Here’s a thing I’ve wanted to try for a while:
I’d like to put a goldfish in a large bowl, point 2-3 cameras at it and write a small script that tracks it’s movements in 3 dimensions. The movements would then be translated into CV to be passed via an X-out, Y-out, Z-out on a custom built eurorack module.
Behold the ‘Goldie module’! It would become the centerpiece of my stage performance…
Thoughts?
First exploration in a more more chopped up, broken rhythmic style. No loops used, all percussion was handcrafted in Live. (Handcrafted as in even the samples are chopped up and modified.) You will need headphones or something that is capable of reproducing deep bass to hear all the parts of the track.
Leave a comment and let me know what you think! :) ANY feedback is more than welcome!
Last year I ordered a Meeblip (the easily assembled kit) and I’ve been in love with this little grey box ever since! It is simply one of the most affordable and fun hardware synths (that actually sounds great) that you can buy right now. I use it mostly for bass sounds, but it can just as easy do great lo-fi leads as well.
One issue I ran into some time back was that while the unit would respond great to MIDI from a keyboard controller like my Novation boards, I just couldn’t get it to respond predictably to MIDI notes when played from a clip in Ableton Live. I tried experimenting with channel settings, offsets and gate lengths but nothing helped. The box would only catch ever 20th note or so.
Yesterday I sold my Novation SL MKii 49 to finance a new reverb unit (Lexicon MX400, more on that later) and so today I was cleaning out some MIDI settings in Live. When I did, I noticed that the Meeblip was set to receive MIDI Sync (as in clock) from Live, with seemed unnecessary so I turned it off, and behold, the MIDI notes now trigger exactly as expected.
I double checked by turning the Sync out ON again, and the problem immediately returned, so I’m pretty sure this was indeed the problem. I’m not sure why the Meeblip isn’t just ignoring the Clock, but apparently it confuses the MIDI note / trigger / gate implementation in the box, so turn it off if your Meeblip is not responding as expected.
Inspired by Chris Randall’s videos I decided to explore the possibilities of the CV track on the Elektron Analog Four. The weird spacey sounds you hear are coming from the modular synth, curtesy of a lot of cross modulation between 3 Bubblesound VCOs, with trigs from the Analog Four. Most of the percussive elements are from the Maschine, but some clicks and cracks are from the A4 as well.
Ableton Live was used for recording only, effects and sequencing is all from either Maschine or the Analog Four.
The quality of the video is not the best and the track is so-so, but it’s all good practice both in terms of running a track live, and also in front of the camera.
If you are curious about what types of music / sounds people create with modular synths, and especially the Doepfer system, there’s a Soundcloud group you might be interested in.
In this moderated group you’ll find everything from melodic tracks to drones, space, ambient, Berlin style and techno. Check it out to learn more about the infinite sonic possibilities of the world of modulars.
Here’s the usual ‘sorry-for-the-lack-of-updates-but-I’m-really-busy’ post. Truth is there’s a lot of interesting stuff in the works right now and updating the blog has fallen far down on the priority list. The little time I have to dedicate to music I spend making it instead of writing about it right now.
This does not mean in any way that I do not intend to maintain or update this blog going forward, I have great plans for this place, but I need to deal with some personal and other professional things at the moment.
On the music front I’m currently experimenting more with some very minimalistic sounds that have intrigued me for many years, but it will take a while before it’s in a shape where it holds to up to a releasable standard / state.
Stay tuned!
I’m about to embark on a 2 week trip away from home, but against all odds I wont be bringing my modular synth with me. Naturally dust is a concern when leaving gear unattended for extended periods of time, so I wanted to find a good way of covering up the modular.
At first I tried cutting out paper bags. Turns out the standard Safeway / Whole foods paper bag as just about the right depth and height to be slid over a Doepfer 9u case (that’s the LC9 one, not the portable). However, this not only looked silly, but the paper bags have a tendency to give off this foul smell that I did not want to imbue my gear with.
Instead, I found these really nice and stretchy iMac covers on Amazon that are just about the right size to be stretched across a 9u LC case. It’s a tight fit, but it works pretty well. Check out the photo below.
That’s two Doepfer LC9 cases side by side, each covered with a 27″ iMac stretch cover. If you have any better suggestions on how to cover up these cases and protect your modules from dust, please leave a comment and let me know!
