Here’s a brief segment of a new track I’m working on. I don’t have much to say about it other than it’s at eighty four beats per minute and involves lots of processing. It is still untitled and far from complete, but I expect that it will be included on the album that I have committed to releasing this March on Unearthed Music. If you listen carefully you may recognize one of the layers as the sound from Octave Pedal Rhodes.
84 Octave (working title)
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
You’ve probably heard enough about my Casiotone 403 by now, but I’m not finished with it yet. What’s my fixation with this outdated, inflexible, cheese filled, imitation wood grain dinosaur? I don’t quite know myself. I can tell you that it’s not the kitsch factor. I actually like the way this relic sounds. So much so that I bothered to open it up to repair a sticky key. What I found inside were well organized electronics in a wooden and metal chassis that opened up like a clam and invited me in. So here’s another example of of sound from the Casiotone. I added a bass line with the Maxi-Korg and delay on the comping. Two great tastes that go great together.
Casiotone Madness in D Minor
As well as classic drum patterns the Casiotone 403 has some nice vintage analog keyboard tones. Short of circuit bending, there’s not really any way to manipulate those tones other than vibrato and sustain under the effects section. These are simple on or off settings, so there’s no depth, speed, or decay adjustments. You get what you’re given, but that’s what you’d expect from an instrument of this sort, and part of its charm.
I actually have used this keyboard for a couple of performances. Once at the May day festival in Minneapolis I played it with a group of kale wearing performers. During the parade we were joined by Wavy Gravy, so we gave him a mic and accompanied him for thirty minutes or so. There’s a lot more to this story that I won’t go into here, but in any case my favorite line that he used was, “Don’t eat the brown kale”. Afterward I had him sign my brown, wood grain Casiotone 403.
Casiotone Organ
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
