Modular Synthesis

These are tracks in which I participated in Disquiet Junto. It's amazing and you should do it too! Find out more here: https://disquiet.com/2013/04/25/disquiet-junto-faq/

Disquiet Junto Projects

Disquiet Junto Project 0368: Engage Duo

A short playlist of my favorite experiments

Featured Tracks

this one uses Vonna Wolf's wonderful track Heart Uno 

https://soundcloud.com/vonna-wolf/vonnaz-wolf-heart-uno-disquiet-junto367-download-me

and adds some synth guitar. The track reminded me a bit of some of the Fripp/Crimson/Eno era rock from back in the day (with kind of a Liquid Sky vibe too), so I tried to evoke a little of Fripp's more "coruscating" guitar parts. On listening to her track I envisioned a lot of stacked major thirds and fourths, note clusters, and glitches. I did a bit of planning but also a fair amount of improvisation.

The guitar synth is a Roland Gr-55 and I used the GR-300 patch, which is an emulation of the hex-fuzz type sound that I believe Fripp used in the days I was trying to evoke. The patch glitches wonderfully on certain ranges and held notes.

ore on this 368th weekly Disquiet Junto project (Engage Duo / The Assignment: Record the second third of a trio, adding to a pre-existing track.) at:

https://disquiet.com/0368/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0368-engage-duo/

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Image associated with this project is adapted (edited, color altered, text added) from a photo by Anna J and is used via Flickr thanks to a Creative Commons license:

https://flic.kr/p/gcojn

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

disquiet0368 duo engage

DD: electric bass 
Ian Joyce: all the rest @ikjoyce.
Created on Friday January 18th 2019 for:
Disquiet Junto Project 0368: Engage Duo
The Assignment: Record the second third of a trio, adding to a pre-existing track.

not really inspired today for this lovely challenge, and I decided to avoid any track already used, 

As the tracks I downloaded after listening to the whole playlist a couple of days ago, many were used so I went with @ikjoyce 's track, not the first time I collaborate with him in this junto gatherings. 
His track was mostly a groove with  electro sequences popping throughout, and then it goes to some electro-bollywwood mantra thing, very interesting already, so I just played my electric bass making it more like a rhythm section for a third juntonian to play on top next week.
But I played a melody on the bass at the end, like a  montuno obstinatto, Not really proud of this one, but I guess it sounds unfinished and that's good for the next step.
Ian's original here : https://soundcloud.com/ikjoyce/setting-out-disquiet0367?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0367

@disquiet
@ikjoyce

Engage (January 18th) - disquiet0368

I used Daniel Diaz's track:
https://soundcloud.com/daniel-diaz/initiate-january-10th-disquiet0367
release date 18 _01_2019
More on this 368th weekly Disquiet Junto project (Engage Duo / The Assignment: Record the second third of a trio, adding to a pre-existing track.) at:

https://disquiet.com/0368/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0368-engage-duo/

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Image associated with this project is adapted (edited, color altered, text added) from a photo by Anna J and is used via Flickr thanks to a Creative Commons license:

https://flic.kr/p/gcojn

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

The Sky Has No Walls(disquiet0368)

This week's Junto involved taking one of last week's entries, and adding a second part - in preparation for someone else to add the third and final part next week. 

I chose the beautifully simple Trio Initiate by @howthenightcame https://soundcloud.com/howthenightcame/disquiet0367-trio-initiate
To this I added three layers of Bass Station 2 arps at varying speeds and levels of reverb/delay/eq. I also added a flanger to two of the layers, and some EQ to all to make them sit together. Finally, I panned the two mid-range arps more to the right, leaving the original track mainly in the left.

More on this 368th weekly Disquiet Junto project (Engage Duo / The Assignment: Record the second third of a trio, adding to a pre-existing track.) at:

https://disquiet.com/0368/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0368-engage-duo/

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Image associated with this project is adapted (edited, color altered, text added) from a photo by Anna J and is used via Flickr thanks to a Creative Commons license:

https://flic.kr/p/gcojn

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Trio intermezzo (disquiet0368)

Ahh the joy's of modular synthesis! @lcalytrix laid down this excellent generative exploration of sound using several modules in a "Krell patch". According to learningmodular.com: "Recreating this patch is a challenge many modular musicians like to tackle. It is based on the 1959 movie Forbidden Planet, in a segment where they supposedly play the music of the ancient Krell race. In general terms, each note has a random pitch, envelope, and duration."

To add contrast to this, I added some more sonic explorations using a single module, the enigmatic "Interstellar Radio" by Schlappi Engineering. https://schlappiengineering.com/products/interstellar-radio/ I ran into Eric Schlappi at a Modular Nights concert in Seattle and he told me he discovered after releasing it that if you patch the error out into the signal in of the module, all kinds of crazy things will happen. He was right. All sounds on the right channel came from this patch with no other external control. The only other thing I did was run it through a mixer to control the volume.

The manual for the Interstellar Radio tells you to plug this module in and "Converse with infinite space". Sounds like something aliens would do.

The Krell Conversing with Infinite Space [disquiet0368]

I had to end today's live-stream early because my internet was crappy, but here's a jolly little patch I was working on at the time.

Video Giant

Made a jam on my 35th birthday during my stream. Here it is.

Birthday Jam #35

While making this patch on stream, a buddy looked at my modular and said it looked I was patching the Millennium Falcon's Hyperdrive. Hence the name.

Made in eurorack, relying mostly on the Make Noise Tempi and the Noise Engineering Basimilas Iteritas Alter.

Hyperdrive [disquiet0429]

This one started with [this lovely piano theme](https://soundcloud.com/baconpaul/a-third-disquiet0429?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0429 by @baconpaul followed by [some hip trumpet action](https://soundcloud.com/stull/a-second-third-disquiet0430?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0430) by @stull. At first I was reluctant to engage this one because it sounded so nice already, and I usually make obnoxiously noisy synth sounds. I decided to give it a go and I'm super glad that I did. I managed to create a complex synth voice that sounds like a cello in the lower registers, and sounds more like a clarinet in the highs. I'm much more composer than player, so I had to record the part in sections, but who cares. I'm super pleased with the result. This is probably the disquiet I'm most proud of being a part of, and it taught me that I can do some really cool things with my synth I didn't know I could do. This means I can make some pretty music alongside the harsh stuff.

A Third Third [disquiet0431]

One more grand experiment with the Basimilus Iteritas Alter by @noiseeng. This is "Air, Air is a Smelt Subtitle". All drum sounds came from a single BIA.

Air, Air is a Smelt Subtitle

This was all done with the fantastic new Gamechanger Audio Motor Synth. https://www.gamechangeraudio.com/motor-synth/ I started with just one voice, and gradually added the second voice, messed with some modulation settings, cross modulation, filter resonance and pitch modulation, then finally started detuning the voices. This thing excels at long complex tones. I highly recommend looking into it.

Steel Whine [disquiet0460]

I ended up doing a bit more of a scattered gradient than a straight one. I love playing with uneven clock sources. This patch was mainly made using the Olegtron 4060E.(https://www.perfectcircuit.com/olegtron-4060e.html) which is a cool little device where you can plug electronic components directly into the module, basically live circuit bending. I used this as both a sound source and an irregular clock, timing the Synthstrom Deluge. The "Gradient" was first slowing down the speed of the Olegtron, which in turn slowed the Deluge, Then bringing a new "Gradient" up by increasing the number of drum sounds on the Deluge. The result was not straightforward, but I ended up with some super interesting sounds.

The title comes from a time years ago during an easter celebration, where one of my friends kids uttered the phrase "That Hits Me Right in the Deeps." That phrase has stuck with me.

That Hits Me Right in the Deeps

That Hits Me Right In The Deeps [Disquiet0463]

I'm posting this over a week late, so I don't remember how exactly I did this patch. I do remember it involved trying to slow down the very unpredictable Trogotronic m/679 "Gran Fury", which lended to some interesting results. It also sounds like I used the Basimlas Iteritas Alter and Polaris filter quite a bit too.

While the term "Corpsicles" has been coined by many, I remember it mostly from the end of "Shards of Honor" by Lois McMaster-Bujold. There's a very moving scene where a cleanup crew after a space battle is searching for dead bodies in the wreckage. Highly recommend all of her "Vorkosigan Saga" novels.

Corpsicles

Corpsicles [disquiet0432]

I took this awesome track https://soundcloud.com/stefan_strasser/mostly-stereo-feat-half-unusual-disquiet0473?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0473 by https://soundcloud.com/half-unusual and https://soundcloud.com/stefan_strasser. I added some eurorack modified trumpet, which allowed me to bring out my inner Miles Davis, kinda Bitches Brew style. Had a ton of fun with this one.

The name comes from a James Acaster joke, commenting on how weird it is that so many cartoon teeth have teeth. This kind of brain train can reminds me of that style of music. It probably makes the most sense when you're on drugs, or wish you were.

Do The Tooth Teeth Have Teeth Too? [disquiet0474]

For this one I took this track https://soundcloud.com/user-859240368/dronedrumdrub-disquiet0473?in=disquiet/sets/disquiet-junto-project-0473 by https://soundcloud.com/melondruie and https://soundcloud.com/user-859240368. And ended up with this chill atmospheric drum thang.

The name comes from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYbVpAwGGGs. It still makes me laugh every single time. Also the piece ended up sounding like smooth dad jazz.

Daddy Butter [disquiet0474]

Sonic exploration and creation from Seattle, Washington. Discovering new materials, patterns, and concepts for music composition.

The Krell Conversing with Infinite Space [disquiet0368]

Feldspark