The lead on this track is primarily a Minimoog Model D with a Prophet-6 providing pads and Trigon-6 bass. The rhythm is a Rhodes style patch played on a Nord Stage. It felt like it needed something else, and I mirrored that Rhodes part through my Yamaha DX7's "Patch 11 E. Piano 1".  It gave it the exact drive and bite I was looking for.

I created a youtube recording showing a few of the parts being played. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQT5xaoHI0E

Drifting

During a visit to our favorite place on the Oregon coast, I improvised this piece while watching the waves during a beautiful storm from windows of our rental. I added percussion and ambient sounds (e.g., waves via filter sweeps on the Novation Peak and Trigon-6), and some flute-like overdubs with the Minimoog when we got home. The cover art photo was taken the day after the storm and improvisation. The "argyle" adjective is from the very symmetric argyle pattern the water was making on the sand.

Argyle Beach

This was a bit of a departure in terms of instruments. I think the only physical hardware synth used in this was the Trigon-6 for some of the bass. Soft synths included Cherry Audio's PS-3300 (lead and arp), Omnisphere (synthy sweeps and pads), U-he Diva (bass), and PunchBox.

Dueling Reyz

Miss you

2 Peter 1:19-21: "... you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."

My wife and I wrote this together. She sang and played drums. I played the synth/keys.

Unfolding Mystery

A chillout track in an A/B form with a lo-fi scratchy intro/outro. Most of the parts are analog/hybrid synths: Minimoog Model D (lead), Prophet 6 (pad), Trigon 6 (pad and bass), Novation Peak (some lead). The Minimoog was run through a Walrus Meraki analog delay pedal.

The initial pop of the sound of a needle dropping on a record and the subsequent lifting of the needle at the end was recorded on my Thorens turntable. The scratch/pop was part of the two initial circuits of album (an old Wendy Carlos album). I cut/shortened the pop to sync it up with the 74 bpm song tempo after a few clicks.

Analog Gecho

I played this in one take on a few synthesizers and then adjusted the drum and bass parts afterward. I recorded it as a video and decided the audio is kind of fun on its own. The original video: https://youtu.be/aoHAtFAUHyM

Hardware involved included Prophet-6, Moog Minimoog Model D, Nord Stage 3, Trigon-6, Novation Peak, and effects pedals by Strymon, Eventide, and Walrus Audio.

Ambient Interlude

Four+1 Ambient Interlude

A worship song thanking the Father for qualifying us to share in the inhertance of the saints in light (Colossians 1:12). I played the piano and synth parts. My wife played the drums and sang.

With Joy, In Light

I used what is sometimes referred to as the Andalusian cadence (i-VII-VI-V) as the A part on this song. The main melody line follows that. I had the melody in my head and played it and struggled with the timing and tried to quantize and adjust it. My wife and best friend helped me with it. After attempting to explain to me the nuances in timing that were off, she simply played it by feel to give me an example. Fortunately, I was recording the MIDI notes in Logic and I ended up using her “example” as the actual melody line. She has the musical groove built into her DNA. 

The bass is all from the Minimoog Model D. This includes the main bass track as well as the big filter/glide sweeps (processed through a couple Eventide plugins). The aforementioned gritty lead melody is from the Sequential Trigon-6. The Blade Runner-ish big pads on the B section are also from the Trigon. There are a few highly processed piano notes from Keyscape. And the mysterious sounding treble synth that is almost always in the background is U-He Diva (such a great synth).

The Curve

Spectra Additive ReSynthesizer : keys
Dr.Octorex : drums
Subtractor : bass
Polytone Dual Layer Synthesizer : first melody
Thor : second melody
Matriarch : solo

FX : Ripley Space Delay - Alligator Triple Filtered Gate - Pulveriser Hgh Yield Demolition - Sweeper Modulation Effect

Photo : auteur inconnu


New Pop - MrBlue

My first substantive memory involving music was playing vinyl records on my father’s Magnavox turntable through a Heathkit tube amp and speakers housed in handmade cabinets. It is a sepia-tinted, yet still vivid, recollection. My memory of a Tchaikovsky piano concerto, Mario Lanza’s soaring tenor, Danny Kaye’s infectious joy, and the Harmonikings’ rocking harmonica set some of the foundation for my attitude toward music.

In spite of my obvious talent at playing hip 70’s tunes on the turntable, my parents chose piano for me. I reluctantly took lessons and battled piano teachers for the next 10 years and learned almost nothing.

Eventually, things clicked and a desire to learn music emerged. Synthesizers made an appearance, the Beach Boys injected their tunes into the psyche, Electric Light Orchestra provided a magic carpet of escape, and Frank Mills released a song called “The Music Box Dancer”. Without the benefit of the Internet in 1979, I tracked down the name and composer of that piano-driven song, purchased the sheet music, and became enamored of melodic piano tunes.

The realization that radio songs could be played on the piano gave me a reason to practice music and find joy in it. All the while, the siren-call of the synthesizer, demonstrated by greats such as Kitaro, Wendy Carlos, Jean-Michel Jarre, Isao Tomita, and Vangelis, guided my musical tastes. The foundation of melody and strong lyrical content realized by synthesizers shaped my approach to writing and recording songs.

Analog Gecho

Mark Wilkins

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