"Heligoland" - ambient improvisation with @Lanthan O'Ide

video upload by Floyd Steinberg

"Some weeks ago, @Lanthan O'Ide embarked on an epic journey to the northern shores, stopping by at my place for 2 days, and we recorded no less than 4 videos (which you can mostly watch / listen to on his channel). But here's a peaceful, ambient piece played on Yamaha Reface DX / EX5. Lanthan came up with the chord progressions and I added the EX5 'melody' part later (patch is P2-091, 'Oberlead' - using the EX5's virtual analog engine)"

There is an alternative take of this on Lanthan's channel: [below] - can you spot all the differences and which one do you like more? ;-)"


video upload by Lanthan O'Ide

"Jamming together on the Reface DX and the EX5. This is another ambient track that came to be during my recent visit at @Floyd Steinberg 's place. Hope you'll like this little improv of us making music together!
================================
For those playing along at home:
The key is C major, the tempo 90 BPM.
================================
About the recording process:

We recorded this song in two steps: I laid down the part of the Reface DX first, and afterwards, Floyd added his part with the EX5.

Also, many thanks to Floyd for the mixing and editing the video!
It was also him who came up with the title 'Heligoland', and thus we included some videos from my recent trip to the island of Heligoland as B-roll."

---

HÄLP ZIS CHANNEL
https://www.patreon.com/floyd_steinberg
https://floydsteinberg.gumroad.com/
https://floydsteinberg.bandcamp.com/

Floyd Steinberg Track: "Ashes To Ashes" (MPC, PEAK, DX, EX5, Guitar, Piano)

video upload by Floyd Steinberg

"Here's a track called "Ashes To Ashes" I recorded using the MPC One, which is sequencing ALL MY GEAR. ;-) EX5 is in multimode, doing the pad and the lead sound (lead was routed through audio output 3&4). Reface DX is doing the bass drone, PEAK is on that arpeggiated, filtered riff, and MPC is doing drums and that choir patch. There are some guest stars in this video:

Xavier Radix
Lanthan O'Ide
Wallmenis

If you like this song, it's also on bandcamp. https://floydsteinberg.bandcamp.com/"

How to install and use SURGE synthesiser on Raspberry PI / Lanthan's sound set challenge

video by Floyd Steinberg

"SURGE is a subtractive / hybrid synth available as a VST or LV2 plugin for free. Table of contents and relevant links below, demo track begins at 13:09 . Some days ago, @Lanthan O'Ide challenged us to create tracks using his new sound set for surge (see https://gumroad.com/lanthanoide). I decided to make the challenge extra challenging by utilizing the relatively new ARM version of that plugin and of course there were some roadblocks.

Table of contents:

00:00 hello
00:36 hardware setup
00:51 downloading the source code
01:20 downloading the required plugin sources, libraries, updating your OS
01:50 build the plugin from source
02:01 install the plugin
02:26 showcasing CPU bottlenecks on ARM and possible workarounds
04:49 overclocking the CPU
05:14 browsing some of Lanthan's patches
07:18 sketching a track in reaper
07:46 adding a reverb plugin on top of surge
08:29 (awesome pad and reverb, check this out ;-) )
08:50 rendering a take into an audio file to reduce stress on CPU
10:01 adding a plucked sound
11:43 adding drums using a Sound Font and CARLA
13:09 finished track (plus guitar)
16:32 bye-bye

Relevant links:
SURGE: https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
Lanthan's patch set(s): https://gumroad.com/lanthanoide
Lanthan's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LanthanOIde
(my patches can be found here, too: https://gumroad.com/floydsteinberg)

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Relight - A Synth Jam with the Blofeld and the Specular Tempus

video by Lanthan O'Ide

"A retrofuturistic synth jam, performed in an age when a stainless steel rocket has just been chosen to go to the moon. Exciting times. :)
================================
For those playing along at home:
The tempo is at 60 BPM, and the key is E major.
================================
About the title:

This one is space-flight related, and oddly specific. :)
In general, successfully relighting a spacecraft's engines is a cause for cheering at mission control. Because a) restarting a rocket motor is more tricky than restarting a car's engine, and b) if the engines fail to relight, things will go bad and / or explodey fast.

But, for me, the term "relight" is inseperable from the Everyday Astronaut's callout during Starship SN8's test flight.
I had stayed up late that night (CET) to watch together with hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world as SpaceX attempted a high-altitude test flight with a Starship prototype for the very first time. Watching the rocket master almost every single one of it's spectacular maneuvres at the first try was absolutely pure joy.
After the vessel came skydiving from 10 km up while moving itself precisely over the landing pad, having the engines relight to actually transition to the landing burn was just the cherry on top.
(And then the landing ALMOST went explosion-free. But hey, still an incredible success overall)"

The Midnight Sun - An Ambient Jam Session (Blofeld, Specular Tempus, Launchpad Pro)

Lanthan O'Ide

"It's been a while since I last recorded something with my Launchpad, hasn't it?
Well, here's a new ambient track. Enjoy! ^^
================================
For those playing along at home:
The tempo is at 65 BPM, and the key is C major.

As the LP's note layout is the same for all keys I didn't have a reason to pick a fancy one.
So I just went for one that's easy to jam along to. ;-)
================================
For those interested in the setup:

Here's a flowchart:
(Expression Pedal) ⇒ DIY MIDI Controller ⇒ Launchpad ⇒ (PC) ⇒ Blofeld ⇒ Specular Tempus
(Devices in parenthesis are off-screen)

Firstoff, that little siver box with the amber lights turns the input from an expression pedal into MIDI pitchbend commands. Its output gets routed to the Lanuchpad.

Now, I've got a custom firmware running on the Launchpad Pro.
It's called Subsequencely and allows me to use the LP as a standalone MIDI controller.

Thanks to some software magic, the notes I play are triggering two different patches on the Blofeld: The higher notes play those little bells, and the lower ones are expanded into full chords for the pads.

To turn single notes into full chords I'm actually using a homebrew VST plugin, nicknamed "Arclight". You can grab that from my website if you'd like to try that out for yourself. ;-)

Ok, but back to the hardware setup.
The Blofeld is running in multi-mode, so it's playing both the melody and the pads.
Then the Specular Tempus slaps a whole lot of reverb on it, and the result get's recorded.
And that's it!"

Website: https://lanthanoide.jimdofree.com/

Back To The Unknown - A Berlin School Experiment (Blofeld, Specular Tempus)

Lanthan O'Ide

"A track written by a student of mine: My computer!
Yes, I've written an experimental program that let's my pc compose it's own sequences and chord progressions, and even improvise a bit. The result is a Berlin School track, and I'm just tweaking knobs because I felt like doing so.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this little experiment! ^^
================================
If you'd like to jam along:
The key is C# minor, and the BPM should be 110.
================================
About the background of this project:

You may be wondering, what's the point of teaching a machine to make music?
Is this supposed to replace human musicians?

No. Here's my point:

I've grown tired of people telling me — and themselves — that they'd love to make music, but are "just not creative enough".
Because a) it's wrong, and b) by telling themselves that they can't do it, they deny themselves the joys of creating music.
But how do I prove it's wrong?

Well, take a computer. It may be very smart, but it's objectively as creative as a potato.
So if I can teach a computer to write it's own music... Doesn't that prove that there's no such thing as "not being creative enough to make music"?
You're welcome. Now stop not believing in yourself, folks!
================================
How everything is wired:
BeatStep Pro ⇒ (And then a miracle occurs) ⇒ Blofeld ⇒ Specular Tempus

The BSP does not actually do much, I'm just using its toggle buttons to start / stop sequences.
The Blofeld plays both the sequence and the pads, it's running in multitimbral mode.
All the audio is routed through the Specular Tempus for some reverb.
================================
How the computer came up with this:

At first, a sequence is generated at random, with the following rules:
1. The sequence is 8 steps long.
2. Every step is set at random either to an C#4, F#4, G#4, B4 or C#5.
3. A step must not be set to the same note as the previous or next step.

Then the sequence is played two times.
Afterwards, one of the 8 steps may be chosen at random and its note be changed.
Again, rule 2 and 3 have to be followed.
Then the sequence is again played two times, is changed again, and so on.

But where does the chord progression come from?
Well, it's the same algorithm, but slightly different:
1. The sequence is 4 steps long.
2. The notes are not eighth notes as before, but last for 4 bars.

Then, these notes are given to my DIY chordizer, the 'Arclight', which uses them as root notes for full chords. And in the end, everything is sent to the Blofeld.
================================
A goodie for those reading the description:

Maybe you think, 'wait a minute, Lanthan, you Matt Lowne imitating madman, didn't you do this before?'.
Very perceptive, dear viewer! :)
Yes, in the very first days of this channel I've indeed taught a microcontroller to do this.
But this time, I've written that code into a VST plugin, so it fits nicely in my DAW, is tempo-synced, and I can implement all sorts of parameters without having to solder!
Oh, and I can share it with others over the internet.

So yeah. You can get this experimental 'Unknown' sequencer on my website.
In case you'd like to try it for yourself! ^^
================================

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Polar Orbit - A Live Synth Jam (Blofeld, reface CP, Specular Tempus)

Lanthan O'Ide

"Dunno what style this is. It's not really Berlin School, it's clearly not Ambient...
Let's just call it "Indie Electronica", that can't be wrong, right? ^^'
Anyways, I had heaps of fun jamming, hope you'll like enjoy listening too. ;)
================================
For those playing along at home:The key is G major / E minor, the tempo is around 110 BPM. But I'm using the Blofeld's internal clock, and I'm not sure how steady that is.
================================
A view behind the scenes:

So... As some of you may have already heard, I've been busy tinkering again.
But instead of doing something with Arduinos as usual, this time I thought "how hard can coding VSTs be, anyways?".
So I've made my very first VST plugin! I call it the "Arclight".
Nothing too fancy, all it does is take an input note and expand it into a chord.

And that's what you can see in the video: I'm playing my root notes on the QY100, which sends them to my laptop, where they are expanded into chords. Those are passed on to the Blofeld, which does two things:
a) It puts them into its arpeggiator
b) It filters out the lowest note, and uses it for the bass.

The rest is just my normal setup:
Both the Blofeld and the reface CP's audio get passed through the Specular Tempus, and are recorded by my laptop.
================================
More info on the Arclight:

Metaphorically speaking, it illuminates the space around your solo. So that's where the name comes from.

The Arclight creates full voicings for pads and atmos from a single root note. So you can play pads with just one finger, and have a hand free for soloing! Or sequence chords with a simple monophonic sequencer! ...or do something entirely different and feed the output to an arpeggiator. ;-)

If you like, you can try it out for yourself.
I've put it into the download section of my website, the link to that is among the others.
================================
Well then, let's close off the video description with some links:
Here you can stream & download my music!

Website: https://lanthanoide.jimdofree.com/
Bandcamp: https://lanthanoide.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lanthan-oide/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lanthan_oide/
================================
As alway, thank you for listening!

- Lanthan"

Atlantic Coast - An Ambient Session (Blofeld, reface CP, Specular Tempus)

Lanthan O'Ide

"An ambient jam featuring the Blofeld and the reface CP.
With lots of reverb because... well, why wouldn't ya? XD
Anyways, hope you'll like it! ^^
================================
For those playing along at home:
The key is C major, because it's the key that allows me the "smoothest" chord transitions on the Keystep's small keyboard.
The tempo is 60 BPM.
================================
The setup:
The Keystep sends MIDI to the Blofeld, which creates the pads.
I've got a sustain pedal on the Keystep, so I don't have to hold down the keys that long.
Both the Blofeld and the reface CP send their audio to an off-screen mixer.
From there, I have a reverb bus going through the Specular Tempus, which is why the "Blend" knob (aka "Mix") is set to full.

I'm doing this, so that there can be different amount of reverb on the pad and the keys.
So the pads sound further away than the keys, which adds some depth to the mix.
(I.e. not everything is in the foreground)
================================
Mistakes I've learned from:

Always double check your delay times are really synced. ^^'
I'd set the knob on the CP just a little bit wrong, and it sounded as if the timing of my playing was way off. I was really close to scrapping the whole thing and recording it all over again, when I found the real problem.
================================
As usual, let's close off the video description with some links:
Here you can stream & download my music!

Also, just in case you haven't seen it yet:
I've got a new album called "Oceanic" on Bandcamp! :D
...doesn't include my latest two songs, but maybe you like it anyways. ;-)

Website: https://lanthanoide.jimdofree.com/
Bandcamp: https://lanthanoide.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lanthan-oide
================================
As alway, thank you for listening!"

Evening Tide - An Ambient Synth Improv (Blofeld, Specular Tempus, Arduino, reface CP)

Published on Mar 17, 2020 Lanthan O'Ide

"A relaxed jam session with FM electric piano sounds, spiced up up a little pitch bending thanks to a DIY-MIDI-controller.
Enjoy! ^^
================================
For those playing along at home:
The key is G major, the tempo is not fixed and changes during the track.
================================
For those interested in the wiring:
I'm using the reface CP only as a master keyboard this time. It sends its MIDI-signals to my custom MIDI controller, which passes them on to the Blofeld.
Said controller has an Arduino inside, and also has inputs for sustain and expression pedals. It also feeds MIDI signals to the Blofeld whenever I use the pedals.
In this case, it is translating an epression pedal to pitch bend commands.
This allows me to bend down my sounds without taking my hands of the keys! :D

...and the yellow lights show the position of the pedals, in case you are wondering.
The left one shows the sustain pedal, the four right ones the expression pedal. :)

Anyways, continuing with the setup description:
The audio from the Blofeld is passed through my trusty Specular Tempus, the output of the ST goes straight to my audio interface where it is recorded.
================================
For those interested in the sound design:
Yes, those are real fm sounds, in that they are created by a sine wave oscillator being frequency modulated.
The amount of frequency modulation is set by the filter envelope.

However, the modulating oscillator uses a wavetable. It is sort of pretending to be a sinewave oscillator that's being frequency modulated.
- which it has to, because the Blofeld doesn't have enough oscillators to emulate the 6 operators of a DX7 ;-)
By changing the position of the wavetable with velocity sensitivity, the overall sound changes dramatically, which allows for this patch to be played quite expressively."

The Waves That Carry Us - An Ambient / Drone Jam (reface CP, Blofeld, Specular Tempus)

Published on Aug 9, 2019 Lanthan O'Ide

"An ambient jam session with my new reface CP, accompanied with a drone on the Blofeld. And a lot of reverb, of course. ;)
I hope you like it! :D
================================
For those interested in the setup:
The reface CP sends a MIDI signal to the Waldorf Blofeld.
Audio is routed from the Blofeld to the Aux In of the CP, from the CP to the Specular Tempus and on to my audio interface, where it is recorded.

To start the drone I am using the same trick as in "The Night Above The Clouds":
I play a chord and then turn off MIDI receiption on the Blofeld, so that it ignores the "Note Off" command when I let go of the keys.
Then I fade the CP in and continue jamming with the e-piano sound.

Unfortunately, there where some audio dropouts in the recording. I somewhat got to fix them, but I'm afraid they might still be noticeable from time to time. Sorry 'bout that. :(
================================
For those interested in listening to more of my music:
Have some links!
Website: https://lanthanoide.jimdofree.com/
Bandcamp: https://lanthanoide.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lanthan-oide
================================
As alway, thank you for listening!
I hope you have a great time!

- Lanthan"

Shipwrecks - An Ambient song with Blofeld, QY100 & Specular Tempus

Published on Dec 14, 2018 Lanthan O'Ide

"An ambient track I sequenced on my QY100, set to underwater footage recorded by the Okeanos Explorer. You can download the midi file from my website, if you like.
Enjoy! ^^
================================
Some trivia about the song:

A while ago FrankTheTank asked me in the comments if I knew any good hardware sequencer for ambient music.
Of course I responded praising the QY100, but it occurred to me that I actually haven't used it for pads, soundscapes and such yet.
Only live-recording and replaying midis.

So I made myself a little challenge:
I wanted to make an ambient song that's sequenced entirely on a QY, without a computer or other midi controllers.
Also, I only allowed myself to use patches from the Blofeld soundset I released a while ago.

And this is what I came up with.

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Autumn Leaves - A piano improv on a Launchpad Pro & with an Arduino

Published on Nov 10, 2018 Lanthan O'Ide

"Just a little piano improvisation, but played on a Launchpad.
I hope you'll enjoy it! ^^
================================
Since realistic piano playing is hard without a sustain pedal, I built my own custom MIDI controller.
With it I can attach a sustain & expression pedal to any MIDI controller.
Pretty neat, huh? ;-)

It has a MIDI input and output, and two pedal inputs.
The Arduino Uno inside it just passes any MIDI messages from the input to the output,
and also sends CC messages if a pedal has been pushed or released.
So I can just put it between any keyboard and synth.

The four buttons & lights on the right specify the MIDI channel for the pedals.
(In binary, of course ;-) )

The LED on the left lights up when a sustain pedal is pushed down."

Custom white Novation Launchpad Pro.

Lanthan's Soundset for the Waldorf Blofeld

Published on Sep 2, 2018 Lanthan O'Ide

"...and it's free for personal, non-profit use! :D
Only if you'd like to sell music that contains my sounds, then I ask you to pay me for them.
You can download the soundset here:
https://lanthanoide.jimdofree.com/dow..."

Be sure to see this post for some great Blofeld & GFI System Specular Tempus demos by Lanthan O'Ide.

Experiments with music and electronics by Lanthan O'Ide

Published on Mar 11, 2018 Lanthan O'Ide

Playlist:

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Ambient & Chilled Live Jams by Lanthan O'Ide & the GFI System Specular Tempus

If you are curious what that little box is on the top left, it's the GFI System Specular Tempus. This is the first post to feature one. You'll find details on it further below.

Playlist:

1. Dawn In Antarctica - Ambient Synth Jam (Blofeld, Specular Tempus, Keystep)
2. On A Cold Day - Ambient Keys Jam (PSR-S700, Specular Tempus)
3. Snowfall In The Forest - Ambient / Berlin School Jam (Blofeld, QY100, Specular Tempus, Keystep)
4. Shores Of Svalbard - Ambient/Drone Jam (Blofeld, Specular Tempus, Keystep)
5. The Night Above The Clouds - Ambient Synth Jam (Blofeld, Specular Tempus, Keystep)
6. Southern Islands - Chillout Jam Session (QY100, G1Xon & Keystep)
7. Distant Thunder - Live Piano & Sequencer Jam (PSR-S700, Beatstep Pro)
8. Particles - Ambient / Berlin School Synth Jam (Blofeld, Specular Tempus, Beatstep Pro, Keystep)
9. Beneath the Surface - Ambient Synth Jam (Blofeld, Specular Tempus, Launchpad Pro)
10. Underwater Aurora - Ambient / Drone Synth Jam (Blofeld, Specular Tempus, Keystep)
11. Sailing between Worlds - Chilled Jam with Guitar & Synth feat. Thomas Riegl

Details on the GFI System Specular Tempus via GFI System:



"Specular Tempus is a powerful reverb and delay effect processor in a compact pedal. Featuring 32 hand-crafted algorithms, 32 presets. stereo in/out, tap-tempo, and extensive inter-connectivity. Using the SpecLab software (free download) users get access to an extended set of parameters for deep-editing of the algorithms.

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