The Other Color - Matrixbrute + Microfreak + LYRA 8

The goal of this session was to experiment with different forms of pitch quantization and use both CV and MIDI tempo sync simultaneously.


Matrixbrute in duo split mode. Lower voice is playing an 8 bar sequence. The MIDI from the sequence is sent out to an Expert Sleepers Disting MK4 in A6 quantizer mode and defines the root note the quantizer is working from. Matrixbrute is also sending a sync signal via CV to a Mordax DATA acting as a clock divider. The clock signal from DATA triggers a 2HP TM to create tempo synced random sequences which are fed into the Disting's quantizer input. In this patch the Disting is set to play random 5ths above the sequence defined root note.

OSC 1 & 2 are square waves getting PW modulation from LFO 1
OSC 3 is sawtooth
External is Mutable Instruments Plaits in Harmonic oscillator mode

OSC 1, 2, and External receive V/Oct CV from Disting MK4 and are routed to VCF1 Steiner in 24dB/Oct lowpass mode. Drive / Brute/ Resonance are all set up to the edge of breakup. Cutoff modulated by LFO1, red noise, and M1. I wanted this voice to be really noisy and dirty so it would cut through the powerful lower voices.

OSC 3 is routed to VCF2 Ladder in 24dB/oct lowpass mode. Drive / Brute / Resonance set to interact. Cutoff modulated by LFO1 and M3.

Modwheel controls LYRA 8 Amplitude via CV routed out VCO1 Ultrasaw output
M1 controls VCF1 Steiner cutoff
M2 controls VCF1 Steiner output level
M3 controls VCF2 Ladder cutoff
Also a little bit of built in stereo delay


Microfreak in Formant mode set to paraphonic voicing. Keyboard pitch is quantized to E♭ harmonic minor. Receives sync from Matrixbrute via MIDI.

OSC parameters are modulated by LFO and cutoff gets modulated by a super slow cycling envelope

Making use of the arpeggiator's sequencer transfer function which lets you turn a randomly generated pattern into a saved sequence. Sequence A is 2 octaves and sequence B is 4 octaves. I also manually modulate the octave button, change the attack & decay time to stretch or stack up notes, change the arp rate, and add some spice / dice to add variation to the sequence.

Processed by Source Audio Nemesis in diffuse mode and Eventide Space in Blackhole mode


Lyra 8 tuning was based on an E♭ harmonic minor scale (E♭ E♭ B♭ B♭)(G♭ G♭ D D) sort of an augmented open 5th tuning. Also delay for texture and gentle drive. This is the same patch from my Monolith in E♭ video but used in a sub osc drone sort of role. I wanted one half of the Lyra to be melodic support and the other to be noisy texture I could bring in as needed.

Voices 1-4 have their hold knob fully open with amplitude controlled by the Matrixbrute's Modwheel via CV. I used a fair bit of sharpness so there would be nice harmonics that I could fade in and out under the sequence.

Voices 5-8 are added later in the video by turning up their hold knob so get the same amplitude control as voices 1-4. These voices are heavily modulating each other and I also switch in LFO control to create some pitch variation


Audio recorded direct into iPhone XR via iConnectAudio4+ interface

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#matrixbrute #microfreak #arturia #lyra8 #soma #somalaboratory #drone #noise #synthesizer #synth #ambient #doom