WEEK 4: LDT [Adding Things]

This final track has proven to be a real challenge to complete. On Thursday evening I added some additional elements using my new Line 6 Otto Filter in conjunction with the Boss WP-20G and Cloud 9 Distortion. For echo I used the Digitech Digideay. I drove the WP-20G with my GK2 fitted Traveler Guitar and used both a flat pick and Ebo on the tracks I recorded.

This weekend was the beginning of Buddhist Lent so I traveled to the area around Korat to stay with my Girlfriend Sandy's family. Her parents home is a traditional old style Thai wooden house on stilts and the area around is rural. There is not much in the way of a cellular signal and no internet at all. I brought my Zoom MRS8 and Novation XioSynth along with me as I had hoped that I would find some time to finish off the recording.

After being there for a day what I had recorded previously sounded completely different to me. I was suddenly inspired to record additional tracks with the XioSynth and at around midnight on Sunday night I snuck outside and recorded ten minutes of the strange night noised made by the bugs and other creatures. I took these sounds and made several loops from them at various speeds including the orignal. The slowed loops sound truly spooky.

As for Eric and Darren's samples I believe the only one that will be truly recognizable will be Darren's drum loop. The other samples which I used, including one of Eric's guitar bits, have been put through sound forge in such a way that they fit in with the dreamy jungle journey.

WEEK 4: s o n i c b r a t

HIGHWAY FELO-DE-SE

Tempo: 120 Bpm
Key: E

This time round I did not use any gear recordings, just samples provided and some soft-synth sound-scaping using Reaktor 5. I've used a couple of LDT's samples, 2 guitar samples and one vocal sample of Eric's. I've pitched them, stretched them, ring modulated them, reversing them till they are just drones. Only Eric's bass guitar sample was left untouched with a little tidying and eq to clean the sample up plus time corrections; and the rest I've used mine... using the guitar synth sample I've provided in Week4, reversing and pitching it all the way up to underlay as the ethereal drone in the back ground. The bass drone get a stereo spread and the square arp get's ring modulated in one track and gated (plus getting the cracking residues of a crackle removal plug-in) in another to get the glitchy clicks. I've also used samples I've provided in the past weeks for the drums. Final touch ups were done by adding Reaktor 5 synths drones, reversing them and such. The loops were edited, warped and got a make over using Sound Forge, mixed on Acid, and mastered on Sound Forge. And here it is, a whiney IDM piece again.

WEEK 4: LDT [contributor]

Week 4 Contribution



This week I have decided to provide Eric and Darren samples that were created using three of my Korg units. The first four tones I recorded were from my Korg MicroKorg. I spend much of Friday evening tweaking some sounds specifically for this week. These are the sounds I've decided to share. The others may appear in my final contribution along side Darren and Eirc's samples.



The second group of samples are beats created on my Korg ER1. I varied the BPM halving it from the prescribed 120 BPM to 60 BPM to make it a little more interresting. I also recorded two loops with distortions from inboard effects on my Zoom MRS8 recorder. I didn't use the Sherman.



The last group of sounds was created using my old Korg Sigma. I ran it through my Cloud 9 Flanger and Digitech Digiday since it has no inboard effects of its own. The Sigma has great oscillators. The problem I'm having with it now is none of them seem to want to stay in tune for more than three seconds and some of the dials are suffering from their age as well.

Hopefully there are enough things here to be of use.

WEEK 4: s o n i c b r a t [contributor]

Tempo: 120 bpm
Key: E

These are my samples created using only KORG Triton ST88. Everything was played and recorded (sequenced) on the Triton... nothing done outside of it and all sounds were designed on the Triton itself. This project has led me to exploring this workhorse in a way I wouldn't usually (due to the nature of my work). Effects and filters (on board) were employed as a design to play with the sound and timbre. Have fun guys.

WEEK 3: s o n i c b r a t [contributor]

Tempo: 115 Bpm
Key: E

So here's my samples. Created solely using my old trusty KORG TRITON ST88. All parts are played and sequenced, including filtering on the Triton itself. The drum beats were played and recorded, not using arpeggiators. The vocal samples are old recording samples of mine, warped on Max/Msp. All samples are kept dry and uneffected unless filtering intended. Anyway, for the fun of it, I've placed the dry samples all together to hear how it sounds. So here's the mix track of all my samples (minus vocals):

KORGATRONICS

Do listen with a pair of headphones for better listening experience :)

Have fun Eric!

WEEK 3: LDT [contributor]

For this weeks contribution I decided to work with my now rarely used Roland MC-303 Groove Box. This is not the original one I bought back ten years ago. That one is packed safely in a water proof storage container in Oakville. I picked this used one up here a few years ago at Pantip Plaza.

The MC-303 was a little work horse for me back in the day. It provided drums, sequences and backing pads for the band I had with Chris Chiasson (Stick) and Richard Forsley (Guitar). It later provided the same for Snowmelter. By 1999 I was very good at programming it and its only limitation seemed to be the lack of memory available for the user. There was no way to delete the hundreds of stupid preset "grooves" (which how sound hilariously dated) and the user was only allowed a measly 50 slots.

The MC-303 sound engine is basically the Roland Sound Canvas which features PCM sample based wave forms as the tonal building blocks. They can be filtered and messed with extensively and the drum sets contain the TR-808 and TR-909 kits. The other tone sets include lots of synth, piano, bell, and other sounds. There are some rather useless sound effects but if they are pitched down enough they can be used to create some wonderfully strange and spooky sounds.

For today's experiment I worked up several sound sets for Eric. For processing I ran the MC-303 through the Electro Harmonix LPB 2ube tube preamp and into the Zoom MRS8 recorder. The MC-303 was slaved to the Zoom's MIDI clock for tempo. I used the Zoom's internal effects to process the signal further. I recorded a few variations of a string pad to start. Afterwards I recorded several drum loops through some heavy distortion and some odd EQing and compression.

I used my Novation Bass Station for a MIDI control and the remaining bits were recorded with the MC-303's tone back slaved to the Bass Station. Once I'd recorded 12 short tracks I imported the tracks to Lappy and normalized all the tracks in Sound Forge before sending them off.

WEEK 2: LDT [Update]

Diabolical Structures

The "framework" I pieced together from the supplied samples to act as some sort of guide collapsed last night under the weight of my frustration. A frustration usually reserved for dealing with all things Microsoft. The sort of frustration that might result in Grover-like arm waving and screaming. In any event at about 10:30 pm I simply gave up in dispair.



















This evening I attacked the situation from a different direction. Instead of using the framework I began with laying down various drum tracks at 40, 80 and 160 BPM. I used my Yamaha AN200 and ran it through the Sherman Filter Bank and the results mirrored the sound of last nights frustration. I recorded five tracks of this, setting the Sherman on full blast for complete sonic destruction of the drum loops.



















Once I'd expended all myself with this process I'd managed to create an unlistenable assault of squashed beats and shrill frequencies that proved to be as totally useless as my ill fated framework.

So.... I loaded up a blank project and began again using the Novation Bass Station and the AN200 as a MIDI slave.



















And lo, it came to pass that my Muse, Space Walk Shirely herself stopped by and granted me a little idea that just might do the trick.

WEEK 2: LDT [Render 02]

Contributions Contributed

Now I have received plenty of samples and the process begins of trimming and arranging things into some sort of framework upon which I can hang some sort of final idea. I now also remember why I enjoy playing and recording over the tedious effort of dragging and dropping samples and loops.

The MP3 posted today is an assembly of some of the various parts, some of which have been messed with extensively in Sound Forge. What you hear doesn't include a signal beep or bump produced by me, its all either Eric or Darren. I have transfered this same track from a Wav format rendering to the Zoom format and have uploaded it into my MRS8 where upon I will begin the process of further editing and recording various additional bits and bobs.

I will keep you posted on the results if and when they happen.

WEEK 2: S o n i c b r a t [contributor]

Tempo: 80 Bpm
Key: D

Samples created on KORG Triton ST88, GlitchedDrums created using a church bell sample and gunshot sample, glitched using Reaktor 5; normal drums created using Reaktor 5 Grooveboxes... I've kept it dry and uneffected so that LDT may chop it up and screw up my samples as he like... All yours, LDT.

WEEK 1: s o n i c b r a t

MECHANICAL DREAM



PLEASE LISTEN WITH A HEADPHONES FOR FULL EFFECTS...

Gears used: Doepfer A-100 modular system; Juno-106; KORG Triton ST88
Softwares: Plogue Bidule; Reaktor 5
Samples: Provided by LDT and Eric (refer to previous posts)

A glitchy experimental electronic IDM piece... well, I tried many versions and somehow the samples provided by LDT and Eric seem to work best this way.

All drums are glitched and spliced on Reaktor 5 using the drum samples LDT provided, no other drums were used... eq and ring mod applied. Ambient sounds are created by really really screwing up LDT's synth sounds and Eric's distorting (clipping) guitar samples, thereby creating loops of the clicky buzzy background.

I added some mild sound designs using KORG Triton, glitching Doepfer A-100 sound samples I've created using Reaktor 5 and using a little of Plogue Bidule for additional synthesis. At the end, I added a bass tone using JUNO-106 to juice it up a little... that's it.

See if you can spot the original samples. Not for easy ears, be warned...