Author |
Message |
glow worm
Joined: Nov 05, 2008 Posts: 150 Location: Petts Wood, Kent, UK
Audio files: 16
|
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 8:03 pm Post subject:
Prepare... To Be Annoyed Subject description: upping the awfulness ante |
|
|
Inspired by AlanP's Awfulness thread, I thought I'd have a little rummage through some of the experiments I've recorded over the last 2-3 years.
Being a 'hardware kind of guy' (with a relatively slow computer) I didn't really take VST seriously to begin with. Then (about 3 years ago) I discovered the Sophia synth from Audiobulb (available for free on this page).
It annoyed the hell out of me to start with. So random, so dirty and unplayable, it defied any attempt to bring it under control. I'd get a sound that I (kind of) liked, only to have it degenerate - apparently of its own accord - into screaming cacophony a minute or two later. Sometimes the controls didn't seem to do anything, other times I just had to look at them and everything went haywire.
But I liked its overall, industrial sound, from which tender moments occasionally arose. I was also starting to get a bit bored with the dull constraints imposed by mundane things such as rhythm, melody and harmony; so I persevered and started playing around with various VST sequencers and LFO combinations, eventually settling on a mix of Populus by xoxos.net (see this page) and the Ball Sequencer by Upland Toys (see here).
Even now, I can't honestly say that I have this setup 'down' in any meaningful way. There are still some controls on Sophia that I haven't totally figured out and Populous is an even more slippery beast (although it does generate a few happy accidents). But it's a hobby, not an obsession, so I only play with it when the mood takes me - a few times a year, for a few evenings at a time. A typical jam session lasts a few hours and, every now and then, something vaguely recordable falls out of the machine.
Here's an early example: normalised and with a 30 second silence cut from the middle, but otherwise unedited. It consists of two halves...
1. Prepare...
2. To Be Annoyed
Description: |
glow worm - prepare... to be annoyed |
|
Download |
Filename: |
glow worm - prepare_to_be_annoyed.mp3 |
Filesize: |
5.86 MB |
Downloaded: |
1790 Time(s) |
_________________ It may stop, but it never ends. |
|
Back to top
|
|
|
AlanP
Joined: Mar 11, 2014 Posts: 746 Location: New Zealand
Audio files: 41
|
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 9:22 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
Listening to the different timbres of beeps drift in and out of sync is fun, like when I'm listening to Meshuggah |
|
Back to top
|
|
|
blue hell
Site Admin
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 24079 Location: The Netherlands, Enschede
Audio files: 278
G2 patch files: 320
|
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:42 am Post subject:
|
|
|
Sounds nice :-) _________________ Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
glow worm
Joined: Nov 05, 2008 Posts: 150 Location: Petts Wood, Kent, UK
Audio files: 16
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
blue hell
Site Admin
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 24079 Location: The Netherlands, Enschede
Audio files: 278
G2 patch files: 320
|
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 4:26 am Post subject:
|
|
|
Nothing annoys me there, sounds nice. _________________ Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
glow worm
Joined: Nov 05, 2008 Posts: 150 Location: Petts Wood, Kent, UK
Audio files: 16
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
glow worm
Joined: Nov 05, 2008 Posts: 150 Location: Petts Wood, Kent, UK
Audio files: 16
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
AlanP
Joined: Mar 11, 2014 Posts: 746 Location: New Zealand
Audio files: 41
|
Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 6:01 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
glow worm wrote: | This is two sections from another session, simply cross-faded together. The first part shows the kind of thing that Sophia is very good at: industrial, post-nuclear soundscapes; the second is a little more tender.
|
The first half felt like it was a late-night around a fire in the forest, with night cicadas or something around us. |
|
Back to top
|
|
|
AlanP
Joined: Mar 11, 2014 Posts: 746 Location: New Zealand
Audio files: 41
|
Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 6:02 pm Post subject:
|
|
|
glow worm wrote: | And if that one left you feeling a little relaxed, maybe this will spruce you up again.
Not quite sure why I didn't record more of it. Oh well... |
Thems some strong treble! |
|
Back to top
|
|
|
blue hell
Site Admin
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 24079 Location: The Netherlands, Enschede
Audio files: 278
G2 patch files: 320
|
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 5:57 am Post subject:
|
|
|
She's all wrong - keep 'm coming! _________________ Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
|
|
Back to top
|
|
|
room
Joined: Mar 16, 2005 Posts: 41 Location: sheffield
|
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:01 am Post subject:
Re: Prepare... To Be Annoyed Subject description: upping the awfulness ante |
|
|
Love this- great beeps - thanks for checking out audiobulb
glow worm wrote: | Inspired by AlanP's Awfulness thread, I thought I'd have a little rummage through some of the experiments I've recorded over the last 2-3 years.
Being a 'hardware kind of guy' (with a relatively slow computer) I didn't really take VST seriously to begin with. Then (about 3 years ago) I discovered the Sophia synth from Audiobulb (available for free on this page).
It annoyed the hell out of me to start with. So random, so dirty and unplayable, it defied any attempt to bring it under control. I'd get a sound that I (kind of) liked, only to have it degenerate - apparently of its own accord - into screaming cacophony a minute or two later. Sometimes the controls didn't seem to do anything, other times I just had to look at them and everything went haywire.
But I liked its overall, industrial sound, from which tender moments occasionally arose. I was also starting to get a bit bored with the dull constraints imposed by mundane things such as rhythm, melody and harmony; so I persevered and started playing around with various VST sequencers and LFO combinations, eventually settling on a mix of Populus by xoxos.net (see this page) and the Ball Sequencer by Upland Toys (see here).
Even now, I can't honestly say that I have this setup 'down' in any meaningful way. There are still some controls on Sophia that I haven't totally figured out and Populous is an even more slippery beast (although it does generate a few happy accidents). But it's a hobby, not an obsession, so I only play with it when the mood takes me - a few times a year, for a few evenings at a time. A typical jam session lasts a few hours and, every now and then, something vaguely recordable falls out of the machine.
Here's an early example: normalised and with a 30 second silence cut from the middle, but otherwise unedited. It consists of two halves...
1. Prepare...
2. To Be Annoyed |
_________________ Audiobulb Records : Exploratory Electronic Music |
|
Back to top
|
|
|
|