music - tm

"Day Sleeper" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]

Some new sounds in my usual four-bar cuisinart: a Linux instrument called Aeolus ("a synthesized [i.e. not sampled] pipe organ emulator") and an actual live violin sample by Trev Wignall, part of a sound pack for the Qu-Bit Nebulae Eurorack granular sampler. I'm transposing it and I don't know what else in the Nebulae; haven't given a close enough listen to the original clips yet. :(
The final mix of "Day Sleeper" was done in Ableton, which I've been using because it has better handling of the Expert Sleepers modular hardware and software (also used on this track). Expert Sleepers routing in Cubase was a constant... struggle. Even in Ableton it's a puzzle wrapped in a riddle. Basically the designer understands how it works but spreads "the small picture" across dozens of videos, manuals, and forums. Have been working on a series of notes on "Expert Sleepers for Ableton," which is mainly to keep all the tracks and channels straight in my head. At the end of the day being able to control a modular synth with control voltages coming directly from a PC's sound card is kind of nerdy rush, so am not begrudging the effort.

"Dragginfly" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]

"Double Angkulum" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]

After years of MIDI piano roll clicking virtuosity I finally sprang for a USB piano-style keyboard. I'm using it primarily for "patch testing" and "note entry."
"Dragginfly" is a modular synth tune, with syncopated delay from a couple of hardware effects modules. The TR-606 rhythms were added at the DAW stage. Am happy with the laid back feel of this. (The thing that sounds like brass is from a SID chip.)
"Double Angkulum" is a fragment, included as an example of "live drumming from the keyboard."

Update: Reposted "Dragginfly" after a few tweaks.

"If 90s Were 10s" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]

This was made with Ardour (also verve and panache). Ardour is a digital audio workstation that I'm running on a Linux PC. Finally resolved my latency issues. Still haven't found the right tool in Linux for a final "master" so I used the PSP Vintage Warmer (hat tip JP) on Windows for that.

Ardour has what I consider the working basics: "MIDI out" to control an external synth; simultaneous record/playback of the synth while other tracks are playing; audio tracks (with plugins) running alongside midi-tracks-with-softsynths (also with plugins); limiter on the master bus. Ardour mixes all this down to a 32 bit wav file (faster than Windows does).
Ardour has some limitations -- MIDI editing is pretty sparse. But also some advantages, such as a list of audio clips that shows the place of each in the timeline. Anyway, getting there.

Sonically, am continuing to explore the E-Mu Orbit 9090 soundfonts, hence the title.

"Dial-a-Melody" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]

Except for the percussion, all the sounds emanate from the Vermona Perfourmer analog synth. But all are then treated with a bevy of effects (compression, reverb, delay, and Absynth treatments) so that the analog sound is effectively buried, no pun intended. I wrote the main tune -- the second melody is literally on a dial of simple midi sequences that the Perfourmer has to test out synth patches. The Absynth effects essentially create variations on this tune.

"Cloud Tenders (Brass)" [mp3 removed -- please listen on Bandcamp]

The "brass ensemble" is the Vermona Perfourmer analog synth -- four monosynths struggling to stay in harmony. The rest is "chord" hits from NI's Battery 4 ROMpler, and selected percussion.