Life Generative Sequencer by Retouch Control

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Yonatan
Posts: 1556
Joined: 18 Jan 2015

02 Nov 2022

moalla wrote:
27 Oct 2022
Yonatan wrote:
27 Oct 2022
It is in the zone of ”no idea what I am doing”. And while not knowing, combining with other players one does not master, it can feel like being in a lab. It is not always useful, but now and then you stumble into interesting patterns that could set you in a certain mood. I am sometimes in that uninspired lab-mood, and it serves a purpose. Also if one wants to make up moods that may be more like soudscaping. But for songwriting, I am not finding the generative road as lucrative, although it could be used for that too.
I´m torn, one side this player gives some real special randomness, at the other side some klicks and a drumpattern is made. Otherweise yeah it´s much cooler than pattermutator which is seven times overpriced, so this player is something beetween PSQ-1684 and Evolution, with lower functions but more intuitive an uncomplicated.

Do i need a conways life sequencer, or is it like Yonatan wrote about, it´s amazing to create soundcapes but for songwriting it´s in most terms useless. The way it works is as "probability" sequencer when i understand it in the right way, closer to modular hardware than the rest of the players, but i can hear only noticeable differences when i change dots for drums, but for melodic stuff it´s not the big dealbraker.

For people who want more information about the logic behind
https://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/cou ... index.html
Actually, for melodically quality, I seldom buy a player, but what often times makes me buy it, is when experimenting with percussion. So yeah, even Quad player sold me when it gave me some interesting results with percussion/drums.
The players often seem to be more intuitive to use when it comes to percussion. I am sure one can experiment to come up with some magic melodies or harmonies, not saying it is not possible, but it is less probable, and thus I tend to rather use other ways to come up with melodies.

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Re8et
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Posts: 1512
Joined: 14 Nov 2016

02 Nov 2022

Bes wrote:
30 Oct 2022
be sure to share a patch if you find an example.
in all of my explorations trying to create the slowest death whilst retaining atleast a 2-fold symmetry produced the most interesting musical results especially since the pitch map can be tuned to retain or undermine that symmetry
Sure. This is what I am referring to. I don't exactly remember if I did get other patterns for it (some patterns are included in the zip file with the disk image). Most certainly yes but unfortunately I don't have history implemented in my brain yet :-)

https://www.macintoshrepository.org/381 ... me-of-life

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dvdrtldg
Posts: 2386
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

02 Nov 2022

Yonatan wrote:
02 Nov 2022
The players often seem to be more intuitive to use when it comes to percussion. I am sure one can experiment to come up with some magic melodies or harmonies, not saying it is not possible, but it is less probable, and thus I tend to rather use other ways to come up with melodies.
Agreed - melodies are not players' strong suit. Evolution thru Inspiral gives kind-of-OK melodic results, but the whole process of modifying/automating to make it sound vaguely human is very time consuming. And even then, you're really only at the beginning - the magic happens when you send notes to track and start editing/removing notes/adding your own. Whereas with percussion it can all happen very fast

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moalla
Posts: 541
Joined: 20 Oct 2017
Location: DDR WEST

04 Nov 2022

dvdrtldg wrote:
02 Nov 2022
Yonatan wrote:
02 Nov 2022
The players often seem to be more intuitive to use when it comes to percussion. I am sure one can experiment to come up with some magic melodies or harmonies, not saying it is not possible, but it is less probable, and thus I tend to rather use other ways to come up with melodies.
Agreed - melodies are not players' strong suit. Evolution thru Inspiral gives kind-of-OK melodic results, but the whole process of modifying/automating to make it sound vaguely human is very time consuming. And even then, you're really only at the beginning - the magic happens when you send notes to track and start editing/removing notes/adding your own. Whereas with percussion it can all happen very fast
So dvdrtlg when i understand you right, most players are more or less time thieves!?
For me after i trialed several players i would say Life Sequencer is the most melodic one, with the best usefullness, i can´t get warm with Evolution the sequences that came out of it sounded terrrible for me, i would say Patternmutator gets fast boring, Ispiral is also okay and something like a updated scales and chords + apreggator.....

At the end i think if have bought Chord Sequencer and i´m also interested in ChordSQ, but this selfgenerating Noteplayer are not so interesting.
So how much stars of 5 you would give this new player by retouch?
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riemac
Posts: 572
Joined: 21 Jan 2015
Location: Germany

06 Nov 2022

This Player is fantastic for generating melodic techno melodies. Instant buy!

The UI could be a little bit improved in an update:

1.) The Offset knob in the Sequencer Controll is not in line with the knobs below, it is a little bit to much left.
Sequencer.jpg
Sequencer.jpg (16.6 KiB) Viewed 7804 times

2.) The Output knobs are all greyed out. This looks, if they are deactivated. Please change the knobs in something which is not greyed out.
Output.jpg
Output.jpg (4.45 KiB) Viewed 7804 times

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Faastwalker
Posts: 2281
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: NSW, Australia

06 Nov 2022

riemac wrote:
06 Nov 2022

1.) The Offset knob in the Sequencer Controll is not in line with the knobs below, it is a little bit to much left.
Sequencer.jpg
Oh, christ! Now I cannot unsee this! :shock:

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joeyluck
Moderator
Posts: 11029
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

07 Nov 2022

Faastwalker wrote:
06 Nov 2022
riemac wrote:
06 Nov 2022

1.) The Offset knob in the Sequencer Controll is not in line with the knobs below, it is a little bit to much left.
Sequencer.jpg
Oh, christ! Now I cannot unsee this! :shock:
The placement seems to be a little...offset 😎

The Density knob as well.

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dvdrtldg
Posts: 2386
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

08 Nov 2022

moalla wrote:
04 Nov 2022
dvdrtldg wrote:
02 Nov 2022


Agreed - melodies are not players' strong suit. Evolution thru Inspiral gives kind-of-OK melodic results, but the whole process of modifying/automating to make it sound vaguely human is very time consuming. And even then, you're really only at the beginning - the magic happens when you send notes to track and start editing/removing notes/adding your own. Whereas with percussion it can all happen very fast
So dvdrtlg when i understand you right, most players are more or less time thieves!?
For me after i trialed several players i would say Life Sequencer is the most melodic one, with the best usefullness, i can´t get warm with Evolution the sequences that came out of it sounded terrrible for me, i would say Patternmutator gets fast boring, Ispiral is also okay and something like a updated scales and chords + apreggator.....

At the end i think if have bought Chord Sequencer and i´m also interested in ChordSQ, but this selfgenerating Noteplayer are not so interesting.
So how much stars of 5 you would give this new player by retouch?
I think that whether or not players are just time thieves depends on what you want to get out of them. A lot of people talk about their usefulness in creating generative music, but my experience of generative music is that it's a lot more fun to create than to listen to. It's a bit like farting: your own is always rich and rewarding, but other people's output stinks

When it comes to focused composition, I find the generative plink plonk doink boink stuff pretty useless, unless I can speed it up and use it as rhythmic background ornamentation. But even then, it can easily sound stiff and robotic, the kind of thing that people who hate computer-generated music talk about when they talk about "computer-generated music"

I do like using Evolution and also Pattern Mutator, but they take a lot of work if you want to put them out in front of a mix, driving a main instrument. And a lot of that work happens in the sequencer, after you've printed notes to track. Evolution is pretty good as a bass line generator, especially if you keep the number of steps alternating between 16 and something odd like 15 or 13. And for melodies or solo breaks, running it through Inspiral (choose a cool scale, and set ratchet/strum/repeat to 0) really opens things up

But overall, I find the fuss-to-result ratio very high. I'd feel differently if there were endless YouTube videos of people making incredible music using players, but those are suspiciously rare

Bes
Competition Winner
Posts: 1128
Joined: 22 Feb 2017

23 Sep 2023

Image

Version 1.1.0: :clap:

New games rules (“High Life”, “Seeds” and “Day&Night), plus new edge behaviors
New CV panel controls and CV output jacks for generating modulation signals
Gate, Note and CV jacks specific for “Mono” mode
“Infinite” mode reset via mouse click or CV input
CV modulation inputs for the X, Y and Z morphing controls
Capture the current phase of the cells as the starting seed configuration
Improved algorithm for generating random seed configurations, plus new randomization shortcut
Expanded automation list including the game rules and edge behaviors
New front panel knobs for the Output section
- Certified Reason expert

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crimsonwarlock
Posts: 2255
Joined: 06 Nov 2021
Location: Close to the Edge

24 Sep 2023

Tempted, but with Pearls, Evolution, PSQ-1684 and even QNG, I'm pretty sorted in this area for the next few centuries :lol:
-------
Analog tape ⇒ ESQ1 sequencer board ⇒ Atari/Steinberg Pro24 ⇒ Atari/Cubase ⇒ Cakewalk Sonar ⇒ Orion Pro/Platinum ⇒ Reaper ⇒ Reason DAW.

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jam-s
Posts: 3035
Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Location: Aachen, Germany
Contact:

24 Sep 2023

Nice, those additions in combination with the sale made me hit the buy button.

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moneykube
Posts: 3447
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

25 Sep 2023

jam-s wrote:
24 Sep 2023
Nice, those additions in combination with the sale made me hit the buy button.
I folded as well ... damn GAS :lol:
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Proud Member Of The Awesome League Of Perpetuals

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moneykube
Posts: 3447
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

25 Sep 2023

crimsonwarlock wrote:
24 Sep 2023
Tempted, but with Pearls, Evolution, PSQ-1684 and even QNG, I'm pretty sorted in this area for the next few centuries :lol:
and yet GAS got me anyway... probably up to 4 centuries by now :lol: :re:
https://soundcloud.com/moneykube-qube/s ... d-playlist
Proud Member Of The Awesome League Of Perpetuals

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crimsonwarlock
Posts: 2255
Joined: 06 Nov 2021
Location: Close to the Edge

25 Sep 2023

moneykube wrote:
25 Sep 2023
and yet GAS got me anyway... probably up to 4 centuries by now :lol: :re:
I know, I know, that's why I said I was tempted... still containing the urge for now. And there are other REs I want to buy :lol:
-------
Analog tape ⇒ ESQ1 sequencer board ⇒ Atari/Steinberg Pro24 ⇒ Atari/Cubase ⇒ Cakewalk Sonar ⇒ Orion Pro/Platinum ⇒ Reaper ⇒ Reason DAW.

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Faastwalker
Posts: 2281
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: NSW, Australia

25 Sep 2023

Will buy this week. Tried it before. Didn't really get to grips with it at all. but, looks interesting and deserves another go for the price I reckon :thumbup:

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dvdrtldg
Posts: 2386
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

25 Sep 2023

It’s really good. I wasn’t too impressed with it on first release, but with the new features Life is a lot more versatile. Being able to CV mod the X/Y/Z controls is a big improvement, and the current $20 price tag doesn’t hurt either. It’s quite a straightforward player too, very well thought out

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arnigretar
Posts: 453
Joined: 15 May 2020
Location: Iceland
Contact:

25 Sep 2023

Nice. Already purchased but glad to see some updates on already good player :) thanks!
https://futuregrapher.bandcamp.com/

Reason 12, Ableton Live 10 Suite, Roland Cloud, Arturia V9, Korg Legacy 3, Soundtoys 5, Waves Mercury, Sonic Charge Bundle, N.I.: Massive, Reaktor 6, FM8. + a lot of Hardware. Windows 7/10.

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Re8et
Competition Winner
Posts: 1512
Joined: 14 Nov 2016

17 Nov 2023

Was there the ARP function when it came out???
And those back CVs INPUT???


I LOVE the ARP function!!!! It's AMAZING!!!!
Maybe there could be added a Hold function?? A Transpose??

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Re8et
Competition Winner
Posts: 1512
Joined: 14 Nov 2016

17 Nov 2023

jam-s wrote:
24 Sep 2023
Nice, those additions in combination with the sale made me hit the buy button.
Have you tried the ARP modes yet?? Stick it under a player sequencer and watch the magic unfold...
I just saw the new addition now, I've got a lot to play around!!

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Re8et
Competition Winner
Posts: 1512
Joined: 14 Nov 2016

17 Nov 2023

Bes wrote:
23 Sep 2023
Image

Version 1.1.0: :clap:

New games rules (“High Life”, “Seeds” and “Day&Night), plus new edge behaviors
New CV panel controls and CV output jacks for generating modulation signals
Gate, Note and CV jacks specific for “Mono” mode
“Infinite” mode reset via mouse click or CV input
CV modulation inputs for the X, Y and Z morphing controls
Capture the current phase of the cells as the starting seed configuration
Improved algorithm for generating random seed configurations, plus new randomization shortcut
Expanded automation list including the game rules and edge behaviors
New front panel knobs for the Output section

How do we access that game rules menu???
It's not right click..

Bes
Competition Winner
Posts: 1128
Joined: 22 Feb 2017

17 Nov 2023

if it doesn't come up with just a naked left click, then try Alt+click
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Re8et
Competition Winner
Posts: 1512
Joined: 14 Nov 2016

17 Nov 2023

Bes wrote:
17 Nov 2023
if it doesn't come up with just a naked left click, then try Alt+click
Left click!

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