Synthesizers

RPM 2007: Twista Dilemma

Latest from my RPM 2007 blog:

I have been playing around with some of the loop-based sound sets that come with Emulator X2, including the “TwistaMania” bank – mostly just looking for some inspiration for the techno and beat-based sections of the album, but I found I really liked what I was playing. Plus, it's got that really addictive funky disco thing going. You can hear a brief sample here. This could be the kernel of a track for the album, possibly even the first full track after the intro – but it leads to what I am calling my “twista dilema.” Anyone else with Emulator X2 could easily do something similar, and more abstractly a 4/4 techno-dancy thing might sound trite in the context of my work.

UPDATE: since the original post on RPM, I heard an interesting, and quite timely, program on radio open source. Between the discussion in praise of creative appropriation, and my own sense of energy and enthusiasm for the funk disco sound, I think this track will be a part of the album – and it will be titled “Twistadilemma”, probably the second full track.









CatSynth pic: Freddie chilling on the Serge

Submitted by Knox Bronson at SunPopBlue:

Bronson has collaborated with Gustvo Lanzas (who provided the recent video of Apu the “Acid Cat”) on an interesting improvisation featuring the Serge (and an E-MU SP-1200!) called Where The Bees Are. Check out the free mp3.

And there is still more fun with Freddie at SunPopBlue. Check out his video Sleep (An Homage to Andy Warhol):

Ah, wasn't it only a day or so ago that we were again reminiscing about New York in the 1970s?






RPM 2007: First steps

Report from the first day on the RPM challenge:

The idea that I can spend a month, or even a fraction thereof, doing nothing but working on this album is laughable at best. There will be many distractions in the coming days, just as there have been today. Nonetheless, I made a point to take some first steps this evening..

Based on the “arc” and narrative form I am defining for the album, I went in search of samples to use for the introduction and some beats to use for the first full section. The intro should be an old clip from a big band or jazz recording from the 1940s/1950s – I discovered a really good collection of public-domain big-band radio recordings on The Internet Archive, and quickly settled on my intro.

Next up is selecting some initial beats for the beat-based / techo part of the album. I selected several drum-beat samples, and imported them into Emulator X. Using the beat-analysis (aka “Twistaloop” features), I created several seven-beat loops.

The initial rhythmic section will employ a 7-beat meter and combine drum loops and Proteus patterns inside Emulator X, as well as 7-beat/14-beat Indian thekas for tabla. This will probably also be the first opportunity to use the DSI evolver in a compositional setting (as oppose to live improvisation).

That will probably be all I get done tonite, as I take some time to relax while writing this blog entry and getting some “kitty love” from Luna (she's snuggling in on my chest as I write this).










CatSynth Pic: Waldorf Pulse and Cats

This cute photo is originally from synx508 over at flickr comes to us via matrixsynth,

Looks like we have mutual posts this week – in addition to our picking up the above photo, matrix has reposted Teodor Revolution from here.

The cats-and-synths meme is growing! It's in our name, it's a frequent topic here, at matrixsynth and elsewhere, and the number of photos and videos of cats with synthesizers seems to be on the rise. What is it that makes cats and synthesizers go together? Or in some cases, not go together – there are several boorish comments posted on matrixsynth under Teodor Revolution. That aside, it might simply be the case that “synth people” tend to be “cat people.” Cats are small and curious and likely to explore our large racks of gear, finding warm nooks within. Additionally, cats are less likely to be banned from home studio environments. Certainly, Luna is a welcome presence in my studio. I would never extend the same priveledge to a dog (then again, I doubt I would let a dog enter my house at all).

Please feel free to share you thoughts on the cat-synthesizer relationship below.







CatSynth pic: Teodor Revolution

This photo comes to us from altermark at flickr. To quote: “Definitely a cat on synth picture for once!”

Teodor is a lovely siberian cat, and the synth upon which he stands is a Future Retro Revolution. The Revolution is a very visually attractive instrument – I have seen it at NAMM several times. I don't really have a sense for it as a musical instrument, however. How does a Revolution compare to my Evolver, for example? The Evolver has four oscillators (plus a “fifth” via feedback that I often use), multiple filter options, and other timbral features, while the sequencer is somewhat awkward to use. It seems at first glance, the Revolution flips the balance between synthesizer and sequencer in favor of sequencing, which does have its place.

Perhaps you can judge for yourself by listening to the audio examples. Certainly, we recently saw that Apu enjoys the “acid sounds” from the Revolution.






CatSynth video: Apu the "Acid Cat"

Gustavo (aka “audioel” on YouTube) submitted this rather appropriate (and very cute) video:

Apu really likes the TB-303 acid sounds of the Future-Retro Revolution demos

Of course, he is a cat and tries to use “kitty science” uncover the source of the sound, but to no avail.

Looks like the laptop is a black macbook, similar (or the same) as the one I got last December. I'm wondering whether the tb303 track is just a recording, or a softsynth running on the macbook.






CatSynth pic: Moogy

From our friends at matrixsynth, here is Moogy the moggy!

Moogy is actually the feline companion of Corky Burger. You can hear a “collaboration” of theirs entitled Moogy Boogie. Apparently Moogy enjoys hiding in the gaps between analog synth modules. I hesitate to think what would happen if Hercules attempted to fit in there.

Matrix had been campaigning for Moogy to win a contest featuring cute animals with electronic gadgets. She definitely got my vote. Unfortunately, the contest is now over and it appears that Moogy lost out to a chinchilla. We will have to launch a better coordinated campaign next time…





Neave.tv and friends

This video came via our friend synthmonger. It was part of something called neave.tv, basically a custom video-channel application the web that plays a selection of syndicated material from YouTube, Google Video, and elsewhere. Synthmonger was actually calling attention this particular video featuring pjtoro's musical suit appearing on a Russian or Eastern European TV show. The suit appears to be a series of synthesizers controlled by body sensors. Pretty cool. The feline-themed models are a nice touch, too (hey, this is “CatSynth”).

More detail can be found at pjtoro's site, including design information, more images/videos and even an interactive flash simulation.

Back on neave.tv, I found a few other interesting videos. Most intriguiging to me was the a work called Sixes Last by 1st Ave Machine, a design and animation house located (surprise) on 1st Avenue in New York. They did an amazing job of blending natural elements with surreal biology. You have to think about it for a few moments to decide whether it's real, completely animated or manipulated in some fashion.

It's really not hard to create ones own syndicated channel like this with Flash, dynamic HTML/Javascript and the APIs provided by YouTube and other video sites. What interests me more are a few of the videos themselves, such as the work by 1st Ave Machine and others, which remind me that I still want to do more experimental video and animation work to complement my music. I've been spending much time back exclusively with music and sound (and trying to sell the CD lately), but there are some upcoming video opportunities I might want to consider…








Guess the Electronics

Inspired by a discussion on the Bay Area New Music maling list about electronic-acoustic music as well as different electronic tools/technlogies (e.g., MAX, CSound, etc.), I present the Guess the Electronics game.

Simply listen to each of the challenges below and leave a comment on how you think each was one created. You can also take a guess as to which examples include acoustic material.

It's fun for the whole family ?

challenge 1
challenge 2
challenge 3
challenge 4
challenge 5