When synthesists talk of organic sounds they tend to be referring to analogue synths, usually some unstable old beast with wonky voltage controlled oscillators. Organic is rarely deployed to describe digital synths, yet by deploying a range of synthesis options including physical synthesis the Anyma Phi could be staking a claim to the description of organic. How well does it succeed?
Continue reading “Anymated Synthesis”Homegrown Pleasures
Wavetable synthesis is having a moment in the sun right now. This article will show you how to get the most out of this powerful form of synthesis by creating your own wavetables. The article explains what wavetables are and how to create your own using the free Audioterm software by Mathias Gurk. Whilst I focus on the Waldorf Blofeld the concepts and techniques can be applied to other wavetable synthesisers.
Continue reading “Homegrown Pleasures”Who cares?
My morning ends and I have completed a weekly food shop. When I first arrived at the supermarket I was told that the first hour was reserved for people aged 70 and older, later as I stood in the queue I noticed an invite to National Health Service (NHS) workers to go straight to the front, both of course very good measures for these groups. There is no doubt that the NHS are at the forefront of responding to the COVID19 pandemic and best placed to provide treatment. ‘Stay home, protect the NHS and save lives’ goes the simple, enormously successful slogan. Yet why no invite for social care staff? The answer is a complex one. Here are some of the reasons, all of which are interrelated.
Continue reading “Who cares?”Half Normal
Too late for a spoiler alert, this article is going to describe the benefits of a patchbay and why for most applications choosing half normal is a good bet. If you have a music studio, regularly find yourself plugging and unplugging equipment and you don’t know your normal from half normal then all you need is this article. And a patchbay. Essentially utilitarian the patchbay is an inexpensive piece of equipment that is incredibly useful and also manages to be fun and inspiring, helping you stay in the flow rather than wrestling with spaghetti tangled leads.
Let the healing begin
This is a call for common sense. We all know that in these turbulent times feelings can run high and people take strongly held views, but enough is enough. It is time to show some respect. For instance, I have heard people say that Boris Johnson looks like a startled orangutan in a suit. Really, there is no need for this. Wild haired, lumbering and rarely seen in public and widely persecuted, orangutans are endangered species. Boris Johnson is the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Dusting the Marotte
Around the new year a radio station here in the U.K. has a programme featuring experts predicting what will happen in the year ahead. Generally their predictions seem entirely credible, yet so often are shown to be less than prescient a year down the line. In fact the significant events often seem to be something that came up out of the blue. Perhaps these events are so significant because no one saw them coming?
So prediction – a mug’s game played by fools and quacks.
As we start a new decade it is time to preen my feathers, dust down my marotte and step up to the crystal ball. Here are my predictions for electronic music production over the next decade.
Jimi Hendrix
The first records I had were given to me. From Uncle Terry I had ‘Help’ – The Beatles, ‘After Math’ – The Rolling Stones,’The Times they are a changin’ and ‘Bringing it all back Home’ – Bob Dylan, and from my cousin Carol came a record with the most amazing psychedelic cover. That record was ‘Electric Ladyland’ by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Continue reading “Jimi Hendrix”Pooling ideas
Gusts of noise like sonic sighs, children playing, tentative invented instruments. An impressionistic take on a July afternoon from the Memory Drift album.
The latest VST is ready for release, the manual written and demo made. Coming soon….
I care because you do….
Thanks to some constructive feedback I’ve made a tweak to the Catalyst VSTi. The new version has a recalibrated filter env mod control. What I like about Catalyst is that it is different yet easy to use. Development of my forthcoming effect is going well, just the manual and audio demo to complete, so it should be out in the next couple of weeks.
May 2013
I’m still posting tracks from the Memory Drift album, wishing I had more to report. Searching the internet I found that someone has made a video of a very old plug-in of mine. This is a plugin I won’t be reviving. What is in the pipeline is a reworking of a plug- in that I still use from time to time. The original was mono and had room for improvement, so it has been completely rewritten and is all finished and ready to go save for a few presets and a manual, so should be out soon. As I write this thinking about that plug-in and the latest tune I realise that I do use a fair amount of free stuff and how much of it is really very good. In keeping with the theme of Memory Drift most of what’s used on the latest track eludes me now, certainly I used Glitch on the drums and Physix as the glockenspiel sound. Thank you to the developers.
Talking of free stuff this month’s track like my others is hosted on SoundCloud and I’ve been discovering some great music there. My current favourites are Spiel:Feld from Berlin who are producing consistently wonderful podcasts.