This track jumped out at me while I was programming Arturia's CS80 V, and exploring Tracktion's fab RetroMod 106, and Collective. I added some elastic PPG Wave bass, bx_oberhausen percussion, with Dmitry Sches' brilliant THORN spectral synth shimmering in the background. It starts kinda 'lo-fi', and ends in hypnotic sequencer frenzy! Hope you enjoy it as much a I did making it! :)

Paper Tiger 紙老虎

The RSF Polykobol 2 is probably one of the rarest synths in the world (there were only 30 made!), and this PolyKB 3 emulation by XILS Lab is just gorgeous, and probably the closest I'll ever get to playing one! The piece is a simple, one-take improvisation over some repeating phrases, with lucious strings courtesy of Cherry Audio's Polymode/moog, plus a little KORG Minipops rhythm machine. Just 10 minutes of synth-noodling lushness, going nowhere ... slow. ;)

Temple Rain 寺院の雨

A d'n'b/dubsteppy piece made entirely (apart from the beats) using Cherry Audio's DCO-106 softsynth; their recreation of the 'legendary' Roland Juno 106 (which I actually never liked at the time, lol!). Love the CA version though! Mixed with PA's great arsenal, and mastered using the new Plugin Alliance/BX Style Creator 'LA Standard', which gives the track a rich, smooth kick. The title comes from an algorithm used in machine learning models. Hope you enjoy it! :)

Gradient Descent

Experimenting with a drum loop from Arturia's Spark drum machine, I added some rich Pigments and Jup-8V arpeggios; FullBucket's great (free!)Korg DW-800 emulation (probably the ugliest looking synth ...ever!); and final touches using UVI's fab new Emu-3, Voyetra 8 brass, and DK5S/Kawai K5000's delicious sweeps. Mastered with bx_style creator; LA mode ... again. The title's from the chemical element Xenon (Xe). It sounds suitably 'clubby' and 54 (as in Studio) being it's elemental number! Hope you enjoy it! :)

Xe-54

It’s always dangerous to starting messing around with new music software right before bedtime! IK Multimedia’s SampleTank 4(fabulous vibes and kalimbas), Modo Drums, Modo Bass, and Syntronik 2(OBXa, Polymoog) kept me up until the early hours. I added some filter sweeps from UVI’s wonderful new Mission 6 (Andromeda A6); 'Pop' B-Vox courtesy of Arturia’s Augmented Voices, plus some funky Clavinet-V, wrapped it in Savant Audio Labs Quantum 2772 reverb (an emulation of two rare Quantec reverbs) and polished off with Plugin Alliance great mixing tools (SPL IRON I love you!). Exploring IK’s products further, I stumbled across their incredible Muscle Shoals FAME Studios reverb (think Aretha, Wilson Picket, Etta James). So, finally I decided just to relocate the whole mix down to 603, East Avalon Avenue, Alabama, which really wafted a sultry southern breeze into the track. It’s ALL imitation, ... but I love it. Hope you do too! :)

Imitation Of Life

A retro 80's electro-funk track (with a Tom-Tom Club vibe, lol!) created using only Cherry Audio's fabulous 'Mercury  6' (Roland Jupiter 6 emulation). It actually started off as a test in trying to copy patches people were creating with real JP-6's on YouTube. I had a Jupiter for many years, and CA have done an amazing job, especially as you can layer two synths together! Drums are the fabulous AL 9000 by Audiolounge, and mixed and mastered with Plugin Alliances great tools: Shadow Hills Compressor, Kiive Audio Xtressor, the Pro Audio DSP DSM multi-band compressor, UA Tails reverb, as well as the 'Glow' reverb by Wave alchemy. Hope you enjoy it!

Winged Figure

Demoing the new PSP Audioware Lexicon PSP42 delay, I loved the endless RPT (repeat)function which enables you to mix a looped note/phrase with played material. I realize there are easier and more accurate ways to loop, but I really like the character and inherent uncertainty of doing it this way (as I used to when I started making music!). I also quickly realized that you can stack multiple instances of the Lexicon 42 to create more complex multi FX. I set up four instrument tracks (electric piano, drums, voices + infinite repeat and a Turkish Oud sample) and improvised this ambient downtempo track. Each track uses multiple instances of the PSP Lexicon 42, creating delays, reverse delays, chorus, reverb and flanging effects. PSP have done a great job replicating the classic sound of the original Lexicon PSP 42 hardware. It's easy to use a lot of fun to play with and, with the modulation capabilities and added sync, you can create some pretty fab effects! It's a very simple piece, and, being improvised, it’s not perfect, but I like the atmosphere. Hope you do too!

The Crumar Bit ONE and Bit 99 synths surprised everyone when they came out in the mid -80's. They had, like all the best synths, a warm, 'organic' character. I have UVI's great sampled version of the 'BITs', but to get my hands on Full Bucket's amazingly authentic, FREE!!! emulation last night ignited this piece of jazz-pop funkery. It sounds rather like the intros to all the 70's American soap/detective series, I used to watch as a kid, rolled into one, lol! Creating this piece also deepened my love for Tegeler's gorgeous Raummaschine reverb plugin, and Lindell Audio's 69 'Helios' channel strip. I just think they sound fabulous together, especially on beats (Inphonik's RX1200)! ...  and I do like a BIG ending (Ooh! Matron!), haha! I had a blast making this and really hope you enjoy it! :) It was beautifully mastered by Joseph at Empire mastering: https://empiremastering.com
N.B. For best quality click on the Bandcamp link here: https://markhorrocks.bandcamp.com/track/solaris

Solaris

The new G-force OBX emulation is amazing! I was/am a huge Japan fan, and Richard Barbieri, their synthesist, used his Oberheim OBX all over their seminal swan-song album 'Tin Drum'. G-Force have captured the OBX sound brilliantly and taken it into new realms. It's also really easy to program great sounds. I started playing with a simple chord progression, then added Arturia's Efx MOTIONS effect, and before I knew it, was surfing waves of OBX sound euphoria. This a 'live jam' with no edits, lol! The title's a play on YMO's classic 'Cosmic Surfin''. Hope you enjoy it! :)

Kozmik Surfink

Playing around with some of the massive, rich timbres you can get from Cherry Audio's gorgeous recreation of the Korg PS 3300 semi-modular synthesizer from 1977. This track was created using only 6 instances of the PS 3300 (except for drums). Enhanced with PSP's beautiful Binamp, and Mixland's Vac Attack, both amazing processors for adding depth and wight to sounds! Hope you enjoy it! ;)

Hunter's Moon

Playing around with the brilliant (free!) K1v Kawaii synth emulation by Nils Schneider, to test Savant Audio Lab's absolutely gorgeous recreation of the famous Quantec Room Simulator reverb unit. Jazzy horns, funky clavinets, and lots of synths (Arturia's Augmented series, Syntronik 2 - Andromeda 6, Cherry Audio's ARP Quadra for strings) over hip-hop beat using Robotik Bean's Tape Synth. Bx Clipper, MIXLAND Vac Attack and The Oven on the 2 buss. Love them all!

Quantum

I was having a bit of fun test-driving the new Cherry Audio ARP Pro Soloist emulation in this proto-prog-rock-meets-Ultravox-McNoodle, lol. The Pro Soloist is capable of producing some lush polyphonic tones as well as the classic Prog Rock sound. Hope you enjoy it! :)

Aurora

Playing around with PSP Audio’s wonderful Lexicon PSP 42 delay (lots on the drums!) and Arturia’s Pigments 5 update. Plus, IK Multimedia’s fabulous Hammond B3 and SampleTank 4; Cherry Audio's ARP Quadra provided some breathy counterpoint keys in the final section .Hope you enjoy it! 😃

Bang! Bang!

A track inspired by the likes of Chick Corea's Electric Band, Weather Report, Joe Zawinul, Lyle Mayes, and that 70's/80's jazz-funk 'muzak' sound, using the wonderful, sizzling sound of Oberheim synths, courtesy of GForce's brilliant emulations of the Eight Voice and OBX, plus Cherry Audio's fab (FREE!) SEM; crossed with a hipperty-hopperty beat and some New Orleans horns. The title refers to how a piece can start in one place and end up in quite another! Hope you enjoy it!

Chinese Whispers

The two characters of 'Dim Sum' are 點, which means 'to light/to kindle/to touch briefly' and 心, meaning 'heart/mind'. 
This track was inspired by Emuir Deodato's 'Night Crusier' album (1980) which I bought at the little Virgin Records store in Brighton when I was about 17. It's music to party to, relax to, travel to, to refresh. It's light but lovely ... a bit like 'dim sum'. Hope a little of that spirit comes across and you enjoy my little homemade snack! :)
It was created almost entirely using UVI's Vintage Vault and Synth Anthology.

Dim Sum 點心

This track is based on an improvisation using Arturia's Stage 73-V and Augmented Piano, and Soniccouture's beautiful Glass Harmonica.

Contact

The last in my little trilogy of generative ambient pieces, created using the ROLI Lightpad Block and the Arturia V7-Collection. All the timbres are the OBXa-V. It's a lot more than just a 'growl' machine!

Les Oiseaux

A shuffling 70's-tinged guitar/soundtrack piece, using Arturia's V-Collection (Prophet VS, OBXa, Mellotron flute, Solina strings, Pigments), and mixed using the beautiful Arturia FX/Modulations, and Relab Development's gorgeous reverbs (LX480, VSR S24).

Cerulean Blue

Noodling around with Arturia’s revamped Stage 73-V electric piano to get a jazzy groove; added some Solina-V Strings & Clavinet-V, plus BBC's(wonderful!) Symphony Orchestra (Henry Mancini-style strings and horns). Learning more about production using Plugin Alliance's great mixing and mastering tools!

Shadows

A bit of an 80's super-synth pastiche, using Arturia's V-8 Collection: Vocoder, Emulator 2, Fairlight CMI, Jupiter 8, Juno 60; as well as Cherry Audio's Polymode, a lush Polymoog emulation. Lots of tom-tom fills, gated beats (Linn, Drumtraks, 909) and strident strings :)! Mixed and mastered with Brainworx/Plugin Alliance's amazing software.

Never Be The Same

I've been making electronic music since I bought my first synth (a Juno-60) and a Tascam 4-track way back in about 1986. I have worked with singer-songwriters and performance artists, and composed soundtracks for modern dance and theatre. The pieces here represent recent electronic instrumentals, where I’m exploring/experimenting/having fun with music production techniques and composition. I currently live in Tokyo, and am interested in collaborating with other artists. You can hear my PhD compositions here: https://soundcloud.com/mphorrocks

Mark Horrocks

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