This analog-sourced audiovisual piece is a collaboration with video artist Chris LeBlanc. The visuals were performed with a Hi-8 camera running through Tachyons+ and LoFiFuture processors, and keyed with a Bleep Labs synth. On the music end I’m playing my Moog Sub 37 through my Minifooger Delay and synched up to an Elektron Analog Four. I sent Chris separate signals from the Sub 37 and the A4 that he used to make the visuals respond.
Here’s a short phrase from a slow melody on the Moog Sub 37 that I recently played during a studio session with Lucas Melchior and Chris LeBlanc. The patch is one that I made specifically for performing lead lines and uses aftertouch to apply the vibrato. I also ran the Moog directly through the Minifooger delay. No other processing was applied to this monophonic phrase.
This snippet was made for an upcoming collaboration with Lister Rossel exploring frozen landscapes and environments. The rough mix was arranged using three layers produced with the Elektron Analog Four and audio recorded by the Cassini spacecraft.
The Cassini recording was time-stretched by a factor of three and then processed in various ways to achieve a stereo image. None of the tracks from the Analog Four were processed in post (the delay and reverb are onboard the A4).
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.
Continue reading
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.