Is Quad Note Generator Shit or is it just me?

[Trefor]

Playing around with Quad Note Generator and I can't seem to get anything useful sounding out of it other than 'plinky plunky' sounding lines. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. If anyone has any patches or advice that might put me on the right track I'd really appreciate it if you would share them.

[Yonatan]

Long time since I used it but I remember one can get some good use for it with drums/percussion.

[crimsonwarlock]

Maybe you need some examples:

[challism]

Long time since I used it but I remember one can get some good use for it with drums/percussion.

Yes, this. It's mostly how it gets used in my projects. I rarely find it useful for much else. But I love running JP Republik with it (for example).

[Quarmat]

I find it excellent for basslines too. It has been on like every track I made until Bassline Generator entered the chat.

Of course QNG generates euclidean rhythms which are better suited for rhythmic/percussive instruments.

[dvdrtldg]

It's easy to get rhythmically interesting results from QNG, but melodically interesting results take a lot more effort. Requires a lot of fussing around with the note offsets & pitch variation, there are "sweet spot" combinations but it can take a while to find them. I prefer it for polyphonic stuff, I know some people like it for bass lines but I've never had much success in that department

Also I think it can sometimes work better if you use the CV outputs & hook it up to different instruments, instead of just having it play just the one synth

And of course like most players, it's much better if you run it through Inspiral

[selig]

It's easy to get rhythmically interesting results from QNG, but melodically interesting results take a lot more effort…

I see it as the ‘rhythm guitar player’ of the rack rather than the lead. I typically need more rhythm/support parts than leads, so it’s handy to have IMO.

[huggermugger]

For me, QNG hits the sweet spot of controlled randomness (Pattern Mutator does too, but it's not a realtime note processor like QNG). Except for the Freeze function, extreme use of pitch controls, and the Euclidean rhythms (the Pattern parameter), it's difficult to produce a predictable, repeatable series of notes in QNG. And yet, I find I can impose limits on its randomness in a very natural way - the bipolar Vary knobs make it easy to find the right amount of variation in velocity, note length, note density, and note variety - a little variation goes a long way. The bias on the Pattern control interacts with the Vary amount, making it possible to for example increase note density while still retaining 'breathing space', akin to phrasing in a written melody. More than any other Player (except maybe PSQ1684), QNG reminds me of those 'intelligent' sequencers in the modular synth world that are sometimes labelled 'Turing machines'.

Here's a short piece that has several of its tracks driven by QNG. Only the drums and organ chords are non-QNG. Worth noting is the main melody - it's one line from a QNG where the first half is frozen, and the second half is allowed to wander. For me, this creates a natural, 'human-played' quality.

[okaino]

I thought it was shit till about a couple weeks ago...im never running to go use it....but its useful in the production process when i want something different.

The trick with the generators is you have to practice using them for a bit....i havent found them to spit out likeable stuff in initial use BUT spending some time eventually youll get stuff you like to where youd say its useful.

[Chizmata]

Playing around with Quad Note Generator and I can't seem to get anything useful sounding out of it other than 'plinky plunky' sounding lines. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. If anyone has any patches or advice that might put me on the right track I'd really appreciate it if you would share them.

i dont know what youre aiming to do with it, but its one of the most powerful reason tools i know (and i know the r11 suite).

[artotaku]

Playing around with Quad Note Generator and I can't seem to get anything useful sounding out of it other than 'plinky plunky' sounding lines. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. If anyone has any patches or advice that might put me on the right track I'd really appreciate it if you would share them.

What I find helpful to get more pleasing musical results is to first switch of all randomness (set all vary knobs to zero) and also reduce the pattern.
If a song is e. g. in minor key and I want to add some arpeggios I let the base key on the first note generator controlled by another player or Reason sequencer notes. Note generator 2, 3 and four are transposed by to the notes of the triad (+3, +7, +9 or octaves +/-12).
Then I slowly add some randomness (e. g. you could allow that the 2nd note generator can jump to note below or above of the offset to create notes a sus2 or sus4 chord).

What I´ve learned with these random generators is that you should just hold back with randomness even if you can except you are after chaotic music style.

[DaveyG]

I love it but I do tend to use it as a dual note generator rather than the full-on quad one. I realised that I was generating loads of quad note stuff then editing out loads of it. I find dual notes are much easier to make nice sequences with.

It's great for generating little musical motifs to add interest to the second half of a verse or in the bridge or just to flesh out the bits where there are no vocals. By its very nature It's much harder to use it for your main melody/lead line.

[Billy+]

Playing around with Quad Note Generator and I can't seem to get anything useful sounding out of it other than 'plinky plunky' sounding lines. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. If anyone has any patches or advice that might put me on the right track I'd really appreciate it if you would share them.

If you are after getting more than just rhythm you could try pairing it with

auto latch
And or
delta

[mimidancer]

Playing around with Quad Note Generator and I can't seem to get anything useful sounding out of it other than 'plinky plunky' sounding lines. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. If anyone has any patches or advice that might put me on the right track I'd really appreciate it if you would share them.

I would not call it shit, but it is something for people who wish to do generative music. So I never use it.

[dvdrtldg]

It's easy to get rhythmically interesting results from QNG, but melodically interesting results take a lot more effort…

I see it as the ‘rhythm guitar player’ of the rack rather than the lead. I typically need more rhythm/support parts than leads, so it’s handy to have IMO.

Exactly! I guess by "melodically interesting" I really mean "harmonically interesting", and rhythm guitar is how I've come to view most of the players, even Evolution. To get a decent lead part aways takes me endless fiddling, then printing to track, then editing out or changing most of the MIDI notes. Easier to just come up with something from scratch

[QVprod]

Put a Scales and Chords player after it

[VIVIsect]

This one was pretty disappointing for me. I put a fair amount of time into playing around with it, because I try to force myself to find some use for whatever I spend money on, but I eventually gave up on it completely. I found it to be grating and obnoxious to use, because it just seems intent on banging the shit out of one note constantly, regardless of how extreme I set the parameters. It is possible to get some decent results with enough random fiddling, but it's not worth the hassle for me. I'd rather just play some midi notes.

[PhillipOrdonez]

Pulled this one into the rack and after a few minutes and in addition to a couple of players, I had this beautiful, realistic sounding piano going. Then recorded the midi for a few bars, found a dope loop and now I have a new track idea started for later. Nice! I don't think I had found any real use for QNG before. Thanks for the thread, guys!

[huggermugger]

This one was pretty disappointing for me. I put a fair amount of time into playing around with it, because I try to force myself to find some use for whatever I spend money on, but I eventually gave up on it completely. I found it to be grating and obnoxious to use, because it just seems intent on banging the shit out of one note constantly, regardless of how extreme I set the parameters. It is possible to get some decent results with enough random fiddling, but it's not worth the hassle for me. I'd rather just play some midi notes.

Try this out for starters to get a better idea of how to make more interesting melodies than a string of one note.

Set VARY to max (this determines how randomly the notes will be selected from the pitches contained between the two RANGE values).

But set SPREAD to the middle (0). SPREAD is how hard the random pitch selection will push to the outside limits of the RANGE. For example, with the RANGE in this image (a 5th up, a 4th down), 0 will give you completely random, every note has an equal probability of being played. But maximum SPREAD will give you -only- the 5th up (G3), the 4th down (G2), and the base key (C3). So, if you want more flowing, melodic results, don't max out the RANGE.

Then, try increasing the SPREAD a little (say to 25%) or try decreasing it (say to -50%). Likewise, try different levels of VARY while the SPREAD is at 0. You'll get a better understanding of what these parameters are doing and how they interact.

[Trefor]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. Some very good ideas, which I will try so that I can hopefully get some use out of QNG.

[dvdrtldg]

Don't forget about its potential as a percussion player - with any round-robin sample playback device it really shines (e.g. as already mentioned, Republik)

[Jagwah]

I think the idea of randomizers in any shape or form are something you will either like working with or dislike for the most part. I might use a little random note generation for percussion but for notes and things I personally never do because it's just not how I work, randomizers are just not for me, maybe OP also.

[arnigretar]

This one was pretty disappointing for me. I put a fair amount of time into playing around with it, because I try to force myself to find some use for whatever I spend money on, but I eventually gave up on it completely. I found it to be grating and obnoxious to use, because it just seems intent on banging the shit out of one note constantly, regardless of how extreme I set the parameters. It is possible to get some decent results with enough random fiddling, but it's not worth the hassle for me. I'd rather just play some midi notes.

Try this out for starters to get a better idea of how to make more interesting melodies than a string of one note.

Set VARY to max (this determines how randomly the notes will be selected from the pitches contained between the two RANGE values).

But set SPREAD to the middle (0). SPREAD is how hard the random pitch selection will push to the outside limits of the RANGE. For example, with the RANGE in this image (a 5th up, a 4th down), 0 will give you completely random, every note has an equal probability of being played. But maximum SPREAD will give you -only- the 5th up (G3), the 4th down (G2), and the base key (C3). So, if you want more flowing, melodic results, don't max out the RANGE.

Then, try increasing the SPREAD a little (say to 25%) or try decreasing it (say to -50%). Likewise, try different levels of VARY while the SPREAD is at 0. You'll get a better understanding of what these parameters are doing and how they interact.

Great advice.

[Mattvank]

I miss the possibilty to shift the global length to get a spezific result from the middle or the end.

[Gardinski]

I find it incredibly frustrating. I haven't used it for a very long time, and never managed to get anything I really liked out of it.

Any potential it has for generating something musically 'useful' (ie. something which goes beyond random electronic bleeps, farts and bibbles) seems to be trapped behind an impenetrable wall of untweakability.

I forced myself to return to it a few times, early on, convinced that I was 'missing something', or that there was some brilliant hack other people were using to unveil its creative genius. But in the end, I've decided it is what I feared all along... An electronic fart machine.

If you can 'play' at all, or improvise, you can come up with far more interesting ideas. Even if you were just to blindfold yourself and flap your hands about madly on your keyboard, you'd come up with more promising melodic lines, I reckon.

''Ahhh, but you can stick another player on it to make sure it's in the key you want.'' - Well, yes, but that works equally well for my ''random finger flapping'' technique. (tm)


NB: The phrases 'Random Finger Flapping Technique' and 'Electronic Fart Machine' are (c) Gardinski 2022. Patent pending. (Overseas marketing rights are negotiable, for a price.)