This is just another of my experiments, trying to combine Linux and hardware synthesisers. There are a number of interesting details about this video I wanted to share with you here.
Fist, lets talk about the parts involved. There was one main session, with the Volca Keys being recorded (after going through the FX600 and the Nux Time Core for Chorus and Delay) to my main laptop using the Focusrite 2i2, and the Kaossilator2 (KO2) playing an arpeggio using the “Acid Bass” preset, and being recorded to my eeepc using my Behringer UCA-202. Audacity was used in both laptops to record the sound. Then, there was a second recording session with the KO2 pushing the “Deep House” pattern, and also a third recording of me warming up my fingers with the Streichfett being controlled by the MicroKeys25. These latter sessions were all recorded using the Focusrite, although the quality of the UCA-202 is good enough for these backing tracks. Everything was mixed using Ardour.
Now, for the control part. The Nanopad2 is controlling SEQ24, which contains nothing more than a few short MIDI clips. Some of them contain notes, other contain CC data to be sent to the Volca Keys. The Volca Keys is in Poly Ring mode, which gives the “glitchy character” when multiple notes are triggered at the same time. It was nice to finally understand that SEQ24 has a queueing facility, which activates a clip only at its end.
I’m currently planing a short course about SEQ24… ;)
After reviewing the Behringer VP-1 Vintage Phaser, I pluged the MicroKorg into it. The white noise going through it creates that great Jean-Michel Jarre Oxygene sound you heard in the beginning and end of the review/demo video. The phaser plays great with some of the factory presets, specially those on the SE/Hit section.
Not only does it sound great, it inspired me to record some riffs, I then started improvising on top of them and then it came the time when I decided to actually put some music sheet in front of me and write the melody and chord sequence. This took me about a week, just to make the chords work with the riff, then place a D Dorian melody on top of it (with a small modulation to D minor).
I doubt there is even a single lover of synthesizers and electronic music who never came across Jean Michel Jarre’s “Oxygene” album. And if, like me, you first heard it in a poorly illuminated room in a gloomy evening, you’ll certainly understand the shivers the oxygen sounds can bring. Like many of the 1970’s, Jarre used a lot of audio effects. In fact, and contrary to popular belief, analogue synthesizers were (almost) always recorded with effects back in the 1970’s. And one of the most beloved effects of the 1970’s was the phaser.
Just a little recap about what a phaser is: A phaser is a circuit were the incoming sound is split over a number of all-pass filters (in parallel). Why an all-pass filter, you ask? And how can an all pass filter bear an effect? Well: when the audio signal goes through a filter, it delays a little bit. Moreover, this delay is more noticeable over certain frequencies (the maths of it is quite interesting, but unnecessary here). So when the sound that when through the different filters is mixed together it will have phasing distortion (the crests and valleys of each part od the signal are not in phase with each other anymore). This provides feedback and cancellation to several areas od the spectrum. Using an LFO to modulate the “cutoff” of the all-pass filters allows for this effect to vary over time.
Phasers are a legal requirement if you intent to use a vintage string machine like the Arp Solina or the Eminent. You may face persecution by the Hage courts if you fail to ensure your string machine is properly phased. :P Back in the 1970’s, one of the best phasers around was the Bad Stone by Electro Harmonicx. They are so great, they are still being produced by EHX and you can buy them on amazon or amazon (UK).
This Behringer pedal is a clone of the EHX Bad Stone and Small Stone pedals. It is a very simple 4-stage (4 all pass filters) monophonic phaser, with positive and negative feedback (set by the TONE knob) and variable filter sweep LFO. The LFO rate goes from 6 seconds (0.16 Hz) to about 0.06 seconds (approximately 17Hz), but if you want to sync the LFO to the tempo, you’ll probably have to do it the old way: by ear! This is not a deal breaker for me: there are lots of tempo sync’ed effects to go around. What this pedal excels at is to provide you with that warm phaser tone that is so characteristic of the old days. In fact, I might even buy a second unit for myself in order to explore the world of stereo phasing.
The build quality is pretty decent: it is a large metal case (not very heavy) with a nice stomp switch, and a positive fell on the rate knob. I don’t know if Behringer is still making these pedals, but they can still be found on amazon and amazon (UK) for a very decent price (about 20 to 25 euro, or equivalent). In my opinion, if you want that vintage phaser vibe going on, you should add one to your arsenal (unless, of course, you already own one of the EHX phasers).
Ok, so this is a little bit of a joke. Earlier this year Korg launched the Minilogue, and soon enough the internet was flooded with cry babies complaining that the Minilogue clicks a lot. So last weekend I decided to do a kind of a parody over these complaints, using the clickiest of all my synths: The Monotribe.
So, the video is mostly raw footage from the backing track, with extracts from the movie “The Truth About Communism” obtained from the Internet Archive.
Musically speaking, this was a little more of a challenge. The backing track was performed live and the signal chain goes as follows: the Volca Beats gives sync pulses to the SQ-1. It is also giving me some rhythm track to guide me, although it is not recorded (in the video you can see the audio out is unplugged). The SQ-1 is controlling the Monotribe using CV and gate (to see how I did the adaptor, check this and this video). Since I have the Monotribe calibrated to accept the CV from the MicroBrute and didn’t care for tuning, the track sounds atonal. The Sound from the monotribe goes into the FX600 for a little bit of chorus, then into the Nux Time Core for some time sync’ed Ping Pong Delay, and then finally to the RV600 for some cave reverb (which has a little bit of a delay character). The idea was for the click to be musically meaningful… something between a kind of percussion and bombs detonating in the distance. I think I managed to do ok with that.
On post-production, three tracks were added using sounds from the Streichfett: a long Cello pedal, some vocal chords and an arpeggio for the second half of the song (using the arpeggiator from the MicroKorg). Finally the rhythmic pattern from the beats was recorded onto a fifth track. As usual, the audio production was made in ardour, and the video later edited using kdenlive. I hope you enjoy listen to it as much as I did making it.
This is a big one… a very very big one. Bigger than a Volca, almost as large as my MicroBrute, and weighting in at almost 1,5 kg. This pedal is a monster, not only in its name, but also in its size and sound.
This is the first of two videos dedicated to exploring the world of sound that exists when you hook up a MicroKorg with a MicroBrute. In this episode of Analogue Meets Digital the MicroBrute is used as a Sound module controlled and processed by the MicroKorg.
This is an extremely easy way to link the two machines: a MIDI cable goes from the MIDI OUT port of the MicroKorg into the MIDI IN of the MicroBrute (if you use a MiniBrute instead of the Micro, make sure you don’t accidentally connect both MIDI OUT ports). At the same time, use a TS 1/4″ cable to connect the Line Output of the MicroBrute to the Audio 1 Line In port of the MicroKorg. This is essentially the same setup I did with the Volcas, although working the MicroBrute is much more satisfying experience, in my opinion. One thing to have in mind: the MicroBrute is muck louder than the Volcas, so you have to be extra-careful not to clip the input on the MicroKorg. Despite this, the MicroBrute is a monophonic Analogue synth, much like the Volca Bass (and most voice modes of the Volca Keys), and the operation of the MicroBrute in this setup is similar to that shown in previous episodes.
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