Building a Buchla 248 (M)ARF | Episode 01 | with Stages, Stages, Stages and Marbles
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Sorry about that title. The MARF is short for the Multiple ARbitrary Function generator, a huge Buchla design carrying the model number 248, and is part of the 200 series. It's not easy to compare it with anything because there's nothing like it.
I contacted Todd Barton (thanks so much!) to be able to study a few MARF images. The sliders made me think of Mutable Stages, and the control section reminded me of Marbles. While getting lost on the way, I finally got a patch that sounded similar: 'music that sounds like dancing butterflies'. Please note I covered a bit of the ARF. The true MARF has multiple playheads and this attempt doesn't cover it. So I demoted this video to episode 1 on May 9th 2024 while cooking up a true MARF eurorack implementation. My 3xStages setup may look a bit like the Buchla masterpiece, but from a functional angle it's not even remotely close. Episode 02 coming soon!
Installation of Stages Qiemem firmware requires playing a .WAV into the module which can be bit of a drag. I recommend using a eurorack sample player like the BitBox for a high success ratio. Using a phone, PC or pad can be a nightmare. Also, I am not sure if the firmware works on a clone, please comment if you tried it. Here's the repository (wav file at the end of the page) github.com/qie...
I am still trying to wrap my head around it. Even though Stages and Marbles are now discontinued, they're easy to find as fully functional clones. With Eurorack, we have the 'power' to build our own synths, or get inspired by designs which are still amazing and modern after +50 years. I hope it inspires you too. Again, this is just the beginning of the quest.
Looking back on this video while exploring the MARF concept even further, I realized this attempt is nice, but not even close to a true MARF experience. So I retitled it to Episode 01 and changed the thumbnail. The real MARF has multiple playheads running over the same sequence, so I didn't cover the 'M' and only a bit of 'ARF'. I am currently running an experiment that ticks a lot more boxes. So this video is only the beginning of a new quest.
Big up to utility modules and that kind of patching :)
Wow...what unusual sounds! It's really crazy what you can do with those modules!
Ive always wanted to get a MI stages module! I think i want 2 or 3 now! lol Thanks for this video! Great work as always! 🙂💜
Reversed time fragmentation
Love these wonky sounds, well done!
Building a 248 MARF in Eurorack has been my obsession since @Pyer3354 shared his recreation in VCV Rack. It's a work of art. He worked from Suzanne Ciani's original cookbook-a paper she wrote in the 70's describing how she worked with the MARF in her compositions.
One thing the MARF can do that I haven't seen anywhere is having multiple playheads over the same set of slider values-the "Multiple" in the Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator. @DerMannmitderMaschine is releasing a Droid controller P8S8 that will (I think) finally allow me to fulfill my dream of recreating a MARF in Eurorack.
Currently working on episode 02. I did some more research and it seems MARF has two independent playheads where the 250 ARF has one. The only way to do this in eurorack is to have two independent time variable sequencers, which would give me two playheads running their own sequence data. Kind of like a MARF were each playhead has its own sliders. I am now thinking about using two Rene's, Maths and the Vice Virga sequential switch for the external CV sequencing. I did a test and it just blew my mind.
@@CinematicLaboratory If I understand correctly, the two MARF playheads made use of the *same sliders* - so two rows of sliders (pitch/switch & time/CV) with two playheads. The playheads can have independent ranges (e.g. playhead 1 is step 1-8, playhead 2 steps 9-16) but they can also overlap and even play the same steps at the same time. So the sliders are like a stored voltage, and the playheads recall those voltages with independent clocks.
Genius design.
It’s also possible to hook up the 245t with the 266t and a doepfer A-151. F.i. you can modulate the time of the 245t by the qrv or srv of the 266t and trigger the pulse inputs of the 266t with the pulse out of the 245t. If you hook up a Doepfer seq. switch to the seq outputs, you can create more than five steps. If you then route the seq out through the integrator of the 266t, you can create ‘slides’ on some steps, if you modulate the integrator. Finally, modulate some of the cv ins of the 266t and its beginning to have similarities with the marf.
Thanks for sharing this amazing patch idea. It will definitely get you close.
Ok, that's fricken brilliant. I was already thinking about the 245t because of the cv input for tempo. But the sequential switch and 266t addition is really great.
I have all of those things (well, the seq switch is a Vice Virga)- except the brainpower to make it work. I may need a colour-coded diagram…
For those who don't own a Bitbox, but want to find a reliable method for firmware updates...
I use VLC media player, running from a Mac Mini. First, I turn my speakers off. Do not forget this step! Then, a TS 6.5 to TS 3.2 cable goes from the headphone out of my Scarlett 2i4 to the module. All computer programs besides VLC are stopped. No internet, notifications off, etc. Now, I start the update procedure according to the manual. (Each module has a different input and button combo.) If the LED's are not showing the correct level, I just give the headphone output dial a quick wiggle, and try again. Works every time, I have done it with Mutable and Endorphines.
I really regret not getting doubles of some of the key Mutable modules before they disappeared. So many possibilities hidden in those modules waiting to be explored.
Amazing video,💣.
Mesmerizing
Oh yes, love it 😊
Very nice, the randomness is magic in Stages! Qiemem version 1.3 came out a few days ago...LFO bugs fixed and merged all original 1.2 version behaviour.
For FW updates, I cant get my Bitbox (micro) do this 😖, I play the original wave, just like any other samples, but it fails every time. I still use the PC and have figured out the correct volume level...
So though, .. you've got the firmware to take, right? I also had problems with loading Stages Qiemem firmware (6 months ago, or so) with Bitbox Micro .. trying many, many times, and it consistently semi-worked. But, I believe when I merged the stereo outputs, from Micro into 1 signal, with an Intelligel Unity Mixer into Stages, .. then the firmware successfully loaded. (Don't know why this should be.) And, this worked on both of my Stages modules. And since then, .. I've also done a Beads and Plaits updating, this same merged signal method.
Definitely providence... How can this happen while I am working on this video the same week and missed the firmware so the video is already old before I even posted it. Everything always happens now.
Great video! The MARF is a fascinating and mysterious module, to me at least. Could one get close to a MARF using two Rene lanes? I recently made a patch where Rene x sequenced pitch and Rene y sequenced the clock that was triggering both x and y (and that cv went to many timbral parameters as well.)
Rene can do a lot, but you'd also need Maths to cover the time domain. Imagine a cycle were the rise or fall time is set by a Rene CV out. Rene also supports adding CV to a sequence and has a great quantizer on board. This will bring you close to the USTA which is a creative take on the Buchla 250e, also an 'arbitrary function generator', but dual instead of mutiple. Not sure yet, what the 'multiple' implies, but I've read something about multiple playheads running over the same sequence. I guess Ornament & Crime's 'copy machine' comes to mind. The journey is only beginning :)
@@CinematicLaboratory I was thinking that the Maths could handle the slew between stages. Of course, at that point one is quickly running low on utilities on a shared system-type setup. The concept of 'multiple' is blowing my mind at this point! Looking forward to the journey.
@@chrissherman01 Rene offers built in slew, so that would keep your resources free. I guess on the V2 I'd use X out for melody and Y out for time info. Since C is linked to X and Y, it would be great to become the 'dual' melodic output. And then there's the Z CV... I think this would be a cool Shared System tutorial episode :). Wow, I could let Function 'hang' on a sequence too.
Verbos Multistage?
I'll check it out!
verbos Voltage Multistage + sequence selector，close to one header (maybe)
stages firmware 1.2 also has the audio oscillator feature
Thanks for the headsup. I noticed it too, but forgot to mention it. The cool part is that you can set individual stages to audio rate in the official 1.2 release. Also cool to find out Emilie found inspiration in the Qiemem firmware while writing 1.2
Stages .. and with Qiemem updating .. is quite a thing. I wonder if there really is a bottom, to all the possibilities that this module has.
Well, I'd love the module to retrigger a segment when a gate is patched instead of dividing them, so you could make conditional jumps. Can't wait to take a Control Forge deepdive. Expected next monday.
In the shadows of the mind's embrace, Lies the darkness of truths we chase. 'I am still trying to wrap my head around it,' In the abyss, where sanity's sound is drowned.