Evolution is in the shop

[challism]

Congrats to the Panda on, yet another, amazing release. It was suggested a long time ago, in a thread in the refills section, that Lectric Panda turns the Joseph Schillinger Generative System files, that Rob gifted us, into a Player device. I'm not sure if Rob already had the idea to do it, most likely he did. Regardless, I'm so glad he decided to do just that. The results are incredible. I never could figure out a way to use those Joseph Schillinger Generative System files in a musically pleasing way. Leave it to the Panda to do it with perfection.

One of my favorite things to do with it is to use it in a Player stack (or to drive multiple instruments using MIDI-CV Converter). My favorite instrument to use Evolution on is the monophonic bass because it's capable of taking a very boring chord progression-following bass line and adding some amazing bass movements to it, thus creating an interesting, dynamic and complex bass line. I often times stack Evolution, Kompulsion (arp mode) and/or Sequences (keyboard transpose mode) together to get some fantastic results. My jaw is usually sitting on the floor when I hear what this player can do. It's full of surprises, and after a few months of using it, I'm still finding new surprises! This device is deep and complex.... it's deeply complex!

The seed section is great, too (and having 4 banks is such a good idea, so you don't have to worry about losing something you like). SEED SECTION TIP: While the random button is useful, it should be noted that you can type in your own numbers/letters sequence. It took me a long time to realize this.

The note range drop down menu is very handy for use with specific instruments (genius feature, right there).

[Jmax]

Congrats on the release Panda!

[Jackjackdaw]

I love it. I don't know how it works but I love it!

[Faastwalker]

Played around for about 15 minutes before I knew I was going to be buying this. I don't know what's going on yet (need to RTFM), I'm not overly keen on these kinds of do it for you devices ............ BUT! This is tons of fun, I was getting interesting, pleasing results & frankly I haven't got the time or patience to come up with what this churns out easily. Life's to short, other hobbies to take up time so thank you again Lectric Panda

[PhillipOrdonez]

I got to check the manual cause this makes little sense to me in the context of the music I produce. I did get a nice riff out of it after a while which I then edited so it would make sense... But I'm not sure yet. Will play more with it and try to understand it more and then decide whether it's for me or not!

[Yonatan]

Nice name, nice look, great device. Classic.

[max|waves]

Hi Pandas!
there is any chance to have a transpose control on future updates?
A base note via keybed, like Quad Note Gen, or cv/knob
Now this is my workaround... it works, anyway.

Evolution.png (159.35 KiB) Viewed 2909 times

[SynthRatings]

Contrats on the release of this interesting device. If we're already talking feature requests then I'd love to see an option to extend some note durations so that 303-style slides appear randomly in the pattern. Would be nice given how suited this unit is to bass lines

[EdGrip]

Contrats on the release of this interesting device. If we're already talking feature requests then I'd love to see an option to extend some note durations so that 303-style slides appear randomly in the pattern. Would be nice given how suited this unit is to bass lines

Random legato! That's a great shout!

[Loque]

Contrats on the release of this interesting device. If we're already talking feature requests then I'd love to see an option to extend some note durations so that 303-style slides appear randomly in the pattern. Would be nice given how suited this unit is to bass lines

interesting idea to do this with a Player device. I do this via CV and Janitor:
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... cv-shaper/

[challism]

Contrats on the release of this interesting device. If we're already talking feature requests then I'd love to see an option to extend some note durations so that 303-style slides appear randomly in the pattern. Would be nice given how suited this unit is to bass lines

One way you can force legato/slides is by using a monophonic instrument and stacking two players. Anytime there are overlapping notes, which aren't perfectly aligned, it will do a slide. You could also use CVTP to send a signal from a player in another stack (run it thru Lolth or Miranda cv delay to fine tune the timing).

example.zip

(407.93 KiB) Downloaded 79 times

Contrats on the release of this interesting device. If we're already talking feature requests then I'd love to see an option to extend some note durations so that 303-style slides appear randomly in the pattern. Would be nice given how suited this unit is to bass lines

interesting idea to do this with a Player device. I do this via CV and Janitor:
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... cv-shaper/

Could you upload a patch to show us how you do that? I love your patchwork, Loque.

[Loque]

Contrats on the release of this interesting device. If we're already talking feature requests then I'd love to see an option to extend some note durations so that 303-style slides appear randomly in the pattern. Would be nice given how suited this unit is to bass lines

One way you can force legato/slides is by using a monophonic instrument and stacking two players. Anytime there are overlapping notes, which aren't perfectly aligned, it will do a slide.

interesting idea to do this with a Player device. I do this via CV and Janitor:
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... cv-shaper/

Could you upload a patch to show us how you do that? I love your patchwork, Loque.

Just increase the "Release".

[challism]

Just increase the "Release".

I haven't spent much time playing with Janitor. I'm not seeing release. I see scale, offset, attack and decay.

[SynthRatings]

Contrats on the release of this interesting device. If we're already talking feature requests then I'd love to see an option to extend some note durations so that 303-style slides appear randomly in the pattern. Would be nice given how suited this unit is to bass lines

One way you can force legato/slides is by using a monophonic instrument and stacking two players. Anytime there are overlapping notes, which aren't perfectly aligned, it will do a slide. You could also use CVTP to send a signal from a player in another stack (run it thru Lolth or Miranda cv delay to fine tune the timing).
example.zip

Thanks for the example, I would probably never have thought of that. It keeps amazing me what we are able to accomplish in Reason if we put our minds to it.
Still, for easier workflow, I stand by my feature request

[Loque]

Just increase the "Release".

I haven't spent much time playing with Janitor. I'm not seeing release. I see scale, offset, attack and decay.

Yea, sorry, Decay than.

[challism]

Oooh, Janitor is fun. I just ran it thru my example.rsn file for that legato forcing player stack. Playing with the attack knobs of the gate is causing some cool rhythmic mutes in the bass line. This is such a cool effect! I think Evolution is such an amazing tool for bass lines, especially when you stack players. Love it! Love Reason!


Some more tips I have for getting pleasing results out of Evolution:
Timing. Obviously, using the density setting (orange) will increase the number of notes it's playing. You could stack two Evolutions and adjust the density and rate to get a variety of note length.

Notes. If you don't like some of the notes it's playing, you can change the note high/low range (green) just a bit and it will change the notes it's playing. Also playing with the scale (gray) piano notes, try removing the notes you don't want it to play.

Triplets and other cool tricks. Play with split density (gray) and the field just to the right of that. This is also a cool area to play with if you are using Evolution on drums/drum fills (along with mod pitch shift field and on/off automation of the player, itself).

For variation, you can experiment with the order of the player stacks. Move the bottom one to the top of the stack and see what new sounds you get (when the instrument is in monophonic mode).

example1.zip

(419.58 KiB) Downloaded 90 times

[PhillipOrdonez]

Read the manual. Now I understand much better this device and it is giving me pattern after pattern of notes that work for bass. You got my business, Panda man.

I wish there was a way (is there?) to select a pattern I like and keep it repeating over and over. My workaround has been to record with sequences. guess it is better like this cause then I can add groove to the pattern.

Edit: just read the part the manual: when your desired pattern plays, grab the repeats to zero. Awesome.

Edit 2: well that worked once. Now whenever I bring the repeats to zero, the pattern changes to the first pattern. I never want the first pattern -_-

[challism]

Read the manual. Now I understand much better this device and it is giving me pattern after pattern of notes that work for bass. You got my business, Panda man.

I wish there was a way (is there?) to select a pattern I like and keep it repeating over and over. My workaround has been to record with sequences. guess it is better like this cause then I can add groove to the pattern.

Edit: just read the part the manual: when your desired pattern plays, grab the repeats to zero. Awesome.

Edit 2: well that worked once. Now whenever I bring the repeats to zero, the pattern changes to the first pattern. I never want the first pattern -_-

Shift pattern left/right buttons would be a nice addition to this player.

I would suggest using the "send notes to track" button and delete the parts of the pattern you don't want. Or continue recording to Sequences.

EDIT: I forgot to mention another option. You could record the parts you like directly into the device's track in Reason's sequencer via the "direct record" toggle on the player control header/panel.

[dvdrtldg]

This is great. I've kind-of-liked some of the other Players in the shop, but just for background stuff - nice twinkly semi-randomised patterns that provide interesting melodic counterpoints, but nothing I can't create easily enough with PSQ-1684 and one or two other non-Player devices. And they always sound kind of stiff and programmed, which is fine in some contexts but not all

For me, the holy grail of Players from the beginning has been to find something that will create an improvised instrumental solo that sounds expressive and spontaneous and human. Evolution gets pretty close, and that's just after mucking around with it for an hour or so. I reckon a deeper dive and some more creative tweaking will get me there. So far I've got it doing a wigged-out piano solo à la Bowie's Aladdin Sane, using just Evolution, Scales & Chords and some CV manipulation. It really sounds musical and thoughtful and you almost - almost - wouldn't pick it as being algorithm generated. Really impressive stuff. And as others have said, a great bass line generator too

Plus it's pretty easy to figure out. The manual goes a bit beyond my nerd comprehension capabilities in places, but all the main functions are clearly explained. Looking forward to some in-depth tips & tricks videos. Really impressive stuff, 11/10

[Sterioevo]

Just dipping my toes in to test the water.
Seems like this Evolution might be some kind of mathematical fractal player almost
Where is the fibonacci sequence?
Electric Panda indeed.

[TritoneAddiction]

I'm buying this thing. Just finished a track thanks to Evolution.

[challism]

I'm buying this thing. Just finished a track thanks to Evolution.

It can really bring old tracks some new ideas. It's endlessly inspirational.

[PhillipOrdonez]

I'm buying this thing. Just finished a track thanks to Evolution.

I started 3 tracks yesterday with this thing. All solid ideas.

Now, to Lectric Panda: could you go deeper into the inner workings of the text seed? Is each letter a number? Could any two different words output the same pattern? I'm intrigued

[PhillipOrdonez]

Read the manual. Now I understand much better this device and it is giving me pattern after pattern of notes that work for bass. You got my business, Panda man.

I wish there was a way (is there?) to select a pattern I like and keep it repeating over and over. My workaround has been to record with sequences. guess it is better like this cause then I can add groove to the pattern.

Edit: just read the part the manual: when your desired pattern plays, grab the repeats to zero. Awesome.

Edit 2: well that worked once. Now whenever I bring the repeats to zero, the pattern changes to the first pattern. I never want the first pattern -_-

Shift pattern left/right buttons would be a nice addition to this player.

I would suggest using the "send notes to track" button and delete the parts of the pattern you don't want. Or continue recording to Sequences.

Agreed.

[selig]

Already got one song started with this!

One thing I immediately needed to do was shorten the gate length of the notes to get "clean" triggering on my Eurorack modules. Oddly, the gates are interpreted sometimes as legato, sometimes as staccato - luckily consistently for each pattern so it repeats accurately. But I have no control over which notes trigger a new gate. So even a simple global gate length control would solve the problem for me.

Would be super awesome to have a CV input to automate this for more variation over time (something I love doing on arpeggiators etc). Or is this already implemented and I've simply missed it (need to RTM, I guess)?