drone for zumpano

loscil — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:16:46 +0000

my good friend jason asked me to make a drone for him out of some cello recordings he had done. this is what came out the other side. droneforjz

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my main max patch for @earsmack

loscil — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:16:29 +0000

@earsmack – at your request here is a screenshot of my main max patch. i have been using and building on this since submers (2002) though in recent years it hasn’t seen a lot of love and although Endless Falls was composed with this patch I have recently bought Live and Max for Live with the intention of using that in the future. The image is of the locked version of the patch. Unlocking it reveals a twisted underworld I don’t care to divulge due to the utter chaos in my max patching style.

I’ll run through the components. The top left is the main sequencer window. This is basically a cheap step sequencer that allows you to pick a sound per step (of the 8 sounds you can load) and change the sound’s volume and pitch per step. You can store up to 16 different patterns. Below that in the same window is a bass step sequencer. This plays sine wave (or square wave which i rarely use) bass notes in sequence. You can also store 16 patterns.

Top right is simply a mixer. This attaches to a midi controller (currently a kenton “killamix”) and has 2 sends/vst effects, panning and volume. nothing too fancy. Faders control each of the main components.

Below the main window there is a filter – this is an automated biquad filter that allows me to record a filter sweep and then play it back however many ticks later I want. This filter only applies to the sequencer output.

Beside the filter is the “chopper” - this is basically a sound buffer skipper that allows the beat clock to jump around in a sound file buffer. Anything clicky or rhythmic in my music generally comes form this thing.

At the bottom is another step sequencer built mostly for drums although i use it for any sounds. It’s just another approach to the same thing – uses a jit.cellblock for the pattern entry. Each channel has its own LFO which is often fun to play with.

Below the mixer is a pattern switcher. This controls the sequencer, bass sequencer, chopper and drummer patterns. You can use the main clock to decide when to switch between patterns.

Bottom right above the drummer is the “crossfader” – this is actually a separate patch but I always use them together. Crossfader is simply a crossfading drone maker that I use to create beds and backgrounds. It responds to the main clock as well and can record and play back fader sequences. it has its own vst and filter per channel. It allows loading of 4 sounds and has some numbers to tweak pitch, crossfade time, filter, etc.

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music revenue recycling

loscil — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:42:56 +0000

I’ve decided to “recycle” all the funds I collect from the Versions EP into buying new music from other artists. The first two discs have arrived via mail order: Taylor Deupree’s Shoals and William Basinski’s Vivian & Ondine. On order is Blank Grey Canvas Sky by Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek. Really looking forward to a good listen to all of these.

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Sadie and I take a page from Ben Burtt’s book

loscil — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:50:57 +0000

Sadie got a metal slinky for her birthday so I showed her the Ben Burtt trick of attaching contact mic’s to it to make blaster sounds.

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such an epic sky tonight…

loscil — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:14:14 +0000

IMG_7814

Originally uploaded by loscil

I love it when the setting sun hits the storm clouds…

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contact mic on trampoline

loscil — Sun, 16 May 2010 17:46:07 +0000

while the kids were jumping on the neighbour’s trampoline i attached my cold gold contact mic’s on the springs and got this:

trampo

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..another pseudo-generative experiment

loscil — Tue, 11 May 2010 06:22:22 +0000

Just a quick and dirty sketch using some more super simple generative ideas. this one is for string trio – cello has a 3 note pattern, viola 4 and violin 5. The patterns are cyclical but randomly change in direction.

string_pattern

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[versions] loscil EP on bandcamp

loscil — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:45:38 +0000

I’ve decided to release a few versions of tracks on bandcamp. The EP is aptly titled [versions] and features reworked versions of Emma from First Narrows, Estuarine and The Making of Grief Point from Endless Falls. Emma and Estuarine both feature Dan Bejar on guitar and Josh Lindstrom on Vibes and were first performed as part of New York’s Worldess Music Series in 2009. The Making of Grief Point is an instrumental version of the track from Endless Falls which featured Bejar’s spoken word. All of these tracks compliment the originals quite nicely so I thought it was worth making them available. Plus I wanted to try out bandcamp.

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generative 6 patch screenshot

loscil — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:44:55 +0000

here is the patch in all its (ugly) glory. this is basically a modified “crossfader” patch that I’ve used for years. the crossfader just makes a seamless loop out of whatever sound you load into it and allows pitching, eq and a single vst plug. I then appended a metro attached to a random selection that picks between 5 integers that are routed to 4 line objects which fade in and out each note. the extra integer just allows for the occasional “miss” or silence.

It is really quite simple and essentially works like a wind chime would. for the finished track i layer two passes – one triggering lower notes every 5 seconds and the other triggering higher notes every 200 ms.

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“generative” 6

loscil — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:01:06 +0000

a simple “generative” music piece I’m working on for a local installation project – 2 layers of randomly triggered notes…

generative6

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