modular jams

So I recently got into Pocket Operators as kind of a play around deal in my office. They're real fun. This song has nothing to do with those but I wanted to start at the beginning of all this.

the Pocket Operators got me interested in maybe doing something with the modular synthesis stuff and I was worried I'd spend a bunch of money and it wouldn't work for me.

I am not a wealthy dude, I keep thinking about selling my tunes on bandcamp but I never really get plays on the cloud. And my pessimism doubts any of the people that message me wanting me to pay them actually listened to any of my music or reads any of these notes(will there be a quiz session? you goddamn right there will be a quiz session. If you don't come prepared I'm gonna roast you on youtube. THATS A FUCKIN FACT, JACK and you too mack)

Nah fuck you. You invest in the music. Everyone invests in the music. You give yourself as freely to the music the way we did back in 2000. To all the basement dance sessions, to all the house parties with decks effects and 909s, to that one dude that got kicked out of Kilroys in Bloomington for headbutting the bass stack, this one's a shout out to you. 

Ok so how did we get here. This song? Is this a song. its more a jam really. 

what is the jam

its a modular synthesis patch made in a freeware software called VCV, massaged by Garageband a skosh and dumped here. I mostly fiddled with the knobs and had no real understanding what would happen. 

I'd initially dismissed the idea of modular synths trying to puzzle out what all the cables were doing was making my eyes bleed. I made it start to make sense after watching youtube videos by @DavidHilowitzMusic, @emilyharpist and @mylarmelodies, I'll link some of the things I liked below. Like a scholar. 

I'm still not entirely sure how I arrived the end result of audio. I got inspired, dreamt about it, fiddled around, asked some questions and it started to work out. I do know if I don't stop the sequencer there's some killer math in there that will make the sound system fart.  Probably something to do with the Fibonacci doohickies. 

Going to do this again with some additions to the sonic palette. You can take that as a warning if you want. You couldn't stop me either way. 

cool stuff I watched in no particular order:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2bo9boedEs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jCCzpWBsFs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJvc4ZIvc48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFhHArHk5JE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4gTTFNgUkY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2bo9boedEs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGbbTeXb9OA

special note to this ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U mixset that inspired me:
https://www.youtube.com/live/WvyvwlowHWM?feature=share

VCV acid jam sessions take 1

I did this in VCV Rack. I've been wanting to mess around with some of the more exotic corners of modular synthesis and this was a result of it. The patch started in Gainesville as a fidget spinner to see me through a mighty reckoning. Don't fuck with my money or my time. You'll live happier that way. Real shit. 

Anyway It got refined, scrapped, revisioned and all other manner  of fiddlement while I was killing time visiting graves in Phoenix. That magic is still there. Its a mighty vibration that permeates everything.  Felt like I tapped into that a little which is I mention this.

About maybe 50-60 people heard variations of the 22 minutes encapsulated here. Lot of stop and stare, noddin heads stuff.  No one outright accused me of deviltry or sonic corruption so I think I got it right. 

I didn't really intend to do a whole 22 minute thing but there's novelty of sitting in a hotel room in LA* messed up on some crazy vape pen making weird noises while I can hear dudes cheating on their spouses. This place makes people crazy. I don't think humans are meant to be here. Ontario Airport loves country music. Even old ladies wanna go chest to chest with you. What the fuck is wrong with this place. The roads are absolute mad max shit at least a 2 mile where the paint was completely gone. Detroit keeps better freeway what the fuck. Also don't fuck with the dispensaries around here. Too much cash, too much gun. HMU and prove me wrong. 

Speaking of, I think next time I do this, I'll do like DJ Screw and talk over the track. Maybe do paid ad spots idk. I like money and I'm bad at sucking dick so let's work something out here. 

*Claremont, really, but I'm from places they call flyover states so fuck em. And that lady that yelled at me to get out of my rental and go the office can eat a bag of dicks. 

Elephant in the room:
Some of you wondering where I've been and where I'm going. What happened the last few months or so. Don't ask, I don't know shit. And trust me, you wanna stay ignorant too. Campfire business.

Technical notes:
I make a lot of use of Vult's Nitrous Acid Filter(I spent real money on this because I loved the filter so much). Their drum stuff is also great. I prefer synth drums for kicks and snares because you can fiddle them more. I settled on sampled 808 hats because I'm not that much of a pervert yet. 
All of the audio routing stuff modules are done by Bog Audio because they fuckin working right. 
Impromptu Clocked runs the whole thing along side Autodafe's LFO module. The LFO is exactly what I like. 2 knobs, no confusing BS. It does a lot. I like LFOs. True Cuckoo turned me onto the idea of using LFOs as a generative source for both clocks and melodics. Envelopes by Befaco because like Bog, I understand them and they understand me and thats how work happens, baby. 
I used Bog Audio's sample and hold, along with the LFO,  NOI's sunflower and used that in various neat ways to feed voltage to the to generate the acid lead
The bassline is a Comfortzone Kickbaba with an Autodafe 16 step sequencer running it. The Kickbaba is not real neat as a kick but with a little auditory fuckery you can get good bassings out of it. I barely scratched the surface with that bass setup.
And speaking of fuckery, I used Audible Instruments Texture Synthesizer for reverb. It makes exactly one type of reverb its somehow the most perfect one. I also used Flag's Tap Dancer for the delays.

LA Hotel Acid Jam

Look this modular stuff is just plain fun. I got a bunch of other tracks I'm noodling around with. Got hardware laying around unused. Touch god and find out. 

Debating on what to do soundswise. This soundcloud stuff is a drag. Legit, fuckin car companies got soundclouds. What the fuck is this LinkedIn? 

It recently hit home how long I've been voidlooking and nothing's answering back anymore. There's no going back, there's nothing but ahead. An uncertain infinity, if you will. 

The music takes me back to cornfields and warehouses. Reminds of me of the place that ran a swing club, weekly wrestling and 3am raves. It was a cool spot, gone in the capitalism tantrums of the 07s. The ones that keep happening. Like a drum beat. Except its not so nice. This one is very nice. 

The patch itself is bunch of stuff I don't really know what they do and every time I play with it, I add or remove stuff. It originally started as experiment if I could make a VCA self oscillate that I could feed through a bunch loopy things. Collect noises, shape into grooves, collect good vibes. This just yowls things out into a bunch of different delays and filters that are all crossed up and there's a vocoder doing nothing. And the notes I left aren't real applicable either. I also don't color code my cables so good luck if I post the patch.

Memorial Modular Mess Around Sesh

amazing. lost an entire description field because I pressed wrong button. Soundcloud y'all. 

Anyway, shoutout to VCV's Discord who helped me figure how to make this thunk.

This is techno. Its drum machine as melody. Its 20 uncompromising minutes of stuff meant to push soundsystems, disorient you and transport you into the machinerealm. 

Everything is pulse.

July 4th Blowup

Made in VCV Rack with some Hora and Vult drums. There's an arpeggio contraption involving a Warp Core module, Arturia minilab 3 and a bogaudio arp. I did another weird thing using Bifaco ADSR module as a note source for another warp core. Delays by Flag and Alright(Chronoblob 4 lyfe). 

So for full disclosure, I've never seen the draw of taking MDMA. I'm not really wired correctly for a lot of uppers. However, hearing the playback to this track has me reminiscing to times of cuddle puddles and the time I bought groceries for a pound of the boutique shit. The rental storage complex shows where you'd get showered in feedback because no one thought about the MC's mic. There's even a midset trainwreck that just gets weirder and weirder. Until you're licking each other because you have no other recourse. 

There's no rhythm that'll bring you back to the same person you were before you entered that room 8 hours ago.

Sunshine Family's Last Stand Against The Man

its a jam, it starts slow then goes places. Journeys, not destination.

Basic System Saturday Afternoon Jam

coconono