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

The Only Sane One

Had a hard time knowing who to trust.
I starved myself of human touch.
Thought my soul was high above this.
I've had enough of being loveless.

I feel the lust. I feel the hum.
Of a thousand imaginary voices pleading me to cum.
I gotta be polite. Gotta do my best.
Spend a lifetime getting all their notes, fulfilling their requests.

Letting all the ghosts in. 
Playing host to a universal motion.
Hears the waves of the ecto-ocean 
Water lapping up your soul's devotion.
"Never gonna hurt her."
Whisper ghosts to reassure her.
"We're not gonna murder,
Our favourite public pervert."

Feeling like Scheherazade.
Another tale for a punitive demigod.
Living Necronomicon.
Staving off death by making up phenomena.
For the entertainment 
Of a brainless, hateful audience of satans. SATANS!
Make another statement.
You don't wanna end up in their basement.

Long time flipping for the freedom I seek.
We inherit the meek as the earth rejects.
Long time thinking your demeanour was weak
But submissive mystique is one that protects.
It's a feeling you get when you never regret
When they burn your neck with a cigarette.
It's a ziggurat. Where the temples at.
Now shut your fucking mouth and grab my ass.

Give me your possession. Obliterate my body as a true confession.
I am but a vessel for the machinations of your devils.

I'm never me at any second but my fate is ordained.
How can the voice of death beckon when no ego remains?
When you're everybody else I thought that I could be not I.
I'm not alive so I thought I could never really die.

Chemical dependence. 
I'm an animal serving her sentence.
Never think about descendants. 
It exacerbates existing tensions.
You can still eliminate
Egoless entities, making them assimilate. 
And the chemical will levitate.
It separates, forms a precipitate. 

Causality's hand is vicious.
Couldn't escape the incidental wishes.
Acidic hiss from caustic kisses
Of a cosmic stalker who reminisces
Of a back and forth, of a gentle business,
in the mental physics of an avatar.
It's an abattoir. Not your decisions
But the odd incisions of the butcher's art.

It's the butcher's heart. It's the comedy.
When they're taking it apart for economies. 
It's an honour common on the daughter's coffin.
Often primadonna's offer freedom on this. Thoughtless.

On and off in your subconscious.
Haunted housewife, softened convict.
On the outside, doubt you're dauntless
But in the interior, fear the process.

SAMPLES
1. You Boy, Carol Anderson, 7" Single (1972)
2. Eastside Verse Drums, Garageband Loop
3. He Was a Big Freak, Betty Davis, They Say I'm Different (1974)
4. Scheherazade, Rimsky-Korsakov, Detroit Symphony (2024)
5. Sweat Loaf, Butthole Surfers, Locust Abortion Technician (1987)
6. Something, The Beatles, Abbey Road (1969)
7. Halber Mensch, Einstürzende Neubauten, Halber Mensch (1985)

An improv track made with my dear friend Noah Rosa's instrument pack 

https://songathletics.com/products/gems

painting by me :)

fEBRUARY mELANCHOLY

“Greetings Sisters and Brothers...

Welcome back to the global entertainment franchise that is Birdscarer.

We return with a product of the sublime magick that is created by the alchemy of circumstance. Boy meets girl in an acid house (in this case Glasgow's Berkeley Suite), a collaboration is planned; and after a slgiht fermentation due to my procrastination and slackness, Scott Fraser and Louise Quinn's "Together More" is now in your trembling digits. Enjoy.

Andrew Weatherall. May 2019”

A: Together More (Original Mix)
B: Together More (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

(P) Bird Scarer Records 2019
(C) Bird Scarer Records 2019

Published by Cacophony

Scott Fraser ft Louise Quinn : Together More (original Mix)

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.

The Only Sane One

Zoë Blade

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