improvisations. ambient. piano with other instruments. rhodes, field recordings, effects, live looping, grains. downtempo acoustitronica.

electroacoustic

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

modular

Modular

More on this 258th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Sonic Climate: Express your local weather in sound” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0258/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

http://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-0258-sonic-climate/5632

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

Image associated with this project is Rebecca Siegel, used thanks to a Creative Commons license:

flic.kr/p/8ZMJmP

Disquiet Junto Project 0258: Sonic Climate

my contributions to the disquiet junto.

http://www.disquiet.com

disquiet junto

songs created for weekly beats 2014 and 2016.

http://weeklybeats.com

weekly beats

Link to the video captured here in real-time: https://vimeo.com/150015591

Patch Notes:

This was a patch experiment using the new Mutable Instruments Rings/Clouds Modules, and trying to create strumming/plucking guitar like sounds within a patch. The inspiration came from playing around with the Clouds Parasites 1.3 alternate firmware running in the Resonator mode highlighting the "scatter" (or strum) function. The master clock was the Tiptop Circadian Rhythms module, taking the first 4 outputs into my Nord Drum 2 for the Kick, snare, closed and open hi-hats. From there the clock output from the CR was multiplied and then sent to the Modcan Touch Sequencer. First row output from the TS was sent to the intellijel Shapeshifter creating a two note baseline sequence that comes in at 1:58. The second sequence Row2 output from the TS was sent to the "ALM Akemie's Castle" module OSC A output using the chord function, that comes in at 25 seconds. The gates from the modcan where set to a 16th's pulse sequence. Modulation from the synthesis technology E102 Quad Temporal Shifter output 1 modulating the Multiplier input on Operator 1. The 2, 3 and 4 outputs from the E102 where also modulating the Operator 2, 3, and 4 inputs on the Akemie's Castle. This was creating the harmonic timbre changing as the sequence was playing.

The slowly evolving sweeping noise textures that come in at 1:09 is from the Music Thing Radio Music module. The sample was a white noise sampled lightly filtered and then sent to the intellijel HexVCA with the amplitude CV control via a Intellijel Dixie modulating from slow to high rates (free running). The Make Noise Rene was being externally clocked from the Circadian Rhythm, and was sending out a quantized output to the Mutable Instruments Clouds pitch input creating the chord guitar sequence. The strum sounds on Clouds was played by the 4ms QCD running in 32th division output into the Trigger input. The freeze input was also triggered by a Ladik R-110 Random clock module. The combination of the two created the trill chord like strums.

The bass guitar tone sound that comes in at 1:24 are from the MakeNoise Mysteron, that is being sequenced by the Modcan Touch Sequencer, Row Output 3 was programmed in the same key but a lower octave. The "Rings" module was creating slow attack soft high pitched chords in reverb that come around 2:50. There was additional processing of the Clouds output that was sent into the Tiptop ZDSP module running the "Halls of Vahalla" card program 8 "Ginnungagap" creating the high pitch octave deep reverb shimmer effects. The harmonic slow swells that come in at 3:30 where created using another intellijel Dixie oscillator sine output running into an Strymon "Big Sky" pedal being harmonically controlled by an intellijel µScale V1. The output was being played slowly then processed using the "Choral" mode, creating the slow shimmer swells. The entire mix was sent into the Eventide Space pedal using the "Corridors" patch.

Mutable Instruments Rings : mutable-instruments.net/modules/rings
Clouds Parasites firmware: mqtthiqs.github.io/parasites/clouds.html

Strum - Modular Patch

I got many private messages about the release of this track on instagram so here it is. Released on the Touched 3 compilation, July 28, 2016 All proceeds donated to Macmillan Cancer Support: www.macmillan.org.uk 

Please check out this amazing compilation with hundreds of amazing artists: https://touched.bandcamp.com/album/touched-3

DreamSeq2

“Music for 18 Modules”
Dream Suite: Stages 3-5 (Expand / Flourish / Release)

Performed live on a modular synthesizer.
Mixed in Ableton Live.

Part 1 (Manifestation Manual)
https://youtu.be/N8jQ0uSDf64

Part 2 (Music For 18 Modules)
https://youtu.be/LRN3jVHVd5o

Dream Suite: A Manifestation Manual

• Dream
• Will
• Expand
• Flourish
• Release

In the first two movements, we dream the dream then use our will to burn all obstacles on the path to manifestation. We complete the second stage exhausted, only to reemerge from the ashes in the third stage, reborn and ready to expand. The dream seed fuels our expansion as we flourish and learn how to let go.

Get exclusive bonus content, patch notes, album downloads, monthly hangouts, and one-on-one lessons → http://patreon.com/lightbath

Subscribe for new videos → http://bit.ly/subscribetolightbath
Join the inner circle → http://bit.ly/lightbathemails

YouTube

Dream Suite (Reprise)

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

"Record a short piece of sound that expresses your local climate this time of year."

It's December in Iowa and we just had our first snow, around 3 inches, but part of it melted before the temps plunged so the landscape is streaked with white.

My house has a decorative rock driveway, which I find very beautiful most of the year but is ridiculous in the winter.  You cannot shovel a rock driveway like you do concrete or asphalt.  You definitely can't use a snow blower!  I use an aluminum roof rake to drag the snow (and some rocks) to each side of the driveway.  It doesn't take very long to do, but when I'm finished it always looks like an incomplete job.

"Frozen Rock Driveway" is a combination of various new sounds, mixed together.  All pieces were originally created using the iOS app Samplr.

More on this 258th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Sonic Climate: Express your local weather in sound” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0258/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

http://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-0258-sonic-climate/5632

Frozen Rock Driveway (disquiet0258)

it's been a funny winter oscillating between freezing and mild. everyone keeps saying its gonna be a cold one but at the moment it's..nice. except i can't experience it as warm - it's that perception of getting colder , expectation., like the same temp in march would be warm. and it looks frosty in a way. also i've got a sense of foreboding which is interacting.

i wanted to express this feeling. i chose my mountain dulcimer as sound source. the instrument contains for me the bipolar sense of weather from US film/tv tropes of it either being freezing snow or californian sun. also a reference to political foreboding (the dulcimer comes from the german zither)

i recorded the dulcimer close mic'd thru lots of guitar fx, playing desolate to warm
mangled this with lots of icy reverb and echo, to get the sense of winter echoing.
..
Disquiet Junto Project 0258: Sonic Climate
Express your local weather in sound
http://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-0258-sonic-climate/5632

deepest unspoken (disquiet0258)

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-0258-sonic-climate/5632

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

Daylight [disquiet0258]

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

modular, effects, and field recordings from a winter vacation in the southwest. a brief respite from the cold. snows melt and fall, icicles drip, sparkling rivulets flow down to the sun-warmed earth.

for this disquiet junto project, the first of 2017, i returned to the process of my last track from 2016: https://soundcloud.com/ioflow/meltwater-sunrays-warming

i still had unused raw material from vacation less than two weeks ago, so i decided to use some of those rhodes sessions and nature sounds as the basis for this track, along with a new recording just for this piece: miniature ice cubes periodically rattling in a glass. i chose my instruments and effects for the frozen, chilly appeal of their names.

i recorded two tracks with the modular, one at a time. first, the rhodes improvisation was run through mutable instruments clouds, which has nearly all of its parameters modulated by envelopes from mannequins just friends and cold mac, themselves attenuated by shades and isms. that audio then goes through a strymon bluesky reverb pedal, set to "shimmer" mode, which provides crystalline higher-octave harmonics.

for the second modular track, i used mannequins cold mac, which is normally a summing/logic utility, as an audio source. by patching "crease out" to "survey in" and carefully sweeping the survey knob, several points of scratchy whitenoise can be obtained from "mac out." i gated this noise in software to allow only the occasional click, and with heavy EQ it sounded much like additional shattering icicles or rattling cubes.

the modular tracks were combined with field recordings of snowmelt when temperatures briefly reached the low 50s, a most welcome thaw before winter returned.

recorded for disquiet junto 0262, "ice code." http://disquiet.com/2017/01/05/junto-0262/

a welcome thaw, midwinter dazzling

quiet midnight reflection. improvisation for keys, modular synthesizer, effects, and field recording.

this week's disquiet junto prompt suggested a certain hazy quality; flickering light filtered through a paper lantern. i improvised a gentle rhodes melody, run through just a touch of tape delay and reverb pedals. i then added a few more instrumental layers: lap harp swells via an ebow, through a modular synthesizer (mutable instruments clouds), and then through the same delay+reverb chain, with differing settings for each pass, to bring out the slight chorus effect on each monophonic line. also present are sparse single notes from mutable instruments rings, which, when run through the same effects, sounds remarkably like the rhodes melody. i had a hard time telling them apart; they blended nicely. this was probably the first time i obtained a usable "pleasant" sound from rings. next, i sent the recorded rings track back through the modular, this time through clouds and the delay+reverb pedals, and placed that sound very faintly in the background, to extend and thicken the "plucked" rings notes.

i constructed a paper lantern, a luminaria, and took it outside at midnight. i filmed it from several angles, as well as the modular playing its tracks. i pointed my zoom h5 at the luminaria to capture any sounds the flickering candle might make, as well as crickets chirping, leaves scraping, and the neighborhood in the small hours. once that field recording was added, the whole song was placed in this video, which was rendered with davinci resolve 14b6.

modular patch notes:

both the lap harp and processed Rings audio run through mutable clouds. its parameters (POS, SIZE, TEXT) are modulated by unsynced LFOs from monome arc and ansible (Cycles mode). that audio runs into strymon el capistan and reverb pedals. mutable instruments rings runs through the same fx chain, with different parameters each time. rings notes are played by monome grid and earthsea.

recorded for disquiet junto #0291, lantern effect:
https://disquiet.com/2017/07/27/disquiet-junto-project-0291-lantern-effect/

watch the video:
https://vimeo.com/ioflow/luminaria

luminaria

an ambient experiment for three instruments, playing them by hand for 100 seconds each: piano, juno 106, and harp.

for this project, i chose to treat each instrument a little differently, using progressive shaping. the piano was untouched except for a bit of reverb. the juno ran through the modular synthesizer--mutable instruments clouds, and then strymon delay and reverb pedals. the lap harp swells and plucks also ran through the modular, this time through makenoise morphagene, then clouds and the strymon fx. i let morphagene run through its reel, modulating its parameters and splice playback in real time, with assistance from qubit chance, which doubled as a fine random source for clouds. this was my first time using morphagene, actually.

with all three instrumental tracks in place in ableton, i applied some random modulation to the juno and harp, letting them fade in and out behind the piano, which plays a sparse melody of the chosen chord--something like Amaj2add6; a major pentatonic scale.

recorded for disquiet junto 300, "the 300th project."
https://disquiet.com/2017/09/28/disquiet-junto-project-0300-the-300th-project/

20171002 (disquiet0300)

gentle sounds for the cold season. the closing song for the final lines community album of 2017, "solstice."

https://lcrp.bandcamp.com/album/solstice

piano improvisations, lap harp through modular synthesizer and effects pedals, found objects through microphone and modular synthesizer, field recording of trickling stream and tiny birds cheeping in the trees and canyon all around.

solstice

free download

winterstream

ambient improvisations for piano, rhodes, modular synthesizer, effects, and field recording.

for the first disquiet junto project of the year (my last contribution was #0300 in october 2017), i followed the "blind recording" process i developed in 2016, starting with the field recording: crushed ice swirling in a glass, occasionally poured into another glass. as the ice melted, only the sounds of water and the largest ice cubes were left.

i then recorded the piano improvisation without listening to the ice; those clinks and little swishes serendipitously lined up with individual notes and longer phrases over different octaves.

finally, i recorded the rhodes swells by twisting the mixer volume knob, with that audio running through the modular synthesizer and strymon effects pedals. the whole thing was assembled in ableton live and audacity, with no other effects, eq, or compression.

recorded for disquiet junto 0314, "cold start."
https://disquiet.com/2018/01/04/disquiet-junto-project-0314-cold-start/

20180108

experimental ambient. live performance for monome norns.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BL3drqsfuo

two rhodes improvisations were recorded into norns and loaded into mlr. also present is a field recording of an anna's hummingbird, taken while on a nature walk in a canyon preserve.

the main rhodes improvisation is duplicated across the first two tracks. the second, shorter rhodes improvisation is on the third track, just above the hummingbird loop. all the rhodes tracks are played at different speeds and directions, jumbled, chopped and switched, accompanied by the gentle sounds of the hummingbird chirping happily to itself in the shadows of the dense canyon foliage, on a warm summer day.

this is my first recording with monome norns. sample-based grid apps--mlr, mlrv, rove, and all their variants--have been a part of my creative workflow for several years. being freed from the confines of desktop computers and their fidgety, cantankerous operating systems and software stacks; instead being able focus on the immediacy of hardware music-making, as easily as sitting down at my piano, is incredibly liberating. it's pretty much everything i've wanted to be able to do since i got my first monome grid in 2011. norns is wonderful, so full of possibilities. i'm looking forward to fulfilling more musical dreams.

canyon loops

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

ambient performance for monome norns, novation peak, and oto machines bam.

high above the distant bustle; the world far below now quiet and still. the drifting silver mists at day's end give way to moonlight as the tide returns.

six melodies from novation peak were recorded into monome norns, running the "oooooo" script, which is a six-track "digital tape" looper. the loops play at different speeds and directions, ever-so-slightly panned and continually shifted around the soundfield by slow LFOs. each loop has a warble control to momentarily bend its pitch, as if nudging an analog tape reel during playback. an ambient reverb from the oto machines bam fx unit periodically freezes the melodies, transforming them into faint pads.

novation peak is in the background with a self-playing patch: slow noise waves, run through a 24db bandpass filter, with varying overdrive and distortion levels, and a touch of chorus, delay, and reverb; all gently modulated by peak's LFOs and envelopes. the waves build, crescendo, and hiss across the distant shore.

this piece was created for disquiet junto 0476, IAH Forecast:
https://disquiet.com/2021/02/11/disquiet-junto-project-0476-iah-forecast/

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

hum and fog

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