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Post by Carlo on Nov 20, 2012 1:57:11 GMT -5
I was just wondering, does anybody know what the Mopho's role is onstage?
From the videos I've seen (which isn't a whole lot) I see that he doesn't physically play the keys of the Synth and the only time I see him physically touching is it is when he's triggering that sustained intro to Lewis Takes Off His Shirt.
Is it functioning as a sampler? Is it being sequenced (or whatever its called) or is it doing something more funky, like being integrated to Owen's Max patches?
(I apologize if my synth terminology is off)
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Post by Owen from Final Fantasy on Nov 23, 2012 11:00:21 GMT -5
Hi!
The MoPho is a fully analog synth. It contains four sequencers that I can trigger and/or not trigger. I initially got the thing onstage to emulate the ARP 2600 and really get "Lewis/Shirt" to kick. While fiddling around with new sounds for In Conflict I wrote "Soldier's Rock" based on a four-sequence patch.
Unfortunately, there's no easy or effective or useful way to synchronize my un-quantized Max/MSP loops with the MoPho's analog sequencing. Basically, I record the loop to a sequence as if it's a metronome. Then, I have to retrigger exactly in time-- I send a "start sequence" command directly from my pedal board. (I haven't been able to get Max/MSP to receive a "we're at the beginning of the loop... NOW!" message from the looping mechanism. Unless I was to run parallel timers, I can't make it happen.)
"Soldier" and "Shirt" are so difficult for band + loop to synchronize to MoPho, so I've stopped writing songs using the MoPho's sequencing capabilities. It is played 'just as a monosynth' on two other new songs ("The secret seven" and "The drones").
I use the Nord Wave almost exclusively for its virtual analog and wavetable sounds. It has sample capabilities, but the only samples I use are homemade ones (a church organ I recorded, the sound of my own voice). Oh, I use "Grandma's Upright" on one song, too.
Also, all the 808, 909, DMX, Linndrum and 606 sounds, those I bought online, downloaded and built my own patches. They sound great! I can't remember the name of the website but they recorded all the drum machines to tape at varying levels of saturation. I load two parallel sets of samples. I run the 'low saturation' samples at low velocities, and fade up to the 'high saturation' ones at high velocities. In effect I'm basically using a velocity-sensitive version of these 70s and 80s drum machines. They sound great!
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Post by Carlo on Nov 23, 2012 20:48:44 GMT -5
Sweet, thanks for explaining that. It's cool how you utilize so many things at the same time... especially since the MoPho isn't synced to your loops. Must be hectic on stage haha.
It's kinda cool how 'the dude who plays the violin' knows how to operate synths and program things and what not.
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Post by Nicole No. 5 on Nov 24, 2012 23:26:29 GMT -5
I'm currently learning analog and digital sound processing at school, so it's awesome to have this insight into the sort of behind-the-scenes technical stuff. Thanks Owen!
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Post by Owen from Final Fantasy on Nov 25, 2012 0:33:52 GMT -5
Kind of you to say so, cleaningserf, but my synth knowledge is primarily "I need This Object to make That Sound when I press This Button, make it NOW make it NOW". I'm soooo slow with learning this stuff. I've owned an ARP 2600 for five years but only last year did I realize that I knew how to use it. It's funny, b/c when the album-making process gets to the "OK let's add a horn section" everything goes so fast, entire songs get full orchestral scores in an hour etc., but I'll spend days of rehearsal tweaking patches and teaching myself how to sing some gay thing while playing a lick.
When it comes to Max/MSP I am an absolute idiot, my patches look convoluted and hilarious and endless. If you asked me to build a simple synth I probably could not. But then there are some homemade synthesizers on the new record! I built a monosynth with easily adjustable on-the-fly scale tuning. And a drone box. I don't have names for either of them, one is just "the grey keyboard" and the other is "the drone box"
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Post by Carlo on Nov 25, 2012 3:52:12 GMT -5
Haha, I guess so, but it's still pretty cool how you make it work...... I've always been curious about the technical stuff that goes on behind the scenes, but it's way over my head and I do appreciate that you keep this process a little transparent to us! For kicks, I like trying to work out what you're doing on stage, and sometimes I'm just like... I have no idea what happened.
And sweet, homemade synths give me even more of a reason to be stoked for the new record! I'm sure we're in for some funky sounds....
I've been learning how to operate this Virus Ti sitting around the house, which is kind of amusing. Fooling around with the mod matrix is especially fun. Are you going to stay with the Nord Wave for awhile now? I remember you talking about switching back to the Modular G2 somewhere on the internet like last year...(or maybe not)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2012 8:51:27 GMT -5
wow has it really been 5 years with ARP? where does the time go... Have you tried running cv through the spring reverb and shaking the arp? that thing is so friggin cool I've heard of people using it as an alarm system lol.
I'd love if you would upload those drum machines patches for the nord! I understand if you don't want to or can't or whatever though. I could make a simmons sds-v and korg kpr-77 sample set in return... maybe some cr-78 too? my stupid linndrum crashes all the time and is tricky to sync
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2012 8:55:23 GMT -5
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Post by Jo on Nov 25, 2012 10:44:27 GMT -5
For kicks, I like trying to work out what you're doing on stage, and sometimes I'm just like... I have no idea what happened. The other day a friends told me she was bored so I made her watch a live video of Flare gun and said 'watch the feet.' every little helps! |
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Post by Owen from Final Fantasy on Nov 25, 2012 21:20:33 GMT -5
mhmm I have had that video bookmarked forever I love it. I don't have any drum machine patches for the Nord that are any more specific than "I downloaded them from a site, paid for the samples and loaded them up." I got them from Goldbaby. Even though I use the sounds live I've build my own sounds on record
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