Voyager XL+Friends Experimental ambient IDM Improv

[JoshInTheBox]

Hi, I haven not been active on this forum in quite some time. I am happy to be back!

this was recorded in 4 continuous passes.

Gear used:
MiniMoog Voyager XL
DSI Tempest
Metasonix wretch machine
Metasonix TX-1 agonizer SE
2 cascaded diy buchla music easel timber circuits (In the mix insert on the voyager!)
Moog mf-104 delay
Moog control voltage processor
PAX

https://soundcloud.com/quantummechanakillwave/buddhar

Listen through decent speakers if possible.

I will be whittling this down to its more coherent parts and will publish a final version very soon.

Give me feedback! Positive or negative!

[JoshInTheBox]

Well, I was hoping for some feedback from the Moog community. I will work on it, I guess..

[Vsyevolod]

I listened to it when you first posted it but got caught up in other things...

Very nice work, especially the drum processing/mixing. I like how certain drum sounds seem muted and distant whilst others pop out at you.

It seems like the drum sounds are the lead voice in this context. Everything else is in a supporting role. I can't differentiate which synth is doing what, though it doesn't seem necessary to do so.

I'd love to hear any comments you have on how you came up with these drum sounds and how you processed and mixed them. Is it one track of drum sounds or did you do several takes?

Stephen




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[JoshInTheBox]

Hi,

Thank you for the feedback!

The drums were created using The Dave smith tempest. Each of the 6 drum voice has 2 analog oscillators, 2 digital oscillators, an analog low pass filter, analog high pass filter, an analog vca (with feedback), 2 lfo's, 8 modulation busses and 4 performance controllers. I preprogrammed a few drum sequences, and gave them all different filter settings. I used modulation on the filter settings for each drum sound to evolve them over time. Then I improvised editing, morphing, remixing, stuttering and destroying the drum patterns while modifying them sonically.

The synths: the background noise that sounds like the ghosts of robotic dinosaurs is the wretch machine through the agonizer. The higher frequency synth sound is an analog musing that I created on the tempest (it doubles as a 6-voice polyphonic analog synth). Finally, the bass synth is the voyager xl (with the buchla timbre modules in the mix insert, as well as some filter feedback dialed in).

This was an exercise in improvisation. I left it completely unedited. this was the raw output. I just wanted to see what would happen if I hit record without any planning past the sound design stage. I left all of the mistakes that were made, and layered more sounds on top in the same manner.

I plan to edit it in the future to be a more tangible (and much shorter) work. Some of my mistakes became new serendipitous motifs that will end up being the main theme. I have a tendency to over think things, so this is an effort to break away from that; To show myself that this is the worst that can happen. I have already gotten some bad feedback, and it actually made me feel better for some reason. Some guy asked my why I bought a voyager and said that it was 8 minutes of nothing. Maybe it just reminded me that I am doing it for only my own enjoyment.

[warby]

Awesome! Those drums are the nuts, you've created a really nice wide and lush sound there.

I used to make tunes like that, being heavily influenced by Aphex Twin and Squarepusher et al. My suggestion...hmm...overdub some crazy acid 303 style lines from the Voyager through some distortion! I take it you don't mind using a sequencer?

[JoshInTheBox]

Thanks Warby!

Hmm.. I have an Oberkorn and a couple of sequential switches that I can fire up. Let me see what I can come up with!

Thanks for the idea!

[namahshaman]

Excellent work.

I love the analog timbres, especially the glitchy drums. Very cool for an improv synth jam.

I'm interested to see what you do in the editing process. Also, incredible list of gear...just the tiniest bit jealous, haha.

Keep us posted.

[JoshInTheBox]

Thanks!

I am experimenting with the oberkorn, the voyager xl+the timbre modules(Buchla clone). I am getting some cool stuff, but haven't yet found exactly what I am looking for. I will keep working!

[Vsyevolod]

Cool, keep us posted here. The more I listen to your piece, the more I appreciate how it isn't 'slammed' with compressors and the like. There's a lot of breathing room in there.

Stephen




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[JoshInTheBox]

Thanks! I target -18db as the peak level for recording in the digital environment. I also, mix to -18db in the mix busses and mastering busses. It gives a less sterile sound, and allows a much better range of operation for compressor plugins. you may be surprised, but I used 3 stages of compression. A very small amount on individual tracks, slightly more on busses and even slightly more on the master. I find that this helps tame transients, while still giving a natural feel.

I am working in the studio now. With some luck, I will have more to post shortly!