Timefrog3 and drones

Timefrog is a totally surprising tool.
Turning the speed down in performance mode it creates long tones.
The frog controlles  a Yamaha mu90r soundmodul and a Yamaha FS1r synth.
On the mu90r the Vacuum Bass preset was used to get some low droning. Three voices of the preset rund in parallel. A slightly altered preset from the FS1r adds hights.

Here the setup and the presets...

and this is the drone...

the juanjo tapes - some remarks on producing a video track

For a video presenting fashion designer Juanjo Oliva from Madrid I had the pleasure to contribute the music. The video was produced by Carolina Melis (www.carolina@miokaro.com).

Carolina uses the pictures of photographer Regina Recht from Munich, who did a shooting with Junjo in Madrid for Silhouette Journal #75.

I´ve sent Carolina 4 tracks (TrafalgarStudio, MontseG., Nieves Alvares, ElCorteIngles) She choosed Trafalgar and Nieves. In the end we decided to  work with ElCorteIngles. I enriched ElCorteIngles for the video with  acousic guitar - for some spanish flavour- and some flutes coming form a Korg Kaossilator. But for the "Juanjo Tapes" I mixed a leaner version - stripped out the guitar and made the flutes appear only in the end.  Nieves Alvares is also enriched with sound from the Kaossilator.

This is the link to the video

https://www.facebook.com/100008316258793/videos/1584137821873411/

Some production notes of the music

My setup for the Juanjo video track:
- Yamaha Mu90r
- Yamaha FS1R
- Genoqs Nemo Sequencer

Diggin´deep into the Nemo was a essentialy for the composing process.

Alle the music for the video is based on the same basic structure.
4 pages of Nemo.
2 pages (8 tracks) in parallel for drum/percussion sounds
2 pages  connected in series for melody/synths.

The melodypart is 4 bars long: 2 bars A, 2 bars B
The drumpart is only 1 bar

I made extensive use of  so called step phrases. These are preprogrammed phrases of the Nemo which are triggered when a step is activated. Phrases can be rhythmical or tiny arpeggios. They can be randomized in some ways.

Step phrases can evolve over time and give the music a kind of a live played experience.

The more I worked with the Nemo the more randomisation can be heard in the music.
"Preparacion" for example sounds like a improvised piece for piano and drums. "Preparacion" suddenly happened when I turned the speed down to around 50 bpm.
"Licht" is a free floating tapestry of interwoven step sequences.

After the first 4 tracks for Carolina I´have worked with the Juanjo setup further on. The result was Licht, Preparacion, Aereoporto and Aeoroporto (depart).
And as said, all the music is build up on the same basic structure. Only voices and speed are changed, and tracks are muted.

Here is a kind of an album which resulted from the Junanjo project.


The Juanjo Tapes

new live program on the way

 I´m on the way to build up some new tracks for an hour live performance.
Will be performed only with the Kaoss-Twins.

As a short preview  here is one of  the tracks from the new show.  Recorded live with Kaossilator 3 pro+ and KaosPad 3 pro+.



Enjoy!!

in search of the final live setup - part 8

Reduce to the max.
I fell in love with the Korg Kaossilator 3 pro+ and a Kaosspad 3 pro+.
Perfect twins for live playing. But also for some serious tracks. "Post mortem" was done with this two boxes. Nothing else.




After some practising I made the decison that this couple would fit best for the October Ambiosonics live session.  That session was dedicated to Spheric Lounge, an ambient project in Munic from where Ambiosonics stems from.


For the most time I went with the flow of the improvised music. You can listen to that on Soundcloud: Spheric Lounge Session 109.

But then I´ve  liked to add some beat to the meditative musical stream. I choosed a very percussive bass preset (as  in "Post mortem") and played it by hand/finger. The opening seqence of this video shows me playing the bass on my minimalistic Kaoss twin setup.

Beats and percussions are against the rules of Spheric Lounge ambient sessions. The other musicians- long term Spheric Lounge members -  hated me for the disturbance. As a result the track was not included into the Soundcloud collection of this impressive night.

It was recorded but never released. But here it is...

ajiilaa


Good music, nice singing of Isabelle Künstler. And I broke the rules. Sorry for that.

Triangles Fetival 2014 or - in search for the final live setup - part 7

With AN200 and Kaoss Pad 3+  at Triangles Festival 2014 and  the story behind this setup...

Where/when do I play live? At the moment with Ambiosonics once a month in Munich.
I´m travelling by train from Vilshofen to Munich.
So my setup has to fit in a Thomann Producer back pack.

1) My fist setup was composed of a Flame echometer and  a Zoom streetbox. I´ve used a Zoom RFX 300 tabletop effectbox as a mixer. This was also my first appearence with Ambiosonics. I delivered mainly drumpattern to the mix. Listen to the tracks of Session 51

2) My second setup was Flame Six-in-a-row, Yamaha DX200, Alesis Metavox and the Zoom RFX 300 as mixer, wich didn´t work. Anyhow Session 52 was one of the greatest events.

3) Beside Ambiosonics, I´ve joined Sphericlounge for Session 107 with Echometer, Yamaha TG33, Jomox T-Resonator und a new Mackie Mixer. The Resonator spoiled the show. It is very uncontrollable and distorted the mix.

4) On Ambiosonics Session 55 I´ve used my smallest setup. Alesis Nanosynth, Six-in-a-Row, Eowave Filterbug, Alesis Ineko. A very nice session. Best parts where released on CD  "Around the Corner"!

5) On Session 57 just Florian Anwander and I played the night. For the first time, I´ve used a Yamaha AN200. The drumtracks of the Yamaha where controlled by the Echometer. Effects where Alesis Ineko and Alesis Bitrman. And a little Behringer Xenyx 502 mixer. Verxy nice set.

6) Session 58 was the AN 200 again. Now with two Alesis Inekos. The Xenix 502 did a good job.

7) There will be a festival in Munich on the 16th of August. I´ve decided to play with the AN200 and the KaossPad. And the little mixer. Try to use a microphone with the KaossPad.

Have a look:

in search for the final setup - part 3

Susanoon Synth - Picogenerator -  Korg Kaoss Pad

Susanoon Synth is a small analog synht box with an 8 step sequencer. It delivers the pulse for the picogenerator and some short melody. The pico is triggered by the Susanoon Synth and plays its own song which runs into the Kaospad, that adds granular dirt...

Listen to the sounds;

Picador.mp3
Picobello.mp3

Triwave Picogenerator

New kid on the block. Picogenerator. Highly discussed noise box. Some are underwhelmed by the Triwave machine. I think, it´s a great tool. Very subtle. A drone, a synth, an effect box for guitar or anything else. Can be triggered by a drummachine, by a modular via CV.
Will incorporate it in a live environment. .