Tracks by Chris Beckstrom

Spent Saturday at Knobcon 2015! Saw so many instruments I'd only read about. My favorite part was the "Demo Derby"– a room with a handful of "curated systems" where anybody could come in and play with them. I spent a lot of time there as it was my first time playing commercial modular synths!

I loved the WMD system and the Bastl system, but was probably most intrigued by the Verbos System (a "performance system" I believe: http://www.analoguehaven.com/verboselectronics/performancesystem/ although it didn't have a sequencer). It sounded absolutely fantastic and I discovered the usefulness of envelope generators that spit out a trigger when they are done (you can loop them!!). That's what I was exploring when I recorded this little track direct to my edirol recorder.

I certainly can't afford any of this gear anytime soon, but it sure is inspiring to make some sounds with this stuff. The next envelope generators I build will most certainly include "done" triggers so they can be looped. So cool.

Image credit: http://www.analoguehaven.com/verboselectronics/performancesystem/

Knobcon 2015 Demo Derby: Verbos Electronics System

Short lunchtime track... first track using vinyl samples from our new collection of records

Vinyl Stuff 1

Why Girl

What I Gonna Do

Who's Bad?

A track in celebration of the birthday and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Transcription:
Interviewer: Doesn't this raise the question of tactics though? You say, you use the word "honesty," you feel honesty is important here too... but as a matter of securing for the negro his rights. Do you feel that this aggressiveness, this self-assertiveness, will get him more in the long run than going along with contemporary opinion and biding his time, taking it step by step as he goes?

MLK: I think it's better to be aggressive at this point. It seems to me that it is both historically and sociologically true that privileged classes do not give up their privileges voluntarily, and they do not give them up without strong resistance. And all of the gains that have been made, that we have received in the area of civil rights have come about because the negro stood up courageously for these rights, and he was willing to aggressively press on. So I would think that it would be much better in the long run to stand up and be aggressive, with understanding good will and with a sense of discipline, yet these things should not be substitutes for pressing on. And with this aggressive attitude I believe that we will bring the gains of other civil rights into being much sooner than we would have standing idly by, waiting for these things to be given voluntarily.

More music at chrisbeckstrom.bandcamp.com
New hip-hop album coming soon!