A month or so ago I picked up Sonicware's Liven 8-Bit Warps. The machine has certainly been some good fun, and looper makes it quite self-contained. There are definitely a few limitations to it (not necessarily the good kind - but also not necessarily bad, either), but all in all It's been quite a fun addition. It's definitely got character and has been a pretty interesting learning experience as well. Though I've wanted to fully develop some tracks using the "Metal Series" pocket operators, I'm admittedly quite distracted by the Liven! Something about its form factor just captures me and makes it so wonderful to experiment on. 

The Liven has 4 loop banks, one of which is for external inputs exclusively. In addition, you can't overdub on any of the banks (that I am aware of at the moment at least), so despite its independence the Liven does quite beg for a drum machine companion to get the most into a track. There are certainly some great drum machines to pair with it, but this time around I wanted to get an exclusively 8-Bit Warps sound. I ended up recording a 3-voice drum part using each of the 3 internal looper banks, and carefully (!) sent the drum loop into the line-in with an external cable. Be warned though! If the volume is too high your ears (and possibly the Liven even) will likely be damaged, headphones or not - or at the very least, that's how I felt when I found out how awful sounds the hard way. In fact I don't even feel I can safely recommend it to anyone. 

Warning aside, if you can get it in there quietly enough, after reducing the volume of the rest of the loops and sequences to match, you have yourself a multivoice drum loop from the Liven itself on that pesky external-exclusive looper bank, no sampling or other gear required, though the track may need a slight audio boost in post. You can hear this method on this track, which has allowed it to have 5 parts - drums, bass, chords, arp, and lead. 

I'm definitely looking forward to developing a more thorough set of tracks on this machine. I've got the XFM on preorder too, and I must say I think I'm even more excited for it - of course that's for another time.

Warped

Telepathology

Operation Zero

Curfew

I've recently been blessed with the privilege of owning a Teenage Engineering OP-Z - something I never thought I'd acquire! The device is an absolute joy and has provided an interesting workflow. It's so immediate too, and tracks pour out of it (doesn't hurt that you can take it everywhere, either). Something about it makes it very conducive to creating colorful synthpop tracks with a more retro influence. Its Elektron-par sequencer is also magnificent, and in particular things like step components and control tracks are so wonderful for just jamming and having fun on it. 

As I've seen many others do as well, I've been recording the sketches I've come up with and compiling them onto the oh-so creatively named "Operation Zero." Perhaps not something super new in theory and concept, but I'm honored to share my own personal experience with the OP-Z with you nonetheless. Here's a peak at how things have gone so far, and if you're interested in hearing more, I'll have the full compilation on Bandcamp once it's complete.

Play

Apothecary

From Bandcamp:

I've been very privileged to be in the position in life where I've been able to afford some new and great gear. This is a wonderful thing and I've been quick to find some great items I've been pining over for a while. My focus as of late has been on some of the classic Elektron boxes.

Zenith is a track made with the Analog 4 and the Digitakt. The Analog 4 acts as the primary sound module and the Digitakt acts as the drum machine and sequencer. The drum samples used by the Digitakt were also made directly on the Analog 4 before being sampled into the DIgitakt, where they received some minor tweaks (Mostly some overdrive on the snare). The Analog 4's audio is sent into the Digitakt and heavily compressed by it, and the Digitakt's audio is recorded directly into Audacity via its onboard interface.

The capabilities offered by the higher end Elektron boxes are really quite something! Consequently there's been quite a bit of experimentation. I'm hoping to try out various combinations of them and see where it takes me.

Monography

Zenith

This is a track I made a while back using the Volca FM, Volca Keys, PO-12 Rhythm, and PO-14 Sub. Heavy delay was applied from a Boss FX-600 to the Volca FM, giving it a dreamy, almost orchestral quality. All this was mixed together in a Volca Mix (with the pocket operators taking up one channel together), and recorded onto a Behringer UCA 202 audio interface.

Galaxy Racers

A modest collection of some sketches I've done on the Korg Electribe 2, with the exception of one track that also incorporates the NTS-1. Most of these tracks incorporate futuristic/cyberpunk inspirations, some upbeat and others down.

The album art idea was inspired by Gary Numan's "Telekon" artwork.

Virtual Reality

Selections from an in-progress compilation of sketches that exclusively use the Korg Volca Drum and Volca Modular, in addition of course to effects, courtesy of the NTS-1. I'm hoping to incorporate the Volca Kick, or even Nubass in these as well, but I have yet to acquire either of those as of writing this description. Once the compilation is finished, it will be posted on my Bandcamp and YouTube channels.

Volcamania 3

Adjacent

Polyrail

Selections from an in-progress compilation of sketches made using only the "Metal Series" of Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators - namely the PO-32 Tonic, PO-33 KO!, and PO-35 Speak. In these tracks I aim to use sounds from Microtonic as exclusively as possible on the KO.

The Plague

Disease around us
Creatures surround us

Mini-Melodies: Deluxe!

The Plague

Selections from an in-progress compilation of sketches made using only the "Metal Series" of Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators - namely the PO-32 Tonic, PO-33 KO!, and PO-35 Speak. In these tracks I aim to use sounds from Microtonic as exclusively as possible on the KO.

Leave Me Alone (Data Breach)

Leave me alone
I don't want to be awake today
Leave me alone
Like it ever even mattered anyway

I just wanna be somewhere else
I just wanna be by myself

Leave me alone
I don't even think I want to move
Leave me alone
As if there were something worthwhile to do

I just wanna be far away
I don't wanna be here today

Because the world's so harsh and insincere
And our future is so unclear
I don't want to play
Anymore

I just wanna be somewhere bright
I just wanna feel warm inside

I don't want to play at all

Leave Me Alone (Data Breach)

Volca-Mania 3

Insularity

Simple synth tracks from the heart of the Midwest.

Soundcloud will serve as a medium on which I post moreso on a "per song" basis rather than "per collection" basis, in addition to being a space for tracks to appear on later collections. If you like the work you see here, feel free to check out my Bandcamp or YouTube channel for more of my music.

Vogue Science

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