Introducing the Accord Melisma Chord Module!

[Sandrine]

Here's the Melisma being controlled by the Sequarallel in a basic way.

[video][/video]

The patch uses two MIDI instruments (Yamaha GM & Korg), VCO's, Reflex LiveLoop (with LFO recording for modulating VCO's, kinda different way!), Gate Crash in divider mode, a couple of RIT_M's for drum modules, and the 1-off ModEm1 I always use for clock source.

The Melisma is in "dumb" mode just sending maj/min to the Korg during bass notes of the sequence, but does well with Spread control more or less matching the tempo.

The entire Sequence is being output by the Sequarallel

BTW: I have decided to go ahead with the Sequarallel module!

[Sandrine]

The Sequarallel has it's own thread viewtopic.php?p=3120668#3120668

now we can get back to the Melisma!!

[davide3737]

The Sequarallel has it's own thread viewtopic.php?p=3120668#3120668

now we can get back to the Melisma!!

Any news on the Melisma, Sandy?

[Paranormal Patroler]

We're currently making sure that we're taking advantage of all the power of the module and finalizing some finer parts. Any delays are on me due to not moving fast enough to keep up with Sandrine's speed, but I have to say the end result will be worth it! It's such a musical module, it surprises me sometimes.

[kwaidan]

Well, I can’t wait! Recently, I picked up an Entrospec Iungo, which has the basic functionality of Melisma. What a game changer! Using an XOX style Eurorack sequencer to trigger chords via MIDI is great for playing a synth rhythmically and developing interesting chordal rhythmic patterns.

The Melisma offers far more features and functionality than the Entrospec module, so I am extremely anxious for its release.

[davide3737]

Well, I can’t wait! Recently, I picked up an Entrospec Iungo, which has the basic functionality of Melisma. What a game changer! Using an XOX style Eurorack sequencer to trigger chords via MIDI is great for playing a synth rhythmically and developing interesting chordal rhythmic patterns.

The Melisma offers far more features and functionality than the Entrospec module, so I am extremely anxious for its release.

It’s curious that the Iungo has remained under the radar for so long. Perhaps the ghastly panel design was the reason! Definitely looking forward to the release of Melisma and it’s rather more attractive and functional panel.

[7on5on8on3]

I'm currently designing a system based around the melisma, so to sequence midi gear in way currently not possible with anything else. think tightly controlled random sequences that aren't in 4/4, midi clock can only do 4/4 it seems.

can you correct me if I'm wrong about what I think the melisma will be able to do?

I'm hoping to either hook it up to a couple of desktop or rack sound modules, one to play the chord/arp, one to do the lhand. My sequenced triggers/gates (both in irregular timings) will get the odd timing's perfect, melisma takes care of the chord structure, and I use a cv sequencer to control melismas chord options. Will this work, or have misunderstood midi?

the other option is to plug melisma into a general midi or multi timbral synth, say a waldorf blofeld, and that will do both the lhand and the chord/arp. is the correct use of it?

I guess I'm wandering if the various midi channels needed to pull this off will talk to each other correctly?

Want would be absolutely amazing is if I can get three synths/midi channels on the go at the same time. Would it be possible for the hold or gate input to trigger to play the chord on one channel while the aclk triggers the arp notes on another. If yes then the melissma will able to control an entire composition. (With a whole rack devoted to controlling it). If not, then I can probably justify getting two melismas (I'll get saving)

[Paranormal Patroler]

I'm currently designing a system based around the melisma, so to sequence midi gear in way currently not possible with anything else. think tightly controlled random sequences that aren't in 4/4, midi clock can only do 4/4 it seems.

MIDI clock can do any time signature, it's not limited to 4/4.

I'm hoping to either hook it up to a couple of desktop or rack sound modules, one to play the chord/arp, one to do the lhand. My sequenced triggers/gates (both in irregular timings) will get the odd timing's perfect, melisma takes care of the chord structure, and I use a cv sequencer to control melismas chord options. Will this work, or have misunderstood midi?

You can do that, and you can also trigger the Melisma to go through a preprogrammed chord progression. You don't have to use a CV sequencer, but you can if you want. I'm assuming here you plan on using Eurorack triggers/gates or at least analog triggers/gates to do that, right? In any case, the Melisma is like any other Eurorack module, except it outputs MIDI instead of CV or audio. You can even do more stuff with it than the ones we've talked about so far, but those are yet to be revealed

the other option is to plug melisma into a general midi or multi timbral synth, say a waldorf blofeld, and that will do both the lhand and the chord/arp. is the correct use of it?

Yes, that's definitely one way to use it. I like having the Lhand and the Chord on the same voice, but you can easily assign it to different MIDI channels / voices.

I guess I'm wandering if the various midi channels needed to pull this off will talk to each other correctly?

That's up to how you've set up your synths and it's also up to your synths, so it's impossible to comment on how "correctly" the MIDI channels will talk to each other, but I don't see why not.

Want would be absolutely amazing is if I can get three synths/midi channels on the go at the same time. Would it be possible for the hold or gate input to trigger to play the chord on one channel while the aclk triggers the arp notes on another. If yes then the melissma will able to control an entire composition. (With a whole rack devoted to controlling it). If not, then I can probably justify getting two melismas (I'll get saving)

No, sorry, the Melisma can do two MIDI channels at the same time. You can assign the Left Hand function to play on a different channel, and have the chord on another channel. What you're asking for isn't optimal, you'd want the same notes do be arpeggiated and sustained at the same time, which in essence means you want the notes to play in sequence and simultaneously.

What you could do, if you really want to pull this off, is to assign both synths at the same MIDI channel, have one set up for sustained notes and have the other set up for non-sustained notes. That way the arpeggiation will fire up the chord and the notes will sustain, while the other voice will keep arpeggiating. There are always workarounds with MIDI, that's the nice thing about it! Another thing that quickly comes to mind is to get any MIDI arpeggiator, mult the signal coming from the Melisma (using a MIDI hub) and have it go through the arpeggiator before it hits your arp synth. That way you'll have the chord play sustained and in arpeggiated form at the same time.

Some synths have integrated arpeggiators. I think the Blofeld has one but I could be wrong (I have yet to use mine!).

[Severed head]

any kinda rough ETA ?

[7on5on8on3]

Thanks for the reply. Glad the module will meet my expectations.

Now does there exist a arpeggiator that can take an irregular analogue clock?

[Sandrine]

any kinda rough ETA ?

We had a delay in PCB manufacture so looks like it's latter part of November . I think that was my guesstimate before anyway

Thanks for the reply. Glad the module will meet my expectations.

Now does there exist a arpeggiator that can take an irregular analogue clock?

I have used the Melisma as PP described above more or less.
The Melisma outputs a MIDI clock from the ACLK input based on timings set (24PPQN 4/4 default, but can be 32 for 3/4 or higher, 48, 64 ,96 etc)
The main use of course is delay and arpeggiation.
I had a Korg on the LHAND channel with a MIDI thru to a GM synth. The Korg was set to arp on the clock produced so stayed in sync nicely.
I also set the chord channel for the Korg and LHAND for another for proper chord arps.

With odd ACLK timings, such as bursts, the Melisma will turn off the MIDI clock, but with a continuous ACLK even with a 50% variance the Melisma will track and match the clocks. There is a propagation delay though, for example: a 120 BPM ACLK input would be 500mS. If this was suddenly changed to 70 BPM, 857mS, the MIDI Clock would change after that clock pulse. The MIDI clock though will have sent out almost 2 beats by that time so will have to slow down a lot to sync back up.
I have tried this with a sequencer gate on ACLK and it does produce some chaotic results with both delay and arp on the Korg.
Most synths with arp expect a continuous clock so it's fun to push the limits

Simultaneous chord & arp can be achieved as PP mentioned above. LHAND with a CV input will scale to the base chord playing, with ACLK as an influence, so with the right CV (LFO ramp, triangle, step sequence) acts as an arp would. I think this is one of the more magnificent features of the Melisma.
I should do a video on that

[7on5on8on3]

Thanks for the reply sandrine. Using the melisma to mess with the arps on other equipment sounds like a great plan. That's currently what I'm kind of doing with eurorack. lots of polyryrhms into sequencers with rythmic resetting (why midi clock syncing doesn't work). The melisma will allow me to break out into midi, and get many other voices going.

another midi question. Will it be possible to merge say expression/pitch bend info into the midi signal? The melsima has one cc input, but does there exist midi gear that can mix or merge extra information into one channel? This may be more of a midi question, I'm still not entirely sure how it works.

[Paranormal Patroler]

Thanks for the reply sandrine. Using the melisma to mess with the arps on other equipment sounds like a great plan. That's currently what I'm kind of doing with eurorack. lots of polyryrhms into sequencers with rythmic resetting (why midi clock syncing doesn't work). The melisma will allow me to break out into midi, and get many other voices going.

another midi question. Will it be possible to merge say expression/pitch bend info into the midi signal? The melsima has one cc input, but does there exist midi gear that can mix or merge extra information into one channel? This may be more of a midi question, I'm still not entirely sure how it works.

You need to look into a MIDI merger device. There are a lot of those out there!

[Sandrine]

Thanks for the reply sandrine. Using the melisma to mess with the arps on other equipment sounds like a great plan. That's currently what I'm kind of doing with eurorack. lots of polyryrhms into sequencers with rythmic resetting (why midi clock syncing doesn't work). The melisma will allow me to break out into midi, and get many other voices going.

another midi question. Will it be possible to merge say expression/pitch bend info into the midi signal? The melsima has one cc input, but does there exist midi gear that can mix or merge extra information into one channel? This may be more of a midi question, I'm still not entirely sure how it works.

You need to look into a MIDI merger device. There are a lot of those out there!

That's a coincidence, I am making a MIDI merger right now, 3 port in/out.
The reason is I want capability to triple split a MIDI channel by note range into the 3 outputs as part of a configuration while other channels are merged/routed differently.
It seems nothing out there does this

The Melisma linked behind the panel to the Sequarallel can use the Sequarallel to MIDI merge sequence and/or MIDI input to the Melisma's output just for your information

Furthermore, a bare board MIDI breakout panel like Expert Sleepers has, can be patched directly to the Melisma's link header with those header jumpers for a MIDI merge

[Paranormal Patroler]

Is the merger a standalone unit or a Eurorack module?

[Sandrine]

It's stand-alone as I want to also use without modular



Hand drawn PCB 1-off
6 jacks that size (plus display) would make for a HP size at least that of the Melisma

[Sandrine]

After looking around I have noticed there's not a heck of a lot of MIDI merger modules, and the box type are pretty limited too with very few features. I wonder why?
Maybe I'll OS this in the DIY forum

Features here are channel porting, channel re-assignment, 16 named user configs, program change input blocking, plain text SysEx config & dump, one triple keysplit channel on each input, clock management:
First clock is master unless a MIDI transport Play/Cont message is rx'ed at which point that input will take over.
Key split can send to channels on 1+ output port, or split to the ports 1,2,3
Also there's auto-detection of accidental MIDI feedback patch which will disable that port's channel and note-overlap handling (some MIDI stuff doesn't like multiple note-on's on the same channel)

I'll be using it in future Melisma/Sequarallel videos mainly for mixing the Melisma with keyboard. Almost done!

[Paranormal Patroler]

It looks super nice. As far as I know there no MIDI mergers in Eurorack form. There's a 2hp MIDI buffer, but that's it.

[Sandrine]

It looks super nice. As far as I know there no MIDI mergers in Eurorack form. There's a 2hp MIDI buffer, but that's it.

That's really strange, I was surprised
Maybe a future endeavor then?

SO yep I've been feeding Melisma magic into the merger and having a good ol' time! Will post a video once done

Trying to derive Select Bus info at the moment, it certainly makes more sense that the Melisma be a master, but I can also see slave uses, like a particular bank selecting particular user lists.

[Sandrine]

I gave the MIDI merger thingy it's own thread in the DIY forum along with a video of it in action!
viewtopic.php?t=223261

That's the 3rd time this thread has been hi-jacked

[Sandrine]

Melisma Updates:

It looks like there may be a delay on the PCB's Which will put ready time into December

Added features:

Select Bus master/slave is a go!
As a slave the Melisma can save up to 64 states, but with dynamic user lists (chord & progressions).
As a master, the Melisma can be optionally set to send a state change (1-64) with loading of saved composition page (8 - TBD), selection of a chord or progression list, changes to/from Arp/Chord mode or CV/Progression mode. This adds a lot of possibilities when using with, say, a Tempi module, i.e. Arp could have an entirely different rhythm to chord mode, or a Disting Mk4 switching delay FX when Arp is switched on.

CC Envelope Recorder:
This is a great little feature that, during the gate's high state, will record a CV input on CC jack then assign the recording as an envelope for any CC or Pitch bend! This provides a way to tailor a modulation (i.e. aftertouch expression, rez/cut, or custom portamento-like articulation) to every note, including Arp, that plays until the next Gate happens. So an envelope module (or LFO for fun!) could be multed with the gate source to control the way every note that follows sounds.
This feature can be assigned to LHAND channel and/or the main channel.

There are a few other things on the board before release, primarily a larger chords list selection (it's at 64 right now, plan to add up to 99) and perhaps MIDI MPE synth support.

[7on5on8on3]

Can't wait! I'm thinking of pairing it with one of these to get the gate/hold spot on
http://ladik.ladik.eu/?page_id=2357

then maybe a frames too, then which poly synth to use? Then a mixer, then......

[davide3737]

Melisma Updates:

It looks like there may be a delay on the PCB's Which will put ready time into December

Added features:

Select Bus master/slave is a go!
As a slave the Melisma can save up to 64 states, but with dynamic user lists (chord & progressions).
As a master, the Melisma can be optionally set to send a state change (1-64) with loading of saved composition page (8), selection of a chord or progression list, changes to/from Arp/Chord mode or CV/Progression mode. This adds a lot of possibilities when using with, say, a Tempi module, i.e. Arp could have an entirely different rhythm to chord mode, or a Disting Mk4 switching delay FX when Arp is switched on.

CC Envelope Recorder:
This is a great little feature that, during the gate's high state, will record a CV input on CC jack then assign the recording as an envelope for any CC or Pitch bend! This provides a way to tailor a modulation (i.e. aftertouch expression, rez/cut, or custom portamento-like articulation) to every note, including Arp, that plays until the next Gate happens. So an envelope module (or LFO for fun!) could be multed with the gate source to control the way every note that follows sounds.
This feature can be assigned to LHAND channel and/or the main channel.

Re-Chord Feature:
This one isn't implemented yet but holds great promise.
Using the MIDI Link header (from a break-out like the ES MIDI Breakout or another module with MIDI output behind the panel..Our Sequarallel, Make Noise etc) valid chords received will populate parts of the User chord list & chord progression list that have been assigned receive status.

This means certain parts of a chord progression can be changed by simply playing them into the Melisma via MIDI, which adds a new dimension to the module. Melisma will do it's best to identify these chords as they are added to the list (sequentially) and they will be saved permanently but can be changed dynamically as the Melisma is playing without any other input or setting.

There are a few other things on the board before release, primarily a larger chords list selection (it's at 64 right now, plan to add up to 99) and perhaps MIDI MPE synth support.

Is a DIY version still on the cards?

[Sandrine]

Can't wait! I'm thinking of pairing it with one of these to get the gate/hold spot on
http://ladik.ladik.eu/?page_id=2357

then maybe a frames too, then which poly synth to use? Then a mixer, then......

ha ha!
Yes that's a great looking gate control module. I do pretty much exactly the same thing with my ModEm-1 one-off, and now the Gate Crash Module which may become a "real" module one of these days. The Gatsby's CV gate width control works really nicely with the Melisma and adds yet another dimension to playing.
With the Melisma's CV recorder a sync-able LFO could be re-synced using that modules 2nd gate output which will be amazing with poly AT or PW on MPE.. it's all coming

Melisma Updates: . . . .

Is a DIY version still on the cards?

Yes, it was designed with DIY in mind but there's a lot of 201 sized R & C so those have been put on already (if you look really close you can see them!)
The first few sold will be completed units to establish a "bug report" that doesn't include construction errors. After that yes they will be available as a DIY kit (all parts: is way more economical for everyone) including a couple of 3D printed parts for display mount and encoder offset, knob.
The smallest parts pitch-wise are SOIC sized and SOT-23 type transistors & schottky arrays, 603 resistors (a few)
Partial PNP assembly has added to the DIY price but not sure by how much yet

[davide3737]

Melisma Updates: . . . .

Is a DIY version still on the cards?

Yes, it was designed with DIY in mind but there's a lot of 201 sized R & C so those have been put on already (if you look really close you can see them!)
The first few sold will be completed units to establish a "bug report" that doesn't include construction errors. After that yes they will be available as a DIY kit (all parts: is way more economical for everyone) including a couple of 3D printed parts for display mount and encoder offset, knob.
The smallest parts pitch-wise are SOIC sized and SOT-23 type transistors & schottky arrays, 603 resistors (a few)
Partial PNP assembly has added to the DIY price but not sure by how much yet

Sounds eminently do-able by the average (me) DIYer.