Another in my series of live studio jams. The idea being to capture the raw groove of a song in realtime. All these songs will be further edited, overdubbed and generally mangled to form either an EP or an album, but I thought it would be interesting to post the initial song sketch as it happened.

This is also the first video to feature the Dave Smith Tempest drum machine, not in a huge capacity, but the real analogue drums really add something.

Dave Smith Tempest: Drums (through 1176 compressor)
Korg ER-1: Drums
Moog Little Phatty: Epic bass!
DSI Evolver: Melody 1
Suzuki SX-500: Melody 2
Eurorack Modular: Bleepy melody
Eventide Space: Reverb
Eventide TimeFactor: Delay
Kurzweil Mangler: Distortion

All recorded via the Soundtracs Topaz to Presonus Studio One. Some minor tweaks and a couple of edits after recording.

Another live jam from the lab.

Korg ER-1: Drums (through 1176 compressor)
Moog Little Phatty: Bass
Suzuki SX-500: Melody 1
Yamaha TG-33: Melody 2
DSI Evolver: Melody 3
Eurorack Modular: Crazy blip sequences
Eventide Space: Reverb
Eventide TimeFactor: Delay
Kurzweil Mangler: Big dubby falling delay

All recorded via the Soundtracs Topaz to Presonus Studio One. Some minor tweaks and a couple of edits after recording.

I still haven’t found a better camera angle.

Getting away from the Mac/PC to make music is a joy. In the last year or so I’ve been making gear purchases with the goal of writing electronic music ‘live’, with the computer doing nothing except acting as a glorified tape recorder. The whole rig is based around a Sequentix P3 sequencer which provides a gloriously stable midi clock as well as midi sequences. The nice thing about the P3 is it can do generative sequencing in quite a controlled manner, which suits my repetitive yet evolving music style.

My various synths and effect boxes are hooked up to a Soundtracs Topaz 24 track mixer, which allows me to do dub-style ‘playing the mixer’, riding faders and jamming with effects sends, feedback loops etc. The cast list is pretty much this:

- Sequentix P3
- Suzuki SX-500 (poly analog)
- Kurzweil PC3
- Moog Little Phatty
- Dave Smith Evolver
- Eurorack Modular
- Korg ER-1
- Kurzweil Mangler
- Eventide TimeFactor
- Eventide Space
- hand built dual 1176 compressor clone
- Golden Age Pre-73 Mic pre-amp

The video is really my first attempt at using all this together and performing a song live. It uses pretty much everything on the list above except the Kurzweil PC3 and the Evolver. The modular is doing the melody, the ER1 is on drums (going through the Pre-73 and the 1176 to give it some balls), the SX500 is doing chords and the Moog I play live. The Eventide Space is doing all the reverb work. I used Presonus’s Studio One 2 to record everything to separate audio tracks and then did some basic mix tweaking. No additional effects were used. I’m new to Studio One and I’m impressed so far, I haven’t had to look at the manual once, which means they got it right. It also feels solid and hasn’t crashed once.

This experiment was proof of concept really, I have a Dave Smith Tempest on the way which will make drum performances a lot more fun and dynamic. I also need to use Parts on the Sequentix more in order to make more structured changes in the song progression. A better camera angle might not go amiss either.

Expect more live jams soon :)

I’ve been listening to a lot of old rave tunes lately, and for a long time I’ve been thinking it might be fun to write one. To make it more interesting, I used only one bit of software, FXpansion’s Geist. No host, no other plugins, no hardware.

Geist is the perfect sampler for this. It’s not unlike using an MPC in terms of features and workflow and a fair few rave tunes were written with them back in the day, along with trackers and Atari STs, neither of which I have access to or any desire to meddle with ever again.

So without further ado, and with tongue firmly in cheek, here is the result:

Because I’m feeling the old skool love, here is the Geist preset for this tune. It will even load in the demo version. Now, I’m off to find my white gloves and whistle…

My new EP is out. Available only through bandcamp. Four tracks of post apocalyptic breaks, rave, dub, dubstep and analogue modular synthesis. Pay what you like. Click on the artwork to download or purchase.

D.R.O.I.D. EP. by Rozzer

A few weeks ago a friend gave me this curious looking box. A Suzuki synthesizer? Surely not.

A google search turned up very little, except a page at Hollow Sun. Essentially the Suzuki SX500 is a rebadged Siel EX80 which in turn was a copy of the Korg EX800.

Here’s what we know. There are two DCOs offering sawtooth and square waveforms (the square waveform can mix up to 4 octaves of square waves together). There is an analogue 24db Low Pass Filter (SSM Filter IC). Two amp envelopes (yes two!), filter envelope, two LFOs (hardwired to osc pitch and filter frequency), chorus effect and a basic record/playback sequencer.

Unfortunately it’s not a true polyphonic synth. It’s paraphonic, meaning that there is only one filter and amp for all 8 voices (actually there are two amps for a slightly odd ‘double’ mode which gives 2 x 4 voices with an interval setting for detuning the 2nd set of voices).

Here’s a quick demo I knocked up. It’s raw SX500 except for some delay (even the best analogue synths can sound a bit lifeless without effects). I think it sounds rather fine!

Suzuki SX500 / Siel EX80 Demo by Rozzer

Apparently when the unit was shipped, the SSM filter chip was tweaked to tame its resonance. Presumably the engineers believed that extreme resonance settings weren’t good for realistic sounds, which is clearly what this was aimed at (check out the list of preset patches printed on the top of the unit). Luckily there is a pot which can be tweaked inside which will restore the SSM chip to it’s screaming former glory. More details on the pot tweak here.

One of the nice aspects of the unit is that every parameter is controllable via midi cc#. This gives a good opportunity for control via your DAW. I knocked up a controller for Ableton Max For Live, which if nothing else, should give you a good idea of all the parameter the synth has to offer. Download the SX500 / ES80 controller.

Overall the SX500 / EX80 is far from perfect. The envelopes are really slow, the oscillators are limited in waveforms, it’s not truly polyphonic and some of the features are esoteric by todays standards but it has a definite charm. I think if you can find one, they can be had for very reasonable prices. Definitely worth a punt.

Ok, it been a few weeks so I feel I can safely express my opinion on the Phatty without coming across like it’s the best thing on the planet five minutes after unboxing it (a common phenomenon of synth forums).

Being of a generally positive persuasion, I’ll start with my likes:

The interface
This is probably the LP’s greatest achievement. Despite having only 4 knobs, you don’t feel like you are playing with a compromised set of controls. Just about any parameter can be accessed with a push button, which changes the focus of the knob above it. The knobs are large and feel smooth although they do wobble a bit more than I had expected.
A nice touch is that the four parameters which have focus on the knobs are saved with the preset, so you can setup appropriate performance parameters per preset.

The Envelopes
So many synths have unmusical envelopes. They’re either slow or too linear. Bob Moog seemed to understand the importance of a good envelope – tight and snappy when they need to be.

The Sound
OK, this is a given. You buy a Moog, you get the Moog sound. I was pleasantly surprised by how grungy the sound can get by using the Filter’s overdrive. Having played with a Moog Voyager a few times, the Little Phatty seems ruder somehow, more grungy and in-your-face and I like that. The low end is extremely solid and seems to fit into a mix without too much EQ or other processing.

Now for the less positive stuff:

It’s Limited
Yes, I knew this when I bought it but it’s worth pointing out. You can only apply a single modulation source to up to two destinations. Modulation only applies when the modwheel is raised. There is only one filter type, one LFO and no noise source, although you can use noise as a modulation source. Compared to say, a Dave Smith Evolver Keyboard which is a similarly priced analogue mono-synth, the Moog seems light on features. The Evolver will give you 4 oscillators, 4 LFOs, 4 sequencers and a huge list of modulation sources and destinations. This is probably the most important factor to weigh up when considering a purchase. The Moog will give you that sound but another synth might give you a broader palette. I’m in a lucky enough position to own both the Evolver Keyboard and the Little Phatty, but if you only have funds for one, then think about it carefully.

Build Quality
It’s not a huge problem, but I was surprised to find a bit of wobble in those nice big knobs. I feel like they would break if knocked with reasonable force. At the Little Phatty’s price pont I wasn’t expecting that.

No Aftertouch
I prefer to use aftertouch over mod wheel for expression and it’s a shame the Little Phatty doesn’t support it.

In Summary
Overall, I think the Little Phatty is a fine instrument. It’s great for classic style bass and lead sounds and you can push it into crazy territory with a little programming. It’s ergonomics are wonderful and it plays like a real instrument. It doesn’t have as many bells and whistles as some of the competition, but what it does do, it does with style. If you know you like the sound and you want a well designed, eminently playable instrument, then the Little Phatty is hard to overlook.

Here is a short demo mainly showing the modulation capabilities of the LFO when pushed into audio rates. If you want more traditional Moog sounds played by a musician infinitely more talented than I, check out Jordan Rudess’s Little Phatty tutorials.

Moog Little Phatty Drone by Rozzer

My first Moog.

It seems to me that every synth geek worth his salt should at least have owned one once. For the past 5 years or so I’ve relied on a Studio Electronics ATC1 for analog bass tones but one thing always bothered my about it. The envelopes are sluggish and as such its not possible to get really snappy bass sequences. So I’ve replaced the ATC with the LP in the hope that the classic Moog bass I’ve read so much about will do the job.

In truth I’ve no idea if it will. I have high expectations, as one might of such a revered brand. I’ve heard enough Moog recordings in my life to know what to expect sonically, but whether the LP and I will gel remains to be seen. At the very least I’m expecting *that* sound, high build quality, and oodles of playability. I’m hoping for a few pleasant surprises beyond that too.

Expect a fully fledged synth geek review soon. I’m off to pretend I’m Rick Wakeman, at least for the 20 minutes before my fingers get tired and I switch to using a sequencer.

The major source of fun is the vector joystick, with which you can create evolving sounds that go from crunchy 12bit samples to clean sparkly FM tones. It’s no powerhouse however, the FM is limited, there are no filters and the onboard effects are extremely limited. I don’t mind any of that, in fact I think its charm is born from its limitations and as a result, it’s pretty easy to program.

This piece was recorded in 3 takes. Everything you hear is from the TG33. The note sequences were programmed in a Sequentix P3 sequencer and looped. The development of sound is caused entirely by twiddling the TG33′s joystick and sometimes changing waverom and FM algorithms on the fly. The three takes (one drone and two melodic sequences) were then layered up in Ableton Live and some delay was added just for ambience.

The TG33 is a great little synth, and can be found for almost silly prices.

Gosh, I’ve been so preposterously busy lately. There are so many things happening at once, many of which I can’t talk about just yet, but all of which are very exciting.

Here’s one thing I can finally talk about though. I have an article in this months Sound on Sound (October 2010 issue) on programming drums. If you’re a user of BFD, Superior Drums, Addictive Drums or any other modern drum sample library and struggle to program your own drum tracks then check it out, and if you have an eSub you can read the full article here.