At the farthest reaches of imagination, headspace, and memory. 

Tech notes: E370 is the single sound source except for the percussive hits at the end. Explores the new chord and FM timbres made possible by the 1.6 beta firmware upgrade.

At The Farthest Reaches

TECH NOTES: A cross fade between two oscillators in 'MorphZ+Sub Mode' processed with the E520's Shimmer Reverb. 

This mode enables a secondary sub-oscillator, here a saw wave, to be set to one octave below a slowly modulated primary morphing waveform. A second modulator blends the mix of both, back and forth. 

Used the voice copy option in [Voice Settings] to clone osc1 to osc2, the clone being set one octave below the original. Slaved the XY movements of osc2 to respond to the inputs of osc1 also. These two voices slowly crossfade with a 2 phase-separated channels of the PEG controlling the 2 channels of an Optomix. 

The result is fed into a E520 Shimmer Reverb patch where an slow internal LFO (@ 1 BPM) modulates the Reverb Time parameter.

E370 / E520 MorphZ+Sub Thru Shimmer Reverb

Painting an expanse of remote wilderness and open space (hopefully one that's not on fire.)

Tech notes: Makes heavy use of E520 FX: Spectral Drones - long drawn notes, Spectral Drone Hires - breathing sounds, and Granular Pitch for percussion. Some drone elements are layered, or paired with Ableton pitch shifted versions with additional DAW FX added. 'Howls' originated from setting a high filter resonance and slowly manipulating the frequency as a Zadar pattern regulates the input to the E520

Where There Are Wolves

NEWS: Thrilled to announce that 'In A Strange Land' has ben accepted for presentation at the 2023 New York City Electroacoustic Musical Festival taking place this June. Will post details when they become available. 

Offering both excitement and menace, an unfamiliar place. Makes extensive use of Synthesis Technology's E520, the Xaoc Kamieniec & Dr Sketchy's Freak Shift.

Much of my sonic idea of a "new soundscape" has been significantly influenced by our move to a more countrified location in Upstate New York, where we are constantly hearing birds, tree frogs, crickets and other insects, a sound environment made possible by our new closeness to nature.

Mastered by Shawn Hatfield @ AudibleOddities

In A Strange Land

Quick demo of the new Synthesis Technology E490 Ladder Filter.

E490 Demo

6 sections as follows:
1. Modulated modulator plays the notch - chewy nyay-nyah flavor
2. Now compare band pass (both process a Hyperion Spectral Drone)
3. Yes you can play the BP feedback like a self-resonator
4. Basic pad sound from BP feedback
5. Running the BP thru E490 Moog filter and riding the input level, even though there's no external osc!
6. Bit more industrial, using a VCA to rhythmically inject the BP-feedback


Fastus - SEM Super Secret  Filter Lab

Episode 12 features David Scott Stone, a musician who has been a member of, collaborated with, or toured in an eclectic catalog of bands such as The Melvins, LCD Soundsystem, The Locust, Unwound, Fantomas, Jello Biafra, Get Hustle, and others. Known for his homemade or self-modified instruments, SirDSS (his moniker) creates wonderfully experimental music with great enthusiasm for gear and the technicalities of music, which is highlighted in his conversation with Cult and Culture’s Justin and Luke. Just as much so, his affinity for astrology, articulate nature, and all-around kindness is evident as the trio discuss anything from old memories of Southern California punk scenes to expanding musical futures and searching for sincerity in art.

The concept of Cult and Culture began as a short segment created by Justin Pearson, an internationally known musician, record label owner (Three One G Records), author, and actor. He is perhaps best known as bassist for bands such as Dead Cross, The Locust, and Some Girls as well as vocalist for Deaf Club, Swing Kids, and Planet B. Having traveled the world touring in hardcore and punk bands since age 15, Justin has come to know and work with a broad spectrum of captivating personalities and brilliant minds, many of which are key figures in the realm of popular culture and cult followings alike-- from being on the soundtrack to John Waters’ Cecil B. Demented, to acting in an Asia Argento’s Incompresa, to playing in Dead Cross with Mike Patton and Dave Lombardo. Cult and Culture arose as an opportunity to document bits and pieces of the DIY-driven, subversive world of art Pearson identifies with- one that many are not aware of or perhaps have misconceptions about.

Eventually, Pearson joined up with producer and bandmate Luke Henshaw (Sonido De La Frontera, Planet B, Satanic Planet, First Power Crew) to build the idea into a proper podcast, now recorded at his own PengOne Studios in San Diego. Henshaw has collaborated with hip hop legends such as Invisible Skratch Piklz’ D-Styles and Q-Bert, Kool Keith, in addition to being immersed in the world of Cumbia alongside Sonido De La Frontera bandmate Karlos Paez (B Side Players). He also recently scored the music for upcoming documentary Sk8face, which tells the history of skateboard graphics. In this way, both Justin and Luke are influenced by a diverse array of subcultures that all have connected roots. John Waters was one of the first people interviewed for the podcast- an icon of both cult and culture. Since then, guests have included a broad scope of musicians, producers, authors, and anyone passionate about what they do-- anyone from Grammy-winning musician Juan Alderete (Mars Volta, Racer X, creator of Pedals And Effects) to actor Michael Malarkey (Vampire Diaries, Project Bluebook), from San Diego Black Panther Party members to longtime partners Nicola and Adam in electro-punk band ADULT. or The Satanic Temple cofounder Lucien Greaves (who would go on to form Satanic Planet with Luke and Justin as a direct result of their podcast conversation). The focus is not intended to be solely on people in any one realm, and because guests are friends and family, the conversations are frank, informal yet well-informed, and genuine. Pearson and Henshaw seek to achieve a casual openness, blurring lines between traditional guest and host. Cult and Culture is part of Ruinous Media.

Catch up on all episodes of Cult and Culture podcast, via iTunes, or through Three One G’s Soundcloud.

https://soundcloud.com/threeoneg/sets/cult-and-culture-podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cult-and-culture/id1232084207

Cult & Culture Podcast Episode 12 feat. Dave Scott Stone (LCD Soundsystem, Melvins, etc.)

Some of all our fears

All sound from single E300 Ultra VCO.

PATCH NOTES:  An Doepfer A160-2 clock divider triggers notes and accents, rhythmic tension provided by 3s against 4s. Shorter divisions trigger quick Math envelopes which strike LPG's on the Optomix and a Boogie to articulate all the notes of the main pattern. Longer clock divisions trigger the more infrequent accents, routed thru Maths to the 'control' and 'key' inputs of the Optomix and Boogie respectively. I also manually manipulated the Maths' envelope attenuators to fade in & out various parts to create a live, one-pass 3 voice part with SAW, PULSE, SUB (-1 oct) outputs recorded simultaneously. The additional elements were added thru multitracking. There's no FM, but lots of hard sync heard on the longer held notes, the sweep created by holding the E300 base note with an outside saw-wave routed to the sync input, while a Zadar generates a voltage profile to the E300's pitch input, creating a kind of harmonic singing effect.

Synthesis Technology E300 Ultra VCO Hijinx

First section is an multi-track ensemble of parts generated thru Linear FM -  second section presents one shots, without EQ/REVERB/ FX (with one exception), so you can hear the various independent timbres - third section adds a couple of parts to complete. All sounds generated with the E300

One-shots @1:20: patch notes (best recollection): 

[1] Long low FM expansion (1 dry/ 1 wet) The Xaoc Zadar is an excellent companion for FM work - I used one channel to create a long volume envelope of rises & plateaus, and a second matched length channel to intensify the modulator input (an E370 sine) over time. Also used a VPME T43 precision adder/transposer to manually switch the modulator pitch by various octaves while the note was playing.

[2] High pitched texture - One octave higher E370 sine linear FM mods a E300 C3 plus a crazed high speed self-cycle Math SUMS waveform into E300 1v (a kind of backdoor EXP-FM addition) 

[3] High tremolo bird voice - Used the E300's sub output (-2oct), induced tremolo via VCA & wave folded, before patching back to E300 FM1

[4] Bass ostinato - a pattern of seven pitches on the Rene with accents - using a Doepfer Precision Adder to change the E370 square wave modulating an E300 triangle wave

[5] Treble E300 long FM - like the first one-shot, but E300 is high, again switching T43 to change the modulator's pitch as the note progressed

[6] Forrest animal - again using the SUB output routed via VCA to the FM input A slow self-cycle maths adjusts the VCA attenuator, giving it that eccentric rolling pitch.

Synthesis Technology E300 Ultra VCO Linear FM Hijinx

A dream like series of events, which might be projected by something like the antique projector illustrated here, might in more modern times be accompanied be a soundtrack like this. 

This is a culmination of a series of experiments involving one E300 and an E370 applying myriad techniques, FM, FM and SYNC, FM with sample & hold applied to the FM modulator (this generates a 'liquid' bubbly tone) to generate the bulk of the material. I used E580 Delay/QuadVCA combo to generate long feedback tracks. The E580 was also used on many fragments to "vintage" the tone of some material to get the sound of early classic tape music. The rhythmic figure representing the 'corridor' or wormhole in the second half was made by a clock opening a QuadVCA to allow an FM modular to be rhythmically 'injected' into an FM input. A Kamieniec in self resonating mode also supplies some sonic drama in the second half. 
  
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Fastus - SEM Super Secret Filter Lab

Paul T Schreiber

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