Omnichord chasing bliss

Suzuki Omnichords are like little time capsules. 

I've thrown a few things at this one over the years, particularly my Roland Boutique synths.

Similarly, the 505 drum machine is like hearing a beige version of a more famous Roland.

Somehow they pair nicely here, which was obvious when I substituted Roland for a punchier Alessis drum machine.

The arrangement of pedals has been changing and I like the quirks that get added.

Another quirk here is the tenor guitar, which has been tuned like a ukulele but from a low A.

That idea arose from learning about Keith Richards!

Pedal bored

Nearly started cannbibalising this pedalboard

Then I noticed how neatly the cables fit the keyboard tray, and thought I should try something new.

So I plugged the omnichord into the MIDI box, where the drum machine had been.

That sounded better after I plugged in another drum machine, given it's a 505 it's not so much better but enough.

It's been fun looping with Habit, then adding cheese.
 

naviarhaiku522 – lightning

The haiku shared by Naviar Records arrived as I was challenging myself to record a song.

Part of my process was to limit the number of inputs to suit the six-channel mixer.

So I decided to put everything into a bread crate, which turned out great as you can poke leads out through the grate at the bottom.

The song was something I'd partly sketched earlier in the year and one of a number that I hope to realise with this collection of instruments and effects.

There's a Roland TR-707 on drums that I should use more often, as well as a Novation Mininova and Korg NTS-1 that were both also being neglected.

naviarhaiku520 – Winter sky

 

The haiku shared by Naviar prompted me to plug in my Moogs and play around.

They sound rich, so I find myself just grooving along and enjoying what follows.

I am hoping to get better at programming the sequencer, as the MIDI inputs don't trigger everything.

naviarhaiku512 – Endless echo

The haiku shared by Marco this week is one that he wrote.

It surprised me to see it echoed one I wrote recently, as well as his account of cleaning his mother's place as that's the subject of a story that I began writing recently.

So I took the opportunity to record a jam on Moogs.

naviarhaiku473 – sudden breeze

Disquiet Junto 0576 Casual Resolution

The Junto prompt this week felt like one of those moments when a significant other asks what you're thinking about it and your mind goes blank.

Does that happen to you?

As it happens I've been plugging in an effects chain that I like to use with guitar.

This seems to happen around this time every year and, when I go back over Junto projects, I can see I've used these effects at this time previously.

Some people relax over summer by putting together a jigsaw, I tighten bolts and move things between racks.

It's one of those cycles I can observe in my recordings, like switching between acoustic or electronic instruments or contact mics and synthesisers.

Anyway, usually I get an idea to change things and it inevitably stops working and I cannibalise bits during the year.

This year it stopped working very quickly because I tried a lot of things that didn't work.

I cursed myself a few times for breaking it before recording anything.

Then I realised the mixer was central to sound I wanted to hear, as well as which effects pedals were essential,

So now I've just recorded a short jam -- which starts to work best after a minute or so.

My resolution is to keep the gated guitar effects rig running all year, even if I end up putting synthesisers and contact mics through it.

Living room live set

Disquiet Junto 0568 Slumber Mill

 

The Junto project this week is to "Create a piece of music that begins with the hallmarks of a nightmare and then gradually transforms into a more positive piece through the use of piano chord C6/9."

You can see that I tried to use a bunch of things.

First I tried to program the chord into my Subharmonicon and then added a nightmarish quality with a drum machine circuit bent by Diabolical Devices, as well as my Atomosynth Mochika running through a bass synth pedal.

Then I attempted to play the chord on my Organelle through a variety of patches.

The title came from a weird dream I had last night, which involved trying to leave an unhappy musical therapy session and finding it was being held in a sprawling share house populated with hip younger people.

Tenori on with JX-08 and Volca Drum

naviarhaiku428 – end of rains

The haiku shared by Naviar Records seemed playful, so I've had a jam on my Roland Boutique sound modules.

naviarhaiku424 – sunset in snow

 

The haiku shared by Naviar Records this week prompted me to put on a red shirt to match all the red LEDs on my equipment.

My Omnichord is going through Roland's TR-06 and SH-101a, as well as Korg's Volca Keys and FM synth.

Then I saturated the stems and mixed them together.

naviarhaiku414 – grim wartime relics

This haiku shared by Naviar Records was reason to record my jam with the gated guitar rig.

naviarhaiku413 – Star-like, distant lights

 

Playing with EMF

We're surrounded by electromagnetic fields yet are rarely made aware of their existence.

The sound of lightsabers in the Star Wars movies famously used a cathode ray television hum, which sounds a bit like EMF recordings of fluorescent lights. I was reminded of this recently when I met an artist named Corrie who was inspired by these lights.

It reminded me that I'd read it's very simple to create a kind of microphone for recording EMFs by using a magnetic coil like the sort found in motors. It also reminded me that I'd saved a couple of these coils for this purpose and it was as easy as soldering a jack onto the red and black wires, leaving the white one that was for earthing.

The video above uses no processing other than adding the EMF recording to the left channel and leaving the right channel with the recording from the camera's mic.

Since making this recording earlier this week I've incorporated it into my Junto and Naviar projects. I'm looking forward to taking it for a walk down the main street of town and hearing how the EMFs sound, which is an idea promoted by Christina Kubisch.

Nashville tuning

That Naviar haiku track I recorded yesterday is possibly remarkable for the guitar for the wrong reasons but I wanted to record it to hear the 'Nashville' tuning.

If I remember right, it's the use of thinner-gauged strings to transpose the lower three. The EAD moves up an octave to kinda compete with the GBE. Each time you strum through a chord, you something more like a melody than steps up a scale.

It sounds really interesting too. When I play the 'Nashville' tuning I hear a lot of recorded guitar parts from soft rock tunes. I think it is meant to be good for recorded music as it clears lower frequencies without the need for EQ.

More gated guitar

Here's the gated guitar rig I've recorded this weekend and another take. Even though it was recorded immediately after the Naviarhaiku track and uses the same drum loop and BPM, it has a different feel.

Current set-up

This weekend I'm making acid, driving basslines from the Mochika and looping snippets of crunchy circuit bent beats from this diabolical Yamaha device. Enjoying it so much I might not get around to recording the Junto piece that's losing my attention.

Current set-up

Omnichord, Casio and Mochika into my Kaoss Pad

Hooked up my circuit bent omnichord and Casio with my Mochika and triggered samples recorded on the Kaoss Pad.

The audio is clipped, so turn down your speakers a bit. Below is a sketch of the set-up I did for the sketchbook diary I've been keeping this year. There's more of that on my other blog.