Monotribe Meets Pro-One Part 1

Posted on March 7, 2012 by John C.S. Keston

Here’s the first in a series of microtracks I’ll be sharing here on ACB that I produced with a Korg Monotribe synchronized in a variety of ways with my SCI Pro-One. The nice thing about the Monotribe is that it has sync in/out that works perfectly with the Pro-One gate in/out functionality. I wasn’t sure if this would work or not so my friend Lukas brought his over and we tested it before I committed to buying one. I was quite pleased to find out that it works both ways meaning I can either sync the Monotribe with the LFO on the Pro-One, or sync the Pro-One to the tempo on the Monotribe.

Pro-One Calibration and J-Wire Cleaning

Posted on December 2, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

I recently cleaned the j-wires and re-calibrated my Sequential Circuits Pro-One. I cleaned the j-wires and the contact bar with isopropyl alcohol and cotton swaps, although proper contact cleaner is recommended. I also gently bent a few of the wires to improve the connection to the contact bar.

I knew about the calibration problem prior to any of this maintenance, but I noticed it even more after cleaning the j-wires. I’m not sure why this would be the case, but I resolved to take a stab at the calibration myself having not attempted it before. Looking on the scope I could see that an octave on the keyboard was actually a quarter tone sharp and therefore unplayable. I made the necessary adjustments for both oscillators and now it sounds great.

After the calibration I produced this sequence entirely on the Pro-One in a single take by programming two short sequences into the on-board sequencer. The first sequence was played at several pitches to create a progression. I also switched off the oscillator sync at the same time I switched to the second sequence to create an octave doubling of the melody then re-enabled the sync at 1:41.

Pro-One-Sequence-Calibrated

Short Circuit Videos

Posted on February 26, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

Short Circuit – 021911 – Ostraka from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

Short Circuit – 021911 – Sputnik Viper from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

Short Circuit – 021911 – Square Wail from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

Short Circuit – 021911 – web dimension from Low-Gain on Vimeo.

Logan Erickson, also known as Low-Gain, organizes the monthly electronic music event called Short Circuit. As well as doing a great job with the event, he produces excellent, HD documentation with the direct audio signal from the house system synched up to the video. Above is his documentation from the February 19, 2011 event that I had the pleasure of participating in. Checkout his Vimeo page to see videos from former Short Circuit events and interesting experiments by Low-Gain.

Morton Subotnick

Posted on February 24, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

Electronic music pioneer, Morton Subotnick, gives a tour of his New York studio and discusses his career on Electric Independence. In case you’re unfamiliar, Subotnick is responsible for commissioning Don Buchla to build the famous Buchla Series 100. Oh yeah, and he’s using Ableton Live. Awesome!

Eyeo Festival June 27-29, 2011

Posted on January 26, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

In late June 2011 I will be presenting the GMS and Grain Machine, as well as performing with Ostracon, at the Eyeo Festival. Eyeo is a new festival organized by Dave Schroeder, that includes an ever expanding and incredible list of speakers. I am honored, humbled and invigorated to be participating in this event. Here’s a blurb from the festival website:

“eyeo brings together the most creative coders, designers and artists working today, and shaping tomorrow – expect an amazing three days of talks, labs, demos & events fueled by the people and tools that are transforming digital culture.”

Just to give you an idea of the scope of the presenters, both Ben Fry and Casey Reas, founders of the Processing.org language (that I used to build the GMS) are on the roster among many other brilliant talents. Checkout the website for a list of the presenters so far. Here’s a track from the upcoming Ostracon album to illustrate what we’re producing.

Entropy Procedure by Ostracon