Harmonic Ratio Arpeggiator

I’ve gone on another microtonal trip lately, and have been working with ratios again.  The thing about composing music with frequency ratios is that it places you in a brave new world where each interval is made up of TWO numbers instead of one (as in the traditional system, a fourth, third, fifth, etc).  There are also all kinds of undiscovered tones and frequencies and relationships.  There has to be a way to explore all this!

 

picture of the GUI for the reaktor arpeggiator

picture of the GUI for the reaktor arpeggiator

 

For those of you that aren’t hopeless music nerds like myself, a frequency ratio is just a relationship between frequencies.  It is also the language of a tuning system called “just intonation.”  A basic example:  In the key of A, with the root frequency being 440 hertz, the A in the next higher octave is related to the original note a440 by a frequency ratio of 2/1, and is 880 hz.  A major third is the ratio 5/4, or 550 hertz.  Instead of the normal 12 steps per octave of Equal temperament, there is an infinite gradation of frequencies that you can manipulate to your heart’s content.  

 

With all that freedom comes massive confusion.  I have been trying to come up with some systems for composing with these numbers.  The first most obvious idea would be to just make a fixed scale, choose a few notes, and play with that.  That is fun!  But, it doesn’t take advantage of all the flexibility that working with just intonation truly gives you.  Instead of just choosing 7 or 12 or 10 notes, you can start with a set of 5 notes, and make them mutate and evolve into an infinity of other frequencies, but all logically related by numerical relationships!

 

This is my first system for making melodies and chords in just intonation: a harmonic arpeggiator.  There are two different tables containing numbers for the numerator and denominator, and these tables can be moved through independently, at different speeds.  Midi input triggers notes, but only the time and octave of the input notes is taken, and the rest is controlled by the ratio sequencers.

 

I have implemented this system in both my Nord g2 modular and in Reaktor, so I can make them work together.  

 

Here is a simple melodic sort of track I did with the g2 patch:

Mp3 Audio of “Hydrogen”

 

Here is the Reaktor patch:

Reaktor Harmonic Arpeggiator

 

Here are a couple g2 patches:

G2 Harmonic Arpeggiator with Karpluss Synthesis

 

I will be coming up with more stuff soon!  I want to make some programs that allow you to dynamically change the scale as you play.  Not sure how easy that will be to do in the g2, but I’ll definitely be able to do it in reaktor.

 

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Golden Master, February 8th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Audio And Synthesis, Nord G2 Modular, microtonal, reaktor, software, tracks

anise starscape

Today I picked up a bottle of Pernod at the liquor store.  I’ve been planning on cooking up some mussels with some pernod, fennel, tarragon, and other stuff after eating some amazing mussels at a local Seattle restaurant, “Matt’s in the Market.”  I poured myself a couple glasses of the stuff and got to work on a big crusty ambient groove.

anise

You can hear the track here:

anise Starscape

The track is fairly simple, really just an analog synth (roland mks-70) and some drums (from the g2 modular) run through a big stack of effects.  I’ve been experimenting with the G2’s effects processing abilities, and I’ve been very impressed thus far.  Enjoy!

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Golden Master, January 27th 2010 | Posted in Nord G2 Modular, tracks

The Mother Lode

I put this blog up, for the most part, to get people interested in my music.  In general, there is a lot of technical ramblings and audio experiments, as well as synthesis-related stuff on here, and postings about various gear that I use.  I wanted to make a post with just a few more finished-sounding tracks, as differentiated from all the different experiments and random tracks that I’ve uploaded throughout the posts on this blog.

Mother Lode!

Mother Lode!

There’s quite a few good tracks hidden in the blog posts here, and if you click on the category “tracks” to the right, you can sort through only the blog posts where i’ve posted MP3’s of tracks.  But here’s a few other ones, that, for the most part, I haven’t posted here!  There is also a couple repeats, just because I am fond of some of them :).

Here’s a few tracks, showing some of the different kinds of stuff I do.

Among some, I am known for my drones. Here’s one called “Vico Drone” that I did lately.  I have a full length album of drones that I need to find a place to release.  This isn’t on there, though.

Vico Drone

 

I like some classic techno/electronica kinds of sounds.  Here’s a track along those lines.

Aluminum

 

I love ethnic music from all different cultures.  I did an EP that dissapeared into the vapors of the internets, dedicated to some of my favorite music.  Here’s one called “ricemutt visits the monks.”  Don’t ask me to explain the title!!  This track features some of my more “droney” stuff.

Ricemutt Visits the Monks

 

I write ambient music of all shapes sizes, colors, and smells.  Here is just one track from that genre that I wrote.

Mercurian Reef

 

Another homage to music from other cultures… this one samples sounds from malaysian and balinese music.  I called it “bells and sumatra.”  I particularly like this one.

Bells and Sumatra

 

Belonging to a genre that can perhaps only be described as “sci fi synth jams,” is this track, “TX Night.”

TX night

 

Anyway, enjoy the tracks!  Let me know what you think in the comments if you enjoyed them.  And if you want to use them, they are free to use for noncommercial purposes as long as you let me know, and give me credit.

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Golden Master, January 25th 2010 | Posted in tracks

ZymoGenetics!!

zymo

Last year, my friend John Farrell and I did a project for display at my friend’s gallery.  it was a small installation with a video playing on a small old tv, running this video:

There is also a higher quality DIVX version here:

 zymoBoxRender2.divx

If you prefer just the audio of the track, you can hear it here:

ZymoGenetics Mp3 audio

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Golden Master, January 25th 2010 | Posted in tracks

Reaktor: Golden Loop Sampler

As promised, here is another Reaktor ensemble.  I have been needing a good tool for working with drum loops, and didn’t really have anything that fit into my setup right.  So I just made a sample chopper.  There are some good slicers in the library, but, as usual, I wanted something that fit my needs.  

 

This slicer cuts your loop into equal divisions and then plays back those divisions with midi notes.  Each slice can be randomized in pitch, playback speed, and sample offset, and the probability of randomization can be set, too.  That’s pretty much it!

 

 Sampler GUI

 

Here are some quick MP3 demos I did of the slicer:

demo 1

demo 2

 

Here is the Ensemble:

Golden Slicer

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Golden Master, January 24th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in reaktor, software

Golden Reaktor Grain Sampler!

I haven’t really posted any reaktor patches on this blog.  I have quite a few Reaktor patches that I’ve made that i’m pretty proud of, however!  So, I’m going to try and start parting them out and bringing them here for people.  I try to comment them so they make sense, but you know–these patches were designed for my idiosyncratic way of working.

 

Snapshot of the GUI of the sampler.

Snapshot of the GUI of the sampler.

The GoldenCloudSampler .ens file is here.

This sampler was designed to work with my way of thinking about granulation and sampling.  There is a comprehensive modulation section where you can use clock-synced sequencers as well as LFO’s and envelopes to control the grain, filter, pitch, and volume parameters.  The start time in the sample, and speed of the traversal through the sample, are also randomizable upon midi note input.

There is also a sequencer which lets you flip through the various samples loaded into the sample map, synced to tempo.  I like to use groups of similar-sounding samples, and flip through them, to add a constantly evolving feel.  

Enough of that technical mumbo jumbo!   here are a couple tracks that i’ve written, using this sampler.

“Sun Choke” Mp3 audio.  This track’s sound is all from reaktor, and everything but the drums is from this sampler patch.

“whiteFish” Mp3 audio.  This track’s sampling work is a blend of samples from a shakuhachi, and a persian santur.  Other sounds were added from my synthesizers as well.  The String-like granulated sound that comes in after the introduction, and gets loudest about halfway through the track, is from this sampler.  The flute sounds were produced by another sampler instrument I made, which i’ll post up here soon as well.

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Golden Master, January 19th 2010 | Tags: , ,
Posted in Audio And Synthesis, reaktor, software, tracks

g2 Granular Synthesis update

I made a new and improved granular patch for the G2, based on the one I posted here earlier.  This one gives you two streams of grains per-keyboard note: one of bandpass filtered noise, and one of FM synthesis grains, that you can cross-fade between with the control pedal input on the G2.  The speed of the grains is controlled with the mod wheel, and many other controls are mapped to the front panel knobs.  I like how it turned out!  You can also hear this patch being used in the bagger288 track in my previous blog.

 

mm, grains, tasty

mm, grains, tasty

Here is a track where I get some sounds with this new patch:

Strange Grains MP3 audio

here is the g2 patch:

DoubleGrain

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Golden Master, December 31st 2009 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in Audio And Synthesis, Nord G2 Modular, tracks

Bagger288… alive for 2010!

I am also involved with a noise-improvisation group called bagger288.  We’ve been dormant for a little while, and also have been trying to transition into being more of a multimedia collective rather than just a noise band.  But we are keeping the audio alive and did a great improvisation lately.  You can see the bagger288 website here at www.bagger288.com.

 

our setup for this last jam

our setup for this last jam

Here is an mp3 of the jam we did.  Expect this track on an upcoming release with handmade CD artwork, as well as some other fresh tracks!

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Golden Master, December 30th 2009 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in News, tracks

G2 Patch: Golden Drums Sequencer

One of the things I was most excited about getting this G2 modular Keyboard for, was the great interface for live performance and sequencing.  Before I got it, I didn’t even realize that it had such great built-in step sequencing features!  Lacking a good drum machine (honestly, I think the only drum machine worth having out there is the ridiculously expensive $1500+ Elektron Machinedrum), I decided to make the g2 into a groovebox.

goldenDrum

Anyhow, here is an MP3 demo.  All the sounds and sequences in this demo were edited from the keyboard interface, without using the computer.

Golden Drums mp3 demo

Here is the g2 patch:

Golden Drums Sequencer G2 Modular Patch

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Golden Master, December 28th 2009 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Audio And Synthesis, Nord G2 Modular

Lost in Japan

Just a quick jam I did with the g2 (drums), reaktor (for sampling), and my MKS-70 (synthesis).

ri-man

Mp3 audio for “Lost in Japan”

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Golden Master, December 26th 2009 | Posted in Nord G2 Modular, reaktor, tracks
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