This last weekend I had the opportunity to perform a show at a local lounge. Since my focus recently has been drones, I opted to do a drone show. For whatever reason, I decided to make the whole night a fictional tour of a Drone Basilica, and made each song fit thematically with that idea. Here’s a link to the two hour show, complete with descriptions of each stop in the Drone Basilica tour:
Whole Show
I’ll also include each song individually without the inter-song banter for pure music listening pleasure. We all have different definitions of what is a drone song, and none of these fit my definition of a “pure” drone, all have adornments and additions beyond puritan drones - in my opinion. Although I wanted to do pure drones, this was in a small town in the midwest and they'd never had an electronic music show before. I tried to tone it down a bit. They only knew of country, rock, folk, and blues as genres. Also, since there’s always a call for patch notes, I’ll go ahead and include them here. Format of song titles is brackets {} around the tour stop in the Drone Basilica followed by the name I call it.
Song 1 {entry} MotS ATX Aug 2021
Done solely on the Clavia Nord Modular Rack. I typically refer to this one as a bait-n-switch because it starts out as a drone, then is dominated by a sequencer. But, just not any sequencer. It is based on the algorithmic pattern generator of a company I used to work for. With just four knobs on the Nord Modular, I can define a huge number of sequences. This song has previously been released on my YouTube channel.
Song 2 {atrium} 2023 JAMuary 29
Another song previously released on YouTube. My take on JAMuary is to start with a totally clean slate and see what can be created and recorded on one day. As such, I call them transitory patches and don’t save them. Luckily I had enough patch notes to kinda recreate it. This song uses the ASM Hydrasynth Desktop with all three oscillators, ring modulation, PWM, and variable amounts of FM. A Synthrom Deluge has the exceptionally easy job of creating the ping-pong delay accent notes. Four more patches are used on the Nord Modular for drone foundations.
Song 3 {sanctuary} Four WheelsFour Wheels
This is the only song I don’t consider to be a drone. A previously released song, but not on YouTube. A Torso T-1 generates data to be sounded by the Hydrasynth. The original song stopped there, but since this is a basilica tour, I added some church organs provided by the Nord Modular. This is the only time this evening that MIDI was used.
Song 4 {catacombs} Lyracomb
A SoMa Lyra-8 solo piece. The Lyra provided the perfect amount of angst to complement a visit to the catacombs of the Drone Basilica. V1&2 denote passage from one chamber to another, V3&4 provide the drone, V5-8 sounding the catacomb spirits. V7&8 is heavily modulated by V5&6,
Song 5 {pulpit} First Mirror of Lilith
The Tasty Chips GR-1 is in multi timbral mode with four of the five sections of a reading The First Mirror of Lilith in latin. These are all combined with thousands of grains to make a drone of words. An Akai MPX-8 plays all five sections that have been translated to english.
Song 6 {public hall} Hydration
The Hydrasynth again provides the melodic focus, with drones added from the GR-1, Nord Modular, and Deluge. The GR-1 drone is created from a two minute recording of my humble modular system doing an evolving drone. The GR-1 then scans backwards through this sample playing grains in forward time with a modulated filter applied. The Nord Modular only has two patches loaded (same patch, just different octaves). Most surprising to me was when I discovered that the Deluge can do a good job of drones. It adds a couple to the mix here.
I hope you enjoy some or all of this. It was quite an educational night for me.
Whole Show
I’ll also include each song individually without the inter-song banter for pure music listening pleasure. We all have different definitions of what is a drone song, and none of these fit my definition of a “pure” drone, all have adornments and additions beyond puritan drones - in my opinion. Although I wanted to do pure drones, this was in a small town in the midwest and they'd never had an electronic music show before. I tried to tone it down a bit. They only knew of country, rock, folk, and blues as genres. Also, since there’s always a call for patch notes, I’ll go ahead and include them here. Format of song titles is brackets {} around the tour stop in the Drone Basilica followed by the name I call it.
Song 1 {entry} MotS ATX Aug 2021
Done solely on the Clavia Nord Modular Rack. I typically refer to this one as a bait-n-switch because it starts out as a drone, then is dominated by a sequencer. But, just not any sequencer. It is based on the algorithmic pattern generator of a company I used to work for. With just four knobs on the Nord Modular, I can define a huge number of sequences. This song has previously been released on my YouTube channel.
Song 2 {atrium} 2023 JAMuary 29
Another song previously released on YouTube. My take on JAMuary is to start with a totally clean slate and see what can be created and recorded on one day. As such, I call them transitory patches and don’t save them. Luckily I had enough patch notes to kinda recreate it. This song uses the ASM Hydrasynth Desktop with all three oscillators, ring modulation, PWM, and variable amounts of FM. A Synthrom Deluge has the exceptionally easy job of creating the ping-pong delay accent notes. Four more patches are used on the Nord Modular for drone foundations.
Song 3 {sanctuary} Four WheelsFour Wheels
This is the only song I don’t consider to be a drone. A previously released song, but not on YouTube. A Torso T-1 generates data to be sounded by the Hydrasynth. The original song stopped there, but since this is a basilica tour, I added some church organs provided by the Nord Modular. This is the only time this evening that MIDI was used.
Song 4 {catacombs} Lyracomb
A SoMa Lyra-8 solo piece. The Lyra provided the perfect amount of angst to complement a visit to the catacombs of the Drone Basilica. V1&2 denote passage from one chamber to another, V3&4 provide the drone, V5-8 sounding the catacomb spirits. V7&8 is heavily modulated by V5&6,
Song 5 {pulpit} First Mirror of Lilith
The Tasty Chips GR-1 is in multi timbral mode with four of the five sections of a reading The First Mirror of Lilith in latin. These are all combined with thousands of grains to make a drone of words. An Akai MPX-8 plays all five sections that have been translated to english.
Song 6 {public hall} Hydration
The Hydrasynth again provides the melodic focus, with drones added from the GR-1, Nord Modular, and Deluge. The GR-1 drone is created from a two minute recording of my humble modular system doing an evolving drone. The GR-1 then scans backwards through this sample playing grains in forward time with a modulated filter applied. The Nord Modular only has two patches loaded (same patch, just different octaves). Most surprising to me was when I discovered that the Deluge can do a good job of drones. It adds a couple to the mix here.
I hope you enjoy some or all of this. It was quite an educational night for me.
Statistics: Posted by House de Kris — Tue Feb 27, 2024 10:04 am