ARTIFACTS 01: UNDERVOLTAGE DRIFT

​For Arturia Pigments

14.90 Euro.

FORMAT: PIGMENTS
STYLE: AMBIENT / EXPERIMENTAL / CINEMATIC / ELECTRONIC

Artifacts is a new series exploring unusual sonic discoveries, hidden behaviours and accidental sound design phenomena.

The first release, Undervoltage Drift, began with an unexpected observation.

While sampling waveforms from a Behringer JT Mini, the synthesizer was accidentally powered below its intended operating voltage. The result was an unexpected and fascinating transformation of the sound: oscillators became unstable, unison sounds grew thicker and more animated, noise levels increased and the instrument developed a strange, unpredictable character unlike anything normally associated with the JT Mini.

“undervoltage drift captures a rare operating state of a synthesizer — a sonic artifact that disappeared the moment the correct power supply was connected.”

The waveforms from this unstable state were carefully recorded in 96kHz, perfectly looped and imported into Pigments 7, where they became the foundation for an exploration of instability, movement and controlled chaos. Making extensive use of Pigments’ latest features, including the Rage Filters and the Corroder effect, the sounds were pushed far beyond their original source into new unexpected territory.

The collection also explores another unusual aspect of the underpowered JT Mini: noise. The elevated noise floor produced by the malfunctioning instrument was isolated, amplified and transformed into textures that have never existed in the original synthesizer. Apart from the presets there are also clean templates for your own sonic explorations.

Artifacts 01: Undervoltage Drift is not a soundset of bread-and-butter sounds. Instead, it is a collection of sonic curiosities — small sound artworks built from a momentary electronic anomaly, captured before it disappeared forever.

NKS Support
All sounds have been tagged making finding sounds easy (both in Pigments as well as in Native Instruments Maschine and Komplete Kontrol). The soundset also supports audio previews for Maschine and Komplete Kontrol.