This piece was inspired by the "phasing" early tape compositions of Steve Reich, the nighttime sounds of late summer, and most importantly the amplified sound of my unborn son's heartbeat.
Having heard baby's heartbeat amplified at a prenatal visit, I was immediately struck by the energy, rhythm and cuteness, and also immediately thought of recreating it with my synthesizer. I created the sound with the DPO, Pressure Points, MATHS and modDemix, then recorded and spliced it with the Phonogene and used the EOS as master clock for the piece.
The melodic portion of the patch is based on a 4-step René sequence with several different rhythms bringing the timbres in and out. The modDemix, DPO Ext Src, and Pressure Points were the main nodes of expression. The Pressure Points in particular intensifies the echos, reverb and synced VCOA, and the tuned voltages change the overall rhythm for each section via the Erbe-Verb predelay control. This made it easy to intensify the patch periodically before brining it into a new section.
Toward the end I also played the René pads manually for higher notes before the coda. Ultimately this may have been unnecessary to the piece but this recording was my favorite take otherwise.
I made four versions of this patch before I found one that recorded to my satisfaction. Earlier versions used multiplied master clock via Echophon for unusual rhythmic juxtapositions (5 on 4 etc.), and/or feedback networks based on the CV output of the Erbe-Verb fed by the "heartbeat". These versions were interesting, but in both cases the upbeat rhythm of the "heartbeat" was compromised, or at least no longer seemed like the centerpiece of the patch, so I kept searching.