I need to confess two things:
- There’s no deep meaning behind my choice of album or track titles this time. It’s just that I decided I was going to have at least one album title starting with each letter of the alphabet — these are all just “uncommon words starting with J.”
(“Jerboa” was the nickname of the 2nd dynasty Egyptian official Khabausokar. He was apparently well-liked, but I’m really curious how he got the nickname and whether he (or his peers and friends) found it embarrassing. Did he have especially big ears maybe?) - I did use AI… but only an upscaling tool to increase the resolution of the photo I used for the album art. Said photo was provided by one Mr. Shiv, of laser-cut scraps from an art project of his. I agreed with someone’s comment that it looked like an album cover, and asked permission to use it for one. I cropped a couple of sections from it, scaled them up and layered them.
(My attitude is mostly fuck AI. But AI-powered tools for specific purposes that don’t attempt to replace human creativity/judgement/knowledge/value, are fine.)
Chances are if you’re reading this, you’ve seen my notes for previous releases. (If not, welcome!) For brevity I’m going to leave out brand names this time, except where necessary to clarify (e.g. different gear with the same name or a really generic name that needs the brand to identify it). Hardware is in bold, otherwise assume software plugins. As always, I will omit basic utilities and some modulation sources, and this time I’m also not repeating the usual litany of controllers, mastering tools etc. Feel free to ask if curious about more specifics or how I did something, and I’ll answer as best I can.
01 Jacent
- Lancinantes, Uzu, Codec, SpecOps, Smear, Anina, Lair.
- Ataraxic Iteritas through cDVCA, and K-Accumulator through Mimeophon & Blades.
- Akemie’s Castle through Multimod, Silhouette, Granulita Versio, Octaves, Gameverb. Modulation of Castle + Silhouette from Just Friends, Multimod phase from Gliss.
Uhbik Tremolo on the full mix in the 3kHz-8kHz range in the center of the stereo field. Futureverb applied to low-end transients to lend weight to “thumps” of unknown origin.
02 Jargoon
- Akemie’s Castle drone through QPAS smilepass, Bitwig Phaser+ & Mod Delay, Echobode.
- Same Castle drone through QPAS bandpass through Strega, Spectraphon in SAM mode, Velvet Machine & Echobode.
- MÜB Miezo bass guitar through OBNE Dark Star V3, Mesmeriser, WOW 2, Velvet Machine. (This is the “breathy” sound that seems like another synth voice.)
- Rings, Lacrima Versio, Anina, 2x Valhalla Delay. Sequence from Stages, modulation from Multimod.
- Another take with the Miezo, but WOW is moved to first in the chain, Uhbik Tremolo inserted before Velvet Machine, and some settings were changed.
03 Jeopardous
- Streichfett drone, Mesmeriser, Toneboosters EQ Pro with an LFO controlling some bands, Granulita Versio, Tube Modulator
- Rings, Multimod (reverse and slow), Beads (reverse again, and subtle pitch modulation from Multimod‘s index output slewed by Function), mda Detune and Anina (on sides). Sequence from 0-Ctrl quantized by Mimetic Digitwolis.
- K-Accumulator through Mimeophon, Uhbik Grainshift, Filter Table, Velvet Machine. KA’s UFG modulated by a sequence from Stages, clocked by Multimod‘s clock output divided by Clep Diaz, which also modulates Mimeophon time.
- Walk 4 outputs into Silhouette, QPAS, Ratshack Reverb (on mid-high freqs). Silhouette‘s Spot modulated by KA‘s UFG.
- Chipspeech (singing the word “dot”), 2x Codec in a multiband split, Utopia. Very simple sequence from Seqund.
VintageVerb, Velvet Machine, Sound Forge Smooth and heavy EQ at the end.
04 Jessant
- Akemie’s Castle, 6 Stages segments as parallel lo-fi delays, Nearness, Librae, Integer, Octaves, UFX-Reverb, Slöer, Velvet Machine. Sequence from Marbles quantized by Mimetic Digitwolis, modulation from Just Friends. Recorded in its own take.
- Ataraxic Iteritas through Spectraphon, Bitwig Harmonic Split (Twangström instances on fundamental and harmonics, Cataclysm on inharmonics). Sequence from Marbles quantized by Mimetic Digitwolis, modulation from Just Friends.
- Odessa, Beads, Octaves, Sandman Pro, Utopia.
- Audiothing Noises, FutureVerb, stereo split [hardware Rings and VCV Rack Rings].
- Walk 4, Silhouette, Selene
- Audio sample of elk from the Yosemite Archives, FutureVerb.
Velvet Machine on full mix at start; FutureVerb on full mix during first half.
05 Jeewanu
- Kermit (both sides AMing each other), Granulita Versio, Toneboosters Equalizer with LFO modulation, Peel (with EFX Refract, Whirl, and Uhbik Phaser in high band). Kermit pitches subtly modulated by LFOs from Stages.
- Kermit output 1 through Rings, Filter Table, Anina, Relayer
- K-Accumulator through Ruina
- Strega through Walk 4, Uzu. Sequence from 0-Ctrl.
06 Jaspidean
- Basimilus Iteritas frozen by SpecOps with slight modulation of Stretch.
- K1v, Cascade, EFX Refract, SpecOps, Codec.
- Speech sample looped in Bitwig Grid, through Rings and Granulita Versio.
- Odessa & K-Accumulator (synced to Odessa) mixed, Desmodus, Hinder.
- Walk 4 driving Nibbler, Mimeophon, mixed with another Walk 4 output through QPAS, Echobode. Sequence from 0-Ctrl quantized by Mimetic Digitwolis, modulation from Stages LFO synced to 0-Ctrl‘s clock.
07 Jinx
- Sine Machine droning, Lines, Bitwig Freq Split [3x LOCD + one Codec in different bands], Octaves.
- K-Accumulator through QPAS & Beads, and through GTE and Blades, combined in Ana 2; Big Swarma. KA modulation from Walk 4.
- Minibrute 2S through Strega, OBNE Dark Star V3, Slöer.
Full mix through Peel (MISHBY and Integer applied to high frequencies)
08 Jerboa
- K-Accumulator (no other inputs), 2x Hinder in series.
- Odessa, Librae, FutureVerb. Modulation from KA‘s UFG, Function triggered by the UFG pulse output, and a Stages LFO.
- Ataraxic Iteritas, Silhouette, Granulita Versio. Sequence from Marbles quantized by Mimetic Digitwolis, modulation from Multimod.
- Akemie’s Castle, 2x Filter Table in stereo split, SpecOps.