Wilderness Soundscape Challenge (August 2024)

Music & Patches
1

We are starting our next challenge today! Are you ready to create, learn, have fun, and maybe even show off a little? Here is your opportunity to join a supportive community in the spirit of mutual education. This is NOT a competition. Our purpose is to challenge ourselves, not each other, to learn and practice electronic music as an art form.

The inspiration prompt for this month’s creative activity is wilderness. Your challenge: create a VCV Rack patch that evokes an experience of solitude in nature.

To make the challenge more fun, we have a very permissive idea of a wilderness soundscape. It does not need to sound like a natural recording, nor to be realistic. The patch may be as “musical” or “unmusical” as you want, whatever that means to you. Perhaps it includes generative sound effects (birds, insects, rain, wind, thunder) or not. Maybe it includes elements of ambient music to create the feeling of connection to nature. Maybe it includes both or neither! This is your chance to be free in your artistic auditory expression of being alone in nature.

Your challenge:

  • No cost to use your work. Your patch must run in VCV Rack Free, and must use only free plugins available from the VCV Rack Library. This allows others to learn from your work without spending any money.
  • Your patch must be generative: no samples, recordings, microphones, MIDI input, or other externally derived sources of audio or control signals. You may optionally perform your patch using mouse and/or keyboard, especially if you provide a video showing what you are doing. The purpose of this rule is educational: it should be feasible for others to download your patch and reproduce your results without them needing any special equipment or musical skills. As a participant, you might learn how to create an intentional sound effect or two from modular building blocks!
  • As we did last month, the patch must fit inside a box that is 160 HP wide and 3 rails high. Start with the attached template file below. All modules must be placed and fit inside the frame; you must not delete or move any of the framing elements.
  • To allow everyone’s work to be seen and appreciated, please submit no more than 5 entries for this month’s challenge.

Template Patch File

Here is the template to use for your patch submissions. For each submission, start with a copy of the template patch. Keep all of your work inside the rectangle horizontally between the markers, and vertically inside the 3 rails the markers span.

The template contains 3 modules: VCV Audio, VCV Record, and MindMeld MixMaster Jr. The mixer is provided as an example of how to hook up audio cables to both Audio and Record for correct video recording. You are under no obligation to keep the initial module configuration. Feel free to delete the MixMaster and use your own mixer. Only the side markers must remain intact.

wilderness_soundscape_template.vcv (2.1 KB)

wilderness_template_screenshot
wilderness_template_screenshot1920×1080 199 KB

Patches

As always, the purpose of this challenge is education. We learn by doing, and we also learn by seeing and interacting with each other’s work. Please upload each patch to PatchStorage.com and post the link here (preferred) or upload your patch file directly to this thread or to some other file hosting service.

Videos

The patch file is the only required part of your submission. However, videos are very much appreciated also. A YouTube video makes it easier for everyone reading this thread to experience your work. You can use the VCV Record module to record a video, then upload that video to YouTube. Then post a link to the video in your submission. Put the link on a line by itself like this to embed a nice video player:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whatever

If you don’t want to record video, you can also post an audio-only link to SoundCloud, Google Drive, etc.

Any posted video/audio recordings should be somewhere between 1 and 5 minutes in duration.

Linking

Please include the text “August 2024 Wilderness Soundscape”, along with a link to this forum thread, in the title or description of any published patches, videos, or audio recordings.

I’m excited to be here both as a host and a participant. I’m eager to find out what we all create.

9 Likes
2

Marvelous idea, @cosinekitty!

I sincerely hope that the specialists will find the leisure to create a ‘Serengeti’ patch, which I associate with the music of lions roaring, wildebeests galloping, elephants trumpeting, crickets chirping and the heat silently scorching the savannah.

1 Like
3

It sounds like you have a project to do yourself!

Side note - I was (am?) in a band called “Drifting Spirits” with me on flutes, my son on cello, and my buddy Dan on percussion. One of our songs was called “Wildebeest Horizon” - basically a fairly steady but awkward rhythm on an amplified tunable wooden tongue drum, and cello and flute going nuts with improvisation - lots of fun and crazy sounds.

2 Likes
4

I’ve feared that someone was going to suggest the DIY :wink:. I’ll try, but chances are that I still lack the skills for a result worth presenting.

This sounds intriguing, as it seems to display a wide spectrum of sound frequencies and rhythmic adventures from the wild. Is there, by any chance, a recording available somewhere? Maybe it could inspire some of the entries here.

5

You did kind of willingly walk right into that one!

Not the best quality, but here it is. It is just a phone recording from my wife in the audience. Lots of compression pumping going on.

9 Likes
6

I know :laughing:, but hope it helps to set the stage for a month of great entries.

This sounds fantastic, very atmospheric, sparking imagination. Like it :+1:!

7

Here we go…

The original version of this was a lot more cluttered. I used a recording of it to open a play, “Wyrd Sisters”, being an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Terry Pratchett. I was “Sound Engineering”, “Sound & Lighting Operation”. It opens with three witches having a discussion out on a blasted heath about when they would meet next. (Sound familiar?) When the house lights went down and after the reminder to turn off phones etc, the first part that sounds like whistles starts up in the dark, then it turns to a wind-like noise, and fades out in the middle of the track as the dialog starts up. At the end of the play, the three witches are on the blasted heath again, and I had the track start in the middle, going from the whistles to noise. Actually, it was a quicker transition than the version in the video, so as to maintain the pacing required by the director.

https://patchstorage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/August-2024-Wilderness-Soundscape-Blasted-Heath-66ac61e89079b.vcv

Note: the “second button” referred to in the Fermata module text got deleted before the video was made, but I forgot to edit the text.

And how about some Credits, eh?

Venom: Venom (https://github.com/DaveBenham/VenomModules)
    Poly Clone
VCV: VCV Recorder (https://vcvrack.com/Recorder)
    Recorder
VCV: VCV Free (https://vcvrack.com/Free)
    Noise
    VCA
VCV: VCV Core
    Audio 2
Surge XT: Surge XT (https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/)
    Reverb2
Studio Six Plus One: Studio Six Plus One (https://github.com/StudioSixPlusOne/rack-modules)
    Zazel
Stochastic Telegraph: Stochastic Telegraph (https://github.com/mahlenmorris/VCVRack)
    Fermata
Squinky Labs: Squinky Labs (https://github.com/kockie69/SquinkyVCV-main/blob/master/README.md)
    Comp
QuantalAudio: QuantalAudio (https://github.com/sumpygump/quantal-audio)
    Daisy Mix Channel STEREO | 2HP
    Daisy Mix Channel VU | 2HP
    Daisy Mix Master STEREO | 3HP
NYSTHI: NYSTHI (https://github.com/nysthi/nysthi/releases)
    PolyVoltageMeter
    Single Slim VU Meter
Little Utils: Little Utils (https://github.com/mgunyho/Little-Utils)
    Button
HetrickCV: HetrickCV (https://github.com/mhetrick/hetrickcv)
    Phasor Shaper
    Scanner
Grande: Grande
    Merge8
Count Modula: Count Modula (https://github.com/countmodula/VCVRackPlugins/blob/master/README.md)
    Fade-in/Fade-out and Record Controller
    Manual CV Generator
Bogaudio: Bogaudio (https://github.com/bogaudio/BogaudioModules/blob/master/README.md)
    OFFSET
    REFTONE
    VCF
    WALK

What did I learn?

HetrickCV’s “Scanner” works somewhat like a switcher, but has this handy “width” feature, which lets you control how many and how much of the adjacent signals show up in the poly output. The “Phasor Shaper” is a handy accessory for it too.

6+1’s “Zazel” makes nice long ramp CVs

You can never have too many of NYSTHI’s “1M” and “PVM” meters.

PS. In the middle of the play, some characters are wandering through the woods, and one of them says “I think we’re lost!” That’s when I hit them with the call of a Red-tailed Hawk. Nothing says “wilderness”, “desert”, “lost”, and “nobody can help you now” better than a Red-tailed Hawk. See Red-tailed Hawk Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology - They get a lot of uncredited work in Hollywood as voice actors for Eagles, other kinds of hawks, Falcons, Vultures, Condors, Hoatzins, mutated bats, gryphons, pterodactyls, small dragons, and just about any sort of flying predator. It’s always a Red-tailed Hawk, and it’s the same stock field recording used over and over again for decades, much like the “Wilhelm Scream”.

13 Likes
8

Whoa, this is awesome! Post some more if there is somewhere! Should be released!

9

I don’t want to hijack this thread anymore than I already have. Just go to the front page of my YouTube channel and look for playlists. Or go to the Videos tab where I have many hours of music going back as far as 2015 - majority solo, but plenty of collaborations as well.

3 Likes
10

LFO Winds.vcv (95.3 KB)

11 Likes
11

These are very nice windstorm sounds in your patch. I live in Florida yet listening to this made me feel cold!

1 Like
12

wilderness_soundscape_template.vcv (11.4 KB) Here’s what I came up with. There’s a bass thingy, but it’s not really needed. Unless you want some movement

1 Like
13

I’m enjoying this patch, Yier. You have several voices going at once: multiple kinds of wind and something like raindrops on wood. Very nice!

This month I will be posting only my own videos. I find I need to keep my YouTube channel content consistent or viewers get confused. So I’m wondering if you can try recording your patch to a brief video and uploading it somewhere that you can link to from here?

In the meantime, here is a screenshot of Yier’s patch:

image
image1920×1080 318 KB

3 Likes
14

This is always appreciated.

1 Like
15

Sadly no. I think graphics card is dying. Or something else is broken, idk… Maybe my CPU or SSD… Cause when I am trying to record something, it just BSODs my PC. I think it might be SSD, yeah. Anyway, I am fine with this patch having no video, haha.

16

What if you record to audio only, like mp3? That combined with the screenshot above would be a very nice substitute for a video.

image
image1920×1053 155 KB

2 Likes
17

Oh… I never tried to record mp3 on this PC. Maybe it would work, but nah… It’s not something supercool to bother anyway. So I am fine with letting it be as it is. I think that’s even better, cause also I think it sounds like a dark place you would never visit by an accident. You should go there deliberately, hahaha

18

EDIT!!! Original video and patch were borked: right channel was disconnected. Don’t record when having a bad, sleepless day :frowning:

Proper patch and video are now up in this message. If the video is part of any playlist, I will be extremely thankful if you update the link. Original video remains but is now private.

The tribe gathers around the fire to once again hear the tale of how the sacred ark brought the first warrior to Earth, so they will always remember they can be beaten, some day.

The villagers bow their heads in respect as the priest kneels before the sacred light device and turns to the gathering, leading the people in prayer to the gods below, pleading for protection from the demons that fell from the stars.

As the singing fades and the tribe disperses, a child looks at the sacred, metal ark and dreams, after seeing the holy writing, faded by the river of time: “Sta hi Cha ge 24”; one day he hopes to be as brave a warrior as He Who Battled the Star Demons.

The video

The patch

pleas_fixed.vcv (11.4 KB)

Run the clock to gather the tribe.

F.A.Q.

  • Your patch sucks! There’s no sound when I run the clock!

That’s not a question; but all right. The patch is designed to perform itself, so wait for the GATE-SEQ to complete one cycle and sound you will get. Hmmm.

10 Likes
19

Here is my submission,

AVH_Aug2024_Wilderness Soundscape.vcv (7.8 KB)

I imagined sitting by a stream and listening to all the sounds around me. Even added a pesky fly.

Please use headphones for the proper effect, I have no idea how bad it would sound on speakers or a phone.

Anyone is welcome to extract sections from this patch to use in their own work.

Enjoy.

16 Likes
20

And here is mine.

Babbeling brook Dripping cave Herds of wildebeast Water dripping Wind blowing Rain falling/passing by Birds Weird animals Leaves rustling And an Annoying Mosquito.

August 2024 Wilderness Soundscape - Mosquito.vcv (18.1 KB)

Have fun.

15 Likes