52 Reason / Record Tips - Week 48: Malström Filters, Shaper, Mods

YouTube via PropellerheadSW | February 17, 2011 |

"You understand the basics of synthesis and have mastered the Subtractor, you've learned about the Malström's unique "graintable sythesis" technique, and now all you need to know to master the Malström is to understand its special filters, shaper, and mods.

To those who have been following along since week one of Synth School, you'll see that I'm picking up the pace a little bit now that you've built a foundation of knowledge. Believe me, we'll need this pace starting next week when we tackle the Thor synthesizer!

But rest assured, by the time we're done you'll know every synth's capabilities, strengths, and routings. And most importantly, you'll be able to think of a sound you want to create, know which synth will get you that sound, and set about making it with skill."

Touchscreen Theremin

YouTube via ethnix73 | February 17, 2011 |

"Just a small test this evening...

Touchsreen theremin might be doable, by adding a gain parameter controlled by the other hand..."

Octatrack meets XoxboX

YouTube via erasemusic | February 17, 2011 |

"a quick jam with one Octatrack, one xoxio Xoxbox and one unmodified Xoxbox. no additional mixer nor effects used."

M-Z3R0 - circuit bent casio PT-87 mk II passed through an M-Z3R0 K-filter.

YouTube via manufacturedZ3R0 | February 17, 2011 |

"A heavily bent PT-87 running through one of my resonant filters. The combination of the two has suprisingly good sounding results. Up there with some £1000+ analogues i've owned and heard. It reminds me a lot of the korg ms20 in both tone and filter quality."

ether^ra DANSE

YouTube via potterpaint2000 | February 17, 2011 |

"an improv featuring my Buchla 200e. http://etherra.blogspot.com/"

Beat Meshing - Octatrack

Beat Meshing - Octatrack from Richard Devine on Vimeo.

"First session with the Elektron Octatrack. Checking out some of the capabilities of this new machine. No drum loops used in this short jam. Just triggering single shot samples of nord percussion and analogue drum sounds. Using the three stages of LFO's for each track to control effects animation and various other parameters. Making some use of the re-trigger sample functions spanned across 4 patterns.

elektron.se/​"

The Unofficial Tod Dockstader and Musique Concrete

via The Unofficial Tod Dockstader
"The extent of Dockstader's experimentation with sound can be gauged by the fact that in the early 60s, when much of his work was 'constructed', there was no instant means of categorising such work. This was made more the case by Dockstader's straddling of the popular and high art cultural zones: working on the production of cartoons and sound-effects whilst scoring a Fellini film and having his pieces played alongside those of Varèse. Yet, in the mid 60s such 'musique concrete' experiments were more or less a very fragmentary and dispersed form a minor subset of avant-garde classical music. The centre of gravity may have been Schaeffer's Groupe de Recherche Musicales and there may have been other nodal points like John Cage's Fontana Mix and Steve Reich's Come Out, but what seems to be inflected in Dockstader's work, like that of Varèse, is just this sense of isolation and difference from the 'canon' of electronic music as it was becoming conscious of itself and establishing its paradigms."

This one in via Atomic Shadow

Note: I'm creating a Musique Concrete label for such artists. Musique concrete is in effect sound synthesis and the beginnings of sample manipulation. I'll see what blogger brings up for past posts but if you see any I miss the label for let me know and I'll add it.

Morton Subotnick in Vienna

via Noiseconformist

"Yesterday Morton Subotnick performed here in Vienna. Before that he gave us a lecture and talked about the origins of his work and of course about the San Francisco Tape Music Center.

When he spoke about those two Buchlas on stage he called them the 'the newest one' (200e) and 'the oldest one'.

'These modules right here are probably the first one (synthesizer) which was ever made.', meaning the modules saying 'San Francisco Tape Music Center Incorporated'. (Buchla's idea how to name it, something what S. obviously didn't like at all - '... this is not a business ...')
The slides said 1964-1965 but already showed a Buchla 100 Music Box.

I let the quotes speak for themselves, reading and listening to other sources gives a somewhat contradictory image.

Mr. Subotnick kept speaking about a 'music easel', in a metaphorical sense, he wanted to have.

This is not to be mixed up with the Buchla Music Easel we know. Which obviously came out much later.

The adaption of "Silver Apples Of The Moon" is wonderful, very vivid, powerful and gentle at the same moment. Lillevan's projections looked very organic and were a great part of the show. I'm looking forward to Subotnick's "Jacob's Room" on Saturday!"

See this post for recent video of Morton Subotnick at Transmediate 2011.

etudeEH

etudeEH from Giorgio Sancristoforo on Vimeo.

"Just after ubnoxing the EHX 2880 I've made a quick patch on the Buchla and started this improvisation.

Sorry it is a bit long, but time passes very fast when doing such stuff, but well.. it's nice to hear the soundscape going more and more chaotic and rich as minutes passes by.

In the EHX 2880 I've definitely found the perfect companion for my Buchla, hurray!

Any comment is welcome :)"

Abeem Live Technologies updates Rack Performer to 0.96-alpha

"Abeem Live Technologies has updated Rack Performer to version 0.96-alpha.

This update includes many stability improvements especially around VST support, and should address all reported issues. The keyboard mapper is now completely functional, including all submap types, new simplified mapping types (control focus vs action keys) and a brand new configuration dialog to select layout and numeric pad mode.

New features:
* Major rework of the keyboard mapping types (simpler, more consistent and uniform)
* New keyboard layout selection and configuration dialog allows to setup the keyboard mapper easily
* Keyboard follows and can also change module control focus (aka Keyboard control focus)
* Keyboard focus lock can force keyboard control focus to stay on a given module until manually unlocked
* Control combo mode for numeric pad keys adds extra controls to interact with the focus target

New modules:
* New mini blank GUI wrapper, smallest possible GUI while retaining full control focus ability

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