My first new piece of music for 10 months. This was started in the Summer of 2019 and then forgotten about, after I moved to a new computer, entered a very busy spell at work and then had an unpleasant lockdown or three. I rediscovered the music on my hard drive in March 2021, and decided to complete the piece. It's quite long, so you may want to get a coffee before listening.

Sophism

Refactor

My second track of 2021, the music is an unlikely combination of styles, and the mix is almost certainly even more outlandish. It's a speculation regarding the outcome when time and space are torn asunder. Consequences may vary. Alcohol may be inadvisable.

Riven

This track was written (and almost completed) in one day for the August 2021 Ambient Online Compilation: Volume 13, which contains over 5 hours of excellent ambient music, and is available from BandCamp at a price of your choosing. Now that's what I call value!

the only difference between the version here and that on the compilation will be in the mastering.

E tenebris oritur lux

Sol Rides the Celestial Elevator

Buy at Bandcamp

Sol Rides The Celestial Elevator

Here is the Seismic master of Flow - Mixed by Loz at Crimson Sun Audio. For a while, I wasn't sure how to approach this mastering job. I was over-complicating things both musically and in general. After 2 months of musical inactivity, I just decided to get on with it, and then started seeing things differently. And we know about variety and spice. I used a new toy on here.

2 Burning Bridges

Flow

Flow (2013 Crimson Sun Audio Mix - Mastered by Whatsisname)

I wrote this one in 2014. The 2021 remix was relatively minor, focussing on EQ, panning and volume modifications. This is a chilled-out, downtempo piece.

The original track may be found here:-

https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/ganymedes-inertia

Optic

Ganymede's Inertia

Ganymede's Inertia (2021 Remix/2021 TRackS5 Master)

I went back to my old DAW (EnergyXT2) for this ambient piece, because I wanted to use a particular 32-bit VSTi. This mix (with different mastering) features on Ambient Online Compilation: Volume 18, which contains almost 6 hours of excellent ambient music, and is available from BandCamp at a price of your choosing, which represents excellent value in these days of hyper-inflation.

Paramnesia

I put this track together in July 2022 during the alphatest of EXT64 (EnergyXT2 - 64bit). The music seems to be a throwback to the tracks I was making back in 2009/2010. Maybe it's because I was more focussed upon the actual DAW than usual when making this piece. Maybe it's because I was "homesick", and needed a break from my recent ambient compositions. Maybe.

Malignant Intelligence

This is an ambient piece, featuring delay and lots of reverb. It was probably influenced by a late-night B movie (whose name I am unable to recall) which featured people running through a booby-trapped forest at night (hence the irregular percussion).

This mix (with different mastering) features on Ambient Online Compilation: Volume 20, which contains over 5 hours of excellent ambient music, and is available from BandCamp at a price of your choosing, which represents excellent value in these days of hyper-inflation.

Edit:20221030 - I remixed it, dropping the level of the theremin-like synth by 2dB and mastered using the earlier project settings. The remix was done in a new version of MuLab.

Orders of Magnitude

Tripwires

I recorded this track over 2 or 3 months in late 2015, after the sad news that Edgar Froese had passed away. My favourite TD-era was the years spanning 1972 and 1982, so I set out to make a piece of music that might re-create some of the vibes of the classic '70s line-up featuring Franke, Froese and Baumann. I hope it was successful. This 2022 remaster should appear on an album sometime in 2023. I found a few high signal amplitudes in the original track, so I re-mastered this just to be sure.

The original track may be found here:-

https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/refraktor

Thanks to Petr Kratochvil for the excellent photo which I found on www.publicdomainpictures.net

Visitation

Refraktor

Refraktor (2022 TRackS5 Master)

I completed this piece of TD-inspired music in September 2022, but was busy with other music, and didn't get around to uploading until now. It's another Berlin-influenced piece of sequencing featuring some occasionally dissonant processed audio samples instead of mellotron emulations.

EDIT: 20230222 I remixed the track, making a few changes. I updated the EQ on the bassy Absynth that enters at 0:12 to deal with some resonances in the low-mids, I centred the low frequencies of the 2 Absynth bass synth patches, and updated the sequences of two of the Modular V2 synths, and added some more volume automation. I also reduced the frequency boosts in the mastering EQ relative to the original version.

Abstractor

I started putting this together in October 2022, and eventually completed it in March 2023, although I was working on quite a few other projects during that period.

This started out as an ambient composition, but it slowly morphed into a chillout or possibly New Age piece.

EDIT: 20230514 I have remixed the track, moving the unaffected "bell" synth towards the centre of the stereo field, and reduced its volume. The track was then mastered, using the original chain

Return to the Glass Cliff

Return To The Glass Cliff

This track was written in 2016 for the Ambient Online Compilation Volume 7, and I planned to release it sometime in 2020. As usual, things didn't go according to expectation. I hope that this will make it to a Whatsisname album in late Summer 2023. The track was my musical response to the scam and incompetency cultures which seem to be taking over everything recently, and reflects my disillusionment with this state of affairs.

The 2022 remix was concerned only with EQ/levelling and panning tweaks, and the mastering was performed using my "non-ambient" chain.

The original version may be found here:-

https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/disproportionate

Disproportionate

Disproportionate (2022 Remix/TRackS5 Master)

Here is a piece of chilled-out electronic rock that I put together in November 2022. I've been busy with a couple of album releases since then, so only just found the time to upload this one. I made use of the factory sounds that came with the Mangle for this piece.

Thanks to dagrimshaw on pixabay for the image

The Wringer

I originally put this track together in early 2017 as a Space/SciFi themed piece of music inspired by the painting of the same name by Daniel Abadie which appears in the artwork for this track. It is a hybrid Orchestral/Choral/Synthesizer driven piece of space ambient speculation featuring a sample I downloaded from NASA's SoundCloud page. This remix features a couple of synth substitutions, along with re-levelling, re-EQing and mastering.

Daniel may be contacted via his SoundCloud account - @hybridrums

The original mix of this track may be found here:-

https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/lenergie-concentree

L'Énergie Concentrée

L'Energie Concentree (2022 Remix/2022 TRackS5 Master)

This is a relatively minor remix of The Wringer. I have removed some sample repetitions, and slightly increased the volume of the drums.

Thanks to dagrimshaw on pixabay for the image

The earlier (2022) version of the track can be found here:-

https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/the-wringer

The Wringer (2023 Remix/2023 T-Racks5 Master)

This is originally from 2017. The 2022 remix consists of some EQ changes. It's a cinematic piece, which a Japanese listener was perceptive enough to describe as a "storm of silence". I liked that.

Sagarmatha

Sagarmatha (2022 remix/2022 T-RackS5 master)

Here is the 2022 remix of Tears in Rain. It consists of slight EQ and levelling adjustments, in preparation for an album release later this year.

Tears In Rain

Tears In Rain (2022 Remix/2022 T-Racks5 Master)

This is the 2022 re-master of Illuminate. you would be very hard-pressed to hear any difference between this and the original piece, although this is ever-so-slightly louder. This is going to appear on an album sometime in the next month or two.

The original track may be found here:-
https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/illuminate

Illuminate

Illuminate (2022 T-RackS5 Master)

This is the 2023 remix of Illuminate2, which features a minor EQ change to the LABS Choir part. I mastered it in T-Racks5, which consisted of slight EQ cuts to the high frequencies.

The original track may be found here:-

https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/illuminate2-tracks5twinkle

Illuminate, too

Illuminate, too (2023 Remix/2023 TRackS5 Master)

A song about a river, although my memory is possibly untrustworthy. I wrote and recorded it in January 2023, and mastered it in April. This track features on Ambient Online Compilation Volume 26, although the mastering will differ slightly from this version.

Stay awake

Ambient Online Compilation: Volume 26

Bathe at Your Own Risk

Bathe At Your Own Risk

This was originally put together between August and November 2019, and then forgotten about after moving to a new computer, having a very busy period at work and three lockdowns. I managed to complete it during March/April 2021. I remixed it in June 2022, adding a new synth part to the final section. I'm hoping this will be released in early 2024.

The original track can be found here:-

https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/refactor

Refactor (2022 Remix/2022 TRackS5 Master)

I wrote this one in June 2021. It was written after consideration of the relationship between time and space, how they might interact, and what could happen after acts of sabotage. I made a few EQ changes to the mix in June 2022, and mastered in T-Racks5

Riven (2022 Remix/2022 TRackS5 Master)

This track was put together for the Ambient Online Compilation: Volume 3 which contains over eight hours of high quality ambient tracks by various artists for the bargain price of $8.99 and also contains some rather excellent artwork. I put the basic track together in a day, lived with it for a week and then remixed it because I wasn't happy with the sonic balance. This version differs from the version on the compilation only in the mastering. I have used Nugen Audio's Stereoizer3 and my regular T-racks mastering setup here. 

EDIT:20140922 I have just uploaded yet another mix/master. I have releveled the mix, and remastered with no compressor/limiter, cut the low-mids and added a slight boost to the lows and highs via some EQ mods. The levels are slightly lower than my earlier upload (which was actually the third master I had produced for this track) but the Dynamic range is slightly higher.

EDIT:20140929 Yet another version uploaded. Re-leveled the mix again. Backed out some of the bass EQ boost from the master. I have managed to eliminate a click from the flute 'tron note-on caused by using incorrect audio driver!

Revenant

Beacons

Buy/Listen on Bandcamp

This is quite a minimal ambient piece that I put together in April 2023. It features an unconventional Reaktor drone, a couple of synth patches from TassMan4 and a Spitfire LABS flute creation, along with plenty of reverb.

Spot the sonic reference to David Lynch.

Edit: 20240120 - I remixed this yesterday, lowering the noise levels in two modules within one instance of TassMan4, then lowered the volume level and re-EQ'd that instance. I also changed the EQ on the LABS instance, and then remastered the track.

Extinguished

I wrote this piece of cinematica in 2022. It's quite a dark piece, with alternating moods - despair, hope, and further despair. The Absynth  sounds combined with the wavering M-Tron Pro strings give the piece an air of uncertainty. This features on my "Visitation" album

Celadon

Celadon (July 2022 remix/master)

I put most of this together at the end of 2020 as a "test" project for MuLab 8 after making the decision to move to a 64-bit DAW. Then I forgot about it until a couple of months ago when I found it in one of my old project directories. The music was 90% complete, so I revived the project and made a few musical changes in Mulab 9, mixed and mastered it. It's quite slow and more than a little gloomy.

Descent

A chilled, late-night vibe for this Deep/Tech House styled piece. Lots of different reverbs on here too.

Refrigerant

This was originally a demo track for SynthMasterV2 and featured on the KV331 website for about 18 months. this features 10 instances of SynthMasterv2 and took about 10 hours to record in 2009. The 2011 edit/remix/master took about 6 hours.

Re-upped 2012/01/29 after discovering distortion on original master. Cut EQ levels.

Citron EP

Citron

This track is my submission for the Ambient Online Compilation Volume 5. I put together the original track about a month ago using vocal samples recorded in Thailand but didn't want to take any copyright chances, so I replaced them with a string sound built in Audacity from a Z3ta+2 patch.

The mastering on here will differ from the released track. I have used a modified Twinkle chain for this.

This track is featured on the excellent Ambient Online Compilation Volume 5 which features 108 tracks from a veritable cornucopia of  artists, with a running time of almost 18 hours, and is available now for the unbelievably affordable price of $9.99. Please visit the Buy/Listen link above to hear the rest of this remarkable album 



Arcanum

Departure From The Heartlands

Buy/Listen at BandCamp

I was playing around with the presets in Arturia's ModularV2 when I had the idea to make this track. I've made 5 or 6 TD-influenced pieces in the last 5 or 6 years, but this is the first I have made since Edgar's sad passing last year. Of the tracks I have made, this is probably the closest to the spirit of the "classic" '70s lineup. I hope that somebody will find it moderately entertaining. 

Thanks to Petr Kratochvil for the excellent photo which I found on www.publicdomainpictures.net

I suppose "Dark Ambient" is about right for this piece of gloomy hopelessness. This track was either something I had been trying to write, or something that had been trying to escape for 3 years. Either way, it had to happen, eventually.  

This track is available on the latest (volume 6) of the always excellent compilations from Ambient Online. This volume features 114 tracks and a running order of over 18 hours. At only $9.99 this represents astounding value for money. 

The mastering on here probably differs slightly from the version on the compilation

Ventilator

This is the third piece of a quadrilogy (whose other parts are already complete). It's quite a depressing piece, soon to join its siblings on the first ever Whatsisname ambient release due in the very near future. This track was recorded quite quickly by my standards. The mixing was a little more tricky.

Faders

Et in Arcadia ego

Et In Arcadia Ego

An arpeggiator walks into a bar. It was reverb night.

Slow, sombre and atmospheric.

Somewhere a sun is rising.

Trying to reconcile love for old-school Prog-Rock with more modern approach to instrumentation and composition. Hopefully the results of this unlikely fusion will yield some level of success.

Great website, specialising in Eclectic reviews of ambient, psychedelic, post-rock, folk and progressive rock … http://makeyourowntaste.com

Collaborations with other musicians:

http://smp3030.bandcamp.com/

Other artists that you really ought to listen to............

http://www.soundcloud.com/happy-hooves
http://www.soundcloud.com/polyslax
http://soundcloud.com/2ndmouse
http://soundcloud.com/sonic_arts
http://soundcloud.com/s1gnsofl1fe
http://soundcloud.com/smp3030

whatsisname

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