Boulevard Of Broken Dreams #2

Here’s another from the trashcan. This one is Deviant, one of my stranger ideas. Adam actually attempted to code this, but making a square wave from an input signal isn’t very fun, it turns out. Here’s what it was supposed to do (I think; it’s been a while:)

1. The “MIX” section would give you three square waves from the input signal at the root, +1 octave, and -1 octave, plus the dry signal.

2. This would then get ring-modded against an internal osc, the frequency of which could be controlled from an LFO or env off the input amplitude.

3. This whole mess would then go to an LPF, which could also be controlled from input amp or LFO.

While it seems like it might be cool, initial coding showed that it was, in fact, a Soup Sandwich in the making. So it didn’t get beyond initial Windows VST prototypes before both Adam and I were like “wow, that’s a mess.” Sometimes you just have to try something to know how it sounds. Nowadays we prototype in one of the many boxes-n-wires programs suited to such endeavors (mainly Plogue Bidule) before it even gets to where I’ll mock up a UI, so I don’t do many things like this any more, where function follows form.

I think the UI would have been vastly improved with a little tube you could see in a window. But my favorite feature is the text right under the “Deviant” logo. You can tell we didn’t know what to call it, and when that’s the case, you know you’re in trouble.