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Modulisme Session 073

by 3 Year Itch Birthday Session v.1

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1.
Buchla 200 Synthesizer
2.
All sounds, textures and timbres are created in realtime using the THC Nested Vector Oscillator which is 4 joystick-controlled oscillators in Buchla format. I am only using sine waves. These 4 oscillators go into individual Buchla Lo Pass Gates which are controlled by the Buchla Quad Function Generator. This is the control center. The audio out of the Lo Pass Gates goes to a larger system for processing and mangling via the Spectral Processor and Time Domain Processor and a nexus of control voltage processors. Oh, and the Nested Vector oscillators are at times cross modulated depending on the joystick position. The first half of the piece is quite percussive and rhythmic. The Krell patch is always present in some parameters but somewhat masked until about half way through when it becomes quite apparent.
3.
The Ambient Ping is a series of performances in unusual spaces which has been running in Toronto since the early 2000's; this was one of the first. The space in question was C'est what? a resto-bar in Toronto's waterfront area. These were several performances in this venue, and the house sound tech was very good - hence the quality of the recording. By this time the new configuration of the ensemble had become very comfortable with each other, and the free flow of ideas is reflected in this recording.
4.
"Deviation One" is a soundtrack for the video installation by Hamburg-based artist Josephin Böttger which experiments with the geometry of the building surfaces of the Galerie der Gegenwart and addresses inner and outer structures of the contemporary and historical building in relation to spatial perception: rapid camera movements through rooms and corridors draw the eye into the interior. The façade seems to open up, is restructured by horizontal and vertical lines. Changing perspectives transform the pictorial space; inside and outside are reversed. The framing of the image is temporarily dissolved. The additional sound installation by Felix Kubin reinforces the spatial perception of the projections and at the same time works on an independent level. The sound of the room acoustics inside the building and the sounds of the surrounding city were digitally distorted and integrated into the composition. The result is a hybrid sound structure that resonates against and with the images.
5.
It’s now been 30+ years that Jack Dangers is an essential figure in modern Electronic music. At the end of the 80s, he originated Meat Beat Manifesto and started to create a universe and a new sound, made up of breaks, psychedelia strewn with samples, in an industrial, dub and hip hop fusion… Inhabiting San Francisco, Jack has played a central role in the explosion of genres such as big beat, trip hop, breakbeat and dubstep thru his solo works and playing his vintage synths…
6.
https://modulisme.info/session/9/
7.
« What I really like when I travel is to go to a place I haven’t visited yet, to feel lost. In a way It makes me feel comfortable, and helps to concentrate and develop my interest. That's what my modular synth does to me, unveiling the unknown. I start putting a few notes in the sequencer, and the journey begins, I build my patch, listen to the sounds, the texture, the rhythm I like, which I then chose to build or deconstruct. Here, the word « Chandeliers » popped up in my mind, it means a castle, a large medieval space… Which is where I am once such stage is set, I can play and enjoy the surprise. The recording serves to document my sound-journey. »
8.
This may be the craziest of all "Exercises" that were rescued. Now that I listen to it, I think I used a different trick. Albeit very simple, the RC-1 Looper has decent interfacing and I remember hooking a few on/off pedals to it. One of them worked as undo/redo of last overdub. So I would first record two mono track (a plit stereo), and then two more (in practice, an overdub). By using the pedal, I could switch two two additional lines in an out with my foot while playing the keyboard. As I can tell one hand was playing the melody and theother was banging on the Synthi case to shake the reverb spring. Drums are from the Synthi, too. I have a soft spot for that cheesy snare. It's funny but I'm not scared to use it every now and then.
9.
This piece is about obscuring time, dividing it to create streams and relationships between the voices and events that may not at first seem connected. As the piece unfolds pulses emerge, they only last a short time and then disappear or become obscured by the next one that seems to take precedence. The unheard underlying pulse stream holds the piece together despite being obscured by the many layers of division. Technically the patch uses multiple divisions of a fast clock almost at audio rate for its’ overall micro and macro timing source. The harmonic content is produced and controlled by a changing mix of oscillators shaped by the TWS (triple wave shaper). The TWS was modulated in various ways while the index was being manually controlled in realtime. Mixing the levels of the oscillator bank and its’ routing was also manually controlled via a matrix mixer. The audio stream was divided and processed in parallel with the WAD, FS and a filter set and dynamically controlled, allowing a secondary dimension of timbre and space to the various sound objects. The piece was recorded in 3 passes: the bed tremolo and sustains, the rhythmic agitations and then finally the brief melodic gestures.
10.
This Shell Instead is a snapshot of work based on tempo rubato/semi-random-clocked notes. Regarding the modulars as fellow musicians rather than passive instruments. The sound sources as well as the clock are Serge slope generators. They steal the time. They are sitting, eating by the ocean. Sometimes forced to move because of tide but returns. Looking for something in this shell, no this shell instead. https://modulisme.info/session/21
11.
On this recording UnicaZürn used: EMS Synthi AKS, Korg MS20, Roland System 100, ARP Solina String Ensemble, Mellotron, Yamaha SK20 and Nord Lead. UnicaZürn combine the talents of Stephen Thrower on keyboards and reeds, and David Knight on guitar and keyboards. Together, they have released five critically acclaimed albums, featuring expansive instrumental pieces that can clock in at anything between eight and thirty minutes. Their sound is birthed in improvisation, then edited, reconfigured and polished to an obsidian gleam. ‘The Innermost Chamber Leads To The Sky’ is taken from an improvisation originally recorded by the duo in Knight’s home in Battersea, London in 2012. UnicaZürn have a large archive of recordings which are remade/remodelled and embellished (sometimes decades) later. Much of the synth work on the second half of this track was added by Thrower at his studio on the South Coast of England in August 2022. An audio equivalent of a Schwitters Merzbau, much of this work process is a slow-burn spanning decades, but in doing so, creates a unique timelessness.
12.
Le Grand dehors (Outward Bound) is a concept by the philosopher Quentin Meillassoux that defines the objects beyond human access. It was defined in an essay, Après la finitude (After Finitude), that I read a few years ago while I was listening a lot to Eliane Radigue’s music. All of that made sense to me, there was something in her music that plays with barely noticeable variations and felt like a window to a thing-in-itself. This piece is a step in my research for electronic contingency. It was composed on a Buchla 200 system, with the help of a ContinuuMini for a discrete drone, but I don’t consider the Buchla as an instrument (something meant to do something). My goal is to become the instrument, the hands that can activate the secret and discrete magic hidden behind the human fascination for a fancy and mythical instrument.
13.

about

Let's celebrate our birthday : 3 years of activity !
Thus this gathering is broken down into six volumes, each being about 2 hours long, and an opportunity to invite back some familiar faces but also to introduce some who wouldn't make a full session but whose approach I like.
Here's part 1, please stay tuned...

P.S.: As always you’ll see pictures and may read some valuable infos when visiting our platform:

modulisme.info/session/73

credits

released October 21, 2022

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Modulisme Marseille, France

Modulisme (translates Modularism) is a media supporting leftfield Electronic music (giving priority to Modular Synthesis but not only). Providing ressources/interviews, a radio program aired via 7 antennas, and above all label-like streaming music for you to listen to… ... more

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