Number 5

The 5th collection of mental images transformed into audio and hosted by VIRB.

www.virb.com/zerosuminertia5

Pulse and the pulser

Click to listen to Pulse TM-1 monster

I love this old jam, exploring the Metasonix TM-1 and waldorf pulse.

Room for more?

Just went through my hard drive and there are a LOT of Pro~One files on there!
I haven't been very good at keeping up with this blog(or other peoples blogs, I'm sorry guys,I'm still happy your out there I promise!)

I was planning on blogging the high points of my sessions that excited me with little notes,findings,ideas,tips and tricks type stuff(you know blog stuff...hehe) with audio files, well I started that then didn't come back to it for a while....

One major issue I have encountered is maxing out my bandwidth, thats a good thing because it means people out there are listening, so keep listening whoever you are.
However this means I need to start hosting my audio files a few other places in addition to zerosuminertia.com so I dont have a throttled page halfway through the month.

So.... I am going to start a VIRB page for some of my favorite most used instruments,
Next up is the Pro~One.
I just did one for 2 sessions with the Evolver.
Although there are still plenty of Evolver files I would like to share with the world which means I'll have to start another VIRB or twango page eventually, but after I move onto some other stuff.

I'll be updating zerosuminertia.com soon, (it needs a new look anyway) and adding links to the virb pages in the gear section,
and hopefully keep up with blog stuff here.

I also have some actual "music", yeah songs and stuff...that will be finding its way out into the world soon.

thanks for reading,listening,and being part of the online noise community.

www.deviantsynth.com

Check it out
http://www.deviantsynth.com/

December 2006/Virb

Im now on VIRB.
First album is December 2006,some live experiments with the ER-1,sherman,virus.
Im still uploading/updating the page, but the December album already has more content than most people have time for, its atleast 40 minutes.
Starts out with 12/27/06 a jam with the ER-1,Sherman,Sonic Alienator.
Then 12/30/07 is a fun ER-1/Virus Jam that starts what the vibe that will continue the next day-New Years Eve.
New Years Eve was spent recording and jamming all night through morning, There was a TON of snow on the ground that all came within a short amount of time....

December is when things really started to come around, Everything was starting to make sense(musically),it was a start of a new direction in general. I also finished with the Pro Tools certification that month so I could start focusing on music more and less memorizing software menus,keyboard shortcuts,editing techniques,etc...I was also able to work more and ordered my first metasonix module in janruary, a TM-1....

Blah blah blah,December was special and Janruary continued to be special, and it continued for the months to come....
so heres some examples of December:

Get your own Flash MP3 Player

Check out the December 2006 album at virb.com/zerosuminertia to hear it in its entirety.

Noise Log

Im going to start Posting my favorite parts of the sessions I record and turn this into a Noise Log/BLOG...
I'll still get to filling up gear demos in the forum, but right now it's a lot easier to just post everything in sessions and then get to individual gear demos later,
As you already know I use a bunch of stuff together, so its hard to divide everything into demos sometimes because Im not sure If I should put it in the Fuzz thread or the metasonix thread,filter thread,etc etc.....An ongoing dilemma with multiple unfinished threads of scattered demos...

7.27.07
Juno 106 and guitar/fuzz fun...
Everything was ran into Mackie ONYX 1202 then to digi 002r,
The guitars are...well it should be obvious, TBD stands for Effector 13 Truly Beautiful Disaster,VFM stands for Effector 13 Vintage Fuzz Maker,and the TM-7...well we know what that is, I use it on everything....
The Juno is recorded clean, just straight to the mixer.

Get your own Flash MP3 Player

minneapolis at night

Im going to be moving soon, So I need to start taking pictures.
I should probly do it in the daytime as well.
Its summer now, so everything is so dark, everything is burried
behind leaves,shrubs,trees, it really scared the hell out of me not being able to see much while walking, just shadows.
My mind was definitly playing tricks on me....shivers..




Give you the feeling that your stuck in the bottom of a well?








Looks kinda scary at night...Then again I was feeling wierd already, jumping at every little sound.




I use to practice here 2001-2002.
Not much was recorded but a lot of jams took place there, I actually lived there
for 5 months during a strange awkward time. It had a shower:)
Silly jams like This and This are what got recorded...
Of course most of the more amusing and strong moments didnt get recorded, which is part of the reason I am so obessed with recording every little thing now all the time.
Someday When I am in a position that I can, I will get back into drums and actually
make some decent recordings, I miss them but they had some complications.

Demonstrations of sound creation tools??

Matrix did a poll for what people look for in demos.(click it)

I was happy to see that 57% of 577 votes wanted to hear what the gear sounds like as apposed to hearing music made with the synth.
I like both, however What someone else does with gear isnt what Im going to do with it most of the time, so why should I care what kind of music they make? I dont really.
I want to see what "this knob" and "that knob" do and what they do together, and what happens when you combine them, and what happens when you add other gear into the mix.
I want to see unusual behaviors and hidden tricks, I dont want to see the same stuff I see on Gearwire and the others all the time, I know what a Phaser sounds like howabout you show me how to make a phaser sound like something else?
That goes for anything, Show the chameleons that the gear can be.

I've seen some great music being made with some great gear, I like that too.
But I feel its better to see how the gear functions, and hope that there are enough people out there who stop and think about how that sound is being created.
"That sounds like crap, some middle aged noodler making noise..."
They need to stop and think about the how the sound was created,
again focus not on what your hearing but how it was created thats what makes it beautiful...Doesnt it??? I think so..

This is the perfect example of a good demo(Plexuss):

Blacet and Metasonix videos

So I have cross posted this all over the place.
Best place to find it is at the home base of my
synthmaster sensei MuffWiggler's Forum.

Have a look:
Google Videos embedded and audio of the TM-1 TM-7 frostwave Resonator and blacet modules

If you run a clock out into the TM-1's Ringmod Carrier Input you get great tremolo behavior. If you use the waveshaper you get a beautiful sound!
This is proof that the TM-1 can be used in very beautiful ways and not just shrieking and grinding(which I also love).
SCI Pro One into TM-1's audio in.
TM-1's audio out into TM-7(which can also be more than just chaos sounds).
TM-7 into Mackie ONYX 1202.
Blacet Binary Zone clock out into TM-1's ringmod carrier input.

MP3 Audio

If you want to controll the TM-1's oscilations you can use the VCA and an Envelope Generator. That jack is there for a reason, use it.
Blacet Binary Zone sequencing Frostwave Resonator(used as an osc) ran into Blacet/wiard miniwave ran into TM-1 audio in, with TM-1 audio out into TM-7. Blacet EG-1 gets inserted into VCA CV in.

MP3 Audio

Here's 2 more examples of the TM-1 being used as a VCA with Blacet EG-1 no MP3's were recorded for these, but you get the general idea.




Heres a fun one!
Future Retro Mobius Sequencing Frostwave Resonator LP Freq ran into TM-1 with TM-7 at the end.
Blacet EG-1 is inserted, and audio is ran into the BEAM CV too.
Different holes for different sounds. This one is my favorite:

MP3 Audio

Heres the ER-1 getting run into the TM-1 being modulated with an EG-1 and Psycho LFO with the TM-7 on the end.
This one definitly needs to be heard in audio form.
The VCA CV in works wonders with an EG.

MP3 Audio

Heres one with the ER-1 ran into the TM-7.

MP3 Audio

Heres one of the Mobius sequencing the TM-7 ran into TM-1.
Mobius clock out is ran into Binary Zone clock in, Binary Zone is
ran into Resonator LP freq to act as an LFO which is being fed into TM-1's BEAM CV in.
Blacet EG-1 gets inserted to VCA CV in on TM-1 too.

MP3 Audio

Heres another Mobius TM-7 sequence to TM-1.
:lol: I get a little disoriented in this one, its embarassing.

MP3 Audio

And heres a closing MP3 of some more fun!

Verbzzzz

It's really not a need at all,its a want and a convenience...An experimental chaos generator...
Doepfer has a reverb unit as well as a BBD delay module( two of them i think)
which Im in the market for as well, hopefully someone will decide to sell me a blacet time machine,
I just want one, Surely someone with 3 or 2 can find a way to part with just 1.
But thats a different topic, back to reverbs.
It would be nice to have a reverb with CV for everything, like blacet does with all their modules, but I cant find one in Frac format.
One user Synthwire appears to have had a similar dillema and took a dotcom spring reverb and fracified it! He blogged it here.
Really cool, However there is NO CV for the dotcom reverb,
BORING!!!
I dont get the dotcom thing and their lack of CV, if its going in the rack it should have CV.
So the Doepfer....
Again No CV...
I hear the replies, "why do you need CV control for a reverb?"
"Why do you have to have CV for everything?"
I dont really feel like I need to answer that.

The other thing with Doepfer/Eurorack is I REFUSE to pay that much for a rack and power supply! At least right now anyway...
Sure there are some really cool modules that I'm missing out on, but That is way to freaking much for a house for my modules.
So no Eurorack delay or reverb for me.

Which brings up a few alternatives:

Danelectro Spring King,
I like the idea of the kick pad and actually encouraging the user to rattle the springs to drive the unit into feedback, However 150 bucks for a Danelectro is absurd,
These are the cheapest(construction) pedals ever made, well maybe the Ibanez soundtanks are worse.
I'll have to go check these out somewhere and actually hold one in my hands and play through it to see if it alters my oppinion.


Songworks Little Lanilei Reverb
I love the reviews on Harmony Central
I hate the the effect of what they are describing, I hate tonesuckers,
I even consider my EHX Small Clone a tonesucker, I dont think that this is the one for me, cool idea,another alternative but Im not willing to try my luck with a 200 dollar 2 knob pedal when i could get a rack unit for around that price.

So that brings up the Furman Spring Reverb, looks decent,pops up on ebay every now and then, might be the one.

Im not interested in a digital reverb, I have my Virus b,which i can assign 2 LFO's to control 2 parameters. I want to be able to do that with a real spring reverb.

So think I said everything I thought I was going to say....
And it looks like the reverb i want only exists in my virus, which isnt the best reverb, however I guess for that sort of effect that I use it for it doesnt really matter.

Tube talk

http://www.vacuumtube.com/FAQ1.htm

Read the WHOLE thing.
Very good source of information.

That said im going to be replacing the tubes in my EHX wiggler,
not because of what I read above, This is something I planned
on doing before I bought the thing.
The article above summed a lot of things up and answered some questions.

The Wiggler is a really cool pedal, the tremolo sounds great with sample rate reduction(sonic alienator) in HAMM mode(hammond??)

After Muff gets the word on how to add control voltage to the wiggler and tube zipper, this will be one sick unit!!
http://www.vacuumtube.com/guitar.htm
Im leaning towards the RCA 12AX7/ECC83 Medium Grey Plate 1960s NOS,
used they are 35 bucks,
"This is the standard tube for Fender amps in V1 and V2 positions. Outstanding definition, dimension, warmth and musicallity. Perfect for new and vintage hifi preamps and line stages as well. Very desireable and long-lasting"
Looks good.

If you read above you will see that there decent tubes still being made,
there are the "lesser evil" however they ARE NOT made the same way with the same care
as they once were, they just dont do it the same period...
So if you have a clone of a hammond and wurlitzer that is using tubes to get that behavior, doesnt it just make sense to get the tubes from that era to hear it the way it was actually supposed to sound? The way tubes are meant to sound and be designed?
I think so.

Keep it clean

I need a stereo compressor, and i have been wanting to get a "clean" compressor for a while, now with all the distortion and yet more unpredictable jumping distortion on the way, im going to cash in and make my final purchase for a while.
Just ordered an RNC with two insert cables for 175 including free shipping.
Bout time I finally made myself get one.
This will definitly make things easier,
I have the Symetrix CL-100 which is ok, its mono only,a little fuzzy/noisy with makeup gain,got the job done for a while.
The CL-150 uses Valley People EGC-101 VCA's,
The 501 uses DBX 2150a VCA's,
I cant remember whats in the CL-100.
It will be nice to have an alternate, a transparent alternate, and stereo.

I still plan on getting to "project" compressors later on like the
ART Pro VLA and changing the tubes,opamps,etc
as well as looking into the Alesis 3630 mods.

Welp thats the last of the gear splurging for a while.

XP DAW setup

Might as well blog about the puter.

C drive: Western Digital Raptor 36 gig 10K RPM SATA.
Boots up in 10 seconds, or atleast around there ive never timed it.
This is where the OS and the Programs are.
Even though i have been advised a million and one times not to,
I still keep my samples on this drive in the program folder because its faster.

D drive: WD caviar 160 gig 7,200 RPM SATA.
I have thought about getting a new 16 mb cache drive,
but from what i have read 8MB cache is plenty for audio.
Id like to get a larger Raptor, the 150 gig 10k, but i have
other things to spend my money on. I still might do it eventually.
This is where all the files are stored-templates,patches,backups,projects,etc.

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 northwood core.
Stock is 2.4 ghz, 800FSB,
I have had it at 3.0 GHZ, 1000 FSB 1:1 ratio for a little over a year with no problems.
Im pretty sure that this is the 30 Capacitor CPU, but i havent looked at the
thing since i installed it august of 2003.

Motherboard: ASUS P4P800 Deluxe
Intel 865 PE chipset.
Rock solid, great board.
At the time this and the p4c800(intel 875 chipset) was THE board(s) for
UAD-1 users as well as recommended board(s) for windows digidesign pro tools systems.

RAM: Corsair XMS4400C25 DDR.
1 GB matched pair.
This RAM will run at 275 FSB with 2.5-4-4-8 latency timings.
Ive got it in dual channel mode at 250 with 2.5-3-3-7 latency timings.
Its a well documented fact that running Logic 5 on the pc with more
than a gig of RAM will cause problems.
However i have read 1 or 2 success stories with logic users running more than
a gig just fine.
I never wanted to find out so i stuck with a gig.
This RAM is great if you want to overclock.

My system stays pretty cool to, boots up at 38 degrees C,
under heavy load the highest i saw was 44c.
not bad.
This is all done with 2 intake fans on the front,
one of which is blowing strait on the hard drives,
and one below,
2 outtake fans on the rear.
Thermaltake Spark 5 cooling the CPU.

Power Supply: 500 ULTRA X-Connect.
Overclocking requires a lot of juice,Get a good power supply,
Even if you dont want to overclock.
The power supply i had before this was way better-a Vantec stealth,
but i needed more wattage.
This thing is pretty cool, it has a window on the side and its
got wonderfull green lights inside and the cables are detatchable
to reduce clutter. They are also UV reactive green.
I have some doubts about the companys product control
as there have been some users that have had horrible luck
with ULTRA power supplies.
So far i havent, Neither has a friend of mine that has one powering
his AMD FX55 rig.
Eventually I'll probly get a new power supply just for comfort,
but the only ones that are illuminated that i see at the moment
are boring ass blue. Everyone has blue leds/blue illumination...yawn...
I supposed i could just get a sweet power supply and get some LEDs and
UV reactive cables.

Drives: Plextor CDRW.
Yeah i know its not really audio related, but I wanted the best
CDRW there was in 2002. Wow this thing is old and it still works
flawlessly.
A-open DVD drive.its a DVD drive.

Now for the important part, the part people should pay attention to:

-Processor scheduling is set to background services.
Seriously you need to do this.

-Control panel>power options:
*power schemes: Always on
*turn off hard disks: never
*system standby: never

-Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services
I turn off the following:

*Automatic updates: disable
*error reporting service: disable
*human interface devices: disable
*internet connection firewall: disable
*messanger: disable
*print spooler: disable
*remote accesss auto connectio nmanager: disable
*remote access connection manager: disable
*remote desktop help session manager: disable
*routing and remote acess: disable
*smart card: disable
*smart card helper: disable


SPEED UP BOOT TIME:
Run>type in regedit
navigate to:
HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
right click EnablePrefetcher and select Modify
Under Value data, change the value from 3 (the default) to 5

Test your PC health:
http://www.memtest.org
Prime95