Grooves, Glitches, and Polymeter with the Soma Cosmos Rhythmic Firmware
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- The Soma Cosmos has multiple firmware versions, offering various types of functionality. The rhythmic firmware gives full control over defining the loop length, and opens up a wide array of tools to manipulate the looped material in intensely rhythmic ways. This particular firmware version also swaps out Drive for a vari-speed control, allowing continuous pitch manipulation across one octave. We'll examine these possibilities, along with a close look at the Erase and Suppressor functions, which can evolve a loop in dramatic fashion.
0:23 Multiple Cosmos firmwares, and the rhythmic + pitch firmware
1:01 Previewing Erase and Suppressor
1:17 Creating an initial loop with user-defined length, Reverse, and Erase
2:03 “Sidechain Erase” with the Suppressor
2:35 Polymetric 8/7 phasing in the second rhythmic algorithm
3:11 Adding reverb and stereo animation with the Blur and Drift knobs
3:46 Vari-speed control with the Drive knob, and starting in half speed
4:13 4/3 phasing with the third algorithm
5:14 Randomized eighth-length slicing with the fourth algorithm
6:21 Sixth-based random mangling in the fifth algorithm
7:09 Chopping the loop into fifths in the sixth algorithm
7:31 Using reverb and feedback for rapid and dramatic loop transformation
8:38 Glitchy and complex slicing with the seventh algorithm
9:23 Revenge of double-speed
9:47 Adding random octave-down drops to the equation with Drift
10:28 Glitching in threes and sixes with the eighth algorithm
10:54 “Fractal pitch shifting” in the ninth algorithm
12:05 The “legacy” Four-Delay algorithm in program 10
12:40 “Redefine the loop length from the legacy algorithm” bug/feature
13:23 The Giant Reverb algorithm in program 11
14:06 Program 12’s multi-stream granular algorithm
14:24 Granular flattery through unblurred overdubbage
15:00 “Freezing” and animating the granular sounds
15:53 Returning to the fourth program, and Collateral Blur Drenching (tm)
16:11 Half speed and assorted choppage
17:22 Filtering, full speed, and zooming in
Many thanks to Supah Dupah
/ supahdupah
for hipping me to the "redefine the legacy algorithm loop length" bug/feature
Deep thanks to the following Patreon supporters for helping to finance this tutorial:
(in alphabetical order)
Randolf Arriola
Richard Atkinson
Steve Ball and Tiny Orchestral Moments
Dan Burke
Steven Clements
Phil Clevenger
Laurence Cramp
Hal Dean
Tony Douglas
Rejyna Douglass-Whitman
Jeff Evans
Christopher Evans
Shawn Farley
Christopher Fedak
Jason Fink
Jens-Christian Fischer
Pepe Flores
Gaetano Fontanazza
Ross Garren
Joel Gilardini
Randy Greene
Anthony Hancock
Phil Heiliger
Louis Hesselt van Dinter
Philipp Hirtler
Bob Holub
Fedor Indutny
Ted Killian
Zak Kramer
Todd Lainhart
Jeff Larson
Rebecca Lee
Ken Luke
Dino Meneghin
Jesse Nason
Michael Peters
Matt Pogue
Matt Rowe
Gene Schwartz
Keith Spicknell
Darin Stewart
Chris Stromquist
Nik Tembe
Nakarin Teerapenun
Bernhard Wagner
Paul Weber
Frank Welte
#somasynths #somacosmos #livelooping #cosmos #soma_laboratory #rhythmicphasing #granular #granularlooping #microlooping #polymeter #granularsynthesis #ambientmusic #frippertronics #andrelafosse #guitarlooping #geartalk #guitar #guitarist #musician #music #guitarsdaily #knowyourtone #gearybusey #tonefordays #cleantone #toneheaven #gearnerds #gearphoria #gearpassion #pedalboard #pedalboardoftheday #notpedalbored #pedalboardfrenzy
This is honestly one of the best videos on the Cosmos I’ve seen! Cheers!
Thanks so much for sneering a look!
@@andrelafosse I would agree with that. Simply beautiful !!
💯
Awesome. Just taken delivery of my Cosmos today, so I'm looking forward to installing the rhythmic firmware and having a play. Thanks for the informative video.
Excellent demo. Appreciate seeing it in use in musical settings with the detailed descriptions. Thank you!
Thanks!
Most beautiful demo of the cosmos.
Thanks!
great job! Literally the only person that even mentions the erase button!! Thanks for making this.
once again, an incredibly well presented chunk of content.....presentation excellence..........your playing is so interesting and precise, perfect for 'Cosmosing'......I hope SOMA posts some of your videos on their website - so useful.........and I'm not sure if we've communicated about this - but only in Rhythmic Firmware Algo #9, you'll find that the 'REVERSE' operates in a 'Ping Pong' mode (backward>forward>backward....)
Thanks so much! And, I realized after I'd filmed it that I didn't mention the reverse ping-pong thing, so you're going to remain the go-to resource for that. :)
so many features, so little time......(every time I upload something, I have minimal regrets - things I wish I'd done, said).....but hey - isn't that what most of life is like?
This is deeply mesmerizing... Wow... You make such good music explorations...
Thanks very much!
i could not stop moving to that groove and in my head the drums were building up as well
One of the best review channels! Amazing guitar work as well. Inspires me to want to learn guitar.
Aw, thanks very much! Very kind. :)
nice job Andre... beautiful stereo panning throughout....
Thanks Ken! All credit for the imaging goes directly to Soma - I didn't do anything to enhance the stereo picture after recording it. It really does sound amazing right out of the box...
You sir are a genius! Amazing jam and best tutorial for the rythmic firmware i‘ve seen👏👏👏
Thanks so much! The rhythmic firmware definitely gives it a whole different angle.
Great video and nice Reverend
Really good, it reminds me of the EHX 16 seconds delay that I used a few years ago and with which I obtained this kind of result. I always regretted selling it but with this Cosmos, I'm thinking of buying it soon to get back to it even if this pedal is much more powerful. I really miss those textures.
Thanks very much! I've never played with an EHX 16 second delay, but I know plenty of people covet them very highly, and I'd be intrigued to take one for a spin...
@@andrelafosse I have one that I don’t use. Needs soldering but otherwise in good shape. Lemme know bro
@@sfcard You're very kind! I know less than nothing about soldering, so I don't think I'd be able to do anything with it, but that's still very kind. Is that still your weapon of choice?
and BTW - I downloaded and listened to your album.......It was very interesting and unique, however I have to say that honestly, it's not the type of music I'd have on any sort of rotation........very masterfully put together, so thank you for that......
Thank you for listening! No worries at all - everybody has their own aesthetic preferences. All good. :)
excellent work! thank you
Awesome! Reminds me of Stephan Thelen's Fractal Guitar albums.
Nice Andre! On a way some things happening on this Rhythmic firmware kind of remind me some manipulations you can achieve with Loupé, and those random/slicing settings the LPs Scramble effects.
But so far it is a totally different beast of its own!
Thanks Joel! I agree that some of this stuff is definitely scramble-esque. :)
Just curious, what is the LP and its scramble effects?
@@eddrupz1805 The LP1 (rack unit) and Lp2 (floor unit) are 2 loopers by Looperlative Audio, a tiny American brand, devoted to looping devices since more than 10 years. Scramble it's a unique function by Looperlative, what it does is chopping your loop into tiny chunks which are then randomly reordered.
@@JoelGilardini Wow, this sounds interesting. Will research it. Thanks.
@@eddrupz1805 check my Channel, and Andre also, we have both tutorial videos about the LP2.
Great video Andrè di I think I will move to this firmware.
This thing is bonkers. I ordered one earlier today.
Amazing video, I learned a lot, thank you!
Great thanks for making this video!
Fantastic demo! I've been lusting for this COSMOS for quite awhile, and just ordered mine tonight. The introduction of the rhythmic firmware opens up all kinds of possibilities! Thank you for demonstrating. Do the firmware downloads come with a description of how each program behaves?
Thanks! There's only one alternate manual, for the rhythmic firmware (which also covers the variation which turns "drive" into a vari-speed control), here: somasynths.com/cosmos_firmware/
@@andrelafosse Thank you so much!
Ooh, I like this very much!
Thanks! Is it fair to say that some of the glitchy random stereo slicing things are akin to the Microcosm's territory?
@@andrelafosse I’ve been trying to think of a non-elaborate answer to this question. Short version: Yes and no. Longer version: Microcosm doesn’t seem to do too much with stereo separation, especially when compared to Cosmos, as evidenced in this video. Also, the nature of Cosmos’ stereo glitching, scrambling, or what have you, seems to be very “read fx” style, based on how the loop is played back, rather than applying a glitchy, ducking delay effect before (destructive) or after (nondestructive) the looper, which is how Microcosm seems to operate. While still more of the “glitchy delay” than the “glitchy loop playback” variety, three effects that this video reminds me of (all with distinct stereo separation and/or panning): Fantastic Mr. Foxtrot (ZOIA patch), Audio Damage’s Replicant, and Sinevibes’ Rerun. Howzzat for an answer? 🙂
@@chiefbucknell It's an excellent answer! Thanks very much for all of this. :)
@@andrelafosse Lately, I’ve been reviewing the manuals and rewatching all your Cosmos videos, as I am just beginning to get the hang of using a Cosmos of my very own. I began with the main firmware for a few times, and then I switched to the rhythmic firmware (the version with varispeed control via Drive knob). In either firmware, I dig the filters, the compressor, and all the other fine features (some of which are, or would be, nice to have on some other loopers). There’s been moments when I wondered if the trip away from 🌎 was worth the price of the ticket, but I think I’m mostly enjoying my journey into… the COSMOS 🌌😊
The granular modes sometimes feel to me like “more reverb than reverb”-very cool!
So good 😢
How do you install alternative firmwares? Is any USB stick loaded with them sufficient?
❤
~ greetings from germany ~
Greetings from Los Angeles!
very cool video. tempted to buy a cosmos. My only gripe is how to use a loop/creation made on the cosmos in a song or project in a DAW in terms of synchronisation to the rest. How would you approach this? I know there is no midi sync but perhaps a workaround?
Thanks! What I do in cases like that is record the output of the looper for a while, import that audio recording into a DAW, and then calculate a tempo based on that. I use Logic; you can select a region of audio, tell Logic "this should be X number of bars of 4/4," and Logic will find a BPM that matches that.
Another approach would be to find small chunks of a larger looping performance that you like, extract those as smaller 2/4/8/16-bar (etc) loops, and then either use that as a tempo source (as above), or else timestretch the file to match the DAW tempo. (You could do that with a longer performance, too.)
Do these firmware updates include all previous firmware? It’s all in one package? Right? Cheers beers brother ❤
Not exactly! Each firmware can be loaded independently of the others, but you can only run one at a time. So, you choose which firmware version you want to run, you load it onto a flash drive, you plug the flash drive into the Cosmos, and reboot it. (Rebooting basically means powering on while holding a footswitch down.) That loads whatever firmware version was on the flash drive at that time. If you want to switch to a different firmware, you need to load that different firmware onto a flash drive, plug it in, and reboot again. So you have to power it down and swap out flash drives in order to switch from one firmware version to another.
@@andrelafosse that sounds quite promising. Thnxx!
Bravissimo
Wow 😅
Just a question: as I understand it, the firmware is not an upgrade or feature enhancement while retaining the previous functions. Does the introduction of a new firmware cancel the previous functions? And if so, is it possible to revert to previous firmware? Thank you
That's correct: it only runs one firmware version at a time. So loading a particular firmware version means you're losing any functionality that isn't specifically contained in that version.
Any firmware version can be (re)installed by putting it on a USB flash drive, and then booting up the pedal while holding down the record button. So, you can swap out different firmwares at any time by turning it off, inserting a flash drive, and then rebooting.
This does mean, though, that if you wanted to be able to randomly switch between any of the five different firmware versions, you'd need five different USB flash drives on hand, each loaded with a different firmware version on it.
@@andrelafosse Thanks for the reply Andre! All of this is very much in style with the philosophy of this device, such as the inability to save the soundscapes and when it shuts down it starts all over again. Great!
Fucking great !! WOW !
Thanks! :)
hi. great demo. do you konw if their newer batch has the rythmic firmware on it??!! or do you stlll need to download it??
Thanks! I'm assuming they all ship with the default firmware loaded. Any of the different versions can be copied to a USB drive and then loaded into the Cosmos, but I'd be really surprised if they shipped units with anything other than the "main" firmware.
@@andrelafosse I just got mine a week+ ago (brand new, shipped from the U.K.), and it had the "default" firmware in it; I had to download the others off the Soma site and slap them on individual flash drives, as you mention above. Super cool :-) PS: Your super musical and interesting demonstrations of this unit--with yer ace axe wielding--are THE BEST! Many thanks! 🤘❤🤘
@@daleturner Thanks very much for the kind words, and the update. :)
@@andrelafosse A pleasure! Have a great upcoming weekend 🙂
you sold it
I still don't understand how it works ^^
Me neither. 😉
Why couldn't you just let the €700 stay in my account? Christmas is cancelled.
Congratulations/condolences!
😂
tragic that you cant sync this via midi... instabuy if you could
It's an interesting thing: the rhythmic firmware, absolutely, would be a great candidate for external sync. The algorithms in the "main" firmware, though? Those are all based on multiple simultaneous loops, of different lengths, which begs the question: which of those multiple simultaneous loops should be treated as the clock master? (Again, this isn't an issue with the rhythmic firmware, so sync with those would be great.)
I also think some of this is a reflection of Soma's design philosophy in general - they seem very focused on particular ways of doing things, and making a lot of decisions for the player, rather than leaving the options open for them to choose.
Not disagreeing! Just thinking out loud about this stuff. :)
I got rid of mine... You can't save presets and have to record everything because impossible to reproduce sounds... It's also way overpriced for what it is...a non-professional toy...
It definitely forces you into a certain way of thinking and creating, and I totally get where a lot of people wouldn't be able to use it to their satisfaction.
Nice, thinking of selling a 'normal' Aeros looper for this. Is this plugged into a mixer or headphones out of the Cosmos?
Going from an Aeros to this would be about as extreme of a looping switch-up as I can imagine! That's a bold step. :)
For this video: guitar into amp simulator, into Cosmos, then taking the stereo outputs from Cosmos into my audio interface. I haven't tried using the headphone out to record with, but I have used it just for headphone monitoring, and it works fine.
@@andrelafosse Yeah pretty extreme, the Aeros lacks experimental features. I'd be using a boss GT1000 Core into the Cosmos