello, hand percussion, bass, flutes)
- Fablelore (baritone guitar and voice, cello, mellotron, flutes and djembe)
- Chuck the MaddOx (spoken word, beatbox, electric cello, flutes)
My interest in synths arose from this live jam with Astronauto (John Velsor) back in 2016
Ever since then I had been wanting to explore the combination of flute with synthesizer, but never really found the opportunity. Then the pandemic hit, and the isolation took away all avenues of shared music making. It prompted me to start exploring synths on my own, and when I found VCV Rack - it clicked for me, and I have been hooked. The random elements that are frequently in patches satisfy my craving for “bandmates” that always provide something new to inspire my flute improvisations.
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All that in Baltimore? Man, I shoulda got out more back in the beforetimes!
It is truly unfortunate Teavolve decided to cease evening operations, and completely abandoned live music. I really miss the open mic there.
But Rob has gotten the open mic hosting gig at the courtyard outside Little Market Cafe in Ellicott City! (right beside the big public parking lot in historic Ellicott City). The first open mic of the season will be this Sunday from 5-8 PM. I will be taking my M1 MacBook Air with VCV to use with my flutes - just the 2nd time out in the wild!
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Here is my take on Andrew Huang’s challenge to create a musical composition that uses a 6 note chord consisting of a major triad, like CM for example, plus another major triad one octave plus one whole step higher, like DM.
About the same time I saw his video, I was experimenting with docB’s as of yet unreleased PAD2 module, and decided to construct my patch around that. For my piece I use D and E major triads. I alternate between the Andrew Huang chord with EM above DM, and an inverted form with DM above EM. Of course I pair the patch with a Native American flute improvisation.
The patch and notes about its construction are available at:
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on the old electric guitar, A-B implies E pretty strongly…
yes, scale wise you are defining a chord containing all the notes from the IV-V of a I-IV-V progression so the scale should be I and all the variations on that so D, E give you A maj, B dorian, F# natural minor etc.
That’s beautiful Dave.
haha - yes. I don’t know much about music, but I do know about triads fitting into a diatonic scale 
I’ve often used polyrhythms or polymeters in my patches. Here is an experiment where I tried combining both concepts in one patch. Two voices, 6 against 8, each playing a different 8 step sequence. The 6 voice uses multiples of 3, 5, and 7. The 8 voice multiples of 4, 5, and 7. I then used that patch as a backdrop for a flute improv during a virtual open mic performance.
I also uploaded a sweet improv on a triple flute from the same virtual open mic performance - nothing to do with VCV, but I really like it.
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I was just thinking after your last patch, “I wonder what Dave Venom could do with a MIDI wind controller + VCV Rack…”
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Yeah, I’ve sometimes contemplated crossing that bridge. The instruments I have been most interested in are way too expensive for a casual user. The more affordable ones haven’t interested me as much.
The price for that instrument doesn’t seem too bad. I’ll be interested to see some demos and reviews.
All that being said, I really enjoy pairing an honest to god wooden wind instrument with electronic music (virtual or hardware). Something about the dichotomy really intrigues and satisfies me.
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Totally. As you know, I’m a big fan of the results you get from that pairing.
I’m just saying that I would also be interested to hear the results if your expressive musicianship as a woodwind player could more directly control the music produced by VCV Rack. I wonder how it would differ from the music you make with self-playing patches or those that skilled keyboard players create.
In the case of this particular instrument, it appears that you would be able to control both MIDI notes (“in octaves beyond the limitations of acoustic instruments thanks to the triple-octave (-1, 0, +1, +2) keys”) and parameters by:
- your breath
- moving the MIDI wind controller instrument itself, thanks to the inbuilt gygroscope
- a mechanical pitch wheel
Hooked up to a well-designed patch, that’s a lot of possibilities for expression, even if only for a passage, in-between wooden flute passages.
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I’m understanding the whole woodwind with electronic music. Not nearly as good as your stuff by a long shot Dave, but I was playing with a clarinet sound font into Squinky Labs SFZ player the other day and I was loving the combination.
@Squinky that reminds me. You did really pull a rabbit out of your hat with that module.
Here are two pieces from my most recent Virtual Open Mic performance on August 1, 2022.
Passing a Gray Day Away
The first is a really sweet, playful tune that arose from a pair of Squinky Labs Gray Code modules. I remember seeing Gray Code when I first started exploring VCV, and I wondered, “what the hell do you do with that?” I soon forgot all about them. Then a little over a week ago I saw this repost from rsmus7, and it piqued my interest.
I quickly set up three simple voices that got their rhythm by ORing various gates from one Gray Code, and sampled quantized V/Oct from a 2nd Gray Code running at a different frequency for the melody. I was shocked when a really likeable tune popped out immediately. This was probably the most rapidly produced patch I’ve ever done.
Acoustic Sequence #1 - original patch by Auret Van Heerden
The 2nd piece is derived from a beautiful patch by Auret. The patch he was able to provide is a straight forward loop. I added some automation, including a bridge section, for use as accompaniment with my flute improvisation.
The bridge relies on random Bernoulli Gate triggers, and unfortunately for this performance the bridge was not as interesting as I typically get from the patch. But I still like the video.
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haha, thanks. yeah, it’s cool to be able to play samples of instruments. Not what you want to do all the time, but pretty nice.
not surprisingly I like grey codes in the 80’s I use to write out music on graph paper using grey codes and then play it (manually) into my Fostex 8 track tape deck.
I think maybe it’s helping generate pitches here? It’s funny - I always used them for “triggering” different parts, like turning on a part for a bar or two. I’ve seen ppl use it for modulation things, like controlling harmonic levels and such.
Wow Dave, I love what you did with it. It sounds really cool. I am truly honoured. You’ve taken a simple loop, and turned it into something very interesting. I also really enjoyed listening to “passing a gray day away”. You are very talented.
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Thanks Auret. But your starting material was only simple from the stand point that each part was looped statically - repeating itself exactly indefinitely, without variation. But within that simplicity is a whole world of finely crafted intricacy, which I think is what drew me in in the first place. The interplay of the parts with different sequence lengths is delightful - lots of subtle variation within the repetition.
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