Make Noise René - Manual (Page 4)

Overview:
René is deep, but all you really need to know: Patch one clock to X‐CLK, and a second clock
to Y‐CLK, adjust clock rates and/ or divisors, tune voltages per location (the knobs) as
desired. Adjusting those two clocks relative to each other will create seemingly infinite
variations on the theme that is your sequence. Much joy may be had without any further
knowledge, but I am certain you will want to know more, so read on.
René is the world's first and only Cartesian Sequencer for music synthesizers. Named for the
French philosopher & mathematician René Descartes, it uses his cartesian coordinate
system to unlock the analog step sequencer from the shackles of linearity. Like the classic
analog sequencers, there are only 16 steps on René, each having an associated knob with
which the note for that step is tuned. However, using René the patterns are not limited to 16
steps in length because the path taken through those steps is, for all practical purposes,
infinite. In fact, René does not “step” at all, but rather it maps coordinates to locations in a
grid, and because if this, it is possible to move in ways that you would never imagine a step
sequencer to move. For this reason, we call the 16 steps on René “LOCATIONS,” and rather
than one Clock input there are two; one each for the X‐Axis, and the Y‐Axis.
The primary goal of this sequencer is to have a maximum amount of artist controlled musical
variation, with a minimum amount of data input. There are no menus, ALL editing is done
real‐time, and thus, the ProGraMming of René becomes a key performance element.
The basic concept for how René works: each Axis is being driven by the corresponding clock
and control voltages, to generate a number from 0 to 3. These numbers together make up
the coordinates for the next location that René will go to. If X hits 2 and Y is at 3, then René
goes to location 14. The concept is simple, but the results are madly complex, especially
when combined with some of the other math that
René will do.
René was developed in collaboration with firmware wizard Yerpa58. We spent nearly one full
year realizing and growing the original concepts, and over that time we also became good
friends. In all, it was wonderful project, and we hope to realize others. Also of great help in
developing René were Shawn “Packin' Peanuts!” Cleary, Josh “Wood‐finger” Kay, Richard
“don't like sequencers” Devine, Aaron “Leadfinger” Abrams, Surachai, James “Data Cadet”
Cigler, Tim “Stone‐Finger” Hurley and especially, Kelly Kelbel.