experiments and atmospheres. adventures into unexpected places and textures. modular synth, with and without other instruments and field recordings.

modular

songs created for weekly beats 2014 and 2016.

http://weeklybeats.com

weekly beats

shimmery ambient techno. an excerpt from midnight experiments. performed live on modular synth and ableton. monome ansible+grid running kria, sequencing four tracks of sounds.

kicks: mutable instruments ripples resonant filter.
percussion: mutable instruments peaks, monome/mannequins isms white+pink noise & LPGs+VCAs, with gate lengths set by kria. shades used to sum the perc tracks before sending that submix to isms' line-level mixer and then into the DAW.
pads: ableton live, from an unfinished compilation project.

recorded for weekly beats 2016 #47: http://weeklybeats.com

20161127-modularbeats

live performance video: https://vimeo.com/ioflow/restlesssea

a live performance in one take. ambient improvisation. monome grid and arc, modular synthesizer, strymon effects, mlrv. recorded into ableton live.

patch notes:
the piece begins with the monome grid playing rhodes melodies i recorded earlier and loaded into mlrv.

monome arc is connected to ansible, running cycles, which opens a gate and envelope (happy nerding ADSR) that lets through white noise. that noise is generated by mannequins cold mac. (crease patched to survey, turn knob to noise at 3 o'clock, mac out to audio interface.)

flipping the switch at top left of isms connects the grid to monome earthsea, containing four patterns recorded earlier. notes are sent to mangrove, gate to just friends in sustain/shape mode. mangrove square out to 3sisters' "all" input. audio from that lowpass filter is sent to mutable instruments clouds, and then out to the strymon delay and reverb pedals (el capistan & bluesky).

recorded for weekly beats 2016 #48: http://weeklybeats.com

restless sea

video: https://vimeo.com/ioflow/gloriousblue

live performance in one take. an ambient drone improvisation for modular synthesizer, monome, cassette tape, effects, and field recording. gentle music for winter weather.

it's been mostly cold and gray where i live; intermittent rain showers and chill winds. yet every now and then, the clouds vanish entirely, and the deepest, palest winter blue fills the heavens.

for this week's song, which includes disquiet junto project #0258 (http://disquiet.com/2016/12/08/junto-0258/) and weekly beats 2016 #49 (http://weeklybeats.com), i wanted to place all that loveliness into a song using a new workflow. i recorded four long improvisations on rhodes and juno 106 to cassette tape, each one mono track. the tape deck, a yamaha mt4x, got one channel of the mixer, and two more for the modular, one for melodic swells and one for the field recording of the rainstorm at home.

i played melodies on the monome grid, via earthsea (oscillator: mannequins mangrove into three sisters filter, then mutable instruments clouds), while also bringing the tape drone sequences in and out by sliding the faders in real time, playing it like an instrument. constantly shifting between the mt4x, modular, mixer, and effects pedals. yet there were some moments so surprisingly pretty that i had to keep still and let the waves wash over me, as i had not heard everything together before starting the live session.

a glorious blue between storms

solo piano improvisation. an evening winter contemplation.

recorded for weekly beats 2016 #50: http://weeklybeats.com

20161218

piano improvisation + field recording. gentle melodies as the storm diminishes. rejoicing; quiet peace in the late hours.

recorded for weekly beats 2016 #51: http://weeklybeats.com

midnight, rainfall on christmas eve

live performance video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5gfjG0A6sg

an ambient+drone improvisation for modular, effects, and field recordings from a winter vacation in the southwest. sparrows and crows stirring, icicles shattering, snowclumps falling from bushes, the trickle of tiny drops. little worlds thawing.

modular patch notes:

a monophonic recording of a rhodes '73 is run through mutable instruments clouds and other effects; the resulting audio forms the pads throughout the piece. clouds parameters were modulated with envelopes and scratchy random motion from mannequins just friends and cold mac.

melodic swells were played with a monome grid connected to earthsea, controlling a mannequins mangrove oscillator, sent through the three sisters filter in lowpass mode. that audio goes through the isms spring reverb tank, then into strymon tape delay and reverb pedals.

the rhodes and winter sounds were captured with a zoom h5, then brought into ableton live for a tiny bit of normalizing and EQing.

recorded for weekly beats 2016 #52, my last song of the year. fifty-two weeks of completed songs. thank You, God, for making this happen.

meltwater, sunrays warming

my song for the ambient compilation "Friends," released december 6 2018, on @seilrecords.

modular synthesizer + piano + field recordings + effects. gentle melodies and birds; slow sunshine and cool shadows.

https://seilrecords.bandcamp.com/album/an-ambient-compilation

Friends

tanagers in paradise

ambient live performance for modular synthesizer. midnight. explorations and preparations. new material; looking ahead.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Pxva56dFs

modular patch notes are on the YT video page. recorded june 1, 2019.

nightglow

live performance for eurorack modular synthesizer. ambient atmospheres. once more around the midnight sun. explorations and experiments with make noise morphagene.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiyozPdUxVs

modular patch notes are on the YT page. recorded september 28, 2019.

aphelion // beyond the horizon

an experimental ambient/drone live performance for modular synthesizer, originally as a four-part video for instagram. seven voices, gently drifting.

video: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3r7h7rhBoT/

modular patch notes are on the IG post. recorded october 16, 2019.

static currents

slow scenes from a few days ago. coast live oak and california scrub oak. tranquil groves and dappled sunshine. layered ambient improvisations: piano, modular synthesizer, rhodes, field recordings. birds, rings, clouds, keys.

video: https://www.youtube.com/c/ioflow

the sound of light shining down

experiments. moments. images. play. beautiful things to reflect the joy and peace of the Creator.