Archive for the ‘words’ Category

diy

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

When I went down this modular synth hole about a year ago, I distinctly remember thinking to myself that while I’m okay with the modular nature of modular synths, I’m not okay wit the Do It Yourself aspect of electronics and I had no interest at all in any of that. i didn’t care what was a resistor, I didn’t plan to learn to solder, and it didn’t bother me that I didn’t understand the difference between hertz and amps and volts and ohms.
Now, if you know me, you know that these kinds of thoughts can be accurately put in the “famous last words” category. For the last several months I’ve been planning all kinds of soldering and circuit mayhem, starting with a build-it-yourself control-voltage joystick kit that I bought, that needs a minimal amount of soldering, but lots of planning to go into a metal box correctly (picture of the kit here). I also have a few books now that describe various interesting handmade musical instrument projects. And (oh yeah) several years ago, I had the kids collect all their funny electronic musical toys and we’ve had them sitting in a box here at my studio, waiting to be bent (including a complete set of Speak & Spell, Speak & Math, and a Speak & Reads).
So this last Sunday, I dragged the childrens up to New York City to Culturefix, a small bar/studio/gallery on Clinton Street, just below Houston. Create Digital Music was throwing a little Handmade Music fest there, and they were having a workshop where one can learn to build a very simple, seven-component theremin-type device. Since I’ve had these books and the soldering gear for several months, I’d yet turned it on and still wasn’t sure what to do when I did. So I signed up and took the kids.

Handmade Music: Phototheremin workshop
Handmade Music: Phototheremin workshop
Handmade Music: Phototheremin chorus performs

Here’s a not-great little movie of the theremin chorus, after we built the things.

It was a real nice time. Peter and Cole made space for us, everyone was friendly, and Wilson and Elliot were interested. We built two kits, one of which had its transistors reversed and needed some desoldering (so I learned to do that too!). But in the end, we got two working teensy theremins (sounds and video to come soon).

tiny little handmade theremins

And, of course, I think this is just the coolest thing. Now I’m thinking of all kinds of crap I want to make, and when a friend of mine asked me how he might put some push-button sound sources in some space-ship sculptures he’s putting together, I immediately decided that this will be something worth figuring out. It won’t be too hard to build small circuits with buttons and potentiometers that make spacey sounds, will it?

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strategies

Monday, May 17th, 2010

On the Muffwiggler.com modular synth forum thread dealing with creative hangups and too many choices someone posted needing help with bridging the gap between noodling around with noise, and creating a finished track. A lot of electronic musicians get stuck on the idea of making “songs.” Some of us are perfectly happy merely creating loops of noise and drones for hours on end, while others feel like nothing’s finished unless it has a beginning, middle and end like a traditional tune.
Add to this the fact that with software like Reason, Logic, Live, Reaktor and VST plugs, one can pretty much implode dealing with the number of choices and decisions. Guitars and pianos just make guitar and piano sounds and don’t have presets (I guess if a guitarist uses pedals they can deal with the same problems, however). Synths and samplers are endless and cause a great deal of anxiety.

This list got posted today. I think it’s useful. Discuss…

170+ oblique strategies for electronic music:

1. Stop thinking of drums as KICK/SNARE/HIHAT
2. Use more 16th notes!
3. The relationship between percussive sounds and rhythmic noises can be a melodic relationship
4. Turn it into a melody
5. Turn it into percussion
6. Turn it into a pad
7. Think about a bongo player sitting in the street
8. Select a new random tempo
9. What Would Joe Zawinul do?
10. Make a cliché
11. Put in something off-key
12. Get reckless
13. Less logic
14. List your standard process from start to finish, now reverse it
15. If you dismiss an idea, stop and ask yourself why
16. Skip your first impulse and use the second one
17. Do something that isn’t 4/4 now
18. How can you make this fall apart
19. Play it backwards – the part, don’t reverse audio.
20. Pretend your mom is sitting next to you
21. Pretend your dad is sitting next to you
22. Swap midi clips between all elements
23. Keep everything, but change the order
24. Keep everything, but change the timing
25. Only one note at a time
26. Just play every other note
27. Think of something that seems like a bad idea, then use it
28. Play it like a child would play it
29. Play it with your knuckles
30. Play it with your elbows
31. What would you make if you knew everyone in the world was listening?
32. What would you make if you knew no one would ever hear it?
33. You’re not married to that octave !
34. Make your melody your bass line
35. Make a song with no drums at all
36. Make a song with only drums
37. Limit your options
38. Remove a part that’s giving you trouble. Just cut it!
39. What would your least favorite musician do?
40. Abandon normal instruments.
41. More everything!
42. Less nothing
43. Split the parts and play them with two instruments
44. Do it sober/drunk for a change…
45. Process something acoustic
46. start with something different
47. Stop. Turn a different knob
48. reverb or delay, but only for a little while
49. play less, faster
50. play more, softer
51. Take your favorite bit and make it unrecognizable
52. increase complexity, decrease density
53. Increase density, decrease complexity
54. Try to write the part with your voice
55. use your environment
56. Let the machines play, make some tea.
57. sample it, reverse it
58. Is modulation really necessary?
59. Use fewer patchcords.
60. Noise, or silence?
61. Turn it up to twelve and leave it there.
62. Plug an input into an output.
63. Use tracks with different tempos
64. Reach for the farthest knob
65. Delay the inevitable
66. Do that only once
67. Remember that old sound source you love but never use?
68. Don’t use the same old signal path
69. Unpatch everything and hook it up with intent for this specific project
70. Stick with the very first thing you try
71. Unplug
72. Copy it, alter it, repeat
73. Your mom
74. Reverse the loud and quiet
75. What insect — going where?
76. Play closer. Then farther
77. Record in silence. Add harmony
78. Return to the start
79. Start at the end
80. Pick a number. Use it
81. Reverse hands
82. An empty mind
83. Advance without fear
84. take a different approach to sequencing
85. change your clock source; ‘pattern’ not click track
86. go into unfamiliar territory; try something that you’ve never done before
87. use an element for something other than its ‘intended purpose’ (envelope/delay/filter as a sound source)
88. start with noise, then subtract
89. add layers
90. sculpt the feedback
91. cut it up and rearrange
92. build up, tear down *gradually*
93. patch it up silently before you turn it on, then adjust
94. add the element of *chance*
95. Constrain chaos
96. Halftime
97. Reveal Hidden Structure
98. The One is where you think it is
99. Take it outside
100. Overdub from memory
101. Let it slide
102. Nostalgia as a weapon
103. Make something out of sync
104. emulate a style you cannot stand
105. sustain everything
106. replace with a sine
107. repatch
108. stop writing. start painting
109. invert
110. sell everything. Buy new stuff
111. Stop Time, then resume
112. Play it so wrong it’s right
113. More digital
114. Close your eyes
115. Engage in intentional imitative synthesis
116. What would Springsteen do?
117. Pick out two odd “gear partners” and turn everything else off
118. Only use short patch cords
119. Make the sound with your voice
120. Turn off the effects
121. Make the sound smaller
122. Turn off the computer
123. repurpose your equipment
124. The studio is the instrument
125. Clean out the filter
126. Actually program a sound
127. Start recording, turn on a movie, mute the sound and write a soundtrack in real time for whatever you see
128. Think small
129. Think big
130. Remove one frequency band
131. End now
132. Blindly cut
133. Oppose it
134. Cage it
135. Unleash it
136. Bjork called, mix too tame
137. Too serious, make it laugh
138. Think of a note. Now don’t play it
139. Remove a beat
140. You play so many notes…
141. Compress time
142. Play when it’s wrong
143. strip it; invisible or naked?
144. Play the drum part on a keyboard, and play the keyboard part on the drums.
145. Imagine what the world sounds like to your cat (who can only hear down to 45Hz, but all the way up to 60K!!)
146. Learn the alphabet in another language.
147. Compose the theme song to the movie about your life.
148. Go to the zoo
149. Close your eyes and find your way twice around your home
150. Do two things; Show half of one, half of the other
151. pretend the computer isn’t programming you
152. sketch the project in a different material
153. Mute, don’t compute
154. Ring (modulate) the changes
155. Check your pulse, is it racing?
156. It’s hip to b square
157. Close your eyes, open your mind
158. Take a step back and move forward
159. Move your chair, brush your hair
160. Put your fingers in your ears
161. Make loudest voice but a whisper
162. Inspiration comes in many forms
163. Play with time
164. choose your least favorite element, remove everything else
165. choose an element and reverse the sequence
166. turn on the tv
167. turn OFF the tv
168. invert your chords
169. drop something and mimic the sound. don’t use the result for percussion. or do
170. Go as far as you can with the monitor – if not the computer – switched off
171. Draw up a list of your top five presets, and delete them
172. Silence at any time during the session should be eliminated unless as a deliberate tactic
173. Commit to your mistakes and take inspiration from them; do not undo or revert to any saved versions
174. Do not use automation at any stage, instead mix all sounds in real time
175. Bounce all audio and delete source tracks before each overdub
176. Do not overdub; do as much in realtime as possible. If the result is unsatisfactory, consider this a limitation of your system

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Philadelphia/Ableton

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

For years and years I’ve lamented the lack of an organized group of electronic music nerds aficionados in Philadelphia. Basically, what I mean is, when I have an interest or a passion or a hobby, I like to hang around other people who like the same thing. I got hooked on mountain biking several years ago and in no small part the draw was this great group of guys who met every Saturday at 7am, rain or shine, hot or cold, and rode bikes. Same with music for me. I’m sometimes jealous of cities like New York and LA where it seems pretty easy to put together seminars, demonstrations, or just generally hang out and talk about this stuff.
My friend Tom, who teaches digital multimedia at The University of the Arts, and who kind of got me into electronic music in 2003, organized a group affiliated with UArts called SynthSIG (SIG = Special Interest Group). We’ve met six times now over the last eighteen months. Discussions have ranged from iPhone apps for making music to UArts’ old Moog Modular to a performance by musician Charles Cohen. We’d discussed at times seeing if we could get someone from Ableton to come in and talk about the program, or even help us set up a user’s group.
So last week I get an email from Tom that this is in fact taking place. The Ableton guys were looking to set up a group here and got in touch with Tom. The nerd in me is very happy right now.

If your’e into Live and you live within driving distance of Philadelphia, take the night off next Thursday May 6 and make your way to UArts in Center City. The info is in the image below. The link on the flyer is wrong, by the way. This is the correct Facebook link: http://groups.to/phillyableton

Here’s the info as a PDF flyer. Hang it up, give it to friends.

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say hello to my little friend

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Several months ago, I sort of stumbled upon the concept of modular synthesizers. It was kind of a backdoor thing. I got interested in step sequencers first through Numerology and some tools in Reaktor. From this I began searching for videos of sequencers in action, and often they were running modulars in various iterations. This led me back to Reason for a while, string CV cables around for the first time, really, and realizing a lot of what I’ve been missing in that app. The Matrix sequencer suddenly became a lot more fun.
Having immediate access to the various controls and switches and knobs seemed pretty great and made my Alesis Micron suddenly less interesting. I imagined working with these actual controls to be far more creative than staring at the virtual versions afforded to me with the software I have. I recognize that tools like Reaktor and even Reason allow me to do things that there is no way I could do with actual hardware, no matter how complex, but watching and listening to these clips and grasping how they work, I learned more about how the software worked as well. Entire parts of Reaktor and even smaller tools like Jasuto for my iPhone suddenly seemed accessible.
So, a week or two ago, I went poking around eBay and landed myself a little modular synth. This is the baby version of the Doepfer A-100 system. It only includes ten modules — just the basics for making sounds and affecting them in limited ways. It’s not even remotely as flexible or powerful as even the more basic synthesizer plug-ins that I use regularly. But it’s a nice little fenced-in area for me to work and learn. Modulars are a very deep hole and it would be very easy for me to fall in it and have no idea why X is making that sound and Y is affecting it. Also, these things aren’t cheap.

Doepfer a100 mini

laboratory

This A-100 Mini has two oscillators, a low-pass filter, a mixer, a noise/random voltage generator, an envelope generator, one LFO, a ring mod, and a VCA. And it has a midi interface, which will end up being more useful than I originally thought. When I like sounds that modular synths make, I usually like the self-running burbly beepity patterns that seem almost random. These patches are normally made up of various triggering devices and multiple LFOs that this synth doesn’t have. Eventually I expect to grow this beast and get it there. In the meantime I’ve also bought (used!) a copy of MOTU’s Volta, which will run as a plug-in in something like Ableton Live and through sending control voltages over my audio interface, will give me a LOT of control over that which I have. Without Volta, I likely wouldn’t even be interested in such things.

I plugged this thing in on Sunday, hooked it up to an input in Live, and recorded the first ten minutes or so of whatever I could get it to do. These are pretty simple sequences, controlled entirely with the random voltage generator and the LFO, modulating the VCO frequencies, the filter cutoff, and some gain. Just after this short time of playing with it, I know I want/need at least one more LFO, preferably voltage controlled; another ADSR envelope, also voltage controlled; and maybe another filter — or a low pass gate. There has been a real explosion of interesting and creative design going on in the modular synth universe with many small homebrew companies building and selling odd little modules.

Here is the result of the first time spent with the A-100. Essentially it’s various modulations of the oscillators and filters with the LFO, along with various knob-turns. I expect to add more as I get a grasp of what to do with it. Stay tuned.

turning it on by dance robot dance

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audio player

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Testing out another sound player.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The player is called Audio Player (appropriate). The colors are customizeable and it can only play MP3s as opposed to WAV or AIF or anything else. Additionally, the sound files have to be posted on my server (or any server, I guess) rather than hosted on something like Soundcloud.
Between using a player like this, or using Soundcloud, I am not sure which will work best. I’m considering functionality, server space, and of course looks. Any thoughts?

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