The haiku for this week:

spring dream…
not becoming unhinged
is what’s unbearable

Naviar haiku challenge 596, details hare: https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge

Made in two blocks, recorded simultaneously,  both using Voltage Modular. this is the first real outing for the Buchla inspired DMT Audio "West coast" modules. All delays and reverb added within Voltage.

Spring Dream - (naviarhaiku - 596)

Inspired by:

orchids by night –
within their fragrance looms
their blossoms’ white!

Naviar haiku challenge 597, details here: https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge

I used Voltage Modular with a lot of the Buchla inspired DMT Audio West Coast modules giving plenty of chaotic modulation. Although as usual this is the result of a single live take I was really just mixing, all modulation was built into the patch.

Orchids By Night - (naviarhaiku - 597)

Made in response to:

rain rituals -
if the gods are here now
to see the paddies

Naviar haiku challenge 599, details here: https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge

Nothing like my original plan, everything went experimental when I decided to use a recording of a real windchime. That changed what was going to be a flute melody into free improvisation, the sound is a modified Arturia Analogue lab pre-set with additional reverb. The improvisation is generated by a probabilistic Voltage Modular patch. The processional sequence was initially going to be entirely VM but I ended up sending the note data to Solinoid, the Free string/orchestral synth from Solicto Musica :  https://solcitomusica.blogspot.com/p/virtuales.html (Custom patch). I also set up a send of that to Deelay (Sixth Sample) and the windchime to GRFX (Imaginando). 

I set up, repeated some sections of the rain and guessed where I'd want windchimes, the basic structure of the track then did a live take, mixing in the free improvisor and processional elements. 

When I get a chance I'll upload the rail and windchime to Freesound and post links here.

Rain_Rituals-(naviarhaiku-599)

Inspired by:

pulling light
from the other world . . .
the Milky Way

Naviar haiku challenge 601, details here:https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge

Made with a combination of Voltage Modular and Creature From the ID from Giorgio Sancristoforo: https://www.giorgiosancristoforo.net/softwares plus a variety of effect and reverb plugins.

From The Other World - (naviarhaiku - 601)

Created in response to:

scent of plum
in a flash of rising sun!
the mountain path

Naviar haiku challenge 602, details here: https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge

I used Voltage Modular and a couple of additional effect plugins, set everything up including mapped physical controls and multitrack recorded an improvised lave take. The ending is a bit more abrupt than I would have liked but I realised I was getting near to the 10 minute mark. 

The "Melody" that appears towards the end was randomly generated using Turing Machine modules from DMT Audio. https://store.cherryaudio.com/bundles/dmt-strict-machine-expanders-bundle

Mountain Path - (naviarhaiku - 602)

Created as a response to:

insect tremolo
soberingly cools the heat
of farmland roads

Naviar haiku challenge 603, details here: https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge

Created using Voltage Modular and a lot of crickets from freesound. 

The synth elements are quite minimal and all driven semi-randomly, there's a fair amount of subtle random modulation built into each element so the final track, while a live take was mostly a mix with only a few other controls.

All the cricket samples were CC0, I'll add attribution and links when I work out which ones I actually used. :)

Cooling the Heat - (naviarhaiku - 603)

slightly faint
yet clear
the milky way

DMT West Coast Suzanne Ciani patch with very liberal use of Waverley Instruments Quadelay

As always, were it not for the SpaceDog's Kennel, this dog would still be on the porch with nary a bark

slightly faint NaviarHaiku 606

Inspired by:

slightly faint
yet clear
the milky way

Naviar haiku challenge 606, details here: https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge

Everything was generated using Voltage Modular and a lot of effects. There are two randomly generated sequenced elements where the note information was converted to MIDI and sent from Voltage to a couple of instances of Dreamsynth then to further effects.

Faint But Clear - (Naviarhaiku - 606)

Winter waterfall
a rock untouched
by sunrise or sunset

very rudimentary ratcheting within a sequence - VM 900 modules within Voltage Modular passing through the Waverley Instruments Quadelay

Gratitude as always to SpaceDog's kennel for exploring, encouragement, and knowledge

winter waterfall NaviarHaiku607

The haiku that guided this;

Winter waterfall
a rock untouched
by sunrise or sunset
(Naviar haiku challenge 607, details here: https://www.naviarrecords.com/haiku-music-challenge ),

has an obvious staring point, "Winter Waterfall" the track has finished up quite experimental.


Waterfall = white noise.
So I started with a noise source in Voltage Modular and created an evolving sequence that processed the noise output through a spectral filter bank using two instances of the WC-96 Spectral Processor from DMT Audio. I then created a rhythmic element by feeding that output through an LFO controlled envelope, passing the output on to Quadelay from Waverley Instruments. 

With the noise elements in place I added some pulses using basic VM modules then moved on. Having used a couple of tweaked Dreamsynth presets last week i decided it was time to take3 the deep dive and learn how to patch Dreamsynth from scratch. Dreamsynth (https://cherryaudio.com/products/dreamsynth) is deep, almost modular. I made a patch for the chord sequence; yes I know it's a bit weird but I liked it in isolation while developing the DS patch so kept it all be it sequenced, converted to MIDI and passed out from VM. While experimenting I found that if I played in a low register I got a rumbly semi random texture so I split that off and tweaked it a bit to represent the rock, triggered by a separate sequence in VM. The final element is a drone layer made from DMT Audio's "West Coast" modules (Uncertainty and Harmonic Oscillator), left over from an early experiment and passed through a band pass filter modulated by reused control, voltages from the noise sequencing. 

With all the elements in place I made two changes before recording, I added a small amount of ShimmerVerb from Eventide to the chord sequence and replaced the pure white noise that I'd planned to use at the beginning with a sample of a real waterfall from freesound (Staying close to waterfall by trader_one -- https://freesound.org/s/670515/ -- License: Creative Commons 0), because I wanted a touch of gurgling water.

With everything in place; opening waterfall, mapped physical controls, multitrack recording and no real plan. I hit record and improvised, one take, longer ehan I'd expected.
I'll own up to doing a lot of mastering to make the dispirit elements gel but didn't add anything significant.      


Winter Waterfall - (naviarhaiku - 607)

I'm primarily a visual artist both 2D and 3D, for the last decade I've operated almost exclusively in the digital 3D realm.   since the late 80s I've made periodic forays into the sonic world, MIDI sequencing, minimalism, musique concrète, found sounds  and improvisation. I am seldom happy with anything and seldom consider a piece finished.

New tracks tagged #Voltage Modular