music - tm

"Pacific Scrim" [remixed and reposted here]

Apologies for the detailed technical notes, will forget this if I don't write it down.

Right channel: Sidstation sustained note C3 (raising and lowering octaves to C2 and C4 at the end) enters Mutator filter through main audio input (also in the right channel). Midi notes on MIDI channel 3 play in an ascending/descending sequence, affecting the pitch of the cutoff filter [and retriggering LFO sweeps at the beginning of each note--I think]. At the same time a drum pattern from an Electribe groovebox entering the Mutator's right channel external audio port changes the envelope contour, giving the sequence a syncopated beat it wouldn't otherwise have. (The Electribe was set at the same BPM but I ran out of MIDI cables so it's a miracle it's in sync.)

Left channel: Same as above, except the audio being filtered (the Hawaiian guitar sound) is a high note from an analogue drum machine (with some FM wobble), the MIDI on channel 4 is triggering descending/ascending notes instead of the reverse, and there is no Electribe beat envelope.

The opening section is the same setup as the left/right channels described above, played with the Sidstation and Ch. 3/4 MIDI notes but without the Electribe beat envelope in the right channel, making the LFO/filtering more swirly.

The melody at the halfway point sounds like it wandered in from another song but it's kind of pretty, IIDSSM.

"Edible Plastic" [mp3 removed]

Previously posted as the third part of "Modular Medley."

A Sidstation solo, Mutator-filtered and digitally delayed (FX chain alert), plays over a couple of layers of analog kick sounds. (Hey, John, I finally used that Red Sound device I bought from you.)

"Genes of Pure Arsenic" [mp3 removed]

Previously posted as the second part of "Modular Medley."

Kraftwerk-y sounding tune based on the MIDI demo pattern for Reaktor's SQP sequencer, drastically altered by turning the (virtual) dials on the HERW Modular-Mini 2 synth in real time, while the sequence plays--my own patch, FWIW.

"Data for Trinkets" [mp3 removed]

Am finally starting to write my own patches for the Sidstation synth, a piece of gear based on the Commodore PC sound chip from the '80s. The rhythm is an analog kick coming into the Sid's external audio port, treated by a filter with two or three LFOs working on it, pulling it slightly in and out of tune (and step). The main melody is three oscillators tuned to make a chord, also with filtering and LFOs (I don't remember if the latter are working independently or on all three OSCs--in any case they are synced to the beat and not individual notes, producing a kind of wonky warble on sustained notes). The percussion is also all Sid--one factory patch and two of mine. Very noisy background, that's what one of the "charms" of the chip, as the manufacturers say.

"Modular Medley (Part 1 Only)" [mp3 removed]

Decided to post this two minute song as a stand-alone piece. Repeating what I wrote about it earlier:

Am continuing to explore using MIDI to control the Mutator filter (my one piece of vintage '90s gear).
About forty seconds into [this] you can hear mirror image patterns written in the pitchbend controller grids of Cubase--one pattern for the left channel and one for the right, so there is an antiphonal effect. The sequences are "carving" pitch information out of a sustained synth note played into the filter's external audio input (and split by the filter into stereo channels). Pitched down an octave it reminds me of the eerie tuned drum bass note Goblin uses on the Suspiria soundtrack--it's instantly recognizable if you know the movie.

The intro and ending are done with the Modular-Mini 2 Reaktor instrument.