Verbos HO -compiled-

modular FM and BONGO

the 2014 studio diary is a project where i will be exploring sounds in my studio on a day-to-day basis (or whenever i'm not too busy to play.) typically i'll be making loops, phrases, sounds... experimenting with different equipment and techniques. no rules, no big goals, just exercising my creativity and hopefully learning a lot along the way.

i originally intended this to be a modular synthesis sound-a-day project, as i have fully  jumped back into eurorack after 10 years away from it, but the creation of a nice loop with some non-modular gear as i was setting up my new studio lead to the start of the project. i will always choose serendipity over most planned courses of action.

please check back to this diary on a regular basis. i will do my best to explain the sounds when i can and if you have any questions please leave them in the comments section.

may your 2014 be creative, productive, and peaceful.

2014 Studio Diary

Smoke

Porya Hatami - Autumn

something simple tonight… 

sine waves ….. from the verbos harmonic oscillator

with individual control inputs for 8 harmonic sine waves.. not to mention individual outputs and various spread and tilt controls..

this is just the tip of the iceberg. a very simple demonstration of some of the evolving patterns that can be created.

the verbos is being modulated by 5 LFOs.


May 08, 2014 (verbos harmonic oscillator)

harmonic sheets…. (i feel this could be explored more, honed more.. this is quite rough. but, hey, this whole sound diary is supposed to be rough)

sound sources:
mutable instruments braids
verbos harmonic oscillator
modified serge resonant eq / feedback

processing:
univox tape echo



May 13, 2014 (harmonic sheets)

continuing the idea of leaving the synth patched overnight and using it again the same way the next time…. this sound is set up the same way as the previous.. just with different settings, different LFOs, etc.

i think i'm approaching what looks like a really effective little live rig…

this is the verbos harmonic oscillator again controlled by 5 LFOs.. some filtering and the phonogene.

June 17, 2014 (like yesterday, but different / verbos harmonic oscillator)

i set out to do something simple tonight and it worked well and quickly. a moskwa sequencer triggering a circuit abbey adsr which controls the main level of an intellijel linix vca.

the primary sound source is the verbos harmonic oscillator whose various sine waves are being controlled by 5 LFOs from an intellijel dr. octature ii. there's an oscillator layer, too, the more shimmering high sound, from an intellijel shapeshifter.

the pitches being sent from the moskwa sequencer are being quantized by an intellijel uScale and the whole mix is going through a synthrotek eko module and finally a reverb on an eventide h3000.

with the right notes and a bit more tweaking on the sound this could be a pretty good foundation.

Sept 08, 2014 (harmonic sheets)

just having fun as i was trying to figure out what was wrong with my tip top audio 808 BD module (nothing, as it turned out) and inspired by a recent muffwiggler thread on running the verbos harmonic oscillator into a low pass gate for woody/percussive sounds. i started there but it morphed to this...

the verbos is being controlled by a moskwa sequencer and running into a make noise mmg filter with the filter all the way closed. the moskwa gates are pinging the mug's strike input and the signal ends up going through the make noise erbe verb.

in the end you can hear the erbe verb and how its quite modulated... i have various clock-divided gate signals going into the cv ins on the erbe so it's basically sending high signals, rhythmically, into the parameters making them jump up and down too off-kilter rhythms.

as the sequence goes i bring up a few of the sine harmonics on the verbos and some almost hi-hat sounds come in early on which is the resonance from the mmg being turned up.

fun little thing. perhaps.

oct 06, 2014 (verbos harmonic rhythms 5 over 4)

Modular Synths
(principally Verbos Harmonic Oscillators)
Edit: Logic
2014

Dhrupad: para Éliane Radigue

looping xylophone and the voice of ichiko aoba from recordings we did together in japan.

sound sources:
xylophone
voice (courtesy of ichiko aoba)

processors:
qu-bit nebulae
mungo g0
make noise phonogene
modcan cv record
intellijel korgasmatron
intellijel dr. octature
pittsburgh filter
serge resonant eq
intellijel springray
make noise erbe verb

modulators:
flame c3
eowave zone b.f.
mutbale frames

december 18, 2014 (of xylophone and voice)

this is a very rough, first experiment with a process i've been meaning to try for a possible follow up and "sequel" album.... using the same concepts i used a long time ago, executed in a very different way.

this a rough tracking with little or no care taken to the mix. i am, however, encouraged...

december 19, 2014 (sti.ll experiment)

slow music... loops and modulations. don't listen to while driving.

sound sources:
xylophone recorded onto a cassette walkman looped by a make noise phonogene.
verbos harmonic oscillator
piano loop on qu-bit nebulae

modulation by a livewire vulcan modulator

reverb by tc m2000 and make noise erbe verb

december 23, 2014 (slow music)

recorded in florida over christmas. a recordable cassette walkman resting inside a cheap upright piano.

i tried to make long, 20-30 minute passages but the recorder kept failing.

december 25, 2014 (tape piano)

as dirty as the christmas tape piano....

testing out the synthrotek dirt filter (kindly gifted to me from marcus fischer for christmas) on a loop playing from the qubit nebulae.

resampled by the phonogene, filtered by an MMG and intellijel korgasmatron. various modulations, various signals, various hopes and dreams ground into the dirt.


december 30, 2014 (dirt loop)

With previous releases on U-Cover Ltd and Slaapwel Records, Sonmi451 here delivers an exceedingly delicate tribute to the stars and and to our star system. These softy crystaline and glittering pieces of pure electronica reflect perfectly the individual stars that they are named after, and like the night sky, flicker and fade with an ever shifting aura of calming beauty. The perfect soundtrack to an evening out under the night sky!

Sonmi451 - Alpha Centauri

Sonmi451 - Omicron Ceti

Beta Crucis is one of the tracks from Star Atlas, released on Time Released Sound in september 2011.

Sonmi451 - Beta Crucis

As part of the upcoming "chocolate box" series, we are very pleased to welcome back one of the earlier artists that Time Released Sound released, Bernard Zwijzen, aka Sonmi451. Where previously he took us via the deluxe Star Atlas release into the far reaches of the solar system, he directs us this time us towards heights more earthbound,  the mountain peaks of the Alps and Dolemites, which closer to home as they may well be, are still unreachable in reality for most of us devoted listeners. With his patented and delicate crystalline electronics, Sonmi451 again delivers the celestial goods we know so well, love so much and have come to expect!

Sonmi451 - Grossglockner

With over 100 physical releases since its inception by Taylor Deupree in 1997, New York-based music label 12k has decisively defined and developed the concept of minimalism in the realms of electronic music for more than a decade. Fusing elements from Ambient and Electro-Acoustic Composition with carefully arranged digital textures and associative micro-noises, the label's aesthetics revolve around a precisely-outlined, yet deeply emotional concoction of the technological and the organic. Eschewing the typical marketing mechanisms of the commercial music industry, Deupree has sculpted a platform whose influence today extends well beyond the confinements of the experimental community. 12k's integral approach, in which the label's instantly recognizable, elegantly spartan artwork enters into an inseparable symbiosis with the music, has created a timeless audiovisual language respected and appreciated all over the world.