For your patience y’all get two posts in one day. Exciting, eh? This is the one where I talk about music and music gear.
With everything else, the new album has hit a slowdown. But it’s got about 37 minutes of material and I have an idea for starting the next recording session.
Still waiting on the release of Madrona Labs Sumu and Dawesome MYTH, but I figure, given what’s been going on at work I should not be complaining much about software release delays. You never know what stupid thing that doesn’t even seem like it’s programming can hold things back. (In the case of MYTH, it’s being delayed by the publisher to allow another release to take its time slot.)
ALM Busy Circuits just released Cizzle, a Eurorack and VCV module that does phase distortion (similar but not identical to the Casio CZ-101 and related synths). I went for the VCV version; it’s kind of neat as an occasional thing but it isn’t going to be a staple for me.
A bigger deal for me: I’ve got AtovProject cDVCA and Rossum Morpheus on the way, planning to set aside Interstellar Radio and Harmonic Shift Oscillator to make the space.
I’ve got a page about Class D amplifiers, in which the last paragraph admitted cDVCA was better than my indirect patching attempts, and after rewatching a couple of demos, I put it on my short list of things I could get.
Morpheus is something I’ve been curious about for a while. It’s basically a zillion filters arranged into “cubes” where you can interpolate between 8 different topologies as well as modulating the frequency. It’s well-loved for resonator duties, as well as a particular 90s synth sound. Before, I was a little intimidated by the amount of stuff it has, thinking it’s almost preset-like in some ways, but now I think that might be unfounded. Worth a try anyhow!
So what of IR and HSO? IR is cool but I don’t see it as an essential for me. I don’t use it as an effect that much (modulating and demodulating a signal at low and differing frequencies to dirty it) because it’s just too dirty most of the time. It’s more fun as a unique sort of complex oscillator, but… not an everyday driver. I think I can approach those sounds with cDVCA and some other techniques anyhow.
HSO sounds gorgeous, don’t get me wrong. But the sound is honestly not so far off from all the FM options I have to make it really distinct. And part of my justification for the module was that it can operate above audio rate, useful for clocking IR as an effect (heh) or Drezno or… those class D VCA patches.
Mystic Circuits Ana 2 seems like it’s imminent too, with Eli posting a photo of… a box of something. That’ll be a small boost in both utility and weirdness.
I’m also pondering replacing my Xaoc Katowice with a Three Sisters. They have a little in common but 3Sis is much more flexible, and it’s a filter rather than an EQ, and I know it sounds lovely with FM (argh there I go, don’t I?) But then, it’s also a bit pricey so I’m not sure, and in terms of filter flexibility Blades and Morpheus are already excellent. Maybe I should just leave well enough alone. “Just because you can…” and so on.