I'm using Samplitude's electric piano and a free LABS sound from Spitfire on the keyboard. The pedals (which you don't see) are playing a Mod Duo X. Also going into the Mod Duo X is a Behringer 110 controlled by a 960 sequencer.
Pleasure for the Empire
What would be in the interest of preventing an otherwise formidable instance without the means.
Wednesday, August 03, 2022
The Treadle on the Wheel
I'm using Samplitude's electric piano and a free LABS sound from Spitfire on the keyboard. The pedals (which you don't see) are playing a Mod Duo X. Also going into the Mod Duo X is a Behringer 110 controlled by a 960 sequencer.
Friday, July 29, 2022
Liszt - Faust Symphony S. 108 (Score)
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Death, Berlin, and all the rest
The secret life of pots. A potentiometer is harassing me right now.
Appointment With Death is a film I'm supposed to watch.
Herd Immunity is another film I'm supposed to watch.
Babylon Berlin is a TV series I'm supposed to watch.
Manyavar Mohey makes some amazing looking jackets.
Exploring Autoethnography as a Method and Methodology.
Autoethnography in Media Studies.
iPDTL for audio remotes.
The Proaim Telescopic Bazooka.
I've sold 265 "units" of Scampr for a gross revenue from Steam of $550.
The Zio is a sort of pedal/front-end/guitar preamp thing.
Wow, people really don't like the Netflix version of Persuasion.
Saturday, July 16, 2022
Analog Instability
I'm not quite old enough to have actually dealt with real old-school analog synths. Analog has always had the cache of being cool, but by the time I'd touched anything* even remotely professional in the way of synthesizers, they were pretty darn stable, if not digitally controlled, analog oscillators. And now I'm playing with the Behringer 110 which sounds great but boy oh boy it drifts. Just like old-school synthesizers in times of yore.
I'm using a 960 sequencer, which is WAY not stable. Boy, you flip the octave and it goes stupendously out of whack. I'm even using a quantizer and it'll sometimes bend an entire half-step out of tune -- straight-up playing the wrong note.
So, I've always felt that the way to making an analog synth sound like something other than bleeps and bloops has been a decent delay. Some pretty echoes are always better. And, these days, a groovy shimmer reverb is a way added bonus.
So I've been sending the output from the VCO/VCF/VCA that is the 110 into a Mod Duo X. Like this:
The topmost line is the analog input to the Mod Duo. |
Basically, I'm throwing the signal first to a tuner (so I can have a clue about about where the tuning is), then to an auto-tune emulation (so I can get the actual audio to be somewhat actually in tune), then into a compressor, to a digital emulation of an amusing analog stereo delay, to a shimmer reverb, to a pretty chorus, a mastering compressor, and lastly a sub-bass processor. At the beginning and the end of the chain are a couple level meters and gain controls.
The middle row is just a quick little synth patch I have which is running from the MIDI input to the Mod Duo X. I play it using my organ pedals.
Using the CV input of the Mod Duo X I take the second output of the Barton CV quantizer and put it into a patch of the Mod Duo's internal CV synths. I can't figure out how to make those digital emulations seem in-tune though. That could be the Barton's natural variance. In any case, I auto-tune each of the two VCO's (technically those are DCO's, right?) inside the Mod Duo with their auto-tune emulation.
It's good for experimenting. I wouldn't say I've done anything satisfying musically with it yet. Because I haven't. But it makes some fun sounds.
*Other than an ARP 2600 that Rutgers University owned. I only had about an hour or so with it. I harassed the professor in charge of it a whole lot before he let me play with it.
Friday, July 08, 2022
EP update
Exciting things on the Electric Princess front. We think we have the solutions to the Z+ gain stage,
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The electronics designer's modification to the Z+ gain stage. |
10K trim pot -> 1K
C301 -> 0.47uf (470nf) C302 -> 1uf C304 - 0.1uf (100nf)Tuesday, July 05, 2022
Me. Not.
Monday, July 04, 2022
Very Like A Whale
The Matthews Architect Overdrive is quite a piece of kit. It's their Klon/fuzz and it sounds great. I love the additional boost switch. In fact, that's where I got the idea for the second boost on my Electric Princess.
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July 3rd. America. Liberty State Park, NJ. |
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Meydl² |
The cat is quite cuddly lately.
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New York City. So nice, they named it. |
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Meydl can be very adorable. |
Saturday, July 02, 2022
Ernest Abuba
Ernest Abuba was a friend of mine. He played King Claudius in my Hamlet, he played the angel Abdiel in my film Apostasy.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/Pan-Asian-Repertory-Theatre-Announces-Passing-of-Founding-Member-Ernest-Abuba-20220621
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Ernest Abuba in Apostasy |
Such a wonderful guy and such a talent. His students were awesome. Everyone he worked with was fabulous. We did a lot of theater too. I sound-designed some things of his. We seemed to do a lot of work about the Cambodian Holocaust. They were hard to take, but Ernest had a very Buddhist response to the horrors of that war.
Friday, July 01, 2022
Electric Princess Overdrive (Beta) First Look
I have to give credit to Chance Shirley for the excellent graphic design on this pedal.
Monday, June 27, 2022
Lanie Zipoy
Lanie Zipoy passed away this week. She was a friend of mine. I worked about ten feet away from her for years at Manhattan Theatresource.
She was the casting director for a couple Pandora Machine movies including Alien Uprising.
I knew her mother, who was also killed in the automobile accident, she too was a delight.
An interview with Lanie. An obituary.
I'm not great at articulating this loss.
Thursday, June 23, 2022
Stock Volca 2 Sample Sounds
001 Kick Dusty
002 Kick Punchy
003 Kick Vintage
004 Kick Ringy
005 Kick Techy
006 Kick Tight
007 Kick Agravity
008 Kick Gentle
009 Kick Loose
010 Kick Combi
011 Kick Sub
012 Kick Dirty
013 Kick Extra
014 Kick Hard
015 Kick Jungle
016 Kick Damaged
017 Kick Mashed
018 Snare Tight
019 Snare Dusty
020 Snare Clappy
021 Snare Crack
022 Snare Fast
023 Snare Machine
024 Snare Thick
025 Snare Loud
026 Snare Loose
027 Snare Retro
028 Snare Jungle
029 Snare Roll
030 Rim Bounds
031 Clap Crowd
032 Clap Machine
033 Clap Burst
034 Clap Hard
035 Clap Soft
036 Clap Jingle
037 Snap Soft
038 C.Hat Powerful
039 C.Hat Air
040 C.Hat Dusty
041 C.Hat Firm
042 C.Hat Combi
043 C.Hat Short
044 C.Hat Machine
045 C.Hat Loose
046 C.Hat Dirty
047 C.Hat Trill
048 C.Hat Echo
049 Shaker Machine
050 O.Hat Thick
051 O.Hat Gritty
052 O.Hat Rough
053 O.Hat Combi
054 O.Hat Loud
055 O.Hat Dirty
056 O.Hat Techno
057 O.Hat Thin
058 O.Hat Machine
059 Cymbal Techno
060 Cymbal Splash
061 Cymbal Ride
062 Cymbal Crash
063 Tom Deep
064 Tom House Lo
065 Tom House Hi
066 Tom Gated
067 Tom Detuned
068 Tom Synth Lo
069 Tom Synth Hi
070 Tom Raw Lo
071 Tom Raw Hi
072 Conga Lo
073 Conga Hi
074 Conga Techno
075 Tabla Bendup
076 Timbales Head
077 Short Perc Lo
078 Short Perc Hi
079 Digital Flam
080 Cowbell Fat
081 Cowbell Raw
082 Cowbell Techno
083 Flexatone Up
084 Tamb Breaks
085 Tamb Oneshot
086 Waterdrop
087 Plastic Bucket
088 Bottle Slam
089 Apple Cutting
090 Scoop n Pot
091 Breakpot
092 CanLid Closing
093 Water-Bent Can
094 Metal Bucket
095 Dishes Pileup
096 Knife Shaping
097 Soda Can
098 Spoon Scramble
099 Spoon Bells
100 Bycicle Bell
101 Sandpaper Rub
102 Vintage Pad
103 Minor Stab
104 Triton RaveHit
105 Polysix Brass
106 MonoPoly Stab
107 Holy Stab
108 Cold Stab
109 DigiBlip Stab
110 Upstrum Pad
111 M1 Piano
112 M1 Organ
113 Triton E.Piano
114 Jazzy Piano
115 Jazzy Cuts
116 Sax Cuts
117 Piano Grace
118 Hammond Gliss
119 Minor Choir
120 Dyna Strings
121 Oct Pizzicato
122 Guitar Cuts
123 Guitar Mute
124 Kalimba Finger
125 Shamisen Pick
126 Bass FilterSyn
127 Bass UnisonSyn
128 Bass Electric
129 Bass Acoustic
130 Falling Siren
131 Retro Effect
132 Sweep Updown
133 Downlifter
134 Vinyl Stop
135 Vinyl Scratch
136 Vinyl Rubbing
137 Whistle Updown
138 Windchime
139 Applause
140 Vox Warning
141 Vox Lawd
142 Vox Woah
143 Vox Yah
144 Vox DuDaBa
145 Vox SayWhat
146 Vox Hey Lo
147 Vox Hey Hi
148 Vox Bom
149 Vox Laughing
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
A set of notes or: Rules for Drowned Girl
I'm trying to cleanup my inbox. So I'm posting these notes from the Marsian Queene here:
Various color-corrections. |
Other various color-corrections. Actually, two are the same I believe. |
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
I broke down
I broke down an ordered a Telecaster.
It's a cheap Telecaster. I know I won't be happy until I jump up many rungs and get a Fender Custom Shop tele designed just for me, but until that time, this is what I'm doing.
I have a '51 Nocaster bridge pickup for it, and a Twisted Tele neck pickup. I also have some compensated brass saddles. I am considering an armrest carve and belly carve. I'm also considering putting a D-shaped hole in it. But I'm definitely putting paisleys on it.
You'll note it is already quite light, so putting a relief hole (where the armrest carve would go) might not be the best thing. And without stripping off the poly, those sorts of cuts might not work at all. But the paislies? Oh those will work.
Saturday, May 14, 2022
PhD'ing
So, theoretically (heh) I have my viva voce for my PhD in March of 2023. Which means I have to finish writing the music (and doing all the audio post) for the Richard Byrne penned, Laura Schlachtmeyer produced, Drowned Girl, starring Annalisa Loeffler.
I also need to fundamentally re-write the actual thesis, and write a big ol' commentary explaining why I put all the music cues where I did.
I'm scoring in Dorico. Having to write out the score is 1. vital for any sort of academic work and 2. harder and slower than just playing into a DAW. But then there's also the fact I will likely want real players (alto flute, cello, harp, piano) to play on it so it needs to be laid out in a score anyway. Dorico is mostly pretty good. Sometimes it doesn't play back, sometimes it's a bit frustrating. But it works with my Spitfire BBCSO sample library so it's own output has the capability of sounding surprisingly good even without any real editing of the performances.
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A spoon-billed platypus. |