This is my most chill album. Ambient, with some generative songs, imaginary environments you can close your eyes and inhabit. Laregly made with VCV Rack, with some assists from Bitwig Studio.

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LVO 2021: Electrons at Rest

After my last two albums of modular, ambient and generative, I hit the composing side of my craft with Moods. It's kind of like Pictures at an Exhibition, but electronica. From an SQ80 visit to 40 years ago, so storysongs and psychic spaces to inhabit. Many of these would be fodder for game music, loopable versions for extended meditation can be made available.

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Moods of Lanavishnu

The Horgovan undertake a mission to visit a region of space far from their home planet where they have found evidence of life. 

Upon arrival, they encounter a dangerous cosmic rift which they narrowly escape, meet the Chelan, the diplomats and keepers of harmony and the Gornial, who offered the visitors a Hobson's choice. While the Gornial are not "bad", they are old and powerful and prone to unpleasant pranks to the "youngers" if they do not offer sufficient respect and deference.

After a couple of tense encounters and increasing threats from the Gornial, the Hargovan take refuge on Vallok, a habitable moon that is the most beautiful place known and is under protection of the Bel, the region's most advanced civilization. The Bel are post-biological and can operate on a much accellerated time-scale as a result. While they are the youngest of the three elder spacefaring civilizations of the region, they are also the most ancient because of their accellerated perception of time. Not even the Gornial are able to cross the Bel.

While on Vallok, the religious leader of the Vallok monastery suggests they visit the Bel for advice on how to deal with the Gornial's demands.

Upon visiting the Bel's orbital around a white dwarf star, the Hargovan are offered a risky mission that, if successfully completed, will give the Hargovan enough reputational standing to satisfy the Gornial, and thus release them from the demands the Gornial had made of them. This would make the Hargovan welcome members in good standing of the civilizations of the quadrant.

After the dangerous mission is successfully completed, the negotiations with the Gornial are easily resolved by the Chelan. The Bel are planning to leave normal space for a pocket universe from which they intend to explore states of being beyond this universe.

In thanks for the assistance of the Hargovan, the Bel grant them something of great value, access to the wisdom of the Bel, the foundation of the non-theistic religion of Vallok, which was established by the Bel.

Space Opera

My favorite album, evoking the early age of electronic music.

Solace In Dark Times

This is an album of songs and moods and even a story. I recommend it. It was mostly made using  VCV Rack, with Audacity for editing and Bitwig Studio on a couple of the tracks. I wrote a lot of music in the early 2000s and this is my return to making music. I hope you enjoy it.

The Feigenbaum Constant

This VCV Rack patch is controlled feedback through two delays and a tape loop. There are three synth voices and a drone. Some of the signal gets routed from one channel of the delay through another delay and modulated back in. The other channel is sampled by a tape loop and played back then recorded and played back. One of the synth voices is a metallic bell tone, one is a folded wave form with the folding modulated randomly. The notes are triggered in such a way that neither sequence lines up with the others nor are they played in a linear path, and probabilities of gates being triggered on different steps of the sequence. In other words, even I don't truly understand the signal path. But I find it a good sonic space to exist in as it plays for as long as I want it to play.

A version of this is on YouTube to see the patch in action, but the SoundCloud version is the better performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKpjPrLlJh4&t=8s

Arbitration by Meditation

For the record, I would not go in a Desert Cave with an imaginary theremin. I'd be afraid of non-imaginary tarantulas.

There are three voices in this piece:

The opening voice is controlled with sequences and gates from ShapeMaster, the expression of wave folding for left and right voices are subtley modified by other Shapemaster channels. Additional copies of the signal are sent to granulators and a multitap tape delay for the bubbly sounds.

The second voice is a Basal and TS-L run through copies of Bass to give envelopes and accents. The sequence is from a gridseq with irregular triggering to make it less linear. Both voices are mixed and sent though a delay, a filter and another delay. I have buttons setup to fade this in while the first channel of the first voice is fading out. I leave the bubbly granulated and tape delayed versions of the first voice running. The accents and some other random modulations make these voice change a lot as they play.

The third voice is powered by pair of LFOs - a triangle subtracted from a slower sine, attenuated to provide the right voice range. The voice is triggered on a slow clock through a bernoulli gate to catch a sample of the LFO signal, then a second bernoulli gate, triggered bu a faster and more irregular gate signal to add bursts of gates from the sample and hold of the LFO signal. This yeilds held notes and runs of notes and fills the roll of a self playing theremin. I added a slight bit of slew to the pitch to aim for a more theremin-y sound.

My role in performing the piece is to control fade-ins and -outs and manipulate some probabilities. The patch does the rest.

YouTube video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLDjXYNH0Nc

Desert Cave with an Imaginary Theremin

A short little ambient track featuring some electronic jungle animals.

This was something I was playing with in VCV, making some beats with MindMeld's new ShapeMaster, some drums and Elements for some wooden drum sounds.

So, I added a Vraids and set it up to be responsive to aftertouch and the mod wheel and recorded some riffs - two melodies bits, some bloopy sound effects and  a little high pitched accent riff.

Omnivorous Beats

I watched a video from OoraMusic yesterday demonstrating the Vermona PERfourMER MKII. It's really neat 4 voice synth with some tricks up its, um, sleeve? its oscillators?  Anyway, the cool thing it does: it has a polyphonic mode where as you play different notes, it routes that to different voices. 

I thought it would be fun to replicate. Instead of doing it with four, though, I just did three, because that seemed to be the sweet spot when I started mocking it up. I played it live with my keyboard, making the different voices sound with their different characteristics. As I played and it was fun and expressive. I created a couple of sequences and added some percussion and bells and, well, here it is.

Video version of The Vermona Incident  on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHPfaB_qog&t=15s

OoraMusic's video demoing the Vermona PERfourMER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irV1i...

The Vermona Incident

Funky Morning Music

When the oscillator harvest is complete every year, the entire village gathers to celebrate.

Festival of the Oscillator Harvest

This song started with laying out some chords using a nice pad. They were pretty and sad.

Floating Chords

I was working on a couple of projects and decided they would work well as a suite.

Three Short Movements

This is a recording from 2374 once civilization has been rebuilt following the climate crisis. It is a future powered by endless and cheap fusion.

The recording was made as part of the world tour of the wildly popular band Boundless in a stadium in Rio. The name of the song is generally considered untranslatable due to changes in language and meaning.

Sci-Fi Funk

A track that would make a great game loop.

Stealthy Raccoon Mission

Triumphant Strut

So, I found an old SQ80 emulator from 10 years ago hiding in my archives. I installed it. I used it for everything in the track (except an equally vintage string synth on one track) and my FX arsenal in Bitwig. Cuz let's face it. If I had a string synth and an SQ80 in the early 80's I'd have used my boxes of guitar pedals from pawn shops and my 8-track studio to do the same thing.

SQ80

I'm learning Reaper as a new DAW, because it's cool and lean and tight.
I have a YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq5SLSa4v9w and this is the soundtrack of it.

It's a loop, it's short. But I could expand this out by leading to this point. This is the payoff.

Hardcore

This is the meditation track of the album. Play it twice, if you need it. Something hardcore is reputed to be ahead.

Eightfold Path

It's a race, it's a chase, it's in space. And moving fast. Faster than light, I've been told. Remember, it's a really bad idea to fire your energy weapons while in FTL.

Under 12 Parsecs

The Hargovan enter this region of space and begin looking for signs of the space-faring species they believed to be here. Unfortunately, they come almost immediately on a cosmic rift that knocks out power. The disruptions stem from a source of gravitational waves and they are left drifting towards this cosmic rift. They manage to restore power in time to engage hyper-drive and escape to a safe distance.

Cosmic Rift

The Hargovan ship does, in relatively short order contact the Chelan and is put in contact with their representation -- the Hargovan Chelan. A meeting will need to be scheduled with the Gornial Chelan soon. The Hargovan Chelan provides a clear, "polite" guidance that the Hargovan should basically agree to the Gornial terms or just go home. A further in person meeting will be scheduled to work out what possible accommodations can be made and what the Chelan in general can provide by way of making the agreement possible.

Hargovon Chelan

After the events of Further Complications, the Hargovan ship takes the advice of the Hargovan Chelan to seek refuge and reflection on the inhabited moon of Vallok. This is a world protected by Bel technology. It is in a nebula that provides a stunning night sky and is regarded as the single most beautiful place known. It is also the home of a monastery of sorts for a non-theistic religion popular among the younger space-faring species of the region. The religious leaders of the Vallok retreat welcomes the Hargovan and provides them with lodging and advice to ponder -- seek out the Bel and ask for their advice and wisdom on your course of action.

Reverie

The success of the Hargovan mission assisting the Bel results in the Hargovan being designated as protected by the Bel. The Hargovan are to be accorded an honored status and friends of the Bel. As a result, The Hargovan Chelan and the Gornial Chelan reach a relatively easy negotiated settlement to the Gornial demands of the Hargovan. The Hargovan are welcomed to the neighborhood.

Deloquin Velopina (Diplomacy)

Immediately after they leave hyperspace travel, a large spherical ship appears. They prepare to meet the Chelan. The Chelan provide them with some technology they will need. A communications matrix that provides them (after a short training session) with a way of communicating with the Chelan and any one else in the sector. They read the Hargovan into the basic agreements they will need to sign on to to remain in the region, explain the role of the Chelan as diplomats and maintainers of harmony, and issue their standard warnings about dealings with the Gornial and things to do and definitely NOT do when meeting the Gornial. This will almost certainly happen soon, as the Gornial are as aware of the arrival of the Hargovan as the Chelan were and will have the Chelan's brief on the Hargovan and the conclusion of their meeting.

After some other pleasantries, the Chelan depart and the Hargovan resume exploring.

Entrance of the Chelan

And no, it doesn't take long before the Gornial show up. The Hargovan are on their best behavior after the Chelan warnings. The Gornial are suddenly on the command deck of the Hargovan ship ready to chat face to face. The Hargovan crew was a bit shaken by the sudden appearance of the Chelan, but everything went well and they had quickly become comfortable with the Chelan. This meeting is different though. The Gornial are beautiful and terrifying and their manner is conversational and casual, but simultaneously like being in the presence of a stalking predator. They can be wandering aimlessly on the other side of the room, taking in their surroundings and suddenly, but without any sense of rush or haste, be staring you in the eye asking pointed questions they clearly want honest and correct answers to.

So, eventually, they assure the Hargovan that they're fine, welcome to the neighborhood, visitors. And by the way, how long are you planning on visiting before you go home?

The Gornial eventually lay out their requirements of the Hargovan and it's clear, they're intentionally hard for the Hargovan to fulfill and no good alternatives are offered.

With that the Gornial indicate they're departing, have a lovely day and make sure to contact your Chelan representation, which has almost certainly been organized by now. Be hearing from you very soon. Not a question. A simple statement of a fact.

The Gornial Statement

The resolution of the Hargovan/Gornial diplomatic conflict and the Hargovan's assistance to the Bel leave the Hargovan in very good stead in this sector of space. As a result, the Bel, who have already upgraded the Hargovan ship with some Bel technology, offer the Hargovan something more valuable than knowledge -- wisdom. They provide the Hargovan information and insight that leads to an understanding of the universe and their place in it that isn't as much about physics and engineering and technology as it is a philosophical framework that if followed, is a recipe for maturing into an enduring space-faring species. This is why the Bel encourage the non-theistic religion of the Vallok monastery, since it is this wisdom that informs the beliefs of that religion.

Having established themselves as a welcome part of this new sector of space, the Hargovan begin their journey home, having achieved successes well beyond their goals and a treasure beyond price.

Wisdom Beyond Our Ken

Upon departing from Vallok, the Hargovan follow the instructions to contact the Bel and seek guidance. The Bel's orbital around a white dwarf star is an impressive structure. The Hargovan land a shuttle pod on the surface of an oddly pastoral artificial planet populated by odd creatures grazing on the fauna. One of the creatures approaches and tells them to take the transport that has appeared behind them and they'll meet the Bel. The transport takes them deep below the surface, but the Bel are nowhere to be seen. Devices appear to communicate with them, seemingly out of nowhere and then disappear when they're no longer needed. Upon learning of the Hargovan's situation, the Bel have a proposal. A plan that will get them out of this situation.

Introduction to the Bel

The Hargovan resume their explorations, and wouldn't you know it, the Gornial show up wondering why the agreement hasn't been formalized yet. They ask the Hargovan something to the effect of "who exactly made your very young civilization such bold interlopers who think they can just swan in and act like you belong here to do as you please without proper respect for the elders of this region?" Quite unhappy. The Hargovan are pleased to be able to slink off with their skins and ship intact.

Further Complications

The Bel's mission for the Hargovan is dangerous and it is touch and go. The crew and their ship survive, taking quite a bit of damage and some injuries. However, they successfully deploy the Bel device and retrieve the samples sought by the Bel. The Bel provide repairs and improvements to the Hargovan ship after the harrowing mission.

The Gateway

The Bel offer their advice, but the suggested course of action will be dangerous and will require successful execution and positive results if they do not want to anger the Gornial further. If they fail, it may be to late to simply choose to go home.

The Bel provide a technological device that allows the Hargovan a way to enter the cosmic rift safely. The rift is actually a gateway, a portal, to a pocket universe created by the Bel as part of their plans to migrate to other realities. The Hargovan to need to retrieve something the Bel are not able to retrieve because of the nature of the pocket universe is currently incompatible with the Bel's existence. The goal is deploy some devices and to retrieve materials that will allow the Bel to modify the far side of the portal to be compatible with the existence of the Bel and their technology.

The Bel are unable to ask the Gornial or the Chelan as they would discover things that the Bel do not want them to know. They can't trust the other space-faring species who live in this region, lest they use the information and materials in a way that would disable the sector's stability. However, the Hargovan don't have the technological advancement necessary to exploit these materials and in any case, their back is against the wall if they choose this path. So their relative naivete, status as outsiders and the need to succeed in this task make them the only candidate the Bel feels they can trust.

A Risky Plan

This is the author's narration of Space Opera, the story to the album.

Space Opera: The Audiobook

My latest modular creation. My wife says it sounds like it could be the opening theme for a new FX series. Really, I wanted to play with the chord module,  the formants module, and get better at sequencing. And make a distorted synthtar. It was too much to run in a single patch, so I had to mix the parts down and play the samples in sync to the synthtar patch.

Retrowave

A Sunday project, folding you in and enveloping you in modular sounds. This patch was nearly too complex for my computer to play. Which is odd, since it's a just a bit of whimsy.

Enveloper

I've been working on building the instruments that make up this track in VCV Rack for a week. Recording samples, assembling the samples into the music track. I wrote and recorded the script and then back into VCV Rack to perform the voice samples and mix it.

In fond remembrance of Don Joyce, sound collage and spoken word artist.

Dreaming

This started out with me playing Kalimba and making a wind chime in VCV. Then I went a little off the deep end, using the Spectral Madness mode of Texture Synthesizer and turned my wind chime into a cosmic storm.

Dark Matter Storm

An ambient track driven by randomness and chord changes. I took a few lessons from Omri Cohen's latest tutorial on Plaits, but used a different approach, plus mixed in a string-like pad I'd been using to work out some chord changes. I really like the re-win quantizer with it's four channels and support for scenes. I've also taken to using the cf mixers with envelopes and gates to control the gain.

And go watch Omri make something nice out of the most annoyingly harsh sounding model of Plaits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJgLd.... You can see the lessons I took from that tutorial to make this patch, and watch the VCV master at work.

C-Beams

Hills Are Very Small Mountains

Mental Weather Report

Mooglandia

Mountains Are Very Large Hills

Ode To The Crimson King

Ping Lah Dee Day

Swimming At Night

An experiment in long evolving and complex  envelopes

Starlight

Spacewave

I've been making music my whole life. I made some albums 20 years ago and have returned to it in the last five years. I do it largely for myself, but I hope you find it enjoyable as well.

The Lanavishnu Orchestra

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