Duration: 51:43, 256 kbps, 95 MB
Sometimes slower is better (or so I’ve heard).
I really like this piece. It would be nice to claim it’s what I intended, but my synthesizer pieces just emerge from disorder as I plug cables in here, there, and everywhere, while madly tweaking knobs. Sometimes I get lucky. If someone were actually paying me to produce sounds “to spec,” I’d be in a world of hurt.
Once you’ve listened to the first couple of minutes, you’ve basically heard the whole thing. This is the Dot.Com synthesizer with 50+ patch cables installed (I dare you to count ’em), running unattended while I record to USB. The three sequencers are running at independent frequencies, so the combinations of notes are somewhat randomized. In fact, there are only three audio signals being produced. Everything else is multiple gate intervals and envelopes. Real-time interaction opens up a world of different effects (VCO octaves, varying pulse widths, among many others).
At varying intervals, a VCO dispatches a gate pulse to the LFO+ module (the enhanced low-frequency oscillator). After a brief delay, the latter sends a train of pulses to an adjacent envelope generator. The generator output is applied to the VFO frequency and resonance inputs to produce a tremolo effect. The same envelope is used to gate one channel of audio, which is panned back and forth before being sent to the two final VCAs and to the waiting world.
The VCO which controls the tremolo timing also controls the timing of the second Q960 sequencer, further varying the note combinations.
The quantizers are set to diminished scales in … what else? … my favored A-flat/G-sharp minor. I’d suspect Mom was watching a lot of really tragic soap operas when I was in the womb. But, we didn’t have a TV at home in 1950, so THAT can’t be the reason.
Joseph Ervin Jr: Synthesizer Fan 