Here’s a segment from a new track that will be included in my performance at 9:30pm on Monday, April 4, 2011 at the Kitty Cat Klub in Minneapolis. Sputnik Viper with Centrific and newly formed BETAWOLvES are alo on the bill. Aside from the drums the new Ostraka track (working title, Monkey Dog Specimen) is made exclusively of sounds from the Roland D-50 and the Roland MKS-80.
Monkey Dog Specimen Segment
One of many things that the MKS-80 is really good for is creating synthesizer effects. Through the use of the XMOD (cross modulation) parameters strange, metallic textures can be obtained similar to FM or frequency modulation. As heard in the Synthesizer Noise Jam series , I’m discovering a variety of ways to use these techniques to create unique and fascinating effects perfect for electronic music, or scifi thriller sound tracks. Here’s a short segment from one of these experiments processed through reverb and delay.
Nightmarish Synth Effect
Inevitably one of the results of the One Synthesizer Sound Every Day project that I started in January is to produce an Ostraka album. So far I have nearly thirty tracks in the works. Many of them will end up on the cutting room floor, but here’s an excerpt from an introduction for one of the pieces that I’m confident will make the roster. The segment starts with a washy arpeggio on the D-50 morphed into a pad with copious amounts of reverb and delay. Next up are some MKS-80 effects that introduce an unprocessed bouncy arpeggio in six eight time.
Excerpt of Intro to Heavy Synth Track in Six
Since configuring the Bitstream 3X to control the Super Jupiter instead of using the reKon Audio VST-AU MKS-80 editor I have been creating loads of sounds without bothering to save to save them as presets. Thinking back, this seems to be my modus operandi. I’m feeling pretty comfortable with this instrument now and using the BS3X I can usually dial up the sound I’m looking for in less than a minute. Not saving presets is nice because when dialing them in manually they never come up exactly he same way twice and you learn a lot about the instrument in the process. Here’s an example of one of the sounds I programmed today.
Pulsing Bass Note
Now that I am able to program the MKS-80 with the Bitstream 3X I am attempting to do the same for other electronic instruments that lack tactile controls. This involves digging into the MIDI implementation of these instruments and then programming the BS3X to send the appropriate values. The first instrument I’m trying this with is the Roland D-50. So far I have had no success in getting the Roland D-50 to respond to the values I’m sending it, but hopefully I get it figured out soon. Here’s an example of what I’d like to accomplish. To create the sound below I used the D-50’s joystick to change the cutoff frequency on the first upper partial while sending it notes via MIDI.
Roland D50 Automation