Frap Tools: Modal Counterpoint Meets Modular – Trevor Tunnacliffe’s Oceanic Patchwork

Tunnacliffe’s musical journey is anything but linear. Growing up in a small Canadian town with scant musical infrastructure, he found his way from trumpet to bass guitar, and eventually to early music via the recorder and viola da gamba. His family’s musical lineage—grandfather on church organ, great-grandfather in a dance band—provided inspiration, but his own path was shaped by a mix of practicality and curiosity.

The transition from classical instruments to modular synthesizers was driven by both necessity and creative ambition. Tunnacliffe describes how the modular world offered a way to realize the chamber ensemble in his head, allowing him to compose, sequence, and render complex pieces without the constraints of traditional performance. The flexibility of Eurorack, with its ability to morph into a new instrument for each project, proved irresistible. As he puts it, the modular setup became a means to emulate not just the timbres of acoustic instruments, but the intricate interplay of voices found in early music.

At the heart of Tunnacliffe’s approach is modal counterpoint—a compositional technique honed by Renaissance masters and pedagogues. He draws inspiration from figures like Defay, Ockeghem, and Busnoys, favouring the freer, more linear style of pre-Palestrina composers. This influence manifests not just in the notes, but in the way melodies intertwine, often prioritizing voice leading and independence over strict harmonic progression.

Tunnacliffe’s fascination with canons, particularly the elusive mensural canon, reveals a penchant for musical puzzles that border on the mathematical. These exercises, while rooted in historical practice, become a playground for experimentation within the modular environment. The video highlights how these rigorous techniques can be both a compositional gymnastic and a source of creative liberation, especially when filtered through the lens of modern aesthetics and technology.

Tunnacliffe’s patch demonstration is a deep dive into translating natural phenomena—specifically, ocean swells—into modular soundscapes. He constructs a drone piece built from three independent ‘subswell’ voices, each with its own period, amplitude, and direction. Using a clocked sequencer (USTA), he assigns unique stage lengths to each track, creating overlapping cycles that mimic the unpredictable rhythms of the sea.

Each voice is routed through its own oscillator and low pass gate, with amplitude and panning modulated to evoke the sensation of waves arriving from different directions. The sum of the three pseudo-sine envelopes forms a ‘timeline’ voltage, which is then used to modulate timbral elements such as wavefolding and filter drive. This evolving voltage not only shapes the overall arc of the piece but also triggers dramatic events—like crashing waves—when certain thresholds are crossed, using compare functions and additional modules for percussive and noise effects.

The patch is a study in emergent behaviour: by setting independent cycles and letting them interact, Tunnacliffe creates a composition that ebbs and flows organically, much like the ocean itself. The demonstration showcases both the technical possibilities of modular synthesis and the compositional mindset required to harness them for evocative, structured sound design.

The Unthunk project is as much about collaboration as it is about individual vision. Tunnacliffe describes its evolution from a solo venture—where he played bass and enlisted friends as session musicians—to a more integrated collective featuring versatile contributors. Vocalist LJ, with her theatrical range, and jazz drummer Buff, whose nuanced percussion shapes the ensemble’s sound, are central to the group’s identity.

While Tunnacliffe remains the primary composer, the input of these collaborators brings new dimensions to each project. The current focus on oceanography and the writings of Rachel Carson provides a thematic anchor, but it’s the interplay of personalities and instrumental voices that gives Unthunk its distinctive character. The video underscores how modular synthesis, far from being a solitary pursuit, can serve as a connective tissue in a broader musical ecosystem.