outlines

{See video at top of page} Presets Overview

A blend of raw acoustic gestures with tape loops and modular-processed tonal experiments

Outlines is meant to spark momentum - a starting point that nudges a piece forward. It's our approach to a collection of tonal variations designed to be combined and explored.

Each preset is a sketch - the outline of a musical idea ready to be expanded and reshaped into something larger.

Sound Sources

When creating the source material for outlines, we focused on texture, detail and contrast - gathering a wide range of acoustic and synthetic sounds that could interact and form unexpected combinations.

Strings, mallet instruments, flutes and other small acoustic sources were recorded up close to capture the subtle gestures of the instruments. We let ourselves to take it slow, take our time to uncover hidden gems and embrace all the happy accidents that were happening during the time. Finger noise, air, creaks, room and field ambience were all treated as honoured guests rather than trespassers - we wouldn't have been able to create this library without them.

These recordings were further blended with tape loops, modular experiments and analogue and digital synthesis - forming the palette of textures from which the sounds of outlines emerged.

Two Independent Granular Engines

The engine in outlines is built around two independent granular layers, allowing different playback approaches to run side by side. Each layer runs on its own engine, making it possible to combine traditional polyphonic playback with sequenced or granular movement.

In practice, this means you can run two polyphonic layers, two animated / granular layers, or blend both approaches together. The layers can interact, contrast or complement each other, opening up a wide range of paths to explore.

To keep the workflow intuitive, the engine also features a system of five instrument modes - designed to offer quick starting points while still encouraging deeper sound exploration.

Two Independent Polyphonic Sequencers

Each layer features its own 16-step polyphonic sequencer, available in both playback modes. Rather than acting only as a traditional step sequencer, it can also function as a voice-specific modifier.

This allows you to reshape playback in many different ways - switching sound sources across notes, shifting selected steps up an octave, reversing certain notes, detuning parts of the sequence, or assigning different sample start positions per note.

Each sequencer can also store four independent patterns, which can be switched or modulated in real time. This makes it easy to introduce variation and evolving movement during performance.

Combined with the dual-layer engine, the sequencers can introduce subtle variation or more complex evolving patterns, ranging from simple melodic gestures to shifting granular textures.