Korg MS2000 Noises for Sunset

Posted on January 6, 2009 by John CS Keston

Here’s a segment from a single track out of the piece Sunset on Keston and Westdal’s first album, Super Structure Baby (2002, Unearthed Music). Sunset was the final piece on the album until Kinon’s Path was added as a bonus track for the reissue.

Sunset was the first track that I wrote after buying my Korg MS2000 in 2000, so I was still learning the instrument but enjoying myself fully in the process. The knob turning goes on for the whole seven minutes and two seconds of the piece, but I have edited it down to the first minute and six seconds.

Sunset Noises

Testing My Little HD Friend

Posted on January 4, 2009 by Saronni

Santa brought me a wonderful little Kodak Zi6 HD video camera this year. I spent a couple hours on a meditative down tempo track just to inspire me to create a short film. I have no name for the young audio piece but I do have a fragment of it to share. I was experimenting with the macro setting and got some nice lens flare action.

Meditation Station (QuickTime Video 11.2mb)

More Image to Sound Techniques: Mould by Nick Froud

Posted on December 29, 2008 by John CS Keston

Today’s fascinating sound is another example of the conversion of digital imagery into sound and was submitted by Manchester based artist Nick Froud. Nick writes:

“I have been following your blog for months and have found it really inspiring. The software featured in your most recent entry is quite similar to a program I (very quickly) put together for an exhibition idea I have. My girlfriend produces photography based and nature and process, I wanted to adopt these ideas into sound that could accompany each of her pictures in a gallery.

The program I made converts an image directly into sound by scanning along each pixel and outputting a sample to a wave file based on an average of the red, green and blue channels. It also outputs the red green and blue channels as CC data in a MIDI file. In this way, I intend to create music entirely generated from an image but with human direction as to choices of effects to be controlled by MIDI data, layering of sounds etc. The sound generated are much noisier than in other sound / image conversion applications, but I think it gives a better feel of the texture of an image.”

You can hear more of Nick’s creations on his myspace sites Crunchy Alligator and Circastate.

Mould

Maxi-Korg Bass Line

Posted on December 25, 2008 by John CS Keston

Here’s a short little bass line I recorded while reacquainting myself with my Maxi-Korg yesterday. I love the gritty sound of this instrument, one of the most well known of the duophonic synthesizers. Sometimes I find myself reaching for the non-existent pitch or modulation wheels, but the limitations of these vintage devices are part of their charm and might encourage the musician to come up with new ways to play (or rediscover old ways).

Another thing that I love about vintage gear is the lack of presets. When I come up with a sound I like I simply say to myself, “you’re never going to get exactly that sound ever again”. You can always jot down the settings, but I never do. This way you’re forced to learn how to control the device and approximate the sounds that you have created in the past if necessary.

Maxi Korg Bass Line