Day 240: Automatic Monkey Robot Hat Machine

Another experiment using strictly automation to create music.  I should note that these were inspired by Peff and his great tutorial on controlled voltage.  Pretty dark again.  I'll try to make the next one pretty and diatonic...

Day 239: Mixed Roles

Today's piece is another that is a Disquiet Junto assignment.  These three simple tasks are deceptive:

You will make the beat with an oscillator.

You will make the background sound bed with a drum machine.

You will make the melody with a field recording.

Yes, I can do all those things.  

Where I threw myself a loop was my field recording.  It's not very "melodic".  I ended up making it into an instrument, then processing that instrument with milliseconds-long delay.  By playing with the delay you can create pitch - basically it's just an oscillator, only less precise.  

The actual oscillator I used for the beat was VERY basic.  The primary beat is a stair step wave pattern on 1,2,3,and 4, then in my "B" section I threw in a hemiola square wave to create more tension.  Rather than use the oscillator to create any tones I chose to just use the "clicks" of a very slow oscillator as a metronome of sorts.

  Finally, the sound bed created by a drum machine.  I have umpteen-thousand different kinds of drum machine (patches) and could have easily "cheated" and made this part simple.  To be fair I used a 606 drum machine and turned it into an ambient pad.  Washing it out with the right amount of reverb and other effects I came to what I felt was an appropriate sounding pad.  The key here was to focus on the only things with decent tone - the toms.

In the "C" section of the piece I turn the roles on their heads and allow everything to fall into it's right place for just a moment.  The oscillator creates a tone, the drums play rhythm, the field recording is noise.  Oddly, it doesn't really feel right to me.  The new roles they have been assigned are their proper roles... if there is such a thing.

More on this 85th Disquiet Junto project, in which a song is made with three simple parts (oscillator, drum machine, field recording), at:

http://disquiet.com/2013/08/15/disquiet0085-3parts/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Day 185: Our Undying Love

Where you end, I begin,

When our lives intersect, we become one.
Together we will live forever.
You and me.

Lyrics:
Where you end, I begin.  
Where you stop, I pick up.  
You are a part of me.

You stay high, I'll be low.  
You are fast, but I'm right behind you. 
You are a part of me.

We are an infinite loop.  
We are an infinite time, 
Sharing this reality that we've created.

We have forever and a day,
 just you and me, 
Always.

Where you end, I begin.  
Where you stop, I pick up.  
You are a part of me.

Day 178: Crushing the bits to bits

Started out wanting to make an instrument without using any "instrument" patches.  I got to a small roadblock when I couldn't control the pitch and the gates.  Figured it out by using polar pitch shifter.

After that it was a little arranging, a splash of melody and... voila!  Masterpiece.

Day 140: Now, Later, Truth

As a continuation of yesterday I started a piece that was going to be Thor Only, but ended up being Thor + Now, Later, Truth, Divisor and some other things.  Plus I used a couple of loops/patches from Nine Volt Audio.  Now, Later, and (just added) Truth are some interesting rack extensions and I'm kind of using them as a "plug it in and see what happens" type device.  I was pleased with the result and the piece over all.  The Chronologists have some interesting things happening, go check 'em out.

A few days ago, while working on music during my lunch break at my day job someone walking by and said "Looks like a circuit board."  I chuckled to myself at the comment and that the guy clearly didn't know what a circuit board looked like, but then started to think about it.  The rack, for someone uninitiated, is pretty damn complex. One might be looking at a hundred different knobs, sliders, graphs, windows, and lights and each one does something unique.  It's nice to look at them all and know what they do.

Here's today's offering.

Day 130: Shorty Say

Not sure what this song is.  Don't know what genre, don't know that the lyrics mean anything, don't know much.  It's different... that's the only thing I can say for sure.

Lyrics:
Shorty is sweety,
She don't know how to live.
Shorty is a sweety,
She don't know what she give.
I barely know her name.

Shorty is a sweety,
when the lights go out.
Shorty is a sweety,
She gotta shout.
Hop in the car.

Shorty, I don't think I'll ever forget you.
Not as long as I live.
Shorty, I don't think I can get you out of my head.

Day 129: Get a Little C-c-c-closer

Still learning how to use Beatchop by Quadelectra.  It's similar in many respects to Buffre by Peff, but seems to arrive at certain types of sounds easier.

Beatchop

Buffre

To me, Buffre seems to be great at quickly creating glitch style anything, mostly due to the built in bitcrusher.  Beatchop is more of a stutter/jitter type effect.  Are they related? Yes.  If you add a bitcrush effect to Beatchop many people would be hard-pressed to tell you which is being used.  There is a fair amount of overlap, but I know that I'm getting some different results when experimenting with the two. Just as with Sugarbytes Slice Arranger or Ochen K's Glitch - the outcomes are all slightly different.  Slice Arranger is kind of an auto-mated version, but still creates some pleasurable results (to my ears).

Slice Arranger

Glitch

Lyrics:
I just want to see you smile.
Can you get a little closer to me?
I just want to hold your hand.
Can you get a little closer to me?

Day 122: Like a Dragon

Was watching a documentary about graffiti artists all over the world last night and a guy in Sao Paolo said "This city is like a dragon."  He followed up the metaphor with a comparison that made sense, most of which I can't remember.  I stole the line from him.

Lyrics:
At the bottom of the river where you lay.
At the bottom of a well, I hope you'll stay.

From the top of the mountain, head in the clouds.
I can hear you shouting,
Shouting so loud.

This city is like a dragon,
Going to eat us up.
You are the hero trying to save us all.

Standing on the hilltop, sword in your hand.
Blood on your face, your claws are sharp.
We run from you, but we aren't fast enough.

This city is such a monster,
Going to chase you down the road.
This city is a hungry machine.
Don't stop feeding it.

Day 119: Frequency Modulation Synthesis - Post-Rock Style

Another piece using Simon Janvier's FM Synth Refill.  For some reason I keep going to post rock when using his patches.  Not really sure why.


Lyrics:
You gave me your greatest gift.
I said thank you.
Won't even hold my hand.

Behind the house you gave your greatest gift.
In the grass, you gave it to me.

Behind the house you gave it to me.