I just wanted to play that dirty synth bass like unto my man @buscrates, a fellow SE-02/Ext Box enthusiast, and funk/music savant. This was waaay back in August of 2018; and this is what I got myself into. Think I ended up with at least 20 tracks of bass (understatement). Good thing they aren't all playing at once.  Not sure when I happened upon the sumptuous, and highly melodious Nikki Giovanni/James Baldwin (disarming, wonderfully honest, and warm) interview, but it provided the conceptual, conversational glue & gumption. #wisdom #genius #charm

Initially this was just an SE-02/Ext Box offering, the focus being the usefulness, and potency of this surprising monosynth—as if it possessed the secret means of every instrument necessary—especially when multitracked, and the grit, push, and smooth cutoff sweeping the Ext Box gives. The SE-02 seemed to be more than enough analog; then the Midimini V30 crashed the party, and the piece I was near convinced (read panicked) I would never complete, got a fresh coat of paint & purpose—a rebirth of the cool, so to speak. And my, my... these two kissing cousins sure sound(ed) good together. One programmable, and CC-powerful, with that dope delay, feedback, and unique 3x crossmod, the other, a semi-modular, through-hole, complex gain-staging, fire-breathing 1980s-90s-2000s-strong bass beast of burden. The V30 is also delivering some gorgeous lead line moods, with the Ext Box (yes you read that right) drive boosting, bumping, and smoothly filtering it: hi pass too. I TOLD Greg St. Regis it would work wonders on our 30th anniversary Midimini! Takes a bit of extra cabling is all.

All of the Analog synth polyphony is SE-02, built using the indispensable "Split Notes" feature in Motu's DP10. The organy, dreamy, digital, sometimes hashy chording, features two tracks of free-ranging Quadnic (well it was at the time), which I gradually if reluctantly colored with redux ISO phrases, and some measure of harmonic awareness of its... er, intended direction.

A touch more eurorack organ-ish flair is of chopped-up Grainy Clampit origin, and Boomstar SE-80 hi hats, snares, clap, and kick accent the lifted traps.

It's best I pass the baton here.

The Gospel According to Carlo St. Regis:

"This is the most coherently incoherent meticulous madness I’ve heard. It seems to me like a love song to song, and to sound design. I’ll need to listen to it 30 more times to grasp 30% of its nuance, but on first impression I hear Stevie synth meanderings, funeral dirges and soaring cathedral snippets, interlaced by the unmistakable genius of James Baldwin and held together by a groove that reappears just when you begin to question if you’ve heard it for the last time. It’s a clinic on transition and variety and layering, and almost in spite of this, seems to culminate in a murderously funky and contrastingly bare base and drums section that makes you think yeah, this is why I use synthesizers."

Where most songs seek to build this one isn’t afraid to deconstruct and traverse a journey fitting of the time spent in creating and experiencing it. The impractical renaissance man is here and his background vocals have shown us the way."


MSR
41920

Practical Man Suite

STUDIO ELECTRONICS