naviarhaiku436 – lightning thunder
My aim was to create a bassline that sounded like thunder and a rain-like synth part to go with scattered drums.
Disquiet Junto 0541 10BPM Techno
The Disquiet Junto project this week involves music at ten beats per minute.
When Marc tweeted he'd misread 10PM Show as 10BPM Show, I had an idea it'd be a Junto assignment.
We did one like this a while back and I discovered that Ableton Live only went down to 20 BPM.
It turns out my JX-08 also only goes down that far.
Sorry that it sounds a bit peak-y as I plugged it straight into my camera.
Anyway, since my internet has been off all afternoon and evening, I recorded my guess of the Junto assignment and missed making a slow techno tune with crowd noise.
Disquiet Junto 0540 5ive 4our
It took me a while to find my groove and I nearly didn't complete this project.
I've used a few of my Roland Boutiques and decided to use the SH-01A, although it's a bit noisy.
One night with Lucas Abela
And it was interesting to reflect on how the influence of his visits to the city continues to reverberate.
Disquiet Junto 0539 Control Breath
Since the Junto started being published before bedtime on Thursday, there's been Disquiet in my dreams.
This week the assignment is to "Let your slow breathing guide a piece of music" and my process involved a tale worthy of Dickens.
The Ghost of Juntos Past reminded me of project number 0219, where I'd remixed intimate breaths shared with my partner.
The Ghost of Juntos Present gave me opportunities to record today.
When I awoke I saw the gear I'd been playing yesterday, which was patched with the SE-02 take CV/gate from the TB-03.
My partner agreed to let me record her breath while I pleasured her and I thought it'd be fun to listen on repeat while I created the musical parts.
The TR-09 kept wanting to play a programmed riff, rather than the simple MIDI part to counter the TR-08 and the delay on the TR-06.
At the last minute I decided to play the laptop keyboard through the SE-02.
The Ghost of Juntos Future will likely arrive when I use the stems from the three takes for a remix.
Disquiet Junto 0538 Guided Decompression
naviarhaiku432 – Spring blossoms fading
Disquiet Junto 0537 Penitent Honk
Boutique freak
I'm late to the Boutique series of Roland's products, but have been fascinated.
The Boutique range always seemed like a reaction to the Aira series not being enough of a recreation of the classics.
Then one commentator I heard on Youtube recently explained that it required negotiating the company ethos of innovation.
Did the Roland circuit-modelling framework provide a way for the company to look backward while moving forward?
The consumer demand for Roland classics seems a direct result of the massive influence they’ve had in popular culture.
So, in a world where Roland heritage is being raided by many competitors, it’s interesting to see the balance between outdated and new possibilities when a Boutique iteration is released.
I developed my ABS (Acquisition of Boutique Synths) after buying a TR-06 drum machine, which caught my interest for the Autechre vibe and built-in effects.
In contrast, the TR-08 that arrived secondhand soon after seemed of offer less functionality than the original drum machine.
Synths weren’t initially appealing to me, but I tried the SH-01A and loved the Chemical Brothers sound.
As I started looking around and thinking about another, I became curious why the Juno synth has had two Boutique iterations: JU-06 and JU-06A.
It’s not uncommon for products to be refreshed within short timeframes, but it seems interesting that a recreation was relaunched rather than a new firmware.
It has a switch to move between Juno-60 and -106 sounds, with the former having a wonderfully gritty low-bitrate sound that is beautifully underwhelming at recreating brass instruments.
No wonder the Juno makes me think of Zelda soundtracks.
Anyway, maybe I don’t understand building synths but it does appear that Roland are 100% behind the “limited edition” wording in the Boutique marketing.
I hope they’ll look at the ridiculous prices being published alongside TR-09s and release a new version with built-in EQ sweep effects.
Another aspect that attracted my eye is the design.
When you put a bunch of Boutiques together, have a look at the Roland logo.
As a sometime graphic designer who works with corporate style guides, it seems curious how the placement and size of the logo varies.
Then, while you’re hooking up those Boutiques that you’ve assembled, have a look at how to access a basic function like assigning MIDI channel input.
There are a different series of buttons to press, depending on the Boutique module.
While some might protest that the original hardware mightn’t have had MIDI, it’s surprising how much this aspect of the architecture varies.
It’s like each Boutique has their own character, which is the sort of thing a parent says.
When the parent is named Roland, I hope they’ll start sleeping around and create more Boutiques.
The collaboration with Studio Electronics that gave birth to the SE-02 offered the only analog Boutique, so who knows what IVF treatment could provide for Roland fanboys like me.
I was stoked to see someone had developed a mock-up of a Boutique modelled on the TR-707 (with a switch for 727 sounds!) and hope that Roland will announce this product.Disquiet Junto 0535 Jigsaw Disjunction
The Disquiet Junto prompt this week gave me an idea to use the cut-up technique on the national anthem.
Since Marc has started scheduling the project details to appear online ahead of the email, I've spent more time pondering how to respond to the Junto activity.
Last night, when I read the Disquiet post, I started reworking a popular Queen song and then thought better of it.
In previous Juntos I've referenced the Cut-up technique and re-written the Australian national anthem, so it interested me to combine the two.
(Also, it provided a process I could represent in the video visually -- although I've another idea to process 'Happy Birthday' that I might try over the weekend.)
My oldest sings in the choir at school, so I knew he'd provide the material.
My partner joked that I might get arrested for butchering the national anthem and it's a contentious song for me anyway, since the second verse has been at odds with Australia's offshore detention policies this century.I think it was William S. Burroughs who thought the Cut-up technique revealed hidden meanings in text, and it seems to me the Australian national anthem has language which seems to infer the white Australia policies of earlier eras.
The result is unmusical and I tried singing the new arrangement to the existing melody, which improved it but seemed at odds with the Junto directions this week.
naviarhaiku429 – over the moon
Disquiet Junto 0534 Transition Capsule
Disquiet Junto 0533 Numbers Magik
Memory of Nofi
At Disquiet.com, Marc remembers Jeffrey Melton and it's interesting to me that this memory of Melton's passing arises as we re-approach the Trios Junto projects.
While 'communing with Nofi' in '13, I had the delightful experience of discovering a Junto participant had chosen to jam with my response.
Lee Rosevere's drumming alongside my bass was a rare thrill for a musician.
It was one of those moments where I heard my music elevated by someone more skilful.
So inspiring, even when I think back on it.
That was my first Junto Trio and, in hindsight, I can see it encourages that thing musicians need to do and is central to the Junto's objectives: listening to each other.
My other recollection from the 66th Junto is that I spent a while listening to Nofi’s recordings and appreciating the way Melton sampled.
Nofi’s jams often hung on a well-known riff, such as Michael Jackson’s 'Thriller', but he’d take a bar or so and build a scaffold around it.
The result was like a construction site, where you could see through the mesh hung on the fence and glimpse an outline of the landmark.
naviarhaiku427 – marbled dawn
Disquiet Junto 0532 Other Means
Naviarhaiku 426 – the long night
At first I considered recording the neighbourhood dogs that can be heard barking, as part of a response to the haiku shared by Naviar Records this week.
Disquiet Junto 0531 Noise Sculpt
naviarhaiku425 – Looking, not seeing
Disquiet Junto 0530 Minimally Viable Music
Disquiet Junto 0529 Squared Off
- Sunset [disquiet0506]
- Lettera [disquiet0483]
- Blossoms [disquiet0460]
- A (distant) neighbour might be a pianist [disquiet0437]
naviarhaiku424 – sunset in snow
naviarhaiku423 – scattering ginkgo leaves
I like the line "faint sound from the wind" and, because I live in a semi-industrial setting, those sounds often carry noises from industry.
So my recording brings those to the fore.
Disquiet Junto 0528 Landscape Architecture
naviarhaiku422 – the edge of the world
Disquiet Junto 0527 Magic Number (3 of 3)
naviarhaiku421 – White and white
It's been a busy year for these white butterflies, which seem to have crowded out all the other varieties that I've seen around my flowering mint.
I've used the chords from Shark With Lasers' piece for a recent Disquiet Junto.