Planet Rungler (VCV Rack, Generative Ambient)

This is a long-form piece of generative ambient music made with VCV Rack.

Technically, it's focussing on the new expanders of the Venom Benjolin Oscillator ( https://library.vcvrack.com/Venom/Ben... ), the Benjolin Volts Expander ( https://library.vcvrack.com/Venom/Ben... ) and the Benjolin Gates Expander ( https://library.vcvrack.com/Venom/Ben... ). Both expanders are using the internal Rungler shift register of the Benjolin Oscillator to generate random voltage and random gates or triggers. The output can be controlled separately for each bit of the 8-bit Rungler register. In addition, the offset and range of the voltage and the combination of bits with various logical operators can be set. Considering that the frequencies and other settings of the two oscillators and the internal clock of the Benjolin impact the way how the bits in the Rungler register are changed (and in turn, the Rungler impacts the oscillator frequencies) the final result is an endless rabbit hole of opportunities to generate randomness for pitch, modulation, and gates.

This randomness is different to the more common "clocked" random output selection of, for instance, Bernoulli Gates or Sequencer step chance settings which is still somewhat predictable in the sense that at every clock tick one of two or one of N possible outputs is expected. The Benjolin and Rungler are unpredictable! Between total chaos and suddenly shorter or longer repeated patterns everything can happen. The Benjolin is known and made for its huge range of possible and random audio outputs.

However, this patch doesn't use the audio output of the Benjolin Oscillator at all. The intention was to create something that is kind of "musical" but still leverages the Rungler register's unique capability of randomness. The two new Benjolin Expanders are a perfect support for this plan!

(More details about the patch architecture are in the first comment below.)

I really like the result. The other form of randomness that the Benjolin and Rungler provide makes a difference, in my opinion. Even though there's for sure plenty of room for improvement in the patch, I had to force myself and say "stop and done" at some point, and not fiddle, tweak and experiment over days and weeks with all the possibilities the Benjolin and its expanders give. Well, that's somehow true for all kinds of VCV Racking, but I had the feeling those expanders add another level on top of that.

The patch is available here: https://patchstorage.com/planet-rungler

(Thumbnail image composed with original photos of Jupiter moons Europa and Io (Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech))