#15

Several species of small and furry loops… electronics and guitars.

8 Likes
#16

Phrases (such as they are) were created from reference recordings made during synth programming sessions some years back, including processing of found vocals through Zebrify/Bidule and some hardware modules (mostly, I think, 3 Sisters).

5 Likes
#17

The work shows and it really paid off - feels complete and whole and yes, intoxicating.

3 Likes
#18
8 Likes
#19

The circus is definitely coming to town!:grinning:

2 Likes
#20

thank you, it’s been a while since I’ve found time to spend a whole long day on a track like this, it was nice. glad you liked it.

1 Like
#21

The circus yes!, but I imagine there’s a a creepy clown there. will try to pitch this one to a Halloween themed playlist…
Thanks a lot

3 Likes
#22
Joaquin Mendoza Sebastián · nine (disquiet0458)

Hello there =)

For this week assignment I came up with very naive idea, but I enjoyed a lot its realisation.

The piece consists of 10 interconnected sections, in each one of them a couple of FM notes play (except for the first section that there is just one), one new and its new “phase”, they are hard panned to left and right in turns to emphasize the process, the repeating one in the same speaker and the new (the one to be repeated in the next section) in the other speaker, they play a kind of upward “scale” (20,100,200,380,660,1120,1860,3060,5000…in Hz) and each note has three modulators with different envelopes that start at different times in every instance.

In the end, after the nine sounds have played, I repeat them all in a rapid fire fashion as a kind of coda…

To obscure this technical process, in the first section I introduce two accompaniments: a “chord” made of three sawtooth waves with a very cheap LFO controlled filter, and a mixture of five square waves trying to fake some sort of cheap accordion, starting on the second section, and in turns, they play the “third voice”…

The whole thing was made on Pure Data, a very simple patch, and then I added some string reverb in logic

Un abrazo!

Joaquín

3 Likes
#23

This project involved making a track that evolves quickly, only keeping one out of three parts for the next section. It’s a much faster pace than I am used to but I had a lot of fun. I started with some chords in mind but each section inspired some weird unexpected idea and before I knew it, I was making some kind of sample-based glitch music to end the piece. It was definitely the kind of restriction that provokes creativity.

3 Likes
#24

One Phrase Repeats, Two New Joins…

…an improvisation for DAW, samples, and synthesizers.

I set myself a challenge, not to spend too much time, always quickly selecting the part or phrase that spoke most to me, and then add two new to that. After a couple of hours, this emerged.

Prominent is experimentations with Izotope, Arturia, Spitfire and random samples from my own library.

5 Likes
#25


I used solely my own field recordings as the distinct phrases and arranged them according to the assignment. I added convolution reverb and just delay in places.

7 Likes
#26


For the “Phrase Shift”, disquiet0458, I wanted to capture a rapidly changing dreamscape experienced at the subway station while waiting for a train. I basically threw the kitchen sink at this one, which made me laugh - mostly from Spitfire Audio and Output software. Thanks to Marc for a fun and interesting challenge.

5 Likes
#27


Well… how to explain this… As I read the instructions, I was expecting to see the caveat “components may only repeat twice.” Or perhaps only twice consecutively, so that there would be a constantly unfolding stream of novelty that would still leave the door open to repetition that might traditionally be considered “song-like.” I convinced myself that this was the intent while realizing I would have no hope of composing such a schizophrenic fugue in a matter of days. So I decided it would have to be atonal. The stick shift reminded me of recent experiments with motors and I thought I would take the opportunity to explore that a bit further. It went as follows:

A 3v fan with brushes and a 12v fan with beaters applied to an aluminum trash can, a frame drum, assorted kitchenware, and a waterphone. From these recordings, I used Fracture from Glitchmachines to create two tracks of one second loops that play for ten seconds at various speeds, typically BP’d to occupy the low to mid range. On top of that are “lead” sounds processed by Absynth and Portal. The first minute or so is programmed haphazardly – after that I just let it run and try out some sounds. A fruitful exercise, I think. Thanks for the challenging prompt!

5 Likes
#28

So I went for a fairly direct interpretation in this case. First I designed 5 sounds to use throughout the track. I then chose a BPM and phrase length (4 bars) to give roughly the correct length. I planned out what the key centre for each phrase would be and which phrase element would remain between each subsequent pair of phrases. I played all 3 parts for the first phrase, then copied it and deleted the 2 sections I wasn’t rolling forward and played in the 2 new parts. I repeated this until I had 12 phrases (I added a one note resolution at the end of the last phrase) and recorded the result.

The elements were made on a Volca Keys, Bass Station, Peak, Skulpt and Volca FM, sequenced from the MPC with my normal effects and mastering chain. Nothing particularly noteworthy in terms of process or gear otherwise.

Overall I think I’d have liked to add a few different sounds and be a little more deliberate with how the parts transitioned, but in the whole I’m surprised how well it worked. It could do with some textural elements and perhaps some aspects to bring the track together as a whole, but I’m fairly happy with the result, albeit a fairly “safe” choice. Thanks for another fun project!

6 Likes
#29

Thanks. That’s good thinking. I considered making the instructions even more directive, but decided against it. There’s always a balance.

2 Likes
#30

The Schumann resonances, in the electromagnetic spectrum, come from the roughly 2000 lightning storms occurring at any given moment around the globe, as they excite the cavity formed by Earth’s surface and the ionosphere. The fundamental frequency has been measured to be 7.83 Hz. In theory, harmonics should be a function that is proportional to sqrt(n*(n+1)), for the nth harmonic, but given reality (e.g., the earth is not a perfect sphere), these frequencies come out differently and of course change a bit over time.

Per the Wikipedia page, I used these measured frequencies: 7.83 14.3 20.8 27.3 33.8, but stepped up 3 octaves (f*8) so the relationships are easier to comprehend. Sinusoidal signals at the precise frequencies were generated with C code. The present work alternates 4-bar sections at 100 BPM between the measured and theoretical frequencies, with a shared fundamental. Three frequencies are selected at a time, to attempt to get a sense of what triads sound like in this space.

Actual frequencies used based on observations: 62.64, 114.4, 166.6, 218.4, and 270.4. And based on theory: 62.64, 108.4956626, 153.4360375, 198.0850726, and 242.6036768.

6 Likes
#31

Track done entirely on the Polyend Tracker. The three phrases are:

  • a long jazzy piano sample from Loopmasters;
  • a built-in wavetable mono synth on the Tracker;
  • a basic 10-sample drum kit by Take A Daytrip from the Native Instruments Community Drive pack.

I assigned two tracks per phrase. The progression is as follows (bold phrases are repeated from the previous Pattern):

  • Pattern 1: piano1, wt1, drums1
  • Pattern 2: piano2, wt1, drums2
  • Pattern 3: piano2, wt3, drums3
  • Pattern 4: piano4, wt4, drums3
  • Pattern 5: piano4, wt5, drums5
  • Pattern 6: piano6, wt5, drums6
  • Pattern 7: piano6, wt7, drums7
  • Pattern 8: piano8, wt8, drums7
  • Pattern 9: piano9, wt8, drums9
  • Pattern 10: piano1, wt10, drums9

… and then it loops back, keeping the project rule of one phrase bridging the gap between patterns.

7 Likes
#32

I tried to challenge myself by only using loops recorded from my Eurorack modular synthesizer. The bass voice is the Basimilus Iteritas Alter. The supersaw sound is from the Mutable Instruments Braids. Crackling electronic sound provided by the Norns script Benjolis. Field recording loops were coming from Morphagene where they were lightly treated with Make Noise Mimeophon.
Mixed in Ableton Live.

5 Likes
#33

Cheated a bit at the end, because I let one or two things come back. This week gave me a good chance to use different soft and hard sounds together.

3 Likes
#34

Love it, what a fantastical sequence.

2 Likes