Kommand + Kontrol – It Hz
Kommand + Kontrol’s brand new EP “It Hz”!! Available as download & limited digipak CD from 17 November 2012.
The tracks will soon be available via CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon etc, but initially from Bandcamp & directly from the band.
http://kommandkontrol.bandcamp.com/al…
Backing video created by Steve Nine (Hi Def version to be uploaded shortly)
Twelve Tones – an introduction
This video is a nice introduction to dodecaphonic music theory
Twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition devised by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951). The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another in a piece of music while preventing the emphasis of any one note through the use of tone rows, an ordering of the 12 pitches. All 12 notes are thus given more or less equal importance, and the music avoids being in a key. The technique was influential on composers in the mid-20th century.
Schoenberg himself described the system as a “Method of Composing with Twelve Tones Which are Related Only with One Another”. However, the common English usage is to describe the method as a form of serialism.
Schoenberg’s countryman and contemporary Josef Matthias Hauer also developed a similar system using unordered hexachords or tropes—but with no connection to Schoenberg’s twelve-tone technique. Other composers have created systematic use of the chromatic scale, but Schoenberg’s method is considered to be historically and aesthetically most significant.
Capacitive Paint Touch Controller
Using Bare Conductive paint and Arduino as a musical interface for my modular synthesizer.
I have been playing with Bare Conductive paint since it came out a little more than a year ago. It’s great stuff – a heavy acrylic paint that can be used as a resistor, touch sensor, paintable wire – and I keep coming up with new uses for it. This idea stemmed from wanting to utilize my modular synth in more of an installation setting than a performance music setting.
I think of this as a sort of “sonic self-portrait.” Two 10″x10″ canvases painted yellow with my hand prints painted in conductive paint. A small piece of copper tape is attached to the back of each canvas and connected to Arduino. Code on the Arduino turns the canvases into capacitive sensors and sends two channels of 0-5V PWM voltage out through RC filters into the modular synthesizer. In short: touch the painting, send modulations to the synthesizer.
The Arduino sketch uses Paul Badger‘s CapSense library. I had to use an older build of the Arduino programmer (alpha 22) in order to get the library working. You can find the most recent version of the code here: GitHub. Circuit and patch descriptions below the audio.
Project information here: jimmymhughes.com/capacitive-paint-controller/
Extended audio here: soundcloud.com/soundelectronics/capacitive-painting-controller
Experimental music: Smomid – String MIDI device
This is a quick demonstration of what Nick has been doing with his Smomid project:
In this video he’s playing his latest Smomid (String Modeling Midi Device) which is about a year old and two of his pyramid interfaces which are in the background and mostly just used as light boxes that interact with what he’s playing. He’s currently working on some other interfaces as well.
Here is a web page dedicated to this project with more info, music and videos:
http://www.nickdemopoulos.com/smomid….
Creating music with Moog Rogue, Roland Alpha Juno 2, and Doepfer A-100 synths
Background video description:
This is a two step sequence using the ef303.
I am using the doepfer quantizer, the clock sequencer and two envelopes on the filter (adsr and ar) to make it come allive.The ar generator is triggerd by the clocksequencer and the adsr is triggerd by the ef303.
And i also use some delay .
And i jam along on the rouge and juno.
A new exploration of the John Bowen Solaris synth – Demo
Here is the second demo of the Solaris synth by John Bowen (www.johnbowen.com). Everything is played live using the keyboard, mod wheel, pitchbend and joystick.
At the recent Musikmesse in Frankfurt, John was asked how the Solaris was conceived. He told us, “When I was at Korg, we were working on the software for the original OASYS card and I noticed that Creamware were essentially doing the same thing. I saw the virtual Minimoog come out on Scope and went to try a system in Canada, and when I realised that Korg was probably not going to continue with our little group, I jumped ship. After a year with Creamware and some consultancy work elsewhere, I decided to go it alone and see whether I could make it writing plug‑ins for the Scope platform. My first plug‑in had been called the Orion and, because people kept asking me to add things, it just grew and grew until, around the fourth iteration, I went bonkers and added lots of new stuff and then realised that it wasn’t the same product any more. So I gave it a new name and the Solaris plug‑in was born. I thought it wouldn’t be too shabby as a hardware instrument, and since the ex‑Creamware guys and I had remained friends and said that someday we would do something together, we decided to develop what is now the Solaris keyboard. By this time, the plug‑in had grown to over 1200 parameters, so I had to figure out a way to translate its user interface into a physical control panel. I had wanted to try multiple displays on a hardware synth for some time, and at first we were thinking of the Solaris as something with a small keyboard, but when I mocked things up to fit the available width, the front panel looked too ‘deep’. Arranging everything across a wider keyboard, it became clear that this was how the Solaris needed to be.”
Alternatives to Solaris:
One alternative to the Solaris is the Arturia Origin, which also offers vintage synth emulations and complex modulation capabilities in a flexible architecture. Indeed, the Origin is in some ways even more flexible than the Solaris because it is truly modular, in the sense that you can create whole new architectures by choosing the number and type of modules used. Another alternative is the Access Virus TI Keyboard, a synthesizer powerhouse that offers fewer programming options but a huge number of voices, a vast number of effects, and a 16‑part multi mode with dedicated effects per part.
In relation to the video:
For better audio quality go to SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/insanic4/solari…
In the studio with Analog Four, Waldorf Rocket, and NI Maschine
Khantipol Kasemsant has shared this video from his studio, details below:
Curious (with Analog Four, Waldorf Rocket, NI Maschine)
The Octatrack was used as an effect processor for Waldorf Rocket.
Midi was sequenced with Ableton Live 9
ChipBeat “POLYGUN” (preview) // KORG Poly800 & Novation Drumstation Demo track
ChipBeat “POLYGUN” (preview) // KORG Poly-800 & Novation Drumstation Demo track
(Trier Juni 2013)
Vermona Mono Lancet Audio Demonstration
This was a set of recordings done entirely on the Vermona Mono Lancet analog mono synthesizer. All the sounds you hear were generated on the Mono Lancet save for the 707 kick and snare on the very first clip. This was recorded as part of a review for DV 24/7 Magazine in London, England in 2011. I used a Fireface 400 firewire interface and Logic Audio for this recording.
The reasoning for using multitracking and effects processing was to show real-world applications of an analog monophonic synthesizer. The Vermona Mono Lancet, due to its discrete design, provided a rich sound palette that could easily be tamed with minor compression and equalization.
For more info about this:
Digital Available at:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/inh…
Vinyl Available at:
http://www.darkentriesrecords.com/sto…
Electronic music: New videos from Thyx and Ruined Conflict
THYX Store: http://thyxmusic.com/store/en/home/77…
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bel…
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ships-to-War/dp…
This is a video I created for the song “Ships to War”, by THYX (Stefan Poiss of Mind.in.a.box) using lyrics I wrote. The video is made using trailer and intro footage from the game EVE Online. I do not claim any rights to the footage, as it is the property of CCP Games. http://www.youtube.com/user/CCPGAMES . Also, thanks to Stefan for his great work on the animated text he created for the end credits.
The song is not on the subject of the game itself. I used footage from EVE simply because the setting and atmosphere seemed perfect for the idea.
New music video from album A.R.M.O.R. Now available on all music portals
http://ruinedconflict.bandcamp.com/al…
http://www.amazon.com/A-R-M-O-R/dp/B0…
DATAMASKIN
