"Pass the Gestalt" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]
Softsynths: Loomer Aspect (Linux VST), Reaktor (Monark, Spark, Monoliner sequencer)
Eurorack: Qu-Bit Nebulae, Doepfer A-155, Tiptop Z-DSP Bat Filters cartridge
Drums: Ableton (Sample Magic Break Selection, Flatpack DM Arp 2600 Drums)
Sample: A famous modern composer
Recorded/arranged: Ardour (Linux version)
Update: A little Doepfer A-112 sampler riff was layered in at end and the track was reposted.
"Music Box Raver" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]
Flaunting my keyboard playing prowess (arpeggiator-assisted) with some tunes written for Kontakt's "music box" sample kit.
The synth sounds are (i) modular sequences using the "sample and hold" patch on the Doepfer A-155, (ii) riffs for the Adventure Kid single cycle wave forms in a Reaktor player created by Inspektor Gadjet, and (iii) Loomer Aspect, a Linux VST softsynth. Drums include E-Mu Orbit soundfonts and the NI Battery Digital Processing kit samples played in the Qu-Bit Nebulae. Recorded/arranged in Ardour (Linux version).
"Tiny Synth Trio" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]
A little chamber-ish piece. Two synth voices were triggered by the Doepfer A-154/A-155 sequencer, hard panned left and right, and recorded in Linux Ardour. A third voice (panned center) is the Calf Monosynth, playing on a MIDI track in Ardour.
One of the hardware synth voices is the Pittsburgh filter in oscillator mode, with a uLFO square wave used as modulation through the filter's "Q" cv input. The pitch is controlled from the uLFO and the filter knobs are used to tweak the timbre.
The other hardware synth voice is the Doepfer A-112 sampler playing piano and single-cycle waves.
"Bassline XL5" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]
Recorded and arranged in Ardour (Linux version)
Track 1 -- Ambient and Hoover-ish synth voices are Loomer Aspect, a VST softsynth that works in Linux (the LXVST folder holds the plugin). Sequencing is Ardour MIDI.
Track 2 -- Bassline is SIDGuts module (MOS 6581 chip from Commodore 64), triangle waveform. Sequencing is Doepfer A-154/A-155, envelope Tiptop Z4000. SIDGuts filter is modulated by Bubblesound uLFO sync'd to Doepfer A-160 clock. Some reverb at the end using Calf plugin.
Track 3 -- Above bassline is compressed using Calf and Ableton multiband dynamics plugins, used alternately with Track 2.
Track 4 -- Soft kick drum is Loomer Aspect. Sequencing is Ardour MIDI.
Track 5 -- E-Mu Orbit soundfonts, percussion sounds played in Calf Fluidsynth, dry and wet with Calf vintage delay. Sequencing is Ardour MIDI.
Track 6 -- "Raw" wav files from NI Battery Digital Processing kit, played in Qu-Bit Nebulae one shot mode. Sequencing is Doepfer A-154/155. Wavs are played dry and also using Tiptop Z-DSP Clocked Delays cartridge.
Track 7 -- Synth "lead" lines are played with SIDGuts (sawtooth and pulse waves), same filtering arrangement as above. Sequencing is Doepfer A-154/A-155. Another lead line is a 4-part chord using the SIDGuts, WMD Gamma Wave Source wavetable synth (2 parts), and Doepfer A-112 sampler. The chord is mixed down to a single track using Pittsburgh Audiomixer/Attenuator and filtered in Bubblesound SEM20 filter.
Tracks 8-10 -- Gene Krupa-like Ableton beats layered together (on Windows PC) and recorded in Ardour -- two breakbeats by Sample Magic (audio) and DM ARP 2600 Drums by Flatpack (MIDI kit)
Track 11 -- Celesta notes by a "well-known modern composer" (sample from vinyl)
"Short Ant March" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]
The MIDI looping bug was fixed in Ardour (the DAW I'm using on a Linux PC) so I fired up a couple of its plugin synths for this tune. The somewhat placeholder-ish melodies are multitracked over DAW-sync'd rhythms from modular hardware (specifically Qu-Bit Nebulae processed through Z-DSP's Clocked Delays cartridge). Kicks and hats, recorded from Ableton running on Windows, are layered in on separate tracks. The samples in the Nebulae are from an ex-NI Battery kit called "Digital Processing," which basically consists of short glitchy noise bursts. Composing beats for them in a Eurorack sequencer was fun.
Update: Reduced gain slightly, reposted.
