#1

Hi, I released Wood Cuts today, its the 5th album by Hoan Kiem Chess Team following last years “Paskals Dream” album on Soft Error label.

Like all Hoan Kiem Chess Team albums, Wood Cuts was recorded entirely with Ciat Lonbarde instruments, Sidrax, Tetrax, Plumbutter, Dogslit, Shnth, Gerassic Organ, Cocoquantus and DIY Ciat Paper Circuits. Recorded in Jan / Feb 2020.

This is a self release and It’s a free download

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Mobenthey/Ciat-Lonbarde (synthmall) thread
#2

Another beautiful release! I have multiple of your records on heavy rotation (mainly In Blue and Pascal’s Dream) and this one will be added to the list for sure.

May I ask what you used for the main voice of empty promises? For most of the sounds on this album I can fathom how one would create them on CL gear, but this sort of sound comes up a few times throughout the album and I just don’t know how to get anything this “well-behaved” out of any CL device I have experience with. But then you’re also as close to mastery with these devices as I’ve seen so far, so maybe it’s just skill :slight_smile:

#3

thank you :slight_smile: that’s a Gerassic Organ looping through a CT5 and looping again through a Cocoquantus - you can see that track being made with the Gerassic in the background and the CT5 next to it here in a post in January

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#4

Any chance the Chess Team records wind up on Apple Music?

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#5

Yes - this one i uploaded and is currently being processed, but won’t appear for 3 or 4 weeks. It will be the first one, on all the streaming services Spotify, Apple etc. The others I will be adding in the next week or so.

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#6

super excited about this, been loving your records this past year. i love how you work the seasons with the different systems too.

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#7

Purchased! I love all of your chess team releases.

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#8

congratulations on another great release. really loving this one. i was going to ask about that lead sound on empty promises as well. its gorgeous. love the brassy tone and the melody is really pretty.

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#9

@fourhoarder @ideaofnorth @x2mirko

Thanks for the support!

The Gerassic is a very basic synth and only plays 1 note and plays different notes by holding different button combinations. I have a capacitor switch to change ranges for bass, treble and high and another knob to control the decay. It is very limited, but it has a certain tone I like which is almost like a guitar. It does monster basslines and subbass also. To get around the limitations of it I have to loop it and punch in notes using a Count to 5 to create a sequence like this.

And this

I used the Gerassic a lot on this album because it’s the most melodic and cleanest Ciat circuit. I wanted this album to be the more accessible / melodic and easier to listen. Partly to show that you can make these kind of music with Ciat stuff as well as the random bloops and beeps and strange noises which are more associated with it. I also used Gerassic on one track of my last Kubota album here.

The rhythmic glitch drum sections were done with this Ciat box I made with paper circuits and the regular drum noises done with a Plumbutter.

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#10

I am just right now listening through and it sounds great! Right now where I live there is a rather weird combination of things already spring to life, birds singing etc. and grey sky with a bit of snow falling and I found that this music fits this whole circumstances so well so thanks again for your music!
I must admit there is something in Ciat Lonbarde instruments that despite the fact that they generate variety of noise it still doesn’t sound like noise music. There is something comforting in their sounds like I don’t know consciousness buzzing or something like that :smiley: Of course I don’t want to downplay your skill because it still takes a lot of work for it to not sound random.

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IMG_47051488×1866 1.07 MB

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#11

Hey thanks, I appreciate your thoughts and taking the time to listen to it.

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#12

This is an excellent release, it’s been super pleasant to listen to. I think you have definitely achieved this aim. It’s lovely to hear a varied approach to the Ciat Lonbarde equipment, and I would personally love to hear more melodic things done with them. The organic nature of the tones lends itself beautifully to simple melodies.

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#13

really musical! I’ve always enjoyed your clips and demos over the years, looking forward to sinking into something longer

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