music - tm

Notes for the Quantum Leap Sideways LP on Bandcamp. These are mostly tech jottings so I remember what I did. Any thoughts, questions, etc on the music itself are welcome at the email address on this about page -- the contact form on Bandcamp also works. This is mostly new material, continuing some lo-fi sampling ideas explored on the releases 40 Yards from the Machine and Household Kit. A small, nerdy collection of Eurorack sampling modules makes many of the sounds. Lower sampling rates and bit depths sidestep the tech world's inevitable drive to bigger files and bloatware, while still exploring some twisted notion of the "state of the art" -- hence the title of this release.

1. Random Series Ending 02:10

Have been collecting and manicuring individual .wav files of short (as in a second or so) duration for use in a various sampler hardware and software. The intellectual dilemma here is always "what the hell do you sample" so you are not dragged into period quotation (old jazz licks or vintage synths) or problems with someone else's copyright. My solution is cannibalized bits and pieces of my earlier tunes, live modular synth sounds, and sample-cleared percussion hits from various sources, to make this growing collection.
For this tune and the two "Refrigerator Drumming" tracks below, I made a group of "mega-recordings" playing the wav files in the ADDAC .wav player module, with some echo, and capturing the results. The Elektron Octatrack's MIDI Out triggers the files in the ADDAC, and a toggle switch determines if the wavs (about 30 per SD card) are played sequentially or randomly. The mega-recordings are, at this stage, mostly incoherent ramblings. After repeated play, riffs or tunes emerge that can be cut out and looped. Some of it -- the "ending" referenced in the title of this particular tune -- is left random.

Additional sounds in this tune are raindrops hitting an aluminum ladder outside my apartment window (clearly audible at the beginning), organ arpeggios from a Kontakt vintage synth instrument (whoops), and vocal samples (described in Number 7 below).

2. Bass Transitions (Nebulae) 02:17

Another wav player, the Qu-Bit Nebulae, makes an appearance. Expert Sleepers' computer-to-control-voltage hardware (specifically the ES-4 gate expander) triggers some ten-year-old Battery kit samples in the Nebulae's "one shot mode." ES's Silent Way LFO plugin sweeps the global pitch control, adding a pitchbend melody to the samples. A couple of parts were recorded this way, processed through a digital effects module in real time. Additional beats and bass lines were added in Cubase. Changes to Cubase's tempo track causes the middle section to play at incrementally slowing speeds.

3. Refrigerator Drumming 02:34

Composed/played entirely in the Octatrack sampler. The noisier parts come from ADDAC sessions described in Number 1 above. Additional sounds: my fingers drumming on top of my refrigerator door, a rare revelation of innate, biological percussive ability.

4. Quantum Leap Sideways 2:09

Doepfer A-112 sampler in wavetable mode. Expert Sleepers LFO randomly "sweeps" the wavetables while a run of MIDI notes from the PC is playing. The middle section layers the A-112 and ADDAC for a bassline and incorporates riffs from an earlier tune, "Gamma Wave Source and A-112 Delay with Freeze." The plucked guitar-ish sounds are from the (pre-loaded) wavetable sounds in WMD's Gamma Wave Source module. The tricky part here was recording a wavetable into the A-112 that had enough variety of soundwaves to make the random triggering interesting. I used the "Wiard wavetables" saved as a one-second sample, for reasons too boring to explain here.

5. Slap Bass Cannery 02:08

The Qu-Bit's one shot mode again, this time triggered with external MIDI notes. The samples were Battery's "Green Atmo" kit. Pitchshift and other effects from from Doepfer's DSP FX module were used to treat the sound. Then, some editing in Cubase, using timestretch to speed up and slow down the parts. The "ethereal" melody is a chord using three Eurorack modules, including a Pittsburgh filter in self-oscillating mode. That same filter is used in the quieter, "spacy" part about halfway through.

6. Drone College Triangle 02:22

A graft of two earlier tunes: "Drone College" (sampled from an Electribe rhythm box) and "Triangle and 8-Bit Delay" (modular synth ditty). In order to make the graft it work I had to repeat the beginning of "Triangle" -- that was predictable so I was forced to write some harmony/counterpoint to the original tune, for a dramatic finale.

7. External Arbitrary 02:58

Shreds of vocal samples in the Octatrack, mostly for the percussive properties of plosives, sibilants, fricatives and vowel-like utterances derived from the spoken words "gigabyte," "arbitrary," "acceleration," and "external hard drive." The microphone on a handheld .wav recorder was used to speak directly into the Doepfer A-112 sampler, after amplifying the "line out" somewhat. I triggered the A-112 with the Octatrack's MIDI Out, sampled the sounds, and manipulating them further in the Octatrack's audio editor. The simple melody parts were done with the modular synth and the beats are Sidstation samples triggered inside the Octatrack. A small forest creature from YouTube is also featured.

8. Refrigerator Drumming 2 01:17

Riffs from the mega-recordings described in Number 1 above, combined with some previous beat loops, arranged/played in the Octatrack sampler.

9. Woodchipper Dub 02:18

The bass lines and tempo track from "Bass Transitions (Nebulae)" were kept in Cubase and a new set of percussion samples was recorded with the ES-4 gate expander triggering the Qu-Bit. For melodic loops I recycled softsynth riffs from an earlier tune, "Woodchipper Gardens." The arpeggiated organ parts in the middle, from NI Massive, are new.

10. Beats the Alternative 03:52

This was the first tune recorded of this group. I had the idea of using insert cables in the Vermona drum machine to add effects from Eurorack modules, mainly filter-swept distortion from Doepfer's DSP FX module. MIDI Out from the Octatrack triggers the Vermona and a couple of Eurorack modules. To have enough variations of a rather limited repertoire of patterns and timbres to justify the nearly 4 minute run time, I ended up breaking down each voice into separate tracks and extensively editing in Cubase.

Am pleased, and yet, humbled, to announce a new LP on Bandcamp: Molecular Exercises.
10 tracks, consisting of new material as well as extensive rearrangements of songs posted during my "free download" era. Tracks that had interesting beats (and little else) are mated with ones with mellifluous tunes (and little else) to make complete statements (until these seem incomplete).
This is my eighth release in 2014. Your support in the form of buying the LP or songs would be very encouraging, but all the material can be streamed.

Notes for the Molecular Exercises LP on Bandcamp. These are mostly tech jottings so I remember what I did. Any thoughts, questions, etc on the music itself are welcome at the email address on this about page -- the contact form on Bandcamp also works. This is new material as well as extensive rearrangements of songs posted during my "free download" era. Tracks that had interesting beats (and little else) are mated with ones with mellifluous tunes (and little else) to make complete statements (until these seem incomplete).

1. Electro Groupie 01:38

New arpeggiated tunes made with Native Instruments' FM8 synth are added to a beats-only track from 2009, consisting of 808 samples and "live" Vermona drum machine hits chugging along at 170 bpm. A sped-up version of a Sidstation tune, "C64 Stabhop," was added as a bridge-thing.

2. Aerobic Trumpets 02:58

A new intro using the Reaktor Aerobic synth/sequencer is added to an earlier tune "Trumpets" (also from '09) featuring e-piano and synthetic brass from Steinberg's Halion ROMpler.

3. Wandering and Squandering 01:43

Cubase has a new instrument, Loopmash, which is kind of plugin Ableton, adjusting the timing of various loops to a master track so you can mash stuff. This tune reconfigures a Rhodes-ish preset and then loopmashes some of my own material from earlier songs.

4. Aerobic 808 (Remix) 02:46

An Aerobic track gets a makeover. The synths are Loopmash (piano riff) and Linplug's Alpha synth with a midi echo insert for arpeggiation.

5. Slight Technical Difficulties 02:08

Percussion (an Aerobic riff with and without effects from Native Instruments' Guitar Rig) is added to a modular synth tune from 2013. I described the original as "another modular synth ditty, with an underlying intrusion of what the modular websites like to call 'FM madness.' The bass is the same pattern as the chime but with the Doepfer Quad ADSR syncopating it heavily."

6. Krolock's Dub 02:20

The Vermona drum synth with various digital percussion effects played using insert cables in the Vermona's individual drum channels. Two earlier tracks using this setup are played simultaneously, which causes the chord change near the beginning -- that's the bass from one of the tracks kicking in. The synth tunes are old (Reaktor Three Times -- the high pitched quasi vocal) and new (Native Instruments' Massive -- the clavinet-ish riff that runs throughout).

7. Skill Not Gamelan 02:26

A rearranged tune from 2012, with some delay effects. Here's how I described the original: "All sounds except the percussion were made with the modular synth, recording a few bars at a time and then overtracking them. (The percussion is from the Battery kit I made of samples from the Sidstation a while back.) These are my self-made patches, ranging from bassoon sounds to bells to 'fuzz bass.' Once the sound is nailed down, MIDI parts are played in Reaktor or Cubase that attempt to exploit the best of each patch. Results are unpredictable once the MIDI lines start getting added, which makes writing the parts fun. At this point many Eurorack-style modules are a mix of analog and digital sound generation. Most of the sounds here originated with a wavetable VCO, which uses digital waveforms. The bell-like sounds are analog, with some FM synthesis and filtering."

8. Odd Burbles (Sonic Ute Mix) 02:02

Two tunes from 2013, "Odd Burbles" and "Sonic Ute," are played simultaneously, creating some unplanned counterpoint. In both tunes, the Octatrack sequencer was used as a midi controller for my modular synth and also as a sampler and multitrack mixer of the sounds thus produced.

9. Pulsewidth Placeholder (Extended) 02:11

The beginning of this tune appeared on my previous release, Recombinant Youth, but sheared off into something completely different. This version sticks with the premise of the opening phrases. For the pad melodies I used Frame, a granular Reaktor instrument I'm really enjoying.

10. Biting Midges 02:00

This is the only older tune I'm presenting without alteration. Here's what I wrote in '09: "Furious scratching at beginning gives way to homage to a fave drum and bass melody from 1994. Some Linplug RMV snare and hat loops are used."