Recorded 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia USA.
Instruments: Make Noise Shared System

'The Make Noise Creature pieces where written in the months of July and August 2012 here at my studio in Atlanta GA. It involved using only the Make Noise Shared system and one eventide “Space” reverb pedal that was used as a send and return to the Echophon module. The main inspiration for these two pieces was derived from the early works of Morton Subotnick.. I can remember listening to Morton’s “Until Spring” and “Wild Bull” records thinking how amazing the timbres and gestures where. I loved the unusual places these pieces took me. I loved the way everything sounded so organic and rich but at the same time synthesized. I also loved how these works almost told a story in that it conjured up so many interesting spaces and images in my mind.'

'The “Creature” series is in a way paying homage to those works. Each piece took one month to record. I designed the patch to work more as a performance patch in which I could access all the most important parameters and controls. I didn’t have a way to automate anything with the patch other then creating all the gestures with my hand and doing the changes on the fly. So I created several diagrams that I drew out on several sheets of paper that would outline the different parts of the songs. I then performed each part with a timer so that I had practiced each part to a specific amount of time. I knew we only had around 4:50 seconds per side to work with, so getting everything to flow smoothly was very difficult. Everything happened in real-time so there where many mistakes in recording the tracks correctly all the way through. I had recorded 26 different versions of the Creature II track before I had one that I was happy with. It was frustrating at times but in the end I am very happy with the way these two pieces turned out. I hope that they will hopefully inspire people the way Morton’s works inspired me.'

richard-devine.com

Recorded 2012 in LA, California USA.
Instrument: Make Noise Shared System

The pieces were written and recorded over a few days...as I often do I left the system on the floor, in my music room (not the studio!) under a big skylight, and sat next to it, listening through my home stereo system. Working in this environment makes it easier for me to detach from the "responsibilities" that come with working inside a proper studio, and I seem to be more able to let go and explore instruments without being too concerned about the result...the process becomes enjoyable again and that almost always leads to an enjoyable outcome for me and (hopefully) for the listener.

I tend to leave patches on for several days before recording: I am slow at analyzing and processing what I do, so it takes days of "bombarding" my head with a piece in order to make changes and shape it into what will be a (temporary) final version.

Alessandro Cortini on Soundcloud

Recorded 2012 in Brooklyn, NY USA
Instrument: Make Noise Shared System

Upon receiving the Shared System in the post, i proceeded to look at the instrument sitting in the corner for about two weeks without touching it. The process by which i came to the compositions on this record was a slow one. I had come to know the components of the system individually and in combination with others modules from a number of designers, each with different aesthetics. That was always a major reason for my interest in modular synthesis, the possibility of combining different strains of thought from one module to the next. This all in a format that would allow such ideas to congeal.

For this series we were given fairly strict parameters within a system coming from one designer with a heavy aesthetic. The challenge was to create two real time patch pieces recorded without multi tracking or any sort of outboard gear, effects, etc. Everything you will hear on these sides was done in a single pass without treatment of any kind outside of what was in the synthesizer. any delays or echoes you hear are generated by the machine.

With Heptagramic Approximation the patch was minimal and the interactions were simple. The end result turned out a bit more like Raymond Scott's more jaunty compositions, as the focus of the whole piece was more to do with pluck and bouncy Low-Pass Gates. The static nature of the percussion was to be broken up by fluffs of melody produced by a pressure sensitive controller which gave a slightly deeper dimension to the motorik charge of the percussive clacks.

Alpha Crucis was a much more complex patch utilizing every module in the system. The goal was to drift into a dreamlike state, almost like an extension of the melodic undercurrent from the A side composition. As if to contrast the first composition, i focused on layering and dragging, where Heptagramic Approximation was upbeat and clean. The overall feel of the piece lives in a more contemporary space, which is nice to see that juxtaposition as well as an exercise in exploration of the instrument's capabilities.

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
cosmicjokes@gmail.com
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