Tag: Arturia

Little Box of Folded Fun

kirke

The very xlnt Tim Prebble was kind enough to lend me his  MakeNoise 0-coast. For a tiny little box, its remarkably deep and flexible (in a very MakeNoise way)

For those that don’t know Tim, he is a sound designer and recordist and makes pretty definitive sound libraries for film sound design under the handle Hiss and Roar

Before I returned it I sampled the living be cheeses out of it, both multi-sampled, and a load of long freeform noise generating.

I’ve since thrown a selection of exerts of these into my µFreak and are in some ways able to recreate some of the mayhem of the original.

WARNING– MAYHEM:

Incredibly proud to have been involved with this #2!

kirke

So I said…

It would be great if you guys made a virtual version of your µFreak, since you make such great sounding virtual filters, and the rest is all digital anyway! 

They went me one better!

To be able to have deep involvement in this has been one of the most satisfying experiences in my career.

The miniFREAK-V  killer feature you ask?

The hardware acts as a perfect control surface for the software version so you get all the realtime hands on control of a hardware synth, but the multiple instances of a plugin.

Normally, you buy a hardware synth and have only 1 ‘Instance’ as its atoms!, but… This one…

Buy a very VERY fun poly synth with an incredible array of oscillator types, and a CRAZY useful arpeggator / sequencer, and get a software version you can use in your DAW, giving you as many ‘COPIES’ as your cpu can handle.

MusicTech magazine likes it! 

Incredibly proud to have been involved with this:

kirke

More than two years ago,  I bought a µFreak, it is easily the most fun synth I’ve had in 30 years… but I had a few thoughts…

So, I had a conversation with the brilliant welcoming people at Arturia.

That ended up with me being quite deeply involved in the development of this absolutely superb instrument.

The Arturia miniFreak,  If your a synth geek, I definitely recommend checking it out.

Arturia's MiniFreak is a 6-voice hybrid synth with analogue filters

 

And the lovely Loopop seems to like it !

 

 

 

 

 

A Slam Edit…  then the Exhausting version… 

kirke

This is a long free flowing improvisational work, performed  simultaneously from opposite ends of the earth using a rather brilliant web based looper.

Just very VERY poorly edited (NeedleDrop) set of moments from a 2 and a half hour session with Patrick Higgins, aka…   Badrico.

We are both contributing synthetics, and percussion etc…  Patrick via a wind controller and keys, (I think), while i’m playing Bass, Electric Guitar, µFreak and Percussion with some real time processing and sound effects.

Mix is a mess because its a live performance and we have to manage as we go…

Just Hit Play:  and trance out for 23 mins.

 

Or… if your a sucker for punishment, or need a longer time out…

The 90 min version, Still some bad edits…

 

A Review!  from the ever inquisitive sonic explorer Marc Weidenbaum who runs  https://disquiet.com/ an essential site and mail list for anyone interested in sonics.

“Thanks. I dig this. It’s spacious and succinct at the same time, It’s got a Bill Laswell vibe a bit.”

 

#Endlesss

kirke

Had a rather dizzyingly early start a few mornings ago to jam with Imogen Heap via Endlesss

People : Meet Matt and Imogen…

The session was about an hour of absurd noises and some fun, it was an honour and delight to be involved …

I need to point out this was a collaborative effort, so also very much involved were: Jim Mclure, Rick Sands, and Jeremy Michael Skjevling.

Thanks to all!

Got asked, so…Setup was: OBS  collecting my 2 vid streams  (laptop and Phone cameras) and intercom audio sending via Google Meet to the very gracious Matt at Endlesss, then music via Ableton Live ‘blackhole’d‘ to the amazing @EndlesssFM Studio, synching all the audio from the UK and USA to me. My Toys were a few NI soft synths, a Microfreak, with a tokai tele and a stingray bass via GtrRig.

Thought id try to learn Ableton, but it became more about the #MicroFreak

kirke

So, Sitting around Self Isolating …
Thought id teach myself Ableton LIVE

Yep is Music for old people, buy hey IM OLD so …

Made this track using its 909 kit and an Arturia MicroFreak.
Excuse the less than inspired drum part, got lost in the Synth:+)
To make things interesting, made some rules:
All sounds from Default on the micro freak had to be made in less than 3 mins and the parts had to be played in with no edits.

45 mins later;…

By request. the no crappy beats version, you can REALLY hear the bad playing now!:+)

Suss’ing the FREAK

kirke

Been playing with the @ArturiaOfficial #MicroFreak. Its FUN. Its Bonkers Fun..

Its quite an interesting cross between ya bog standard 1 Osc subtractive, and something more modular with some west coast elements. Consequently as a sad old synth geek, it’s quite interesting. The conductive pads that respond polyphonically are really what made me get this as it seems like an interesting controller for future projects regardless of its own synth engine. Anyway, its a hilarious machine for creating riffy ‘acid’ type synth loops. So I’ve been reliving my 90’s dance producer life, and wishing i’d had one of these back then.

Learning