On the drive home from work yesterday, I got the idea for my next album project.
Odd tracks: no FM synthesis.
Even tracks: only FM synthesis, and totally dry (as in, no delay or reverb).
The theme/name is “Amphibious” because of how it goes between wet and dry. (Which brings to mind the “amphibious” Popeye cartoons where he’s doing the gender trickster thing.)
The “all dry” idea intimidated me too much, but somehow combining that with “FM only” makes it seem easier… and interspersing them with wet tracks (with no FM!) also makes it easier, I think. It might make for interesting contrast when listening, as well. I know I said I wasn’t going to give myself any creative limits after the last one, but… I like this idea.
Yesterday was New Module Day, with the Make Noise Jumbler. I temporarily shelved Katowice to make room, because that was a convenient choice.
I had some preconceptions about Jumble — I was thinking in terms of stereo, and both circular panning (as Silhouette does) and linear placement (as Nearness does). But it’s not a stereo module, it’s 6-in 6-out. Also, getting exactly 360 degrees of rotation using a ramp LFO, without glitches or gaps, seems to be quite difficult.
That absolutely doesn’t mean it’s not useful, fun and cool. Just that my thinking quickly changed and I began appreciating it more for what it is. I found that Nearness is still quite useful with it, and feedback patching between it and Silhouette can be awesome. Though I also found that both in feedback patching and in stacking those outputs, it’s easy to clip, so levels need to be watched. (I found myself kind of wishing Jumbler had a master level knob to attenuate everything together.)
I feel like maybe Katowice should come back in for a trial — EQ is always welcome in feedback patches. Probably the Doepfer switch and Legio are what I will switch out instead. Also, Nearness directly on Jumbler’s left side is bad modular Feng Shui — they’re visually too similar and it’s Jumbler’s right-side jacks that are more likely to want to go to Nearness. I’ll work that out.
Sistersong, it turns out, is not a particularly straightfoward retelling of “Two Sisters.” (Spoilers ahead.) It is a total coincidence that I find myself reading two books in a row with nonbinary characters, set in Cornwall, and with both Cador and Merlin. Although this one is set in the early 5th century just after Rome abandoned Britain, rather than generic medieval Arthurian Christian knights-and-castles times.
The first third of the book is mostly about the culture clash between these Cornish folk — and their worship of a mishmash of Irish and continental Celtic gods plus the Anglo-Saxon Woden — and Christianity. There are three siblings rather than two, though one turns out to be a trans man. Myrdhin is not just a wizard/druid/bard but also the witch Mori, presenting as one or the other according to the needs of the situation, and even telling some conflicting stories depending on the audience. At the point I’ve reached, we have just seen the first stirring of jealousy between the two sisters. I get the feeling it’s going to take more conflict than that to turn one against the other to the point of actual murder, though.
A review I skimmed over says the book presents transphobia and ableism and past trauma, but not in a useful light, more sort of tokenism that does more harm that good. I’m not seeing that yet, but it’s still kind of early to judge yet. I’m intrigued by Myrdhin/Mori at least, while the other characters are just now figuring things out.