__
__
__
__
___
/__` |__| /\ | \ /
\ | | | |
/ \ | |__
.__/ | | /~~\ |__/ \__/
|/\| |/\| \__/ |___
|
__
__ ___ __
__
___
__
/ ` \ / |__) |__ |__) /
| |\ |
|__
| / \
\__, | |__) |___ | \ /_
| | \|
|___ |
\__/
/
/\ /
|\___/|
/\
/ \ /
/ \
___ / \
/\___/ \/
////
/ o o \
\ / \
/
/ /
/ \ /
\ \/
\/
\ \_______/
T
\
|\___/|
\______
/____
_
/ \
\
____ \ /
\ /
o o \
/
/ \
\/__//// / \ /
\
/
/
\_______/ ___/ T
\____
\
\
/ /
/
\
\
\______/ _/
/
__ \
/ _
________/ / /\
/
/ /
/ / \ \
\ \ \
/ / /
\ \ \
\
\ \ \
\_/ /______
\ / \_
\
___\ \___________\\\_____ \
\ \ \
\ |
/
\
| \
\ \
\ \
| \ \\\
- - - - - - - |\ \
////
\\\\ ___|
----------------------- | \ \
/ |_| |||||||||||||||||||||||
| \__\__
/_/ |__|||||||||||||||||||||||_|
\____\
Internet's Most Controversial Underground Cyberzine
Since 2014
28 December 2021
Welcome to the 10th issue of the ShAdOw WoLf
cYbErZiNe!!!
WHat a fine mess humanity is in once more - its
electronic music scene probably the most pathetic
example of its lack of intelligence....and SHADOW
WOLF CYBERZINE is proud to add an extra dose to
that!
We got a packed issue with Studio tips, letters, DIY
projects, music reviews, interviews with Japanese
Far East Dub artist Mystica Tribe, gothwave star
Alina Valentina, Canadian snowwave synth artists
Alan Harman, Dekadence demo crew and many more
items! This year we went for a minimal classic green
monochrome color just like the very first issue.
I just didn't feel like coloring everything.
For the second time we have a covertape: A
compilation with
various artists from the Shadow Wolf-o-shere. It's
pay what you want so you can get it for free but any
donation is always welcome of course. Remember, the
Shadow Wolf Cyberzine doesn't get any grants like
some other "online music magazine and community
platforms" and we also don't tell you what to think
and do (or DO WE?!?!?!?)
Some articles are 'sarcastic' but there also
'serious' articles. I am not going to put
disclaimers anymore just figure it out for yourself.
If you can't see the difference you shouldn't even
be allowed on the internet.
Nevertheless - thanks to all contributors, well
wishers, readers and all other freaks! See U around
in 2022!!!
SW
INDEX:
1...Readers' Letters
2...Shadow Wolf Covertape II
3...The Cat XTC Problem
4...Mystica Tribe and his Melodica
5...Music Reviews
6...An Interview with Alina Valentina
7...RNA Memory Transfer Experiments with Planarian
Worms
8...Backstage Drama
9...Hot Studio Tips
10..ASCII Art by Jonninscii
11..The Lost Magic Noise of Computer Artefacts
12..Canadian Snowwave with Alan Harman
13..Korg AX1500G Secret Weapons of Electronic music
production
14..Techno Simulators
15..The Eminent 310 Unique - Cult Dutch Biblebelt
Organ
16..Build your own Electric Water Xylophone
17..Jupiter 8 Sample pack
18..Demo Scene Report: Boozedrome 2021
19..Poetry Corner
20..What Creature is this?
21..Alchemulator & Baglover Tapes
on Hunger!
22..A Glimpse
into the
Present by
Kamilė Rimkutė
23..Meandering
thoughts about
hardware and
why you should
never read an
operation
manual
----------------------------------------------------------------------
__
___
__ ___ __
__
|__) |__ /\ | \ |__
|__)
/__`
| \ |___ /~~\ |__/ |___ | \
.__/
___ ___ ___ ___ __ __
| |__ |
| |__ |__) /__`
|___ |___ | | |___ | \
.__/
_
o
_
/
\
/ \
|
|\\
O
//| |
| |
\\
O
// | |
| \
_______ /
|
|
\___--
--___/
|
\ __--
\
/ --__ /
\
/ \
/
\/ \
/
\ ||
/
\ \\
/
\ || / ___
\ \ /
/ ____
\||/ ____ \
\ /
/
__|
/ \ /_
\
|__ / /
\
|_____\ // \
|
/ | /
\
\ \_/| |\_/
/
/ \ /
___\
'----/
\___/
/___ \ /
\
/
\
/ \ /
\__
/ ____
\
__/ \ /
\ \____
\_\/_/ _____/
/ \
/
___/
\/
\___ \ /
/
\
\_____/
\\_ /
/ \/\
/
__----------___ \/
/
\/
/
\
/
_________ / / / /
\___________ \
/
\
/
\ /
\ \ \
\
/
________ -----------------------------,_____________
/ -
- ================== - /
|
/|
/ - - - -
- - - - - - - - /
/
/ |
/ - - - - - - -
- - - - - /
/
/ |
/___________________________/
/
/ |
|
|
/
/ |
\__________________________//
/ |
/ |
More letters from frusties, weirdos and all kinds of
humans:
ELECTRONIC MUSIC BRANDING
Hello!
I've got some ideas for companies to infiltrate the
electronic music world and be hip with the kids. Now
Red Bull Music Academy is gone there is a gap to
fill! My proposals:
WHISKAS PET SEMINARY - The next step in the techno
business is having music releases from your pets, or
animals in general. Making electronic music is the
simplest thing - every human can do it. Even if you
are REALLY REALLY stupid you can still make music
and release it - so I am sure animals can also do
it! Nobody will hear the difference.
KNORR RAVE GYMNASIUM - packs of instant Knorr Sauce
& soups (with alcohol?) are served while we get
training in electronic music production. Topics such
as 'how to freezedry your beats', 'Marinate your
MIDI' or 'spice your snaredrums' tought by guest
lecturers such as Heino, 2 Unlimited and Scanner.
TOBLERONE THINK TANK - if you love discussion panels
this is going to blow your mind. The Toblerone Think
Tank will present endless drivel about all kinds of
current topics in the electronic music industry. The
seats of the panelists are made out of giant
Toblerone chocolate bars. If the discussions get too
heated the chocolate will melt and the contestant
slowly sinks to be encapsulated by a warm sludge of
Toblerone. Their only escape: to eat their way out
of it.
Petulia Von Staufenberg, Vadus, Liechtenstein.
SW: Those sound excellent I
am looking forward to get sponsored by those
brands and eating my way out of a Toblerone
prison. What about UNOX UNDERGROUND UNIVERSITY,
NIVEA NIGHT SCHOOL and DURACEL DJ CAMP???
/\/\/\
YOU CANNOT MAKE A REVOLUTION WITH SILK GLOVES
We are a stalinist activist DJ collective from USA
and we think your Shadow Wolf magazine is capitalist
imperialist propaganda indoctrinating the youth with
your FOUL sarcastic humor and endless drabble of
irrelevant ASCII ART and texts. We are against any
text and reading because it is imperialist as it
locks out our illiterate comrades from society while
you are in your privileged reading bubble. And we
happen to KNOW THAT ASCII stands for American
Standard Code for Information Interchange, ultimate
PROOF of your European capitalist propaganda efforts
to Americanise all information interchange!!!!!!!
Your imperialist clown boot shall never trample the
revolution!
Comrade Belisarius Hoxa & Peter Poth, Pittsburgh
USA.
SW: We can do a special about your collective in the
next issue. In simplified pictures or we just post
it on instagram or tiktok where your illiterate
stalinists probably spend most of your time
frustratedly foaming in anger about our European
imperialist shenaningans!
/\/\/\
PLAGUE RAVE IN NORTH KOREA
I heard rumours that Legowelt played a plague rave
in Pyong Yang, North Korea last summer. Apparently
by invitation of the supreme leader Kim Jong Un
himself so Legowelt
could ghost-produce Kim's debut album. The great leader is a
big fan of electronic music and visited many Berlin techno
clubs in his European based student days. Among his favorites
are Scanner, Applebim and Tiefschwarz. His dearest synthesizer
is the Teenage Engineering OP-1 and he's got a subscription on
both DJMag and Electronic Sound magazine. Evidently the
recorded project was sent to Berlin's PAN records under a
secret pseudonym and is scheduled for release early 2022.
Count Igor Tupolev, Consulate of Transnistria, Zurich,
Switzerland.
SW: Ehhhhhhhhh ???????????
------------------------------------------------------------------------
__
__
__
__
___
/__` |__| /\ | \ / \ |
| | | / \
| |__
.__/ | | /~~\ |__/ \__/ |/\|
|/\| \__/ |___ |
__
__
___ __
___
__
___
/ ` / \ \ / |__
|__) | /\
|__) |__ | |
\__, \__/ \/ |___ |
\ | /~~\
| |___ | |
_____________________________________________
|
___________
_____ _____ |
|
|
| _ _ _ | \
| | \ | |
| | O
O | _ _ _
------- ------- |
|
|___________|
o o o o o
|
| __ __ __ __
__
|
|_____________________________________________|
======
======
Just like last year we are super excited to have a
digital 'covertape' again! A compilation of
songs from artists that are either featured in here
or we are just happy to have on the compilation
:)!!!
The compilation is free/ pay what you want you can
get it here at bandcamp:
https://legowelt.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-wolf-cyberzine-covertape-ii
The term 'covertape' comes from when paper music
& computer magazines had cassettes on their
covers with music or software (Old computers like
the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 could use cassette
tapes to load and store their software)
TRACKLISTING:
CASSIOPEA BLUMENTHAL -
HAVE THOU FELT IT TOO?
Cassiopea aka Dim Garden lives in an
attic on the Rue d'Auseil in the
old part of town. There she plays her
Casiotone 304 keyboard under the
dim december moon light.
MYSTICA TRIBE - SARK ISLAND DUB
Far east style dub version of Legowelt's Sark Island
Acid by Tokyo
based Mystica Tribe who is also interviewed in this
issue!
SMACKOS - PLAYS LUCIANO BERIO'S WASSER KLAVIER ON
SYNTHESIZER
A Smackos interpretation of Berio's 1965 classic
Wasser Klavier.
ALINA VALENTINA - ACHERON
The Hague gothwave from the upper shelf! Check out
an all exclusive interview with her in this issue!
FRED SIN - BENZO PRESSURE
A very sinister dark alter ego of Identified
Patient. Is it about a
Mercedes Benz or Benzodiazepine, a drug which lowers
brain activity just like this cyberzine!??!! You
decide!
ALAN HARMAN - GROUND
ZERO
Canadian Snow Wave electronix from
Port Hope, check out the interview
with Alan in this issue.
VOT'RESS - FAIRY INTERFERENCE
You want some Psychotic ASMR on a bad
shroom trip??? Puck Schot (Acidic Male)
& RJM Vanderheyden deliver it
right here...
OKKIE - BOOMFEESTDAG 2
From OKKIE (part of DEKADENCE dEmO CrEw) which we
talk with in this issue for his BOOZEDROME event..A
happy C64 faux chiptune (secretely it is a 4 channel
.mod file with very competent c64 samples! + 20 Life
XP points if you know what that means)
EARGOGGLE & 240 INTERCEPTOR - EINSTEIN VAMPIRE
Gothenburg electro legends with a rather
'gothic' electro banger,
it's like Swedish version of Drexciyas Vampire
Island meets Beatbox Boys
Einstein I reckoN!
CALINE WITH C - FINALE
Caline with C closed her live set at
Mėnulio Smūgis gathering (Lithuania,
summer of 2020) with her track titled
“Finale”. Gushing electro beats and
swirling rave sirens ebbed into the
night, seemingly summoning some
uninvited guests. The cops shut down
the party. A definite showstopper.
Check out her article in this issue
about her neurosound experiment!
HERMIT
IN A RAVE CAVE -
SENTIMENTAL PROVERBS
Lofi introspective
chi-house to sooth your
melancholical memories
BATTERY DUCK 202 - INTO
THE VALLEY OF SMACK
A rubbery
sweaty crowd
controller
from the
archives of
the North Sea
Institute for
the overmind.
THE NORTHERN TRASHMAN
- WORLD PHASER
RM1X
A slab of
soulful deep
old school
house music
all made on a
Yamaha RM1X
LEGOWELT
- MACHO GYM
An
ancient italo style Legowelt track
from around 1999 (???) never released
before and recently found by Luke
Eargoggle whom I had send it to as a
demo in the nullies. Ingredients:
Classic Nordrack 1, Roland JS30 and
Commodore Amiga.
ALECTO RAMMER - CHARGE OF THE BUCKET
BRIGADE
A growling maelstrom barrage of bucket
brigade chips. Not for fans
of minimal techhouse...probably only
for freaks that want to ram their head
into an Alecto mixer.
IAN MARTIN - CONCRETE
HEAD
Sewer electronix DJ tool
from Rotterdam from SEER
boss Ian Martin
OCCULT ORIENTATED CRIME
- MENTALE GABBER
TELEPATIE
The art of the hardcore
kick meets the occult
orientated crime
MAX SCHREIBER - ROOM 102
Max Schreiber is the abstract side project of Mule
Driver. Room 102 was recorded around 2004 as a
sketch for a solo dance performance called room 102.
The dancer disappeared in the old alleys of Jaffa
and the performance got cancelled. The score
was then forgotten on an old hard drive for 16
years.
JENTLEMEN - WORTH IN DIRT
Poetic avant Garde electrowave from New Haven
Connecticut USA. Also
check out her poem in this issue's poetry corner!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
___
___
__
___ ___ __
| |__| |__
/ ` /\ |
\/ | /
| | | |___ \__,
/~~\ | /\ | \__
__ __ __
__
___
|__) |__) / \ |__) |
|__
|\/|
| | \ \__/ |__) |___
|___ |
|
|\____/| _
|\____/|
|\___/| _
| ' ' | // |
_ _ | _ | O O
| //
| ^ . | \\ | ^
, | \\ | ^
| \\
| |
// |
| // | X
|. //
| \
\\ |
\ \\
| \. \\
|
\ ||
| \
\\ |
\ ||
| | | | \__|| | | | |
\__|| | | | | \_||
|_|__|_|______/ |_|__|_|______/
|_|_|_|_____/
1
2
3
Cat 1 hides the XTC but sometimes cat 2 steals it
Cat 2 doesn't have the XTC
Cat 3 Only Knows Cat 1 doesn't have the XTC
Which cat hides on the XTC?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
__ ___
__
___ __ __
___
|\/| \ / /__` | | / `
/\ | |__) | |__)
|__
| | | .__/ | |
\__, /~~\ | | \
| |__) |___
__
__
/\ |\ | | \ |__|
|
/__`
/~~\ | \| |__/ | | |
.__/
___
__ __
__
|\/| |__ | / \
| \ | / `
/\
| | |___ |___ \__/ |__/ | \__,
/~~\
We chat with Tokyo based Mystica Tribe, an
electronic artist and melodica player that fuses
'far eastern' dub style reggae with techno
influences. In the 2010s he released many EPs on The
Hague's SD (Syncom
Data) and his own Mystica Tribe records. His 2017
debut album 'Island
Oasis' appeared on the Canadian Silent Season record
label and became
an overnight ethereal cult classic.
\ o
o
o
o .
.
o o
.
. .
. .
.
. / .
/
o
||||||||||||| \ \ \
\ o . o
o o
|_______ || / /
/
/
\
.
o |__| |__|--||
\ / \
/ .
/
/
__________| (
| \_ \ \
\ / /
\ o /
| __
/_____ \ \ /
\ / / /
/
_____ |__||_____ | |
\ / /
/
\
/
/ /
\
||
| / / \
/ \ \ /
/ /
\ _||__ | |
\ \
/ \ /
/
/____/
\| ____| |
| \ /
/ / /
/ _______/ __/_________ |
__----___| | / /
\ / / /
|\ //_/
\ |
__---
| \ /
\ \ / / |
\ \\ o o o -\\---\ |
__----________| \
'-----------==
\ o o o
--\\--\| ____|
\ /
/ '--------==
\ o o
o ---\\-\
____|
\ /
\ '------== \
o o o
----\\____|_________\ \
/ \
\ \ \
o o o
-\\---\___|
/ \
/ \
'----== \ o o
o
----\\\__|
/ \
\
\
\ \
o o o
-\\---\_|
/\ /
'----------------==
\_____________________\ /
/ \ /
'------------==
|
|/ / \
\ |____________________|
/\ \
\|_________________/
Mystica Tribe is Japanese producer Taka Noda. Born
in the green lush forest hills of Beppu on the
island of Kyushu, a strange unearthly spa resort
town, home to 2000 onsen hot springs that eternally
evaporate calm plumes of mist into its streets.
Growing up in this strange landscape must have had a
profound impact on his musical vision, something
that would not blossom until his early adulthood: "I
loved music very much since my early teenage years
and wanted to do it myself...but I grew up in a very
rural area so I couldn't form a band" Taka calmly
explains. "My taste in music was maniacal ha!".
In the 1990s Taka enrolls at Tokyo university. In a
big city he finally gets a chance to explore
his'maniacal' music taste. He starts to play in
psychedelic soul and r&b bands and not much
later he would discover house music.
"I've been a fan of psychedelic music and soul music
since I was a teenager. Then gradually I became
interested in House and things like Paradise Garage
Classics and dub. The concept of Deep Space, a party
started by Francois K in New York in the early
2000s, and its mix CD was a big influence on me. It
was a mixture of house, techno, tribal music and
dub, with influences from Paradise Garage. I went to
New York to experience that party and it was
amazing. During that trip to the U.S., I saw the
reggae group Israel Vibration perform at a live
music venue in New York, and it made a huge, huge
impact on me. I was hooked on reggae, dub, and the
"Far East Sound". Far East Sound is deep roots
reggae with minor keys and melancholy, and it
deepened my interest in its originator, Augustus
Pablo, a melodica player. When I first heard
Ausustus Pablo play the melodica on a killer dub, I
was in a big shock. I was very surprised that an
instrument meant for children could make such dope
music."
______
/ _____|==
_______________________________________
/ /
/
\ / /
/
____________________________________
\____/ /
| || | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _____/
| || | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | /
\ | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | || /
\|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_||/
For those who are unfamiliar with this instrument: A
Melodica is a portable reed instrument, a sort of
mini portable reed organ were you blow air into its
reeds while you play the keys. Sort of a Harmonica
with keys but with a deeper fuller, less trebled
sharp sound.
For some, the melodica has a bit of an image problem
- an unhip instrument for the feeble minded, just
like a keytar. For the general public portable
instruments with keys are for dorks. It is
inherently cheesey but it is also an incredible
expressive and deep instrument, emitting a haunting
and lamenting sound...ghostly, full of sorrow.
The modern version of the Melodica we know was
invented by the German Hohner company in the 1950s.
It was always associated with the educational market
until Augustus Pablo made it also popular within
Reggae dub music circles in the 1970s.
Taka: "Japanese people learn the melodica in
elementary school music classes. And before Mystica
Tribe, I was a bassist in several bands and
projects,and in some of them there were melodica
players. So, for me, the melodica was the first
instrument I touched, and it was very familiar to
me."
why does this instrument work so well with Dub
music?
Taka: "I think the melodica tone works well with the
melancholy and simple power of reggae. It does not
lend itself to complex interplay, but allows for
easy control of ADSR and volume. In this respect,
the melodica is similar to vocals. It can be very
soulful in its expression. This is also the reason
why it is so suitable for reggae dub."
"The melodica is an instrument that is easily
affected by effects processors. A deep delay or
reverb creates a unique and mysterious atmosphere. I
like the random effect of delay on the melodica
because the attack is slow and erratic. Add chorus
to it, and it sounds like an analog synthesizer. It
is used a lot in dub because it works well with
effects processors."
"I like the sound of Hohner's inexpensive melodica.
I think that is its original tone. I owned a cheap
Honor melodica for kids. It is the best one for me
but the one I usually play is this Hammond-Suzuki
PRO-44H
It is a melodica with a pickup so it is easy to
record because it can be connected directly to an
audio interface. I then process the tones in a DAW
with VST's."
Do you have any advice for aspiring Melodica
players?
"I suggest you buy a melodica first and try playing
it. If you want to play something complicated with
it, you will need training, but if you just want to
play simple phrases, anyone can do it quickly. If
you want
to use that for recording, you could try mic'ing an
inexpensive
melodica. I think it will sound more natural than a
melodica with a
pickup. If you are using it for a live set in a
club, you will also get a more natural tone if you
use a microphone to pick up the sound, but it is
also more likely to cause feedback. A melodica with
a pickup is easier to control."
Thank you Taka! don't forget to check out his
version of Legowelt's Sark Island on this issue's
cover tape!
SW
------------------------------------------------------------------------
__
__ __
___
___ __
|\/| | | /__` | /
` |__) |__ \ / |
|__ | | /__`
| | \__/ .__/ | \__,
| \ |___ \/ | |___ |/\|
.__/ /
_ _____
/\/
____ \
\ \
/\ /
\ \ o
o o
/\ / \ /
o o
/\
/\ / \____/
\/
/\ /
\/\ / \/
/\_____/ \
/\/ \/
__________/
\ /
\/
Here are some random reviews. Just stuff found by
doing an hour of digital bandcamp 'crate' digging.
It's amazing how much cool stuff you can find there.
We are not paid nor were they sent to us, it's
just'hey this cover or album title looks cool let's
check it out' ...then we listen for 2 seconds and
decide to move on or go hmmmmmmmmmmmm intriguing!
Anyways let's go to the reviews.....
TUNE ZITOUNE - COMME PAR HASSARD *****
French Algerian freak electro from Metz. A bit in
the same jolly eccentric vein as Ceephax meets
uhmmm? Quoting zitoune's bandcamp blurp:"Le prince
de la zitounade et de la tajine-synthwave". Despite
the eccentricity and humorous direction all the
tracks are of an
exhilarating enchanting quality. For sure they will
have a most spectacular effect on any dancefloor.
RAW analog succullent dripping melodies over
hypnotic smudgey rhythms...very much inspired by
Algerian Rai music. Effective entrancing vocals too
all over the place. Maybe a bit loud
production/mastering going into the distorted
regions but in its defense, that fits this style
very good. All I can say this is a timeless
masterpiece !!!
https://tunezitoune.bandcamp.com/album/comme-par-hasard
EVA NOXIOUS - CHINGONA
SOY *****
We know Phoenix based Eva Noxious from
her last year's CULT release on The
Hague's Bunker Darknet records called
ANTI-TODO, quoting its press blurp
then: "From the Western Blood Meridian
Desert of Phoenix, Arizona, former
Spanish Nuevo Mexico, its very own
Suburban Sun Belt Waste Lands, and
surely 'no country for old men', comes
a full album of genuine
punk-ass-kickin' 'trap and drill rap'
bass music, its sharp and syncopated
sniper-ladylike machine gun vocals
shot in both the Castilian and the
English language. Mastered by Guy
Tavares"..but hey owwwow there is
more! like this fantastic tape
produced by JAEM BEATZ . A HEAVY DOSE
OF G-FUNK, THICK warm beats and
thumping basslines YESSSS SO AWESOME
don't fucking sleep on this get it
now! EVA NOXIOUS for president!
https://noxiouseva.bandcamp.com/album/chingona-soy-prod-jaem-beatz
SUICIDE COMMANDO - ELECTRO CONVULSION THERAPY *****
Suicide Commando AKA Johan van Roy is apparently
legendary - people have logos of this artist on
their cars and tattoo his face on their back. His
modern stuff is way too trancey for me (like JP8000
tribaltattoo supersaw hopsasa music) but OMG WTF his
first tapes are pure GOLD. They can be bought at the
ABSOLUTE BODY CONTROL bandcamp (a historical
treasure chest of Dirk Iven's & related Belgian
electro to begin with!!!!!). Originally released in
1993 this album has some mindblowing
tracks such as Time. Ultraraw arpeggiated basslines
with roughed 808 beats and lyrics in almost black
metal shrieking voice going "Time is runnin fast -
How long will it last It could be an hour It could
be a day We won't survive the time We'll die anyway
TIMEEEE!". Fun and uplifting!
https://absolutebodycontrol.bandcamp.com/album/electro-convulsion-therapy
CUCINA POVERA - LUMME (primordial Void, 2021) *****
Lumme is the fourth album by Finnish sound artists
and musician Maria Rossi (aka Cucina Povera) which
was recorded in Rotterdam, London, Luxembourg and
Glasgow. It is one of the most stunning albums of
the year. Over minimalistic layered harmonies and
organ drones, Cucina Povera’s vocals plunge
the listener into a warm sonic bath of cedar and
winter honeysuckle. Lumme is entrancing and
meditative, delicate and emotive. It is an album to
do nothing to, that invites deep listening and
contemplation.
Bandcamp link:
https://cucinapovera.bandcamp.com/album/lumme
OUR UNSEEN GUEST - ALWAYS A WAY ****
This sounds sort of like Jandek doing
minimalsynthwave, also reminds a bit to some early
Moon Duo but then without that raunchy vanilla soft
boiled egg LA hipster sauce. Discretely epic deep
hazy songs with lots and lots of background noise
which is already a plus. Advanced melodies but not
too difficult for the brain, Our Unseen Guest shows
great compositional skill. The vocals manifest quite
a few different directions and it's all impressive.
Towering like a giant granite deity statue above all
the musical drivel that is thrown at us today.
Bandcamp link:
https://ourunseenguest.bandcamp.com/album/always-a-way
------------------------------------------------------------------------
An interview with
/\ | | |\ |
/\
/~~\ |___ | | \|
/~~\
___
___
\ / /\ |
|__ |\ | | | |\ | /\
\/ /~~\ |___ |___ | \| | | |
\| /~~\
___________________________________________________
|
|
| (
)
______
______ ) )
( |
|
(
\
/
( (
) |
|
____
____
) (
|
|
(
/__0_\
/_0__\
(
|
|
) " "
" | " "
"
)( |
|
(
|
( ) |
|
)
|_n
) ( |
|
(
_
( |
|
_
_
_ | |
) |
| )
| || |
_
_ | || |
( |
|
( | || || |
_ _ | | | || |
_ |
|
_. |J||U||N||O| | || | |6||O| | |
) |
|
| | | || |/ // / \ \\ \| || | |
| ( |
|
| | |
/
\
\| | |
|
| \|
/
\
/ |
|
\
/
\
/ |
|
\
/
\
/ |
|
\
|
\
/
|
|
|-----|
|. ,
,|
|
|
|. ,
.|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|.....|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|___________________________________________________|
Shadow Wolf Cyberzine sent correspondent Cassiopeia
Blumenthal to meet with the prolific synthpop/wave
Hague-based producer Alina Valentina, whose track
“Acheron” is featured on the Shadow Wolf Cyberzine
Cover Tape #2 available on bandcamp.
Alina Valentina’s music is infectious; her
production level is sky high; her audience is
wide-ranging; her songs are profound; her approach
is unique and passionate. Gothic synthpop at its
best, with a sound that is so distinctly hers.
Life is like a Fairytale
After recently releasing her first full length album
“Works and Days” – a reference to Hesiod’s poem –
Alina Valentina is already on her way to releasing
her second album “Life is Like a Fairytale”, an
eight-track journey through a fantastical land of
wonder, starring heavy synth leads, beautiful arps,
and vocal harmonies. Whereas Alina Valentina’s first
album leaned towards the haunting – inspired by
horror, sci-fi, and film noir – “Life is Like a
Fairytale” tilts toward the more fantastical and
light, while at the same time maintaining a brooding
atmosphere.
When asked how the second album came album, Alina
Valentina explained: “the last track I wrote for
‘Works and Days’ titled ‘True Romance’- which was
very well received - became a sort of precursor to
the next album. I was in that kind of mood, I felt
the need to play more fun stuff”. The track ‘True
Romance’ set the tone for the next album.” Despite
being more jovial on its surface, just like in fairy
tales, beneath lies darkness. Just like in fairy
tales, people die”.
“Life is Like a Fairytale” is more a vocal-oriented
album than the first. The purchase of a professional
microphone, in a way helped define her new album, as
it enabled for all the nuances, details, and
characteristics of her voice to be recorded and less
effects were used on the vocals: “There is more of a
focus on vocals, choirs and harmonies on this second
album”.
Alina Valentina has a long history of artistic
production. She has been involved in music, theatre
and dance since the age of nine; she attended an art
school until the age of eighteen, before pursuing
higher education at the legendary Hogeschool voor de
Kunsten in Utrecht.
Earworm Energy
Alina’s Valentina’s music is incredibly catchy and
guarantees earworms for days. After listening to her
music, one has an inescapable urge to hum her songs
throughout the day. This isn’t necessarily
intentional on Alina Valentina’s part; it is more a
product of her skilled composition style. “I don’t
try to write additional lyrics, if a song already
contains all I have to say for that song. So I use
repetition as a way to convey my message” explains
Valentina. For instance, ‘That Thing Behind the
Wall’ on the first album ‘Works and Days’ has a very
deep meaning about the evil side of human nature,
where people sometimes sugar coat the wicked:
“Sometimes people build walls around their
personalities” and when they do harm to others, this
feeling never leaves them. “They are the ones who
have to sleep with it at night”.
One of the distinctive characters which defines
Valentina’s sound relates to the instruments used in
her music. Although she changes gear a lot,
synthesizers such as the Juno 60 and the Moog
Grandmother are significantly present in her
recordings and live sets. “The June 60 is my first
analog synth, my real first baby which I got in
2009, and it was love at first sight” says Alina
Valentina, who has JUNO 60 tattooed across her
knuckles. “It has that powerful and kitsch sound”.
When asked about her dream synthesizer, if she had
unlimited budget, Valentina chooses the Yamaha
CS-80. A more realistic future acquisition would be,
however, the Prophet 5 by Sequential.
Dream and Actual Collaborations
When asked about any future collaborations, Alina
Valentina says “I’d love to work more together with
other artists/producers musicians. One day, I would
love to have a full band to perform my songs live”.
Alina Valentina expressed an attraction for
analog-style production, where songs are produced in
a very raw but polished way. “I grew up listening to
the Human League, a band who in the beginning, was
very raw”. Currently, Alina Valentina is
collaborating with artists such Bernard Grancher on
an upcoming release, made remixes, such as for Vinx
and OGMH, and is working on upcoming collaborations
with artists.
Check out Alina Valentina’s music available on most
platforms, and catch her live in a concert venue
near you (for instance, don’t miss Alina Valentina
opening for Heaven 17 at Poppodium Boerderij in
Holland). ‘Life is like a Fairytale’ will be
released around 25 February 2021.
For bookings, contact: info at alinavalentina.com
Don't forget to check out her amazing track called
Acheron on this Issue's Covertape!
C.B.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
__ ___
__
___
__
__
___ __
__
|__| / \
| /__`
| | | | \ | /
\ | |
|__) /__`
| | \__/
| .__/
| \__/ |__/ |
\__/ | |
| .__/
______
S s
-----[][______)------_____
S
_____
______
\_______ S
s
\\\\
///// s
_ ____
\\\\ /////
----|_||____)----_____
\\\\/////
S
S
|||||||| ____
S
/
\ \___
S
___/_________ \
\__________
S
\__________/ /
___----
\
\
_________
s
----____________\
\ //////___
---_____/
\ //////___
/
\//////___
/
\_______
_____/
\
_________/
__________________ _
/___
/ / / // / / / / / /
/ / / / / / / \ / /
\
/ / / / \/_/__/ / / / / /
/ / / / / // / / /
/
/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_//
/ / /
/______________________________________/
/__/ /
\
\_\_\ | /
\____________________________________________|/
Some magic studio tricks revealed...
SLOW TIME
CHANGE TRICK
An ancient
producer trick
to give some
more character
to a track. If
you use a
Computer DAW
or hardware
sequencer the
tempo is often
very tight.
Maybe too
tight...having
the exact same
BPM throughout
the whole
song, even a
house or
techno track
gives it a
clinical
robotic static
feel.
By changing
the BPM
slightly and
gradually
throughout the
track it will
feel more
natural and
'human'. For
example: you
can go slowly
from 123 to
124 BPM in the
first minute
and then go
back to 123.5
and go up
again to 124.3
at the end.
Sometimes it
doesn't have
to go
gradually and
you can just
make it 0.6 or
whatever BPM's
faster
straight away
after a little
drumbreak. It
is a very
subtle trick
but it might
just be the
push into a
more
adventerous
dimension for
your track!
PITCHBEND ON BASSLINES
When you program a bassline use
pitchbend to make slides up or down
on certain notes, this will,
hopefully, make your bassline
instantly more interesting and catchy.
Works good on the last note of the bar
or the first note, but everything in
between works too! If you can't play
by hand or are too slow to use the
pitchbend, program the pitchbend with
MIDI. Experiment on the placement of
the bend on the note, let it come in
later or just a short bend at the
beginning to emulate a pitch envelope
on the sound, giving it a little
energetic 'thump' instead of a slide.
KORG MS20 EXTERNAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR
I know a lot of people that have an
MS20 (either big or mini one) and they
never use the external signal
processor, which is a shame because it
is the MS20's MAGIC feature. Just
connect a drummachine or DAW audio out
to the SIGNAL IN - Program a few
simple rhythmic patterns on the
drummachine or DAW with just
bassdrums, toms. Maybe some percussion
and hat sound and tweak the MS20 until
you are happy - you've got an entire
scumelectro track in no time!
KITCHEN SINK
DRUMS &
PERCUSSION
Tired of the
same old
drummachines?
Go into the
kitchen with
your recorder
and sample all
sorts of
kitchen tools
and
appliances.
USe your
DAW/Audicity
whatever to
pitch them way
up or down,
distort,
filter and EQ
the
sounds...you
might be
surprised at
the world of
new fresh
original
sounds at your
disposal!
Pans,
wooden/metal
spoons,
scraping forks
on raspers,
using a
handblender in
thick soups
etc.etc.etc.
MAGIC SAMPLING BASS FROM A RECORD
TRICK
An old school sampler trick to just
sample the bass/lower frequencies of
the source material(like a record).
Just plug in the source cable halfway
into the sample input. You will only
hear a muffled version of what is
being played in the source material,
most of the high frequencies are
filtered out. Great for making low end
bassline loops.
OLD SOCK MICROPHONE
A simple trick for if you use a
microphone and have too much high
frequencies and don't have a plop
filter. Just put an old sock over the
mic. Use thick Wooley socks for a
vintage warm muffled sound, no need to
get a 1000$ vintage mic ;p
ABLETON DRUM MAP WITH SYNTH SOUNDS
Instead of drum sounds, load some
synth and effects sounds in an Ableton
drum map. Now make some patterns/clips
with those sounds the same way you
would make a beat. Most probably you
will get some inspiring groundlayers
for a weird banging track!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
__
__
__ ___
/\ /__` / ` |
| /\ |__)
|
/~~\ .__/ \__, | | /~~\ |
\ |
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::+::::::::::::::::::+::::.----.::::*::::::
:::::::::::::/),::::::::.´
`.::::::::
::::::*:::::/
\::::::/
\:::::::
:::@:::::__/
<_3\::|
|:+::::
:::::::/ ´6 `
/::|
|::::::
::____/ \_ ,
/::::\
/::::+::
::\ _)
|
´|:::::`.
.´::::::::
:::`-_ - ´
/),:::::::`----´:::::::::::
:::/
/ \::::::::::_,(\:::::::::
.´
__/
<_3\::::::/ \:::::@::
/ ´6 ` /::/
€_> \__:::::
_/ \_ ,
/:::\ ` 9`
\::::
_-´_
|
´|::::| , _/
|:::
`-.__) -
´
\::/
| |:::
/
\/` ` _
_ |:::
.´
/
( \ \:::
´
/
`-._\::
/
\:::
THREE SHADOWWOLF
MOON
JONINSCI
Check out more Joninsci's cool ASCII art here:
https://www.instagram.com/joninscii
----------------------------------------------------------------------
___
___
__ __
___
| |__|
|__
| / \
/__`
|
| | |
|___ |___ \__/
.__/
|
__
__
__
__ ___
|\/| /\ / _` |
/ ` |\ |
/ \ | /__` |__
| | /~~\ \__> |
\__, | \| \__/ |
.__/ |___
__
___
/ \
|__
\__/
|
__
__
__
___ ___
__
/ ` / \ |\/| |__)
| | | |__
|__)
\__, \__/ | |
| \__/ |
|___ |
\
__ ___ ___
___
__ ___
__
/\ |__) |
|__ |__ /\
/ ` |
/__`
/~~\ | \ | |___
| /~~\ \__,
|
.__/
__
*
*
\
*
/'
*
o
*
o
*
__________
____,
_____/
/|___ ________,
/
/
/____/
/____/|
\ \
o
o
_____/
/____ |/
\ \
/____/
/____/|
o o
___,
_____/
/____
|/
*
\ \
/____/
/____/|
o o
_____/
/____ |/ ______,
/____/
/____/|
/
/
_____/
/____ |/
/
/
*
/____/
/____/|
O
O *
|/ /_________/
/ |/
|
|/
----------
These days even the cheapest audio
interface will give a clear pristine
sound from its outputs. Spotless and
clean, only desired sounds can be
heard in the audio path.
Once upon a time let’s say about two
and a half decennia ago, this would
most of the time not be the case.
Especially if you had a Commodore
Amiga with its direct stereo RCA
outputs or a PC with something like a
Sound Blaster audio card jamming your
latest tune from its minijack output.
Digital artefacts in the computer
would seep through the audio outputs.
Hard disks operating, screens
refreshing, chips crunching, obscure
computational processes and even just
moving the mouse pointer would all
have their distinct sounds that would
softly ‘bleed’ into the audio path.
Static buzzes, clicks, crackling,
humming drones and a guaranteed medium
or high noise floor would always be
audible in the background.
It never felt out of place and in
time, they became an indispensable
part of your sound. They were the
sounds of a ‘living’ computer , a
‘sentient’ being with its own quirks
and moods. It was your friend, your
fellow musician, your
co-producer…whatever quirks it felt
like adding to your music you would
respect. It was a comforting sound,
the background noise of the mystery of
electronic music production.
Magic started to happen when these
artefacts were put through filters,
delays and reverbs.
Hidden in the shadow of the music you
were making these sounds would take on
a life of their own. One must take in
consideration that at that time these
effects were mostly outboard or an old
analog synth with a filter
input. You would connect the
computer outputs through an outboard
unit and mixer and record on tape, DAT
or Minidisc.
VST software synths and effects didn’t
really exist: it was mostly crunchy
short samples played in a tracker
sequencer. The little background
clicks and buzzes became a meandering
soothing stream of random pleasant
sounds, a soundscape of circuits, a
field recording of a digital forest.
It would ‘glue’ the music that floated
on top of it together and even the
most simplistic mindless arrangements
would be inhibited with a sparkle of
sorcery.
Today I often hear new music that
sounds so clinically perfect, so
pristinely polished with not one
artefact in sight for a thousand
miles…and it is so mind-bogglingly
boring, like a plastic sterile vacuum
of nothingness. Every day the world is
flooded with thousands of soulless
electronic music tracks that could be
injected with life. If only they were
made on an old noisy computer, our
forgotten friend and co-producer that
has been lost in the sands of time.
Typical setup as used by Legowelt
circa 1998 in Scheveningen Holland:
______________
| o o
o
| audio
__ L audio __\__|___ o
o ___ out__
/
/ | o
o
|
|
/
/ ////////////
/
|
/
\_____________/
\|/
/
KORG MS10
synth
|
/
filter
input
|
/ _____R
audio____
|
/
/
|
|
/
/
|
______________
|
RCA L R
OUT
| | o o o o o
o |audio |
||
||
|___\ o o o o o o
|out |
_________________________
/|
|__ |
|
|
| |||||||||||| | |
|
=========================
--------------
| |
|
Amiga 1200
|
SCI PRO ONE synth|
|
| - - - - - - -
- ...
|
filter input
/ |
| - - - - - - -
- ...
|
/ |
| - -------- -
-
|
__/_/
|
-------------------------
/
\
|
Commodore Amiga 1200
computer
/
\|/
Running
Octamed
_________/_______
|
| ZOOM FX UNIT
|
|
-----------------
/
______/_______________________audio
out_/
_______/____
/
\
|YAMAHA REX 50|
/
| MULTI FX |
/
-------------
/
_____________/_________________audio
out_/
\____
/
\
\
|
_____ | _____
\|/___________
_______________________
|\
\
|
|
| \ D&R
SERIES 1000 MIXER \
________\ | |/\ /\ |
o o
o |
\
\
\
/ | |______| - - - -
- |
\
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
\
\_____________________/
\
\ - \ - \ \ - \ \ \ \ - \
\
---
---
\ \ \ - \ - - \ - -
- - \ -
\
Sony Cassettedeck
\ \___________________________\
\ /___________________________/
SW
------------------------------------------------------------------------
__
___
__
__
|__) |\ |
/\
|\/| |__
|\/| / \ |__) \
/
| \ | \|
/~~\
| | |___
| | \__/ |
\
|
___
__
__ ___
___
__
| |__)
/\ |\ | /__`
|__ |__
|__)
| | \ /~~\ |
\| .__/
| |___
|
\
___
__ ___
__
___
___
__
|__
\_/ |__) |__ |__)
| |\/| |__
|\ | |
/__`
|___ / \
| |___
| \ |
| | |___ |
\| |
.__/
___
| | |
|
|__|
|/\| | |
|
|
__
__
__
__
__
|__)
|
/\ |\ |
/\ |__) |
/\ |\
|
| | / \
|__) |\/| /__`
| |___
/~~\ | \| /~~\ | \
| /~~\ |
\|
|/\| \__/ |
\ | | .__/
_
___/
\_______
__/\
/
.
\__________
__/ /
(
.
\_____/
/
\___
_____
_/
\_/
\________
/
\___________/
A Useless snippet of
history copy pasted from
Wikipedia:
The Worm Runner's Digest
(W.R.D.) was created in
1959 by biologist James
V. McConnell after his
experiments with memory
transfer in planarian
worms generated a
torrent of mail
enquiries. The W.R.D.
published both satirical
articles, such as "A
Stress Analysis of a
Strapless Evening Gown",
and scientific papers,
the most famous of
which, "Memory transfer
through cannibalism in
planaria", was a result
of McConnell's RNA
memory transfer
experiments with
planarian worms and was
later published in the
Journal of
Neuropsychiatry.
After complaints that
the satirical articles
and the scientific
publications were not
distinguishable, the
satirical articles were
printed upside down in
the back half of the
W.R.D. along with a
topsy turvy back cover.
In 1966, the title was
changed to the Journal
of Biological Psychology
in an effort to make the
publication more
accessible to the
scientific community.
In 1979 the magazine
ceased publication.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
__
__
__
___
__
___
__
__
|__) /\
/ ` |__/
/__` |
/\ / _`
|__
| \ |__)
/\
|\/| /\
|__) /~~\ \__, | \
.__/ | /~~\
\__>
|___
|__/ | \
/~~\ | |
/~~\
|
\|||/// _____ |
@@@@| o
| |
|
______
o # |
_\ \ o o |
/______\
/ /
/ --,
| |
__/________\__
__/_____\==. .
@ |
|_/ )
/
. .
. __ |
_|
|__
| |
.... ..
|
______| \
___ / |__
| |
.. .. .
| /
\
/
\
| | .. . .
..
|
/
/
\
/
)
\ \ . . . . .
___|
\
\
| |
/\\\ . .
. . / o
|
\
\_____
\\
| |
. . . . . .
. . o|
\
/__\\_ ___\__|_
. . . .. . .. .
.). |
\_______\____//
/-_
. . . .. .
.. . |
\
/
--- /
. . . . . . . . |
\______
/
\___/
| | |
. . . . . .|
\_____/
/
| | |
| . . .
|
/
/________/\
__|__| |___|__ . .
.|
(
\
\____/
\_____/ . .
|
\
/\
\
.
.|
\______/ \______\
__--------
.|
\
\
\
\
||__
|
|
\
\
\
\
--------
|___________
__\_____|
__\_____\ _______
/________\ /_________\
CONFESSIONS OF A MUSIC
JOURNALIST...
Our special reporter
Thiery Mangetout goes
undercover in the
world's most prestigious
clubs and infiltrates
the backstage to give
you
all the SMUT and DRAMA
that goes on there!
29 NOVEMBER BERLIN
As dark clouds
overshadow the sparse
beams of moonlight a few
futile
raindrops pour on my
Burberry trench coat. I
stand before an European
nightclub...one of so
many...and all the same.
A huge line sprawls
endlessly for the
entrance. I am not on
the list nor have any
tickets, but that
doesn't matter...a 'pro'
like me always gets in.
I use the old but proven
"plastic bag with
equipment that the
artist forgot" trick.
Always works: all you
need is a plastic
translucent bag with
some random cables and
adapters, maybe even a
broken circuitboard
for some extra
dramatization.
I walk to the backside
of the building and ring
the backstage doorbell.
Assured I hold up the
bag to the security
camera. "Bringing some
stuff for the live set
he asked for" I say
through the intercom. A
buzzing sound - the door
opens and I sneak
in. Nobody gives a
fuck. I find my way
through the smokey
corridors. Muffled loud
bass sounds thump and
resonate throughout the
building, adding an
otherworldly disorder to
its reality.
After some purposeless
loitering I invite
myself into the 'green'
room. That raunchy place
lit with cheap
fluorescent tube lights,
were all failed
existence comes together
in a spectacular show of
apathetic shallow
lunacy.
On the couch we find the
headliner tonight -
let's call him X. A
spoiled narcissistic
brat having no clue what
it is to be a normal
human being.
To make matters worse,
he is surrounded by
ludicrous idiots who
want to be in his aura
of cheap fame. The usual
dumb conversation. Their
frequeny flyer status,
Airline complaints,
Ibiza, cryptocurrencies,
Ayusca retreats, luis
vuton bags, how great
minimal techhouse is ,
NFTs, shopping in Dubai
and an infinite number
of other boring subjects
pass in review.
I keep my ears open,
there is always a chance
to get some insider
gossip for an
interesting exclusive
scoop...but it seems
futile tonight. As
copious amounts of drugs
go round on the coffee
table the conversation
turns into
unintelligible speech.
All of a sudden X stands
up in silence. In a haze
of confusion he starts
to projectile vomit all
over the backstage
attendees. I am well out
of his reach as I slowly
slip around the door.
Experience learned me
that it is best to
observe these events
from a bit of distance.
DJs like these have, and
as this situation shows,
- need - a manager.
Another useless expense
for the promoters. What
does the DJ manager do?
Carry their bags. Check
them in at the hotel,
pour drinks, wipe their
lips after they eat too
much choco mousse...in
the end the manager
cleans up the mess.
Years of treatment like
this have turned X into
naive sedated
man-toddler. But that is
all OK...for me the
manager is a welcome
sight.
After the manager
apologizes to the vomit
covered backstage
entourage and demands
some cleaning staff he
nods to me and waves a
discrete envelope. In it
a 'contribution' that
most likely will make me
write a favorable review
about this event.
Reassured I take the
envelope and put it in
my inside pocket. I can
pay my electricity bill
again.
As for his gig....He
probably plays what 85%
of all other DJs in
Europe will play tonight
- the same boring tracks
they all got from that
one online promo agency.
Thumping beats devoid
from any melody, any
experimentation or soul.
A facade of uninspired
boredom just like X
himself. I won't even
see it, even before X
starts to play I am
already home. Settled in
my cosey chair with a
glass of brandy and my
collection of Chet Baker
records slowly dozing
off into a calm world
devoid of any DJ
stupidities.
Thierry Mangetout.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
An interview with CANADIAN SNOW WAVE artist
__
/\ | /\ |\
| |__| /\ |__)
|\/| /\ |\ |
/~~\ |___ /~~\ | \| | | /~~\
| \ | | /~~\ | \|
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\ \
\
\
\
\
\
\ \ \
___________________________________
\
\
\ \
______________________________ |
|
\
\ \ \ \
______________________________ |
|
\
\ \
______________________________ | |
\
______________________________ |
|
__-------___ \ \
______________________________ |
|
\__
\
______________________________ | |
\ \ /
--_
\ \
______________________________ |
| |___
- )
______________________________ |
| /
\ _ ) \
o
o o
| | \ /___
== ) /
o
o
o |
| /__|
| |
\ \
/\
/\
/\/\
/\ |
| |_____
\\
\
\/\/ \ o
o \ /\/ \/\
| | \ \
\______\
\ \
/\/\/\/\\/\/\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\\|
|
/ \
====================================
/
\
Buried deep in the snow of the Canadian internet one
will occasionally find a great authentic
undiscovered artist who lives in obscurity devoted
to their art. An artist like ALAN HARMAN. Just
randomly listening to a track like SIGNAL - 1 (https://alan-harman.bandcamp.com/track/signal-1)
one might be struck by its cold otherworldly
misery. Check out that strange soothing
dark synth samba vibe...that sweet simple
everlasting squelchy synthesizer riff! In a
perfect world music like this would be the christmas
hit and sell 10 million spotify plays instead of
pedestrian mindnumbing aural laxatatives from the
likes of Ed Sheeran or Simply Red.
We sat down with Alan Harman and asked him some
questions...
SW: Can you tell me a bit about yourself? Were are
you from how did you get into music?
AH: I’m 22, a graphic designer/artist, and happily
married, living in a very quiet small town called
Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. I originally got into
music because there’s really not much to do here and
became an escape from a mostly bland town that
doesn’t have a scene for anything except folk art. I
had to really go searching for interests and art
because there was no way I would be exposed to it
here. The instrumental moment for me was when I
heard The Absence of a Canary by Ceramic Hello and
Hangin’ At the Beach by Delroy Edwards for the first
time because it really changed my view on what music
could be and that was really my first initial step
into creating the minimal synth stuff that I make
now.
SW: You have this ‘typical’ Canadian
Toronto/Burlington poetic minimal synth wave
sound…like Ceramic Hello but a bit more
sombre… and maybe some Quebec influences like IKO
83?! Whats in the air, the water, the weather, is
there a typical Canadian sound?
AH: In terms of Canadian minimal synth I think I can
count the amount that I’m aware of on one hand (most
of my influences are actually Belgian). I think
Ceramic Hello is a perfect embodiment of Canadian
sound because it gives you this cold, distant
feeling which is exactly how it feels living here;
isolated and far away from the rest of the world.
SW: What influences your lyrics?
AH: I read A LOT of science fiction and the past
couple years I’ve been working my way through as
much Philip K. Dick and Isaac Asimov as I possibly
can. Something about the way Philip K. Dick writes
really resonates with me a lot of inspiration to
write the things that I do, as well as following a
lot of modern conflict journalism and reading about
war events of the last 100 years.
SW: What are your favorite writer/books? And Movies?
AH: My favourite writer is definitely Philip K.
Dick with my favourite books being a tie
between Dr. Bloodmoney, for the really weird
character, and Now Wait for Last Year, for the
really weird story. Isaac Asimov is a close second
for his short stories. My favourite movie of all
time is Brazil because Terry Gilliam is a genius.
That movie is a beautiful cross between hilariously
dreamy sci-fi with that 80s cheesy magic that you
can’t recreate.
SW: What is your gear setup like? What makes this
cool lo-fi sound on some of your tracks (like on
the I walk unscathed album)?
AH: My setup has had a lot of different iterations
over the past few years. I like to switch things up
as I refine the kinds of sounds that I want, but
always keeping it all analog. Currently I have a
CR78 clone, a Korg MS20, a bunch of analog guitar
pedals, and a hacked together spring reverb (made
from a few amps and a spring tank to use as a send
effect), with a Beatstep pro sequencing everything.
The most special piece of the studio is my Yamaha
MT4X 4-track cassette mixer which handles all
recording/mixing duties.For my earlier stuff I was
tracking to a crappy cassette deck on crappy type 1
tapes and then mixing in digital resulting in some
super lo-fi sounds.
SW: Any future plans /shows/ album /projects you
want to talk about?
AH: As far as shows go, I’m playing my first ever
show in September 2022(would be nice to play before
that too), but that will be a local show in
collaboration with my good friend Oli Goldsmith. I’m
gonna continue just putting stuff out as I record
because my output has increased substantially as of
late and I’m bad for sitting on recordings for far
too long.
SW: Thanks for talking to us and best wishes and
good luck with your music!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
__ ___ __
__ ___
___
___
__
__
__
/__` |__ / ` |__) |__
| | | |__
/\ |__) / \ |\ | /__`
.__/ |___ \__, | \ |___
| |/\| |___ /~~\
| \__/ | \| .__/
__
___
__
__
/ \ |__ |\/| | | /__`
| /
`
\__/ | | | \__/
.__/ |
\__,
__ __ __
__
__ ___
__
|__) |__) / \ | \ | | /
` | | / \ |\
|
| | \ \__/ |__/ \__/
\__, | | \__/ |
\|
We take a look at the 2000's KORG AX1500G a guitar
multi fx
processor...and it turns out to be much more fun
with synths!
____________________________________________________________
| _____
_____ _____
_____ _____ __________ |=======|\
| | _ | | _ |
| _ | | _ | | _
||toneworks ||=======| \
| | / \ | | / \ | | / \ | | / \ | | / \
|| korg ||=======| |
| | \_/ | | \_/ | | \_/ | | \_/ | | \_/
|| [023] [9]||=======| |
| |drive| | cab | | mod | |pedal| |Ambi
|| ---------||=======| |
| | [ ] | | [ ] | | [ ] | | [ ] | | [ ]
|| - - - ||=======| |
| -----
----- -----
----- ----- | - - - - ||=======| |
|
__ -
__ ___
___ __ - |__________||=======| |
|
o
o
o
o
o
|=======| |
| ______ 1 ______ 2 ______ 3
______
_______ |=======| |
| | ____ | | ____ | | ____ | |
____ | | _____ | |=======| |
| || ||
|| || || ||
|| ||
|| ||
|=======| |
|__|______|_|______|_|______|_|______|__|_______|____---------
|
\_____________________________________________________________\|
KORG TONE WORKS PEDAL AX1500G
A significantly underrated piece of gear is the
mighty 'vintage' AX1500G
Tone Works multi-effects pedal from the late
1990's/early 2000s. Designed for guitarists/bassists
to have a compact amplifier/cabinet simulation with
multi fx. But these also work amazingly well with
synths
and drummachines. If you want RAW as F***** ENERGY
this is what you
need.
Amp simulators patches such as 'FAT DIST' and 'METAL
DISTO' will instantly fatten up bass lines and
presets such as 'IMAGES' will give any sound instant
industrial energy. Put this over a drummachine and
you are in business, no more feeble weak meandering
buttwater beats!
The Tone Works has some freaky and fun effects
including its spring reverb, a mighty pitch bend
effect, a badass ring modulator, and a cool 'U-VIBE"
effect which are all controllable using the pedal.
The strength of the Tone Works is it wide range of
both amp simulators and other classic effects and
the power of these effects which can easily
transform a boring track into a punchy hit. It also
has an attractive silver casing with a late 90's
/early 2000's vibe to it and is easily programmable
with large arrow shaped dial knobs.
Its little sister, the AX100G, is similar but more
compact. Don't be fooled by its toyish allure, the
AX100G includes first-rate and original presets, and
is complementary, rather than redundant, to the
AX1500G.
The best part is that you can find both are
available at your local flea market, or on eBay,
marktplaats etc for under 100 euros.
C.B.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
___ ___
__
__
| |__ / ` |__| |\ | /
\
| |___ \__, | | | \|
\__/
__
___ __ __ __
/__` | |\/| | |
| /\ |
/ \ |__) /__`
.__/ | | | \__/ |___
/~~\ | \__/ | \ .__/
_______
/ \
/ \
_____________
|
|
/ __________ |
|
|
/
|
||
| /
/
|
||
| /
(
|
||
\ \_____
( |__________||
____/
\
(_______________/
/
\
___________/
\
/\ - - - -
/
/
\ \ -
\\\\/
/
\_\___\
/
\______
\
/
/
TECHNO SIMULATORS - a new range of software titles
that will bring the
excitement of the techno club culture right into
your own home. Three titles available now:
CLUB SECURITY SIMULATOR - you play the club security
on the dancefloor, not at the door but that person
standing with their arms crossed watching the
dancing crowd in surreptitious bewildered disdain.
Scan every nook for punters trying to smoke, being
too drunk or drugged out or doing something
suspicious. Act fast and discrete while maintaining
efficient crowd control. At the end of the party
clear the dancefloor as quick as possible.
ARTIST LIAISON SIMULATOR - Collect the artists from
the station or airport (or in some levels like
"LONDON" you don't have to pick them up yourself but
you have to make sure the Addison Lee taxicab comes
at the right place). After that you have to manage
the artist dinner - using multiple choice
questions/answers you will have to keep the
conversation going while not dropping the artist
boring meter too low. If that happens their head
will explode (In David Cronenberg SCANNERS
style)...At the party itself you have to make sure
they get enough drinks and drugs but not let them
fuck up too much (like you got to find
the right dealer and if you give the wrong drugs the
DJ set will go
really bad and you get fired)
ARTIST VIRTUE SIGNALLING SIMULATOR - Whine about all
sorts of subjects on virtual simulated versions of
twitter, facebook, tiktok, instagram etc.etc.etc..
Try to get more followers ...watch out what you
post...are you desperate enough? Post something
boring and you may loose hundreds of
followers...wear some funny clothes and you get more
likes...or you might even get cancelled if you post
the wrong stuff! As used by professional artists in
social media training by the Hermy Brood DJ Producer
school in Tilburg.
Available at your local computer shop. On Commodore
64 / 128 / VIC 20 / PET / SONY HITBIT / MSDOS PC
TRS80 / ZX SPECTRUM
------------------------------------------------------------------------
___
___
___ __ _
|__ |\/| | |\ | |__ |\ |
| __/ / / /
|___ | | | | \| |___ | \|
| __/ / /_/
__
___ __
__
__
| | |\ | | / \ | |
|__ / \ |__) /
_` /\ |\ |
\__/ | \| | \__X \__/ |___ \__/
| \ \__> /~~\ | \|
__
__________________________
__
|
|--------------|
|---------------| |
|
|______________|__________________________|_______________|
|
| | ____ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ | |
| |
U U U U U
U U U U U
U U U U U U
| |
|
|_________________________________________________________|
|
| | .--. .-. ||||| |||||||
||||| ||||||| ||||| |||| - - -| |
| |=============||||| ||||||| ||||| |||||||
||||| |||| - - -| |
|
|_____________|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|__|______|
|
|
|---------------------------------------------------------|
|
| | .--. .-. ||||| ||||||| ||||| ||||||| |||||
| .-..-..-. | |
|__|==========||||| ||||||| ||||| ||||||| |||||
|============|__|
|
|__________|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|____________|
|
|
|_________________________________________________________|
|
|__|_________________________________________________________|__|
|
|_________________________________________________________|
|
|
|_________________________________________________________|
|
|
|_________________________________________________________|
|
|
|_________________________________________________________|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
_____
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
| | __ __
__ __ __ __
__
|
| |
|
| | | ||
|| || || || ||
|
|
| |
|
| | || ||| || ||| ||
||| |||
|
|
| |
|
|__|----U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U|----------|_____|--------|__|
Unbeknownst to many, The Netherlands has a
blossoming electronic organ industry spanning all
the way from 1950s tube organs to digital sampled
waveform organs. This organ industry is closely tied
to the Dutch biblebelt, a topographical strip of
land penetrating the country with a high
concentration of conservative orthodox Calvinist
Protestants. These people are not allowed to have
any fun by normal means. Watching movies or
listening to non religious music will send you
straight to the deepest pits of hell. The only thing
they are allowed to do is sing songs about Jesus and
his buddies accompanied on the organ.
One of the most famous and cult dutch organs was the
EMINENT 310 UNIQUE.
Developed and manufactured in 1972 by the EMINENT
organ company in Bodegraven. This organ had the
worlds very first string synthesizer. Using an
innovative design of several bucket brigade delay
circuits to create its lush unique (ha) string
sound.
Inadvertently the 310 became the sound of 1970s
synthesizer muzak.
The machine's lush haunting strings were heard by
millions on
Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene and Equinoxe albums.
Very much to the dislike of Eminent who were
offended that their devout holy instrument was used
for this sinful unsanctified music.
But the sound of the Eminent 310 was unstoppable.
Eminent themselves in 1974 would release the string
section as a self contained instrument: The Solina
String Ensemble. A, for that time, slique 4 octave
keyboard which was much more portable then the heavy
310 organ and thousands of bands would have one in
their setup. It was even licensed to ARP synthesizer
which had tried to develop their own string
synthesizer but couldn't figure it out themselves.
For years and maybe still today, one could find a
dusty Eminent 310 in Dutch thrift stores for cheap
prices. Last one I saw must be around 2015 somewhere
in a thrifstore in Diemen were they had one for 25
euros. Nobody really wanted them, a cumbersome
affair to transport and taking up too much space in
your abode. Only hardcore Jean Michel Jarre fans
would indulge into this instrument. Nowadays,
especially outside The Netherlands, they go for
ridiculous prizes (there is one on Reverb for 2250
euros). You probably can find one for free or really
cheap if you search a bit still but maybe Behringer
could make a re-issue of the entire 310 organ in a
lightweight mini version!?
Pleeeeease...that would really be so awesome!
Your Shadow Wolf theological bible belt organ
correspondent,
Miep Mus
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUILD YOUR OWN
___
___ __ ___ __
__
__
|__ | |__ /
` | |__) / \ |\ | | / `
|___ |___ |___ \__, | | \ \__/ |
\| | \__,
___ ___
__
| | /\ | |__
|__)
|/\| /~~\ | |___ |
\
__
__
__
___
\_/ \ / | / \ |__) |__|
/ \ |\ | |__
/ \ | |___ \__/ |
| | \__/ | \| |___
A fun activity to do by yourself or with the family.
Build your own
electronic water xylophone.
You need:
5 empty (beer) bottles
5 contact mics/piezo elements
5 construction tape
Audio wire/cable
Jack Plug
Stick with a little bead or marble on it
_____________________wire_________________________
|
|
|
|
/
|
|
|
|
|
/
|
| === | === | ===
| === |
===
|
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | |
|
|
| | | \ | | \ | |
| | | |
|~|
| jack
\ \ \ \
/ \ \/ \
|/
\
[ ] plug
| O | | O | | O |
|~O~~~| -O
|
[ ]
| |
| | |~~~~~|
| |
|
|
[ ]
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
H
| | |~~~~~|
| |
| |
|
|
H
|~~~~~| | |
| |
| |
|
|
U
|_____| |_____| |_____| |_____|
|_____| __ _________________
| | [ ] [
] |
Bottles with contact mic/piezzo
element | \
\ \ \ \ \ \
| \ = = =
= = \
|_____\________________\
audio mixer
Fill 5 bottles with water, going from almost empty
to full. Close
the bottles with tape or if you still have them, the
caps.
Tape the contact mic/piezo element on the bottles,
around halfway
before the neck starts. Wire them so they come all
together into
one wire. Attach a jack plug to the end of the cable.
Put that one into a mixer, you might need a pre amp
or put the gain
up pretty much. Use a stick with a bead or marble on
it an
play the bottles. Put FX over the sound and
you got a mindboggling
exotic instrument!
Experiment with the amount of water to make the
right notes.
YOu might want to use a keyboard or tuner to see how
much
water makes which pitch if you want existing scales.
Of course, it's more weird to get out of tune alien
tuning.
Instead of wiring all the wires into one you can
also make a
plug for each element/bottle so you will have 5
plugs to put in
your mixer having individual channels for each
bottle!
Now you can pan each bottle in a stereo field or put
individual
FX over them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
__ ___ ___
__
__
| | | |__) | |
|__ |__)
(__)
\__/ \__/ | | | |___
| \
(__)
__
__
___
__
/__` /\ |\/| |__)
| |__
|__) /\ |__/
.__/ /~~\ | | | |___
|___ | /~~\
| \
_____________________________________________________
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
JUPITER 8 |
|_____________________________________________________|
| |LFO |MOD |VCO1 |VCO2
||HPF VCF|VCA | ENV1 |ENV2 |
| | | | = | |
= | | | | = = = =| | = |||=
= |
| o o| = = | = = | =
o o| = o| | | | || = | =|=| | |
|____|________________________________________________|
| |
| | _____ |
| |
|
| O |_ ||_|_|_| | |_||12
23|||_|_|_|_|_||_|_|_|||_|_ |
|-----------------------------------------------------|
|
_________________________________________ |
| .. . | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |||__ | ||||| ||||||| |||||
||||||| ||||| ||||||| |
| = = =
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
|=====================================================|
The sounds of one of the most coveted vintage synths
at your finger tips! Ready to load in your sampler!
Load them up in Ableton - Fruityloops - MPC -
OCtatrack - SP404 - Polyend Tracker - Renoise -
Electribes - Microsampler - OP1 - Kurzweil - Mirage
- EPS - ASR etc.etc.etc. Luscious pad sounds,
growling basses, splendorous synths, exalting FX,
mindwarbling arpeggios and lots more!!!
350 samples in 16 bit wav format - all free for you
to use!
coming very soon on legowelt.org!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
__
___
__ __
__
___ ___
| \ |__ |\/| /
\ /__` / ` |__ |\ |
|__
|__/ |___ | | \__/
.__/ \__, |___ | \| |___
__ ___ __
__ __
___
|__) |__ |__) / \ |__)
| .
| \ |___ | \__/ |
\ | .
__ __ __
__ ___ __ __
__ ___
|__) / \ / \ / |__ | \
|__) / \ |\/| |__
|__) \__/ \__/ /_ |___ |__/ | \ \__/ | |
|___
THE ULTIMATE GABBER COMPO OF 2021!!!
o o
.
.
o
o
. . .
.
.
.
. .
. .
/\ . /\/\
/\/\
/\ /\/\/\/\
\ / \
/ \/\/\ o
o .
o / \ / \
\ \ \
\/
\/ o \
\
_____
/ \ \ \ \ \
\ .
\
\ | ||
| ___
@@@@
\ \ \ \
\
___ #####
\ | / \ | / __\
@@@@@@@
\ \ \ \
/ \ ## . .| \
|( )| /O=O\ \
@ _ - @
\ \ \
| x
x| ## ) | \| \_/
| \F
\/ | X
|
\ \
\
---| | ( )|
|_||__| @@@@----__ _|_____|
@@@@ \
--------
\ @@@@ |_____|
||||\___ |
|_||||
/ \
==||||
||||$_____| | ___||%%
/ / @@@@ _\
%%||||
-- / |_|
| --
| |
||||%__\
--
/_____/\\\____|
)))__||||__|
\
/ __ \ | _ \
|
__ |
____/
/ / \ \| | \ \
| | | | |
|
|
\ \ / /| | \ \
|_| |_|
|_|__|__
\__\/__/ |__| \__\_
(__)
(__)(____)__)
(___(___) (___) (____)
On Saturday 7th of August 2021 the annual BOOZEMBLY
was held in Helsinki Finland. The BOOZEMBLY is a
little obscure side event of the giant ASSEMBLY
creative tech demo/game convention.
At the BOOZEMBLY votes are cast for the BOOZEDROME.
An initiative of the Dekadence demo group, the
Boozedrome is a yearly competition where the
contestants make a gabber song on a Commodore AMiga
computer with the Protracker sequencer software.
The rules are simple:
1) It must be a 4 channel MOD. file playable
in Protracker V.2.3D.
2) The Maximum filesize can not be bigger then 500kB
(thats half a floppy more or less!)
3) A maximum length of 3 minutes.
The event, or 'ritual' takes place at the BOOZEMBLY
HILLS somewhere in
what looks like an acient nordic forest (probably
nothing more then some
park shrubbery behind a Helsinki suburbian
stripmall)
Two economy-sized budget portable PA speakers stand
on an ancient glacier rock...like biblical slabs
blasting the 10 commandments of chosen gabber tracks
to the pilgrims of the BOOZEMBLY.
Those 10 best ones are compiled on a cassette and
the bandcamp page of
BOOZEDROME: https://boozedrome.bandcamp.com/music
Shadow Wolf asked some questions to the DEKADENCE
crew to see what's up with all this!
(SW): Can you tell a bit about the Dekadence group,
when did it start - whre is it based, how many
members, where are they from? what is the most
famous demo or the one you are most proud of???
(Britelite): Dekadence started back in 1997 and is
based in Finland,
although we do have some members from Germany and
Norway too.
We probably have some 20 members currently, but with
only a handful
actually being active. The Beertime series is
probably among our most
well known demos, and some of our Amiga 64k intros
have also been very
well received. One of my favourites is Chaotic,
which won the oldskool
democompo at Assembly 2011.
(SW): What are your favourite classic gabber tracks
from the early days (made on an amiga)?
(Ricky Martin): If being made on an Amiga’s the
requirement, I guess I’d go with Nasenbluten.
“Cocksucker” in particular is a banger. Other than
Amiga I’ve always been really partial to Explore
Toi’s sound, like “Body Suburb Beat” by Suburbia +
Ethnox + Mosmacrew.
(okkie): Have to start with Neophyte as they wore
their Amiga love on their sleeves with the "3
Amigas" and "Protracker" EPs, "Back in my Brain",
"Komen wij uit Rotterdam", they're all bangers made
in Protracker. I reached out to them for Boozedrome
IV as there is a fantastic Windows/Mac clone for
Protracker, but unfortunately Jeroen never
responded. I'm a big of fan of early hardcore, the
orginators, DJ Rob '1992 for you' Dyewitness
'Observing The Earth', King Dale 'Utter', Vitamin
'Alice in Donderland'. The time where it was all new
and people were just fucking around with synths and
samples.
(SW): What is the significance of Boozembly Hills?
Where is it? Is the boozedrome always held there?
(Ricky Martin): Tiny bit of Finnish demoscene
history: Boozembly Hills is the nickname for an area
close to the Assembly demoparty in Helsinki. It
hosts an informal event called Boozembly, which is
where Assembly visitors go to drink, well, booze,
and socialize, since alcohol has traditionally been
forbidden inside the Assembly hall. It’s been a
convenient location for the Boozedrome competition
(and the obvious inspiration for the name), since
there’s always a lull early on the Saturday of
Assembly where nothing happens inside, and thus
people are also still sober enough to listen to a
bunch of gabber tracks.
Boozedrome has been held there for three times,
except this year (2021) due to the weather being
just awful on the day of the compo. So we did it
online on Twitch instead, which worked surprisingly
well.
(SW): Why are ATARI ST's so bad?
(Britelite): Have you heard the sound chip?
(Ricky Martin): As Britelite mentioned, the sound
capabilities are just abysmal. Although ironically
enough, I’ve probably made more Atari ST chiptunes
in recent years than Amiga MODs. Sometimes, shall we
say, extreme limitations are a boon for creativity.
(SW): Is there any good ATARI computer or thing?
(Ricky Martin): I’m going to have to be honest here:
I’ve barely ever used an Amiga, and been more of an
Atari ST and PC guy. Please don’t kick my ass due to
some unfortunate circumstances!
That doesn’t really answer the question though.
Well, when I was a kid, I thought the Atari Lynx was
insanely cool and I was super jealous of a friend
who had one.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s always
been slim pickings with this company, you know?
(SW): Why does the Amiga computer make the best
gabber kicks?
(Ricky Martin): [pointing to my response to the
previous question:] uhhhhhhhhh. Magic?
(Okkie): Cause you can easily steal them from other
records!
But even if you don't, an 808 kick through your
guitar distortion pedal
straight into your 8 bit Amiga 500 gives enough
crunch for that classic
gabber sound.
(SW): What Amiga digitizer/sampler do you use?
(Ricky Martin): I don’t! I either rip my samples
from others, or prepare the samples in an app called
Sound Studio on my Mac, and it does a really poor
job of converting them too. I can’t say audio
fidelity has ever been my priority when making mods.
(Okkie): ProTracker 2.3D is the one and only
sequencer you should ever use on Amiga. Rip your
samples from other people, or use Audio Master III
for sampling.
SW
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
__ __ ___ ___
__
__ __
__
___ __
|__) / \ |__ | |__) \
/ / ` / \ |__) |\ |
|__ |__)
| \__/ |___ | |
\ | \__, \__/ |
\ | \| |___ | \
__
_ __
_\ \|_|/
/_
o _
_ o .
. o
/ \/
\/ \
o |
\ / |
o o . __/
\__/\___/\__/
___.
| \_/ |
__ _ __ /
/_/|_|\_\
____/ | .
. | __ _\_\|_|/_/_ o
___ _ | _
/ \\\ |
o | |___(__)____|
. \ \ \|// ___/
o o \ \_/ -
\__ /_/|_|\_\ .
\__ \
|/__/ .
. \__
___ \ _ |
_ o
o
\__\| .
o
o |
\
\\\ \\|// . .
. . |
.
.
| )
\|/
/___//___/
|
What is the Shadow Wolf Cyberzine without the poetry
corner,
once more some cool poems sent in by our readers...
The commute by Jentlemen
Diving through, I land among clots of wet snow
and soggy christmas trees.
White dots float on in the fluid space.
I am swimming where I need to go.
Spineless and unseen,
passing through seaweed and algae,
not knowing an unfiltered sun from a salty one.
Drinking deep what I must pass through,
weight was never meant to be carried on these knees.
You slumber on at the water’s edge
where waves break, carving out a coastal shelf.
You, lone bird,
who will not be here when I return to shore.
_-_-_-_
When it smiles I feel
afraid by Vera Vleermuis
A secret
subtly muted
througout time
under a faded
valiant
grim fantasy
A forest wave
cascades gently
onto vanished
petrified
emerald fields
A shadow evening
sings
whilst waiting
for an eternal
dark
spring dream
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
___
| | |__| /\
|
|/\| | | /~~\
|
__ __
___
___
__ ___
/ ` |__) |__ /\
| | | |__) |__
\__, | \ |___ /~~\ | \__/ |
\ |___
__
___
__
__
| /__` | |__| |
/__`
_|
| .__/ | | | |
.__/
.
SOme rather dIstUrBing AsCII art from Cassiopeia
Blumenthal from an
ASCII art theraphy session:
++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++
+++
++++++
++
++
++
++
++
++
++
++
+++
+++
++
++
++++
++++
++
++ +++
++
++
++
++
++ +++
++
++
++
++
++ ++
+++ +++
++
++
++
++
+
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++
+
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++
+
++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++
++
+++++++++++++++++++
+++++++
++
++++++++++++++++
++++++++
++
++++++++++++++++
++++++++
+
+++++++++++++++++
++++++++
++
+++++++++++++++
+++++++++
+
++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+
+++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ ++++++++ +++++.
++++++
++++++++++++++++++
+ +++ ++++++++.
+
++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ +++++++++++++
+++++
++++++++++++ ++++
+
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++
+
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++
+ +++ ++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++ +++++++
+ +++ +++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++
+ +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++
+ ++++ +++ +++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++
+++++++
+ +++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++
+++++ ++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++
+++ + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++
++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++
+++
++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++
+++++++
++
+++++++++
+++++++++++++++ +++++
++++++
++++++++++++++
+++
++++++
+++++++++++++++
++++
+++++++++
++++++++++
++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What creature is this?
A duck? A gnome? Something else?
What sound does it make?
Does it laugh?
Does it cry?
Does it growl?
Does it talk normal?
What do its footsteps sound like?
Is it sad?
Is it happy?
Is it evil?
Maybe its somewhere in your home right now, hiding
until you go
to sleep...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
___
__ ___ __
/
|\ | |__ | | |__|
| | |\ | / _` |__ |__)
/
| \| |___ |/\| | | \__/ | \|
\__> |___ | \
.
___
__ ___
__
___
___
__ ___ __
| /\ |__)
|__ |__) |__
| |__ /\ /__`
|__ /__`
| /~~\ |
|___ | \ |___ |___
|___ /~~\ .__/ |___ .__/
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooo ooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooo
oooo
o ooooo oooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooo ooo
oooo o ooooo oooooo
ooooooooooooooooo oooooooooo
oooo ooo ooo ooooo o
ooooo oooooo
ooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooo oo ooo ooo
ooooo o oooo ooooooo
ooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooo o
ooooooo
o oo ooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooo o ooooooo
ooooopo oooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooo o ooooooo
ooooooo ooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooo o
ooo
ooo ooo oooooo
oooooooooooooooo
oooo ooooo oo
ooo
oooo
oooo ooooo
ooooooooo
ooo ooo o
ooooo oo oooooo
oooooooo oooo ooooo
ooooooooo ooo
oooo oo ooooo oo
ooooo oooooooo ooooo ooooo
o ooo oo
ooo ooo ooo
ooooo oo ooo
oooooooo ooooo ooooo
o oo ooo
ooo oo oooo
ooooo
oo
ooooooooo ooooo ooooo
o oo oooo
ooo oo oooo
ooooo ooo ooooooooooo
ooooo ooooo
oo oo ooooo
ooo ooo oooo
oooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooo
oooo oo oooo
oooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooppo
ooo oo
oooo o ooooo ooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop
oooo oo
ooooo ooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooppo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Alchemulator and Baglover's new releases on Hunger!
Check out The Hague’s own Hunger! two latest
releases available on bandcamp: Alchemulator’s
“Larping at Fairsnake Hamlet” and Baglover’s “Throw
Down the Gauntlet”.
Alchemulator is the new fantasy RPG larpwavpe alias
of Legowelt/Danny Wolfers. All tracks were made on
the legendary Yamaha PSS-480. Revel in
Alchemulator’s fantasy world of larping druids,
brought to life with the infamous Yamaha PSS480
keyboard. The history of the Yamaha PSS FM range
keyboards of the late 1980’s is fascinating and
niche: a cheap consumer semi-toy home keyboard with
spartan synthesizer functions based around a
specially designed FM sound chip.
The chip, which is a low cost and cut down version
of FM synthesis found in the mighty Yamaha DX7 - the
digital synthesizer that defined pop music in the
1980’ - brings forth a mere sketch of its distant
DX7 cousin. Feeble attempts to emulate the mighty
DX7’s electric piano or staccato bass sounds on one
of these keyboards are futile. Instead, a plethora
of unique lo-fi tones resound. Unexpected artifacts
are plentiful: cracks and hisses are present, giving
the sounds a strange otherworldly and organic
undercurrent, which are to be heard on the album.
This chip found its way in a number of 1990’s
computer sound cards, scoring the music of many RPG
adventure game worlds, exposing an entire generation
of geeks and cyberpunks to its digital dusty yet
crystalline warm spectrum of sounds. The instant
association with fantasy adventures makes it ideal
for old school dungeon synth composing. Escape this
savage life and enter Alchemulator’s great gardens
of Thalamere, located Southwest of Fairsnake Hamlet.
“Throw Down the Gauntlet” is The Hague’s elusive duo
Baglover's first full length album. The album is
dark and atmospheric, channeling a wide range of
instruments: incantations summoned by casio organs,
vintage atmospheric choir pads, and various noise
makers. On the battlefield, distant cries of death
and detonations resound. A horse’s neigh and bray.
Conjurations of La Pucelle d'Orléans aka Joan of
Arc’s military campaigns at Orléans, before meeting
their fate of wrongful conviction and burning at the
stake.
Baglover’s debut album evokes themes of chivalry,
crude theatres of war, and manuscript illuminations
such as the book of hours Très riches heures du Duc
de Berry, and celestial phenomenons, not unlike that
which befell Nuremberg on 14 April 1561. Woven into
the sonic landscape is the melancholically beautiful
and gut wrenching hurdy gurdy, an enigmatic melodic
and drone-producing medieval instrument as seen in
Dutch painter’s Bosch’ The Garden of Earthly
Delight, skillfully performed by Jimi Hellinga on
tracks 'Mire of Dregs Pit of Misery' and 'Nourrit
Parmi les Lis'.
Both releases are available on cassette tape and
digitally as a bundle which comes with a poster. A
limited edition Hunger! organic t-shirt is also
available. The artwork was made by Clara Lezla and
Rebecca Joly and both albums were mastered by Jimi
Hellinga (Elektrovolt, Zandvoort & Uilenbal) and
available at: https://hunger.bandcamp.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
__
__ __ ___
/\ / _`
| | |\/| |__) /__`
|__
/~~\ \__> |___ | |
| | .__/ |___
___
__
___
___
_________
| |\ | | /
\ | |__|
|__
_____________
| | \| | \__/
| | |
|___
_________________
____________________
__ __ ___
__ ___
___ _____ ______
___
|__) |__) |__ /__` |__ |\ |
| ______________________
| | \ |___ .__/ |___ |
\| |
______________________
______________________
______ ______
_________________
*
______
*
________________
*
________________________
*
***
____________________________
*
* *
______________________________
*** *
****
*
_______
_________
_____ * ***
*
* *
_________________________________ *
*
** _________________________________
**
*** _________
_________________________________
____ | _______ |
__________
__________
/ \ ||
||
_______________________________
/ /| ||
||
____________________________
/_| ||_______||
_______________________
//__ _______ //
______________
__/ \------ //
\//-- //
|\__/-----'
By Kamilė Rimkutė aka Caline with C
“a glimpse into the present” is an interactive sound
installation that enables visitors to generate sound
real time with their brainwaves, in particular in
states of relaxation. The installation uses BCI
(brain- computer interface) technology with an EEG
(electroencephalogram) headset. The headset contains
eight hybrid electrodes that collect small currents
of electricity from the brain, amplifies and
converts them into numbers which are received by a
computer. “a glimpse into the present” is originally
made for an eight channel sound system, where each
EEG electrode corresponds to a speaker in the space.
The first channel of the EEG headset is associated
with the first speaker, the second electrode with
the second speaker and so forth, creating a spatial
sound experience, where the spatiality is dependent
on the participant’s alpha wave presence. Alpha
waves are associated with the state of relaxation
and have a frequency range of around 8 - 12Hz.
“a glimpse into the present” in the setting of an
eight channel sound system was presented for 8
consecutive days, from June 16 23 June 2021, in a
WWII bunker in Den Haag next to café “de Waterkant”
in Westbroekpark. More than 50 people experienced
the installation during those days and each person
had a one-hour slot, with the possibility to leave
the installation at free will. The amount of time
spent inside the installation by participants varied
from 20 minutes to 60 minutes.
The sound installation can be seen as a training for
reaching a meditative state. Even people who may not
be experienced or devoted listeners are put in a
situation where they are responsible to the outcome
of the sound. In a way, the brain is just another
muscle in our body, which can be trained. I am using
the neurofeedback method in my sound installation as
a training, aiming to increase the appearance of
alpha brainwaves. By becoming more aware and present
in the moment, participants are given opportunity to
learn how to self-regulate emotional or mental
states, a skill which they can later apply while
under pressure.
How it works: channeling the brain's data into sound
I will briefly explain how I developed a software
communication system in order for this installation
to work technically. In this setup I used a Unicorn
EEG device from the g.tec medical engineering
company, based in Austria. The Unicorn EEG headset
sends the brainwave values through a Bluetooth
dongle to the computer. The headset records every
channel at a rate of 250 frames per second, and
therefore it generates a large amount of data which
can be used creatively afterwards. In this project I
wanted to have the device running in real time.
Therefore I needed to find a way to send the brain
data from the headset to the computer program
SuperCollider. The g.tec company also created
Unicorn LSL (Lab Streaming Layer) extensions, which
make it possible to send the values through the LSL
protocol to the software of one’s choice. In order
to send these values to SuperCollider, I needed to
translate them into OSC (Open Sound Control)
messages. For that reason I used the OpenVibe
program, which is able to receive messages sent
through LSL and apply a bandpass filter at 0.5-30Hz
to filter out noise from the brainwave data.
OpenVibe also has an “OSC controller” object, which
translates values into OSC messages, which I then
direct to the 255.255.255.255 IP address on my
computer. This means that messages are broadcast on
my local Internet network. I receive the data in my
SuperCollider program running on another computer. I
use two computers because the Unicorn headset is
only compatible with Windows computers and not yet
with MacOS. I run SuperCollider on a MacBook also in
order to protect the computer from CPU overload,
because too much data can lead to a computer crash.
In SuperCollider I created an OSCdef in order to
filter incoming messages so that the OSCdef is only
activated if they are in the frequency range of
alpha waves, which is between 8Hz to 12Hz or -8Hz to
-12Hz. In order to reach the alpha state, the
participant needs to feel calm and relaxed.
Problem-solving and other higher mental function
activities can prevent a person from reaching the
alpha state, and therefore a quiet, calm resting
state, without external distractions is recommended.
When SuperCollider receives a message in the
frequency range between 8 and 12Hz (also negative
range), a synthesizer inside an OSCdef is triggered.
When the program receives 2 to 5 messages in a row
in the aforementioned range, the synthesizer
changes. When the program receives 5 to 10 incoming
messages in a row in that range, the synthesizer
changes again and so forth. It means that the longer
people stay in the relaxed state of mind, the more
changes in sound they receive.
The code consists of smaller blocks of code which
are activated when a participant is relaxed for a
certain amount of time. I am more interested in
synthesizing sound than using prerecorded samples in
this project. Because the installation gives real
time responses, I want to use them for synthesis in
order to reach a more direct translation from brain
activity to sound. My goal is to encourage flow,
which in this case is a stream of data, which I then
direct in certain ways and let it sound. I mapped
incoming messages to frequency in most of the
synthesizers that I wrote. Therefore, every time a
synthesizer is triggered, the frequency is
different. Alpha range is from around 8Hz to 12Hz,
therefore a multiplication is needed in order for it
to be audible. If I seek for slight changes in
frequency, I multiply incoming messages with one
number. If I want more varied frequency range, I
multiply the incoming message with an array of
numbers, from which SuperCollider randomly chooses
the multiplication number. I used envelope followers
to create tones in some segments of the code for
each channel, by following the envelope of incoming
messages. If it happens that these tones are
triggered in a few channels at the same time, it
creates a melody. Segments of code for each channel
are written in a way that in the beginning, when
only a couple of messages in the range of alpha are
received, sounds are more subtle, slowly fading in
and fading out. Eventually, more immersive envelopes
appear, which stay there, until another segment of
the code is activated. However, the order of
priority in synthesizers does not define how
composition will evolve. Some EEG channels might
show more alpha activity than others faster,
therefore in some speakers continuous envelopes
might appear sooner, for example. Low frequencies of
40Hz are generated in order to achieve bodily sound
experience. See the full code on
https://github.com/rkamile/glimpseintothepresent.
Gaining control by giving up control: therapeutic
sound
The reason why I chose this project to be an
interactive installation rather than a performance
is because I wanted to create a space that enables
an experience which is intimate and personal; a
situation where people can stay in isolation with
themselves while experiencing the system. The
perfect goal is a kind of emptiness, which in this
case means that a person does not have any thoughts.
Experiencing a clear and empty state of mind can be
highly therapeutic and help people rest.
Through my therapist, I learned about the defusion
technique. It is widely used in acceptance and
commitment therapy and encourages individuals to
step back while in the middle of experiencing a
certain emotion and reflect on it by starting with
“I notice that...”. This method of distancing from
thoughts enables people to stay centered without
identifying with them. I encourage this defusion
technique in my sound installation, by instructing
participants to view their thoughts from a distance.
In this way, participants don’t have to feel
pressured to have a clear mind, or have only certain
relaxing thoughts. Various research shows that
suppressing thoughts or trying to control them too
much has an opposite effect and prevents relaxation
and blocks alpha waves.
The verdict: Feedback from participants
All participants that have tried the installation
reported reflective experiences. Some people found
it intimidating that their brain will be evaluated
how well it can perform. Some people found it
frustrating, since in most interactive
installations, participants need to physically do
something in order to shape sound and in this case,
the act was happening in their thoughts. Some
individuals reported that once they were able to let
go of control on their thoughts, they were able to
go into a deeper state of relaxation and experience
sound differently. Some people even had an
out-of-body experience. Interestingly, people who
are diagnosed with ADHD experienced the sound
installation differently. For them, complete
darkness and silence creates anxiety, therefore
during their time inside the bunker, they were
looking at their hands, or grabbing their phone or
found another way how to distract themselves in
order to stay relaxed. Overall, I was excited to
hear such different feedback and I think I was able
to communicate the principle that I was aiming for.
Gaining control by giving up control can be a
counterintuitive idea, but sometimes life is exactly
that.
Kamilė Rimkutė aka
Caline with C
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DJ MATCHSTICK THERAPY
_______________
/
/|
________________
/_____________ /
|
/
/|
|
______ |
| /_______________/
|
| |
____| |
| |
__
__ | |
| |
|____ |
| | |
| | |
|
|
| |
____| |
| | |
| / |
| |
| |
|
| | | \
\ / / |
|__
_
| |
|
| |
| \ \_/
/ | |\
\ / /
| |
|
| |
|
\
/ | | \
\____/ /
|
|_|
| /
|
\_/ |
/
/
\
|______________|/
|_______________|/ /
O O \___O
_______________
__________________
_____)
/
/|
/
/| (_______
/_____________ / |
/_________________/ |___
\____ \
|
_______ |
| |
_________ |
| \____/ \_/
| |___ __|
| | | |
_______| | ---_
| |
|
| | | |
|____
| -- \
| |
|
| | | |
____|
| --__|
| |
|
| | | |
|_______ | |
| |
|
| | |
|_________| | |
| __|
|__ |
|
|
| |
| |______|
| /
|_________________|/
|______________|_/
TRICKS TO DO / SHOW WHEN YOU ARE BORED BACKSTAGE
For many DJs and performing artists the most loathed
moment in their life is waiting in backstages before
a gig. This brings great amounts of anxiety and
stress to the artist. An empty void of unsufferable
mental pain. Psychologist Fiona Knorrepot from the
university of Lelystad worked with many DJs
analysing their behaviour and the mental
implications of the job.
She devised a coping strategy to deal with this
state of mind and make the backstage experience
tolerable, even fun and an uplifting experience.
You need a box of matches around 30.
Put them on the table and ask yourself the following
question:
If you could spell numbers using the matchsticks
only, for which number would you need the same
amount of matches as the number you are spelling. It
must be in capital letters and only for numbers
whose spelling only consists of straight lines (like
FIVE and TEN) and no curves (like TWO, SEVEN, THREE,
EIGHT etc.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
___
__ ___
__
__
|\/| |__ /\ |\ | | \
|__ |__) | |\ | /
_`
| | |___ /~~\ | \| |__/ |___ | \ |
| \|
\__>
___
__
__ ___
__
| |__| / \ | | / _`
|__| |
/__`
| | | \__/ \__/ \__> |
| |
.__/
__
__
___
/\ |__)
/ \ | |
|
/~~\ |__) \__/
\__/
|
__
__
__
___
|__| /\
|__) | \ | | /\ |__)
|__
| | /~~\
| \ |__/ |/\| /~~\ | \
|___
__
/\ |\ | | \
| | |__| \
/
/~~\ | \| |__/ |/\| |
|
|
__
__
__
__
\ / / \ |
| /__` |__| / \ | |
| |
\
| \__/
\__/ .__/ | | \__/ \__/ |___
|__/
___ ___
__ __
___
__
|\ | |__
\ / |__ |__) |__)
|__ /\ |
\ /\ |\
|
| \| |___
\/ |___ | \ | \
|___ /~~\ |__/ /~~\ |
\|
__ __ ___
__
___
__
/ \ |__) |__ |__) /\
| | / \ |\
|
\__/ | |___ | \ /~~\
| | \__/ |
\|
|\/| /\ |\ | | |
/\
|
| | /~~\ | \| \__/ /~~\
|___
/\
\
\
_________
| |
/
\_____--.
\ \
/ /
O --/
\
\
/ \
________/
| |______________----|
/ /\/\/\/\___
|
\_/ \/--- -/__/
|
\
\-- --\ \
\
/
/---
-/_/
___---\ /
___________\ |\- ---\
/ _____\
\____/
/ \ | \--- -\
\_/
\_ /
/ / \_ | /- -- /
/ / ___/
/ | | \ -- -\
/ /_ / _____/
\ |_/- ---/
\__/ \_/
/__/\--- -\
\_____\___
Meandering thoughts about hardware and why you
should never read an operation manual. (by our
special reporter BoeufStroganoff)
Some weeks ago I had an alcohol-infused opportunity
to meet, very late at night, with an asian-pop
singer who used to be a big deal in his country back
in the early 90's. We talked music and somehow ended
up at his place, where he showed off his home
studio. I was astonished to notice he composed music
with only a handful of items : an iPad, running some
multicoloured cubase clone, a mic and a mixer. Quite
minimalist for a “famous” singer.
At the risk of sounding judgmental, his music was
this kind of emotional overly-romantic,
predictable crap. He used cheap general-midi sounds
and, in a way, you could say he was making “preset
music”. But ok, his voice was good so let's just say
he was a good singer, but no composer. I was
watching him, frantically hitting his Ipad while
uttering frustrating squeaks and I realized that
this was the opposite of how I make music myself,
which is lyrics-less and composed with old smelly
hardware machines. Loads of them. That triggered
some thoughts during the next day's inevitable
hangover. Why do I use hardware and only deals with
computer for editing/mastering ? Why don't I indulge
with the efficiency of a DAW like this guy ? Why did
it all snowball into this weird article ?
A couple of days later I was at a
freak-slash-friend's place to geek around about
modular synth as he showed off his setup. I've got a
small collection of simple modules myself but I was
surprised about the complexity of some of his, the
nature of which I just couldn't guess by simply
looking. He started patching and desperately pushing
buttons to try to show me how this stuff worked...
but it just never did ! He concluded his
demonstration by saying “well, you just need some
time to really sit down and wrap your head around
it”.
I guess the modular ecosystem has only two kind of
modules : Simple ones, that have one purpose and one
function per knob. They are generally fully analog
but there is some cool digital stuff in there too.
Think first-gen stuff (like Doepfer), WYSIWYG, easy,
and playable in a dark environment. Then the other
type : tacky blinking RGB lights, buttons galore, OS
updates and secret complicated push combination to
switch to different modes (each brand having their
own logic about it). Loaded with a hefty amount of
these modules, a system can quickly become too
complex and nightmare-ish to be able to remember
everything.
I guess in this regard, only the former could be
called “instruments” while the latter are more like
“studio tools”. That's an interesting divide. An
instrument should be a window into your delicate
soul, being able to be controlled with extreme
precision to reflect the intricate emotions at play
in your beautiful juicy brain. So maybe a real
instrument should be as simple as possible. I don't
think anybody has ever needed to read a manual to
play on a piano or with a guitar. Most traditional
acoustic instruments are a hands-on, direct affair.
In contrast to a 90's groovebox, simplicity is the
only choice for acoustic instruments. They make one
type of sound over several fixed or non fixed
pitches, that's it. From the humble triangle to the
most complex brass contraption the spectrum is
large, but they're never too complicated. Put your
fingers on it, push air with your mouth through it,
or hit it with some kind of mallet and, after
training, that process will become more unconscious
and seamless, allowing you to concentrate on
musicality and expression. Congratulation, you are
now capable of transmitting beauty and emotions (or
despair and mayhem if you're into that stuff).
The first generation of electronic instruments like
the Trautonium, the Theremin or the Ondes Martenot
followed the principle of acoustic instruments.
Simple sound, simple interface. Things got
complicated when some freaks started to make music
using laboratory equipment. But this equipment was
simplistic enough to be considered a musical
instrument in that context. Keyboards from the 60's
and 70's, because of their analog
one-knob-per-function nature, could still be
considered descendants of their acoustic cousins.
During that era, more complex instruments could also
take a life on their own. The case of the EMS synthi
is interesting in that regard. Quite difficult to
master at first, the battleship looking matrix is a
singular interface that allow intuitive patch
construction. Turns out that the lack of keyboard
and the unique layout generated an instant urge to
craft some trippy drone that sounded like a new
language used to communicate with the Insect world.
So, more complex yes, but still an inviting, logic,
and a darn sexy instrument !
But in the early 80's, something happened. Something
weird, something new, something that scares me to
the max. Something that came out of the rib of the
devil himself : The birth of the Shift Button.
Suddenly, a knob could have two uses. The sweet
comforting reality of knowing at a glimpse what is
going on just got shattered. New machines now have
abstraction layers added to them by the
virtualization of their functions. Like the opening
of a new dimension, you have to know what the knob
does, but also what MODE your machine is on.
Meh...This is when things got head-scratching
confusing. Of course “shift button” here is
also a metaphor meaning “complexifying computerized
interfaces” in general.
The worse happens when your mind is elevated by some
weird enchanting chemicals, or when you are playing
in a dimmed atmosphere, because suddenly your
instrument can stop responding in a friendly
predictable way, triggering a HORRIBLE consequence :
you have to THINK !
It's nasty because, while being able to just surf on
your musical inspiration wave before, thinking
forces you to pause that vibe, delay your musical
impulses, fight with your instrument interface to
get it to do what you want it to do, then go back
into music performance mode... But like the surfer
who is busy strapping himself on his board for too
long and misses his wave, the musical wave might
have passed you already and you'll end up just
floating in a motionless ocean of evaporated
inspiration. If your motivation was thin to start
with, you could now be tempted to abandon making
music and go back to watching videos of cat
terrified by cucumbers.
This problem arose when the design of electronic
instruments left the hands of dedicated
craft(wo)men, or “luthier” as french say, to land on
the lap of engineers and their paradoxes. What I
call the engineer paradox is something weird and
insidious, that I experienced first hand. It consist
of the act of developing an electronic music
instrument and trying to cram as many features as
you can in the software or hardware of a project
while retaining the same part-count. At the
beginning of the project you have a clear vision of
what you want to make : a simple synth with some
knobs and faders. Old school and easy. Quickly, you
decide that it could be nice to add an OLED screen
and a couple of press-buttons in order to save some
presets. Then, as you develop the instrument
further, you start thinking about all this ROM space
available in the processor and that you could add
more features, especially since you now have that
OLED screen. And before you know it, your machine
has several modes accessible with long-press
bullshit and color-coded led blinking madness. Even
if your machine can indeed do what you envisioned in
the beginning, it is now also able to wash your
dishes and fill-in your tax return for you. You have
over-engineered your instrument and turned it
into... a Studio Tool ! full of features but not
inviting!
So what... Is it a black and white situation ? Are
all keyboards and drum-machines from the late 80's
crap ? No I don't think so, and for another
interesting reason : the creative power of the
crappy interface.
This touches my love for hardware at its core. Yes,
I do prefer old-timers and one-trick ponies that
don't have CPU's in them, because technological
advancement does not necessarily means better
instruments. But some less perfect machines have
quirky details, some simple function that, for
whatever reason, talks to you. While fiddling with a
simple little feature you suddenly discover some
interesting unpredictable musical results. A magical
instant, unforeseeable and quite impossible to
stumble upon on a computer. A little feature that
the engineer didn't think would make any difference
at all, but the implementation of which can make or
break the instrument for you. There are thousands of
them perks. It can be the way a machine glitches
when exposed to an overload of midi messages (Tom
Jenkinson, i'm looking at you). It can be a chord
memory function that behave funny when used with the
on-board sequencer. It can be a smooth type of
switch that the hardware guys have chosen instead of
another, like in the Roland CSQ-600 sequencer for
example. Switching memory banks while playing allow
to mix the data on the fly, very unique and musical
for a hardware CV seq.
And boy, If you connect many machines together the
chance of magic multiplies even more, almost in a
logarithmic way ! Simple example : using a
sequencer to control a keyboard with an arpeggiator
(The Juno-60 / JSQ-60 is a great combo here). When
playing back a sequence with the arpeggiator ON, the
results are completely unpredictable and can create
some nice off-beat rhythmical patterns. Playing with
the arpeggio clock speed while recording, will make
people think you're a composer genius. Only you know
it : the machine did it on it's own!
An engineer is not a luthier. But if we think about
it, we could almost say that these little hardware
perks are akin to some unintentional random yet
clever luthier gesture, turning shittily-interfaced
machine into... an instrument! We might
imagine that some engineering decisions can develop
the career of an artist that would specifically
build “his sound” on a quirky option of a hardware
synth. That's kind of cool. For example and at the
risk of referring to the synth enthusiast's Godwin
point, I am definitely certain that the 303 got its
place in history not really because of its sound,
but because of the way engineers from Roland made
the sequencer capable of programming slides
and accents into the sequence. That is the 303 fact
that made it a legendary instrument.
Note that these perks can go both ways. Of the top
of my head I'm thinking about the under-engineered
Korg Trident. While being a beautiful sounding
instrument full of unique character, one cannot help
but thinking that the electronic inside was capable
of generating a much wider palette of sounds if the
designers though it a bit more through. For a poorly
chosen resistor value, the detune of OSC2 can't
offset beyond a semitone, while it could have been
easily capable of being detuned to play a fifth and
unlocking many more cool sounds. It also has
multiple LFO's for various elements (vibrato,
flangers), but doesn't allow you to route it to
anything else. No LFO on filter ? Come on Korg! A
good tech would have no problem modding it though.
Graphics and form-factor design also have has an
impact on an instrument. It gives it a character of
its own, an identity. But more importantly a matter
of immediacy. The way the information is laid down
should allow you to understand, in a flash, every
feature of the machine. Realizing you have a doubt
about a function, means there is a design flaw.
A brand that used to be very “free-thinking” about
its interfaces was 80's Yamaha.
If you ever tried a CS30 with it's weird destination
layout, you will understand how a complicated design
can hinder your ability to control an instrument
that should, in theory, not be so complex.
But of course, that leads to more happy accidents so
I guess it's not too bad in the case of the CS30, an
analog wonder-board.
I can only imagine the nightmare if the CS30
was digital and if it had a two line LCD. Wait... I
don't have to imagine, because there is the RX-5
drum-machine. This box, born in the depths of hell,
came to earth to make human suffer. If you look at a
pic of it, you wouldn't know. But trust me, the
philosophy behind this machine is effed-up to the
tits and it will turn you soft instantly.
Using one for the first time made me think the unit
was non-functional. I simply couldn't deduce how it
worked just by looking at the labels. That's a big
no-no, which is even more sad when you know how cool
RX-5s can sound. At this stage it is not even a
studio tool, but a way to make the studio intern
regrets his life decisions and keep him off your
back.
Another reason to like old venerable machines is
that they sometimes have a cool feature that simply
didn't catch on in further generations of keyboards,
making them unique instruments.
The Korg PE-1000, with its amazing independently
tunable VCO per note (60VCO in total !) have a
function called “Pitch Expand” that detunes the VCOs
relative to their distance from the central note on
the keyboard. Instant melancholic buttery vibe if
crammed all the way.
Music runs the risk of being bland and characterless
when made on computers. Hardware on the other hand
can add a level of unpredictability that permits the
musician to keep being interested in making music.
The composer never really creates alone when using
hardware as it will keep injecting its weird DNA
into your music to corrupt it, in a good way.
Hardware generate mutations, that allow your musical
offspring to be something else than just a bunch of
clone tracks (no, not the Rotterdam institution). Of
course sometimes you will need to fight with a dumb
interface. But bear with it. Fighting is actually a
healthy process. The same way it is the essence of
Democracy, It appears that a bit of a fight can lead
to interesting compromises and new results. The pain
of the fight is only temporary and will dissipate
very quickly. But when you listen to your
hardware-composed music, you might be blown away by
how good it sounds, how it has a soul. Don't be a
dictator by imposing your composition style onto the
music, be a democrat instead and let the hardware
have a say in your work. Give it co-writer credits.
The amazement of your audience, thinking how fresh
you sound, will soothe the wounds of hard work.
Even if you are very careful with the audio signal
path, there will invariably be sonic characteristics
getting injected into your sound when passing
through a hardware machine. It can be noise indeed,
or a subtle distortion on a specific part of the
audio spectrum. It's up to you to use it wisely. Get
dirty, see what sound texture you get when you crank
the gain of an old mixer, slightly distort those
hi-hats coming from your 606, or run your synth
through a chain of cheesy spring reverbs to add a
sens of realness to it.... You can argue that the
computer could do the same thing, but then I'm
actually not sure. Digital sound-path has to remain
digitally clean in a computer, and digital glitches
usually feel like torture. Try feeding back two
cheap analog BBD delays into each other through an
analog mixer : hours of fun ! Do it in a DAW with
VSTs and after a few minutes, your ears will bleed.
Hardware machines act like spices in a instrument
based sound recipe, while the computer delivers a
clean factory-made, reliable,studio
processed-product. Where is the fun in that ?
BoeufStroganoff
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Answer for DJ Matchstick therapy : 29
-------------------------------------------------------------------
___________
|||
/
\
|||
|||
/ /
\
\
|||
|||
/
\
///
|||
/
0
0
\
///
|||
/
0
0
\
///
|||
/
--
\
///
\\\
/
\
///
\\
|
\ ///
\\\.....|
|.....///
,,,......................................,,
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
|||
|||
"""""""""""""""""""""
|||
\\\
""""""""""""""""""
___|||
\\\
""""""""""""""
///
\\\ \"""""
"""""""""""
"""""/
///
""""""""""""
""""""
"""""""""""""
""""""""""
"""""""""""
"""""""
"""""""""
"""
"""""
SEE YOU NEXY YEAR!!!!!!!!!
@\/\/