September 2012

"The Hammond Horror," "Wavetable Bagpipes"

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"The Hammond Horror" [mp3 removed]

"Wavetable Bagpipes" [mp3 removed]

Both of these short "noise" works were integrated into an earlier-posted song, "B4 and 4fter (Bongos)."
Am presenting them straight here. These were made with the Doepfer A-112 sampler: a second or two of Hammond organ playing was sampled, and the module converts the sample data into a wavetable format. Then, an external control voltage is sweeping various parts of the table -- you get a very abstract (harsh) synth sound with stuttering as the voltage digs around in the table, moving from one "address" to another and triggering the waveforms. At the same time, this noise still carries the unmistakable Hammond "tonewheel" sound. In the bagpipe-like piece, the stuttering is rhythmic and reminiscent of trills played by that reed instrument. However "good" the finished works may be (and the sound is gnarly) the process still fascinates me.

from the new york times online front page

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nyt_models

You knew something like this would happen when the Times moved its headquarters across from the Port Authority. But seriously, how economically desperate are they getting over there?
I stopped reading the NYT as a main news destination after their role in promoting the Iraq War (still unapologized for) and the breaking story where they claimed Eliot Spitzer "had ties to organized crime" because he visited a hooker -- among hundreds of other reasons for not reading the paper. With the internet it's possible to be reasonably well-informed without a "paper of record," especially an untrustworthy one. These days one mainly looks at the Times for a ballpark idea of what they think a "top story" is, and as a place to learn about competitions such as the one above.