Morph Acoustic’s Random Subdivider is a trigger sequencer, or trigger generator, rather, that uses three controls to generate time-signature based rhythms and beats.
Cosmetically, the subdued, yet attractive, faceplate leans toward the no-frills side of things, with clear labeling, and nice trigger indication LEDs, and the build quality is quite nice.
From top to bottom are controls labeled Numerator, Denominator, and Rate of Change. In the same way that a time signature denotes the number of beats within a measure, the Numerator and Denominator control how many pulses there are within a set period and how many clock pulses determine that period. In other words, the Numerator sets the number of beats per measure and the Denominator controls how many clock pulses constitute a measure. Each section has a respective trigger output at the bottom, and there is an input for clock [CV over the Denominator] with accompanying LED [nicely, the clock input will remember the last clock rate fed into it], a reset, and CV in for both the Numerator and Rate of Change. These various inputs give a lot of more precise control over the variations you can wrestle out of the module.
Each section features a switch for either a unipolar or bipolar CV response for the modulation applied and the module has a 3 position switch with selections for Off, Even, and Odd that corresponds to the Denominator, and when set to Even or Odd, the switch will lock the output of the Denominator to that divisor.
The Random Subdivider also has an internal random source with the Rate of Change knob controlling how often, i.e. how many Denominator pulses–or measures–go by before a new random value will be sampled. These random values can be applied to each of the three controls via their respective attenuators [including the Rate of Change value itself, which can lead to some quite chaotic results]. The built in random is a really fun feature and can be a source of inspiring new rhythms and playing around with the amount of random fed into the Numerator and Denominator is a great source of off kilter beats. The funkiness can be a bit tricky to dial in but with a little patience a lot of fun and useful rhythmic ideas can be found.
I had a lot of fun using the Random Subdivider as a clock to advance sequences with more unpredictable timings. Having the reset input is great for taming the unpredictability a bit and imparting some order, and a great path to find interesting and funky patterns, which in and of itself is really helpful and valuable.
The Random Subdivider is a fantastic creativity sparker and I found it injecting some spice into my patching routine. I find myself using it in a variety of patches, as a trigger source for percussive sounds, to drive melodic sequences, and to trigger envelopes and other modulation sources. The intuitive, hands on control over the relevant parameters and the straightforward interface make the Random Subdivider an easy module to reach for if you're looking for a way to add some spice to your rhythmic sequences or an interesting module to inject some off-kilter pulses into your patch.
8 HP
Price: $250

morphacoustic.com