Work in Progress : Slow Exposure

Another collaboration with Aurélie on vocals and bass guitar.

This will be part of a 5-track EP coming up this summer.

Lots of Moog Sub37 tracks, some Prophet 08 arpeggios, a good deal of Gforce M-Tron Pro and Virtual String Machine sounds.

Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)

Joy Division cover, live in studio.
DSI Tempest
Moog Little Phatty
Korg Volca Keys
MS20 Mini
Gforce Virtual String Machine

Demo : Virtual String Machine Expansion Pack

I am a big user of Gforce Software's Virtual String Machine plugin, which features a collection of synth strings instruments from the 70's and 80's.

So when an expansion pack comes along, here I am.

The expansion pack adds new instruments to the plugin, some very obscure (Clef Strings? Elektronika EM25?), some pretty famous (Polymoog's Vox Humana patch heard on many classic Gary Numan records, or the Yamaha GX1, an analog beast produced to 10 units or so, notably used by Stevie Wonder on "Village Ghetto Land" and "Pastime Paradise").

Virtual String Machine isn't just a sample player, it's a fully fledged synth, with dual filters, LFO, envelope, effects.
This is a very quick improvisation on some of the new instruments.

So you can use the new instruments as samples if you bypass the synth engine.

But you can also use them as new oscillators for the synth. Some of them are smooth and silky, others are grainy and gritty, nice variety of tones.

All strings from the VSM Expansion Pack.
Drums : Korg Volca through EHX Big Muff.
Leads : Moog Little Phatty

Clockwork Cities (Microkorg Vocoder)

Featuring the ever popular MicroMoorg
Bass&Lead : Moog Little Phatty
Drums : DSI Tempest
Strings : Gforce Virtual String Machine
Choir : Gforce M-Tron Pro w/ Chamberlin




In the clockwork city they all look the same
Everybody’s working and nobody knows your name
In the clockwork city they all look the same
Everybody’s working and nobody knows your name

In the clockwork city there’s no hope in vain
The heart of the wise in the house of mourning
In the clockwork city there’s no hope in vain
Everybody’s working and nobody knows your name

It’s a room full of toys and nothing’s for real
It’s a desolate place you can never leave
In the clockwork city you’ve nothing left to hide
In the clockwork city where things never die

In the clockwork city you know the game is fixed
How much you lose and how small you gain
All summer long I’ve been wasting my sorrow
All summer long broken and forlorn

Underneath

"She came to the river
To quench her thirst
To leave this all behind
And drown desire

We glance upon
The times we’ve known
Deep in her thoughts
She’s sinking down
We chance upon
The things we’ve done
Buried in sleep
And sinking down

We stare upon
The joy we’ve known
The forgotten scene
From a long lost film
We sigh upon
The things we’ve lost
Drowning the tears
And sinking down
We glance upon
The times we’ve known
Deep in her dreams
She’s sinking down"

Drums&Bass : DSI Tempest
Gforce M-Tron Pro, VSM

Cover du Jour : Song to the Siren

My favorite Buckley song, with "Phantasmagoria in Two".
I used Gforce VSM and M-Tron Pro Chambertron on this.

Remixing the Past : The Fortune Song

Final song remixed on the 2008 "Broken Sails" EP.
Mostly done with the Virtual String Machine from Gforce.

We are coming to grips
With the way things end
The pursuit of fortune
Is the pursuit of death
Empty the boat
Lighten the load
From the river to the sea
The ocean taught us
Things we don’t understand
The pursuit of fortune
Is the pursuit of death

There’ll be no spring
And we won’t harvest
The pursuit of fortune
Is the pursuit of death

Empty the boat
Lighten the load
From the river to the sea

We are coming to grips
With the way things end
The pursuit of fortune
Is the pursuit of death

Cover du Jour : Captain Hook (John Cale)

Rework of a song I did for a compilation some years ago for the Bitkins label.
Original song by John Cale, "Sabotage" album.
This was the inspiration for my "Broken Sails" EP
Lots of Prophet 08 and Moog.

Work in Progress : Last Night I Was a Ghost

New work on the upcoming "Crack-Up" album.

Miss Roxanne on vocals.

The outstanding DSI Tempest drum machine provided the basis for the song, and I've added lots of Moog Little Phatty and Prophet 08. Also featured, the new Chamberlin expansion for Gforce M-Tron Pro.

Work in Progress : Last Night I Was a Ghost par khoral_kmore

Cover du Jour : State Trooper

This is actually a remake of a Springsteen cover song done a couple of years ago.
Still lots of Moog and Gforce VSM, but I also added Roland JX3P pad and strings, new vocals and better mix.

Download MP3

State Trooper by khoral

One Year in Atari

New instrumental track.

This was mostly done on the Prophet 08 and Moog Little Phatty, with some Gforce Virtual String Machine pads.

One Year in Atari by khoral

The Soundtrack Life

Another ambient study for sci-fi film project "PEG".

Korg Wavestation and Prophet 08 (and some Gforce VSM at the end).

PEG Test 2

Hats Off to Gforce Software

Now here's what I call responsiveness : I've sent an email this morning to Gforce Software asking about the status of the expansion pack that was announced early on for the outstanding Virtual String Machine.

A mere two hours later, I've received word from Dave Spiers that the expansion pack is still in the works, thanks Jeebus, and will feature some historic stringey beauties such as the Roland VP330 and Yamaha GX-1.

The Virtual String Machine is to me the definitive, well, string machine emulation, providing instant 1970's/1980's string magic to any song. My own review is HERE.

Needless to say I'm a huge fan of Gforce's products, ever since I've bought their fantabulous Mellotron plugin, and I'll sure wait anxiously for more on the Virtual String Machine.

Gforce Software official site : http://www.gforcesoftware.com

Abe's New Video Game Score

So, I've been making some music for a fun iPhone game app...

More on the game later on when the music is implemented, but meanwhile let's hear how it goes.

I was asked by the game designer to do a "retro gaming" kind of soundtrack, which needless to say is right in my alley.

Oh, and I've been doing this with a Lincoln mask, as one would expect.

This is a medley of all music cues I did for the game.

0.00 to 0.40 : Game menu, mostly done with the Crumar Bit01.

0.40 to 2.32 : Game theme, with tons of Solina, Yamaha SS30, Oberheim Xpander samples courtesy of Gforce's Virtual String Machine, along with Moog and Prophet 08 leads.

2.32 to 4.02 : Faster game theme, again with the Virtual String Machine, a Moog lead and a Casio-like beat from my usual Drums Overkill plugin.

Ibloxs  by  khoral

Chasing Ghosts Preview : Korg Time

Another work-in-progress selection from the upcoming "Chasing Ghosts" EP, this time a combination of Korg Poly-800 and Gforce Virtual String Machine.

The Great Lost Sorrow Tune (Korg Poly-800 and Gforce VSM

Single du Jour : Who the Fuck are You

Ahoy, hoy!
I had a very good session with singer Roxanne on tuesday for the "Chasing Ghosts" EP (remember this post) (and she's the one who also sings on the "Strawberry Blonde" album, including this song).

Now, in between projects, here's a new song that don't fit anywhere musically, so let's just say it's a single.

Who the Fuck are You

This is an amnesiac tune.

Moog Little Phatty, Prophet 08, Roland Juno-1, Gforce VSM and M-Tron.

UPDATE : Mmmh, I have second thoughts about it... it's a bit slower than I had envisioned at first, I just might record a second version next week! Something faster, more intense, like George would say.

Riversongs EP... final track

And here's the complete zip

1 - City Island Walk
2 - Pigs and Rabbits, Suricates and Dolphins
3 - Green Tea Chocolate
4 - Nani wo kangae desu ka?
5 - Second Chance (Full Circle)
6 - The Snow Bride Song

It's a summer tinged work, 6 instrumental tracks with various moods, from lush ballads to little pop pieces, all wrapped in 1975 vintage attire.

Unearthing Oldies : fiddling with the Moog

I did this in the early days of Moog Little Phatty proud ownership, but never really developed it into a finished track...

Moog and Virtual String Machine.

Resonance

New free album : "Uniforms of Snow"

That's right, it's out there!

Download it at http://bitkins.com/releases/btkn007

You'll also soon be able to purchase a jewel CDR version from that site.

About the album itself, check out the release info or see the post below, I'll concentrate here on the instruments, since this blog is a lot about them...

"Uniforms of Snow" was mostly composed and recorded on the Microkorg.

I actually started to record it when I first got the Microkorg, and it's all over the place... for instance, you can hear its arpegiator on the intro to "Elder Things", and the middle part of "At Last, Leaving" is also all Microkorg lead lines.

Later on, when I purchased the Moog Little Phatty, I tried to deepen the overall sound with some analogue basses and leads (for a good example, the little counterpoint thing on the second half of "Albino I").

I used the Gforce M-tron, most notably on "Elder Things" and the female choir on "Song of Ghosts".

Then I bought the Gforce Virtual String Machine plugin, and replaced some of the early freeware string machines pads with better Solina, Eminent and the lot...

The final addition was the coda to "Kadath Onward", when the theme is reprised... that's an all Roland Juno-1 arrangement.

So in the end, it's a "setup in progress" album, and I considered for a moment re-recording it with my current studio, but decided against it, as it was too much trouble and would have altered the sound too much.

It's a very Microkorgey album... the little beast from Korg is responsible for most of the little thin retro sounds, that work quite good with the more solid Moog basses and the ambient strings of the Virtual String Machine.

New free EP : Broken Sails

The new EP is here!

It's called "Broken Sails (Life in a Sinking Ship)" and the whole zip with complete CD artwork is HERE

If you liked it, be sure to give me feedback here or by email to khoralnet[nospam]free.fr

Thematically, "Broken Sails" is about XIXth sea travel... not really a concept album, but it's subtitled "Life in a sinking ship" because that's pretty much what the songs are all about... a dark, intense trip to India, set on a broken ship...

I took inspiration from John Cale's song "Captain Hook", the epic but introspective tale I covered some time ago for a compilation, and of course, the Conrad novel which lends its name to the opening track.

Musically, we're in lush analogue pop territory, with rich, warm textures and vintage drum machines.

Looking back, the sound is evocative of Dennis Wilson's incredible "Pacific Ocean Blues" album, with its dense, intricate wall of sound, but also Devo's synth-pop ("Heart of Darkness"), Dylan and REM's folk classicism ("Broken Sails") and Peter Gabriel's organic soundscapes ("The Ghost of India Supreme", which borrows its name from "Captain Hook" lyrics).

It was essentially done with the Prophet 08 as main instrument... if you listen to tracks 1 or 4, for instance, that's pretty much the fantastic synth from Dave Smith Instruments all the way through...

Save for that... well, whenever you hear bass, that's the Moog Little Phatty...

The strings on "The Fortune Song" are Gforce Virtual String Machine and there's some Roland Alpha Juno-1 as well on the instrumental parts for this track.

The opening chords on "Empty the Boat" are Korg Wavestation.

[Update] : archive.org version