what can you do with noise?

[HIMA]

i have a quantum rainbow so i have more then enough noise sources and it's simple enough to get hats, snares, claps, zaps and shakers out of it.

can i do more?

share some patches ideas please!

[fac]

Do you use sequencers? I often mix a little bit of noise with the output of a sequencer and then run it through a quantizer (or a s&h) in order to add controlled randomness to the sequence.

I also use noise to produce random triggers that are in sync with a clock. Just run the noise through a signal offset/attenuator, and then through a sample&hold that is being clocked by your clock signal. Run the output of the s&h into a slope detector, ot into the trigger input of a short envelope. The offset/attenuator will control the probability of triggering the envelope.

[sduck]

Run some noise into a filter, bandpass or lowpass mode with a lot of resonance - modulate it with a EG or lfo for various effects, or a wogglebug smooth out for wind effects. Modulate the same with a keyboard for Tomita style whistling.

[fluxmonkey]

fm oscillators w/ it

[Captain Coconut]

Use it to modulate filter cutoff.

[Dcramer]

Pink noise modulating a sin wave's freq or self Osc VCF's cutoff across the right range can be made to sound like bacon frying

[widdly]

Set a VCO's PulseWidth to the minimum so that it is silent, then use a tiny bit of noise as a PWM source. You can get some great digital and glitch sounding effects. Try the same thing with a filter on the noise output.

[fac]

Set a VCO's PulseWidth to the minimum so that it is silent, then use a tiny bit of noise as a PWM source. You can get some great digital and glitch sounding effects. Try the same thing with a filter on the noise output.

I hadn't thought of this one. Thanks!

[rjungemann]

An old subtractive synth trick is to mix some noise in with another oscillator to add some grit to a sound.

Great for thunder and wind. Run the same noise source through a couple different filters of different types and modulate them with independent oscillators for abstract noise-scapes.

Run noise through a very narrow bandpass filter with moderately high Q and then modulate the cutoff frequency 1V/Oct for fairly convincing flute sounds.

(Edit: Eeek, I missed @sduck's post where he beat me to the wind and flute suggestions!)

[acidbob]

Set a VCO's PulseWidth to the minimum so that it is silent, then use a tiny bit of noise as a PWM source. You can get some great digital and glitch sounding effects. Try the same thing with a filter on the noise output.

Nice, very interresting

[rasseru]

An old subtractive synth trick is to mix some noise in with another oscillator to add some grit to a sound.

yeah darker noise is good for basslines - i had some great tones last night and realised halfway through that i had red noises mixed in :]

[ETP]

Set a VCO's PulseWidth to the minimum so that it is silent, then use a tiny bit of noise as a PWM source. You can get some great digital and glitch sounding effects. Try the same thing with a filter on the noise output.

sounds like a crackling vinyl with some settings. good idea


noise is also interesting with doepfer a-152 gate outs

[Acsii]

I sometimes use noise as a bit of a drone source mixing it with a deep sawtooth both running on the same gate and all that jazz.

[ben_hex]

Some great ideas in here ... frying bacon and digital glitch PWM are the ones I'll have to try

[flo]

Sample it and play it across a keyboard

[Navs]

Filtered noise will give you a different distribution of random possibilities when sampled. Add an offset to change the range further.

[HIMA]

nice stuff guys, thanks. got some sounds out last night that had me worried i'd broken my mmf-6!

[dude]

love it when folks bring the real patch shit.

muffbros(and lady)4life

[kdjupdal]

A lot of nice ideas!
Also, you can control a vca with low freq noise, and make a granular sound.

[sduck]

Sample and Hold it! Quantized it! Control a strange patch with the results!

[video][/video]

[kindredlost]

Sort of an open-ended question really.

I suppose you generally mean the kind of noise coming off a white/pink/low frequency noise module. I tend to think of "noise" as anything not-steady pitched to a degree which resembles a tone. I like radio background noise, microphone noise or field recording background sounds such as an airplane flying over head as noise. All these can be sound sources to be used as modifiers or ambient filler.

If used as a modifier, noise can be converted to a cv and slewed, quantized or compressed/stretched with a processor to use as animation of a vco/vcf/vca. It is hard for me not to introduce some measure of noise to a patch anymore. This of course is the domain of the Wogglebug, Source of Uncertainty, Turing Machine and Noisering with a bit more logic algorithm added at times for functional color.

Now there is another form of non-repeating randomness which is explored thoroughly by Ian Fritz and others before him. It is the chaos end of "noise". The ChaQuO vco module is a nice example. Using this type of source can lead to more reoccurring events, albeit quickly or slowly according to your settings, but still has an overall effect of randomness.

The pure use of classic "noise" in the sense most understand the term is used in my music as both a sound in itself, raw and up front or in the background for ambient flavor. I like adding in over driven signals to filters and delays to add size to the otherwise plain, thin tones. The over driven distortion looses some of it's recognizable features and takes on a whole other flavor. When combined with a plate reverb, ring modulated or FM modulated, the sound has a character which seems purely electronic but somehow complex and organic. This can descend into noise and yet still is different from pure white or pink noise. AM radio as a modifier on a carrier of a set of vco's in a stacked FM structure can be a great way to cause a formant effect on the tone. Neither the radio signal or the original vco tones are retained due to the complex nature of both and sidebands resulting.

Sometimes a great source of noise can be had by sending a signal into a delay, compression pedal, stompbox overdrive or reverb with too little gain and then boosting the outcome to point where the sound out of the effect unit is mostly noise with a hint of the original sound. The inherent noise in the module or pedal becomes the sound source along with a little coloration from the original signal. A ghostly outline of the main sound. Mixing this in again can lead to a thickening. Gravy to the plain meat.

Sending this through a granulator, decimator, looper and playing with slices of the sound can end up with a waveform for use elsewhere. If you can make it as complex as possible then the whole difference between a starting noise and resulting noise is blurred. The subtle differences can be musical.

This is just a stat to the discussion really. Noise is just as important to music as pure tones. Light without dark, yin without yang, sin without salvation and pain without pleasure is all pointless.

[unwar]

great thread...lots of cool tips...thanx yall

[337is]

Do you use sequencers? I often mix a little bit of noise with the output of a sequencer and then run it through a quantizer (or a s&h) in order to add controlled randomness to the sequence.

I also use noise to produce random triggers that are in sync with a clock. Just run the noise through a signal offset/attenuator, and then through a sample&hold that is being clocked by your clock signal. Run the output of the s&h into a slope detector, ot into the trigger input of a short envelope. The offset/attenuator will control the probability of triggering the envelope.

I'm very interested in this. I have a Doepfer A-118 that I've been working with recently. I could run this into a few channels of a Maths to offset and then S&H yes? I don't have a proper S&H module yet. The thing with the A-118 is the noise is too dense for me at times. This may just be the nature of how noise works. But I'd like to be able to alter the periodicty of the noise and spread things out more in time. To this end I've tried feeding the noise and random outputs into an RCD to get longer pauses in between the bursts. Erm, that doesn't really work like I'd hoped it would.

I have the same issue in taming the Wogglebug ... The bursts are too full for me. I'd like them to be more sparse.

Any pro tips for me? GREAT THREAD! I've already learned a ton in reading it. Thank you!

[fac]

I'm very interested in this. I have a Doepfer A-118 that I've been working with recently. I could run this into a few channels of a Maths to offset and then S&H yes? I don't have a proper S&H module yet. The thing with the A-118 is the noise is too dense for me at times. This may just be the nature of how noise works. But I'd like to be able to alter the periodicty of the noise and spread things out more in time. To this end I've tried feeding the noise and random outputs into an RCD to get longer pauses in between the bursts. Erm, that doesn't really work like I'd hoped it would.

I have the same issue in taming the Wogglebug ... The bursts are too full for me. I'd like them to be more sparse.

Any pro tips for me? GREAT THREAD! I've already learned a ton in reading it. Thank you!

The S&H module is used (in my example) to "sync" the pulse bursts with a clock signal. If you only want to make the burst more sparse, try this: use the Maths to amplify/attenuate and add an offset to your noise. Then run the output of the maths into the gate of an envelope module (another maths channel, maybe) with zero attack and a short decay. The envelope will only fire when the processed noise reaches some threshold, but you can (negatively) offset the noise so that it'll be less likely to reach the gate threshold, thus making the bursts more sparse. If you use colored noise (or run the noise through an LPF first - before offseting it), you will have even more control over the sparsity of the triggers.

[337is]

The S&H module is used (in my example) to "sync" the pulse bursts with a clock signal. If you only want to make the burst more sparse, try this: use the Maths to amplify/attenuate and add an offset to your noise. Then run the output of the maths into the gate of an envelope module (another maths channel, maybe) with zero attack and a short decay. The envelope will only fire when the processed noise reaches some threshold, but you can (negatively) offset the noise so that it'll be less likely to reach the gate threshold, thus making the bursts more sparse. If you use colored noise (or run the noise through an LPF first - before offseting it), you will have even more control over the sparsity of the triggers.

Oh sweet. I'm going to patch this up today and play. Thank you so much for the concrete and specific advice, I really appreciate it.