Here is one for you serious electronic music geeks. This is another case of "better release it before I break it" - 41 tracks so far, I'm afraid if I add any more layers I will create white noise ^_^
I have always been fascinated by the music that came out of the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the mid 60s, recorded on the very first Buchla modular synths with the only effects being a spring reverb, tape effects, and a very crude chorus made with spinning loudspeakers ("Leslie"). My hopes to be able to push the ZynAddSubFx synth to operate in this mode were dashed when I discovered that, in true MIDI style, all of the GUI controls are limited to integers from 0 to 127 - FAR too coarse to emulate the highly interactive performance nature of the Buchla synths, which don't even have keyboards - everything is controlled by knobs, buttons, and other linear controllers. 
But being a fairly clever guy, and with a great deal of help from @VDXi (check him out - he's good: https://soundcloud.com/vdxi), I dug into the C++ guts of the synth and managed to hack in a few full floating point automation channels from the VST host. So may I present "Buchlava in C++", recorded in Reaper using only ZynAddSubFX, ReaVerb, ReaDelay, and ReaEQ, as well as tape effects such as playing a passage backwards, rendering it, then reversing the audio.

Buchlava in C++

Since Behringer is talking about releasing a Bode Frequency Shifter, here is an example of what the one in the Arturia Modular V sounds like. Sort of ring modulator ish, but a bit more musical. Bass line included in the mix to give you an idea of how the Bode output relates to the actual notes.

Bode Frequency Shifter 2

Bode Frequency Shifter 1

Part 2 is finally done! This one took on a life of its own, consistently refusing to go where I envisioned it should. But it came out pretty cool nonetheless. If nothing else, I had even more fun than usual turning knobs and pushing buttons :D
The Arturia Synths take the leading roles in this piece, with ZynAddSubFX playing primarily supporting roles (mainly percussion). The complete plugin list is:
Part 1:
Arturia ARP 2600 – 9 instances
Arturia Moog Modular – 6 instances
Arturia Jupiter 8, Prophet 5, and Mini Moog – 1 instance each
ZynAddSubFX – 11 instances
Other plugins appearing in this piece are
BlueCat: Chorus, Flanger, and Triple-EQ
VarietyOfSound: epicVerb
Cockos: ReaEQ, ReaVerbate

Part 2 introduces several new instruments:
Arturia Oberheim SEM
Kamioooka x64 - awesome freeware modular synth by g200kg
KX-POLYMOD - Yamaha CS-70m emulation by KX77FREE
Radian - physics-based drum synth by XOXOS

The complete part 2 plugin list is:

10 x Arturia ARP 2600
7 x Arturia Moog Modular
2 x Arturia Jupiter 8
3 x Arturia Prophet 5
2 x  Arturia Mini Moog
1 x Arturia Oberheim SEM
2 x Kamioooka x64
1 x KX-POLYMOD
8 x Radian (resonant drums and bongos in part 2)
28 x ZynAddSubFX V2.4.1.496 by VDX

Other plugins appearing in part 2 are
BlueCat: Chorus, Flanger, and Triple-EQ
VarietyOfSound: epicVerb
Cockos: ReaComp, ReaDelay, ReaEQ, ReaVerbate
Jeff Mclintock: Formant Filter

Stay tuned for parts 3 and 4 :-)

Part 2 is DONE!: Panda Mania / Panda Moanium (p2 starts @ about 4:00)

Well, I've been off on a little tangent for the last few months: I went and built myself a modular, and now it is finally at the stage of construction where I can start really playing it. 

I have always thought Brandenburg Concerto #3 would just be fun to do on a modular, so I'm using it as my development and testing "platform".

This is the first test run that actually sounds good. 

All of the strings ( 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, and a double bass) were recorded one at a time on the modular, the only FX are some EQ and a 2-tap delay, since I don't yet have any EQ or delay modules to create the body resonances.
The harpsichord in the background is the M1.
Recorded in Reaper. 

Brandenburg Concerto #3 in G major, Version 0.9

Testing FM operations with two Z3000 VCOs

FM_test_1

End of the line for this version. I naively thought that I could record all the tracks at constant volume, then add all the dynamics in the mixing process. But that just didn't work. I lost the nuances of how the performer's playing style changes between pp and ff passages, and the end result is that the forte phrases do not stand out at all. 
I have now added modules to my setup that will allow me to insert the dynamics at the beginning of the process, changing the attack and timbre as well as volume. However, since this was recorded on a modular hardware synth, this means redoing the patch with the new capabilities and re-recording all 10 tracks from scratch. Stay tuned for version 2

Brandenburg Concerto Version 1

DX7 fixed!

TTSH #1 is ALIVE

A friend of mine bought this Jupiter 8 back around '82. It spend the next bunch of years on the road, then a bunch more years in storage, then 35 years later showed back up on my bench for a refurb. Just got it all put back together and mostly calibrated, sounding pretty good for an antique.

Number Jupiter-8 is ALIVE!

I have to bow to the reality that it will be a long time before I get around to "finishing" this odd collection of musical ideas.
So here it is, All 3 parts, as they sit, for your enjoyment. 
Sequenced and recorded in Reaper (200 tracks and it didn't even flinch). The synths on most of the tracks were either ZynAddSubFX or the Arturia V-collection, but a host of other interesting synths appear throughout. I should put together a comprehensive list one day.

Panda Mania / Panda Moanium / Panda Ra's Box

Getting back into keyboards after a 30 year hiatus. My how the technology has changed! 
This was entirely generated using the open source ZynAddSubFX softsynth running on a quad core, 2.4GHz Windows PC. Recorded and mixed with Audacity (freeware), and the MIDI sequencing was done with Jazz++ (also freeware). 
I borrowed my wife's Yamaha organ for a MIDI input device, and used MIDI-OX and MIDI-yoke to process and route the MIDI streams

HD Download

Deadly Zyn

panda_r24_percussion_rough

I have absolutely no idea what "genre" this is. But it was a lot of fun to record. Just playing around on a lazy weekend.
All sounds generated with ZYnAddSubFx, sequenced in Podium, final mix in Audacity

Also, the first time I have been able to use my new MIDI drum pad - the "humanization" of the drums was done by a real human :D I've never played drums before - once you get the hang of not getting the sticks tangled up with each other, it is really quite fun.

Error on an eString

I found an old box of cassettes with a couple of gems in it. One actually has my final project from an electronic music composition class I took in 1979. I was poking my nose into dusty corners in the basement of the music building at the University of Arizona, and found a rack of wire wrapped circuit boards with a terminal, a couple of 8" floppy drives, and an 88 key keyboard attached! I started asking around, and learned that it was one of the 5 prototypes of the Micor Coupland digital synthesizer. It had been left by a professor who had retired, and no one knew anything about it. So being me, I asked if I could play around with it. They made me take the 400 level class (as a sophomore) to get access to it, and I happily obliged, and got a couple of friends to help me haul it out of the basement and set it up in the 8-track studio. Now keep in mind that in 1979 no one had even considered a digital synthesizer, and you could count the polyphonic synths in the WORLD on one hand. Here was a FULLY (88-note) polyphonic DIGITAL synth! So I set about putting it all back together, started sticking floppies in until I found one that actually booted up, and I was off and running.
It was based on the TI-9900 microprocessor. Sounds were created by entering an equation that gave voltage as a function of time. It had 2 oscillators, the main oscillator and a modulation oscillator, and an ADSR that controlled the amplitude. The keyboard was the only "performance" control - all other real-time changes to the sound had to be commanded on the terminal. I learned to type with one hand while playing with the other.
Anyway, this is what came out of a fun-filled semester playing with this beast. I am putting it up here strictly for its historical significance; to showcase what this synth could have become if Micor hadn't pulled the funding.
There is a little bit of info on it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupland_Digital_Music_Synthesizer - but the story I heard (from a girl I was dating, who's father was a friend of Rick Coupland) was that Rick was so mad when Micor pulled the funding that he destroyed all of the documentation, and wouldn't even talk about the project to anyone after that. This MAY be the only surviving recording of this magnificent instrument.

Micor Coupland (first digital synthesizer)

Among the old cassettes I found was one that had bits and pieces I had recorded of a couple of projects I was working on back in '83 - '84. I have been playing around with those ideas for the last few weeks and one of them is actually starting to come together nicely. Worth a "work in progress" share.
As usual, all sounds created with ZynAddSubFx, sequenced in Podium, and this time I actually did the final mix in Podium as well.

Buy Track on BandCamp

Elephino (Final Mix)

This is a very "experimental" piece, in which I am starting to push ZynAddSubFx in new directions.

I started out just to see what I could do weaving melodies around a single drone note, and to make and use more "sound effect-y" sounds. As I was creating the new sounds for the piece, I discovered that ZASF has a formant filter, so I set about taming it as well. It is a very unpleasant sort of module - extremely finicky, but after a month or so of banging my head on the keyboard and reprogramming the buttons on my little LPD8 controller to give it "suggestions," I was finally able to make it sing.

As usual, all sounds were generated with ZynAddSubFx, with the TAL Vocoder II making a cameo appearance in the intro. Sequencing and final mixing were done in Reaper, which I have for the most part stopped swearing at.


Ishka-Who?

I did a lot of electronic music work back in the 70s and 80s, but then took a 30 year break to do the whole family / rocket scientist career thing. In the spring of 2012, I attended a reunion with a bunch of my musician friends from the old days, and decided it was time to get back into the game. My, oh my - how the technology has changed. I am now using just a single synthesizer - the ZynAddSubFx open source softsynth originally designed by Paul Nasca. I am using the VST version by VDX, running inside the Podium and Reaper  DAWs. I borrowed my wife's Yamaha PSR-E403 keyboard as a MIDI input device ("You aren't going to take it apart, are you?", she said with a worried look), and picked up a Novation Remote 61SL, an Alesis PercPad for drum inputs and a TASCAM US-600 audio system to round out my system. I also dug my old guitar pickup out of the shed and installed it in a cheap 12-string I picked up a couple years ago.

I hope you enjoy listening to my various musical creations.
If you like what you hear, stop by and "like" my Facebook page. - http://www.facebook.com/DaveHamaraMusic
And if you REALLY enjoy them, there are high quality downloads available on my BandCamp page. - https://davehamara.bandcamp.com/

Ish Kabbible

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