Assimilative Epitrochoidal Sirens

YouTube Uploaded by JeffreyPlaide on Apr 9, 2012

"Assimilative Epitrochoidal Sirens is an original, experimental and entirely electronic musical composition. It has a very strange atmosphere associated with it resultant from the background atmospherics created by processed generated test tones that give the impression of "singing sirens". Experiments were made using the VS-1 Oscilloscope VST synthesizer. With three oscillators to work with, chord functions and a great regenerative delay feedback effect, the VS-1 is a great instrument to work with - it even has its own version of an oscilloscope display. The idea was to emulate the tape delay systems of the past whereby two open-reel tape recorders were used to create long delays. One tape recorder recorded a sound. The same sound was then fed to a secondary machine separated by a distance to the first, with the first machine recording the output from the second machine. The result is a delay feedback system creating repeating recorded loops of sounds - decaying away as desired, controlled by the musician. I used a similar approach, but with software, I increased the feedback level of the delay setting until the regenerative sequences almost reached unity. I then played some melody lines for a couple of minutes and recorded the result. Two versions were made - the first being the original experiment. The second was slowed to exactly 200%. By themselves, the sequences sounded too familiar as organ tones, so I ring-modulated both by pure sinewaves. The result was a glistening or shimmering ringing resonance that was quite pleasing. The ring-modulated versions of the sequences recorded from the VS-1 Oscilloscope synthesizer were mixed together, but something was missing. To create a kind of choral background conclusion, generated test tones created within Adobe Audition provided the solution. Modulated inverted sinewaves from rising frequency to falling frequency covering 30 seconds were generated. These were processed by a modulating chorus and multi-tracked four times - each track delayed or shifted by a certain amount. The stereo mix of all these created an eerie and strange falling alien choral pad that is quite unusual and intriguing to listen to. A low frequency extract was taken from this recording with a forwards and backwards sample joined to create a smooth loop. This provided the strange low-end pad throughout the work. A high-frequency extract (treated in the same way as the low-frequency extract) loop provided the higher chorus effect faded in towards the end of the composition. The result is an ethereal, ambient glistening and cascading work shimmering with ring-modulated arpeggios created from the delay feedback effect, and the strange choral effect created by just using inverted sinewaves treated with modulation, chorus, and then multi-tracked to create a further chorus effect. The visuals comprise electronic modulating textile weaves superimposed with mythological creatures and god-like figures to create an other-worldly or angelic representation to what the music may be implying."