Upcoming Album : Saturday 7th August

New instrumental album "Upon a Sleepless River"will be released on www.bitkins.com next saturday 7th.

"Upon a Sleepless River" is a dense, dark, political, cinematographic album with moody piano improvisations, noise experiments and a mix of cold digital landscapes and searing analogue leads.
This is a work about victory in the XXth century, from Harry Truman to General McArthur, with Kurtz the European Son providing historical perspective.

1 - Harry S. Truman at Hiroshima
2 - The European Son
3 - Last Words of Mistah Kurtz
4 - A Remarkable Man
5 - McArthur visits Unit 731
6 - Upon a Sleepless River

Main instruments : Moog Little Phatty, Prophet 08, M-Tron, Korg Wavestation, Roland D50.

Track 5 "McArthur" is featured on short film "Cold Sweat".

Doepfer Dark Energy Patches

Some simple sounds programmed for the Doepfer Dark Energy.

All Stations I

All Stations II

Formant Drone

Mud Beat

Simply Bass

On the Go

I'll be gone on vacation for a couple of weeks, so in the meantime, I'll set up a selection of useful posts I did last years, including reviews, patch collections and some nice releases.

In the next days, I'll also post some Doepfer Dark Energy patch sheets, and a filter test for the Monotron.

As for today, I'll resume my doodling on the future "PEG" film project, trying to program some interesting, evolving sounds on the Prophet 08, that I might post as well later on.

A la THX

This is a mood study for film project "PEG" mentioned yesterday. It's a sketch in the style of THX 1138, to get a better idea of what could be done.

This particular experiment is somewhat too generic. I have to figure out for the real soundtrack what more exotic elements to add, while still retaining that ambient, atmospheric feel.

I used the Korg Wavestation, which is my main instrument for anything cold and mysterious, and the Doepfer Dark Energy for all bleeps, alarms, etc...

PEG Test 1

The Soundtrack Life

More sci-fi work, this time some ambient THX1138-style score for a Simon Dronet film, called "PEG".

I'll post tomorrow a sketch study I did for this future project, but meanwhile, the teaser.

"PEG" - Teaser 1 from Simon Dronet on Vimeo.

Coming Soon

Netlabel Bitkins is currently undergoing a big upgrade, but it looks like it's coming to fruition.

Which means my new instrumental album, "Upon a Sleepless River" will soon be released.

Check out previous post "Cold Sweat" for a preview.

Monotron Blues

All Monotron, with some Electro Harmonix pedals here and there.

Monotron Blues

PaleoFuture

A little improvisation...

The first half is one complex Prophet 08 patch.
The second half is one Crumar Bit01 patch.
Also Guitars and drum machine, and a Microkorg pad in the middle.

Download.

Cold Sweat

Fifth track off the upcoming "Upon a Sleepless River" album, "McArthur Visits Unit 731" is featured on this great short film by director Thomas Lesourd.

I am very pleased with the result and sure look forward collaborating again with him.

Cold Sweat from Thomas lesourd on Vimeo.

The Soundtrack Life

No song today, nor crazy electronic experimentation, but work on the soundtrack to a short sci-fi film by Mr Plaire.

Au programme : a moody, 2001-meets-Blade Runner orchestral piece of music, heavily relying on Gforce's new M-Tron Pro plugin... vintage violins, ultra-retro vibes and the deep, murky drone of the Wavestation.

More later on that, there's a lot of work still to do on my part.

Korg Monotron : First Impressions

Well, I had to get one, didn't I?

Possibly the smallest analog synthesizer ever (or so I guess). Nothing much to say, since it's a VERY simple toy-instrument. My first experiments mostly confirm what I thought from watching videos online.

1 : The filter, supposedly designed after the mythical MS-20, is an excellent one indeed, definitely on the mean, bright (but not harsh) side... The ability to process external audio is the Monotron's biggest asset.

2 : The ribbon controller is UNUSABLE, whether you use your fingers or a stylus. My deepest respect to the folks out there who manage to play a melody in tune on the Monotron. They are better people than I am.

3 : It's cheap and a lot of fun, especially if you plug it to a couple of guitar pedals.

Single du Jour : "Who the Fuck are You"

From the "Life on a Sinking Ship" album.

Who the Fuck are You by khoral

Single du Jour : "Colour of Bone"

The complete first song off the new "Life on a Sinking Ship" EP.

"Time marches on
Night sighs and days drown
And life is the colour of bone

When the day is done
You’re left on your own
You run away while things just slide down

Time marches on
Life is the colour of bone

Years out of reach
Shipwrecked and adrift
Sorrow’s getting older

That song you sung
When you were just a girl
Now tastes like dying summer

Time marches on
Life is the colour of bone

Sigh and drown and time shuts down
Trapped in the lost and found
Station to station and dust to dust
There’s a hole in our heart
Where the hours sink down

The days never end
But memories start to fade
The hours drift, and seconds stumble

When the path is dark
I guess you can’t go back
Back to where it began

Time marches on
Life is the colour of bone

There’s a hole in our heart
Where the years die down"

Colour of Bone by khoral

New EP : "Life on a Sinking Ship"

The follow-up to "Broken Sails" is released!

This is a 7-songs, pop electro EP.

It is available today as a CDR (with iTunes and Deezer releases to follow).

Price : 6€ (shipping not included).

To place an order, email me at khoralnet[nospam]free.fr.

1 - Colour of Bone

2 - Who the Fuck are You

3 - Life on a Sinking Ship

4 - In the Clockwork City part.1

5 - Opium Spider

6 - In the Clockwork City part.2

7 - Machines are your Friends

Colour of Bone (Preview) by khoral

Who the Fuck are You (Preview) by khoral

Life on a sinking ship (Preview) by khoral

In the Clockwork City part.1 (Preview) by khoral

Opium Spider (Preview) by khoral

In the Clockwork City part.2 (Preview) by khoral

Machines are your Friends (Preview) by khoral