ok, so i made a bunch of presets based on the hologram infinite jets, the tensor and mandala glitch and included them with the presets i made available a while back (linked in sig), but i'm not sure anybody has managed to get them to work bevause of the way i implemented the control switches. if you did manage to try them and get them working, let me know....also if you didn't. i may need to re-jig them so they translate to other people's setups. i thought they were pretty decent and the glitchy ones definitely exhibited proper glitchy behaviour by microlooping tiny slices with a different length each time you hit the pedal.
I picked them up some time back (were they available in 2019?). Great demonstrations of creative programming and routing. Once I landed on the 10ish presets that really spoke to me, I reassigned the modifiers to midi cc’s (I still like the flexibility of midi over the convenience of the FC’s). In some ways, that control makes them more powerful than the current crop of glitch pedals, in which everything is preprogrammed. I’m currently using the Hologram Microcosm, and while it does a lot of the glitchy sounds I want, it’s narrower in terms of control possibilities.
I think I’ve posted this before, but there’s an interesting paradox/contradiction between glitching audio as a product of data corruption/unintended artifacts vs designed effect. In the former I would put things like Andre LaFosse’s “turntabilist” approaches with the Oberheim EDP, skipping CDs, and the like. Not an intended effect, but indicative of the current cultural moment in which data distortions randomly pop up and create their own unique beauty. I used to get similar results with a Digitech 2120, with multiple modifiers assigned to the same parameter fighting each other.
The later comes from the point in which we become accustomed to those glitches/distortions/design failures and create tools to simulate the effect. But then it’s no longer something to contend with. Not much different than the “discoveries” of unintended tube or transistor distortion and their eventual evolution into purposefully distorted amps and fuzz pedals. There is ultimately less control and unexpected variability (and therefor less true glitch). I remember when Deep Blue released the “Glitch” vst, and enjoying it but also realizing the limitations.
Somewhat along those lines, I don’t think Cliff’s design intentions map to glitching sounds or artifacts. This isn’t a value judgement, but rather the apparent approach to what he tends to program. The Axe seems like part of the lineage of 80s and 90s rack gear, from the emphasis on things like mid to high gain tones, and complex delay lines. I can’t remember where but he brought up limiting certain parameters to keep users from getting truly broken sounds. In the other hand, some of the tools developed for MAX/MSP go so deep into the idea of glitch that it really becomes a wild beast to tame (I spent a few years studying with Miller Puckett).
The nice part about Simeon’s presets is that they show how modifiers help achieve these sounds, though they can require a lot of programming to get into glitchiness. And still, there are Cliff-imposed limitations such as the unavoidable modifier slews/ramping. There was a brief moment in which every parameter was modifiable, but alas...
Lastly: some of my favorite effects with Simeon's presets come from switching between 2-3 glitch presets with reverb and delay spillover on. Some things get caught in a buffer but panned and tweaked in unexpected ways. Glitch!
sorry for the length, hope this makes sense.
