Another track from the current 'fake krautrock' project with my mate Mark.

"You are living in a stagnant, declining civilisation.
What do you do to cheer youself up?"

"Press the button?"

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"You may press the button!"

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"What happens if I press this button?"

"I wouldn't!"

Markus Schneider - lead synths, samples & sequencing
Stefan Bäcker - guitar, bass, vocals, synth drones, drums, samples & sequencing

© Alt 2024

ALT - Push-button Society (2024)

The original throw-away collaboration (based on a bass and looper recording) with my mate Mark which grew into the current Alt album project. I posted a version of this a few months ago but now it has been properly mixed.

If it's of any interest, the vocal samples come from the documentary 'Krautrock - The Rebirth of Germany' (which I highly recommend). It captures Zappi from Faust (signed by Virgin Records to be the 'new Beatles'!!) bemoaning the terrible English food they had to suffer when they were brought over to record - "Meat with peppermint sauce" (lamb and mint sauce) seemed utterly baffling to him. They insisted on bringing in their own 'chef' during the rest of the recording!



Alt

Markus Schneider - lead synths, samples & sequencing
Stefan Bäcker - synth drones, bass, percussion, drums, looping & sequencing


© Alt 2024

ALT - German Herb (2024)

A couple of snippets from a long-stalled album initially started in 2016 of material originally recorded in 1993. Who knows when the rest of it will see completion?



Beyond the Beginnings of Time & Space (ep edit)

1. Times and Spaces
2. Beyond the Beginning

JaglanBeta

John Harmer - piano & retrograde piano
Steve Baker - synth, samples & fx

All original material recorded 1993
Additional samples, fx & editing by Steve Baker
on the Steam Abacus, 2025

© JaglanBeta 2025

JAGLANBETA - Beyond the Beginnings of Time & Space (ep edit) (1993/2025)

A while back, I went through a collection of old cassette tapes and discovered a selection of interesting ideas and demos dating from around 1992 to 1998. Over the last year or so i have been digitising these crusty old cassettes, cleaning up and remastering selected tracks into a coherent album.

This is one track from that album which seems as apt in the present day as it was when I wrote and demo'd it thirty-odd years ago.

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CHRONOFLOW

WHAT CAN YOU SAY WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW?
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN IT DON'T SHOW?
WHAT DO YOU SAY WHEN THEY DON'T SEE
WHAT'S HAPPENING TO YOU IS HAPPENING TO ME?
IT'S HAPPENING TO YOU
IT'S HAPPENING TO ME
IT'S HAPPENING
 
WHERE DO YOU GO WHEN YOU CAN'T HIDE?
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO STEM THIS TIDE?
HOW CAN WE RIDE CURRENT HISTORY?
WHEN IT'S HAPPENING TO YOU, IT'S HAPPENING TO ME
IT'S HAPPENING
IT'S REALLY HAPPENING
IT'S HAPPENING
IT'S REALLY HAPPENING
 
DIG IT!

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from The Endless Path To The Way Of Tea (Cassette Demos 1992 - 1998)
https://steamabacusproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-endless-path-to-the-way-of-tea

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Album credits ...

The Endless Path To The Way Of Tea

Cassette demos 1992 - 1998


Steve Baker - Vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, balalaika,
bass, drum machine, wow and flutter


Demos recorded on 2- and 4-track cassette between 1992 - 1998
Compiled and remastered 2024 - 2025


© Steve Baker 2025



A SteamAbacus Production

Chronoflow  (Cassette demos 1992 - 1998)

I gave my Brassmaster bass fuzz loop session to my friend Mark and he splattered a load of synthesised mucky muck over the top. :)

Mark Taylor - synthesisers
Steve Baker - fuzz basses and looping

ALT - Muck'n'Brass (2025)

I'm putting together a little synth workstation in order to explore the kind of ambient droney stuff I  used to create a lot of 20-25 years ago. This time though I have better equipment - and I have a small drone synth on order to supplement the softsynths on the laptop.

OB-Xd softsynth
Surrealistic MG-1 Plus softsynth
Akai LPK25 usb keyboard controller
Lenovo Laptop
Behringer UB802 mixer
Sony MZ-R37 portable minidisc
Yamaha REX50 multi-effector
Mooer Ocean Machine dual delay/reverb/looper
Cup of Darjeeling

Eccentric Orbits (20/08/2025)

The Stylophone CPM DS-2 Dronesynth arrived yesterday although DPD failed to deliver to my door even though I was in (and Royal Mail managed to deliver a different parcel during the same one hour slot). They didn't even give me the option of re-delivery - instead I had a half-hour walk over probably the steepest hill in South London to some random supermarket 'pick-up point' where I had to collect it. The climb over the hill on the way back told me I'm not as young or fit as I was when I lived in Wales and would regularly walk 10-15 miles in a day (and Wales is VERY up and down!) The view from the top of the hill was pretty spectacular though - and it was all downhill from there back to home.

I had a little play with the DS-2 yesterday on its tiny built-in speaker just to check it was working but toaday I plugged it in and had a proper play.

Stylophone CPM DS-2 Dronesynth
Behringer UB802 mixer
Sony MZ-R37 portable minidisc
Yamaha REX50 multi-effector
Mooer Ocean Machine dual delay/reverb/looper
Cup of Ceylon tea

Space Nomads (21/08/2025)

I've had an afternoon crawling around on hands and knees and leaning into strange contorted positions as I've added a few new 'boxes' to my drone setup. The new Stylophone drone synth is now plumbed through an old Micro FX compressor (a mono half-rack sized unit I've had for years) and the laptop feed now goes through an Eventide Ultratap digital delay pedal (a powerful little pedal that I didn't quite gel with on guitar) and an old Alesis Nanoverb (1/3 rack sized).

I've managed to squeeze everything into the small space available and still have all controls accessible. I just need to tidy up the cabling a bit and sort out the power plug situation (I'll need to buy a couple of splitter blocks to neaten it up).

After the surgery 'Throbulus Prime' is now fully functional and I recorded a little throbulous drone piece to check all was working as intended.

Stylophone CPM DS-2 dronesynth > Micro FX Compressor
OB-Xd softsynth (Lenovo laptop) > Eventide Ultratap delay > Alesis Nanoverb reverb
Behringer UB802 mixer < aux loop > Yamaha REX-50 Multi-effector
Mooer Ocean Machine (dual delay/reverb/looper)
Cup of ceylon tea (cold by the time I recorded this)

The Droneworkers of Throbulus Prime (23/08/2025)

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Stylophone CPM DS-2 dronesynth > Micro FX Compressor
Surrealistic MG-1 Plus softsynth (Lenovo laptop) > Eventide Ultratap delay > Alesis Nanoverb reverb
Yamaha Pocketrak PR7 digital recorder/player
Behringer UB802 mixer < aux loop > Yamaha REX-50 Multi-effector
Mooer Ocean Machine (dual delay/reverb/looper)
Cup of hot darjeeling tea

Hiveship (29/08/2025)

A small volume control box (dual phono rca in and out, volume pot) arrived in the post today and I was able to complete the last bit of the 'Throbulus Prime' synth drone apparatus. It allows me an extra input with volume adjustment via the desk 'tape in' connection. Then I made some bleepy noises!

Stylophone CPM DS-2 dronesynth > Micro FX Compressor
Voltage Modular softsynth (Lenovo laptop) > Eventide Ultratap delay > Alesis Nanoverb reverb
Yamaha Pocketrak PR7 digital recorder/player
Sony MZ-R37 portable minidisc
Behringer UB802 mixer < aux loop > Yamaha REX-50 Multi-effector
Mooer Ocean Machine (dual delay/reverb/looper)
No cup of tea

Host Star

Steve Baker, Producer/Guitarist, London, UK

Guitars, guitars, guitars.....and some more guitars! With a few other devices thrown in (notably, a Line 6 DL4 looping pedal).

All the tracks here are emissions from the venerable 'Steam Abacus' - once a wheezing old pentium-powered antique (Windows 98SE!, mainly utilising Cubase VST 3.7, Cool Edit Pro and T-Racks), now resurrected as an only-slightly-antiquated younger specimen (Windows XP, Cubase SX, et al).

Much is initially recorded direct to minidisc before being edited/compiled on the Steam Abacus.

Some older tracks even started life on Compact Cassette. 

State-of-the-art this ain't!

This track is not available anymore.

Other tracks from Steam Abacus