XAOC Samarkanda – First Impressions and Modular + Strings Composition

Samarkanda – delay, memory, and strings

Ever since I got my hands on it, Samarkanda by XAOC Devices has fascinated me.

I’ve used it in a recent piece that blends modular synths with a fully written string quartet — seeking a balance between repetition and movement, between digital textures and classical writing.

In this case, the East Beast runs a very simple sequence, almost like a cantus firmus, creating space for the Samarkanda delays and the evolving harmony of the strings to grow, intertwine, and reshape the whole. Like vines slowly covering a block of concrete until it becomes part of the landscape.

I combined channels in normal and reverse modes, synced from Pamela’s New Workout.

One of the delays is very short, with high feedback, producing a metallic resonance.

Another builds rhythmic momentum by increasing the wet mix and opening up the East Beast’s filter — a sort of refrain or peak moment in the piece.

Although my experience with the module is still fresh, its immediate musical response, flexibility, and sonic depth have inspired me from the very first patch.

About the module

Samarkanda is a four-channel digital delay with resampling, looping, reverse, and external sync capabilities.

It can behave like an analog-style delay (tape or BBD), or as a granular digital delay, with the ability to switch behavior independently per channel.

Each of the four delay lines features:

• Delay times from 0.5ms to 15s, or up to 60s in stacked mode.
• Reverse, hold (freezer), feedback control, and CV modulation.
• External clock sync with time division/multiplication (from 1:8 to 8:1).
• Voltage control over delay time, feedback, and mix.
• A default stacked routing for internal serial processing with no quality loss.

Samarkanda is designed not as a decorative FX module, but as a performance-ready delay instrument.

It can sound clean, precise, and reactive, but also chaotic, resonant, and saturated, depending on how far you push it.

Watch the piece

This piece is part of my project The Machine in the Botanical Garden. A full dedicated website is coming soon.

You can watch and listen to the full composition here