Nineties style distorted acidline, breakbeats, timestretched vocal, sine wave sub-bass, etc.  It's a lot smoother now, a lot smoother!

Flying High

Flying High (Acid Omen mix)

Optically reflected sound from the grooves of an 70 year old classical music 78rpm shellac record... 

Recorded over at least 10 grooves at a time using an analog optical sensor resulting in a bizarre ghostly droning effect.  The optical sensor was fixed to a surface some distance from the record to capture the modulated reflections.  It took a great deal of concentration to position the light source by hand at the correct angle to catch the inside of the groove and reflect it towards the light sensor whilst moving it slowly across the surface of the record!  To be honest, I was truly amazed it worked this well.

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2022.

Sound of Reflected Light From An Old 78 Record... (Optical Sound Experiment)

I came up with this test recording today whilst trying out my first set of four slides in the prototype optical analog waveform scanner.  It is quite hard to predict just how each slide will sound and its been quite good fun coming up with various shapes and patterns to produce various timbres, textures and effects from simple/musical to much more bizarre effects such as intermodulation (using patterns) and almost sync like effects.  In the process of exploring the slides I have come up with a beam scan method that increases the linearity of the optical response to the slide profile resulting in a softer, less pulse-wave laden waveforms.

What I am now convinced about is that Daphne would have quickly learnt that its much more effective to scan areas of limited width and Y-axis position / modulation.  The result is a remarkably fluid control of the timbre and how it modulates with time.   

Although there is a ton of reverb in this recording there is absolutely zero dynamic filtering - it is all due to modulating the Y-axis scan slit with a slow LFO so that the waveform is continuously changing over time.

The recording was made direclty from the optical scanner (not sampled) in two takes - one for the drone effect and one for the lead synth.

A rough description of how my analog recreation of Daphne's Optical Waveform Scanner works can be found in the playlist description.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2022.

Oramics Analog Optical Waveform Scanner Prototype: Morphed Slides...

Having successfully upgraded/modified the SFG-01 sound module in a 1984 Yamaha CX5M to SFG-05 specification I have been enjoying designing my first few sound patches and testing them as dual layers as I have to say I've rather fallen for this thing - its producing considerably warmer and more complex results than I was expecting for a sine-only 4 OP FM synth.  Push it hot through a transformer coupled DI box and it sounds lovely!

I have to say the difference between the non-velocity sensitive SFG-01 and the upgraded velocity sensitive SFG-05 is like night and day - FM is so very much more potent and emotive a form of synthesis with expressive control.

The CX5M is basically an MSX1 computer with a built in 4-OP sine-only FM sound module based on the YM2151 which is almost identical to the YM2164 4-OP FM sound chip found in the FB-01.

With a bit of experimentation and spending some time discovering these synth's sweet spots its really quite surprising what you can conjure up from both the CX5M and the FB-01 once you move beyond the rather cheesy original factory patches.   Its no real wonder there has been a rekindled interest in both synths in recent years.

Upgrading to SFG-05 spec allows the CX5M's sound module to be played via MIDI with velocity sensitivity as opposed to relying on a proprietary non-velocity keyboard that the SFG-01 required.

This is simply the CX5M recorded directly into reverb - any perceived chorus effects are the result of careful use of the LFOs in both the patch and dual layer programming.

Sound Design & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2022.

1984 Yamaha CX5M Mk II: New Layered Patches.. (UPDATED)

Warping time using FM encoded tape... source material was recorded at 240bpm using only keys from the top two octaves onto two (out of 7) tracks of a TEAC MR-30 Laboratory Analog Data Recorder at 38cm/sec. The FM encoded audio was then played back in layers of 9.5cm/sec and 19cm/sec both in forwards and reverse directions time stretching everything around it including reverb, delays and modulation effects. The result is quite magical – not least because the tape machine itself adds a load of mojo in terms of smearing/limiting/filtering/noise resulting in a sort of crusty sonic Sepia effect.

The MR-30 was originally intended as an Instrumentation Recorder to capture mainly slow DC signals (yes, it will record CV in parallel with audio!) and vibrations from transducers in laboratory experiments but it turns out the unit is capable of recording 7 tracks of audio concurrently well into the audio range (about 10KHz)and can playback and record at 6 different speeds from 1.2 to 38cm/sec. In max speed a C90 lasts less than 10 minutes!

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2023.

1983 TEAC MR-30: Morphed Temporality.. (Slo-Mo FM Encoded Tape)

as promised to those who pm'd me.

made approx 2006-07

Short Forgotten Produk  Trk Omc

as promised to people that pm'd me.
made approx 2006-07

feat Kawai K5m

2nd Neotek Test Trac Omc

unfinished, only track i didid on the matriarch.
vocal sound is actually a Onde Magnétique om1 cassette recording being spazzed with control voltages from the Cirklon  ***

matriarch test 3+Om1 Cass+909 edit1 F6 omc+1

I am June Neptune

hazy|crazy

I want HOT coffee

This interview was recorded live on air on our "Fax Records Special" on the 20th February 2000 and is part of a 3hr show. 



The Chillage Idiots interview Pete Namlook - 20th February 2000

Musician, writer, programmer. Analysis and synthesis.

Thank you to all my patrons! Special thanks to: Tony Ray Andrules, Christopher Astfalk, Evie Blackwell, Christopher, Lia Collins, Gigratu, William Hern, L, Chris Lilley, Tracy Martin, Mountainsnow, October Mermaid, Skibbityboo, Melvin Sowah, Elizabeth Wells.

Flying High (Acid Omen mix)

Zoë Blade

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