Category: Bonus Track

Posted on

Bonus Track – Colored Strings Rev 1

I didn’t set out to re-record my latest patch the other day. I was set on using some other sample set in some other way. But there were a few things about my last recording that bothered me a little. I was getting too many pitches that were too high; well outside the zone of what “Low Strings” should be. There were points when way too many colors were being shouted at listeners. The delay was a bit too much. And I wanted to streamline the patch a bit.

I won’t go too in depth on the patch, you can read about the details here, but I did make a few changes that improved the recording substantially….

The most major change I made was to eliminate the Qu-Bit Electronix Nautilus, and use the pair of Echofix EF-X2 tape delays on the string samples. This helped to both fill out the space, while simultaneously cutting away excess in the overall soundstage. Rather than simply repeating notes and phrases, the tape delays lengthened and widened them.

The Panharmonium (introduced at ~2:40) was pitched down an octave, which helped lend some depth. More voices were added, and it was set to analyze a wider spectrum. The Panharmonium, along with the Walrus Audio Slöer (which was also set to pitch an octave down), really added weight to the entire recording. I removed a delay from the Panharmonium’s signal path (previously the tape delays), and allowed it to sing only through the reverb, which was a substantial improvement.

No changes were made to the Dradd(s).

No changes were made to Plaits-does-Robot-Speak except sending it far fewer gates.

Modules Used:
Nonlinearcircuits The Hypster
Nonlinearcircuits Lets Get Fenestrated
Nonlinearcircuits Stochaos
Nonlinearcircuits Triple Sloth
Vostok Instruments Asset
Expert Sleepers Disting NT
Addac System Addac814 6×6 Stereo Matrix Mixer
Rossum Electro-Music Panharmonium
Pladask Elektrisk Dradd(s)
Mutable Instruments Marbles
Mutabke Instruments Plaits
Mutable Instruments Beads
Knob Farm Ferry
ST Modular SVCA
Intellijel Quad VCA

Outboard Gear Used:
Echofix EF-X2
Walrus Audio Slöer
Noisy Fruits Lab Lemon

Improvised and recorded in one take on iPad in AUM via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

Posted on

Jamuary 2505 – Two Versions

I was always sure that a Verbos system could do ambient, but it’s not what I read in their brand identity. Mark Verbos, the owner of Verbos, has noted several times in interviews that his main inspiration in both making music and instruments is his love for techno. The sounds his instruments make are raw, and there doesn’t seem a clear path to ambient paradise when I look at Verbos module faceplates. But in an interview I recently watched, Verbos mentioned that one of the first questions he was asked when the Harmonic Oscillator was whether it can do ambient drones, something he hadn’t considered at all when he was designing it. Nearly a decade later we know Verbos systems can used to perform ambient music, but it wasn’t until today, after a couple of days using sequencers and rhythms, that I finally decided to see what I could do.

The patch began with the Polyphonic Envelope, each of the four outputs to a different harmonic of the Harmonic Oscillator, with the All output patched to the fundamental. In a new technique for me, I decided to use blue noise from Sapel as an amplitude modulator for the fifth harmonic, which ended up being fantastic. I followed that up with very short, randomly generated pings to the eighth harmonic. As a means to more beef, I also frequency modulated the HO with its own second harmonic. The Mixed output of the HO was sent first through Amp & Tone for a bit of conditioning and resonance before going to the Multi-Delay Processor. The MDP was set to output the dry signal and some volume level delay taps, while I patched four separate individual delay tap outputs to the Scan & Pan for stereo-ification.

After some fuddling around with the Polyphonic Envelope, I finally got to a nice flow of envelopes, each triggered once the decay stage of the previous envelope begins in a beautiful cascade that cycles over and over. After a bit of figuring out some movement for the patch, I decided it was ready to record. Only this time, I decided on using some final reverb, my every trusty Walrus Audio Slöer, instead of relying solely on the reverb from the MDP. This was a great choice.

Having recorded the patch and still wanting more, I decided to process the Verbos voice through the Panharmonium (crossfaded saw waves) > the Bizarre Jezabel Pkhia, as well as the Dradd(s) to add some movement and edge, and recorded it again, so today we get another bonus patch.

I’m quite happy with how this patch turned out. This is definitely a route I’ll be exploring more in depth this year.

Modules Used:
Verbos Polyphonic Envelope
Verbos Harmonic Oscillator
Verbos Amp & Tone
Verbos Multi-Delay Processor
Verbos Scan & Pan
Verbos Voltage Multistage
Frap Tools Sapel
Frap Tools Falistri
Intellijel Amps
AI Synthesis 018 Stereo Matrix Mixer
Knob Farm Ferry
Rossum Electro-Music Panharmonium
Bizarre Jezabel Pkhia
Addac Systems Addac506 Stochastic Function Generator
Pladask Elektrisk Dradd(s)

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

Posted on

Swell Physics – A Fourth Revision

Although I sometimes re-work a patch after recording it, I generally make a couple of obvious (to me) changes, re-record it, and move on to something new. But something about my Study of Addac’s new Swell Physics captivated me, and compelled me to go through several revisions and re-records to flesh out something interesting.

The base of the patch is the same: Swell Physics sends out modulation, which controls the level of the four voices of the RYK Modular Algo, and drives most of the modulation in the patch. The RYK Modular Algo output runs through a filter, and into Beads. All of these are mixed and sent to a reverb. But just about every aspect between those modules has changed. Modulation has been added, subtracted, and tweaked. I went through 4 filters before finally finding one with the right sound. I’ve experimented with different settings on all of the modules to find just the right sound. I added in delay to give some subtle length and a nice tail to the swells as well as the spray (which was also added). With dramatic results, I also changed reverb to the beautifully haunting Walrus Audio Slöer. All in all I spent upwards of 12 hours building and tweaking this patch, making no fewer than 13 different recordings, constantly evaluating the results and searching for way to improve it.

It’s hard to document all of the changes. There were so many. But suffice to say that nothing within the patch went without heavy scrutiny and experimentation. It’s the first thing that I’ve made which resembles something like a finished piece of music.

Modules Used:
Addac Systems Addac508 Swell Physics
RYK Modular Algo
Intellijel Quad VCA
Bizarre Jezabel Pkhia
Joranalogue Orbit 3
Joranalogue Filter 8
Joranalogue Compare 2
Frap Tools Sapel
CuteLab Missed Opportunities
Auza Wave Packets
AI Synthesis 018 Stereo Matrix Mixer
Mutable Instruments Beads
Mutable Instruments Veils
Atomosynth Transmon
Knob Farm Ferry
Olivia Artz Modular Time Machine
Walrus Audio Slöer

Performed and recorded in 1 take in AUM on iPad via the Expert Sleepers ES-9.

Posted on

Panharmonium Bonus

One facet of my latest patch that I’m quite happy with, even if it needs refinement, is the Panharmonium voice. I struggled for a long time to get anything I liked at all from Panharmonium, much less something nice. Something that pleased me. It wasn’t until this patch that I finally made something I wanted to keep. There’s some dissonance in spots, which is something I’d like to improve on, but overall it’s a beautiful soundscape.

The input is the wet delay signals, output to Reverb. No modulation. A fairly slow analysis interval, some glide, some blur, some feedback, down 1 octave.

0:00
0:00