Strange-R modules: navigate generative melodic contours

Stochastic Instruments has a preview of some tasty generative sequencer modules. Random walks meet music theory, and what you get is Melodic Contour Sequencing, navigated with knobs, voltage, and (on the larger module) a joystick.

The sneak peek from the Plymouth, UK-based maker dropped Friday; the hardware is due to ship next month. That’s already earned a ton of interest on ModWiggler:

Re: Strange-R: A Stochaotic Melodic Contour Sequencer NEW MODULE RELEASE!!

There are two modules, bigHat:

And the more compact – you guessed it – smallHat:

It’s a great concept: contour-based melody generation gives you recursive melodies and loops. It has the spontaneity of a random walk algorithm, but the results can be melodically coherent in ways that will make it sound more musical in many idioms, thanks to a variety of music theory-derived utilities. They’ve configured this very much for Common Western Practice, but that in itself is intriguing to me. (Anyone want to dig through this manual, then come back with how you’d build a Gambang module or generate inner melodies in voltage for a central Javanese take?)

There isn’t just one way to approach this, either. It’s packed with possibilities. They dub it “stochaotic” – a cross between chaotic and stochastic. That may sound redundant, but Phineas points out he means the specific mathematical definitions of each: stochastic processes as non-repeating, non-deterministic weighted randomness, and chaotic processes as deterministic but unpredictable over long spans. These modules brew the two aspects together.

And they’ve included a lot of features for going different directions with these concepts. From their description:

Custom SI Random Walk
Music theory aware quantizer (automatic Modal Interchange, Circle of 5ths, root note set)
3 independent loopers able to hold over 4000 events
Built in probabilistic TrEG envelopes
2 Chaotic LFOs
External CV Input for live manipulation of an external sequence
External Clock Input for eternal sync with no lower bpm limit
Clocks into audio to use as VCO (tri/saw inc.VCO sync!)
All functions CV controllable
Non-sprung joystick control with direct JS XY output +/-8v
CV folder/wrapper
Quantizer can be used as live input keyboard with chiptune pseudopolyphony
Full memory recall into 7 scenes
Special input/output calibration mode
Firmware updatable via micro SD Card

These controls look a little like NASA and your graduate music theory program decided to collaborate – in a good way.

Don’t be overwhelmed by this panel, though. There are two main controls at the heart of everything. ρ is melodic trend (up/down), and ∆ is melodic “jumpyness” (either a random walk or alternating random walk and random hop).

Inside, there’s the base “advanced” Random Walk algorithm, dubbed the Strange Algorithm, plus recursive chaotic “melodic eddies,” phrase loopers, and then gestures to reshape melodies at the macro level and wrapped in pitch ranges. To that, you add quantizers (configured for Western theory), portamento, and even articulation (via envelopes).

There are two main controls at the heart of everything. ρ is melodic trend (up/down), and ∆ is melodic “jumpyness” (either a random walk or alternating random walk and random hop). All of this gives you coherence that you wouldn’t get from just a standard sampled noise.

All of this gives you coherence that you wouldn’t get from just a standard sampled noise. You can adjust smoothness and continuity to adjust melodies to fit. Then you can quantize to particular modes (on any pitch) or navigate the circle of fifths.

It’s the most compelling sequencer concept I’ve seen in Eurorack since the ground-breaking Eventide Misha, which is a little bit like the opposite of this. Misha works with a concept of tone rows, which you can define or play in, then manipulate. You can do some intervalic melodic motion and rotate a row by interval (analogous to the rotation operations here). Essentially, SI’s work is a generative counterpart to the defined quantized rows of Misha.

There are tons of extra features tucked into that mini piano keyboard – see the manual. And whereas the Misha excels at quantized pitches you key in quickly with your fingers, this automatically spins out melodies based on tweaking knobs – especially the principle ρ and ∆ parameters . It’s a unique, exploratory approach. It can be adjusted to other non-Western common musical idioms, too, just by quantizing pitch after the voltage output. The smoothness parameters and whatnot are about general contour; they may not fit your musical practice of choice, but they aren’t particularly rooted in Western practice, either, even if they may fit that.

I asked Phineas from SI about the Western/non-Western question, and here’s a well-reasoned answer:

On non-Western [non-12TET] tuning, this is actually very easily achieved by simply switching the quantizer OFF, and sending the unquantized contours through a dedicated microtonal quantizer like the Tubbutec µTune.

There’s a reason it doesn’t have that inbuilt and that’s simply that we’d have to have a different keyboard layout. And, also, the concept of modal rotation doesn’t really apply in Slendro! But, yes, it absolutely can do it via a dedicated external quantizer.

Oh yeah, and the contour generator would pair really well with those other tools in a way other sequencers might not! Especially as it’s generally great to have sequencers that output non-quantized voltages for maximum flexibility.

Check out this nice video: