This is a demo I did for the Dave Smith Instruments “Mopho” in 2008. For the synth nerd in ya, it’s basically a single voice Prophet-8. In other words, it only plays one note at a time so you can’t play chords with it.
That is, unless you record it playing one note, go back and then record it playing another note. And for this particular demo, that’s exactly what I did. I think I ended up doing this a good 13 times.
All the sounds except for the drums come from the Mopho.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Here’s one out of left field. This is music from Chimera which was an expantion pack for the “Myth 2: Soulblighter” videogame from Bungie. I really attempted to channel my inner György Ligeti on this one!
The “droning” sounds came from the VL1 and most of the other synth sounds were from the venerable Yamaha TG500. I do remember using a lot of transform edits in Logic to invert pitch, create pitch bend and do many other weird and nerdy things. I believe I did this in 1999.
I think the backwards whisper voice is saying “my baloney has a first name.”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
This is another piece I wrote for Chimera, Bungie’s expansion for “Myth 2: Soulblighter.” It’s pretty much all VL1 except for the heartbeat sound. I was going for a creepy, demonic vibe and I think this captures it. The distant horn-like sound that comes around every now and then is purely serendipitous.
As the VL depends heavily on being “fed” controller messages to make sound, I think just started “drawing” a bunch of controllers into the sequencer. Once I started getting something that sounded “good”, I’d add another stream and see how that sounded. Eventually all the streams gave me this.
At no time did I cross the streams!
Here’s what it looks like in-game:
And here’s the audio:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
This is the first instrument I ever worked on. I talk about how I got started in this line of work in my “Japanecdotes I” post. Many years have past but I do recall contributing around 15 styles to the instrument. I believe that I created 3 demo songs for it as well. I think I did a jazz tune, a country tune and some sort of Tower of Power type thing. All the audio I have for it is probaby on DAT somewhere in the dungeons of Chez Nate. Thinking in terms of musical growth since that time, it might be best if it stays there!
Although, I am curious to hear it again so if anyone has one and can send a recording, please do!
This is a demo I did for the Dave Smith Instruments “Mopho” in 2008. For the synth nerd in ya, it’s basically a single voice Prophet-8. In other words, it only plays one note at a time so you can’t play chords with it.
This is the first instrument I ever worked on. I talk about how I got started in this line of work in my “
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Last.fm