As of lately I have had a real fascination with hardware and making it sound as raw it can sound.

I really love the texture and grit of equipment, especially when something isn’t working right. My ears prick up when I can hear the values step on tunings due to dirty pots and knobs. My favorite is when oscillators sound like eggs being cooked in corn oil, all spittery and sputtery.

I thought about it for a while and decided that I wanted to find a hardware delay that sounded kinda nasty. I wanted to hear the low bit rate of an old digital delay, so I sought one out. I knew that I would be tweaking it out so I wasn’t worried when I first took a listen to it.

At first the DM1000 sounded rather nice. No real grit to speak of, no real bit rate degradation.

I opened it up (with the encouragement of Matt Scopp) and found some nice little pots that said, of all things, clock. Nice.

Actual 4 bit sound playback sounds totally different than 4 bit crushed audio, played back and output as 24 bit from a computer. The real 4 bit output has real crunch, density and presence

In order to make some nice sounds I hooked up a few more pieces of gear. My trusty Oberheim OB-1 that has just been resurrected from the grave, and, i dug up the ‘wrekah’ — a bent ibanez distortion pedal that does one thing, wreck sound

I hooked the wrekah up to the Elektron Machinedrum. You can hear it come in at 4:32 in session 2.

All of that and some midiverb 4, and away we go.

There are 2 different pieces in this series. The first piece is entitled ‘oberheim’, and it was the third take during the first session. That session took place during Matt Scopp’s visit. The second piece is entitled ‘hardware’ and was recorded earlier today. I mastered both of these tracks today, July 26 2008.

Theses pieces are about playing with tension and release, challenging the listener’s focus, and the suspension of disbelief. These are themes that I enjoy exploring again and again. I feel there is a lot of work that can be done in this realm.

I found it interesting to look at both of these waveforms side by side so I decided to share the screen grabs. It appears that both performances have a similar overarching structure, as well as, interestingly enough, timing. It could almost be said that they are different performances based on the same score.

Session 1 Overview

Listen to a clip of session 1: oberheim

oberheim session clip

Session 2 Overview

Listen to a clip of session 2: hardware

hardware session clip

Zip of both sessions.

Follow the link below to download both sessions mp3s in their entirety.

Download zip of MP3s here - [30 meg / 2 files]

Artist: Richard J Valeo
Title: Programmatic Responses
Catalog Number: trans.009
Type: Digital EP
Release Date: 14.05.2008
Format: 320 CBR MP3
Duration: 28.3 minutes
Size: 61.5 meg
Purchase:

Programmatic Responses, the first release by artist RJ Valeo under his ‘Richard J Valeo’ moniker, explores some of the darker and more complex ideas first presented on his 2003 Type Records release “September”.

Through the use of constantly evolving rhythmic and melodic structures, “Programmatic Responses” draws us into a hypnotic world of rhythmic evolution. Created from overlapping pattern fragments repeated at un-synchronized lenghs, and overlapping melodic elements that are built from Reich-like “phasing” time signatures, the compositions on “Programmatic Responses” are based firmly in the digital-futurist world.

Created using a custom developed live composition and mixing environment (comprised of Numerology and Bidule) the compositions were performed and captured live in one pass with no post production. With “Programmatic Responses”, Valeo — a student of the groove, creates the perfect soundtrack in response to and for the constantly shifting inhabitants of modern cities everywhere.

Now available on Amazon.com for purchase.

Artist: Jeremy Idol
Title: Moonbase Apha
Catalog Number: TRANS.008
Type: Digital Single
Format: 320 kbps MP3
Duration: 4:23 minutes
Size: 10.2 meg
Link:

So, I don’t usually post music on my site from other producers, but this is one of those exceptions, I mean, Moonbase Alpha? How could I refuse!?. A friend of mine that I have worked with in the past hit me up with this track and asked if I was interested in releasing it on IO-Records when it re-launches this fall. While I really do love the track, I can’t release it (and get him paid) due to the fact that it has some samples in it that are going to be cost-prohibitive to license.

It’s an electro-ish techno track that has influences from old school industrial, glitch and a little bit of “the edit” throw in. I hope that you enjoy “Moonbase Alpha”. If you are a sci-fi head as I am I am sure you can tell where he sourced the sample from, if the cover art didn’t give it away already. Enjoy.

Listen Here:
[audio:http://www.transelectronic.net/downloads/jeremy_idol/Moonbase_Alpha.mp3]

Artist: Isomer Transition
Title: Mission to Mars
Catalog Number: TRANS.007
Type: Digital EP
Format: 160 kbps MP3
Duration: 28 minutes
Size: 28 meg
Link:

Mission to Mars, the first episode in the “Behind the Shadow of the Moon” story series, is now available as a free 160 kbps download on transelectronic.net. If you prefer 320 kbps or WAV format you can purchase them from Beatport.

Diaspora is the story of a group of renegades scientists that are racing to Jupiter to save a mysterious planetoid from being destroyed. Releases in this series take the form of audio narratives, with the song titles representing ’scenes’. You can read Captain Rethan Doepfer’s journal entries and other story snippets here.

This is a digital release on transelectronic.net of a previously released EP. In addition to this site the music is available via iTunes, eMusic, Beatport and other fine digital retailers. The reason that I am giving these tracks away is that it makes me happy to have people listen to my work. If you like the tracks, make a donation to my paypal account (rjvaleo@gmail.com) or simply email me and let me know what you think.

Listen to the tracks:
Deep in Space - 6:00
[audio:http://www.transelectronic.net/downloads/it-mtm/01_Deep_In_Space.mp3]
Loop Me Through to Control the Mains - 6:38
[audio:http://www.transelectronic.net/downloads/it-mtm/02_Loop_Me_Through_to_Control_the_Mains.mp3]
The Exploration of Region 13 - 5:49
[audio:http://www.transelectronic.net/downloads/it-mtm/03_The_Exploration_of Region_13.mp3]
Space Madness - 6:26
[audio:http://www.transelectronic.net/downloads/it-mtm/04_Space_Madness.mp3]

Download this release as 160 kbps mp3s - CLICK HERE

Purchase this release on Beatport as WAVs or as 320 kbps mp3 - CLICK HERE

Isomer Transition Live in NYC @ LESS, Jan 26 2008

Title: Live at LESS Jan 26, 2008
Artist: Isomer Transition
Catalog Number: TRANS.006
Type: Live Performance
Year Recorded: 2008
Format: 267 kbps VBR MP3
Duration: 1 hour 07 Minutes
Size: 128.9 meg
Link:

Recorded live at Igal, Eddie and Vadim’s weekly minimal techno party on the lower east side of NYC at The Annex. Their night there is called, appropriately enough, LESS. They even use the << as a “logo” of sorts.

The night is one of the better weeklies in NYC for techno, and I have had the honor of playing at LESS several times. The crowd is always into the music, and people come there to dance, amongst other things.

This set, recorded 2 days after my 3o-somethingith birthday is particularly special to me as it is all new material never played out before. For this performance I used Ableton Live for audio, an M-Audio sound interface, and both a Drehbank and Trigger Finger for control. I hope that you enjoy.

The cover art for this release was donated by my good friend Ilan Katin. He is a graphic designer, and VJ that is currently residing, in all places, Switzerland.

No Love Live - Recorded early 1997

Title: No Love Live - NYC ‘97
Artist: Transelectronic Theory
Catalog Number: TRANS.005
Type: Live Performance
Year Recorded: 1997
Format: VBR MP3
Duration: 32 Minutes +- a few
Size: 65 meg
Link:

Back in the late ’90’s I was recording and releasing ‘underground’ diy cassettes, and later CDs, under the moniker of Transelectronic Theory. During that time I had played gigs at several raves on Long Island, as well as at a few of the NYEX parties that were going on at the time.

In January/February of 1997 I released “Sunrise” (which can be found as a digital re-issue in the downloads section), and this live set was, in a sense, a live performance of that style of music.

The promoter of the event was expecting me to play a techno set for some reason, not that I had any intent on doing that as Sunrise was anything but techno and this was the first live performance I was playing following the release of Sunrise.

To perform the set I brought out a bunch of hardware, some in a nice 8 space rack - Oberheim OB-1, Oberheim Matrix 1000, Alesis EFX units, Roland S-550 sampler, Yamaha TX81Z, DBX compressor, Alesis Microgate, a 22 channel mixer, and a few assorted stomp boxes. All of this was controlled by an old Powerbook 140 used for midi sequencing. The Powerbook was old school - it had a Motorola 68030 chip running at a massive 16 mhz. The whole thing was sequenced as patterns in Opcode’s Vision - so I could mute and un-mute parts, switch between the different patterns, copy and paste new patterns, all on the fly, and all via midi. The idea was for it to be as “live” as possible allowing me to explore each section and pattern, in order to work the crowd.

Well, there was some drama with the performance. There were some of the old school NY techno heads there, think mid-late ’90’s NYC techno and you’ll know who I am talking about, and they were saying shit like “That isn’t a live PA, he is using a computer” and shit. I took a beating from them. Not only did they bash on my live rig, they really weren’t into the music. Oh well. Sucks to be them, or at the time, it was sucking to be me.

On with the show. As soon as I started playing all of the party-goers decided to sit down and listen instead of dance. I guess that is what happens when you play an IDM set (although I hadn’t even heard of the term IDM at the time) at a techno party. About half way through the set the main promoter comes up to me and says “When are you done? You need to finish soon!” Shit! I had only been playing for 15 minutes at that time, and I had spent like 40 hours preparing for the gig! For the rest of the set he kept asking me “When are you done?!?” After a little more than 30 minutes of “torture” my set was over, and I must say, I was extremely happy with the performance, even if no one else was. Funny how that happens…

Hence the name “No Love Live in NYC”.

Listening back on the set I still find it quite enjoyable, even if it does sound like it is a little old. That is ok, it IS old, 11 years old to be exact.

I hope that you enjoy this recording of one of the finer Transelectronic Theory live performances.

Listen to the set: [audio:http://transelectronic.net/livesets/transelectronic_theory-no_love_live_nyex_10_1997.mp3]

Title: All Mixed Up
Artist: Isomer Transition
Catalog Number: TRANS.004
Type: DJ Set
Year Recorded: 2006
Format: 238 kbps VBR MP3
Duration: 49:52
Size: 85.4 meg
Link:

This live performance was recorded in May 2006 at my friend Patrick Gallagher’s art opening at the Halcyon Record shop down in Dumbo Brooklyn. The idea behind the performance was to take a lot of my material from all of the different monikers I have produced under and do a DJ style Live PA with it. I did a lot of pre-production, culling tracks from as far back as 1995. No joke! I took loops from tracks recorded to DAT, to cassette, and random field recordings. It is a deep and dark heady journey through the transelectronic universe.The tracks used in this mix are from the upcoming “Mixtapes” and “Tapes and Trackers” series’ of releases scheduled for early April. The individual tracks will be available for download on this site then.

Title: Sunrise Digital Re-issue
Artist: Transelectronic Theory
Catalog Number: TRANS.003
Type: Digital Re-issue
Year Released: 1997
Format: 320 kbps MP3
Duration: 60 Minutes +- a few
Size: 126.8 meg
Link:
Here is the back story on this release.

Originally released in Jan 1997 as “Transelectronic Theory - Sunrise”. Sunrise was recorded on the floor of my bedroom studio from September - November of 1996. This release used hardware for all of the sounds. The partial gear list is: Korg Monopoly, Roland Juno 106, Roland S-550, Roland R-70, Roland TR 909, Korg Pandora, Oberheim Matrix 1000, Oberheim OB-1, Yamaha SY-22, Yamaha TX81Z, Alesis Midiverb and a few other pieces of gear. All of the songs were done in the “performance to DAT” method, in which I would get all of my parts together and do a performance of the song and capture it on DAT. So, in a simple sense all of these are “live takes” in the studio. The object of this release was to capture the feeling of a sunrise - that magical moment when the sun shows itself for the first time in a day, and I think it managed to pull it off. I have put this release on my iPod and it seems to work well for a subway ride, or for some other activity that you can simply “be in the moment” for. File under ambient, and hiphop.

Downloads can be found here.
http://transelectronic.net/v2/downloads?dl_cat=2