Arpeggiations Series
Series 1: Famicom Jam Series 2: Insanity Series 3: Alarming
Arpeggiations, in this case, are spontaneous pieces that are played live, usually feature a certain sound in isolation, and are made possible by the arpeggiation and other rhythmic functions of a synthesizer. Or, to put it more simply, they are me banging on my controller keyboard and hoping that things sound interesting. Well, okay, it's a bit more than that, but these are mainly a collection of me playing more or less live and uncut, so they're a bit more spontaneous, freeform, and minimalistic than some of my other pieces.
Famicom Jam (160kbps) Download from site
Song Info
Genre: Techno/Ambient
Time: 2:42/0:58
Description: Ahhh... it feels so good to finally have some actual equipment! As to the song, I've always liked video game music, especially the "chiptunes" available from old systems, such as the NES and Genesis. They have a pure sound, and pioneered a variety of interesting sounds, including some fascinating arpeggiations. It is a sound that is not replicated much these days except by enthusiasts (perhaps for a good reason), but for their time, the consoles (and especially RPG games on the consoles) were able to reproduce a huge variety of interesting, polyphonic sounds that went far beyond the blips and bleeps of every early computer games. I almost get the sense that this same transition is now being made on cellphones and other handheld devices... At any rate, the Japanese name for the NES was the Famicom, hence the name.
Fast-forward to today, when I finally registered the incredible Vanguard synth instrument. For me, the Vanguard indicates a very large evolution in sound for me, as I can finally recreate some of the trance-inspired sounds that I've been trying to locate for quite some time. If you're really into trance, check it out - it almost sounds better than some software synths that cost twice as much, and you can find a large number of preset banks for it if you're determined enough. Anyway, one of those preset banks, by ProSounds, has a very interesting arpeggiated preset that, for some reason, reminded me of those interesting, early synth presets that were present on some of the early consoles.
So, I decided to just jam with a variety of different chord structures and sequences - and these tracks are the result. Unlike many of my other tracks, which are preprogrammed before being recorded, both of these pieces were performed live (the second piece was slightly quantized to fix a small glitch). The first piece is basically me just jamming away - in the second one, I try to pay a little more attention to specific patterns. Believe me, this is a great preset to just jam to, and let yourself be inspired... I could probably play around with this sound for a good half-hour if I was determined, but that's a bit much for this website to handle :)
These tracks are of slightly higher quality than some of the previous ones (160kbps). I'm going to try this slightly upgraded sound quality for now, assuming that it doesn't end up taking too much space on the site... I think the sound quality is just slightly better. As I'm writing this, I'm occasionally moving my hand over and trying some additional arpeggiations between sentences... Programming music in advance is nice for the exactness of the composition that you can create, but it's definitely fun to just play around with a sound in realtime and see what you can come up with.
Production Notes: Sequenced in Logic Express. Instruments: Vanguard Synth (Prosounds Preset). Method: Recorded live using external keyboard controller. (I plan on adding this info to all of my tracks eventually, so that you have an idea how the track was built)
Insanity (160kbps) Download from site
Song Info
Genre: Cover your ears!
Time: 2:01
Description: Pure insanity. Essentially, this piece started off as three seperately played live arpeggiations - one focusing on a sort of standard synth sound, one "playing" a preset not unlike a military ship's warning klaxon, and one of a glistening crrescendo loaded with piercingly high frequencies. And, in fact, there's a very long piece that has all sequences, one after the other, but it takes up a lot of space... and really isn't worth posting. So, instead, I mixed all 3 of them together, and the result is an absolute sonic cacophony of insane noise - which, surprisingly enough, I actually like listening to (at least until it makes my ears start bleeding and I have to reach for the volume off control in desperation). Be forewarned - not for the fiant of heart.
Production Notes: Done in LE7, as usual. All instrumentation is done in Vanguard.
Synththing (160kbps) Download from site
Song Info
Genre: Synth Sounds
Time: 5:36
Description: Alarm clocks and I have always had somewhat of a strained relationship. As a result, I've tried virtually every type of alarm clock out there that I can find, and none of them really seem to work perfectly. Analog alarm clocks have a ticking hand that drives me crazy trying to fall asleep, and while digitals are better, that grating beeping noise drives me insane. So, I try a radio alarm clock, but waking up to someone else's idea of music isn't very appealing (and neither is waking up to a screaming car commercial). Okay, fine then, I'll use a CD-playing alarm clock - but what music can I use? Synth sounds are good, put trance is a bit too much for early in the morning... and anything too mellow won't get me up. As a result, I created this - an evolving arpeggiation that starts off slow enough not to drive you crazy, but gets powerful and strident enough at the end to actually get you out of bed. Of course, as soon as I do this, I find out that my CD alarm clock is too limited to play recordable CDs... ah, well, that's life, though.
Production Notes: All patches are done in Vanguard, including that one at the end which will definitely test the THX certification on your speakers... except for the one at the very end, which is done using a Reaktor ensemble.
Series 1: Famicom Jam
Arpeggiations (160kbps) Download from siteSeries 2: Insanity
Series 3: Alarming