Darren's posts with tag: analogue synth
I've been spending these whole week finalizing the composition for my piece in 0501. From a C major piece it went to a G major piece and finally settling down on an A major piece. At first I wanted some key changes somewhere... but I thought I'll just keep it simple. Very simple concept, very direct layering... I hope it works with my piece in 0501. The track is "unfinished"... the piano is a mock up (as I am playing live, and much more variations than this version)... I am still thinking whether I should layer somemore analogue synth sounds... Not sure yet. So far this entire piece was done on my KORG Triton ST88... The track is unmastered and mixed badly. I wanted to cut it out to have a listen, let it settle in on me before I make any more changes tomorrow and do a mix down and mastering proper. So the entire mix and dynamics of this demo is quite inconsistent and ... erm... bad, especially for the drums. Forgive me. For the time being...    
|  | OK, my guitar is in rehearsals so I can't use it to test the PODxt Live. So I used the Roland SH101 instead.
DEMO: [SH101]PODxtLive
Not a song but just a demo of what the PODxt Live can do to a sound. What you hear is a product of 4 tracks recorded using Roland SH101 with a square + saw wave sorta synth going on in C major. 3 tracks hold either C or G notes in different ranges while 1 track holds a C7 chord arpegiated. The effect used on the PODxt is a harmonic flange with effects. There's some filtering going on on the SH101 but minimal... What you hear is unprocessed after recording. Just SH101 through PODxt into my lap-top and mixed.
Just got this second hand off from a nice dude. I must say this is a heavy stomp, build like a tank. Controls are straight forward and interface is great. It allows you to design your own "effects chain" and the silver knobs allow you to have control over the tone of the output... It's my first impression from using it straight out without reading a manual. I can't wait to use it with my guitar and see what it can do... I don't suppose it will be revolutionary, but I am sure it will come in handy. |
|  | Ok, so what happen when someone who doesn't know how to play the guitar and picked up an electric guitar for the first time and wanted to cut a track for an upcoming production? THIS:
W.K.W Dream[reject] (song number 7)
Supposed to have piano playing live on top, so this is like a backing track during performance. Yep, wanted to compose a track for Wong Kah Wai's Dream, TFP's production during arts festival. But after this track was done, I am having second thoughts so tentatively I've rejected this track myself. I am still a dummy when comes to guitar at the end of the day. Well, and I felt the song was inappropriate in a way. We'll see after tomorrow's meeting and hear what TC have to say to this.
Anyway, what's done is done, take it as an experience. It is afterall my first attempt on a guitar with no prior knowledge or training. Basically, I played by ear and loop it through EH2880 and RC20... effected through VF1 and ZebraVCF for different takes... kinda composed on the fly. For the synth parts, it was added in subtley and builds over time (JUNO106, AX60 and Radias). My favourite will have to be the SH101 (in about 03:43 and went on)... basically wanted to keep it as "acoustic" as it can be despite everything being electronic (well, analogue mostly)... have fun listening. Don't kill me if I've played the guitar really badly... It's my first time :P
Instrumentation:
Frigging brandless humbucker Roland SH101 Roland JUNO106 KORG Radias AKAI AX60 Looper: EH2880; BOSS RC20 Effects: BOSS VF-1; ZebraVCF Omitted: Thingamagoop; Effector13 Synth Mangler |
|  | Some 808 and 909 clone goodness added into my racks... sweet. |
|  | Via Vintage Synth Explorer:
"The AX-60 is among some of the last true analog polysynths of the mid-eighties. It was Akai's answer to the hugely successful Roland Juno series and Yamaha's new digital DX-series. The AX-60 is a programmable six-voice synth with a nice LFO, lowpass VCF filter, envelope sections, and more. An eight-voice version, the AX-80, was already available.
Programming this synth is easy using dedicated sliders, knobs and/or buttons for its parameters. It also has a useful noise generator and some other cool functions that include auto-tuning, chorus, a multi-mode arpeggiator and a keyboard that can be split into two key-zones, making it somewhat bi-timbral. All six voices can be stacked in unison mode for a powerful and thick lead sound. Its features and sound make the AX-60 a worthy alternative to Roland's Juno 106. The AX-60 may have been used by Bjork."
This baby sounded old school... basic presets that sounded unexciting (not really phat) but a few gems within. Once you start screwing with the preset sounds with the VCO, LFO and VCF... the synth comes alive... the filters are not too bad at all... ranging from "woody" to "bubbly"... I can see this coming to use in some of my shows... and that's great! :)
Ignore the flowers if you must... my mom bought it for me for Chinese New Year... LOL! |
|  | These are pictures taken whilst I compose and design for the play "Everything But The Brain" for Action Theatre. Now showing at the Esplanade Theatre. Here's the demo of three songs which I've picked out to upload (click on the title of the songs to listen):
EVER AFTER This track, by approach was really simple. I mic'ed up a Hungarian Zither (CITERA) using a contact microphone and it's being fed into the KORG Radias audio in. Using a vocoder preset, I have made it to trigger a synth note (D flat) with a moderate attack and a long release. So everytime I plug a note, it will trigger the synth note. The signal is also routed through it's internal effects with delay and reverb. Another contact microphone was employed to sample the Citera with a BOSS RC-20 and the playback is reversed... This track was recorded live with me improvising on the Citera. (I have no idea how to play it so I just did what I think sound right) You can find a picture of the Citera below...
BEDTIME STORIES A Plogue Bidule composition using a patch I've designed. The group has a couple of sequencers that triggers the risset bells and sine tones, which was passed through a rebuilder and some effects. Crytal Synths were employed for the generation of the glassy ambient. KORG Radias was used for a base drone...
EINSTEIN'S BRAIN An abstract of the 10 minute long piece. The piano was from KORG Triton ST88. An improvisation based on the scenic mood was recorded and then reversed and picthed down to underlay the original recording. Another Plogue Bidule patch was designed to sound scape subtley underneath this track...
DISCLAIMER: There are pictures of other synths which was employed for the composition and design of other songs and sounds but I did not include the demo here... It's sad to see the way they treated my music in production... director's call, so what to do :/ |
|  | THE VOTING HAS STARTED! Yes, voting will run till this Tuesday 12pm our time here in Singapore. I have provided the voting link so if you like what you hear here, do vote for me :D. THANKS! Stiff competition!
Okies, so here are the entries I submitted into the Cyndustries BUG OFF! aleatoric music contest:
d-DAY|h-HOUR mo12seCODE
The theme of the contest is "WAR & PEACE"and we are suppose to use any kind of synthesis be it software or hardware based, digital or analogue. If you like it do go HERE to vote for me as your top three picks. Look for the titles. I will be really grateful! :P
NOTE: No looped samples were used and they are all original creations, played live, sequenced or programmed. No matter how aleatoric it is supposed to be, it can still fall under a familiar format of music. There are more aleatoric elements in mo12seCODE than d-DAY|h-HOUR. The random bleeps and glitches of the oscillating and filtering Sherman Filterbank II and also alot of "chance" music involved in this piece (eg. the transistor radio reacting with the MF105, etc). For d-DAY|h-HOUR, it's set to a more typical music track with the filtering algorithms random on the arpeggiating synths. Just because it says aleatorical doesn't mean it must sound weird and out of this world in my opinion. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This album was taken post of recording the tracks. Here's the description of each piece:
d-DAY|h-HOUR
GEARS:KORG Triton ST88, KORG EM-1, KORG KP3, Sherman Filterbank II, MOOG MF105 Murf, MOOG Etherwave Theremin and ROLAND SH101.
DESCRIPTION: No software synthesis were used except for general effects during mixdown. Majority of the synthesis was from KORG Triton and composed on the fly. Drums were preprogrammed though on the EM1. The piano is from Triton and it was improvised on the spot. Not sequenced.
CONCEPT: I was pondering about war and peace and thought they are pretty dichotomous. The existence of one entails the existence of another. The meaning of peace would not be possible without the precedence of war or vice versa. Inspired by this notion, d-DAY|h-HOUR depicts the attack that ends war... with that, peace entails, but at much cost. Like my other entry, this song was cut in a about 4 hours. Hope you'll enjoy it. Cheers...
mo12seCODE
GEARS: Alesis ION, KORG EM-1, KORG KP3, KORG Triton ST88, Sherman Filterbank II, MOOG MF105 Murf and a small handhelf transistor radio.
DESCRIPTION: Composed and mixed on the fly with general effects passed post. Again this was done in about 4 hours as well. Special Notes: The Sherman Filterbank II was used as a self oscillating modular instead of processing sounds... it was patched for feedbacking itself. The transistor radio was used for creating the sweeping sounds (like wind)... achieved by feeding through MF105. Reaktor 5 was used for some sound designs as well as a simple drum sequence. Most drum sounds from EM1. Gun sounds were designed on Triton.
CONCEPT: "Morse code is the only digital modulation mode designed to be easily read by humans without a computer, making it appropriate for sending automated digital data in voice channels, as well as making it ideal for emergency signaling..." This piece is a stipulation of morse codes being sent amongst artificial intelligence during wars in the future... Resulting in a cacophony of electronic communication. Inspired by visuals of actual morse codes, I've derived patterns from some to enter it as sequenced patterns, repeating them and countering them against each other... and the outcome is rather musical, naturally... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PHOTO DESCRIPTION
Well, these were taken during the session. The first few LED displays are from the Sherman Filterbank II. Playing around with movements and it's actually quite magical in my opinion. The rest are just straight forward gear slutting.
OUT
|
Quite crap actually. This is my first attempt at video-making, from the demo I cut from my previous post SyNtH MaNtRa II. Amateurish stuff. Visual highlights shots from KORG EM1 and KORG KP3. Here's the original video on YoutubeThe song was cut from KORG EM1, KORG Prophecy, KORG KP3, BOSS VF-1 multi-effects processor and Moogerfooger MF105 MurF. For more shots of the session do visit HERE. Pretty lame but it's just out of pure fun. Import.flv (15.3 MB)
|  | "Cocktail-Patry Effect is the ability of the human ear to perceive a distinctive sound out of a collage of sounds. The ability to filter out a single sound from a collective of sounds. Sounds which are masked by a myriad of noised can be perceivable by the human ear through the exercise of this effect."
Audio Demo: | SyNtH MaNtRa II |
Music Concept: Using the Cocktail Party Effect as a main driving concept, I composed a motive for the set. There are three tracks of micro-melodies playing the same motive at different tempos and in variations covering different frequency bands. Each track will take precedence at different times, sometimes clashing sometimes in sync. The four track is a shakuhachi-like synths that plays a distinctive melody at the beginning. The drum track is pre-programmed and sequenced prior the recording, acting as a base to mask micro-melodies to make them hardly perceivable, forcing one to engage the Cocktail Party Effect in order to make out the micro-melodies that weaved underneath the on-going drum track. With the ideology of Cocktail Party Effect, Synth Mantra II is a multi-tracked improvisation in the world of synths, filters and effects, melting the boundaries between analogue and digital as they fuse.
The song was composed, arranged and improvised on the fly less the sequenced drums. It's then mixed down minimally and with no effects added post. I did this track in about 2 hours so don't expect a professional mix. It's more for fun... my fun :P.
Technical Details: All the synths sounds are from the KORG Prophecy, through the Moogerfooger MF105 MurF that changes rate of LFO as well as envelope. The Drum, which was pre-programmed and sequenced, is from KORG EM1, through BOSS VF-1 multi-effects processor and then through KORG Koass Pad III running a Grain Filter. The drum sequence was first passed through VF-1 on a violin filter, which resulted in a clicky metallic percussive sound. This was sampled into 3 banks on the KP3 in different variations. These sounds can be heard at the beginning of the track as it's morphed by the grain filter on KP3. During the actual recording, the drums were passed through a stereo vocoder on the VF-1 and then into the KP3 for the graining.
Photo Details: The song was composed and played in the dark so that I indulge in the right mood. The LEDs really take on full effects in the dark so I took pictures of it after the recording and also with lights on later. The streaking LEDs happened when I took one accidentally because of unstable hands but it turned out pretty interesting. So I began to experiment and also changing camera mode. The result is some stunning LED displays.
UPDATES: Video is not available HERE. Or you can go direct to Youtube to view it. Don't expect too much :D. |
|  | What does this man do in the middle of the night when he can't sleep and boredom sinks in?
"He let a transistor radio speak to a Moogerfooger"
Listen: C o N v E r S a T i O n S An experimentation that took place when in need of a modular... For those who are not atuned to experimental music, this piece is hardly musical and may not be assessible to you or may seemed abstract...
I didn't do much except passing the signal of a mini transistor radio with it's static noise running, through the MoogerFooger MF105 Murf... added some random patchings behind the Murf, routing "rate" to "envelop" and at times "mix". The rest is just knobbing, fading, sweeping the radio frequency band and stuffs. No effects or any EQ'ing added. What you hear is what MF105 did to the signal input. Pretty straight forward stuff...
The results? Ambient windy droney stuffs with spurts of crackly cranky random music and voices... Pretty interesting sounds. Musique Concrete?
|
 Stayed up again for reasons of self indulgence... cut a demo using Kaoss Pad 3... here it is: | SyNtHiMoRpHoSiS |"...All is metamorphosis in life, from plants to animals and man, yes, even in the latter," Goethe wrote to Sulpiz Boisseree in 1815... Utilizing emptiness releases the intensity of the introspective experience - "Architecture of Silence" by Tadao Ando. This track was inspired by a research email sent my way via a friend.SyNtHiMoRpHoSiS is an improvisation on the KP3, nothing fanciful and it was composed on the fly... Basically I cut the demo using only KP3 (as a hardware) and nothing else. Recorded 4 tracks onto the sampler section of the KP3 from Little Talks, which is a generative patch I did using Plogue Bidule. With the four tracks of clicky bleepy stuffs done, I used a max/msp patch that generates random frequencies in harmonics input into the KP3 with grain filtering. Recorded the output and improvisation onto multi-track. Then I routed the recorded track back into KP3 for another round of filtering using other presets. Next I used the KP3 drum loops to cut another track and again, routed the recorded track back into KP3 for filtering between a filter preset and two grain presets... I "played" the filtering pattern/procedure on the KP3 rhythmically and recorded it on pad motion. The pad motion was triggered on time to the samples when we get nearer to the rhythmic section. At times it's reversed using the "reverse" function button [shift+pad motion]. I kept it going while "interrupting" the pad motion with new manipulations on the pad... did a quick mix down and mastering... The whole process took about an hour... rather ad-hoc so apologies for the bad mix in the whee hours... It's amazing to taste KP3's immaculate power as i was able, using different filters and effects from KP3, to change generative frequency tones into ambient drones. Again, just trying to see what KP3 can do for me with my limited skills... One special note to take is that there's no extra effects added to the tracks. Hope you'll enjoy the subtle nuances to the harsh and crude manipulation... check out the Photo Gallery for more pictures of KP3. 
|  | UPDATE: I've cut a demo using KP3, you can visit my entry HERE to read about the improvisation and also listen to the demo... for convenience if you want to skip the details, here's the demo:
| SyNtHiMoRpHoSiS | "...All is metamorphosis in life, from plants to animals and man, yes, even in the latter," Goethe wrote to Sulpiz Boisseree in 1815... Utilizing emptiness releases the intensity of the introspective experience - "Architecture of Silence" by Tadao Ando. This track was inspired by a research email sent my way via a friend.
Here's the unboxing ceremony of my Koass Pad III... According to City Music only 5 came. I bought 2 (one for Rafi), Mike from City Music got one, another guy ordered and one lucky bugger walk-in and got it... sold out in less than 2 hours... That's hot.
Anyway, here's some pictures of first impressions... I will cut a demo and upload more photos in the near future so keep a look out for updates here. Also do visit my layman consumer review of this wonderful lil' monster on my KP3 Review. So demo track coming soon... Akan Datang!
It's a wonderful piece of gear... not to mention its beauty... |
|  | Ah... finally cut something out of Zebranalogic gears... ok, not strictly though. Again I employed the KORG EM1 for some drums and synth riffs... but that's all... Not a great track I must emphasize... if you do listen, just check out what Zebranalogic can do in terms of sounds and also how the filter and modulator can screw up your sounds in real bad-ass fashion :P. The sounds of all the chirping, bleeping and fuzz reminded me of insects and in particular cicadas and hence I did an improvisation based on this inspiration. Do use a pair of headphones for more detailed nuances. Here's the demo track: Digital Cicadas
Basically, everything in the track was done using Zebranalogic 2a Oscillator III, plus drums and a simple synth from KORG EM1. These two were then sent through AUX1 and AUX2... AUX1 sends to ZebraVCF and AUX2 to Zebramodulation. This demo song does not do justice to the gears as it's not a great improvisation. Basically I wanted to see how far I can push the Zebranalogic gears and yet make the sounds and music accessible... (I tried really avant gardish stuffs which I prefer and decide to keep it off the net :P). Honestly, the ZebraVCF has become one of my favourite gears (note: one of)... it really pushes the evelope of the sounds...
In the mix, which is done in 20 minutes... was recorded in 3 tracks... 1. 2a Oscillator III; 2. another track of 2a Oscillator III; and 3. KORG EM1... All the filtering, knobbing, etc were done during the recording... and then the 3 tracks were mixed during post... the panning of the Oscillator was done in post, and adding a general reverb... that's it... everything else was done during the actual recording... including sync'ing (try as I might)... so here it is... Like I said, not a fantastic track but worth putting the headphones on to listen to how the Zebranalogic gears chirped, bleeped and screamed... Do ignore my bad mix.
80% of the sound design that you hear in this piece was from 2a Oscillator, ZebraVCF and Zebramodulation... Hope you'll enjoy the irritating cicadas :)
Do visit Z E B R A N A L O G I C |
|  | So finally it came... And the packaging was ... erm really happening :P I guess that's why they said Russians are "bigger"... it is quite a moster... but bigger doesn't mean better...
Haha so highly indulgent again, this Russian Analogue Vintage Synthesizer is really a space craft. Believe me, it feels and looks like a space craft. Sound wise, to be honest, I wasn't too impressed. Tweaked around with it for a couple of hours and it did not offer me as much as I would expected it would do me. Nope I am not disappointed... it will definitely have a place in my recordings... just that I had very high expectations for it as the seller said "Moog emulation"... And being so big and with enough knobs to keep one busy for a while, it really doesn't offer enough in my opinion.
The filter section is kinda freaky or at least did almost threaten to burst my ear drums... does ok honestly, with such a harsh synthesis, the filtering brings the sounds out and made them come alive. So with aux in for external audio input, and a filter on board... hmmmm...Anyway can always use external filters to it so not a very big issue. The modulations seemed more prominent in warping sounds than the filters... so I guess it was more of a design choice. Anyway, it's a very dirty and harsh analogue synthesizer... very "Russian"? LOL Even the knobs that switches between wave forms and frequencies are BIG and LOUD when switched between different presents... (not a very good thing though)... But I am happy with it, really.
BUT NOT ENOUGH LED LIGHTS!!! LOL soooo shallow me... but really, if there's tonnes of blue LED lights to go along, it will really be a spacecraft!
So here's the "unwrapping" ceremony from the very unusual packaging and some (understatement)... MANY shots of the POLIVOKS... |
TRACK I: Synth Mantra IYou can refer HERE for the description of the improvisation, the set up, what you are hearing, what basically is happening and the gears involved. TRACK II: Funking ShermanYou can refer to HERE for a description of the process and where are the sources of the sounds. TRACK III: Digital CicadasHere's the newest improvisation using mainly only Zebranalogic stuffs. Keeping it here for longevity. Do visit THIS POST for a detailed discription of the improvisation as well as photos of the set... TRACK IV: SyNtHiMoRpHoSiS"...All is metamorphosis in life, from plants to animals and man, yes, even in the latter," Goethe wrote to Sulpiz Boisseree in 1815... Utilizing emptiness releases the intensity of the introspective experience - "Architecture of Silence" by Tadao Ando. This track was inspired by a research email sent my way via a friend. Visit THIS POST for a detailed description of the process... TRACK V: CoNvErSaTiOnSRan an old mini transistor radio into a Moogerfooger MF105 MurF; did some patchings here and there and knobbed through the session with the frequecy band of the radio swept. Recorded one take with no effects or EQ added post or during. For more muck shots do visit HERE. TRACK VI: SyNtH MaNtRa IIUsing the ideology of Cocktail Party Effect, Synth Mantra II is a multi-tracked improvisation in the world of synths, filters and effects, melting the boundaries between analogue and digital as they fuse. For more pictures of the the session do visit HERETRACK VII: W.K.W Dream[reject] (Click title below at download table) Ok, so what happen when someone who doesn't know how to play the guitar and picked up an electric guitar for the first time and wanted to cut a track for an upcoming production? THIS. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basically, my idea is to cut tracks spontaneously, no multi-tracking, no post editing (except for boosting levels and general reverb)... everything was done live and recorded in one take. All kbobbings, filtering, manipulations and stuffs are all done intuitively... all based on impulses. So these are tracks from those entries. If you have already heard them before then feel free to ignore this post :) |
|