Juno Waltz

The "sea songs" EP will probably be called "Broken Sails"...
Here's an idea for the back cover, with what should be the final track list (unless I change my mind, which is also quite probable because I tend to do that a lot) (I actually changed my mind a couple of times while writing this about whether or not I should write about my habit of changing my mind) (if you are reading this, then I changed my mind again, because for a moment I thought it'd be silly to expose how foggy my brain really is) (but I digress...).

There's still quite some work to do, but in the meantime here's an all-Juno waltzy mix I've extracted from "Broken Sails" (there are other instruments in the real song mix).

Juno Waltz (beat, piano and Juno-1)

Wavestation and Juno demo

A little sunday improvisation, kinda reminiscent again of John Carpenter's early soundtracks.

The clockworks and digital pad are Korg Wavestation, the rest is Roland Juno-1.

Stations

Casiotone MT-11

(as always, click on the pics for hi-res pics)

You know what ? Enough with the hi-tech stuff… let’s go back to something basic, primitive, oh so primitive…

The Casiotone MT-11 is a preset keyboard from you know who. It sports 32 totally non-sensitive mini-keys, something like 2 octaves and a half, starting rather oddly on F

As you can see, the MT-11 features four sections.

The first is labelled “Power” and contains a single switch that must trigger something inside the keyboard because when you switch it on, a red diode lights up and strange eighties sounds begin to pour out the tiny speaker on the right.

The second section, “Tone”, allows you to access to no less than eight presets, which happen to be really good. Admittedly, the harp and pipe organ aren’t very realistic, the organ evokes a lilliputian version of a Moog lead, and there’s little chance the piano would fool anyone but a deaf squirrel with a bad drug habit. But given you pay attention to the third “Effect” section, and switch both vibrato and sustain on, the accordion, violin and clarinet will provide a nice, warm, analog-ish tone.

The last section is called “Volume”, and really speaks for itself.
The MT-11 works on a DC7,5V adaptor, or five 1,5V batteries. There’s some sort of line output in the back.
I bought it 1€ (or was it 2€, I can’t remember) last spring in a garage sale, and used it on a couple of songs along with the usual armada.



For educational purpose, here’s a demo I did today on this flamboyant and japanese machine.
Moog bass (your musically astute ear won’t fail to identify it) and heavily compressed Böhm drums, all the rest is Casiotone MT-11 in all its lo-fi glory.

Casio Tune

Prophet 08, Zelda and some Brutal Deluxe

While working on a song for the "sea songs" EP, I took some time off playing with MIDI files of video games oldies...

So, here's two all-Prophet demos!

Speedball Theme

The first one... the sequel also had some killer music, and O the hours we played in our young years on this game. The amazing David Whittaker wrote this.

Zelda 3 Lost Woods Theme

The third one, of course, the best! (I know, I'm so old school). Written by Mr Kōji Kondō. Praises to Him.

Christmas Moog

Happy holidays to everyone, and a little Moog Little Phatty demo...

Moog Demo

It's basically all Moog, including most of the glitch sounds that complement the beat.

Some Solina strings in the background courtesy of Virtual String Machine

In progress : fiddling with the Juno

Still working on the "sea songs EP"...

I spent most of my sunday stacking up parts around a demo I had done with the Virtual String Machine just after buying it...

For demonstration purposes, here's a selective mix of the Alpha Juno parts (that is, a bass line, some analog flutes, a string sound and a warm pad.

alpha juno 1 demo

The Alpha Juno has a very distinctive sound, which I would describe as lo-fi, gritty, dirty, which comes as a good surprise because it provides a complement to the more sophisticated, "educated" sound of the Prophet 08...

On the finish line : Mercenaries

Is it quite baked, I'm not sure... but I don't think I'll work further on it, since it's only a cover song, and actually started as a Prophet 08 demo...

Download the complete song

Nothing to much to say except that it's mostly Prophet 08, Moog Little Phatty and some Microkorg vocoder.

The vocoder part is heavily treated : first passing through the FAT1 compressor, then recompressed in the digital domain with Solid State Logic's free LMC-1 plugin

The song itself is from the outstanding Sabotage album by John Cale

"I'm just another soldier boy

Looking for work

My rifle is my friend

I clean my rifle everyday

That's why my rifle is my friend

Did some work in Zaire, the jolly old Belgian Congo

Went back to Geneva to get paid

Back there in Geneva, that's were the money grows

That's where the money grows, that's where the money flows

They didn't wanna pay me

They didn't wanna pay me, but they did

Try to separate me from my money is try to separate me from my life"

Used Toy

Just bought an Alpha Juno 1 on ebay...
Good working order and nice sounding, I'll post soundbytes and demos this week and eventually do the mandatory review

As always, just click on the pics to get higher resolution synth (and feline participant)

Microkorg

Today’s studio piece… the often maligned, and quite undeservedly so, Microkorg.

(click on the pics for hi-res photos)

First thing to notice about the MK is the nice retro design… Ok, maybe second thing… the first being the awful mini keys. Why O why? Let’s deal with that right away and move on : the biggest issue with the MK might be the keyboard, and no, making it black don’t change anything.

Admittedly, the MK is really compact, featuring 37 keys where the similarly sized Micro-X only grants a mere two octaves. But small keys are hardly a convenient way to play, and probably didn’t make much for the MK’s reputation among serious keyboardists. Unfortunately, the new MK XL, as seen on the photo below my original MK, will follow the same pattern.

Nonetheless, I like the overall looks… the color scheme, the thin microphone, the wood panels and even the knobs have a great 70’s feeling. The MK is lightweight but decently built – speaking of knobs, they’re solid and reassuring, more so than the brittle-looking ones on my Moog Little Phatty (which is quite a paradox considering the general quality of Moog’s gear).

The big wheel on the left provides quick access to the various patch banks. These are listed by genre (trance, electronica, hip hop….), which isn’t a very bright idea. Much more useful would have been to list the sounds by categories (“pads”, “leads”, “bass” and so on). Actually the XL adds such a wheel, as seen on the official photo below, but still retains the useless genre switch. In the end I would gladly get rid of this big thingie and get more knobs instead.

All editing is done using the two main knobs in the middle in order to assign various functions to the five small knobs on the right. This might seem very impractical, but is in fact quite easy to deal with, because all functions are clearly labeled on the panel. The real issue, programming-wise, rests with the LED screen, so number-ish, so unreadable…. There is something like, you know, being too vintage (ask Moog Music). The new XL, on the other hand, features a nice orange screen, on which, wonder! you can actually see parameters and preset names. Overrall, it has to be said that programming sounds is intuitive enough… I’ve seen a lot worse than this and you would have to be lazy like a hippie walrus to stick with the factory presets.

About the sound structure… very straightforward, but quite complete : you got your two oscillators (sine, saw, square, triangle, vox and DWGS waveforms), with sync and ring modulation (the new XL, apparently, will use a sound structure closer than the Korg R3). The filter generously offers four different modes : -24 dB 4-poles low pass, -12 dB 2-poles low pass, high pass and band pass. Not bad for a “toy”, I would say, given that they're quite good.

arpeggiator fun 1

arpeggiator fun 2

Of course, there’s the polyphony… 4 voices only. That’s not much, but I can live with that. Actually, as odd as it might sound, I kinda like limited polyphony… take the Prophet 5 for instance : a lot of classic sounds rely on the fact that only 5 voices are played at any time, and the way the notes use the limited amount of voices. That said, I would agree that 5 or 6 voices would have been more practical on the MK, but hey, what about the Oberheim Four-Voice!

lush pad 1

lush pad 2

lush pad 3

I guess if you’d stop reading this review now, you’d be left with the feeling that the MK is quite a failure. But there’s one thing I haven’t talked about yet, and that’s how it sounds! And it sounds really good. The synth engine, as we saw in the previous episode, is well-conceived and provides the tools to shape up some excellent vintagey patches. Let me be clear. You won’t use the MK for getting the fabled fatness… you won’t get window-shaking basses or piercing leads that make you wanna strangle the cat. What you will get, though, are excellent, vintage-sounding pads and leads, that can do wonders to fill up the gaps in an otherwise dull mix. There is a MK sound… it’s thin, musical and retro. You may program Solina-esque strings or smokey organs, you may come up with a warm electric piano or amazing formant pads. The MK is a solid complement to “big sound”, complex synths, with its simple, engaging sonorities.

smokey flutes

smokey rhodes

voices inside my head

There are effects too (chorus/flanger, phaser, ensemble), although I find them a bit superfluous. The XL comes back with a load of 17 Kaoss effects. That may be overkill, but then again, I’m not a big user of on-board effects anyway. I suppose it expands on an already well furbished engine. That said, the MK effects are quite good and when pushed a bit, can generate surprising results. Note that there’s also a decent distorsion.

let's do noise

let's do noise once more

Then, there’s the vocoder. While far from being the most powerful on the market, it has itself a special lo-fi sound. You’ll find it hard to sing something in there and actually recognize the words. The vocoder is muddy and dirty. Of course, you can get rid of the cheap MK microphone and plug something professional, in which case you’ll be able to get a more precise sound. The trouble is, you’ll also lose that peculiar MK grain. As been suggested by some commentators, the limitations of the original mic might in fact be best suited to those of the vocoder itself. Coupled with a good compressor, interesting textures can be coaxed out of it.

I began this review by criticizing the mini-keys, but on the bright side, the portable aspect is truly a seller. That thing is really tiny, and run on batteries. It’s the perfect tool to bring on holidays with a laptop and build old-school tunes track after track. Sure you can bring a controller on, but the MK is an instrument. It stands on its own, immediately enjoyable, and has personality.

lead 1

lead 2

In conclusion, I'd say that the Microkorg is a fine, underrated instrument, and a real bargain. It sure has its shortcomings, but remains a very attractive, fun musical toy...

Microcute

As a Microkorg owner, I was pleased to know there's an upgraded version coming up, the MicrokorgXL, with a rather nice retro-futuristic design...

I'll post a Microkorg mini-review early this week, with the usual hi-rez photos and mp3 examples and cover the new MicrokorgXL features as well.

And for some more Prophet 08 sounds...

First, a notice to my good visitors : comments are now enabled for all users

Now, I've been recording all day on "The Ghost of India Supreme"... part of the next EP...

It will be a quiet, warm and fuzzy ballad

Here's a snippet...
Prophet 08 and beat

And another one : Moog bass line, Solina pad and some great M-tron vibraphone

The M-tron is Gforce's software emulation of the oh-so-classic Mellotron...

Prophet 08 demo

Now that my new albums are done, the next order of business is to record a 4 songs EP... sea songs, that is...

Yes, the sea... you know, XIXth century dark romantic stuff, with opium and analog synths...

Here's the tracklist so far :

1 - Heart of Darkness
2 - The Ghost of India Supreme
3 - Broken Sails
4 - Endgame

I'll be using my new setup quite a lot, and most notably the DSI Prophet 08.
Here is the early sketch that got me started on the first song : Heart of Darkness demo mp3
I don't usually use factory presets, but the main rhythmic part here is played on a great Prophet 08 factory patch called "Softie", then I wrote lyrics and developed the whole song on that basis.

In Progress : Mercenaries

I'm working on another John Cale cover, again from the 1979 Sabotage album...

Here's the basic Prophet 08 loop around which I'm building the song :
Mercenaries-groove1.mp3
It's a single patch, which shows how you can program little sequences within the Prophet to create simple, funky and analog grooves.

Here's another groove from the song : Mercenaries-groove2.mp3
This has the same Prophet 08 loop, plus an Oberheim DMX beat and a sequenced Moog bass (Electribe EMX) juxtaposed with a single acoustic guitar line.
The guitar is processed through this hardware valve compressor (worst design ever?) :



I'm overdriving the input gain to create this mean bass guitar line.

And finally : Mercenaries-groove3.mp3
What you hear now is the same overdriven/overcompressed guitar hitting the same chord over and over, Velvet Underground-style, and a string sound courtesy of my Gforce Virtual String Machine plugin :


The basic foundations of the track are in place, I'll be recording the vocals soon and post the completed song.

Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 08

From the rather prolific Dave Smith Instruments, the 8-voices analogue wonder that is the Prophet 08…
First thing that should actually be said is that the Prophet 08 isn’t meant to be a recreation of the Prophet 5. Hence the name. I’d like to be nice about it, but the truth here is that online comments about how the Prophet 08 isn’t a Prophet 5 are badly misguided, if not completely stupid. They’re tantamount to criticize the Oberheim Xpander from not being, say, an OBX. It’s a brand new synth for 2008. Now, is it indeed a true Prophet or not? Well, on the one hand I do think it is, but on the other hand I’m not really sure that I give a damn anyway because it sounds fantastic in its own right and comments like “I just played some Prophet 08 presets in a shop this afternoon and it’s not like a Prophet 5” make me, if not mad, at least slightly out of balance.

That said, whether it's the good synth for you or not is matter of personal taste. Some people seem to think its sound it's too thin. I do believe it's rich and musical (possibly light on the low-end on pad sounds, but that's actually a bonus in my book, since it usually fits better in the mix for that very reason). Not all analogues need to be gritty... some, like the aforementioned Xpander, are smooth and sophisticated. The Prophet 08 fits in that category, while still being able of nasty, snappy sounds. In any case, it wouldn't be the first analogue gear to be found unimpressive by early "specialists", then to be considered a classic...

But enough with the geekery and to the point…
The synth is well-built, lighter than most polysynths, especially analogue. It is unfortunate that the power supply be a wall wart, but other than that, it feels like a serious piece of gear. The interface is clean and well thought, with solid knobs – note here that they are very sensitive, and endless rotary, something I don’t care much for since it prevents you from acknowledging the parameters of a sound at sight.

audio example 1
audio example 2
audio example 3

Sound-wise, what we’ve got here are 8 voices of good analogue signal, with a very sophisticated modulation system. More precisely, its analogue oscillators are digitally controlled, which ensures a very stable tuning while a special “slop” function takes care of the random drift we’re bound to expect. The result is most satisfying, and can be best described in good Trekkian fashion as “the best of both worlds” (and I promised myself I wouldn’t geek it up again…). You won’t get crazy over the oscillators going haywire at random, but at the same time the Prophet 08 sounds reasonably “sloppy”, as in “analogue sloppy”, not “G. W. Bush sloppy” (all right, all right, that was an easy one…).

audio example 4
audio example 5
audio example 6

The Prophet 08 sound can be rich and smooth, even creamy, or – especially if you push the Audio Mod knob up – gritty and mean. The Prophet 08 makes excellent use of the stereo field too (you can “pan spread” the sound so that the voices are played alternatively on both sides, which can also be linked to the LFO), and the keyboard lets you control the sound with subtlety and character. Furthermore, each patch comprises two layers A and B, which can be stacked or splitfor deeper, more interesting sounds.

audio example 7
audio example 8
audio example 9
audio example 10

Now, the shortcomings… First, while the low-pass filter can be set to 4 or 2 poles, it stands a bit lonely in there. A bandpass filter would have been nice too, and so would have been a sub-oscillator, in order to beef up some sounds, but then again, stacking up 2 or 3 Prophet 08 parts will already fill up much space in your mix without the single sounds having to be too thick. Furthermore, patches can be split on the keyboard, or stacked, and the unison mode guarantees you won’t have to worry about getting powerful leads.

Another minor bit of criticism, there’s an arpeggiator all right, and I’m always fond of that, but it doesn’t have a random mode. I don’t understand why, but I would qualify this as minor, because it can still be addressed in a further OS update. There’s also a primitive sequencer, useful to work out some grooves and complex sounds, but it’s a gated one, meaning that you have to press a note (or send one by MIDI to the synth) to make it work. Here again, I don’t quite understand the rationale behind that decision, but I guess I can live with it. More importantly, you can’t process external sound through the filter. That’s always a neat trick and it’s a shame the Prophet 08 is lacking it.

Overrall, the Prophet 08 is a great synthesizer, which should probably be preferred to most virtual analog synth in the same price bracket, especially if you go for the rack module. It’s not a workstation, and arguably it ain't the most complete polyphonic synth, but in a way, that's beside the point. The Prophet 08 is an instrument with its limitations, and there’s vast amounts of character and musicality here. It's complex enough to be versatile and thrilling to experiment with, but at the same time, elegant and straightforward, an instrument for musicians who don't care for fumbling through zillions of options and want something to play music with.

Some noise and FX
Some noise and FX, the sequel

Useful links

http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/products/p8/index.php

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb08/articles/dsiprophet08.htm

http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/dave-smith-instruments/Dec-07/32707

http://remixmag.com/gear/reviews/remix_dave_smith_instruments_2/

http://www.musicplayers.com/reviews/keyboard/2008/0308_DSI_Prophet08.php

http://emusician.com/elecinstruments/dave_smith_prophet08/

http://web.mac.com/mwalthius/Site/Videos.html

http://prophet5.org/

Specifications (from DSI's site)

5-octave keyboard with semi-weighted action, velocity, and aftertouch.
Spring-loaded pitch wheel and assignable mod wheel.
256 fully editable Programs (2 banks of 128) with 2 Layers (2 separate sounds) in each Program.16 x 4 gated step sequencer.
Arpeggiator.
2 digitally controlled analog oscillators (DCOs) per voice with selectable sawtooth, triangle, saw/triangle mix, and pulse waves (with pulse-width modulation), and hard sync.
White noise generator.
1 Analog Curtis low-pass filter per voice, selectable 2- and 4-pole operation (self-resonating in 4-pole mode).
3 Envelope Generators: filter, VCA, and assignable (four-stage ADSR + delay); Envelope 3 can loop.
4 LFOs.
Glide (portamento): separate rates per oscillator.
Analog VCAs.
Dimensions: 12.1" (30.73 cm) W x 34.8" (88.39 cm) L x 3.875" (9.84 cm) H (2.25" at front edge; the feet account for 0.25" of the total height).
Weight: ~22 lbs. (9.98 kg).
Ins and Outs.MIDI In, Out, Thru, and Poly Chain.Main stereo audio output: 1/4" unbalanced.Output B stereo audio output: 1/4" unbalanced.Sustain pedal input: accepts normally on or normally off momentary footswitch.Pedal/CV input: responds to expression pedals or control voltages ranging from 0 to 5 VDC (protected against higher or negative voltages).Headphone output: 1/4" stereo phone jack.

Dolls (dissected)

A simple asian tune

After programming a vintage beat, I improvised the basic idea on the Wavestation : http://khoralnet2.free.fr/blog/Dolls-WS1.mp3

Then some more Wavestation : http://khoralnet2.free.fr/blog/Dolls-WS2.mp3

http://khoralnet2.free.fr/blog/Dolls-WS3.mp3

And Prophet 08 leads : http://khoralnet2.free.fr/blog/Dolls-prophet1.mp3

http://khoralnet2.free.fr/blog/Dolls-prophet2.mp3

After adding a Moog bass drone, here's the final result : http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mjkxyvjjfwj

There you are!

Second Hand Sequence

I've got two songs on this great cover compilation.
The label is Bitkins and you may get the CDR or MP3s here

I did covers of Springsteen's State Trooper, from the 1982 Nebraska album, and Captain Hook, a John Cale rarity from the live Sabotage album, 1979.

What's Sarah Palin stance on analog gear again?

So, once upon a time there came analog synthesizers...

They were warm and funky, but they also ran on voltage-controlled leprechauns which made them unpredictable and generally prone to detune like if there was nothing that would make them happier than watching you hit your head on the floor in disgust after an afternoon spent trying to record a 4 parts harmony with a constantly drifting monophonic Arp Soloist (which incidentally caused Donald Fagen from Steely Dan to throw the instrument down the studio stairs and kick it viciously before setting it on fire).

Some were big, and I mean suspiciously big, and you could contact aliens with them.

(Young Mister Spielberg fiddles with an Arp 2500 synthesizer)

Others had funny names, like Multimoog.

After a while, the musicians got bored with the analogness and craved for new sounds and synths that wouldn't humiliate you in the middle of a lifetime's keyboard solo by going totally out of tune, Schönberg-style. The mere idea of an analog oscillator made them cry, at that point.

The new instruments had crazy names like D50, M1, or EPS.

They looked clean and slick and mysterious and Japanese.

They had microprocessors and digital thingies that would magically produce sounds out of ones and zeroes.

You could do a whole bunch of nice sounds you couldn't do before, but they also sounded stiffer, and thinner, and stiffer again. Oh, they were stiff all right.

Then the musicians got bored again and wanted some sort of X-Filesque hybrids, without the suffocating green blood, but with some analog character. Virtuality was big in those days, so the new instruments were virtual analog...

Some were hardware and some were software, but they were all digital synths dressed in their analog brothers' clothes.

Then the real analog synthesizers came back as well, with new models and spacey names, like Andromeda.

The circle was full and that sort of things.

But now we ask ourselves, is virtual that virtual? Is reality really real? Is Sarah Palin really real, for that matter?

Here's what I think :

1) You can do good music with virtual analog and bad music with real analog

2) When comparing two isolated sounds, it can be hard to tell some really accurate virtual analog from the real thing

3) When you pile up tracks of real analog, it sounds a lot better than the same thing done with virtual analog, and that has to do with the imperfection of analog technology : the subtle drift of the tuning, the various quirks and oddities of that old school circuitry.

4) Either Sarah Palin is unreal, or I am unreal. Or maybe we're all part of Sarah Palin's dream. In all cases, I probably shouldn't have eaten all that raw fish.

To illustrate my point, here's the same song, from the oh-so-unreleased "Strawberry Blonde" album.

It's the intro and first verse, without the vocals.

I first recorded it last year using virtual analog (hardware and software)

http://khoralnet2.free.fr/blog/Drowsiness-VA.mp3

I've recorded it again this year using analog gear

http://khoralnet2.free.fr/blog/Drowsiness-A.mp3

The mixing is better, that's a point, but further than that, it's clear that the same music played with real analog sounds fuller, richer, well, nicer!

And that's the end of that chapter.

Korg Wavestation

The Wavestation is a great digital beast from 1990. I bought mine second-hand for 215€, which is a good deal considering the sonic qualities of that synth.

The Wavestation is indeed a nice piece of gear, with a reassuringly solid built (metal was used rather than plastic). Two points that should be looked closer if you consider buying one are the LCD brightness (it had a tendency to fade with the years, and can't easily be replaced (you can see on the pics that my own second-hand Wavestation has a very dimly lit screen) and the lithium battery (see here for details). It's a machine of respectable dimensions, and if you're already running out of space, the rack versions (Wavestation A/D and Wavestation SR, each one adding new features) or the software version (Korg Legacy) might be better choices.

hi-res photo

So... what about it?
At first glimpse, the Wavestation suffers from the infamous "80’s interface" bug…. No knobs, but a LCD screen and some buttons. It sure looks slick, but what about programming? Well, I would certainly prefer a vintagish array of knobs to control the parameters in real time, but as digital synth design goes, I've seen worse than the Wavestation. The screen, after all, is quite big and although fumbling through menus and sub-menus isn't the most practical way to tweak the sound, everything is laid logically enough and with a little practice (because the manual is very thin), programming becomes somewhat easier. While the factory presets are decent (including the cool Mini Lead patch used by Tony Banks on "Fading Lights"), the Wavestation isn't a preset machine, but a real synth with vast programming capabilities.

audio example 1
audio example 2
audio example 3

This synth works with "performances", which are combinations of patches, each one able to stack up to 4 oscillators. That allows for very complex sounds, bearing in mind that the Wavestation is a vector synthesis synth, allowing the player to "move" inside the sound with a joystick (Dave Smith brought this to Yamaha and Korg from the ill-fated Prophet VS - my first synth was a Yamaha SY35, one of these surprinsingly rare vector synths). Toying around with the juxtaposition of patches, their respective envelopes, the split keyboard mode and the vector joystick is a perfect way to create rich, sophisticated, highly evolving sounds and landscapes.

audio example 4
audio example 5
audio example 6

This alone would grant you interesting creations, but the Wavestation has one more trick up its sleeve : wave sequencing. Simply put, it's a way of chaining waveforms in order to produce a rhythmic/melodic sequence (see pic below) that can then be supplemented with other patches, in unison or split mode. You can for example program a sequence for the left hand, juxtaposed with a bass sound, and a lead patch on the right hand, itself enriched by a pad… If programming a wave sequence will surely prove too scientific and tricky for most users, you can always tweak up an existing one by editing its waveforms and their duration, pitch, etc…... Of course, the overall effect is so distinctive that you can’t really use wave sequences that often in finished songs, but it's still a very fun way to experiment, improvise and try out ideas.

The Wavestation's main flaw, unarguably, is the lack of a proper filter. What we've got here is a digital non-resonant low-pass filter that doesn’t do much to shape the sound. This is really a pity, as we can but imagine how great the machine would have been with a good one, not even mentioning some bandpass, hi-pass or more exotic capabilities. Or even better, a combination of digital synthesis and analog filter, like what could be found on the Ensoniq SQ80. This serious issue forbids that the Wavestation produce any of the warm, smooth sounds of a D50, for instance, and explains why it excels in lush, but somewhat icy atmospheric pads and FX.
One final word about the built-in effects...… Like many digital synths, the Wavestation tends to rely heavily on them to make up for the relative weakness of its sound compared to that of an analogue polyphonic instrument. The effects supplied here are quite good, but I would definitely advise in most cases to turn at least the reverb off. This has a very metallic, harsh sound that needlessly contribute to the coldness of the sound. On the following audio example, a wave sequence is played, first with the built-in reverb the patch was created with, then with a VST hall reverb.

audio example 7

As you can hear, while the Wavestation's reverb provide for a peculiar ambience, it can prove difficult to make the whole patch work in the context of a whole mix. That’s why it might be a good idea to record the synth dry, even if it sounds a bit shallow at first, and then use a mellower, lighter reverb.

Useful links

http://www.danphillips.com/wavestation/index.htm

http://www.seriously-productions.freeserve.co.uk/wavestation/

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun02/articles/wavestationtips.asp

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994_articles/dec94/wavestationtips.html

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/jan95/wavestationtips.html

http://www.music4moment.com/Stan/music/ws-tips.htmlhttp://www.korguksupport.co.uk/page.cfm?pageid=392

That's all folks

Man is the Warmest Place to Hide

The man with the moustache is John Carpenter.

He has a nice moustache and he's quite a film maker as well, but he's also a damn great musician and synth aficionado...

I'm mostly fond of his late 70s/early 80s soundtracks, what with the vintagish gear and reverby drum machines...

If you aren't familiar with the work, I strongly suggest you go listen to the Halloween and Fog OSTs, and I positively order that you listen to the 1976 Attack on Precinct 13 (all right, here's the main theme, between you and me, http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nznjonegqxi and yes, it's the Bomb the Bass sample)

The man has used a variety of classic instruments, most notably, and I'm so totally not-exhaustive :

Prophets 5 and 10 (Choice of the Year 1980 for HoboSynth Magazine)

Arp Quadra (notice that this particular synth has also been used by another famously moustached man) (but also Tony Banks from Genesis, which to the best of my knowledge has always been moustacheless)

Oberheim DMX (an excellent digital drum machine which I think he actually used, although I can't seem to find the exact reference now, so really you'll have to take my word on it... I mean, the wikipedia page doesn't mention him as a user but who you gonna believe, wikipedia or me? I mean, come on)

Arp Avatar (stolen from the gods of the keyboard bestowed on the disciples of the guitar, a legend that never made any sense to me)

So, in tribute to our man John and all the hellish moustaches of the underworld, here's a little instrumental track I did last Halloween.

It's basically Prophet 08 and Wavestation...
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ygnjlyjnkji

That's all folks

Moog Little Phatty

As a first review, this great analog synthesizer from Moog Music... hi-res pics, original audio examples and useful links....

The Little Phatty is an analogue monophonic synth with 2 oscillators and the classic Moog filter.
I won’t get into the detailed specifications, but let’s just say that all the usual basic functions are there, plus the very useful Overload knob, that helps you create a most musical and warm overdrive.

hi-res photo 1

hi-res photo 2

hi-res photo 3

It’s a 100% analog signal path, but you get some of the comfort a 2008 keyboardist might expect : MIDI and patch storage obviously (it was before Moog Music got into the unhealthy retro fetishism that produced the Voyager Old School), but also a very useful auto-calibration routine.

So… what about it?
It’s a superb instrument for sure. First, it’s a nice, solid piece of gear, with a lovely design. That may be kinda anecdotal, but that’s one point where hardware is superior to software as far as I’m concerned. Just watching that Moog thing makes me want to play it and create something and I very rarely get that feeling watching my switched-off computer. But more importantly, it sounds great. Interestingly, the oscillator section allows you to move in a continuous fashion from waveform to waveform, instead of switching from a fixed one to the other. The filter is the classic low-pass 24db that defines the Moog sound, but as a good surprise, it can be set in the OS menu to 1, 2, 3 or 4 poles. Note also that external audio can be fed into the Little Phatty, which is a very smart move. Just plug your digital drum machine on the synth input, put the oscillators' volume to zero and your dull lifeless beat magically transforms into groovy vintage perfection (okay, maybe not, but it's an effective trick in a lot of cases!). Sure, it ain’t the most versatile synth on the market. It’s a monophonic all right, suited for huge basses and soaring leads, but you won’t get the variety of sounds of the more expansive Minimoog neither... Nonetheless, the Little Phatty stands as a very useful addition to any studio, especially a computer-based one.

Moogbasse1.mp3

Moogbasse2.mp3

I won’t indulge here into the current analogue fixation. After all, you can produce absolute crap with the finest analogue gear (I’m not about naming names, I’m a gentle person, but as I write this I’m thinking about the solo album of a guy whose first name is Roger and who has a band that ends in Cookbook) and I love digital sounds as well. I’m also one of those who find tiresome the blind zealotry of a lot of people on all things Moog. Mind you, there were other great manufacturers in the past, and other visionaries (what about Thomas Oberheim, Dave Smith, Vogel&Ryrie, Mario Maggi, and the obscure people behind such CS80s or PS-3100s...). I love the Little Phatty, I would sure love a Minimoog Voyager if I could afford it, but on the other hand, let’s face it, the innovative days of Moog hark back to the 70’s (no, a MIDI-less, patch-less Minimoog replica ISN’T innovative, or else I’m really confused about the definition of common words like INNOVATION) and the cult of personality, may it be the good Dr Moog, isn’t my thing either.

Mooglead1.mp3

Mooglead2.mp3

Mooglead3.mp3

All that said, there’s something about a real analogue instrument that can’t be emulated easily… not every sound needs to be FAT (oh yeah, I’m also dead tired about FATNESS), but there’s something about the depth, warmth and musicality of a true analogue mono synth that makes wonders in an otherwise digital mix. Layering lead sounds is magical and just adding a Little Phatty bass line can alter dramatically a song, giving it a lot more weight without being overwhelming.

In conclusion, the Little Phatty may be something of a luxury. After all, you can get a Prophet 08 rack for approximately the same price, that is, 8 voices of analogue sweetness, but what you wouldn't get... is a Moog! It's truly something to switch the bastard on and automatically get that magical Moog tone. That's why the synth is worth every cent if you’re wanting to add the unmistakable Moog flavor in your mixes.

Mooglead4.mp3

Mooglead5.mp3

Mooglead6.mp3

Useful links

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov06/articles/phatty.htm

http://emusician.com/elecinstruments/emusic_moog_music_little_phatty/

http://remixmag.com/tech/studio_tools/remix_moog_music_little/

http://www.moogmusic.com/manuals/FM0806%20scrn.pdf

First post!

A word about this blog...
This is not a "best of links of the world wide web" blog but it's not a blog about my fascinating opinions on politics or the new Lost season (not that I would care anyway)...
I am a musician (check out my main site http://www.khoral.net/ for downloads and CDs) and this is my blog.
Here I will talk about music-making, post some gear reviews and sonic experiments, discuss synth-related news and showcase work-in-progress songs and so on...
I will also post on design, photos and videos.
So welcome, and hope you'll enjoy!