My First Few Weeks with the Moog Sub 37

Posted on November 10, 2014 by John C.S. Keston

I pre-ordered the Moog Sub 37 days after it was announced and have been sitting on the edge of my seat ever since anticipating its arrival. Finally it arrived during one of my busiest times in several years. As a result I have had very little time with the instrument. However, I can already tell that it will be a relationship as enduring as the decades long relationship I have had with the SCI Pro-One.

First and foremost the Sub 37 is feels like an instrument because it is an instrument. It has been designed to be musical and and expressive in the hands of a musician. The semi-weighted keyboard feels solid and just stiff enough to play dynamically. Velocity and pressure sensitivity react nicely with little adjustment necessary. With all the knobs available, programming is fast, but there are loads additional features under the hood. This does require menu diving, but it’s reasonable considering the modulation routing possibilities.
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Duet No.6 for Synthesizer and The Singing Ringing Tree

Posted on October 25, 2014 by John C.S. Keston

This is the sixth of seven videos produced so far documenting my five day recording session and performance series at the Singing Ringing Tree (SRT) in Burnley, UK. I performed accompaniment for the SRT binaural recordings simultaneously using a Novation Bass Station II connected to a USB battery. I also ran the Bass Station II through a Moog Minifooger Delay.

This piece was yet another captured during my third day on site. I chose to include this one to emphasize the potential for serendipity in compositions like these. About forty-five seconds into the piece you will notice the sound of a small, prop-driven, perhaps single engine plane flying overhead. Ironically the drone I was making was slowly modulating the pitch like an air-raid siren. Clearly hearing the aircraft in my headphones led me to slowly and deliberately morph the drone into a sound mimicking its engine.

NOTE: This is a binaural recording combined with a monophonic synthesizer track. Although it sounds great through speakers, circumaural headphones must be used to experience the binaural effect.

Duet No.5 for Synthesizer and The Singing Ringing Tree

Posted on September 22, 2014 by John C.S. Keston

This is the fifth of about seven videos produced so far documenting my five day recording session and performance series at the Singing Ringing Tree (SRT) in Burnley, UK. I performed accompaniment for the SRT binaural recordings simultaneously using a Novation Bass Station II connected to a USB battery. I also ran the Bass Station II through a Moog Minifooger Delay.

NOTE: This is a binaural recording combined with a monophonic synthesizer track. Although it sounds great through speakers, circumaural headphones must be used to experience the binaural effect. Continue reading →

AVGM: Rheology

Posted on August 25, 2014 by John C.S. Keston

Here’s another movement from my composition Vocalise Sintetica that I performed at Echofluxx in Prague and later during Northern Spark 2014. I named the movement Rheology after the study of the flow of matter in the liquid state. The audiovisual content was created with a Max patch I developed called AVGM (AV Grain Machine). The instruments that I used to create the accompaniment include: DSI Tempest, Bass Station II, Korg Volca Keys, and Memory Man Delay.

Duet No.4 for Synthesizer and The Singing Ringing Tree

Posted on August 4, 2014 by John C.S. Keston

This is the fourth document from my five day recording session and performance series at the Singing Ringing Tree (SRT) in Burnley, UK. I performed accompaniment for the SRT binaural recordings simultaneously using a Novation Bass Station II connected to a USB battery. I also ran the Bass Station II through a Moog Minifooger Delay.