When I began this album I simply wanted to make music to comfort anxiety, without it being dull or soporific. But then I read a book on the history of Zen, and was especially struck by the very trickster-ish nature of schools whose practice was to try to induce sudden enlightenment through surprise and absurdity, shortcutting or short-circuiting rational thought. It got me thinking about the nature of music, especially in modular synthesis, with its combination of logical and mathematical processes and less predictable emergent chaos, and of the combination of rational/deliberate and intuitive/spontaneous approaches.
No so-called “AI” was used for the creation of any part of this album.
In the notes below I’ve omitted basic utilities and modulation, EQ/dynamics, etc. All tracks were recorded in Bitwig Studio. For controllers I primarily use a Linnstrument 128, a Tesseract Sweet Sixteen mk2, and three Nektar NX-P expression pedals with a MIDI Expression Quattro. For mastering: Wavesfactory Spectre, Toneboosters Equalizer Pro, Waves Curve Equator, DDMF MagicDeathEye, RJ Studios Sideminder Max, Voxengo Elephant and OVC-128. Hardware devices are in bold and software/plugins in italics.
01 In Mercury
- Make Noise Spectraphon with both oscillators in Chaos Mode, sequenced by Mutable Instruments Marbles and Partials modulated by Make Noise Function. Rabid Elephant Natural Gate, PSP PianoVerb 2, Valhalla FutureVerb, Bitwig Chorus+. Additional Phonolyth Velvet Machine and FutureVerb at the start.
- ALM Akemie’s Castle, Toppobrillo Cluster (crossfading between oscillators under the control of Bela Gliss), Make Noise QPAS, Whimsical Raps Silhouette, Minimal Audio Wave Shifter.
- Noise Engineering Toros Iteritas Alia droning, modulation from two LFOs from Mutable Instruments Stages, Noise Engineering Granulita Versio, Unfiltered Audio SpecOps, Auburn Sounds Selene
- Native Instruments Absynth 6, Moog MF-104S Delay
02 Symbols
- Wavesfactory Suspended Cymbals samples pitched down, Velvet Machine, ADPTR Utopia; mixed with pitched-down Roland TR808 cymbal and kick samples from drumkito.com.
- Sid Rockett Lo-Fi Sampler 2 (feedback mode, capturing noise from a desk fan), Audiority Big Swarma with Feedback and FM modulated, Aberrant DSP Lair.
- Make Noise Strega, Arturia Minibrute 2S, Pedal Partners x Maneco Labs Mesmeriser.
- Noise Engineering Ataraxic Iteras modulated by Make Noise Multimod and Function, Mutable Instruments Beads, Big Swarma
- Industrial Music Electronics Kermit mk2, Mutable Instruments Rings, Noise Engineering Lacrima Versio (feeding back into Rings through u-he CVilization)
03 Lambent
- Schlappi Engineering Nibbler driven by two outputs of Multimod. R2R outputs control the pitches of both Spectraphon oscillators; sine outputs through FutureVerb, Wavesfactory Spectre.
- DecadeBridge Sn, QPAS
- Mario Nieto’s Harmony Bloom sequencing Melatonin Sine Machine, through Wave Shifter, Noise Engineering Desmodus
- voice 1 heavily EQd and pitch shifted, Velvet Machine
- same sequence as #3, controlling Fors Junior Lite, through Noise Engineering Imitor
04 Longshadow
- Kermit into Xaoc Drezno; 5 bit outputs into various inputs on Nibbler; R2R output into Multimod. 6 Multimod outputs through Doepfer A130-8 Octal VCA controlled by Whimsical Raps Just Friends; stereo output through SpecOps, Old Blood Noise Endeavors Dark Star V3, Walrus Audio Slöer. Sequence is from Mutable Instruments Marbles quantized by Noise Engineering Mimetic Digitwolis (MD2), clocked by Make Noise 0-Ctrl.
- Xaoc Odessa with modulation from Nibbler‘s Carry and Out 4, Natural Gate, Wave Shifter. Also sequenced by Marbles and quantized by MD2.
- Lo-Fi Sampler 2 (recording a human voice), Audiothing Moon Echo, Lair, another Moon Echo instance, Big Swarma. Sampled and looped in Bitwig Grid.
- Neutral Labs Elmyra 2 droning, Wave Shifter, Mesmeriser. Looped in BW Grid.
Aberrant DSP Cataclysm on the full mix at the end.
05 Questions
- VCV Rack [3x Befaco Pony VCO modulated by 2x WT LFO driving Nibbler]
- Bitwig Grid patch [3 LFOs into an Array’s read index, write index and trigger, creating slightly different left/right generative patterns; sine oscillator driving a pair of zero crossing pitch detectors controlling a Phase-1 oscillator; the two oscillators through Sallen-Key filters, then mixed together]. Through Equalizer Pro with modulated peak and notch filters, Lese Smear, and Arturia Rev Plate-140.
- VCV Rack [2x WT LFO driving Nibbler, Rings into Surge XT Spring Reverb into a second Rings], two instances of SpecOps
- VCV Rack [Venom Sofia’s Daughter & Nano ST Font driven by CV Funk Hex Mod, Sckitam 2D Rotation, VCV Phaser, Surge XT Spring Reverb]
06 Obscurian
- Full Bucket FB-02, Lair. Played on Linnstrument 128
- Ataraxic Iteritas, AtovProject cDVCA, Lacrima Versio, Granulita Versio
- Beads, Ripple Phaser, Valhalla Delay
- Strega (pitch controlled by MD2 with offset from two Multimod outputs combined in Mystic Circuits Ana 2; shape modulation from another Multimod output), Velvet Machine.
Entire mix through Wavesfactory Cassette, Ujam Finisher Retro
07 Tomatoes in the Dark
- Akemie’s Castle, A-130-8, Mimeophon, Big Swarma, Wave Shifter. Sequenced by MD2 clocked by Just Friends outputs.
- VCV Rack [Befaco Octaves driving 6 instances of Rings (one filtered by Cytomic CF100), modulation from 2x Hex Mod], Wavesfactory Spectre
- Just Friends mix output into Spectraphon (SAM mode) through Rings, Granulita Versio
- Kermit generating noise, Lacrima Versio, 2x Sinevibes Integer in stereo
08 Turn Off the Gravity
- Kermit (voice A AMd by voice B), Granulita Versio, Finisher Retro. Sequence from Marbles X1 clocked by 0-Ctrl, with 5EDO scale programmed by MD2.
- Kermit (voice B), Natural Gate, Lacrima Versio, Finisher Retro. Sequence from Marbles X3 & T3, Lacrima modulation from T1.
- Just Friends, Silhouette, Native Instruments Supercharger GT, FutureVerb. Sequence from Marbles X2.
- Ataraxic Iteritas, Multimod, QPAS, BW Grid patch for autopanning, two instances of Integer, SpecOps. Sequence from Nibbler clocked by 0-Ctrl, quantized by MD2.
- Odessa modulated by 3 Stages LFOs, Bitwig Loud Split [allowing only quiet bands through], XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color
09 A Finger Pointing at the Moon
- Junior Lite droning (tuned by Entonal Studio), FutureVerb, Wave Shifter
- VCV Rack [4ms Ensemble Oscillator], Absynth 6 FX, Minimal Audio Formant
- BW Grid [Scrawl osc with comb filter & formant phase module in parallel], 2x Audiothing Wires in stereo, Cataclysm, Audio Damage Ratshack Reverb
10 Break Cover
- Bitwig Grid [combination of pulse VCOs, logic modules, filters and step sequencers], Desmodus, FX chain [RX-7 Declick keeping only clicks, Audiothing Lines, FutureVerb, Melda MAGC to gate the reverb], Noise Engineering Librae
- Strega, CRQL LOCD, D16 Fazortan 2. Sequenced by #1
- Toros Iteritas Alia, Mutable Instruments Blades, Smear
- Mimeophon and Granulita Versio in feedback loop, Noise Engineering Ruina
- Beads modulated by Stages LFO, BW Loud Split [2x Mesmeriser on different level groups], Dark Star V3, Slöer