Painting an expanse of remote wilderness and open space (hopefully one that's not on fire.)

Tech notes: Makes heavy use of E520 FX: Spectral Drones - long drawn notes, Spectral Drone Hires - breathing sounds, and Granular Pitch for percussion. Some drone elements are layered, or paired with Ableton pitch shifted versions with additional DAW FX added. 'Howls' originated from setting a high filter resonance and slowly manipulating the frequency as a Zadar pattern regulates the input to the E520

Where There Are Wolves

Inspired by the crystal waters and loon calls of Echo Lake, near Fayette Maine, as pictured above.

This track appeared on DJ Steve Brown's excellent radio show on WECU, archived here: https://soundcloud.com/dj_steve_brown/dj-steve-brown-sonic-landscapes-wecu-november-2021?fbclid=IwAR3k-80brC6lub5V0QileZnwciaeVZ2OQX7jZz-mLYTGGqukCb1bef0awCY

Technotes: 4MS Ensemble is main sound source, processed with SynthTech E520 Shimmer, with percussion elements from Korg Trinity. 

mastered by Shawn Hatfield @ audibleoddities.com
Music © 2021 - All Rights Reserved

Buy on Bandcamp

Echo Lake

Snitched the name from Sketchy Lab's "Freak Shift" as it was the basis of sonic experiments in tone color which started this project and the name fit the narrative just too well. Also used with the Xaoc Sarajewo delay unit as well as the Synthesis Technology E520 ("Chowder Delay") which I used on a submix of the first section, re-introducing it later as a kind of recapitulation as the drama built up all around. 

More info on the "Freak Shift" module here:  https://www.modulargrid.net/e/other-unknown-freak-shift-



After a long absence, glad to be back.

Freak Shift

NEWS: Thrilled to announce that 'In A Strange Land' has ben accepted for presentation at the 2023 New York City Electroacoustic Musical Festival taking place this June. Will post details when they become available. 

Offering both excitement and menace, an unfamiliar place. Makes extensive use of Synthesis Technology's E520, the Xaoc Kamieniec & Dr Sketchy's Freak Shift.

Much of my sonic idea of a "new soundscape" has been significantly influenced by our move to a more countrified location in Upstate New York, where we are constantly hearing birds, tree frogs, crickets and other insects, a sound environment made possible by our new closeness to nature.

Mastered by Shawn Hatfield @ AudibleOddities

In A Strange Land

A journey from airy ephemeral tones and textures that ultimately settles back to earth in a nostalgic theme centering around the instrument that originally launched my interest in music. 

Intro developed from initial experiments with the Xoac digital frequency shifter. Later ethereal tones emerge from sequencing a series of chords on the E370 at audio rate, creating a complex blur of tonally related pitches.

Cloud scene photo shot at Hudson View Apartments in Beacon NY and treated with Paint Shop Pro with apologies to Rene Magritte.

Coming Home

Showcasing the Synth Tech E350 Wavetable oscillator - the sole sound source for this project. No filtering/EQ, compression/limiting or LPGs. Some delay & reverb is applied. 

This piece was broadcast on Dan Burke's excellent "Patchworks" program on WNUR, 89.3 (Chicago area). The complete archived show can be heard here: 
http://www.mixcloud.com/soundoferror/patchworks-7-24-14/

Mastered by Tarekith at Inner Portal Studio

Escape Velocity

Nearly imperceptible shifts and trends, all the things that happen when you're not paying attention - and then something from that background noise erupts and changes everything...  

illustration: "Van Gogh's Synthesizer" by Melissa O'Brien

How Did We Get Here ?

As Arizona & Texas groaned under record-breaking heat, the Hudson Valley in NY(where I live) was hit by deadly & wildly destructive, once in a thousand year flooding. 

This a track of both sadness and resolve. We must find a way to collectively combat climate change.

Some tech details on the track: https://soundcloud.com/problivion/4-transforms-a-track

mastered by Shawn Hatfield @ audibleoddities.com
Music © 2024 - All Rights Reserved

Into the Light

After The Flood

Further experiments with RYK Vector Wave

Image - nighttime view from my front porch... with some help from PaintShopPro ;>

mastered by Shawn Hatfield @ audibleoddities.com
Music © 2024 - All Rights Reserved

Ritual

All sounds, except two field recording clips, from RYK Vector Wave. Also includes feedback from Sarajewo analog delay, percussive elements via Buchla/Tiptop 292t.

Title refers to our happiness at arriving in the Hudson Valley, having lived in an urban environment for far too long. Background field recordings made locally.

mastered by Shawn Hatfield @ audibleoddities.com
Music © 2024 - All Rights Reserved

Promised Land

An ambient psychological landscape depicting the turning of dark thoughts into more hopeful ones. 

Based on extensive exploration of the RYK Vector Wave, a polyphonic synth that allows morphing between banks of 4 oscillators.

mastered by Shawn Hatfield @ audibleoddities.com
Music © 2024 - All Rights Reserved

Into The Light

Wow, talk about a serendipitous collaboration! I met Lucas at a local hangout during the last of the Quinn's experimental night series. Had a fascinating discussion about music and checked his blog next day. I found his unaccompanied track and instantly loved it - soulful, plaintive, an extraordinary "musical apology" that expressed far more than words could say. I hope this interpretation provides a fully layered listening experience without losing the moving essence of the original, which is available here:
https://soundcloud.com/lucas_gonze/for-my-wife-after-we-had-a-fight-on-our-anniversary

mastered by Shawn Hatfield @ audibleoddities.com
Music © 2024 - All Rights Reserved

Lucas Gonze & Fastus - For My Wife After We Had a Fight On Our Anniversary

Accents

Riding the red zone, testing the limits, overstepping... subtitled "Agitator"

Threshold

Three musical episodes, one journey.

Tech notes: Hermod Plus (utilizing TRS MIDI) - utilizing its generator to create random modulations on a clicky groove to start this intro.

The middle episode grew as I experimented with Hermod's TRS MIDI connectivity, reactivated my ancient Korg Trinity for some atmospheric polyphony, and eventually adding a pattern of sevens to taking the vignette out to the meditative coda. 

Here the inbuilt chord function of the RYK Vector Wave provides the basic drone passed thru a bandpass filter so it appears to fade into the distance and return to the fore. Parts of the drone are simultaneously piped thru a Sarajewo delay by periodic gates as I manually swish the frequency to get that unique echoing sound.

Triptych

Smashing the Crockery

The dark: the recent passing of friend Paul Schreiber, owner of Synthesis Technology. Along with fellow rocket scientists Eric Brombaugh and Robert Rich, he engineered the E370 Quad Morphing VCO which I use everyday. He was a true genius, a snarky story-teller, a good hearted guy. I felt honored just to know him, occasionally helping with some demos and testing on various modules.

The light: the new addition to the family, as pictured

The Light & the Dark

Experiments in rhythm - a swung 14 step sequence set  around standard 4's. Central groove made with FM on Vector Wave.

Fourteen Steps

So much talking, so little understanding. 

Bass by Tumeni Knobs - check out his excellent music here https://soundcloud.com/tumeniknobs

Introductory voice is Evelyn Glennie, a deaf percussionist from Aberdeen featured in this fascinating documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h61mwG9uQuU

In The Beginning (Tower of Babel Mix) with Tumeni Knobs

A Celebration

Fight or Flight

This one follows Eno's edict "Follow Thy Error as Thy Intention" - had input a sequence of six chords into the Synthesis Technology E370 (RIP the late, great Paul Schreiber) but my gate sequence was only hitting every other chord. This became the central, identifying riff of the whole piece. The next release "Better Times" makes full use of the whole six chord sequence, developed in an entirely different direction. 

Don't usually succumb to outside political developements, but working in this environment it's hard to prevent this stuff from seeping in.

Dictator Dub

We've had better times, and look forward to new ones... and my best times so far have been with my wife, Melissa, to whom this piece is dedicated with love.

Better Times (for Melissa)

The maiden voyage of my Frap Tools 'Bresno' oscillator - largely using FM for percussion, with "conditional" triggers associated with an interrupted & reversed 4 step sequence on MakeNoise 'Pressure Points.' Most sounds from Bresno, with a little assistance of Happy Nerding "FX Aid Pro" and Synthesis Technology E370 (RIP Paul Schreiber)

Chaos Agent

No AI was used in the making of this track. 
Photo: Melissa O'Brien  
Art: Edra Soto  
More info: https://www.strongroom.us/edra-soto

Comfort Zone

4ms SMR as primary sound source, FM modulator and filter.  

This piece was recently broadcast on Dan Burke's excellent "Patchworks" program on WNUR, 89.3 (Chicago area). The complete archived show can be heard here:
https://www.mixcloud.com/soundoferror/patchworks-9-7-16-part-2/

Spectral Traces (4MS - Spectral Multiband Resonator / SMR )

A breakdown of the sounds used in this piece is available here:

https://soundcloud.com/problivion/deconstructing-manic

Manic

All sounds produced by the new Synthesis Technology E330. Expoits all three modes - an incredible range of timbres - with some help from the E560 Deflector Shield and E580 Delay

Here's a selection of single shot unprocessed sound samples from this piece with a few notes:
https://soundcloud.com/problivion/deconstruct-dream-within-a-dream

Dream Within A Dream

The E370 firmware 1.3 update provides new detune functionality allowing the user to manually detune each oscillator when in chord mode. It also includes a ROM4 table, "Harmonic" with embedded microtones represented by decimal offsets.

The piece opens (and closes) with a manually detuned (i.e. set by knobs) chord using notes selected from one line of a custom table of open octaves and fifths . A clocked Pressure points generates a pattern of 4 rapidly moving transpositions of this chord(the first is audible around :15) The first half is built around several pitch, timbral & rhythm variations of this pattern interacting with each other and various high & low speed FM manipulations via the cv-x1 input, reassigned as an FM source in the 'Frequencies' page. This later includes rotating the chord table  as each PP transposition occurs , generating new frequencies. One of these patterns is executed in the E370's 'Cloud mode.' Some parts are treated with the E560 Deflector Shield in 'phase' mode.

The second half (2:45) focuses on various manual pitch modulations provided by the Doepfer A-185-2 to the 1v input of the oscillator1 in chord mode, based on the 'Harmonic Table' in Rom4. One of the responding modulations is routed thru a E580 delay to provide a 'far-away' echo feeling.

Generally stuck with simple SINE and TRI waveforms as I knew polyphony and FM modulation would add substantial harmonic complexity.

Endgame (E370)

Drawing from Zen philosophy Cage appreciated sounds not as conveyors of ideas, but as things interesting in themselves. Said Morton Feldman, "The main influence from John Cage was a green light", a permission to expand the musical experience to include the ambient, the accidental and silence itself.

I used Mutable Instrument's Plaits for percussion and the Synthesis Technology E370 for all other sounds. A Xaoc envelope generator sequenced by a Makenoise Rene produces various random sonic curlicues, like stray thoughts that slowly disappear as a kind of clarity emerges.

Mastered by Shawn Hatfield 2020

Imaginary Landscape VI (a tribute to John Cage)

A dream like series of events, which might be projected by something like the antique projector illustrated here, might in more modern times be accompanied be a soundtrack like this. 

This is a culmination of a series of experiments involving one E300 and an E370 applying myriad techniques, FM, FM and SYNC, FM with sample & hold applied to the FM modulator (this generates a 'liquid' bubbly tone) to generate the bulk of the material. I used E580 Delay/QuadVCA combo to generate long feedback tracks. The E580 was also used on many fragments to "vintage" the tone of some material to get the sound of early classic tape music. The rhythmic figure representing the 'corridor' or wormhole in the second half was made by a clock opening a QuadVCA to allow an FM modular to be rhythmically 'injected' into an FM input. A Kamieniec in self resonating mode also supplies some sonic drama in the second half. 
  
© 2020 - All Rights Reserved

Phantasmagoria

Special thanks to Jeremy Hegge for his field recording of night time in the Yarnaz Valley, China - you can find his work here : https://jeremyh.bandcamp.com/album/june-august-2019

While You Were Sleeping

In ancient Roman times an augur or diviner, sought omens from things like the flights of birds to ascertain auspicious days when new work would go well.The pieces listed here represent the results of personal 'fastus' days, my best days.&#13;
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Fastus appears on the Kosmo netlabel compilation "Vapors of Ambient" - check the promo video here: <a href="http://youtu.be/F8fTbY_csYI" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/F8fTbY_csYI</a>

Fastus

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