I've been studying the Eigenharp Alpha for a few months and have been looking for a nice song to cover until my own compositions are finished. I accidentally stumbled into the melody of the Battlestar Galactica Cylon theme while jamming and thought it could be a perfect fit.

The theme is heard in the series by the final five Cylons and it's a melody that Bear McCreary composed on top of the chords of Bob Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower'. I continued improvising off of the piano song that the series' character Kara Thrace is trying to remember and made my own version of it.

This arrangement on the Eigenharp Alpha features Tonehammer's Emotional Piano, the Eigenharp's natively modeled Cello, Orange Tree Samples Evolution Electric Guitar Strawberry, Studio Devil Amp Modeler Pro and FabFilter Twin 2. The drum loops are part of the extensive collection that ships with the Eigenharp.

At the end of the song it seems that I'm taxing my two year old MacBook Pro a bit too much and there's some crackling since the CPU has trouble keeping up. It was fine while rehearsing, but recording at the same time seems to have pushed it over the edge, sorry about that. I should have expected this as these Kontakt sampler instruments are so detailed that some computers have trouble even playing them by themselves.

I hope you enjoy this performance nonetheless, do tell me what you think of it.

Battlestar Galactica - Kiara Remembers on Eigenharp Alpha

A late night venture into electro (or someone other e-genre) using the LinnStrument with U-he Bazille's per-note expression and Logic Pro X's Drummer. Everything played in one take without editing and using a single synth patch.

ElectroLinn

LinnStrument with the Model 15 app got me to venture into very different musical territory. This is an initial unfinished sketch, all played live on different tracks and no sequencing.

LinnStrument Model 15 sketch

Live recording with my triple Moog Mother-32 rack and an MF Delay, no post-processing ... thought it was the perfect day to record what I've been working on.

Triple Mother Day

Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQilV-OrDYQ

As a Kickstarter backer I've had the Parva for several months, but there were a few problems with the firmware that prevented me from fully using it. Today, Brad from futuresonus released firmware update v0.51, fixing everything that was important to me.

So here is a demo video with Roger Linn Design LinnStrument. I've set it up so that the x-axis controls per-note pitch and the y-axis per-note filter cutoff, I'm not using the z-axis. The LinnStrument is connected directly to the Parva's USB MIDI host port, which also provides power. The audio is recorded through my Metric Halo ULN-8 audio interface without any sound processing besides normalisation.

The Parva has eight independent analog voices that can be configured in a multi with a dedicated MIDI channel for each voice. Each voice can play a different preset, but I'm using the same preset for all voices here to allow for per-note expression. In this multi, each MIDI channel is also sent to two voices, creating a unison sound, while still having full control over 4 independent notes.

I think it sounds pretty great!

Parva analog poly-synth with LinnStrument

While experimenting with upcoming features of EigenD 2.0, I was testing out the new audio input support and came up with this experiment.

I'm playing my Moog Slim Phatty with the Eigenharp Alpha by routing its audio back into EigenD through my Metric Halo ULN-2 audio interface. This allows me to use Audio Units for real-time performance effects while playing the analogue synth through MIDI at the same time.

The Slim Phatty is full driven with 14-bit MIDI for modulation and volume, modulation being tied to a key's sideways motion, while slight volume changes are tied to pressure. Pitch is, as usual, tied to a key's up and down motion.

The audio units used are Rob Papen's Delay, Distort and the iZotope Ozone limiter. The Eigenharp's breath pipe is tied to the amount of distortion that's applied and the first strip controller is tied to the amount of feedback that is used in the delay. At the same time, the key modulation also changes the filter frequency for the distortion effect.

The sample rate of EigenD an my audio interface is set to 96kHz with only 96 samples as a buffer size. This really captures the nuances of the analogue audio as well as reduces the latency so much that every interaction with the effects feels instant.

Eigenharp Alpha with Slim Phatty experiment

I was feeling quite a bit emotional and stressed tonight and needed something that really relaxed me, so I started playing with my custom Eigenharp Alpha Hang Drum setup. Since I got some requests to record a video with it, I just recorded the session and I came up with these themes. I'm not a great percussionist by any means, so this is just what it is, hope you like it.

This is solely using the sampled Mk1 and Mk2 Hang Drums from SonicCouture's Pan Drums product.

Instead of playing them as regular instruments on the Eigenharp, I arranged the two different sampled Hang Drums on the playing surface of the Eigenharp Alpha so that one is on top and the other at the bottom. The notes of the Hang Drums are structured in colored 'zones' of five keys which correspond to the different articulations for the same note. This means that I can just hit the area without thinking about musical notes and get into a percussion mindset. The arrangement is very similar to what would happen if you cut a real Hang Drum in two and bend each half until it's straight, with the Ding and Gu stuck at the top end.

It works very well and feels extremely nice with the super sensitive keys of the Eigenharp. The colored lights are also naturally soothing and it's truly a relaxing experience to play.

Eigenharp Alpha Hangdrum improvisation

I've been practicing playing the Harpejji for a bit more than a month, and thought it was time to record one of the songs that I've been working on: Blood Of Eden by Peter Gabriel. Hope you enjoy my arrangement and interpretation.

Video on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwcUOLsYrmE

Blood Of Eden on Harpejji (Peter Gabriel cover)

My first solo album as a singer-songwriter where all songs are played on acoustic guitar and enriched with various arrangements, from alternative rock to pure sensibility with a string quartet or a solo contrabass.

Like This And That

Bandage Broken

Testing out stereo recording of both vocals and guitar using the Earthworks QTC30 microphones, I like how you can very subtilely hear the cicadas in the background.

Waiting On An Angel (Microphone Test)

Here’s a little instrumental that presented itself to me today when learning some of my old songs in open tunings that I hadn’t used in years! The Vo-96 provides much of the atmosphere.

Acoustic Guitar Instrumental

"There Will Be Violence" is a Chapman Stick instrumental that I've been working on for quite a while.

Video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbH3hnWhfgA

I wanted to finish rehearsing and recording it before the anniversary of my first year with this wonderful instrument, but missed that by a couple of weeks.

Hope you enjoy this composition and performance!

There Will Be Violence (original on Chapman Stick)

I've been slowly working on a new solo music repertoire and figuring out how to play it live with a minimum of gear. Yesterday I finally took the decision that I'd just use whatever gear I've worked on, since I'll have that with me when I'm traveling anyway.

This video is a new song, called "I am gonna wait", performed and recorded live in one take as if I would be on stage. Please let me know what you think!

Lyrics
--------
You hold the answer inside your hand
Maybe you should just let it open
Have the wind carry your plan
You might stumble and fall

Look where tears have never been
Some trails won’t end in sorrow
Find dreams you’ve never seen
Maybe this time you will not fall

So I, I am gonna wait 
And I, I am gonna wait

Every day I fear
That you’re too broken
That we will never see
The gates swing wide open

Why did I just dream?
What did I just say?
Who should I now be?

We’ll build a life that makes you blossom
Help you to grow, not just hang in there
Sow all the seeds to live as lovers
There’s no reason for you to fall

So I, I am gonna wait 
And I, I am gonna wait

Every day I fear
That you’re too broken
That we will never see
The gates swing wide open

Why did I just dream?
What did I just say?
Who should I now be?

I am gonna wait (original live recording)

This is my version of the theme from the TV series 'Game of Thrones'. It's entirely played live on the Eigenharp Alpha, a new electronic instrument. Original song and soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi.

Game of Thrones theme on Eigenharp Alpha

"Cast a Spell"

Two lone souls were dancing
Then lay down as one
They hadn't thought they would find another
Who could be everything they'd want
And then the time just passed
They totally lost track of it all
Soon they had to leave town and go back
To the lives that they had before

Lying awake
Smiling and fade

Hard to be apart when you want
To lay down as one
You try to fill up space and feel connected
Any which way you can
And I tried, I tried, I tried
Way too much
It made me chase you away and
Taint the closeness that was surrounding us

Lying awake
Crying in shame

You cast a spell on me
You cast a spell on me

Everything felt so right
When we saw each other again
It took a mighty long time before I found you
Now there is no one else
You said you needed time
And the space to be all alone
Now I'm afraid to reach out
And don't know what to say nor what to show

Lying awake
Hoping you'll stay

You cast a spell on me
You cast a spell on me

You cast a spell on me

Cast a Spell

Cast A Spell

I'm a singer-songwriter and combine my vocal melodies with the electric and acoustic guitar and new instruments like the LinnStrument. I have lots of musical ideas that go into many directions. I've channelized most of it into my band Flytecase, but there are now quite some compositions that are either too personal or that don't fit with the style of my band.

I'll be posting my experiments and sketches online. If you like them or have some suggestions, don't hesitate to leave comments.

Buy my CD:
http://gbevin.bandcamp.com

Buy my band's CD:
http://music.flytecase.be

G.Bevin

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