The Problem With Distortion

I just realized why I dislike distortion boxes. I have always claimed that they remove not only the personality of individual guitars but the playing style of the guitarist as well. Here is why. Distortion boxes work by clipping the signal or basically cutting off the top. I am excluding tubes that do something very different. When this happens, the complex changing waveform of the attack transient is turned into a square wave. In effect, the expressiveness of the musician is removed.

Moog Guitar and EBow

It has always amazed me how many draw conclusions before even knowing all the details about something. This is certainly true of Moog Guitar. On the surface, Moog Guitar appears to be a guitar with a built in EBow. I can't express with more vigor how wrong this is.

First, the EBow is indiscriminate. It just imparts energy like a vibrating magnet. It does not sense individual strings any more than a pick does. With some effort one can learn to use it effectively but Moog Guitar is very different. In Moog Guitar the source of the vibrations are the pickups. The reason this is important is that Moog Guitar senses the vibration of individual strings. When a string vibrates, the pickups impart energy to that string to keep it vibrating.

Second, Moog Guitar also can damp strings. This is critical. Not only does it provide a setting to make strings sound more banjo like by damping energy but in a middle setting, it damps strings not being played. This allows the musician to play individual leads on one or more strings without other strings vibrating. The reason is the vibration is a two fold feedback loop and electronics which mute the other strings not played avoiding any accidental notes.

Third, one aspect of Moog Guitar that most impresses me is the harmonic balance, This shifts the energy from one pickup to the other. What this sounds like is sheer magic. It's not filtering and it's no gimmick. You can actually feel it in the vibration of the guitar. What it sounds like has to be heard but it's a kind of harmonic dance that no other instrument on earth can produce.

Forth, the E-Bow has no power control. It's just a matter of how close it is to the strings. On the Moog Guitar the amount of power can be controlled by a knob (Vo Power). Vo Power becomes part of the playing technique as does harmonic balance. In an ordinary guitar, most of playing technique is in the attack but Moog Guitar is more like a synth allowing shaping of the sound during the sustain including touching strings to create harmonics.

Fifth, the Moog Guitar has a built in filter. While some might think this is an auto wah it's much more subtle and can provide yet another way to shape the sound of the instrument.

So yes, Moog Guitar is a very unique instrument with huge potential. What it most certainly is not is a guitar with a built in E-Bow.

Additive Synthesis - Is It the Holy Grail of Synthesis?

For years additive synthesis has been more of a theoretical animal than a practical form of synthesis. The reason? The amount of CPU power to make it happen. This has all changed and there are several additive synthesizers on the market now.

This blog post is the first of what I hope will be a series. I realized that the many posts I had made to a bulletin board are most likely going to disappear and I not only wanted to reproduce much of it but to update it and organize it for systematically. It's a huge topic because it really strikes at the heart of what sound is. I am also in a unique position to talk about it because I have a degree in mathematics and I have studied the topic for years. I am also an electronic musician and composer.

So, this blog is only an introduction. Let me begin by answering the question is it the holy grail of synthesis. The answer is a resounding no. Can it be useful? Yes, absolutely. Two good examples of this are Camel Audio's Alchemy and the Reaktor synth Razor.

Why would it be considered the Holy Grail of synthesis? In theory it can build any sound from it's parts that are called partials. Not only in a static sense but sound as it changes over time. Now I said in theory at least according to some. The theory is wrong because many who talk about additive synthesis do not understand what is called the Fourier Transform and many were mislead by an influential work "On the Perception of Sound" by Hermann Von Helmholtz. No one reads this any more (although I do have an unread copy on my bookshelf) but it has had a very influential effect on the perception of sound and I believe even additive synthesis.

Ok, now I warn you. We are about to go down a rabbit hole and it does involve a matrix. This one is called a Gabor Matrix. But don't ask Alice but a composer by the name of Xenakis. Confused?

Read this and be afraid. Be very afraid. Is sound a series of waves called partials or is it a series of grains?

http://or8.net/pipermail/microsound/2009-December/001197.html

More to come in future posts but I hope this peaks some interest. By the way, check out Poseidon. It's VirSyn's walk on the granular side wearing Helmholtz glasses.

Music Therapy and Synthesizers

For a few years now I have tried to convince music therapists of the value that synthesizers could bring to the practice of music therapy. Natalie Mullis, a music therapist, tweeted an article written by Tanya Lewis on using various sounds to try to improve the recovery of patients in a coma.

As a musician and composer of electronic music I know the power of of synthesizers to expand the pallet of sound available to a composer far beyond what instruments provide. Not only that but sampling also makes a wide range of world and exotic instruments accessible when the cost of buying these instruments would be provocative.

I also know about a whole range of music controllers that use light and sound in ways that may open up new therapeutic pathways that otherwise would not be possible.

On application of synthesizers is binaural beats to entrain brain waves. This technique was been known fir years by EM artists but is seldom if ever part of the music therapists toolkit.

I often joke about how music therapists get most of their instruments from West Music. I have a whole universe of instruments that are on my laptop.

I at times feel I am banging my head against a wall here due to the wall of silence from music therapists. However, I remain convinced that synthesizers can greatly benefit music therapy and despite a lack of response I remain determined. I have great respect for music therapists and my true hope is that they will allow me to share my art and technological knowhow so that perhaps I can bring some new tools to their important work.

The door is always open to my music therapy friends. Just ask.

Button Domination

As we live in a world full of technological gadgets we have come to be dominated by buttons. We have a world of options at our finger tips. This is also true in the world of music. It has been extended to knobs, sliders and touch pads but the idea is to have a one (or in the case of an XY pad two) dimensions that are mapped to parameters. Virtually every controller does this.

Even the mighty Eigenharp is just a collection of buttons. Ok, granted, buttons with multiple dimensions but we still have a map between performance parameters and synth parameters.

I have to admit that getting back into guitar via the Moog Guitar has been a great experience. Simply because technique involves no mapping of parameters but direct contact with physical objects (strings and frets).

So to the Korg Wavedrum which is a wonderful instrument with no MIDI at all. The membrane of a drum can be used with great expression. An entire musical language is created by the Indian tabla for example.

I love how Moog Music has also brought back the idea of an envelope follower letting the natural dynamics and a signal control a filter.

These ideas begin to bend the button dominated musical world. I hope to see these more physically based ideas of control begin to take root and grow into even more new products.

No Ghosts - Just Fear - Cutting Edge Controllerism

One of the pleasures I have had as a musician has been getting to know other artists musically and personally. I met Mark Mosher first on Twitter but then personally at the Electro Music Festival in Heugenot. It has been my great pleasure to get to know him. Mark is not only a talented artist but very dedicated to developing a fresh perspective on Controllerism utilizing the latest cutting edge technology such as adding his own visuals with Resolume and further developing a carefully constructed rig by trimming a few pieces of gear but adding Native Instruments "Machine".

Mark has produced several albums including his sci fi series "I Hear Your Signals" and "Reboot" as well as appearing on many musical collaboration albums. He has been a favorite of the Electro Music crowd with his visual approach to music making and Controllerism.

"No Ghosts. Just Fear." is Mark's first foray into the darker side of music. What I have always liked about Mark's music is that it's concept based, it tells a story.

Here is a link to the album:

http://markmosher.bandcamp.com/album/no-ghosts-just-fear

Each of the pieces in his latests "No Ghosts. Just Fear" seem to encapsulate this as I imagined myself placed in the spiders web, plunged into utter darkness and marooned in the cold and vast expanses of space.

"Primeval" is one of my favorites". Mark is not only musician but sound designer. I know that one of his creations can be found in Rob Papen's "Blade". "Primeval" reflects Marks talent with sound design as the listener is treated to a blend of synthetic strings, bells and bass. I loved the mix and variation of timbres here.

"Alone in the Dark" reminded me of those old gothic horrors wandering around dark hallways and dark basements. The sense of anxiety and fear (no ghosts) is striking here.

"In Fight or Flight" I found myself tossed about by a sea of sound in constant motion. One of the aspects of Mark's style in this album which is a noticeable departure from his beat oriented sci fi is a shifting of time speeding up and slowing down which is most effective.

"In Under the Spider's Web" we find this time shifting put to great effect. I could sense the web, the spider lurking in the web waiting to strike and then it's spindly legs translated as musical notes rushing to meet it's prey.

In "Orbiting Miranda" we move from the web to space. The wonderful blend of noise and metallic tones here provide a sense of the vastness and coldness of space. I really liked the use if noise here in non percussive ways, very complex and musically effective.

As always, listening to Mark's music has been a pleasure. Getting to know Mark as musician, sound designer and especially friend had been my great pleasure and I look forward to Mark's future work as he continues to expand the boundaries of Controllerism and music.

Pythagorus

It may come as a surprise but my first instrument (excluding my early years) is a guitar. I got away from it for a long time so I could play synths. Despite the fact that I bought a Moog Guitar with MIDI I am really not a big fan of pitch to MIDI. Eventually I would love to buy an Eigenharp Tau but I also line guitars because you can touch the oscillator (the string) and through muting and harmonic techniques change the timbre in more complex ways then are possible on a synth.

What I never really liked about a guitar is it is almost a percussive instrument especially an acoustic. It has a short decay. So all those nice modulation techniques you can do on a synth, are limited on a guitar.

Now after a quick read of the Internet chatter on the Moog Guitar I can see it has been met with much criticism.

Some say it's just a better EBow. Well, first I despise EBows. I never could master using one effectively. EBows also can't take energy away from a string or shift energy between the bridge and the neck shifting harmonic content.

So for me, the Moog Guitar is a very complex oscillator I can touch and has a ladder filter built in to boot. Ok, I realize the filter is a bit gimmicky but I personally like ladder filters and having one built in is a plus and more than window dressing.

Now for the reason I bought one. In a word, sustain. On a guitar there are some tricks to get harmonics but the sustain is limited unless you want to stand in front of a Marshall stack (aka Hendrix). But, if the strings have infinite sustain then a whole world of possibilities opens up based on direct contact with the string. Add processing as you have something unique and with vastly expanded musical girth than a regular guitar.

And since harmonics form the basis of scales and harmony as can be seen from the time of Pythagorus who made his own scale that developed into the western one we us today, it just seems to me that there is rich territory for musical inspiration here.

That, in a nutshell is what I an calling Pythagorus.

A Warehouse Full of Instruments

For a while now music therapists have been providing me with a steady series of interesting instruments to find samples for and play. In fact, I have an entire set on SoundCloud dedicated to music based on these instruments.

http://soundcloud.com/lux_seeker/sets/music-therapist-inspired/

For example "Swamp Echoes" uses a frog croaker sample. I got the idea on a video about instruments from Vietnam from Kat Fulton. Natalie Mullis has inspired be by here demo videos of various percussive instruments to experiment with these instruments (in sample form) and more.

I know that Music Therapists often never venture past Garage Band" but I would like to suggest that a world of sampled instruments exist that don't take up any real space just hard drive space.

So this is the first in a series. First, I would like to explain some of the history of sampling, what it is, suggest some samplers to try and then some MIDI controllers they might use with clients.

I know that Music Therapy tends to be a bit of a closed circle but I just ask that any music therapists that read this stay open to new ideas.

More to come

Criss Cross

I just wanted to quickly mention a little secret that perhaps some have never thought about. If you own both Absynth and Alchemy and Kontakt (some 3rd party instruments) you have entire libraries of useful sounds you can use.

On a Mac you can find all these nicely organized under Library/Applications Support/Company Name/Samples

On a PC you should go to the directory for the plug in and I presume look under samples.

Secret - Nothing prevents you from using the samples from one plug in in another.

I know many people just tweak presets but if you are adventurous enough to build from scratch or change samples in a preset your sample library is a big as all the collective samples from your plug ins.

Happy Hunting!

P.S.

If you own IRIS you can also import all these into IRIS.

The Matrix

Who can forget the shock of Neo who followed the white rabbit, took the pill and discovered that the world he thought was really was nothing more than a computer program and he was no more than a battery.

In some ways I think as an electronic artist I can get trapped into another kind of matrix. The one that tells me that all music has to come from a computer. Well, I have been living in two worlds for some time now. A few examples:

The Korg Wavedrum - no MIDI but very flexible. Ok, technically there us a computer running to control it but it's in the background. The sound is processed not MIDI triggered.

Moog Voyager.

Well, it's got MIDI and a computer but you don't need the MIDI to make music with it and the computer only controls analogue circuits.

Moog Guitar

Only MIDI if you want it. I suppose it may have chips but no real controlling computer here. This is why I bought one.

Mics

Yes, that amazing invention of yore, the microphone. No computers and there is a whole world of sounds to record.

Just a few suggestion here on how one might leave the matrix.

Breathe

I have been creating music now for a long time and I am no neophyte with a synthesizer. From my first album, Morton Subotnick's "Side Winder" on the Buchla Music box I have been seeking a kind of holy grail of synthesis. That is, to be able to create any sound.

Now, decades after that 1st album and many many hours using just about every method of synthesis I now yawn when anyone talks about waveforms. The truth is that what I find really interesting about sound is the wrapping paper.

Confused? Ok, consider a violin. What makes a fine violin sound so good? People pay more money than they would pay for a house for a Stradivarius. So, is it the fretboard, the strings, the bow that create the magic? No, it's the wrapping, the body of the violin.

In the same way why are certain Cathedrals, recording studios and concert halls coveted? Tangerine Dream used to play in Churches why? Simple, the wrapping, the acoustics.

Even consider the language of synthesizers. We speak of envelopes. The wrapping for notes. Every note that a musician plays breathes. Like our lungs are filled with air notes will the space around them and breathe. Even our words are breathe. Music is rhythm.

But with the advent of the computer we have reduced that breath, that wrapping of a note to a 1 and a zero, a pulse, a trigger. Notes on drum machines and sequencers become boxes. Sound is in your face and yes, without breathe and soul. We give our musical gifts but we forget the wrapping paper.

So, I guess that is why I am interested in acoustic wrapping paper. Be it the body of a violin or the acoustics of a great cathedral as I look not for waveforms digitized in 1s and 0s but breathe.

Reverb

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about reverb. Much of my music has two effects, delay and reverb. I often find flange and even chorus a bit to heavy for my tastes. Even with delay and reverb I tend to back the mix down. I see it more like a soft filter on a photograph. Enhancing but not so much so that it draws attention from the picture.

For a long while now I have been using Guitar Rig's Reflector for reverb. It's a decent impulse response modeler and I can just drag it into a rack. I also use Spirit Canyon Audio's impulse responses because I am always looking for more exotic sounds.

Ok, that's the background. Now I come to the dilemma. When I use these they are either to little or to much. I have Waves IR-1 but it's a CPU crusher. Perhaps it would work better. When I get to much reverb, it becomes it's own sound. It sounds disconnected from the sound I am applying it to.

Now this appears to me to be a problem with impulse response. Your kind of stuck with the space. You can back the level down but what I want is more like backing diffusion down.

Here is where I see an advantage to algorithmic reverbs. You get control over parameters like diffusion and, on the EQ side high and sometimes low frequency damping with crossover frequencies. Also other parameters that control the acoustic space they emulate.

So my hope is that by doing some tweaking and using algorithmic reverb I can get closer to wear I want to be. I can also mix in the exotic reverb but I am thinking of doing that with post production automation if the mix so that it can fill some quiet passages with more exotic tails. I think EQ and compression are also useful tools here.

So I am just throwing this out there in the hopes I get some comments. Do you use reverb? Which reverb do you use? What techniques do you use? Why?

Hope to hear from some readers. I really would love the feedback.

Lightening Strikes - 9/5/12 Notes

Lightening Strikes

Philosophy

Shelley's story of Frankenstein pits two philosophies of knowledge, one against the other. One is the old world of the alchemists represented by Shelley by Cornelius, Agrippa and Albertus Magnus. The irony is that it is really Galvani, a modern scientist, who gives Frankenstein the idea to re-animate dead body parts. That and the witness of the destruction caused by a lightening strike.

I extend the analogy to that of Nicolai Tesla, who is not mentioned by Shelley, but who has the vision to see positive uses for electricity. I represent this with the Tesla coil. The idea of the steam engine (found in "The persistence of Time" and electricity transform England. The British romantic literary movement is critical of this progress and asks the question if all progress is positive. I represent this and extend it into modern times by the nuclear explosion.

Here we realize the meaning of "Fire Giver" a reference to Shelley's title "The New Promethius". Prometheus gives fire to man and as punishment by the Gods is pursued relentlessly by a monster which is what happens in Frankenstien.

Orchestration
Reaktor Prism - SlowMotion
Kontakt
Cello -Solo
Novachord - 1939 - Pad - Unseen

Live Clips
3 clips - assigned to lowest notes on keyboard
Thunder
Tesla Coil
Nuclear Blast

MIDI

Slider 1 - Volume Reaktor (Prism)
Slider 2 - Volume Kontakt (Cello and Hammond Novachord)
Slider 3 - Clip Volume
Slider 4 - Cello Level
Sider 5 - Prism feedback

Audio Cubes

Audio Cubes will be used to trigger clips - preset "Lightening Strikes"

The Persistence of Time - 9/5/12 notes

Prelude - The Persistence of Time

Philosophical Notes

I have always loved the Van Gough painting "The Persistence of Memory". Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was written to question if there are limits to science and technology that should not be breached. Shelley also saw the impact of technology and the advent of mass production and factories on England. Time became mechanized be it the clock like moments of planets or the time clock in the factories.

This piece begins with a clock and then distorts that regularity of the ticking clock much like the melting clocks in Van Gough's painting. The clock changes to steam engine which revolutionized global industry and then brought electricity which I represent by a Tesla coil. While Frankenstein only mentions the lesser know Galvani it was an interest in the joining of human flesh with electricity that brought about the means to create Frankenstein's unholy creature.

The theme of electricity appears again in lightening strikes that morphs into the next step in technology, the nuclear bomb. Here, as Prometheus gives fire the same is true of electrify and then nuclear weapons so I am merely extending the analogy.


Orchestration

Sound Effects - Slider 1
Clips
Clock Ticking
Steam Engine
Tesla Coil
Effects
Live Resonator - Pedal 3
Live Grain Delay - Pedal 4
Guitar Rig
Reflector - Spirit Canyon - Spectral Relativity "Zone of Twilight"

Moog Voyager - Slider 2 - Dark Electricity 44
Guitar Rig
Moog MP 104M
Spring Reverb

Razor - Slider 3
Live Suite - Corpus
Guitar Rig
Space Echo
Reflector - Spirit Canyon Audio - Spectral Relativity "All Black"

Alchemy - Slider 4
Effects
Live Resonator - Pedal 1
Live Grain Delay - Pedal 2
Guitar Rig
Reflector - Spirit Canyon Audio - Spectral Relativity "At the core"

Zebra - Slider 5

Performance Controls

Alchemy 1-4 corresponding to the "Stretch" parameters for various clock samples


Performance Notes

Alchemy - Clocks ticking & Chimes - stretch time with performance controls 1-4
Use Live's "Grain Delay" to slow and speed up time and change frequency
Steam Engine (clip 2)
Tesla coil (clip 3)
Turn on resonator
Razor and Zebra drones
Voyager

Into the Mist - Notes 9/5/12

Into The Mist

Philosophical
At the end of the book we start were we began which in romantic literature is called framing. We find ourself again with captain Walton as he seeks passage across the North Pole. but now with full knowledge of Victor Frankenstein's tale and the monster. Both Victor and the monster come to a terrible end. Victor heartbroken from knowing that his own creation has destroyed everything in his life that he loved dies. The monster pursues victor but it's to late. The monster realizing that he can't live in civil society continues his journey on the frozen ice of the North Pole into the mist, the ice and oblivion.

I wanted to convey a metallic and cold feeling here to reflect the state of the monsters heart and Victor's before his death. The Orchestration is place for this reason.

Orchestration

Ice - Idaho Recordist "ultimate Ice" Clips
With Guitar Rig (Vintage EQ, Impulse Response - Reflector - Spirit Canyon)
Tbe Clips
The Deep Blue Sea - Switch 1
Thin Ice - Switch 2
Into the Mist - Switch 3

The Mist
Ableton Effect Rack - Keymapped
Operator - high
Absynth - Low
Guitar Rig
Space Echo
Reflector Impulse Response - Spirit Canyon Audio "Chlorazapime"

Drone - Moog Voyager - Soundscape shifter (patch 15) with 104 M
Effects - Guitar Rig - Psychedelic Delay - Reflector
Impulse Response - Spirit Canyon Audio

MIDI
Slider 1 - Absynth Volume
Slider 2 - Ice Volume
Slider 3 - Pitch Envelope (Level)
Slider 4 - Spread
Slider 5 - Tape Feedback
Slider 6 - Tape Speed
Pedal 1 - Oscillator A - Pitch (fine)
Switch 1 - deep ice cracking and deep water sounds
Switch 2 - Sharper Ice cracking
Switch 3 - footsteps on Ice

Performance
Begin with Operator, use Pedal 1 for pitch shift
Slowly bring in Absynth (Slider 1) and Voyager
Bring in ice clips in consecutive order ending in footsteps

The Persistence of Time - Notes - 8/27/12

Prelude - The Persistence of Time

Philosophical Notes

I have always loved the Van Gough painting "The Persistence of Memory". Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was written to question if there are limits to science and technology that should not be breached. Shelley also saw the impact of technology and the advent of mass production and factories on England. Time became mechanized be it the clock like moments of planets or the time clock in the factories.

This piece begins with a clock and then distorts that regularity of the ticking clock much like the melting clocks in Van Gough's painting. The clock changes to steam engine which revolutionized global industry and then brought electricity which I represent by a Tesla coil. While Frankenstein only mentions the lesser know Galvani it was an interest in the joining of human flesh with electricity that brought about the means to create Frankenstein's unholy creature.

The theme of electricity appears again in lightening strikes that morphs into the next step in technology, the nuclear bomb. Here, as Prometheus gives fire the same is true of electrify and then nuclear weapons so I am merely extending the analogy.


Orchestration

Sound Effects - Slider 1
Clips
Clock Ticking
Steam Engine
Tesla Coil
Effects
Zebrify (drone) - Pedal 3
Live Grain Delay - Pedal 4
Guitar Rig
Reflector - Spirit Canyon - Spectral Relativity "Zone of Twilight"

Moog Voyager - Slider 2
Guitar Rig
Psyche Delay
Spring Reverb

Razor - Slider 3
Live Suite - Corpus
Guitar Rig
Space Echo
Reflector - Spirit Canyon Audio - Spectral Relativity "All Black"

Alchemy - Slider 4
Effects
Live Resonator - Pedal 1
Live Grain Delay - Pedal 2
Guitar Rig
Reflector - Spirit Canyon Audio - Spectral Relativity "At the core"

Zebra - Slider 5

Performance Controls

Alchemy 1-4 corresponding to the "Stretch" parameters for various clock samples


Performance Notes

Alchemy - Clocks ticking & Chimes - stretch time with performance controls 1-4
Use Live's "Grain Delay" to slow and speed up time and change frequency
Steam Engine (clip 2)
Tesla coil (clip 3)
Turn on resonator
Razor and Zebra drones
Voyager

Fire Giver Notes - 8/25/12

Fire Giver Notes

MUSIC


LETTERS FROM THE ARTIC OCEAN

Prelude - The Persistence of Time

Clock ticking (Clip 1)
Alchemy - Clocks ticking & Chimes
Steam Engine (clip 2)
Tesla coil (clip 3)
Turn on resonator
Razor and Zebra drone

http://jenmitlas.wordpress.com/ - An Arctic Passage
We find a common technique of the romantic period here called framing. We meet the captain of a ship, Robert Warren who is seeking a way to get from the Arctic Ocean to the North Pacific via the North Pole. Warren is aware of the challenges and warns his wife that if he fails he may return soon but perhaps not return at all. We also find Warren's letters at the end of the book after he has met both Victor and his monster.

2- The Lonely Journey
Warren is lonely on the ship and looking for companionship.
We find for the 1st time an allusion to "The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner" in 3 very Romantic ideas (seafaring, the mysterious, the quest for knowledge)

3 - A Letter to Home
Warren continues to express a heartfelt confidence that he will find his passage but not really backed up by knowledge which is a very romantic notion. He has the good fortune of passing a ship returning to England called "The Merchantman who will be able to get his letter to his sister before his return.

4 - Victor is Saved
Warren's ship 1st encounters a gigantic man (I.e. the monster, driving a dog sled) and then Victor trailing him on a block of ice. Warren is delighted to have someone to talk to. Here Victor begins as narrator in a sense and then fully in chapter 1


VICTOR'S STORY

1 - The Early Years
Victor tells us of the early years of his family, both hard times & good - the gift of Elizabeth - themes of hearth/home

2 - The Alchemists
Victor speaks of his interest in the alchemists Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus (not really an alchemist but more a natural scientist)
Victor witnesses a lightening storm that blows apart a tree
Idea for sound
A lightening strike morphing into a nuclear explosion, morphing into a vocal cluster (Symphony of Voices) morphing into ice effect or ice like sound)

MUSIC

Lightening Strikes - Live

Orchestration
Reaktor Prism - SlowMotion
Kontakt
Cello -Solo
Novachord - 1939 - Pad - Unseen

Live Clips
3 clips - assigned to lowest notes on keyboard
Thunder
Tesla Coil
Nuclear Blast

MIDI

Buttons
Absynth
Live Reverb

Slider 1 - Volume Reaktor (Prism)
Slider 2 - Volume Kontakt (Cello and Hammond Novachord)
Slider 3 - Clip Volume
Slider 4 - Cello Level
Sider 5 - Prism feedback

Roland FC 300
Pedal 1 - Prism - Exciter Envelope B
Pedal 2 - Prism - Exciter Feedback

Audio Cubes

Audio Cubes will be used to trigger clips


3 - Ingolatadt
Victor's mother Carolyn dies
Victor meets his teaches Krempe and Waldman
Waldmen encourages victor to learn every branch of natural science

4 - Grace Robber
Victor excels at Ingolstadt especially in chemistry but Victor would become reclusive seeking body parts in graveyards. Victor's withdrawal from the world gets worse. He let's letters go unanswered and his health is effected.
Shelley is intimating the romantic ideal that man must control technology not technology which controls man.

MUSIC

The Graveyard

Clips
Metal gate (of graveyard)
Human remains (grapefruit squish) + Live Grain Delay

Orchestration

Chromaphone
Bowed Gamelan (Live Instrument) - thru Absynth Resonator
Cylindrum (Kontakt)

MIDI

Slider 1 - Chromophone Volume
Slider 2 - Bowed Ugal Volume
Slider 3 - Cylindrum Volume
Slider 4 - Effects Volume
Slider 1 - Noise Frequency
Slider 2 - Mallet Color

Audio Cubes

Used to control "Grain Delay"


5 - The Creation of the Monster
Henry Clerval - Romantic - Poet - Friend - Knight of the Round Table
Ingolstadt - The Iluminati - Science - The Enlightenment
The re-animation of a dead body - Galvanism - Ventalators
The monster is created. Victor is horrified and runs from his creation. He is found by Clerval who slowly brings him back to health.
The monster is created - need music to represent Victors horror
Perhaps sounds of footsteps running, heavy breathing, heartbeat, synthetic sound as the sound of Victors fears chasing him through the streets.
The dream of victors mother - worms from her head
Rhime of the ancient mariner quoted. Influential in the novel.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

Orchestration - Live Instrument rack

1. Blade - with Guitar Rig (Roland Space Echo) - Key mapped to lower register
2. Kontakt
String Ensemble (Factory)
Timpani (Factory) - On/off - Pedal 1
Contra Bassoon (Factory)
Bazantar (8Dio's sampled instrument made by Mark Deustch)
Flute (Factory)
3. Alchemy

Performance Controls

Novation
Blade (Drone) Volume - Slider 1
Live XY Pad
Filter
Cutoff
Guitar Rig - Roland Space Echo
XY Pad - Live
Tap Speed
Tape Feedback
Effect Level

Orchestra Volume - Slider 2
String Ensemble
Timpani
Contra Bassoon
Bazantar
Flute
Alchemy (Choir) Volume - Slider 3

Slider 5 - Blade XY - Y

Alchemy Mobile
Cutoff - Performance 3
Resonance - Performance 4

Roland FC 300 - Foot Controller
Pedal 1 - Space Echo Speed
Pedal 2 - Space Echo Feedback
Pedal 3 - Space Echo Level

Performance Notes

Begin with Blade Drone
Change sound with XY and Roland Space Echo (Feedback, Speed, Echo Volume)
Generator drone - need to find this - nothing in effects libraries
Bazantar (possible assign pedal switch for solo) - and hot swap. Slow downward series of notes (even a clip) to drone
Upper end Alchemy choir (need to assign filter settings) dark chord sequence (Loxrian, Phrygian) to Timpani roll
Bazantar - lower, Choir upper - dark interlude
Back to drone - slowly dies out to generator sound (clip)

Second Thoughts

Clips
Lungs
Deep Breathing (Slot 1)
Hospital Ventilator (Slot 2)
Heart
Heartbeat (Slot 3)

Orchestration
Blade (controlled by Live envelope follower)
Kontakt 4 - Strings
Cello (ensemble)
Viola (solo)
ElectraX

MIDI
Slider 1 - Blade Volume
Slider 2 - Strings volume
Slider 3 - ElectraX volume
Slider 4 - Lungs (breathing and respirator) volume
Slider 5 - Heart Volume
Pedal 1 - Blade sub oscillator and Cello Timbre (Kontakt Main Panel
Pedal 2 - Blade octave

Performance Notes

All Sliders down
Slider 1 to max
This piece starts and end with a Blade Drone
The breathing clip is started without volume but as a side chain controlling the filter cutoff of Blade using an M4L envelope follower
Blade is modulated via the XY pad (octave) and Pedal 2
The breath volume is increased
Decrease drone to 1/8th - Slider 1
Increase Electra X to Max - Slider 3 - Lower Blade to 1/3rd - Slider 1
Phrygian Mode - start with C Minor
Bring in Strings (Cello and Viola) - Slider 2
Use Pedal 1 to control Cello timbre and Blade sub oscillator
Start heartbeat clip
Play notes in lower register
Start Ventilator clip
Fade strings out - Slide 2
Vent fades out quickly - Slider 4
High C sustained for 10 seconds
Slowly fade out heart - slider 5
Bring Blade volume up to Max - Slider 1
Modulate drone (pedal 2) and fade out - Slider 1


6 - Visit with an Old Friend
Letters from home, family matters, Victor's recovery, language studies

7 - The Death of William
William (youngest brother) is strangled by the monster
Victor glimpses the monster in flashes of lightening
Victor suspects the monster is guilty but does not want to reveal it.

8 - The Trial and Hanging of Justine
Justine is accused of William's murder (the monster places a locket in her pocket)
Justine is hung unjustly for the crimes of Victor's monster. Victor looks on helplessly knowing the true guilty party.

9 - A Time for Healing
Victor's 2nd depression - Refuge at Lake Geneva - Suicide considered
The Chamounix valley - depression a theme of Romantic writers - Why?
The healing powers of nature - Mont Blanc - Percy Shelly
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist256/alps/mont_blanc.htm

10 - The Monster Confronts His Maker
Connection with Milton's "Paradise Lost" - name for the song of Frankenstein meeting his monster? - the creature as Victor's Adam before and after the fall - banished from paradise
The romantic view that people are born good but society corrupts them - much like the monster
The glaciers - snow, ice, rock - connection to the scene at the north pole
The storm signals the monitors approach - weather as signal

11 - The Monster and The De Lacey Family
the monster relates his early life experiences to victor - romantic vision of home and hearth - the monster does not dare approach.

12 - The Monster Learns to Speak
The monster learns French from the De Lacey family, he begins to gather wood from them, he sees his reflection

13 - Reflection on Good and Evil
A Turkish woman comes to the cottage and learns French, the monster learns more from this, Shelley goes more into the good and evil nature of man, language is seen as good, themes of Paradise Lost - is Shelley here wrestling with issues of science as good or evil?

14 - De Lacey family history
Felix, Safie's father is defended by the De Lacey family but in their battle to free her father from the Gallows their wealth is confiscated. The family was well to do but is brought to ruin.

15 - The Monster Learns to Read
Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Roman's", Milton's "Paradise Lost", Goethe's "Sorrows of Werter", and Victor's notes found in his jacket
The monster questions his place in the world, he sees his reflection
The monster decides that in spite of his looks the family might accept him. He waits till only the blind father remains who warmly welcomes him but on seeing him, Felix beats him severely and the monster leaves without any resistance.


16 - The Monster Requests a Companion
As the monster tells his story, he catches up with Victor's in time
The De Lacey family leaves the cottage and it's burned down by the monster.
William (Victors brother) is murdered by the monster when he realizes who it is
The locket is placed in Justine's pocket sealing her fate
The monster requests that Victor create a mate for him

17 - The Ultimatum
The monster gives victor an ultimatum. Either make him a mate or he will destroy all that is good in Victor's life and make his heart desolate. In exchange, the monster tells him he will leave Europe for the wilderness of South America.
Victor has many doubts and goes into another depression.

18 - A Trip Down The Rhine and Return to Geneva
Victor returns to Geneva to fulfill his promise and make a mate for his monster
Victor recovers and tells his father he want's to catch up on science
Victor tells his father he will marry Elizabeth on his return and travel through Europe and eventually to London. He joins his friend Clerval.
They travel the Rhine - much Romantic imagery here

19 - A New Creation
Victor leaves Clerval who continues his tour of the Rhine
Victor reads the latest philosophers and wrestles with the implications of the plans for a new creation.
He goes to the Ornkey Islands so he can be isolates - his mental condition deteriorates

20 - The Refusal
Victor refuses to go any further fearing that his new creation might be a threat to the world. He destroys the new creation and the monster tells him he will be with him on his wedding night.
The monster disappears into the night.
Victor removes everything from the laboratory and cleans the remains planning to return to Clerval for a trip to India.
On his return from the Island Victor finds he is wanted for murder and is taken into custody.

21 - Clerval is Murdered and Victor Arested
The sight of his friends dead body causes Victor to become extremely I'll for 2 months. A nurse is provided who nurses him back to health in the prison.
His legal council is able to prove his innocence and presence on the island lab at the time of Clerval's murder.
Alphonse takes Victor home but he remains very ill. A brief visit is made to Paris.

22 - Victor marries Elizabeth
They go on their honeymoon and Victor plans on telling Elizabeth about the monster. He fears the threat of the monster expecting the monster to attack.

23 - The Death of Elizabeth
There is a storm (gothic symbol that something will happen). Victor wanders the halls looking for signs of the monster who finds his way to Elizabeth's room and kills her. Victor reaches her and the monster and even gets a shot off but the monster escapes unharmed.
Victor's father, Alphonse, overcome by shock over Elizabeth's death, dies
Victor goes to the local magistrate and tells him the story of his monster from it's creation and that it was the monster who killed his wife.
A few gothic elements here. 1st, there is communication of sorts between Victor and his creature who seems to always know where he is.
Victor vows to spend whatever time it takes to destroy the monster.

24 - The Final Chase
Victor is goaded by the monster's laugh as he visits the graves of his family. The monster's knowledge that Victor would be there is another gothic element. He pursues the monster and chases him out of Geneva and after boarding a ship on the Black Sea and then to Russia and the Arctic Circle
The monster finds a dog sled and Victor continues to pursue but the ice begins to crack.
The two are separated on two different pieces of ice which is where the letters at the beginning of the novel start. The monster want Victor to chase him. He keeps leaving notes. Without them Victor would not be able to pursue him. The arctic is a gothic element.

THE FINAL LETTERS
The end of the book is told from the perspective of Walton's letters. Victor also shows him letters of Felix and Safie to lend credence to his cautionary tale. The two enjoy much time together talking about literature and other things.
Victor is on the verge of death but Walton is also on his own quest to find a Northwest passage and that is failing.
Victor's health gets even worse and now the crew are almost ready to mutiny. Walton agrees to turn the ship around and return to England. Despite his condition, victor wants to continue to pursue the monster.
Victor dies but the monster makes his way on board looking for Victor. He tells Walton his side of the story but then leaves the ship continuing his now fruitless journey and disappears into the mist.
The monster in speaking to Walton alludes to Paradise lost and compares himself to a fallen angel.

MUSIC

Into The Mist

Orchestration
Ableton Operator (with Absynth 5 Aetherizer and Guitar Rig Effects)
Guitar Rig (Roland Space Echo, EH Flange, EH phaser and reflector using "Sprit Canyon Audio" impulse response

Moog Voyager - Soundscape shifter
Effects - Guitar Rig - Psychedelic Delay - Reflector
Impulse Response - Spirit Canyon Audio

MIDI
Slider 1 - Oscillator C (Frequency)
Slider 2 - Oscillator C (Level)
Slider 3 - Pitch Envelope (Level)
Slider 4 - Spread
Slider 5 - Tape Feedback
Slider 6 - Tape Speed

FC 300
Pedal 3 - Voyager Filter Cutoff
Pedal 4 - Voyager - OSC 3 - Wavef

Initial Impressions of Space Wiz

I just started using Space Wiz but of all the Jordan Rudess synths this one impresses me the most. I'm sure that there is some influence here from Kepler Orrery (Although Space Wiz us much better) and at first glance one might believe this is a video game but underneath the visuals (which are also well done) there is a rather substantial algorithmic synth. In fact, this is the first musical I App that might make it into my music.

What fascinates me in regard to the possibilities here is that each planet has it's own voice, physical properties and tonal properties. It's like Lemur on steroids.

SpaceWiz also supports CoreMIDI so I will have to try using it on my synths, especially Kontakt.

What I love the most is the ability to use different scales and voices allowing a track to be created to use as a kind of pad for a lead track.

As I explore this more I will post more. Sadly, the wizard Rudess is creating a major distraction before Electro Music so I might have to shelf in depth tonal journey's until Fire Giver is brought to EM fest stage 2 but in the event of any discoveries during preparations I will be sure to post.

Blade Vs. Razor

For a while now I wanted to do a quick comparison of Blade and Razor, two additive synthesizers recently developed by Rod Pappen and Native Instruments. I don't believe the timing of their release so close together is mere coincidence but rather they both reflect a development in additive synthesis that is worth mentioning.

The Holy Grail if Synthesis

Additive synthesis might have seemed to be a kind of holy grail of synthesis at least for a time. I think it has matured and that expectations of what it can and cannot do are more realistic. It's promise is that it can recreate any timbre changing over time. However, I believe one need only look to the history of additive synths to see how difficult a task it is to make additive synthesis an effective musical tool more than a scientific and mathematical curiosity.

Baby Steps

My first experience with additive synthesis was with Absynth although it is a stretch to say Absynth has additive synthesis. Absynth has a parallel waveform/partials display. In this sense a pipe organ or a Hammond B3 or many other types of organs are additive synthesizers albeit with a very limited number of partials.

The next additive synthesizer I bought was VirSyn's Cube and latter Poseidon. Both of these synthesizers allow a sample to be re-synthesized. This is a process by which a sample can be broken into a series of partials each with their own amplitude and pitch envelopes.

The reason for doing this is not to reproduce the sample. Samplers do a better job of this anyway but rather to be able to morph sounds and speed up, slow down and freeze time in ways samplers can't.

The Next Generation

The next generation of additive synths that came out about the same time were Vir Syn's Cube and Camel Audio's Chameleon which was really the father of Alchemy. In all of these synths additive models can be morphed one to another and time can be sped up, slowed down or even frozen without the need for looping. Of course, such methods are not without artifacts.

Cube had a feature that allowed the user to draw spectrums and spectral envelopes. In theory, this all sounds great but how does one distinguish between on spectrum and another or their envelopes and make a mental connection with the sound. This is really what I saw early in the game as the problem with additive synths. That and the discovery I made that the brain really makes little distinction in timbre in terms of higher order partials which are mostly perceived as buzzy unless (and this is big), there are a series of peaks that provide a kind of shape if form to the partial much like formants which speaking of the synthesis if the human voice. If anyone reading this has purchased or looked at demos of Blade or Razor, these peaks will be familiar.

This is really why filters are so important. How one shapes the lower order partials is really what gives strong character to a sound but also how that shape changes over time. Early analogue synths all are based on broad spectrum waveforms. That is, waveforms with a lot of higher order partials. One might liken it to a sculpture with a block of marble. Filters then act as the chisel to chip away at the higher order partials that can be harsh and not very musical. Envelopes help to shape over time emulating the characteristics of real instruments.

The Shape of Things to Come

So with that said, it's my guess that both Rob Pappen and Native Instruments wanted to correct for these problems and came up with tools that reduced the overall "dynamic" shape of the partials to a few parameters. In Blade these are called Harmolators. The idea is that working with parameters that define an overall shape if a waveform allows the user to get a handle on what effects the overall sound without having to think about individual partials. What is missing is any form of re-synthesis which is interesting given that this was the central focus of additive synthesizers before this.

Overview and Central Focus

I believe it's no mistake when you look at the main screens of Blade and Razor that each have a very different focus. Blade's screen features an XY style pad with multiple Harmolators on the side which change as the cursor moves over the XY space. The movement of the cursor can be recorded and a number of preset patterns are also available. Blade also offers an LFO, envelope and two other modulation sources which all control Harmolators. It is the Harmolators that are the central focus if Blade.

Razor focuses more directly on the shape of the partials both in 2D and 3D although the 3D display is a bit more of a CPU hog. It offers two oscillators, Two additive filters, dissonance effects which I believe are unique to Razor and very interesting. Also stereo and dynamic effects, 2 LFOs, 3 envelopes, a side chain and a few controls related to controlling the real potential of Razor to shred speakers. Modulation takes the form of controls for each component which appear as a small circle below each knob. The modulation options are extensive.

The Partial Paradox

Any additive synth is going to have partials and lots of them. The problem with an additive synth that is not re-synthesizing is that one has to start with very broad spectrum and dare I say somewhat buzzy waveforms. Of course noise is all the rave today (pun intended) with the Hoover sound actually earning it's own Wiki page. So in many ways. the broad spectrum buzz saw of dancing partials is ear candy to many.

The real trick is to find interesting ways to shape these partials. Without going into details, Blade starts with some interesting starting shapes and patterns (such as primes only) and then makes broad morphs to the overall shape such as ripples (no doubt intended to be like formants), number of partials, left or right skew even and odd partial distribution reminiscent of tube and tape saturation and many other acoustic effects.

Razor's approach to oscillators is radically different. First, Razor does not have a large collection of starting shapes. Rather, it offers a collection of broad form waveforms that mimic classic analogue sounds with some really unique and creative waveforms that provide what I believe is a broader sonic pallet than Blade despite the fact that blade offers a lot more choices of waveform.

Oscillators

Here is the big difference between Blade and Razor. Blade has a rather substantial library of waveforms which are shaped by Harmolators. Razor has a limited number of oscillators which are very analogue in nature but very flexible. Unlike Blade where each oscillator is shaped by the same Harmolators, Razor's all have parameters specific to an oscillator type. Let's take a look.

One oscillator actuals changes the mix between prime and non prime partials. Blade does the same thing by providing a number of presets but in Razor, the mix of primes and non primes is a parameter. The Pershing Hoover sound makes it into the oscillator choices to no doubt appeal to a pop electronica market. You have 3 oscillators that simulate pitch bend adding an interesting sonic pallet not found in Blade. Pitch bend in Razor is done through oscillators and it a shifting of partials not real pitch bend. You have 2 oscillators that provide an interesting parallel to noise generators in analogues but with a spectral flavor and lastly a formant shaper which parallels Blade's ripples although is far more complex.

Filters

Blade's filters are pretty much standard fair although a bit broader than most synths offering low pass, band pass and high pass each in 12, 18 and 24 db cutoff but also a comb and a formant like filter called "vocal". All of Blade's filters are analogue in contrast to Razor that rarely leaves the additive realm.

Razor also has two sets of filters with different filter types in each bank. All of Razor's filters have a filter smoother to (I suspect) reduce some of that buzzy character of additive models based on broadband waveforms. Razors low pass filters are far more flexible than Blade's and feature continuous variable filter cutoff no doubt a by product of staying in the additive universe. There are 3 shapes of, something with ripples in resonant peak resembling a hybrid between LDF and comb and is evidenced by it's name low pass phaser and a dirtier grittier filter. There is what resembles a variable band envelope modulated filter, three types of formant filters (one with specific vowels) a vocoder.

The second Razor filter bank is more if the standard collection of garden variety filter fair, low, high, band, a few types of comb, a combined filter phaser, waterbed (yes, the filter visually looks like ripples on water and has a very organic sound, very cool). There is also a spectral pitch bend filter and a filter to emulate several instruments played at the same time.

Dave Smith Mopho x 4

I did a quick read of the Morpho x 4 manual and I wanted to get some quick Impressions in print.

Oscillators - standard + saw triangle - no sign and discrete rather than continuous like a Moog Voyager.

Also Oscillator sync and FM.

Standard 2 and 4 pole filter - not a lot of selection here although this filter is what gives DS products like the Prophet a unique sound.

Nice MIDI implementation via USB as a MIDI port but it does not act like a plug in. There is a downloadable librarian. It also looks like a plug in version will be available for purchase.

Filter, amp and aux envelopes. Nothing spectacular.

4 LFOs - nice!

A relachable arpeggitor What looks like a pretty powerful step sequencer

Also a feedback loop.

It has weighted keys so it's not cheaply made but very portable.

The voices can be expanded using other Dave Smith Products.

It looks powerful enough but anemic in some areas but considering the limited number of poly analogues out there and that Moog seems reluctant to offer an analogue poly this one certainly deserves a look.

A New and Old Direction

For a long time now I have had an interest in physical modeling synths not only for their ability to overcome some of the limitations of sampling but also their ability to make sounds that sound nothing like anything anyone was heard in the natural world.

I also have a love of real instruments although space prevents me form having many. None the less, I have studied their development and loved their sounds. I find that new methods of synthesis can't rival the dynamic colors of their sounds.

More akin to my day job, I have an interest in philosophical and theological things so I like my work to express deeper questions. The album I am working on no has some subtle sonic archetypes that I am leaving somewhat sublimated in my music. I wan't my music to speak for itself but also go deeper.

As for the synths I really wan't to focus on:

Reaktor Prism - a sublime synth, modal synthesis

Reaktor Steampipe - which is the only synth I have that models woodwinds well.

Chromaphone - which couples resonators and makes sounds I can't get with anything else.

Ableton Live:

Collision, Tension and Corpus

Kontakt - not as a physical modeler but a great sampler for real instruments.

While not physical modelers I will also use Absynth, Alchemy, Zebra and Iris because they are great synths but I really want to focus and real instruments and physical modeling as well as continue on a philosophical and theological direction with my music.

I have to add an addendum that I will also continue to pursue things analogue because analogue is, well, the other side of the sonic mirror.

Impressions of Tachyon

As some may know, the musical wizard and I instrument maker Jordan Rudess has just added another musical offering (Bach reference intended) to his now impressive collection of I apps.

For a while now I have been collecting I apps for music. I find them hard to resist at such low prices. Tachyon is certainly well worth the $2 investment and also a lot of fun as Jordan's I instruments all are.

Tachyon offers the ability to cross fade some conventional and some unconventional music instruments by using the IPad as an XY pad with visual feedback. It also offers pitch bending with a few extra tools and the ability to sample different scales which is a trademark and plus of the wizards musical fair.

Now I am not a believer as some are that the next evolution in soft synth is going to be to the IPad. I don't think that is what it was designed for but rather an intermediary between an I Phone and laptop or so in the word of the fallen creator may he rest now in peace. I Pad musical apps to me are good musical fun but they also have a serious side not as full blown soft synths but as controllers. I believe that Camel Audio with Alchemy Mobile is stepping up to the plate here.

I was recently very impressed by Camel Audio's Alchemy Mobile with it's IPad based wireless control over Alchemy's performance section. I would personally love to see more apps like it.

But let's face it. Alchemy Mobile's interface and that of the new I offering of Lemur lack the visual feedback that Tachyon and other Jordan Rudess I musical apps have.

One complaint I have regarding Alchemy mobile is why they made the XY pads so small? All that had to be done is make them at least as large as the bottom half of the screen, put performance controls on top and then toggle between the two XY pads.

But what intrigues me about the Tachyon and for the matter the Rudess arsenal of apps is the visual and alternative scale aspects. While Jordan may not have had this in mind I think back to the two directions Moog and Buchla went. One favoring a traditional keyboard so that Moog would find it's way into the pop or at least progressive genres and Buchla never seeing a synthesizer in terms of more tried and true paradigms that harken back all the way to the harpsichord.

Another paradigm breaker with it's workbench is the Eigenharp. One is not limited to the 13 half step scale that heathens back all the way to Pythagorus.

Of course, one limitation remains like the smile of the famous cat of Carol's fame is that of the MIDI matrix that continues to dominate and limit vision and yes, I know that offends those whom MIDI has become a religion.

So why not make one axis in Alchemy a parameter and another pitch but flexible in a Rudess or Eigenharp sense. Or, to borrow from the Voyager (and I think there is a module out there that escapes memory) to use area of the finger. Unless of course some genius makes spongy Continuum/IPads or holographic. I can dream can't I?

And last but for the sinisthetics, to coin a word, the joining of things visual and sonic. Kudus to the Wizard Rudess for this. Well done! Iconic pixilated clapping hands. Not only for the pleasing visuals but the mind mapping like hierarchical menus that pop in and out of the I ether. Elegant indeed! Paradigm crushing! No longer cartesian grids for menus born of an early text age.

But Perhaps the most significant (winking icon in Camel Audio and soft synth makers direction), an I controller that provides visual feedback. Brilliant!

My point, however thinly veiled on the poetic (to much Poe does that to me) is that the Tachyon while fun, may not have the power of kitchen sink synth but it acts more like an instrument breaking away from the stayed paradigms of Greeks bearing scalar gifts and harpsichords of ivory fair now imprinted on I screens.

So, the question is do the soft synth makers have vision. Well do you? Perhaps some may read this and follow the white rabbit.

Dark Zebra - Pre Review

As of late, I have been pretty selective in buying synths or effects. One if my rules in buying a synth is to not overlap with what I have. Either in terms of sound or function I wan't it to provide new sonic territory.

I bought Zebra from almost it's inception but as I was moving synths from my desktop Zebra did not make it for a while. After a time I did manage to download it. Using the old license on a new computer could not have been easier and using a synth after an absence from it for some time was like rediscovering it.

Zebra covers a lot of ground both sonically and in terms of function. The GUI is minimal but the power is in the modular aspect of it's design that let's connections be made on a grid. It's not exactly a software version of a modular (U-He Ace covers that) but the modular aspect does lend itself to a whole lot of power for those who want to explore.

It also has multisegment envelopes which are lacking in many synths. This makes in perfect for soundscapes.

As for filters, that where I think the darker Zebra is going so shine. It's moving towards Zebra 3 and a an implementation of Diva like filters. Bottom line that means a very analogue sounding synth but with much more power and scope than standard VA soft synths.

Of course, Dark Zebra has a step sequencer and lest I forget a resonator. I'm partial to resonators. I find they add that most mysterious quality to sounds.

So, probably latter today I will get the darker Zebra and look forward to Zebra reborn. My review of what I find in Zebra with no lights to follow.

Overload

I just watched a DVD of Vincent Price telling Edgar Allan Poe stories last night. What shocked me is it held my attention more than most TV programs I see today. I have experienced the same in listening to Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. I even find myself wanted to get myself a rhubarb pie. I have also listened to old radio programs amazed at how engaging they are. The truth is that left to it's own devices the mind fills the empty visual space with images.

Sometimes, less is more. I know I may have covered this before in another blog but perhaps in the world of synthesis this also can be applied. A friend told me the other day that he was going to limit himself to using only a few presets from one synth so as to focus on being a musician and really learning to play them.

I love the concept of performance controllers in synths. What these do is separate sound design from performance. Most electronic musicians where these two hats but focussing on a limited set of controls allows the musician to emerge from a dizzying array of options.

Fire Giver Notes - 7/19/12

Frankenstein Notes

MUSIC

Prelude - The Persistence of Time

Idea
Ticking clock
Steam engine
Cross fade into
S&H - Moog Voyager
Frequency Increases
Morphs into drone - Cluster Flux
Morphs into Blade or Razor drone - w electrical arcs


LETTERS FROM THE ARTIC OCEAN

http://jenmitlas.wordpress.com/ - An Arctic Passage
We find a common technique of the romantic period here called framing. We meet the captain of a ship, Robert Warren who is seeking a way to get from the Arctic Ocean to the North Pacific via the North Pole. Warren is aware of the challenges and warns his wife that if he fails he may return soon but perhaps not return at all. We also find Warren's letters at the end of the book after he has met both Victor and his monster.

2- The Lonely Journey
Warren is lonely on the ship and looking for companionship.
We find for the 1st time an allusion to "The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner" in 3 very Romantic ideas (seafaring, the mysterious, the quest for knowledge)

3 - A Letter to Home
Warren continues to express a heartfelt confidence that he will find his passage but not really backed up by knowledge which is a very romantic notion. He has the good fortune of passing a ship returning to England called "The Merchantman who will be able to get his letter to his sister before his return.

4 - Victor is Saved
Warren's ship 1st encounters a gigantic man (I.e. the monster, driving a dog sled) and then Victor trailing him on a block of ice. Warren is delighted to have someone to talk to. Here Victor begins as narrator in a sense and then fully in chapter 1


VICTOR'S STORY

1 - The Early Years
Victor tells us of the early years of his family, both hard times & good - the gift of Elizabeth - themes of hearth/home

2 - The Alchemists
Victor speaks of his interest in the alchemists Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus (not really an alchemist but more a natural scientist)
Victor witnesses a lightening storm that blows apart a tree
Idea for sound
A lightening strike morphing into a nuclear explosion, morphing into a vocal cluster (Symphony of Voices) morphing into ice effect or ice like sound)

MUSIC

Lightening Strikes 2

Orchestration
Reaktor Prism - SlowMotion
Kontakt
Cello -Solo
Novachord - 1939 - Pad - Unseen

Live Clips
3 clips - assigned to lowest notes on keyboard
Thunder
Tesla Coil
Nuclear Blast

MIDI

Buttons
Absynth
Live Reverb

Slider 1 - Volume Reaktor (Prism)
Slider 2 - Volume Kontakt (Cello and Hammond Novachord)
Slider 3 - Clip Volume
Slider 4 - Clip Transpose

Roland FC 300
Pedal 1 - Prism - Exciter Envelope B
Pedal 2 - Prism - Exciter Feedback


3 - Ingolatadt
Victor's mother Carolyn dies
Victor meets his teaches Krempe and Waldman
Waldmen encourages victor to learn every branch of natural science

4 - Grace Robber
Victor excels at Ingolstadt especially in chemistry but Victor would become reclusive seeking body parts in graveyards. Victor's withdrawal from the world gets worse. He let's letters go unanswered and his health is effected.
Shelley is intimating the romantic ideal that man must control technology not technology which controls man.

MUSIC

The Graveyard

Clips
Metal gate (of graveyard)
Human remains (grapefruit squish) + Live Grain Delay

Orchestration

Chromaphone
Bowed Gamelan (Live Instrument) - thru Absynth Resonator
Cylindrum (Kontakt)

MIDI

Slider 1 - Chromophone Volume
Slider 2 - Bowed Ugal Volume
Slider 3 - Cylindrum Volume
Slider 4 - Effects Volume
Slider 1 - Noise Frequency
Slider 2 - Mallet Color


5 - The Creation of the Monster
Henry Clerval - Romantic - Poet - Friend - Knight of the Round Table
Ingolstadt - The Iluminati - Science - The Enlightenment
The re-animation of a dead body - Galvanism - Ventalators
The monster is created. Victor is horrified and runs from his creation. He is found by Clerval who slowly brings him back to health.
The monster is created - need music to represent Victors horror
Perhaps sounds of footsteps running, heavy breathing, heartbeat, synthetic sound as the sound of Victors fears chasing him through the streets.
The dream of victors mother - worms from her head
Rhime of the ancient mariner quoted. Influential in the novel.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

Orchestration - Live Instrument rack

1. Blade - with Guitar Rig (Roland Space Echo) - Key mapped to lower register
2. Kontakt
String Ensemble (Factory)
Timpani (Factory) - On/off - Pedal 1
Contra Bassoon (Factory)
Bazantar (8Dio's sampled instrument made by Mark Deustch)
Flute (Factory)
3. Alchemy

Performance Controls
Blade Volume - Slider 1
Orchestra Volume - Slider 2
String Ensemble
Timpani
Contra Bassoon
Bazantar
Flute
BAlchemy Volume - Slider 3
Alchemy Mobile
Cutoff - Performance 3
Resonance - Performance 4


Second Thoughts

Clips
Lungs
Deep Breathing (Slot 1)
Hospital Ventilator (Slot 2)
Heart
Heartbeat

Orchestration
Blade (controlled by Live envelope follower)
Kontakt 4 - Strings
Cello (ensemble)
Viola (solo)
ElectraX

MIDI
Slider 1 - Blade Volume
Slider 2 - Strings volume
Slider 3 - ElectraX volume


6 - Visit with an Old Friend
Letters from home, family matters, Victor's recovery, language studies

7 - The Death of William
William (youngest brother) is strangled by the monster
Victor glimpses the monster in flashes of lightening
Victor suspects the monster is guilty but does not want to reveal it.

8 - The Trial and Hanging of Justine
Justine is accused of William's murder (the monster places a locket in her pocket)
Justine is hung unjustly for the crimes of Victor's monster. Victor looks on helplessly knowing the true guilty party.

9 - A Time for Healing
Victor's 2nd depression - Refuge at Lake Geneva - Suicide considered
The Chamounix valley - depression a theme of Romantic writers - Why?
The healing powers of nature - Mont Blanc - Percy Shelly
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist256/alps/mont_blanc.htm

10 - The Monster Confronts His Maker
Connection with Milton's "Paradise Lost" - name for the song of Frankenstein meeting his monster? - the creature as Victor's Adam before and after the fall - banished from paradise
The romantic view that people are born good but society corrupts them - much like the monster
The glaciers - snow, ice, rock - connection to the scene at the north pole
The storm signals the monitors approach - weather as signal

11 - The Monster and The De Lacey Family
the monster relates his early life experiences to victor - romantic vision of home and hearth - the monster does not dare approach.

12 - The Monster Learns to Speak
The monster learns French from the De Lacey family, he begins to gather wood from them, he sees his reflection

13 - Reflection on Good and Evil
A Turkish woman comes to the cottage and learns French, the monster learns more from this, Shelley goes more into the good and evil nature of man, language is seen as good, themes of Paradise Lost - is Shelley here wrestling with issues of science as good or evil?

14 - De Lacey family history
Felix, Safie's father is defended by the De Lacey family but in their battle to free her father from the Gallows their wealth is confiscated. The family was well to do but is brought to ruin.

15 - The Monster Learns to Read
Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Roman's", Milton's "Paradise Lost", Goethe's "Sorrows of Werter", and Victor's notes found in his jacket
The monster questions his place in the world, he sees his reflection
The monster decides that in spite of his looks the family might accept him. He waits till only the blind father remains who warmly welcomes him but on seeing him, Felix beats him severely and the monster leaves without any resistance.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

16 - The Monster Requests a Companion
As the monster tells his story, he catches up with Victor's in time
The De Lacey family leaves the cottage and it's burned down by the monster.
William (Victors brother) is murdered by the monster when he realizes who it is
The locket is placed in Justine's pocket sealing her fate
The monster requests that Victor create a mate for him

17 - The Ultimatum
The monster gives victor an ultimatum. Either make him a mate or he will destroy all that is good in Victor's life and make his heart desolate. In exchange, the monster tells him he will leave Europe for the wilderness of South America.
Victor has many doubts and goes into another depression.

18 - A Trip Down The Rhine and Return to Geneva
Victor returns to Geneva to fulfill his promise and make a mate for his monster
Victor recovers and tells his father he want's to catch up on science
Victor tells his father he will marry Elizabeth on his return and travel through Europe and eventually to London. He joins his friend Clerval.
They travel the Rhine - much Romantic imagery here

19 - A New Creation
Victor leaves Clerval who continues his tour of the Rhine
Victor reads the latest philosophers and wrestles with the implications of the plans for a new creation.
He goes to the Ornkey Islands so he can be isolates - his mental condition deteriorates

20 - The Refusal
Victor refuses to go any further fearing that his new creation might be a threat to the world. He destroys the new creation and the monster tells him he will be with him on his wedding night.
The monster disappears into the night.
Victor removes everything from the laboratory and cleans the remains planning to return to Clerval for a trip to India.
On his return from the Island Victor finds he is wanted for murder and is taken into custody.

21 - Clerval is Murdered and Victor Arested
The sight of his friends dead body causes Victor to become extremely I'll for 2 months. A nurse is provided who nurses him back to health in the prison.
His legal council is able to prove his innocence and presence on the island lab at the time of Clerval's murder.
Alphonse takes Victor home but he remains very ill. A brief visit is made to Paris.

22 - Victor marries Elizabeth
They go on their honeymoon and Victor plans on telling Elizabeth about the monster. He fears the threat of the monster expecting the monster to attack.

23 - The Death of Elizabeth
There is a storm (gothic symbol that something will happen). Victor wanders the halls looking for signs of the monster who finds his way to Elizabeth's room and kills her. Victor reaches her and the monster and even gets a shot off but the monster escapes unharmed.
Victor's father, Alphonse, overcome by shock over Elizabeth's death, dies
Victor goes to the local magistrate and tells him the story of his monster from it's creation and that it was the monster who killed his wife.
A few gothic elements here. 1st, there is communication of sorts between Victor and his creature who seems to always know where he is.
Victor vows to spend whatever time it takes to destroy the monster.

24 - The Final Chase
Victor is goaded by the monster's laugh as he visits the graves of his family. The monster's knowledge that Victor would be there is another gothic element. He pursues the monster and chases him out of Geneva and after boarding a ship on the Black Sea and then to Russia and the Arctic Circle
The monster finds a dog sled and Victor continues to pursue but the ice begins to crack.
The two are separated on two different pieces of ice which is where the letters at the beginning of the novel start. The monster want Victor to chase him. He keeps leaving notes. Without them Victor would not be able to pursue him. The arctic is a gothic element.

THE FINAL LETTERS
The end of the book is told from the perspective of Walton's letters. Victor also shows him letters of Felix and Safie to lend credence to his cautionary tale. The two enjoy much time together talking about literature and other things.
Victor is on the verge of death but Walton is also on his own quest to find a Northwest passage and that is failing.
Victor's health gets even worse and now the crew are almost ready to mutiny. Walton agrees to turn the ship around and return to England. Despite his condition, victor wants to continue to pursue the monster.
Victor dies but the monster makes his way on board looking for Victor. He tells Walton his side of the story but then leaves the ship continuing his now fruitless journey and disappears into the mist.
The monster in speaking to Walton alludes to Paradise lost and compares himself to a fallen angel.

MUSIC

Into The Mist

Orchestration
Ableton Operator (with Absynth 5 Aetherizer and Guitar Rig Effects)
Guitar Rig (Roland Space Echo, EH Flange, EH phaser and reflector using "Sprit Canyon Audio" impulse response

Moog Voyager - Soundscape shifter
Effects - Guitar Rig - Psychedelic Delay - Reflector
Impulse Response - Spirit Canyon Audio

MIDI
Slider 1 - Oscillator C (Frequency)
Slider 2 - Oscillator C (Level)
Slider 3 - Pitch Envelope (Level)
Slider 4 - Spread
Slider 5 - Tape Feedback
Slider 6 - Tape Speed

FC 300
Pedal 3 - Voyager Filter Cutoff
Pedal 4 - Voyager - OSC 3 - Waveform


The Ascent

Performance Controls

I wanted to get off a quick blog today before I go to work. Lately, I have tried to focus on performance controls. That is, a collection of synth parameters that I can reasonably use in performance. This focuses my attention on the music rather than the technology. Just a quick thought. There will be more in future blogs.

Alchemy Mobile - The "Wave" of the Future

I guess we know we are not in Kansas any more when musical controller data travel over a wireless connection. Clearly the progression has gone from DIN to USB to nothing but air.

When I look at Alchemy Mobile I can see a lot of Native Instruments Kore. I always liked the idea of Kore but thought the dedicated controller was overkill. But building a direct wireless connection between a mirror image performance controller on a mobile device and the computer based VST is brilliant. I can only hope that other synth makers follow suit.

The "Performance" aspect of Alchemy Mobile is critical. One of the reasons I own a Moog Voyager is that in many ways it was one of the first performance controller. In interviews with Bob Moog he expressed how he saw the Mini Moog's knobs as part of the performance aspects of the instrument. This sounds a lot like a performance controller to me.

I think there has been a progression in synths (hard and soft) towards greater complexity at least in workstations. There is a bit of reversal of this with the small mini-synths but most general and multi purpose synths are complex. This sometimes means layered menus that make learning curves steeper and separate controls from the performance aspects of the synth.

There has been an effort in the soft synth market to simplify with more cleaver design (such as Absynth and Alchemy) but also, as is the case with these two synths, by providing performance controls incl. XY controls in both synths.

With the new Alchemy Mobile this is extended via a wireless connection to a mobile device. Suffice it to say that using an IPad as an XY controller is easier than the small pad on my MacBook pro and has mirror graphics to boot.

What I find interesting about this evolution and paradigm shift (and it is) is that performance and sound design are now separated. With so many parameters the thought of changing them during a performance is daunting. With Alchemy Mobile, part of programming is to actually create a performance instrument.

I personally love this paradigm. It fits with how I now compose music. I am hoping that more synth will have mobile /performance versions of their synths and I very much look forward to this paradigm shift.

Fire Giver Notes 7/9/12

Frankenstein Notes

MUSIC

Prelude - The Persistence of Time



LETTERS FROM THE ARTIC OCEAN

http://jenmitlas.wordpress.com/ - An Arctic Passage
We find a common technique of the romantic period here called framing. We meet the captain of a ship, Robert Warren who is seeking a way to get from the Arctic Ocean to the North Pacific via the North Pole. Warren is aware of the challenges and warns his wife that if he fails he may return soon but perhaps not return at all. We also find Warren's letters at the end of the book after he has met both Victor and his monster.

2- The Lonely Journey
Warren is lonely on the ship and looking for companionship.
We find for the 1st time an allusion to "The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner" in 3 very Romantic ideas (seafaring, the mysterious, the quest for knowledge)

3 - A Letter to Home
Warren continues to express a heartfelt confidence that he will find his passage but not really backed up by knowledge which is a very romantic notion. He has the good fortune of passing a ship returning to England called "The Merchantman who will be able to get his letter to his sister before his return.

4 - Victor is Saved
Warren's ship 1st encounters a gigantic man (I.e. the monster, driving a dog sled) and then Victor trailing him on a block of ice. Warren is delighted to have someone to talk to. Here Victor begins as narrator in a sense and then fully in chapter 1


VICTOR'S STORY

1 - The Early Years
Victor tells us of the early years of his family, both hard times & good - the gift of Elizabeth - themes of hearth/home

2 - The Alchemists
Victor speaks of his interest in the alchemists Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus (not really an alchemist but more a natural scientist)
Victor witnesses a lightening storm that blows apart a tree
Idea for sound
A lightening strike morphing into a nuclear explosion, morphing into a vocal cluster (Symphony of Voices) morphing into ice effect or ice like sound)

MUSIC

Lightening Strikes 2

Reaktor Prism - SlowMotion
Kontakt
Cello -Solo
Novachord - 1939 - Pad - Unseen

3 clips - assigned to lowest notes on keyboard
Thunder
Tesla Coil
Nuclear Blast

Buttons
Absynth
Live Reverb

Slider 1 - Volume Reaktor (Prism)
Slider 2 - Volume Kontakt (Cello and Novachord
Slider 3 - Clip Volume
Slider 4 - Clip Transpose
Slider 5 - Prism - Feedback
Slider 6 - Prism


3 - Ingolatadt
Victor's mother Carolyn dies
Victor meets his teaches Krempe and Waldman
Waldmen encourages victor to learn every branch of natural science

4 - Grace Robber
Victor excels at Ingolstadt especially in chemistry but Victor would become reclusive seeking body parts in graveyards. Victor's withdrawal from the world gets worse. He let's letters go unanswered and his health is effected.
Shelley is intimating the romantic ideal that man must control technology not technology which controls man.

MUSIC

The Graveyard

Clips
Metal gate (of graveyard)
Human remains (grapefruit squish) + Live Grain Delay

Orchestration

Chromaphone
Bowed Gamelan (Live Instrument) - thru Absynth Resonator
Cylindrum (Kontakt)

MIDI

Slider 1 - Chromophone Volume
Slider 2 - Bowed Ugal Volume
Slider 3 - Cylindrum Volume
Slider 4 - Effects Volume
Slider 1 - Noise Frequency
Slider 2 - Mallet Color


5 - The Creation of the Monster
Henry Clerval - Romantic - Poet - Friend - Knight of the Round Table
Ingolstadt - The Iluminati - Science - The Enlightenment
The re-animation of a dead body - Galvanism - Ventalators
The monster is created. Victor is horrified and runs from his creation. He is found by Clerval who slowly brings him back to health.
The monster is created - need music to represent Victors horror
Perhaps sounds of footsteps running, heavy breathing, heartbeat, synthetic sound as the sound of Victors fears chasing him through the streets.
The dream of victors mother - worms from her head
Rhime of the ancient mariner quoted. Influential in the novel.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

Orchestration - Live Instrument rack

1. Blade - with Guitar Rig (Roland Space Echo) - Key mapped to lower register
2. Kontakt
String Ensemble (Factory)
Timpani (Factory)
Contra Bassoon (Factory)
Bazantar (8Dio's sampled instrument made by Mark Deustch)
Flute (Factory)
3. Alchemy

Performance Controls
Blade Volume
Orchestra Volume
Alchemy Volume
Choir (Alchemy morph setting)
Alchemy Cutoff
Alchemy Resonance


Second Thoughts

Clips
Lungs
Deep Breathing (Slot 1)
Hospital Ventilator (Slot 2)
Heart
Heartbeat

Orchestration
Blade (controlled by Live envelope follower)
Kontakt 4 - Strings
Cello (ensemble)
Viola (solo)
ElectraX

MIDI
Slider 1 - Blade Volume
Slider 2 - Strings volume
Slider 3 - ElectraX volume



6 - Visit with an Old Friend
Letters from home, family matters, Victor's recovery, language studies

7 - The Death of William
William (youngest brother) is strangled by the monster
Victor glimpses the monster in flashes of lightening
Victor suspects the monster is guilty but does not want to reveal it.

8 - The Trial and Hanging of Justine
Justine is accused of William's murder (the monster places a locket in her pocket)
Justine is hung unjustly for the crimes of Victor's monster. Victor looks on helplessly knowing the true guilty party.

9 - A Time for Healing
Victor's 2nd depression - Refuge at Lake Geneva - Suicide considered
The Chamounix valley - depression a theme of Romantic writers - Why?
The healing powers of nature - Mont Blanc - Percy Shelly
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist256/alps/mont_blanc.htm

10 - The Monster Confronts His Maker
Connection with Milton's "Paradise Lost" - name for the song of Frankenstein meeting his monster? - the creature as Victor's Adam before and after the fall - banished from paradise
The romantic view that people are born good but society corrupts them - much like the monster
The glaciers - snow, ice, rock - connection to the scene at the north pole
The storm signals the monitors approach - weather as signal

11 - The Monster and The De Lacey Family
the monster relates his early life experiences to victor - romantic vision of home and hearth - the monster does not dare approach.

12 - The Monster Learns to Speak
The monster learns French from the De Lacey family, he begins to gather wood from them, he sees his reflection

13 - Reflection on Good and Evil
A Turkish woman comes to the cottage and learns French, the monster learns more from this, Shelley goes more into the good and evil nature of man, language is seen as good, themes of Paradise Lost - is Shelley here wrestling with issues of science as good or evil?

14 - De Lacey family history
Felix, Safie's father is defended by the De Lacey family but in their battle to free her father from the Gallows their wealth is confiscated. The family was well to do but is brought to ruin.

15 - The Monster Learns to Read
Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Roman's", Milton's "Paradise Lost", Goethe's "Sorrows of Werter", and Victor's notes found in his jacket
The monster questions his place in the world, he sees his reflection
The monster decides that in spite of his looks the family might accept him. He waits till only the blind father remains who warmly welcomes him but on seeing him, Felix beats him severely and the monster leaves without any resistance.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

16 - The Monster Requests a Companion
As the monster tells his story, he catches up with Victor's in time
The De Lacey family leaves the cottage and it's burned down by the monster.
William (Victors brother) is murdered by the monster when he realizes who it is
The locket is placed in Justine's pocket sealing her fate
The monster requests that Victor create a mate for him

17 - The Ultimatum
The monster gives victor an ultimatum. Either make him a mate or he will destroy all that is good in Victor's life and make his heart desolate. In exchange, the monster tells him he will leave Europe for the wilderness of South America.
Victor has many doubts and goes into another depression.

18 - A Trip Down The Rhine and Return to Geneva
Victor returns to Geneva to fulfill his promise and make a mate for his monster
Victor recovers and tells his father he want's to catch up on science
Victor tells his father he will marry Elizabeth on his return and travel through Europe and eventually to London. He joins his friend Clerval.
They travel the Rhine - much Romantic imagery here

19 - A New Creation
Victor leaves Clerval who continues his tour of the Rhine
Victor reads the latest philosophers and wrestles with the implications of the plans for a new creation.
He goes to the Ornkey Islands so he can be isolates - his mental condition deteriorates

20 - The Refusal
Victor refuses to go any further fearing that his new creation might be a threat to the world. He destroys the new creation and the monster tells him he will be with him on his wedding night.
The monster disappears into the night.
Victor removes everything from the laboratory and cleans the remains planning to return to Clerval for a trip to India.
On his return from the Island Victor finds he is wanted for murder and is taken into custody.

21 - Clerval is Murdered and Victor Arested
The sight of his friends dead body causes Victor to become extremely I'll for 2 months. A nurse is provided who nurses him back to health in the prison.
His legal council is able to prove his innocence and presence on the island lab at the time of Clerval's murder.
Alphonse takes Victor home but he remains very ill. A brief visit is made to Paris.

22 - Victor marries Elizabeth
They go on their honeymoon and Victor plans on telling Elizabeth about the monster. He fears the threat of the monster expecting the monster to attack.

23 - The Death of Elizabeth
There is a storm (gothic symbol that something will happen). Victor wanders the halls looking for signs of the monster who finds his way to Elizabeth's room and kills her. Victor reaches her and the monster and even gets a shot off but the monster escapes unharmed.
Victor's father, Alphonse, overcome by shock over Elizabeth's death, dies
Victor goes to the local magistrate and tells him the story of his monster from it's creation and that it was the monster who killed his wife.
A few gothic elements here. 1st, there is communication of sorts between Victor and his creature who seems to always know where he is.
Victor vows to spend whatever time it takes to destroy the monster.

24 - The Final Chase
Victor is goaded by the monster's laugh as he visits the graves of his family. The monster's knowledge that Victor would be there is another gothic element. He pursues the monster and chases him out of Geneva and after boarding a ship on the Black Sea and then to Russia and the Arctic Circle
The monster finds a dog sled and Victor continues to pursue but the ice begins to crack.
The two are separated on two different pieces of ice which is where the letters at the beginning of the novel start. The monster want Victor to chase him. He keeps leaving notes. Without them Victor would not be able to pursue him. The arctic is a gothic element.

THE FINAL LETTERS
The end of the book is told from the perspective of Walton's letters. Victor also shows him letters of Felix and Safie to lend credence to his cautionary tale. The two enjoy much time together talking about literature and other things.
Victor is on the verge of death but Walton is also on his own quest to find a Northwest passage and that is failing.
Victor's health gets even worse and now the crew are almost ready to mutiny. Walton agrees to turn the ship around and return to England. Despite his condition, victor wants to continue to pursue the monster.
Victor dies but the monster makes his way on board looking for Victor. He tells Walton his side of the story but then leaves the ship continuing his now fruitless journey and disappears into the mist.
The monster in speaking to Walton alludes to Paradise lost and compares himself to a fallen angel.

MUSIC

Into The Mist

Orchestration
Ableton Operator (with Absynth 5 Aetherizer and Guitar Rig Effects)
Guitar Rig (Roland Space Echo, EH Flange, EH phaser and reflector using "Sprit Canyon Audio" impulse response

MIDI
Slider 1 - Oscillator C (Frequency)
Slider 2 - Oscillator C (Level)
Slider 3 - Pitch Envelope (Level)
Slider 4 - Spread
Slider 5 - Tape Feedback
Slider 6 - Tape Speed


The Ascent

Fire Giver Notes

Frankenstein Notes

MUSIC

Prelude



LETTERS FROM THE ARTIC OCEAN

http://jenmitlas.wordpress.com/ - An Arctic Passage
We find a common technique of the romantic period here called framing. We meet the captain of a ship, Robert Warren who is seeking a way to get from the Arctic Ocean to the North Pacific via the North Pole. Warren is aware of the challenges and warns his wife that if he fails he may return soon but perhaps not return at all. We also find Warren's letters at the end of the book after he has met both Victor and his monster.

2- The Lonely Journey
Warren is lonely on the ship and looking for companionship.
We find for the 1st time an allusion to "The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner" in 3 very Romantic ideas (seafaring, the mysterious, the quest for knowledge)

3 - A Letter to Home
Warren continues to express a heartfelt confidence that he will find his passage but not really backed up by knowledge which is a very romantic notion. He has the good fortune of passing a ship returning to England called "The Merchantman who will be able to get his letter to his sister before his return.

4 - Victor is Saved
Warren's ship 1st encounters a gigantic man (I.e. the monster, driving a dog sled) and then Victor trailing him on a block of ice. Warren is delighted to have someone to talk to. Here Victor begins as narrator in a sense and then fully in chapter 1


VICTOR'S STORY

1 - The Early Years
Victor tells us of the early years of his family, both hard times & good - the gift of Elizabeth - themes of hearth/home

2 - The Alchemists
Victor speaks of his interest in the alchemists Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus (not really an alchemist but more a natural scientist)
Victor witnesses a lightening storm that blows apart a tree
Idea for sound
A lightening strike morphing into a nuclear explosion, morphing into a vocal cluster (Symphony of Voices) morphing into ice effect or ice like sound)

MUSIC

Lightening Strike 2

Reaktor Prism - SlowMotion
Kontakt
Cello -Solo
Novachord - 1939 - Pad - Unseen

3 clips - assigned to lowest notes on keyboard
Thunder
Tesla Coil
Nuclear Blast

Buttons
Absynth
Live Reverb

Slider 1 - Volume Reaktor (Prism)
Slider 2 - Volume Kontakt (Cello and Novachord
Slider 3 - Clip Volume
Slider 4 - Clip Transpose
Slider 5 - Prism - Feedback
Slider 6 - Prism


3 - Ingolatadt
Victor's mother Carolyn dies
Victor meets his teaches Krempe and Waldman
Waldmen encourages victor to learn every branch of natural science

4 - Grace Robber
Victor excels at Ingolstadt especially in chemistry but Victor would become reclusive seeking body parts in graveyards. Victor's withdrawal from the world gets worse. He let's letters go unanswered and his health is effected.
Shelley is intimating the romantic ideal that man must control technology not technology which controls man.

MUSIC

The Graveyard

Clips
Metal gate (of graveyard)
Human remains (grapefruit squish)

Orchestration

Chromaphone
Bowed Gamelan
Cylindrum (Kontakt)


5 - The Creation of the Monster
Henry Clerval - Romantic - Poet - Friend - Knight of the Round Table
Ingolstadt - The Iluminati - Science - The Enlightenment
The re-animation of a dead body - Galvanism - Ventalators
The monster is created. Victor is horrified and runs from his creation. He is found by Clerval who slowly brings him back to health.
The monster is created - need music to represent Victors horror
Perhaps sounds of footsteps running, heavy breathing, heartbeat, synthetic sound as the sound of Victors fears chasing him through the streets.
The dream of victors mother - worms from her head
Rhime of the ancient mariner quoted. Influential in the novel.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost
Second Thoughts

Clips
Lungs
Deep Breathing (Slot 1)
Hospital Ventilator (Slot 2)
Heart
Heartbeat

Orchestration
Blade (controlled by Live envelope follower)
Kontakt 4 - Strings
Cello (ensemble)
Viola (solo)
ElectraX

MIDI
Slider 1 - Blade Volume
Slider 2 - Strings volume
Slider 3 - ElectraX volume



6 - Visit with an Old Friend
Letters from home, family matters, Victor's recovery, language studies

7 - The Death of William
William (youngest brother) is strangled by the monster
Victor glimpses the monster in flashes of lightening
Victor suspects the monster is guilty but does not want to reveal it.

8 - The Trial and Hanging of Justine
Justine is accused of William's murder (the monster places a locket in her pocket)
Justine is hung unjustly for the crimes of Victor's monster. Victor looks on helplessly knowing the true guilty party.

9 - A Time for Healing
Victor's 2nd depression - Refuge at Lake Geneva - Suicide considered
The Chamounix valley - depression a theme of Romantic writers - Why?
The healing powers of nature - Mont Blanc - Percy Shelly
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist256/alps/mont_blanc.htm

10 - The Monster Confronts His Maker
Connection with Milton's "Paradise Lost" - name for the song of Frankenstein meeting his monster? - the creature as Victor's Adam before and after the fall - banished from paradise
The romantic view that people are born good but society corrupts them - much like the monster
The glaciers - snow, ice, rock - connection to the scene at the north pole
The storm signals the monitors approach - weather as signal

11 - The Monster and The De Lacey Family
the monster relates his early life experiences to victor - romantic vision of home and hearth - the monster does not dare approach.

12 - The Monster Learns to Speak
The monster learns French from the De Lacey family, he begins to gather wood from them, he sees his reflection

13 - Reflection on Good and Evil
A Turkish woman comes to the cottage and learns French, the monster learns more from this, Shelley goes more into the good and evil nature of man, language is seen as good, themes of Paradise Lost - is Shelley here wrestling with issues of science as good or evil?

14 - De Lacey family history
Felix, Safie's father is defended by the De Lacey family but in their battle to free her father from the Gallows their wealth is confiscated. The family was well to do but is brought to ruin.

15 - The Monster Learns to Read
Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Roman's", Milton's "Paradise Lost", Goethe's "Sorrows of Werter", and Victor's notes found in his jacket
The monster questions his place in the world, he sees his reflection
The monster decides that in spite of his looks the family might accept him. He waits till only the blind father remains who warmly welcomes him but on seeing him, Felix beats him severely and the monster leaves without any resistance.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

16 - The Monster Requests a Companion
As the monster tells his story, he catches up with Victor's in time
The De Lacey family leaves the cottage and it's burned down by the monster.
William (Victors brother) is murdered by the monster when he realizes who it is
The locket is placed in Justine's pocket sealing her fate
The monster requests that Victor create a mate for him

17 - The Ultimatum
The monster gives victor an ultimatum. Either make him a mate or he will destroy all that is good in Victor's life and make his heart desolate. In exchange, the monster tells him he will leave Europe for the wilderness of South America.
Victor has many doubts and goes into another depression.

18 - A Trip Down The Rhine and Return to Geneva
Victor returns to Geneva to fulfill his promise and make a mate for his monster
Victor recovers and tells his father he want's to catch up on science
Victor tells his father he will marry Elizabeth on his return and travel through Europe and eventually to London. He joins his friend Clerval.
They travel the Rhine - much Romantic imagery here

19 - A New Creation
Victor leaves Clerval who continues his tour of the Rhine
Victor reads the latest philosophers and wrestles with the implications of the plans for a new creation.
He goes to the Ornkey Islands so he can be isolates - his mental condition deteriorates

20 - The Refusal
Victor refuses to go any further fearing that his new creation might be a threat to the world. He destroys the new creation and the monster tells him he will be with him on his wedding night.
The monster disappears into the night.
Victor removes everything from the laboratory and cleans the remains planning to return to Clerval for a trip to India.
On his return from the Island Victor finds he is wanted for murder and is taken into custody.

21 - Clerval is Murdered and Victor Arested
The sight of his friends dead body causes Victor to become extremely I'll for 2 months. A nurse is provided who nurses him back to health in the prison.
His legal council is able to prove his innocence and presence on the island lab at the time of Clerval's murder.
Alphonse takes Victor home but he remains very ill. A brief visit is made to Paris.

22 - Victor marries Elizabeth
They go on their honeymoon and Victor plans on telling Elizabeth about the monster. He fears the threat of the monster expecting the monster to attack.

23 - The Death of Elizabeth
There is a storm (gothic symbol that something will happen). Victor wanders the halls looking for signs of the monster who finds his way to Elizabeth's room and kills her. Victor reaches her and the monster and even gets a shot off but the monster escapes unharmed.
Victor's father, Alphonse, overcome by shock over Elizabeth's death, dies
Victor goes to the local magistrate and tells him the story of his monster from it's creation and that it was the monster who killed his wife.
A few gothic elements here. 1st, there is communication of sorts between Victor and his creature who seems to always know where he is.
Victor vows to spend whatever time it takes to destroy the monster.

24 - The Final Chase
Victor is goaded by the monster's laugh as he visits the graves of his family. The monster's knowledge that Victor would be there is another gothic element. He pursues the monster and chases him out of Geneva and after boarding a ship on the Black Sea and then to Russia and the Arctic Circle
The monster finds a dog sled and Victor continues to pursue but the ice begins to crack.
The two are separated on two different pieces of ice which is where the letters at the beginning of the novel start. The monster want Victor to chase him. He keeps leaving notes. Without them Victor would not be able to pursue him. The arctic is a gothic element.

THE FINAL LETTERS
The end of the book is told from the perspective of Walton's letters. Victor also shows him letters of Felix and Safie to lend credence to his cautionary tale. The two enjoy much time together talking about literature and other things.
Victor is on the verge of death but Walton is also on his own quest to find a Northwest passage and that is failing.
Victor's health gets even worse and now the crew are almost ready to mutiny. Walton agrees to turn the ship around and return to England. Despite his condition, victor wants to continue to pursue the monster.
Victor dies but the monster makes his way on board looking for Victor. He tells Walton his side of the story but then leaves the ship continuing his now fruitless journey and disappears into the mist.
The monster in speaking to Walton alludes to Paradise lost and compares himself to a fallen angel.

MUSIC

Into The Mist
The Ascent