I’ve been interested in the idea of rapid publishing for a few years. I used to do that sort of thing when posting to forums, finish a track and share it with the community. Many of my older releases – Low End of Wide Open, Machines, Coma – were done in that piecemeal way. One of the reasons I stopped doing that was my focus moved to larger projects, and forums are isolated, tucked away corners of the web for the specifically minded. Hopefully, Soundcloud proves to be more inviting to a broader range of listeners.

Last night, I uploaded two tracks:

Mod one by SIGHUP

Mod two by SIGHUP

I believe the sound quality is better from Soundcloud’s site rather than through the embedded player if you want to make the jump. As it stands, I haven’t set these up for download. I likely will in the future, at least the one’s that pass muster during this prototyping stage.

The music that will be placed on Soundcloud will all be solo performances done on my shiny new modular synthesizer, similar to the approach I took on Held in Frame, although I’ll be a bit freer with post-processing, multitracking, etc. I’ve started recording tracks using only the modular primarily as way to learn how to play it. One of the things I love about a hardware modular synthesizer, especially in contrast to years of using software only, is that what sounds you make is less important than inventing ways of making them. The system I have is comprised of only a few modules, and each one can perform a whole variety of functions, so it’s invigorating working with the various trade-offs – i.e. if I use my envelope generator as an audio source, I’m now down one envelope and have to adjust the musical approach accordingly. I suppose in much the same way that the brain reroutes pathways after a stroke and the like. And I like that yanking a cable can itself be a musical act. I haven’t taken any photos of it, but through the miracle of the fantastic RackPlannner app, I have this mock-up:

I’ll be adding music there as I make it. Probably two more tracks will be added this weekend. On the first of these two tracks already posted, there’s clipping distortion in places, but I decided I liked the effect and kept it in. As always, I’m attracted to slow-moving music, full of minor noises and drones, so that’s mostly what folk can expect from these.

I’ll be collecting these patches and putting them up for anyone interested in picking them apart. There’s a dozen available now, more will be added as I make them.

Get them here: http://www.sighup.ca/mulch/

Pretty, isn’t it? You can click on the picture to see the full-sized screen shot. Now that you’ve seen the synth, you know most of the story, as interface is its reason for being. The only other necessary tidbits to understand the whole are that 1) you move the plant fronds to alter the sound, 2) each frond corresponds to a note in a twelve-tone octave, such that each note can make a different sound if you’d like, and 3) you can access a list of parameters to more conventionally change the sound if the plant fronds just aren’t cutting it for you. This instrument, which has a modestly interesting although mostly generic synthesis engine at its core, is less specifically about how it sounds (or how it makes sounds) and more specifically about how the user interacts with the synth engine. It even says so in the marketing blurb:

Did you ever wonder if the convention of imitating hardware in software is the final word on friendly user interfaces? Is it indisputably the most efficient, creative and inspiring way of interacting with a software synth? We asked ourselves these questions and we created Synplant.

They aren’t selling sounds, as most software synthesizers do, but rather an experience. I find it an interesting idea. There’s a suggestion in there that the future of sound synthesis isn’t in technique but rather interaction, although I can’t help but be cynical about it. Sure, people are bored with rows of knobs that are laid out to look like a Minimoog. I, for one, am happy to see a sea change toward fewer hardware metaphors in software. But, those interfaces have proven remarkably flexible and immediate, and it’ll require a good think on how best to move that interface forward to produce previously unattainable results.

The hyperbole surrounding Synplant I’ve seen so far on forums and in blog comments borders on religious. Synplant’s fronds are an excellent exercise in lateral thinking, in much the same way that Eno’s Oblique Strategies are, but that’s nothing especially new. It puts to mind the monome, which at its core is a set of programmable buttons and LEDs, and yet I’ve seen users speak of it as though it somehow redefines electronic musical instruments. Which, handy and well-designed as it is, it does not do. It is for all intents a tabula rasa upon which the user can project their identity. Apparently many users choose to project the image of the heroic iconoclast.

In these two examples, Synplant and monome, there is a narrative being told not about instruments but about the people who play them. There’s this thread in it in which folk are suggesting we’ve been blocked by our instruments, that the means in which we interact impedes inspiration and creativity and ultimately innovation. For this narrative to have any credibility though, we seemingly have to ignore that musical inspiration and creativity and innovation abounds most everywhere you look.

I’m not against new, innovative design in anyway, but I generally prefer actual newness and innovation to be present in these kinds of things rather than only superficially suggested. It’s like in the late ’90s when the lollipop-coloured iMac was suggested to have re-invented the personal computer when really all it did was outfit the room with new drapes. I’m all for new drapes from time to time, but new drapes do not make a new room. I think there’s a missed opportunity in the inclusion of the parameter list in Synplant, which feels to me like the hedging of bets by including the most conventional interface imaginable (a vertical list of parameters with horizontal sliders) as a back up in case twiddling a plant is too alienating. I think it should have been all about the plant twiddle and nothing else.

But in this need for new modes of interaction to enable inspiration, I’m mostly a perplexed outsider. For me the means to make music isn’t elusive. Sometimes I tap into it, other times I give in to a lethargic acceptance that I’ll have to tap into it another day. Effort and desire generally being the foundation upon which any useful results are made.

On a forum this morning in conversation about Synplant, one user suggested to me that there is a wall between the performer and the sound designer, to which I’ll have to take his word because I’ve seen no evidence of such a wall existing. I think many of those who seek inspiration by injecting novelty into their lives do so in avoidance of deeper, personal impediments to greatness, most commonly avoiding admitting that they simply might suck and maybe could stand to improve some.

None of this should be taken as a criticism of either Synplant or the monome, though. I like both, and I like that people are trying to innovate, I just hope that the innovation becomes substantive along the way, rather than remain mostly on the surface.

Tom at EFM (Electronics for Music–maker of synth DIY kits for a decade or so) has offered to do inexpensive short run pedal effects of varying types if enough folk show interest (at least five per pedal). So, broken record that I am, I put forth the idea of doing a stereo fuzz box. I’ve suggested a Roland Beebaa clone circuit without the boost (to simplify doubling the circuit for stereo), but that may not prove to be efficient for a stereo enclosure, and so might require an alternative circuit to be suggested. So far there’s three or four of us who have shown interest, and Tom has said he’d be game.

So if anyone happens by this blog and would really like to get in on a low cost stereo fuzz effect, now is the time to step up. Click here to go to the original thread at KVR.

Stereo fuzz in use

Now sure, the average punter might say “Stereo fuzz? WTF is the point of that?” but hear me out on this. I could net the same result with two regular fuzz pedals, but I have three reasons for wanting a self-contained stereo fuzz effect box: 1) fuzz on two channels, but runs on a single 9-volt power source; 2) I use two samplers that each have only stereo outputs, so a single stereo effects box is a lot tidier when used as an in-line effect; and 3) since what I use is a portable, modular, tabletop-based and mostly stereo set up, I’d like new things to match that description. It has always irked me that some effects just aren’t available as non-racked stereo effects, especially distortion. This actually fills out most of what I’ve been looking for in stereo effects, as I now have a delay, two filters, a compressor, a digital reverb and a spring reverb all in stereo (and a DSI Evolver, which, though I rarely use it, can be a stereo multi-effect). It’s a shame my Bugbrand Bugcrusher and Devi Ever Aenima aren’t stereo, but what can you do.

This fuzz is a clone of the Ampeg Scrambler circuit modified with a gain boost at the end. The Scrambler is a crazy sort of fuzz. When all settings are dimed, it has this ring mod/phase distortion-like effect that seems completely atypical of the guitar music being made at the time the pedal was first manufactured (late 60s, early 70s). Since nothing like a stereo fuzz actually exists on any manufacturer’s docket, I had this custom made by Brad at Creepy Fingers Effects. Brad does really nice work, this pedal is really solid and the guts are very tidy. One thing I like about it is that it has a reasonably low noise floor, so doesn’t add a lot of noise to the signal. I’d highly recommend anyone deal with Brad, really good guy. He’ll be making a mono version of this effect soon, called the Pink Elephant Fuzz.

Here’s what it looks like, in all its orange glory:

Since it’s a custom job, there are no markings on the face. I’ve considered marking the I/O jacks, but I think I’ve got their configuration memorized (it’s essentially two pedals in one box, so goes from right to left input #1, output #1, input #2, output#2). The outside knob on either side is that fuzz’s character control (from normal fuzz to the weirdo ring mod). The two inside knobs are shared controls between the two fuzzes (reason #4 for wanting a stereo effect box, shared parameter controls). Inside right is the output gain. Inside left is the wet/dry blend, which is one of the reasons I went with a Scrambler clone. I’d wanted a fuzz with wet/dry since I will often use this as an in-line effect, and the Scrambler works well with buffers. The flip switches turn each channel on and off. I opted for flip switches over standard pedal switches as they suit my way of working better.

Here are some examples of what it sounds like. I haven’t quite sussed what material I’ll tend to use with it, but I’ve varied the material here to give a reasonable idea of what the effect is like. To start, here’s a two-bar drum beat I put together, first dry, then run through various settings:

Stereo fuzz beat

These next two examples show the effect on more complex, tuneful material. In each case, the signal starts out dry, and then moves to various affected forms. I’m inclined to use this effect more subtly, with blend set only around 30%, since I’ve come to like how it sounds there, and the effect of different distortion settings on each channel makes for a nice stereo field:

Stereo fuzz tune

Stereo fuzz viola

This last one is a plain synth drone with the two effects run in serial, so I don’t have to use it as a stereo box if I don’t wish to and now have two Scrambler clones at the ready. This clip shows some of the waveshaping possibilities the Scrambler circuit offers:

Synthdrone serial fuzz

I’m pretty excited with how this turned out. I still can’t really understand why nothing like this exists on the market, sending me off in search of a bespoke solution instead. There are at least a few manufacturers of stereo analog effects for electronic musicians (Jomox, eowave, The Squarewave Parade), seems reasonable that there’s a boutique market for a range of distortion effects aimed at the same intended use.

Here’s an example of the range of effects you can achieve with fairly simple adjustments to a set configuration. You can see the settings I started from in the above picture.

Audio Damage Kombinat demo clip

This clip has first a dry recording of some skin drums, followed by four affected iterations. In each instance, the settings are exactly the same except for a few changes: it starts out set to multi mode with the input gain at 40%, then input gain is set to max, followed by the same iterations in serial mode.

With only a few minor adjustments, you can go from tame to destroyed quite easily. Which I think stands in nice contrast to its most obvious competitors, Izotope’s Trash and Ohm Force’s Ohmicide, neither of which are what I would describe as straightforward and simple to use (both have their merits, but personally I think they’re both too cluttered up with a lot of useless junk that obscures the good stuff).

I think folk are really going to like this one. It has a very responsive gain structure that has a nice effect on the sustain/gating of the distortion (much more like a proper fuzz pedal than most plugins). And it has a fantastic, heavy-handed one knob compressor thrown in for good measure. I’m really hoping we see a separate plugin of just the compressor with its parameters broken out.

One little site update, my webhost, Dreamhost, is in the midst of the slow process of restructuring the file servers this site uses. Sadly this means that my site’s going to be slow for a little while, so please bear with it.

It’s a BenFox Dual Tone Generator. The toggle is all silver instead of red on mine, but that’s essentially what it looks like. Click on the picture to go to the BenFox site. He’s a French effects pedal maker, who has a few little sound boxes on the side. It’s really just two oscillators with pitch control, voltage starve and a mixer. The circuit itself doesn’t look particularly complex, pretty much just a big old IC. I paid too much for it, I’m sure, but I’m comfortable with paying for good stupid fun once in a while. And this is good stupid fun and way cheaper than a Tenori-on.

The voltage starve sort of acts as fine tune for the oscillators, and at really low settings will break up, but isn’t a particularly significant effect. Much of this thing’s tone is governed by phasing from the oscillators. Here’s what it sounds like:

Benfox Dual Tone Generator

Not a particularly elaborate example, but you should get the idea. You can hear it dry at the start and then run through a pitchshifter pedal and digital delay, just for some context since I’m not likely to run it dry. It actually sounds really cool through my Smokey amp. Maybe one of these days I’ll take it out and busk the subway system with what must come close to being the smallest electronic performance rig in the world (I can use little bits of metal on the Smokey’s speaker for filters and effects, surprisingly cool results doing that).

Powersquid Surge Protectors

I’ll report back once it arrives on how it works out, although I foresee no problems. Too bad it didn’t have six connectors instead of just five, that would have covered most scenarios I’d throw at it for my live set up. But five will do under most circumstances. Right now I’m using a really big power bar that has two extra wide spaces for wall warts, but usually it’s still a little tight to get everything in.

It’s amazing to me just how hard it is to find stuff in any given category of hardware effect or processor that meets these three requirements. There are of course things here and there that do match my criteria , but then audio and build quality may not be up to snuff and there likely isn’t much in the way of alternatives.

The few people I discuss gear with regularly have been subjected to many rants by me over the years about this subject (including several in past blog entries), as it’s the one thing that drives me crazy about the music gear market. Sure it’s a selfish rant, since effects manufacturers mostly cater to guitarists (mono only) or DJs (RCA jacks and lots of blinking lights), and I fall outside of those two categories and somewhere in the “mostly insignificant niche” demographic. My hope is that if I and my few dedicated like-minded brethren talk about using portable outboard gear for electronic music on as many blogs and forums as possible, eventually we’ll convince enough laptop musicians to mix and match hardware with software so that we can build up a critical mass of demand. On a related tangent, go buy lots of Jomox effects, since both the M-Resonator and T-Resonator match my three criteria perfectly and they are really creative effects.

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with trying to find a compressor that is stereo, portable, offers at minimum a specific set of parameters (ratio, threshold, attack, release, output gain, and in a perfect world input gain/drive), and that has a bit of mojo. Closest thing I’ve found is a DBX MC6, which is now discontinued and I’ll likely have to subject myself to the great pains of eBay to get one. There’s also the FMR compressors (RNC and RNLA), but I’m dubious about the presence of mojo and I only really want a compressor in this case for extreme effects use. I suspect that the FMR boxes are best used as straightforward compressors. Now that I’ve pimped Jomox, I’m really hoping Jürgen makes a dynamics processor modelled on the Resonator series. The differential envelope follower he uses would be super cool in a little portable compressor/expander/distortion box.

I’ve mostly made do with what’s available to me, using RCA to TRS cables or mono effects sitting on a mono send buss (don’t get me started about portable full-stereo mixers), but in some case it’s a pain in the ass, especially if you want to effectively maintain a stereo field.