Working on a new track – the first experiment integrating the modular synth with Logic Pro. I added a guitar to my collection last week; a 1987 Fender Strat (Boxer series). I’ve been wanting to replace the original Strat that I owned in 1982 and sold long ago. I’m thinking of using the Strat on this track to add clean, sustaining melodies and chords with a subtle use of the whammy bar and delayed attack.
A ten minute Trance track inspired by the recent addition of Moog Subharmonicon and DFAM modules added into the new upper case of my Eurorack system. I haven’t owned a Moog product since I sold my MiniMoog around 1984 (one of my two great music gear regrets). I also almost owned a complete Moog System 55 in the late 90’s but I couldn’t raise the $1,600 that the late, great Robb Earls was asking, even though it was an absolute …
I have finished the final track for the Excursions in Time release, entitled “Destination Rue de Verneuil”. Last night I finally recorded a performance that felt right for this closing track on my album. The track is 11:32 long which brings the total time for the release up to 62mins. For me it’s just right for this type of music. I used every patch cable that I have to make the track, except one little shorty. (Need to get more …
This is my most complex patch so far, and I’ve been working on it for a week. I incorporated a few new things this time, such as recording the chordal pads in Tim Exile’s Endlesss app. I played them by hand in the app on my iPhone and recorded them into the Morphagene, which was clocked so that I could fade the chords in and out and they would still be in sync.
I also used the interface that I …
I added a few new modules to my system recently which inspired me to record a new track utilizing them. The track begins with a bass line generated from a Poly-D analog synth, patched in and controlled by the modular system. I built a custom interface to bring the Poly-D’s back panel ports onto a panel in the modular synth.
The new modules include a VPME QD drum module with QEX expander, Strymon Starlab experimental reverb, and an ST stereo …
This is a remix project that I made a while ago and decided to add visuals now for submitting the track to YouTube.
In late 2008 Porcupine Tree founder Steven Wilson announced a remix competition for the song “Abandoner”, from his debut solo release – Insurgentes. I was pleased to find that my remix was chosen as one of the eight finalists which Steven had whittled down from over 200 submissions. Although I didn’t win I was very surprised to …
Something wonderful happened a few nights ago. I was working with the modular synth and I began to tweak a patch I had just put together. I did a little of this and a little of that and things began to fall into place. It was becoming interestingly rhythmic with nice variations. I let it continue to play while getting ready to shut things down for the night. While doing all that I suddenly realized how much the music was …
Tonight I took my first steps in creating generative music with the modular synth. After studying the manuals to several of the modules I’m beginning to explore a little more deeply into their complex inner workings.
From Wikipedia; “Generative music is a term popularized by Brian Eno to describe music that is ever-different and changing, and that is created by a system.”
Or to put it another way, as Eno himself has said, “Generative music is a lot like gardening, …
Recently the components for my new modular synthesizer began to arrive.
I’ve wanted a modular for quite a while. My very first synth was a modular, a Paia that I built from a kit. I couldn’t afford a Minimoog at the time, which I wanted very much. But it was completely out of my budget at $1500 in 1975, so I built the $240 Paia instead. It actually was a better first synth for me because building it, and then …
The latest acquisition to my studio is a Hammond M3 organ. It now resides in what I call the “vintage” area of the studio due to being made in 1955, and it’s directly beside a Masco guitar amp from 1946. So being 68 and 77 years old does allow me to truthfully use the word vintage. 😁
I’ve had the Masco for years, but the M3 arrived recently on a whim. I owned one previously (with two Leslie 145 speakers) back …