(Note: While this album was published on February 7 2023, the patch notes weren’t collected here until August 10. Sorry about that!)
This album is effectively my “best of Jamuary 2023” compilations. I took Jamuary as an opportunity to branch out a little and try some styles and techniques I don’t normally get into, but my favorites from the project all were in the same dark, noisy, droney “ambient” area that I normally work in.
In this list, software is highlighted like this and hardware in italics like this. When a plugin is hosting its own plugin chain or software modular patch I put it in brackets [like this].
01 Weighted
(Jamuary 2)
- Dawesome Kult, Valhalla Delay, Minimal Audio Rift
- Arturia Minibrute 2S
- Kult, Sonic Charge Echobode
02 Whiteout
(Jamuary 5)
- Madrona Labs Aalto, Soundspot Ravage. The main melody, played with just a couple of macro knobs and buttons in Bitwig.
- Bleep Labs Thingamagoop 3000, droning through Freakshow Industries Mishby, Valhalla Vintage Verb
- Noise Engineering Loquelic Vereor (two instances), Aegean Pitchproof, Moogerfooger MF-101S, Audio Damage Ratshack Reverb. (drone played with expression pedal)
- Waldorf Streichfett plugin, Noise Engineering Ruina (played with Novation Launchpad Pro)
03 Retroactive Cancellation
(Jamuary 6)
- Xaoc Odessa into Mutable Instruments Rings
- Intellijel Shapeshifter into WMD Synchrodyne
- Thingamagoop through Xaoc Koszalin, into Happy Nerding FM Aid (L) & Shapeshifter‘s wavefolder (R)
- Make Noise Strega into Digdugdiy Purple Rain (with Strega’s LFO synced to Thingamagoop’s LEDacle)
04 Snowmelt
(Jamuary 8)
- VCV Rack patch [2 Submarine PO-204 into Audible Instruments Warps], processed by Noise Engineering Imitor
- Whimsical Raps Mannequins Just Friends through Cosmotronic Peradam, Audiothing Wires
- Olegtron 4060 mk1 through Valhalla Delay and Cherry Audio Stardust 201
05 Architeuthis dux
(Jamuary 10)
- Maurizio Uber Basses Miezo 18 5-string bass guitar, into two effects chains:
1: Strega and Bitwig Chorus
2: Mutable Instruments Beads, Mutable Instruments Blades, and Make Noise Mimeophon
Strega and Mimeophon both used pitch & envelope following from Jam Origin MIDI Bass.
Entire mix was then processed in Noise Engineering Desmodus, Bitwig Transient Split [with Phonolyth Velvet Machine on the Tones channel] and Loud Split [with Valhalla Delay on quieter bands]
06 Maintenance
(Jamuary 11)
- Mimeophon self-oscillating in Zone 0, through Strega and Moogerfooger MF-104S delay. Played with Make Noise 0-Ctrl, with pitch quantized to 7EDO by Monome Teletype.
- Vital Audio Vital, through Noise Engineering Imitor. MIDI sequenced, using 7-equal-divisions-per-tritone tuning.
- Xaoc Odessa (droning) through Xaoc Drezno, Wavesfactory Spectre, Wavesfactory Echo Cat. Drezno is clocked by the PLL output of WMD Synchrodyne.
- Rhythmic sequence is Synchrodyne with its VCA modulated by Noise Engineering Clep Diaz, through a Bitwig Grid patch [comb filter modulated by a step sequence] and Bitwig Harmonic Split [with Valhalla Delay on every 3rd harmonic]
07 Artificial
(Jamuary 12)
- RareWaves Lite2Sound PX, pointed at a Ukraine-built nixie tube clock and Thingamagoop‘s blinking LED. Through Bitwig Freq Split [with manual level controls], Arturia Plate-140, Sonic Charge Permut8 (to create rhythmic clicks) and Izotope RX7 Declick (to suppress the clicks when I wanted to).
08 Yuki-Onna
(Jamuary 15)
- Drone: Strega with Minibrute 2S.
- Drone: VCV Rack [2x PO-204, with PM inputs modulated by Instruo Ochd, through Valley Plateau]
- Lead: The Harvestman Kermit (with one oscillator running and the second following the first), two passive vactrol LPGs in stereo (Schenk.Work Gerridae and Mystic Circuits 0HP LPG), and Mutable Instruments Beads; performed on 0-Ctrl.
- Noise: extreme FM noise recorded with a phone camera, looped in Bitwig Grid. (My notes don’t say what the FM source was.)
- Glitchy sequence: Strega‘s sub output triggering 4ms Mini PEG, through Synchrodyne, Peradam and Noise Engineering Melotus Versio.
- Babble: the oldest surviving wax cylinder recording, looped in Bitwig Grid through Unfiltered Audio SpecOps, Xaoc Koszalin and Rings.
09 Locusts
(Jamuary 17)
- Hadean fretless ukulele bass through Izotope Trash 2, Blades (L) and Peradam (R) and then Beads.
- ALM Busy Circuits Akemie’s Castle with modulation from Stages LFOs and Clep Diaz, through Noise Engineering Imitor.
- Mimeophon through Melotus Versio and Lacrima Versio.
Full mix processed in Phonolyth Velvet Machine, fading from fully wet to fully dry.
10 SIGINT
(Jamuary 23)
- Thingamagoop droning through Strega, Koszalin, Beads, Valhalla Delay.
- Odessa through Melotus Versio.
11 Centrifuge
(Jamuary 24)
- Thingamagoop through Bitwig Freq Shift and Koszalin (in opposite order on the left/right channel), Ruina and AAS Objeq Delay.
- Akemie’s Castle (levels modulated by Make Noise Function) through Katowice (freq/width modulated by Stages LFOs), through Mimeophon.
- Rings feedback loop through Peradam, two Plogue Chipcrusher instances (mid/side), and Ratshack. Sequenced by Mutable Instruments Marbles.
- Blades (oscillating for the sub drone near the end) and Strega (arpeggiated by 0-Ctrl).
12 Gradual Disaster
(Jamuary 26)
- Beads into Rings (note the trope reversal, wigglers). Clocking and modulation from Marbles, with Beads pitch modulated by two Stages LFOs crossfaded in Intellijel Planar.
- Blades with both filters oscillating, one modulating the other’s Mode. Amplitude modulated in Blinds by a Stages LFO, and processed through two parallel instances of Clouds in VCV Rack. Pitch sequences from Marbles.
- VCV Rack patch [3x Plaits crossfaded in Frames, through 2x Clouds (one for mid-fi granular on mids and one for lo-fi reverb on sides)]
- Stages LFO droning at audio rate through VCV Rack patch [LP2 and LP4 outputs of Ripples into Warps, through two Stages segments and Shades patched as a stereo lo-fi delay]
13 Moderately Haunted
(Jamuary 27)
- Just Friends through (and FMing) Koszalin, my own Horse experimental dirty chorus, Unfiltered Audio Sandman Pro. Modulation from Function & Kermit, sequence from 0-Ctrl.
- Odessa FM’d by Akemie’s Castle (with modulation from Stages & Kermit), through Beads and Valhalla Delay.
- Noise Engineering Virt Iter Legio PMd by Mimeophon, through Valhalla Supermassive. Sequence from 0-Ctrl.
- Synchrodyne and Strega cross-patched
14 Witches’ Comet
(Jamuary 29)
- Strega captued by Mimeophon
- Strega played live via 0-Ctrl, with pitch slewed by Function.
15 <Session Locked>
(Jamuary 30)
- Drones: 6 instances of Madrona Labs Aalto, each playing a cluster of 4 voices in unison mode with linear frequency detuning, and the gates controlled by Tesseract Sweet Sixteen faderbank.
- Lead: another instance of Aalto, performed on Launchpad Pro.
16 Cycle 5
(Jamuary 31)
- Kult droning through two parallel effects paths:
1: Blades, Meltous Versio, Beads
2: Synchrodyne, Stages (as a delay)
Filter cutoffs controlled by Intellijel Planar; both paths through Objeq Delay with its resonator frequency controlled by expression pedal. - Thingamagoop noise through Mimeophon and two Bitwig Grid comb filters in parallel.
- Minibrute 2S sequence through MF-104S delay.