Further Excursions Beneath The Bush Of Ghosts

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I wanted to share my newest project with the Djupviks Elektronik Beneath The Bush Of Ghosts Quad Lo-fi looping sampler-

Further Excursions Beneath The Bush Of Ghosts continues using the DE Beyond The Bush of Ghosts in live improvisations.

From a process perspective I noted several things that I found interesting. First, the reuse of outdated technology in unexpected uses, old answering machine chips in this case. Certainly not pushing the envelope in cutting edge technology, but in a way rethinking it a bit and challenging our assumptions of what is desirable or necessary in a musical instrument.

Second, the acceptance, rather than masking, of low resolution digital “flaws” and actually embracing and placing them front and center, to the point of using reverbs to accentuate and “bloom” their percussive nature, much like pinging a filter to sonify a pulse.

And finally third the use of limitations as creative measure. Unlike more powerful sampler/loopers with myriad options, the nature of the module necessitated a smaller than normal range of possibilities, focusing me in a narrow lane.

Obviously all of this isn’t anything completely new, most of us have had our ears opened up to the beauty of 8-bit delays, generation loss techniques, and enjoying a deep sea of discernible noise hovering just below, and sometimes above, our music. Despite this, I wasn’t sure a sampler with decades old bandwidth and huge clicks and thumps at the loop point would prove to be so interesting, but the limitations and notable quirks of the DE Beyond The Bush of Ghosts fascinated me more than I expected. This felt like a good reminder to keep my mind, as well as my ears, open to new and unexpected directions.

I used a single Sovage Engineering LE DÉCHU oscillator, controlled by a Future Retro Touch Keyboard and with level controlled manually by a Intellijel Planar, into a Pladask DRADD (for granular time loop accumulation), feeding the Djupviks Elektronik Beneath The Bush Of Ghosts and also serving as another voice, with treatments through Tasty Chips Electronics ECR+ Convolution Reverb and Tiptop Z-DSP with Valhalla reverbs. Live improvisations captured to a 4MS Wav Recorder in March 2023, Level adjustments, dead spot removal, and minor editing done with Audacity.

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I quite enjoyed this. I knew nothing of the sampler in question, so had to read up on it while listening.

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Thanks Steve for the kind comments, I appreciate them. One of the minor frustrations in creating/recording at home with a modular rather than live performance is the lack of feedback, so it’s definitely good to hear from others.

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Really lovely sounds here.When I get home I will put it on some proper speakers.

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Thanks for this @RasThavas I have the panel/pcb waiting for parts but listening this makes me want to get on with it. Great listen :slight_smile:

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Wonderful tones and textures!

Thanks for sharing this!

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Love the textures and athmospheres here. Worth multiple listens for sure!

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Thanks @papernoise and @eblomquist , appreciated! I think there are two main contributors to the texture aspect-

Obviously the low res nature is a big part of this, but along with being lower fidelity these chips also were designed for human voice range, so they have a “dusty mid-range tone” to go with that low res.

But the tilt filters on each channel add a lot to this I think. The high-pass in particular is lovely, especially if you’ve duped one channel to the next and picked up some generation loss changes. They don’t close fully in either high or lowpass, but they surprised me by being very playable and adding much to the sound.

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You definitely got me interested in the module (too bad it’s DIY only).
Although, I don’t think the tech is really what makes the music.
But the idea of exploring the quirks and characteristics of old tech definitely resonates with me.

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The DIY element is a deal breaker for me too. Are there any kind folks building these in the wild?

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@papernoise @bobbcorr You might try contacting Jonas Rosén at Djupviks Elektronik, he may be aware of some trusted builders or have time himself. He can be messaged on Instagram.

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Thank you I will etc etc etc and I’m done.

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This is f’in incredible, @RasThavas. Right in that sweet spot where attention is not required but rewarded. And I echo the positive sentiments above about texture.
Will this be available for purchase sometime?

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@cwpotter Thanks, in recent years I’ve become more aware that something can be enjoyable on a surface level, but even more rewarding if you allow yourself to get to a deep-listening space. That’s exactly the place I wanted this to go for listeners, so I’m glad that’s where it took you.

I’ve been asked about availability a few times, so I will be setting up an account for this at Bandcamp soon. Thanks again for the encouragement.

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Lovely brokenness and great song titles too!
I’m sure I’ll never pick up this module, but lots of inspiration here.

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@soysos I will admit to help from Argeïphontes Lyre ć€ 5 for song titles. Much thanks to the recent lines thread on "“Classic” laptop computer music patches and software” here and Akira Rabelais.

I set aside time to work with the random naming functionality and save ones that I like on a master list, and then see what seems to fit later once I have a finished piece. Much better than the “00X - recording.wav” that the 4MS Wav Recorder assigns all files


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@cwpotter Thanks for your encouragement and interest, Further Excursions Beneath The Bush Of Ghosts is up on Bandcamp-

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A quick FYI @RasThavas that I followed your advice and was able to order one of these beauties. Very grateful for your guidance. Now I’m staring at their 4HP feedback module 
 the sickness, it is gentle and it is real.

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