Amygdala

Any electronic producer will try to fill out the spectrum of frequency as much as possible - it just sounds better and richer - and louder... This is in essence what mastering is about. It's done in the entire spectrum of audible frequencies (humans can hear from about 20 Hz to 20 kHz). A sound is rarely "static" - some sounds (unprocessed synthesizer tones, that doesn't change pitch) are static, but they get extremely irritating *very* fast. An example is a TV-testtone. It's one frequency only, and it's completely static in the frequency-spectrum. I have to correct Cybernetika about one sound changing another - it is indeed possible. Usually they just add up, but the vibrations of the "new" sound can actually cancel some of the frequency-content of the "first" one - thereby sort of changing it. If the whole mix is going through a compressor (which it certainly is in mastering) then a lot of sound will influence the volume of other sound too. It does - in fact, some synthesizers are called "additive" - because the producer constructs a sound from scratch, specifying each and every frequency that should be apart of this particualr sound - with what volume, at what times, and so on... It's a drag programming those thingys!! About "perception" and interpretation... I don't believe the specific environment has much influence on your music taste - the only part of the environment that does, is music itself. You find all kinds of people with all kinds of music-taste in all kinds of environments. On the other hand, humans are born with a preference for certain sounds. Only a few days after birth, babies will prefer human speech over any other sound - they prefer their native language over foreign ones... And (cool!) they even distinguish their mothers' voice from other women's. It's probably not a coincidence, that so much music has song in it... Not just for the lyrics, but for the sound of the human voice itself... - Bedtime for me! -A

That looks daaamn sweet! When will the mac OS9 version hit the streets...? - No really, it's great that you build these, and share them like this. Good on you I've been thinking of writing a synth myself, but not before I switch to OS X proper. It will be amplitude modulation madness -A

I have the FW-410 which is probably exactly the same, just with more outputs, mic and such. I'm *very* pleased with it, except that the driver slows down my entire system slightly (a 5-yearold powerbook). There is one thing, that always baffled me though - what good is MIDI on an audiointerface...? I can't imagine a single feature, that would justify MIDI - please enlighten me And another one - be honest: Can you tell the difference between 44.1 kHz and 96-point-whatever? Can you *really*? Would you bet your life on a blindfold test...? I can't, that's for damn sure. Agreed, it makes sense internally in signal processing, but for pure I/O I don't see the need. The same goes for bitdepth by the way. Hmmm, maybe I just haven't listened enough -A

Word! That's partly right... The sequencers and interfaces are different, and this difference results in different outcomes. Neither of these outcomes can be considered "better" - but - the audio engines of the programmes may have profound effect on the music. Better audio engines create better sound objectively. And here a little trippy tip: Do you know about shepherd tones? The idea is, that you have a sweep increasing in frequency - if you have more of these (completely the same), and fade them in and out in the edges, overlap them about half/third/fourth/... of their length, you can create a sound that seems as if it's increasing in frequency to infinity - going ever upwards... This can be done with bandpass filter sweeps too -A

Damn, that was fast - it works now

Hi again... It's up HERE -Enjoy, A

Probably - I can't tell progressive from minimal from ... They're just arbitrary labels to me Exactly... Couldn't agree more. Anywho, I'll try to take a print of what I've got so far, and get it up this evening. -A

Thanks - the beginning is actually the first climax and break - I just wanted to preview the basic groove without alle the other stuff. It'll come soon enough -A

I don't recommend the XT as a controller box either. In my first post, I bitched about the values the knobs send - sometimes they go in the opposite direction of what I turn! It makes it an interesting live-experience to bring the XT You can't have different wavetables on the two osc's either - but the position in a wavetable being played can be different for the osc's, and in the end of each and every wavetable are triangle, saw, and square - so these can be combined at will. Besides - you can make such diverse wavetables, that the two osc's will sound completely different, although using the same table. -A

After a night of heavy work in the low end of the mix... Just wanted to show of The Oxylerator (part II) -A

That is the Roland TB-303 bass-synthesizer from the early 80's... Gotta love it -A

I advise against this... You may remove any possible interference, but you remove life as well. Rather compose a bassline that doesn't interfere with the kick to begin with. The most obvious reason, is that a kick that is shorter than 1/16 note is extremely boring and hollow. Mine are usually a little longer than 1/8, which would only leave room for this bass-pattern: ---x---x---x---x Instead, tune the bass to the kick or the other way around, and use velocity (get those compressors outathere!!) on the bass to control interference. Yeah I'm oldschool, but it sounds waaay better - breathes more, instead of going kaggedigga-kaggedigga-kaggedigga-kaggedigga. -A

Isn't that what the Nord Modular is all about...? Granted, it's not analog at all, but I have heard people praising it anyway. Does it sound good? Are the osc's and envelopes fast enough to compare to analogs? Yep, the outputs are nasty. One has to take care not to get tiny clicks from midi messages in the audio - apart from that, I don't know if the actual DAC is good or bad, but it *sounds* good either way... That would seem to be the most important criterion Compared to the MWXT it has a bottomless noisefloor - but comparing to the MWXT is unfair, since it's the most noisy gadget I ever heard -A

Yeah, that sometimes do the trick... At other times I edit one parameter, check if the wavetable fuck up, and load again if it does... Drag! But still - what a sound As for modulars vs. the rest, I desperately want a modular. I have this insane need to amplitude modulate with audible frequencies... I haven't seen a synth that does this well, and with a non-fixed frequency. AM is sooo freakin' cool, it can really scratch you auditive cortex to a bleeding pulp Actually, what I want is two oscilators, a mixer-unit, and an envelope generator - all super-quality, fast and accurate - then I'll be set. The oscilators should not be audible, but AM some external input through the mixer... That would be soooo sweet! -A

I agree too - isn't this wonderful The Prophecy is rather easy to tweak on the fly - it has those five programmable knobs under the display for just the same There is one snag about the XT though... Maybe it's just mine, but it's seriously buggy. The knobs sometimes delivers values in the opposite direction of what I turn, some freaky stuff happens in the wavetable when I use pitchbender (only sometimes - but no modifiers are set for the table...), and LFO2 is just plain weird - at least on mine. I've updated OS a million times, but still... It must be a very good synth, since I love it in spite of it's flaws. She's a charmer! -A

I pretty much agree. The albums that do stand out these days (for me), come from the same artists who exceelled back in the day. But I think there was just as much crappy formula music back then. Distribution was just harder, with internet not being what it is today. I believe that's how the hardcore-craze ended...? I also blame the new software, that makes making "music" so easy. Everyone uses the same software, that can only do so much (let the bashing begin... - there are exceptions I know). But then again, I sometimes too create mindless repetition of the cliches, but I'm having fun at the same time... And actually try to hit that sub-genre vibe intentionally. It's part of my creativity growing - learn the tricks of the trade and so on. I think everyone gathers inspiration from somewhere, but it should only go so far. Oh yeah, I also think, that if you're devoted to "full-on", "deep", "minimal", or whatever, then you will be able to tell the different artists apart? Just to nudge at the military-education thesis of Isrealy-trance, let's mention Prosect - he quit the army, and makes wonderfully diverse music -A

Indeed! Psynews makes sense again... It's nice to hear, that the Prophecy sounds at least as good as a Z1. I just (well, a year and a half ago) got me a Proph, and it's amazing! Sure, every other preset is found on some KoxBox album, but the synth is terrific. The comb-filter oscilater is absolutely brilliant. I agree about the interface - it's the worst yet I guess. But pleeease, don't let that discourage you - get emagic sounddiver, and dive right in... All of a sudden the interface is perfect, and the sound even more so Other than that, I treasure my Waldo MWXT - a different synth from all the rest. Old analogs like Roland's Juno-106 are great for bass. A have a Roland JV-2080 (which makes people go "what the hell is that thing? Why on earth do you use THAT?!?"), and it's a great workhorse, that can actually do nifty stuff... If you treat it well, that is. -A

Love it... It's great! What's not to love about it? Except the FX, yes... -A

Astral Pilot - Electro Acupuncture (Rabbit in the moon's transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation mix) - It's on the Harthouse compilation number 8... It is soooo good. It's one of those pieces of music I save for special occasions, like a bottle of Dom -A

I'd go with Tranwave as well.... Seraph - the titles you mention - where are they from?!? They only did two albums, right? -A

I wonder, if there will ever be a re-rebirth... Or Rebirth-rebirth. -A

I agree - and in any case, what El Brujo wrote goes for all music...? I should think so. Thanks for the link, it was an interesting read - I wrote a report on techno and synthesizers approx 10 years back. It's always good fun to see psytrance (especially goa) as sheet music -A

- And it's about damn time you got it - I got "Labyrinth" today, just spinning the first track right now... Sounds great. The Juno's are faab Along with that came Shakta - "Feed the Flame". I heard a sample of "Fire" on saikosounds... Had to have it. I now I do. Can't wait to hear it... But Juno Reactor has precedence Then the Frogacult - "Something for sundays". Sounds smooth, and it has got praises from everyone I know who listened to it. - I just remembered how much I love to get new CDs I know I will like. Thank you psyshop! -A

Hello everybody I got entangled in a short short-movie project. In three days I had to create "something with an acoustic bass-like thingy - not danceable". It's been a challenge, but here's the result... Due to the short time, it could do with some more production, a better arrangement and so forth - but I'm pretty happy with the result, since I never did anything except goa-/psy-trance for real... Whaddayathink? -A

I would definetly go with rebirth too... It's strong point is that you program it just like a real 303. A synth that delivers the same sound, but a different interface, tend to sound different - because you are not inclined to program 303'ish lines. I saw a review once, where some audio engineers managed to calculate, that rebirth was 98% like a real 303 - I don't know how on earth that result was made, and wouldn't trust it anyway... But it DOES sound good and close to the original -A