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Superbooth 2024

I took the day off work today to visit Superbooth and go on a day that wasn’t as busy and full as the Saturday was last year. It was a successful tactic – I got to try out many more devices and synthesizers and could talk and ask questions to more exhibitors compared to last time.

A large metal sculpture of a bulbous flower in front of green-leafed trees
The Superbooth symbol sculpture in person

The hardware I got my hands on:

  • Ashun Sound Machines Hydrasynth – desktop synth
  • Modal Electronics Argon8, Carbon8 (prototype) – synths
  • Intuitive Instruments Exquis – MIDI controller
  • Melbourne Instruments NINA – synth
  • Dreadbox murmux – synth
  • Polyend Tracker+ and Tracker Mini – devices
  • Arturia Astrolab – keyboard (V Collection in hardware form)
  • beetlecrab.audio Tempera – granular synth
  • Waldorf Iridium Core – desktop synth
  • 1010music Fireball – mini synth
  • Expressive E Osmose – MPE synth and keyboard controller
  • Moog DFAM (and Spectravox) – semi-modular drum synth
  • Sequential synths Prophet Rev 2, Take 5, and I was waiting in line but had to leave before trying the new Oberheim TEO-5 – time was running out and I wanted to look at the Pittsburgh Modular stand

I missed the Yamaha (wanted to check out SeqTrack groovebox) and Elektron stands somehow, even though I went around the upstairs route, and I couldn’t find the UDO Audio bungalow (would have loved to experience Super Gemini in person) on my way out a few minutes before the stands were closing.

All of the instruments were fun and inspiring, the Modal Carbon8 synth made quite impressive sounds, and the Sequential Prophet Rev 2 was the most rewarding to play. I wish I knew how to try out the experimental synth Voltage Lab 2 by Pittsburgh Modular – but watching and listening was plenty to get a good idea of what it can do.

After I got home I looked into a few of the things I saw, but I ended up on the Elektron website looking at Digitakt II wishing for that as the next piece of equipment for me to get some time in the future…

Super synth

If I had the space for it, I would find a way to get the UDO Audio→ Super Gemini 20 Voice Dual Layer Polyphonic Binaural Analog-Hybrid Synthesizer. This large white and orange 61-key instrument produces amazingly spatial music, and the sounds people have been creating with it are truly special.

A large white and orange and grey 61-key synthesizer with many faders and knobs and a horizontal ribbon

Watching demo videos of this (J3PO meets the UDO Super Gemini→ on YouTube is a great example, especially his performance and patch of the last 2.5 minutes – that arpeggiator is stunning!) makes me want to sit in front of my own synthesizers again – while I can’t use the Super Gemini, just hearing it inspires any kind of playing.

I’ve been plucking and strumming 6 and 4-stringed acoustic instruments since the beginning of the year, which is why I haven’t worked on electronic music the past couple of months, but I plan on taking more time for digital musicmaking in the near future (I have a couple Endlesss riffs in Loopy Pro waiting to be arranged and recorded, for example).

Fred again.. – Actual Life

Last week I was introduced to Fred again.. with his NPR Music “Tiny Desk Concert”→ (on YouTube) from April 2023. I’ve watched that and listened to his 3 Actual Life albums and Boiler Room London DJ set repeatedly over the past days to collect my thoughts on this remarkable musician.

Working with a looper behind the desk, he staged an acoustic-electric rendition of some of his Actual Life songs. Playing marimba, upright piano, drumming on a table, tapping the pads of the Maschine sampler to cue voices singing, talking, spoken word poetry autotuned into melodies (all shown on a vertical screen in the background), and singing parts himself, he produced an intimate performance of his diary of lockdown and pandemic times.

Ending the show, “Faisal (envelops me)” culminated in a euphoric minimalistic crescendo of marimba strikes, a stark difference to the original song.

His ability to change up versions of his songs for so many mixes is awe-inspiring.

20220407 down

20220407 down from FAQ Flash by what lasts FAQ

120bpm – one of those loops I can listen to over and over – A hypnotic tune made with FL Studio Mobile on iPhone. I started this a couple years ago playing around getting used to the app again after utilizing it in my early music journals What journal (3) and especially What journal (2nd wave) and then left the piece to work on other things. Today I revisited it and decided to make a recording, so people can listen to it.

Uses the in-app instruments GMSynth (Electric preset), MiniSynth (Science preset), DW Sampler (DX10 FM Key preset in 2 instances, one pitched up an octave), and drums. I copy/pasted 3 repetitions and added a simplified ending.

The year in review

I finished 10 tracks in 2023 – pretty sparse compared to the years before. Although I did make more with Endlesss throughout the year – I finished 2 tunes from 2022, made 3 full songs and did 3 more rifffs yet to be arranged. For 2024 I will try to create a song each week – if I begin with my Endlesss ideas, I’ll start off the year at a good pace.

In the last few months I added a lot to this website. I plan on continuing work on the site and writing more on the blog here in the coming months and onward.

I’m looking forward to my musical journey in 2024…

Couldn’t stop singing 2023

I sang these songs long after hearing them this year, and I listened to them the most often.

Amber’s Embrace – Paul Davids

I already liked the early beginnings of this tune on his YouTube video “OPEN D: The most beautiful tuning for guitar!” back in 2021.

Taler Tempoet – The Rumour Said Fire

This beauty came up late one night listening to Danish radio (DR P6 Beat).

Instant Crush – Daft Punk & Julian Casablancas

I really only noticed this as an earworm after watching the 10 year anniversary making-of videos “Memory Tapes/Random Access Memories”.

MORE LOVE – Moderat

The live version that played as the final song on the Moderat FM radio show episode 5 (about their live shows) inspires me.

Loading – James Blake

I first heard this on a YouTube video conversation between James Blake and Brian Eno, where he played choice sounds from this album, and I was singing it right away.

20231205 might mode

20231205 might mode from Sights seen by what lasts FAQ

93bpm, D minor – a funky tune made in Endlesss: started testing out how to add drums from FAC Drumkit, played AudioKit Pro House Mark I electric piano arpeggio and added more drums from AudioKit King of Digital 90’s Drumkit and Bram Bos Hammerhead. Other synth sounds are from VHS Synth, DRC, ButterSynth. Arranged in Loopy Pro.

Thom Yorke – ANIMA

Thom Yorke’s rhythmical melodic soundscape ANIMA of 2019 is one of the albums that I keep coming back to. The electronic aesthetics match my taste exactly.

The song Dawn Chorus has such a warm keyboard sound/ synthesizer patch (reminds me of my synth story “20210425 chase”). The simple synth playing and monotonous singsong vocals confer so much expression. I first heard it in the short film ANIMA by Paul Thomas Anderson, where that song plays a prominent role in the story – the romantic choreography in the scene adds movement to the meaning.

20210425 chase from Synth stories by what lasts FAQ

A thousand tiny birds singing
If you must, you must

— Thom Yorke, Dawn Chorus

Terry Riley and minimalism

I’ve just come across the music of Terry Riley, specifically A Rainbow in Curved Air, for electric piano, dumbak, & tambourines from 1969. This bubbly minimalist piece inspired the famous sound of The Who song Baba O’Riley from 1971.

What I’ve heard by Terry Riley so far reminds me much of my experience of making loops in Endlesss. There are minimalist touches to many of my tracks, especially the earlier tunes in my Endlesss becoming playlist. But my song “20210122 throw” sounds surprisingly similar to the techniques used in those two songs.

20210122 throw from Endlesss becoming by what lasts FAQ