Fractaos version 1.5 is now available.
This update adds five new percussion curves: Kick, Tom, Hi-Hat, Snare, and Cymbal. Each has its own character and can be made more unstable using the Chaos and Depth parameters.
This makes it possible to create relatively regular percussion sounds, as well as hits that evolve, become distorted, or vary slightly with each trigger.
Version 1.5 also brings several improvements:
• Direct access to presets using the PREV button.
• Direct access to MULTI mode using the NEXT button.
• Extended envelope times: up to 8 seconds for Attack and Decay, and 12 seconds for Release.
• More responsive envelope controls and preset recall.
• LIVE track volume can now be adjusted in MULTI mode.
The update and the new user manual are available on the Kaona website.
Thank you for your feedback, which continues to help Fractaos evolve!
Gilles from Kaona
User Posts
Thank you! There are indeed many, many, many hours of development behind this new version of Zazou.
To answer the question, there are many ways to influence the musical style. There are a huge number of parameters you can act on, and because they interact with each other, you very quickly go beyond the starting algorithm itself.
Each algorithm has its own variation parameters (between 4 and 9 depending on the model).
Each track is independent, though they can also be linked through sequences or scales, so each one can have its own algorithm and will produce results that depend directly on the gates sent to its input. For example, a combination like Walking Bass + Arpeggio + Guidetone + Julia on a pentatonic scale gives something very different from Serial + Tintinnabuli on a chromatic scale.
The sequences also have a huge influence on the musical style: with the same algorithms, you can get very different results depending on whether you use a “Blues” pattern or a “Trance Pop” pattern.
In fact, Zazou is designed as a near-infinite exploration tool. It is very far from being a pre-wired rhyme box, even though of course you can save the results of your exploration and then use them later in Pattern mode for live performance, for example.
Zazou draws on many elements of music theory and uses remarkable combinations through its algorithms, but in the end it is a true instrument in its own right, and it will produce very different things depending on the musician using it.
Hi,
I'm Gilles from Kaona, I just published the new version of Zazou:
- One envelope per track, triggered by note or by sequence, in step mode or continuously.
- Envelopes output as CV and MIDI across 4 channels. A Step mode lets you use four independent envelopes with any connected instrument.
- Over 20 new sequences, with diatonic handling.
- Harmony mode: Free, Alternating, Interpreted Diatonic, Forced Diatonic.
- New algorithms: Tintinnabuli (Arvo Pärt triads), Wander (controlled chaotic walk), Archimedes (variations around π), Guidetone (random lines toward target notes).
- Improved fractal algorithms with a new musical engine: Cantor, Fibonacci, Sierpinski, Mandelbrot, Julia.
- New autosave and a new file format.
- 100% compatible with all versions of Zazou (except save files).
Free update.
a new video on Sisyphus to see all the filters at work.
https://youtu.be/U28lI__cgOs