Darren's posts with tag: roland
 Well, when was the last time I post about my synths? Seems like a long time. Anyway, here's what's been going on and I felt it calls for some synths porn again. Mypapers interviewed me for having a fetish for collecting synthesizers... audiophile they call it. Well, not in the strict sense. It was, erm... a bit weird always to be in front of the cameras so again, I felt most uneasy. Anyway it went well though I was told that I mentioned too many technical stuffs and they might have to edit it away to make the programme more accessible. Well, we'll see. Not sure when this programme will be out but heard it will be in September... which episode I am not sure either but I will inform close friends of it when the time comes. Features about 80% of my synths collection (can't display all due to space constraints - about 6 synths not in), demonstrations, synths porn, modular synths and theremin (not in photo YET); getting shy, acting stupid, talking funny... and my fat face. Oh well.... Since it's all set up, I thought I might as well do some shots of them, anyway, what are the chances of putting them all together in a small house like mine? So here you go:        More photos will be updated soon (I hope!) Out! 
| | Some random synth shots from the past. Thought I'll pick them out from the bunch to post in an independent album. Take it as a synth mug shot album :) I will be updating here when I take a synth picture that I think is worth posting... |
 Woke up with hyper-tension from a nightmare and I cun breathe properly, hyperventilating. :S Every breathe comes with a one tonne weight on my chest. In anycase, called my girlfriend (about the time she wakes for work) to find solace. She's always sweet to wake her pig boyfriend up, so I thought I'll do so at times since I am awake. And now online on Matrixsynth to try take my mind off it. And I saw this!!! Roland System 100m 182 Sequencer which brings you to the auction. Gasp! (I am already short of breathe) Did I see wrongly? USD$4500 for this single panel? Wow... but it will sure come in handy for me. Hah... consequently I thought about some must haves in my life or rather my wish list so here goes me gas'ing again: 1) Moog Voyager 2) KORG M3/ Oasys 3) Rhodes E Piano 4) Alesis Andromeda (I've heard so much good stuffs from it!) 5) Nord Modular G2 6) Roland TR-808 & TR-909 (now I have to use emulation) 7) French Connection Persephone 8) More Doepfer stuffs!!! 9) Zeroscillator 10) Serge Modulars (Edmund Eagan's one is monsterous) 11) Entire Moogerfooger collection (I know Bryan has it!!! woooooooo) 12) Lemur 13) Waldorf Blofeld 14) Access Virus TI Polar Woots... that's a lot for a wish list! LOL and I am sure there's more... Imagine Roland deciding to reproduce TR-808 and 909 I am sure the demand will be high! Anyway, I only see myself fulfilling a few of these list in my life. I don't think I can ever own all of these... :P Ah... OUT!
| | 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 |
| | A new acquisition for my new direction; a midi to cv convertor :) a 1985 gear in mint "out of the box" condition.
For more info visit: HERE |
| | 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 :/ |
 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... |
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 :) | M�w�<�w�<�w �5 $�\ | | M�w�<�w�<�w �5 $�\ | | M�w�<�w�<�w �5 $�\ | | | M�w�<�w�<�w �5 J�\ | | M�w�<�w�<�w �5 J�\ | | M�w�<�w�<�w �5 J�\ | | | DigitalCicadas | | | | | | | SyNtHiMoRpHoSiS | | | | | | | CoNvErSaTiOnS | | | | | | | SynthMantra II | | | | | | | wkwDREAM | | | | | | | SH101|PODxtLIVE | | | | | | | SH101|PODxtLIVE | | | | | | | SH101|PODxtLIVE | | | | | |
| | Right, so I am supposed to be working on the Museum project... but seeing my gears lying around and being neglected, I decided to spend some fun time with them, to make up for my negligence :P... There's a recording of the improvisation attached... hope you like it...
Here's the demo of the improv session:
SynthMantra I
Here's the url just in case it doesn't work again:
http://media.twango.com/m1/original/0019/87bb0d8e2fda49e1bdb96b0534c7acf2.mp3
Real fun...
NOTICE:I have solved the hickup in links, thanks to Matrixsynth who suggested Twango. So all links work now! :) ... I have uploaded the music on my music page anyway, do visit, TRACK I: InNeReAr
Apologies to all who were frustrated trying to load it...
Here's a basic run down of the set up for this improvisation session: Roland RS-09; Roland SH101; Sherman Filterbank II; Moogerfooger MF105; Zebranalogic VCF; Casio SA-5; and a Yamaha mixer; rather simple set up... SO, the RS09 left o/p runs through Sherman Filterbank II (SFB) and right o/p runs to mono channel on mixer; Send through Aux 1 (pre) to ZebraVCF; it's Headphone outs to MF105 i/p... The MF105 LFO patched to evelope, and left o/p to mono channel on mixer; send thru Aux 1 (pre) to ZebraVCF; and the right o/p to (SFB)... The ZebraVCF was sent to mono channel on mixer and Aux 1 (pre) sent randomly during improvisation; SFB was sent to stereo channel on mixer, sent through Aux 1 (pre) to ZebraVCF; SH101 was sent to mono channel on mixer, Aux 1 (pre) to ZebraVCF; Casio SA-5 o/p to Roland RS09 i/p; ... (I will not explain why and also how the SFB was being patched).
Right, so it's hit record and never looked back... fun improvisation for me. No multi-tracking, just stereo out to my recorder. All sweeping ambient and quirk squirking filter is sherman and MF105, and the ringing pulses and bird-like sounds were the effects of Zebra VCF, RS09 plays the organ & string tones and filtered nuts by filterbank and Zebra and MF105; Same thing for the bellish notes from Casio SA-5... Note to mention is the use of a Tibetan Singing Bowl, using a Rode NT3 condenser, the mic channel was sent to ZebraVCF slightly thru Aux 1 (pre) as well. The recording was done one take, no stopping and post editing done except to master the final volume and also pass a slight reverb through the entire track... track is AS IS. Some of the filtering may hurt your ears if you are not atuned to such music... All knobbing and manipulations of efx and filters done live...
Again, not a great track, but loads of fun for me :) More like having fun with analogue stuffs to see what I can churn out in real time, filtering, cross filtering and keeping as anlogue as I can (well arguments of SFB as not purely analogue still stands)... but anyway, I am just sharing the outcome of my noodling fun...
UPDATES: If you follow the patchings, you will realize everthing passes through the ZebraVCF... it's a wicked gear everyone should own. There's loads more on ZEBRANALOGIC, do visit to look it up! Everything is affordable and fairly priced. Looks great, sounds amazing and works wicked... If you do order, give the man some time... he is hand making, hand crafting the art out... and I believe he has many orders internationally. So wait it out... it's worth it! :)
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| | I've decided to keep a photo update of my studio state... to see how it grows over time (or diminish)... so here's some photos of my current studio. I will be upgrading it soon so keeping it for visual posterity...
I have also categorized synths collections in my photo index page... I am a little lazy and see it unnecessary to take out Korg Prophecy, Korg padKONTROL, Oberheim Matrix 1000 and Marion... :S so I have to keep them here...
UPDATES: New stuffs that are way over-due. Doepfer A100 Modular System with all other analogous processors, Radias, etc. |
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