My Squarp Hermod arrived day before yesterday, and the first order of business was to use MIDI tracks from my DAW (Digital Performer) to drive as many voices as I could.
This is the first movement from Bach’s Sixth Brandenburg Concerto. Everything you hear was played in real time, via MIDI from my Mac. (Please be patient while it loads, or click on the preview.)
A little background info: though I’ve been working with synths since 1972, my Eurorack journey began less than four months ago. My first priority was to integrate the new rack with my studio, with as much polyphony as I could muster.
So yes, there’s more on the way. A second Mantis case has been on order for three months, and I’ll be adding a couple of quad VCAs, envelope generators, and filters.
Now that I’ve got the Hermod going, my next goal is to step back from “everything at once” to recording one voice at a time, but using all the channels I can on the Hermod to control expression.
Dynamics, vibrato, color, inflection … all the good stuff that makes a performance musical, instead of just a music box running on autopilot.
This track has issues … the intonation is hinky, there’s no expression … I love Wendy Carlos’s work, but this quick one-off doesn’t show that I’ve learned anything from her.
So the next step is expression, and I’ll be using some cool generative software – Nodal 2 – to explore that.
Also, I haven’t begun to scratch the surface of what the Hermod can do … all I’ve used so far is its ability to act as a MIDI hub. It has extensive MIDI effects capabilities, as well as being a stand-alone sequencer.
I’d like to thank u/constant__sorrow for turning me on to the Hermod … it’s just what I needed.
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