music - tm

"Azure 25" [mp3 removed]

Arpeggiation at 140 beats per minute inevitably conjures videogame music but this is 24 bits.
Another experiment with Cubase's onboard "Arpache" sequencer and the Element P software percussion synth. Plus a breakbeat.

"Noise Gospel" [mp3 removed]

Some of the quasi-vocal sounds used in "Quadruple Carbon" were made into samples and loaded in the Reaktor "Krypt" synth. The resulting track is the spine of this short song, with voltage-controlled kick and percussion sounds running underneath (and a piano riff).

Note to trolls (guess I should post this periodically): If something is a fragment or a work in process I usually mention that. I don't really have a genre peg for what I'm trying to do with music, or a group that I particularly want to throw in, or down, with. (I really dislike the wave files on Soundcloud, reducing expression to graphic peaks and valleys.) Generally I consider this electronic music or home computer music. I have had great conversations with and feedback from one or two artist/musicians about points of crossover between music, visual art, and "expression that is somehow inherently digital." I have co-produced a CD and have posted over 500 songs now; some are done quickly and some take several days (or more) of sustained focus, even though the average length is only a couple of minutes. I know when something's finished and if it's not, I generally won't post it unless there is some idea or texture I want to share.
These aren't really songs in a traditional sense, but then neither are they the formal or system-oriented experiments that are usually considered art. I am interested in combining styles and moods and investigating whether it is possible to tell musical untruths (I believe it was Auden who said you couldn't.) I'm interested in why something doesn't fit in the "art" genre--does "art" always have to mean unstructured-sounding or "noise" based?
Thanks to the bots sniffing the web for, um, publicly available music, my audio files are the most-trafficked content on my blog. Most downloads are just mistakes but the work is "getting out there" in fairly substantial volume. Certain songs are downloaded again and again. Occasionally I receive a a review, a "like," or a sale. Is this enough? Probably.

"Rhodes Notes" [mp3 removed]

Some scratch sounds that I granularized a couple of years ago and forgot about. These riffs are supplemented with live synth blorts and a collection of Fender Rhodes loops that sort of tie everything together. Am actually pretty excited about this piece's mix of moods and gear changes.
An angry reader went off on me today, criticizing my blog, my writing, my person, and every fiber of my being as a complete sinkhole of poisonous corruption and the unkindest cut of all was that I constantly post...incomplete music!!
Sir, please, please unsubscribe from this blog feed. I've already blocked you on Twitter, for your own good--what were you thinking, following Satan like that?

Update: Reposted the song with tweaks to the gain and panning of the LFO'd "blorts." Those analog sounds are kind of horrible but I think they are critical to the piece.

"Quadruple Carbon" [mp3 removed]

Am interested in analog gear mostly for sampling fodder. Sounds that can't be made digitally (due to the inherent unpredictability of voltages) that are ultimately captured digitally and used as seasoning for a stew of 1s and 0s.
Some of the gritty quasi-vocal sounds in the background here are made with a random analog patch that was sampled, sliced up and EQd. (The LFO signal "out" to the VCA control voltage "in" seemed to be the catalyst for these bizarre noises but I doubt I can repeat them.) The bouncy FM-ed bass note is also analog and gives some punch and randomness that a digital drum synth might not have, or maybe that's just an article of faith with me. Most of the "lead" synth tunes (heard under the pianos) were made with the Reaktor Carbon softsynth.

The "latin" electric pianos give this piece some structure but they do drown out some of the electronic subtleties, which is why I am posting the backing track separately.

"Quadruple Carbon (Backing Track)" [mp3 removed]

What the next track sounds like sans electric piano parts.