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]

What value does something that is “free” have? Does it devalue the actual content if it is given away?

Does something that is free have “less quality” or could it even be “less good” than something that costs money?

This is a very interesting topic when it comes to music, and it begs the question: If an artist gives their music away for “free”, is it worth listening to?

Strange question, or is it? If something is free do you want it more or less than something that is *supposed* to cost money but that you don’t pay for, like a Promo Copy of a record, or a CD given to you by an artist? Those items have value, don’t they?

Legally free or illegally free, free is free. Zero is zero, it costs you nada, zip, zilch. But, for some reason, it appears that for a large majority of people the music that is stolen is perceived to have more value than the music that is simply given away. Does that make any sense? There is a perception here that needs to be broken that “free = bad”. It is almost like the implied value in the music is in the fact that *someone* actually payed for it, even if you didn’t. It’s like ’stealing’ is being in on a secret. There is psychologically implied value in the music when you pirate it.

Well, it is time to break that thought process for a few reasons. Independent labels are going away and more and more artists are turning to the internet to distribute their work, for free.

So, how does one create value with free and why? Just because the medium is digital doesn’t mean it didn’t take time and energy and money to create it. If you like what the artist is doing, support them! There are a number of ways to help generate income from free, and I’ll go over a few of them here.

#1 - Limited free availability. Make something free for a limited amount of time, then, assign price to it. If you can’t get it for free you may want it more, and when you can’t get it for free if you want it you’ll have to buy it.

#2 - Low Resolution for free, High Rez for a price. If you download something, and you like it you can then purchase the high quality version that has all of the detail in it.

#3 - Free/Paid Content Groupings. Give away a limited amount of songs for free, but if the entire package is wanted then a certain respectable price needs to be paid.

#4 - Honor System. Let the unit/item be downloaded for free and let the listener decide after they download it what they want to pay for it.

#5 - Forced Value Acknowledgment System. Let the user download the item for free, but make them enter the actual number $0 in for the price they are willing to pay. This way they understand that they are getting it for free.

#6 - Digital / Limited Physical Bundle. Couple digital media with physical media, be it a poster or exclusive content on a collectible medium that is limited in quantity.

#7 - Just give the damn things away. If the person likes what they hear, they will value it and come back for more and possibly purchase other items.

Think of free music like this - it is the great cutout bin in the sky. How many times did you go into Tower Records (the late) hoping to find that great find in that red tag bin?

And, ultimately, why should we care about any of this? If we don’t support and encourage the artists to continue to make new music, we will be limited to experiencing music from people that just started to make it and are comfortable giving it away, and, we will loose out on all of the wonderful artists that have been making music for decades but they have stopped because they could no longer afford to create the worlds that they inhabit for us to enjoy.

And ultimately, by supporting the artists with downloads and even a little compensation we are showing them that there is value in their work and they should continue.

Just something to think about.