This dense section from a live Ostracon recording contains several live looped layers of synth along with the drums. Thanks to multitrack live recordings made by Isaac Halvorson I have about fifteen pieces from three shows that I’m currently mixing with the idea of releasing a live album. Some of them won’t make the cut, but I’m hearing potential in many of the tracks so far.
Dense Ostracon Performance Excerpt
At the last Ostracon performance I decided to forgo the use of soft synths and attempt to strictly use the Roland MKS-80 as my sole sound source. Because I live loop during these shows I was able to layer a broad variety of tones and, using the Bitstream 3X, manipulate the tones in real-time. Here’s a plucky outro that illustrates this technique.
Tonight I had the opportunity to revisit some of the material recorded during the Ostracon release show on June 24, 2011. I created a rough mix and master to get an idea of the potential for the work. Here’s an outro from the second track of the evening.
Ostracon Release Show Segment 4
As long as I am calling these microtracks I may as well give them titles hence, I now present for your listening pleasure, Better Place.
This is another microtrack that I mixed from clips recorded during our recent Ostracon performance. All the sounds were produced using the Roland MKS-80 and the sequencing was generated by the GMS.
Here’s a mix of the four previous practice phrases combined. The GMS preset that I programmed and used to create the phrases reined them all into the same general tonal center (basically harmonic minor). Imagine something like this with expertly played live drums and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what the Ostracon show sounded like last night.
Here’s another phrase from my practice session prior to Wednesday’s performance. This sound was made with a monophonic patch I programmed for leads. I routed the GMS to the MKS-80 and recorded a MIDI loop so that notes were purposefully overlapping. Next I let that record while adjusting various parameters on the synth.
Here’s another of GMS phrase I made while preparing for tonight’s performance. I think of this patch as a sort of electrified, aggressive, synthetic koto.
This entry and the last will give you an idea of the analogue synth sounds I’ll be using at our upcoming Ostracon performance Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at the Honey Lounge in Minneapolis.