Showing posts with label sendy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sendy. Show all posts

Here’s a quick ‘n dirty demo of my collection of waveables made for Zebra 2, which I’m planning to extend further, tidy up, and sell under the “pay what you like” model.

Zebra is a softsynth with oscillators which let you create arbitrary waveforms – up to 16 of them per oscillator, and scan through them, creating morphing, phasing, crossfading between arbitrary, drawable waveforms. You can construct a waveform with control points, or go the additive route and draw graphs of spectra to morph between.

These wavetables can be further modified by many types of “Oscillator FX” which can be ganged and modulated any way you like and operate either on the geometry or spectrum of the waveform in one way or another. The result is a 3D soundspace consisting of thousands of waveforms at any one time, and that’s just one oscillator!

In the video I’m just scanning through the wavetables I’ve made, which are basically synthesis ideas distilled into oscillator models. Things get exponentially more complex when you start to use Zebra’s other features to mangle the waveforms further, which makes Zebra the ideal sound playground and laboratory.

The original goal of the synthesizer was to imitate or even replace existing instruments, but it didn’t take long for a new culture and sound language to develop around synths which could be informed by acoustic instruments, but also cover new territory of it’s own accord. Not only did new sounds appear in their droves, but something unexpected happened – the synthetic versions of pre-existing instruments became valid in their own right, as abstractions of the physical ideal.

A synthetic version of an instrument is essentially a simpler version of that sound, created procedurally out of static sound elements processed in various ways. What it loses in realism it can often gain in becoming an exaggeration, caricature or extreme version of it’s more nuanced point of origin. That is their appeal and why sometimes, composers and arrangers choose synth brass over real brass sounds, for example.

This reduced realism reminds me of the appeal of comic-style art, and other art styles that sacrifice realism for new avenues of expression. A trumpet is a trumpet – a sample of a trumpet is akin to a photograph of a trumpet – and a synth trumpet is a comic book version, a vividly coloured trumpet, with unnatural shading and it’s own language of expression. Trumpet.

What then of the chip music aesthetic? This is essentially taking the analogy a step further. The resources available to those working with sound chips are in many ways a subset of the world of synthesis – now you have simple, repeating waveforms but very little in the way of things to do with them. Yes, you can create complex sounds, with a lot of creativity, but due to factors such as limited voicing (three or four voices was standard for the golden age of chip music) and limited computer horsepower, these came with trade-offs which had to be worked around, often informing the arrangement in the music, providing a context for the sounds and arrangement to interact in new ways.

If synth versions of real instruments are comic-book renditions, their chiptune equivalents are even more abstract and barebones. It’s almost wireframe. Since only a certain amount of detail can be added to such instruments, factors such as pitch bend, vibrato, portamento, volume and waveform variations must be exploited to the hilt, to both impart musicality onto the static waveform (which is in lay-listeners’ terms a buzzing sound) and to impart the character of the instrument you are trying to describe or imitate in the chip music realm.

This is why, to me, good chip music is so revealing about the world of music. It’s stripped to the bare bones, every detail has been economised, and small details matter in a big way. It’s like looking at the atoms of music, or experiencing music at it’s most abstract level.

This is best exemplified by my comparison to acoustic or traditional instrumentation, but it applies to a lesser extent to all sounds, regardless of their intent to represent some real-world equivalent. Good chip music is, to me, the beating heart of all music, regardless of style or taste.

I can’t say for sure what drew me into my obsession with sound and music. I grew up in a home where music played a fairly large role. My parents played a reasonable selection of music, not too eclectic but varied enough for me to take notice. When music is played a lot it can be hard to notice, but when I was around 5 or 6 I can remember the first few songs I noticed in an analytical way. One was Nik Kershaw’s “Wouldn’t It Be Good”, which I remember for not only a really expressive guitar solo, but that impressive reverse-envelope synth swell leading into it. The other song I remember from that time was “Ballroom Dancing” sung by Paul McCartney – not for any particular musical reason, but simply because it was on a tape my dad always played in the car. I can’t hear this song without smelling the interior of that car and seeing the roads particular to where we used to live.

Computers were also a big part of life in our family, and being a bit of a nerd who got into fashion, music, and all the identity stuff quite late, the home computer was my main source of music aside from what my parents played. The original model Sinclair Spectrum wasn’t hugely known for it’s sound output (although more is possible with it than one might think), but when the Commodore 64 came into my life, it brought with it a jukebox of stripped-down, experimental synth music – sometimes grating, sometimes mesmerising, it was this music that informed my early ears. In fact, a lot of famous music which was arranged for the SID chip, I hadn’t heard in it’s original capacity, so my first exposure to many songs was as SID renditions. In some cases, for example, Hubbard’s rendition of Jarre’s Zoolook, I still prefer the SID version, but that may just be nostalgia.

It wasn’t until I was a couple of years into my teens, after hanging out with some of my older brother’s friends who played a lot of underground dance music, that I really developed my own mature taste in music, rhythmic electronic music featuring breakbeats, ambient and early trance/techno, etc. Before that I liked video game music and “synth music”, in an era when admitting to liking either was likely to get you beaten up! And while it felt weird that I loved synthesized video game soundtracks, and at the time, some kind of guilty pleasure I had to hide from others, it’s nice now that video game sounds are “cool” and I can brag about liking it before it had broader appeal.

While I listened to these SID tracks, in computer games and demos, I had no idea whatsoever about sound synthesis. What I did pick up, however, was that the SID chip (and by extension, any synthesis system) was quite a limited resource, but it could generate endless novelty when the humans programming it proceeded with care and attention. While some soundtracks featured bright, grating, monotonous renditions of butchered classical works rendered in three channels of unfiltered sawtooths, others did things with the sound and the arrangement that blew my mind – sci-fi noises, things that sounded almost like recordings (samples), instrumentation that flickered quickly between two states, providing a vivid and artificial sound. Since a SID is never going to sound like a “real” instrument, you may as well revel in it’s artificiality and explore that in a musical way – if you want real instruments, they are there if you need them (and can play and afford them!)

Way before I began making music myself, the lesson was clear – apply knowledge creatively, add care and attention to detail, and you will be rewarded with great results. And it’s the early chip music pioneers who carved out a pecular sound from limited resources, that I have to thank for this.

Ok, so here’s the deal. I’ve been making experimental, non-genre-centric electronic music since 1990 under various names and on various synths, samplers and computers. I create music under the monicker Sendy, whose modus operani is intended as a mixture of limitless childlike experimentation and deadly science, mostly based on cut up breakbeat and drum machine de- and re-constructions, constantly evolving synths and esoteric samples. The first music I remember enjoying as a kid was the pop music of the 80’s such as Soft Cell, Japan, Alphaville, mostly synth heavy stuff with an eclectic base of influences that probably laid the foundation for electronic music today despite being essentially pop music.

Next I became fascinated with the music of my Commodore 64, particularly in the hands of people like Rob Hubbard, who made it clear that inside the beige breadbin was a miniature but fully fledged three voice synthesizer capable of doing things most keyboard synths could only dream of. Then jungle and drum and bass took of in the UK underground, completing and rounding out my core influences and setting me up for a lifetime of endless musical ideas. I stand on the shoulders of the 80’s synthpop giants, the original junglists and the micro music moguls on the Commodore 64 and later the Amiga when I create anything, but I also enjoy and am influenced by the acid house scene, early trance and ambient such as KLF and The Orb, the weird and occasionally funky experiments of Aphex Twin and early Luke Vibert tracks, prog rock, and even the odd dance anthem strewn around here and there.

In addition to music I’m also very much interested in video games and game design, 2D graphic design, writing, films, philosophy, and have been known to tolerate people on occasion. Creativity is one of the few things that makes life more than just bearable and nurturing and promoting creativity is at the forefront of everything I do, because I feel there’s something of a war on creativity going on in mainstream culture these days. I also tend to think a lot and so this blog will be a sort of spillage tray for all my ideas to run into; if I get any interaction from readers and we can bounce ideas back and fourth, so much the better.

I know there isn’t much call for crossover music production/videogame/philosophy/random thought blogs, but the idea of separating the threads beyond giving them different tags is unappealing to me, because the common thread running through everything I post here, without being egotistical (or stating the blindingly obvious) is me. Welcome to my dumping ground, testing area and sounding board!

What you can expect:
  • Production techniques, ideas, thoughts on electronic music production, consumption and analysis
  • Synthesizer reviews of both physical and virtual instruments
  • Reviews of music old and new
  • Random crap and anticrap
  • Links to things I’ve created, such as music, computer game levels and hacks, writings, etc
  • Posts questioning some of the qualities of the music scene today which will probably severely age me (I mean seriously what is up with all the microgenres nowadays?!)
  • Pictures of snails

Welcome to the zeroth part of Brainwaves and Duty Cycles, a blog I (Sendy) originally started earlier this year and got around to making five posts for before being knocked out of the cycle (perhaps due to a lack of duty? What a brainwave!). Here I'll be re-posting the articles, around six in number, and will then continue sharing my thoughts on music, art and stuff with whoever happens to be reading.

Even if very few people read it, I enjoy writing, and recommend it as a way to organize one's own thoughts and combat negative tendencies (something I think many artistic folk struggle with more than we'd like to admit!). And no doubt more will read it at Gravity Halo than would have done at the original site on Wordpress.

Ok then? Here we go!

Sendy

Yes, I'm back, and I have loads of music! My album, Fear of Circles, several years in the making, was released a couple of weeks ago. It's been a bit of a slow start, as my ability to do promotion and network (not to mention constantly spam and nag at people 24/7) is, compared to my appetite for creating music, somewhat weedy. If you want to help me cover the costs of sharing my music on Soundcloud and Bandcamp, or if you enjoy the music and want to hear more and make me feel good, please consider purchasing.

If you feel it's too expensive, let me know, and I'll consider lowering the price. I pretty much used the price that was recommended to me by Bandcamp and it seemed somewhat fair. I get very little feedback on my music so every sale, comment or share really does make my day. I can't stress that enough :) If there are any weblog writers out there who would like to review it, or know someone that may fancy that task, please let me know and I'll sort out a promo copy. Without coverage, no amount of working on music will ever see the light of day. That is getting truer by the day. Failing that, it's free to listen to at the Bandcamp site.

 Fear of Circles by Sendy

In other news, I started a little weblog called Brainwaves And Duty Cycles a while ago, which I'm going to be dusting off and bringing over to the Gravity Halo blog. Mostly I'll be talking about the philosophy and technical aspects of creating electronic music, but I'll veer off into music reviews, idea sharing, and perhaps a bit of videogame tomfoolery. It's all digital art at the end of the day. I'm also always posting new music, sketches, ideas and gear demos at my Soundcloud page. I'd love to see you stop by and say hi!

Here's something I've been working hard on. I'm trying to get that "ear hugging" mix sound to provide some contrast with my typical "sensory bombardment" - or possibly even combining the two. I'm very happy how it turned out! You know when you complete a project and besides having the finished result you also feel "I learned something"? That's where I'm at right now :)

What is the haps? Sendy here... It's Christmas and what better way to celebrate than giving the gift of music? Ahh, who am I kidding? I'm just another electronic music artist out there clamouring for your attention in a saturated, jaded and devalued market. If you so much as like or listen you're giving ME the gift! But I did want to do something to say thanks for all the subscribers and commenters on Soundcloud who have made my music making routine a lot brigher and more interesting. These six downloads picked from my back catalogue from as far back as 1998 are for you!

Here's another track for you, inspired by the ramshackle subterraenean dwellings, winding tunnels and honeycomb chambers of a place I sometimes see in my dreams. A bit of a dub influence in this one with some erratic, polyrhythmic acid underpinnings and all that good stuff. Enjoy ^_^

Here's another track I completed in my new studio a while ago. If you like PWM leads soaring over jostling breaks against a backdrop of seething monsters that blend into their surroundings, you might like this one! If you've no clue what I'm on about, just smile and nod politely. Definitely one of my personal favourites of the new bunch.

Hey there fellow music lovers. Sendy here, and I've been called upon to contribute to this here weblog label type thingy, which I shall do with gusto. To start things off, I'll be posting a few of my tunes, but if anything else crosses my 64-track mind, I'll be sure to post it up. Here is a sequence of cone vibrations stored as integer digits between zero and one inclusive which should sound vaguely like music when executed with the proper equipment. In other words, a freaking choon!

The elusive Sendy was able to pull herself away from a debilitating Minecraft addiction for long enough to bang out a few serious heat-seekers for your listening pleasure. Check them out below.

Sendy - Western Avenue by Sendy

She strips her typically dense, complex style down a bit for the acid work out "Western Avenue", focusing on a steady beat, throbbing bass and some dreamy synth chords that weave their way throughout the knob twisting.

Sendy - Second Limbo by Sendy

She then returns to her trademark progressive sound on the 8-bit inspired epic "Second Limbo". Featuring some super catchy Mega-man style melodies over a slappy synth bass and drum machine snares, this track is another great evolution of Sendy's recent chip-tinged endeavors. One can actually hear how the pixelated landscapes of Minecraft have seeped into Sendy's musical consciousness, molding tunes that evoke the vast, playful depth of that virtual world.

What's up everybody?!  If you're a regular visitor to the site then you may have noticed some changes happening, so I'm here to get you hip to the new style.

There are more share options for each post now - like on Facebook, share on Facebook, re-Tweet, Blog This, email, share on Google Buzz, etc.  If you like a post, please share it and help us spread our tendrils across the world.  We support a lot of great artists here and they definitely deserve all the additional promotion they can get, so help a brotha out!  It only takes a second.

We scrapped the event calendar, which I actually liked, but was just too annoying to keep up and in its place you'll notice our shiny new Facebook widget.  If you haven't added the Gravity Halo Facebook page yet, you probably should because not only do we post up content that doesn't go on the blog, but we're also using the page to promote shows by our featured artists all around the globe.  If you don't use Facebook (WTF?), you can always browse our posts for more content using said widget.

The other thing you may have noticed is the lack of new releases.  Believe me, it's not by choice.  We're eagerly awaiting projects in the works by Mumkai, Mummyshroud, Awkward and Sendy...but while we're waiting for them to finish their masterpieces our slate is pretty empty, so any artists that would like to put something out on our imprint feel free to email us a demo!  We're always on the lookout for new music, so don't be scared, homie!

Last, but not least - it's February 1st and that means The Carrier Wave's Rotation has finished.  Unfortunately for us (and him), Chris came down with a case of writers block, but hey...that's real.  The shit happens, even to the best of us.  Still, some interesting discussions were had and production concepts thrown about.  For the month of February, moto-SLAVE is helming Rotation 2, so check it out!

So long 2010! 2011 is starting off uber-right. Not only is the Rotation(s) blog in effect, but this new Sendy track is just rocking my extra thick wool socks off. You already expect the break chopping, which is on point as usual, but man...the synth work and atmosphere on "A Beautiful Shame" is pretty intense. At times reminiscent of the early Plug EPs (with that bass breakdown...oh yes!), but at the same time on a whole other level.

I'm definitely psyched at the possibility of a new Sendy record in 2011. Make it happen, girl!

A Beautiful Shame (quickmix) by Sendy

What with today being Sendy's birthday and all, I thought now would be the perfect time to share one of her newest creations, this stellar track called "Beneath The Parallax Sky"! This track blends Sendy's trademark song structure mastery paired with some awesome chiptune sounds and some really great video game melodies.

Sendy - Beneath the parallax sky by Sendy

Show Sendy some b-day love by liking this track on Facebook!

Sendy - Escape Route by Sendy

Sendy - Disguise the Limit by Sendy

Everybody loves chiptunes (everybody with a soul, that is) and everybody in their right mind also loves Sendy, so Sendy doing chiptunes pretty much seems like a no-brainer. It's gonna be epic, no doubt. And it is. It really is. Check out this duo of tunes from the mistress, "Escape Route", a monster of a chiptune hybrid track that features so many crazy melodies you wont know what to do with yourself and "Disguise The Limit", a more traditional chiptune style track that I can imagine being set to some kind of 8-bit chase scene...maybe like Paperboy meets Crazy Taxi?

Without Remorse (Working Title) - First Draft Mix by Sendy

I recommend you all check out this new track by Gravity Halo regular Sendy, as it will probably only be up for a limited time. This 10-minute opus starts of with a sweet ambient build-up reminiscent of early Wagon Christ ("Phat Lab" with hints of "Tally Ho!") before the breaks are tossed in the mix near the 5 minute mark to freak things up a bit. Lots of lovely bits in there to let wash over you. This is an early first draft of the track, so it wont be up for long.

A thing of beauty, people!

Big thanks to awkward for taking the time to upload the "Broken Pieces" compilation so that ye may preview it before ye download, listen on the go or just generally be in awe of its awesomeness wherever you may be.

Broken Pieces by Gravity Halo

A few years ago I joined a local band as keyboard player, and it was there I was introduced to the microKorg. Despite the rather amateurish looking premise of categorizing sounds with a 'genre selection knob' and the baby-sized keys, I found myself constantly inspired while jamming with it, and the sounds it could make when connected to a PA rig were massive in contrast to the microKorg's tiny size.

A couple of months ago I decided I must own one, and ended up with the newer microKorg XL because it was on offer for very little more. In comparison to the classic model, the XL has 8 voices - double the polyphony, a 16-band vocoder (the original was an 8 band - and surprisingly intelligible for it), and a seemingly identical but expanded synth engine. After ordering, however, I found out that despite the similarities in features, the XL's engine is based off of Korg's Radias 'Multi Modelling Technology' (whatever that is), while the original is not.


Artist: Various Artists
Title: Broken Pieces
Cat #: GRH007

Tracks:

01. William S. Braintree - Can I Go With You?
02. Chris Moss Acid - Crash Acid
03. Rock Hyrax - Sickbot
04. Acidburp - Hoedster van de Kaas
05. mummyshroud - Acid Riddim
06. Mumkai - All These Gifts
07. Milieu - Blisschord II
08. Mumkai - Great Times
09. awkward - My Time Has Passed
10. moto-SLAVE - Bioroid 2
11. Rock Hyrax - Emergency
12. Cats On Earth - Phobos
13. Sendy - Pelt
14. awkward - My Time Has Passed (Reprise)


Well friends, we're 8 months into this Gravity Halo undertaking and so far, so good.  We're steadily gaining readership, hits and most importantly, we're putting out a TON of great music by some really talented artists and giving them a platform for their music to spread across the globe.  Now that's not to say that we've reached our goals or even a comfortable resting place because there's lots more room to grow, but it is a great time to put together a release that sums up what Gravity Halo is all about.  Thus, we present to you our first compilation/mixtape - "Broken Pieces".  These 14 tracks run the spectrum, from awkward's ambient noisescapes to Acidburp's lush, progressive breakcore to Mumkai's neck snapping beats to Sendy's epic sound adventures and Rock Hyrax's intricate micro-glitch - the styles vary drastically, but the connecting threads are clear.  These are all incredibly skilled independent artists that are driven by their love of making tunes and that's apparent in every second of this record.  

Enjoy the release, spread it around, repost, reblog, re-fuckin-tweet, tell some dude on the street...let's do this, people!

Stream the album after the cut: