KVR Audio

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Thu Jan 05, 2017 12:51 am

Yeah, a live jam. I'm still in the learning phase and most of the parts are sequenced ahead of time, I'm just triggering the patterns from different sequencers.

Right now, I'm working with 4 or 5 different sequencers and I have to trigger patterns for each, individually. I'm trying to work out a way to have one master sequencer, from which I can change the patterns for all of the others. I can do that from Numerology but I also want to be able to do it when I'm not using a computer. That can be a bit tricky when some of the sequencers (AD's Sequencer 1, for example) don't speak MIDI.

I've taken a lot of inspiration from folks like Alessandro Courtini, how they make very interesting live performances with a minimal setup. I've also been floored by these youtube channels:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... KI5HHWLdEy
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9y4nr ... gzEn8bJxxA

It's amazing to me, how these guys can build evolving, interactive patches which are like songs in and of themselves.

elxsound · Post by **elxsound** » Thu Jan 05, 2017 1:13 am

Nice work and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next!

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:15 am

Thanks for listening. As for what comes next, well I just received my Make Noise 0-Coast and did a short video of my first patch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OumaJvFMqpk
http://soundcloud.com/justin3am/0-coast-first-patch

I plan to introduce the 0-Coast to my Shared System this weekend. Should be lots of fun!

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 1:09 am

Wonderful noises, and a fine piece of electronic grooviness. The percussion sounded great. It's a pity I missed the "underpants" edition, but I enjoyed the "I'm gonna hit something" moment at 1:30. This was a fun piece of music (and video) that I've managed to watch 4 times tonight.

Good work

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 2:16 am

Thanks for listening.

seismic1 wrote:...but I enjoyed the "I'm gonna hit something" moment at 1:30.

I want to incorporate more of this into my videos. I have a bunch of piezo mics and some stuff that sounds interesting when you hit it. I'm particularly fond of running a Remo Thundertube through granular delays for moody ambient washes.

I've been working on a technique using the Octatrack's pickup machines to record live mics for a set period of time (1-4 bars) and then rearrange slices of the result sample, on the fly. It sounds complex but the OT makes that kind of thing really easy. It's cool when it works but my timing has to be very good, which it rarely is.

VicDiesel · Post by **VicDiesel** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 2:31 pm

Very nice.

Just before the 5 minute mark I thought "Ok, that's enough" and then you start introducing unharmonic noises to keep my interest.

Very *very* nice.

Victor.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Mon Jan 09, 2017 5:26 pm

Thanks for listening! I think I could have gotten away with ending it at the 5min mark but it was tough to find a good place to cut. The jam was actually 10min long, I edited it down because I kinda lost direction. I think the best stuff happens in the first 5min.

aaron aardvark · Post by **aaron aardvark** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 4:18 am

justin3am,
Thank you for the reviews! Now your video: you definitely have some cool synth sounds happening there. I'm not sure all of them fit timing-wise, and it gets plenty busy at times. Overall it's a cool recording & impressive you did it live. Sound quality is quite good. It must take a great degree of patience developing a patch on a modular. Do you ever write down patch settings for a sound you really like, or it's too complicated? I guess I'll take the easy way (with patch memory too & factory presets) with Arturia Moog Modular-V, ARP2600V, u-he Zebra etc. If nothing else, a real modular certainly looks cool. I hear the Arturia Matrix Brute is the first hardware modular with patch memory that went into significant production. Multi-track version: surprisingly I like the audio quality a little better on the video, though otherwise it does sound more polished.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 5:37 am

Thanks for watching and listening!
I agree that it gets a bit busy in places. If I hadn't done the video, I probably would have done a bunch more cutting. I've come embrace a lot of flaws in my recordings. Wonky timing is generally part of what I do.

The mix from the video and what you hear on soundcloud are the same. I think the difference in sound is due to the encoding, both when I converted the video to MP4 and when I uploaded it. If you use the download option on SC, you'll get a wav file version.

About working with the modular... I don't often write down patches. Many patches won't even sound the same if I turn the synth off and on again. If something cool happens, I just record it. The way I use the modulars, they aren't just sound sources, they determine a large part of the structure of the piece. Modulation can shape how the track flows from part to the next and the sequencers don't just trigger notes, they determine what happens once a pattern has gotten to the end.

I do appreciate patch recall. I often use plug-ins and synths/effects with patch memory, it just depends on what I'm trying to accomplish.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 9:27 am

justin3am wrote:About working with the modular... I don't often write down patches. Many patches won't even sound the same if I turn the synth off and on again. If something cool happens, I just record it. The way I use the modulars, they aren't just sound sources, they determine a large part of the structure of the piece. Modulation can shape how the track flows from part to the next and the sequencers don't just trigger notes, they determine what happens once a pattern has gotten to the end.

Yeah, you have to collaborate with a modular.

layzer · Post by **layzer** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 10:31 am

it was like a bad nightmare about being stranded in the middle of the sahara desert without water OR a camel!
but the music playing in it was great! heh

nineofkings · Post by **nineofkings** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 11:02 am

Very into this! It's all been said; the percussion is excellent. Wild textures.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 7:36 pm

whyterabbyt wrote:Yeah, you have to collaborate with a modular.

Exactly! And it never wants to play MY songs!

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 7:38 pm

@Layzer, nineofkings: Thanks for listening!

3am - tell time (live modular synth performance w/ video)