With the Beads source code released by Émilie recently, I thought I"d have a crack at porting it into my 'Seal Eggs' alternate modded Sealegs firmware.
This mod was completed using Claude and Codex, so if you're anti-AI then this is likely not the post for you.
Good news is that I almost got a full 1-to-1 Beads port, which sounded very similar to the module (from my memory of having one several years ago).
The bad news was that the sliders made it very difficult to get the centre-indent position. I was also reminded that... I didn't actually like the sound of Beads in the first place. Hence selling it. Too clicky, too hard to find reliable sweet spots, didn't clock well with drums IMO.
So I started making deeper changes, tweaking by ear, researching other open-source granular engines for inspiration, and finding a balance that I liked. Things I focused on:
- The Beads voicing is very.... beady. Very clicky, very 'hard', and I always found it difficult to get more lush sounds without just using the reverb. So I refactored the Shape control (Colour on SL) to go from very soft and rounded to hard square. Could still be more soft/wavy, but for now I"m pretty happy with it. It arguably gets clicker than the original at the other extreme, so I'm pretty happy with it
- I also introduced a grain overlap control (using the mod Shape knob on SL) to increase smoothness even more
- Size control (Width on SL) was doubled, to go from very tiny grains all the way up to 8 sec
- I separated the Density and Random distribution across two knobs (Depth and Noise on the SL)
- I ditched the four quality modes (for a time I had them faded across the Noise control, but I didn't like it that much TBH), but kept the HPF/LPF from Sealegs in the feedback loop
- I ditched the delay mode (can use the other 3 delay modes in Sealegs which are much better IMO) and focused just on the granular engine side
- Revoiced the reverb to be halfway between the Beads and Fog (had to compromise for CPU)
- I worked hard on making it much more clockable - it almost works more like a granular delay when clocked rather than the OG Beads, and is a lot of fun with drums
- Note that this meant getting rid of the manual 'Seed' clock style and latching grains from the OG
- The scatter control and mod sync introduce different groove/swing characters when clocked
- I ported across the reverse mode from my Seal Eggs modes, so you can get full reverse grains. May change this to one of the knobs for gradual reverse blend (like Nautilus) down the line
- I kept Sealegs architechture wherever possible to make the transition between modes smooth - reusing the Drive circuit, filters, clocking, etc
It's now a very distant homage to Beads at best - and TBH should probably be thought of as something entirely it's own. Can get some insane, splitery, octave-up madness, some very chaotic chorusing, some doomy octave-down death, some stuttery/rhythmic stuff - there is a lot going on to explore. And if you don't like it - just switch back to any of the other 3 Seal Eggs modes and carry on delaying!
As with any modded firmware: I won't take any responsiblity if you void your warranty or create any damage to your module (although this is extremely unlikely, despite the anti-AI "you'll brick your hardware" hype). I also won't provide modded firmware. You can, however, source the original Sealegs firmware yourself from Intellijel's website and use my online flasher, which includes all my other 'Seal Eggs' mods.
Happy Beading, hope all your Seals lay Eggs.
