Virtual Subotnick Vaz Modular Experiment

[emdot_ambient]

Virtubotnick

*Edit: Shamann guessed correctly, this was done in Vaz Modular*

I'm not adding this song to my artist's page because it's not really a successful composition. It was created as an experiment in FM synthesis using an older VSTi. It turned into more of a kind of physical modelling experiment, as I found I had inadvertantly created a kind of virtual zither sound (an antique out-of-tune one, but still). It also turned into an experiment in sequencer modulation and Morton Subotnick style randomness.

This is really abstract and random, yet I find it somehow compelling.

Anyway, more clues of what VSTi was used are at the auditorium link above.

You no longer need to be an auditorium member to download there, so go and do that thing.

P.S. Yes, I realize this isn't your kind of music!

[Scot Solida]

Can't guess what synth it is (it could one of many), but I will say that you have come quite close to the Subotnick sound. Might be a little too "ambient" in places, but the overall effect is very similar to The Wild Bull. I really like that sorta thing.

by "ambient", I mean the reverb, not the genre...

[emdot_ambient]

Can't guess what synth it is (it could one of many), but I will say that you have come quite close to the Subotnick sound. Might be a little too "ambient" in places, but the overall effect is very similar to The Wild Bull. I really like that sorta thing.

by "ambient", I mean the reverb, not the genre...

Yeah, you're correct about the reverb thing. Subotnick tended to run things really dry and I . . . well I'm a reverb junkie so I thought I exercised a fair restraint on this one!

[shamann]

Fun stuff. I'd love to hear a version with less reverb. Not without reverb, just a bit less. A little more roomy, a little less cavey.

Based on the description, the only synth that comes to mind is Vaz 2001/2010. It's the only one I can think of that fits all the points - VSTi, built-in sequencer, standalone with wav render, effects, multitimbral, FM (pitch modulation rather than phase).

[emdot_ambient]

Fun stuff. I'd love to hear a version with less reverb. Not without reverb, just a bit less. A little more roomy, a little less cavey.

Based on the description, the only synth that comes to mind is Vaz 2001/2010. It's the only one I can think of that fits all the points - VSTi, built-in sequencer, standalone with wav render, effects, multitimbral, FM (pitch modulation rather than phase).

Actually I'm not sure how much reverb was added outside the instrument itself. If it's in the instrument, then I'm not sure I could do a version without it . . . I think I've lost the original patches.

Anway, you're close on the instrument used, but that's not it

[shamann]

So I've the Vaz part right? I guess it must be modular, then, which was my first guess, but the description of the sequencer threw me, as sequencers can pretty much do anything in Vaz.

Also, didn't know you were a Vaz user.

[Wopelka]

leaded here by the menuet thread, i jump over a couple of centuries to come in another of my favorite playground: atonality, XXe experimental.

very cool indeed. i love it.

not successful composition? f**k! it has won a permanent place in my playlist, the bugger.

[emdot_ambient]

leaded here by the menuet thread, i jump over a couple of centuries to come in another of my favorite playground: atonality, XXe experimental.

very cool indeed. i love it.

not successful composition? f**k! it has won a permanent place in my playlist, the bugger.

He he! Just goes to show what I know, huh? Thanks for the compliment!

[annode]

Hmmm...I`ve gotten similar sounds using a prophet5/pro52,but not an fm synth.
Could it be the FM7 ?

[emdot_ambient]

So I've the Vaz part right? I guess it must be modular, then, which was my first guess, but the description of the sequencer threw me, as sequencers can pretty much do anything in Vaz.

Also, didn't know you were a Vaz user.

DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Yeah, it's VAZ Modular, but I think it's like v1.5.

The stupid thing is that VAZ Modular is on my old PC and I haven't gotten around to moving it to my DAW yet . . . nor have I updated it to the latest version. I got so worked up about getting all the latest stuff, I kind of forgot to pay attention to what I already have

VAZ Modular would just barely run on my old PC, and my old version of Cubase didn't support VSTi's. It could use some plug-in effects but not instruments. So I ended up doing everything I could in stand alone, rendering, and importing to Cubase.

Revisiting this makes me see the folly of my ways.

Note to self: Move VAZ Modular and upgrade at earliest convenience!

[emdot_ambient]

Hmmm...I`ve gotten similar sounds using a prophet5/pro52,but not an fm synth.
Could it be the FM7 ?

I've got FM7 now but didn't have that back when this was done.

I think I used 4 oscillators in Vaz Modular and was using a fairly convoluted FM modulation routing. It was one of those patches where I had an idea of what I wanted to do but somehow just could never get the results I wanted, so I put it on the back burner. Then when I came back to it after forgetting what my original intentions were, I realized that the results I was getting were interesting in their own right and just started reacting to the patch rather than trying to direct it somewhere specific.

The two FX I used in the patches that really define the sound of what's going on here, and actually added to some of the random patterning, were DFX's amazing Transverb, and PSP's tamer but equally impressive PianoVerb. The former helped warp the original FM sounds and introduce a bizarre tape almost random delay effect, while the latter instantly transformed a plucked string synth sound into a zither. I have some samples from an old 19th century out-of-tune and cheaply made zither that sound remarkably like some of the sounds in this piece. You can even here the sound of fingers running up and down the strings . . . or at least I hear them, I have a lot of flashbacks from college so it's hard to tell if what I hear is what's actually there

[shamann]

VAZ Modular would just barely run on my old PC, and my old version of Cubase didn't support VSTi's. It could use some plug-in effects but not instruments. So I ended up doing everything I could in stand alone, rendering, and importing to Cubase.

Revisiting this makes me see the folly of my ways.

Note to self: Move VAZ Modular and upgrade at earliest convenience!

Story of my life. Up until a month ago, I was using a P2 333Mhz with Win98 (which I've had since '98).

I wrote at least 30 songs with nothing but VAZMod (v2). I could comfortably get 5 channels running at the same time, but I could only record one channel at a time without disk stutters. For a long time, I was mixing tracks in an old, pre-DXi version of Cakewalk. Only in the last six months or so, I started to record all five channels at once in Audiomulch from VAZ in VST mode. Kind of wish I had thought to do that sooner, as Mulch has offline rendering.

You'll probably be very impressed with the updates since 1.5. V2 really was something else, and V3 has a lot of excellent new modules, especially new filters. Its new filters are my favourites out there.

[mystahr]

To me it sounds like a fantastic symphony; yeah a tad less reverb and perhaps tighter tails, but a very enjoyable tune.

[emdot_ambient]

To me it sounds like a fantastic symphony; yeah a tad less reverb and perhaps tighter tails, but a very enjoyable tune.

Hmm, looks like a revisit to the Cubase project is in order . . . not sure if I can really cut much on the verb, as I'm not sure I have the patches anymore but maybe I can do a little.

There's been enough positive feedback that I might go ahead and add this to my artist's page.

I'm really glad so many can get there heads around such an odd and unconventional piece.

Thanks for all the support!