All posts by cemego

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio

Atmosthing (and its multiple iterations)

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I created this one in Ableton using the Korg MicroKey MIDI controller keyboard.

The haunting Harold Budd piano is the Atmos VST.  The Grand Piano and Bass are stock sounds from Ableton.  These were played in as clips and launched from the Novation Launchpad Pro.  The haunting voices pad was a stock Ableton sound as well, but was played in LIVE in real time in the arrangement (winged it).  Quite happy with this one.  Ties well to the image above.  (Atmosthing1.mp3 was done with a more synthy bass I didn’t like and didn’t have the improvised haunting voices pad).

2/11/2017 UPDATE !!!
OK. I confess, this track is something I am very proud of. I don’t know why but I listen to it a lot. One of the things that bothers me is the volume of the ghostly chorus. It seems to overwhelm the Harold Budd type loop going on from the very start. It seems the calm set up at the very beginning is immediately shattered by the ghostly chorus. I went in and remixed the levels a bit and dropped the chorus back more so you could hear the Harold Budd-type piano loop. Here’s the results.

Angry Hot Dog, Apartment Living in DC Metro Area, Chronicles of the Absurd, Cool stuff, Grinds My Gears, Music Sound Noise Audio, Political, silly

Big Deal !!! Who Cares !!!

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CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio, WMOM

CeMeGo… It Alone (First Solo Album)

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CeMeGo... It Alone

Well, here it is. This really isn’t a new album exactly. It’s more of a collection of things, doodles, and some seriously intentional music that I had made all by my little self. Most of this stuff is posted on this blog, but NOT ALL OF IT. This album compiles everything I’ve done on my own that I found worthy to put together in an album offering. The interesting part is some of this stuff dates back to 2013. I have acquired a lot more equipment, moved a lot, learned a lot, repaired a lot, failed a lot, but at least had fun along the way (with frequent backups).  I just bought another piece of equipment that may change everything a bit (Novation Launchpad) and I wanted to compile everything I did personally up to this point and put it in an album.

Credits? Well, ALL ME!!!! I PLAYED AND DID EVERYTHING HERE.

Song List and commentary (Also known as “liner notes” because I miss the day of vinyl record album sleeves):

  1. Charging Ahead, Blindly (1:56)  This was formerly named wowneewow project.  I have no idea why.
  2. Red Box Hotty (3:33)  I have always loved this track and it managed to slip off of all the CHOB and Hozpitality albums.  It’s a drum loop from the Kaossilator tortured lovingly through the Mini KP (red box) effects unit.  This is reminiscent of Brian Eno’s Over Fire Island track (in my opinion at least).
  3. Blinkin Asteroid (3:48) This was inspired by Brian Eno and Karl Hyde’s song The Satellites.
  4. Arpeggiate Your Ass Off 1 (3:30) Behold the power of the MicroKorg Arpeggiator.
  5. Rain Keys (2:49) Someone left the Harold Budd record in the oven and it melted.
  6. Funkola (4:33) Inspired by a million repeated listens to Kamasi Washington’s, “The Epic” album.
  7. Arpeggiate Your Ass Off 2 (4:09) Because one of these was simply not enough for me.  You get to decide which you like better (or not).
  8. I’m Keeping This (This One is Mine) (4:14) Selfish little robot voice.
  9. Out of Sync (5:25) Rhythm was never my strong suit but I try.
  10. The Stinky Finger Boogie (4:59) This was paired with an animated GIF of Donald Trump pointing his finger nearly rhythmically in time.  Inspired by the GIF not by the “man” himself.
  11. Out of Time (6:48) Companion piece to Out of Sync.  Pick a winner.
  12. Volca Waves (11:40) I feel that this is one of my best stabs at doing something melodic and “mellow”.  It is one of my favorite experiment results.  Love this.
  13. The One Measure Masturbatory Jam (3:38) This one barely made the cut.  It is a bunch of instruments piled on one 16 beat measure then subtly (or not) altered throughout its’ repetition.  Patience and a keen ear are required to understand its’ purpose and existence.
  14. Bruford Gives Up (0:43) A silly tribute to one of the best drummers in music, Bill Bruford, who was always really great with the tuned percussion.   This sounds like him just flailing about and saying “to hell with it”.  It makes me laugh.
  15. Fugue U (10:54) A fugue piled up like a mile high jenga tower.  Collapse eminent.
  16. Wooda Womp El Grande (9:27) This title came from the sound of this song.  Part march, part hat dance, part goose step.
  17. The Black Keys Thing (12:23) Played on all the black keys because, why not.
  18. Jamola Number Three (14:23) Obviously Jamola Number One and Two just weren’t worth it.
  19. Those Three Notes (9:26) An experiment built on three notes.
  20. Behringer Mixer’s Last Stand (So Long Sucker) (0:16)  This may be the very last recording done on my old Behringer mixer.  At this point it had become so caked with dust, it had to warm up a good 10 minutes after power up.  It became an investment of frustration and canned air.  The hiss and uncontrollable distortion were a disaster at the end.  New Audio Interface now in operation (THANK GOD!).

Here’s the 110 meg zip file of all the tracks and the cover!  Enjoy!

And as always, like Todd Rundgren said, “Yer gonna wanna get out yer headphones, cause they’re really gonna help ya on this one.”

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio, WMOM

UPDATED!!! Novation LaunchPad Pro + Ableton + Rush = High Mystic Water Rhythms

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Rush Cartoon
So I bought a Novation Launchpad Pro for Christmas (From me to me). This is a controller for digital audio software (mostly Ableton). I have always complained about the learning curve in Ableton and how it does things differently. Well, seeing that it IS an industry standard in an industry I lovingly call my “hobby”, I decided to invest in the software and force myself to learn it. This device helps that learning and makes understanding of it a lot easier.

Novation LaunchPad Pro

I have started stealing drum sounds from Neil Peart (from Rush) and using them as my drum foundations on this project. These drum sounds and the riff are respectfully sampled from the song by Rush titled “High Water” (from the album “Hold Your Fire”). Admittedly, the groove/shuffle of the original drum pattern are lost a bit as I quantized it. It made it more robotic and less human which I think adds to it in an odd way. I called my version “High Water Pants” “High Mystic Water Rhythms”.

This is my first second stab at this, so be gentle. I am amazed at the simplicity and power of all of this technology and my mind has been blown multiple times in the past 48 hours. I’m in love with this stuff.

Check out my first  second shot at a LaunchPad Pro mix with Ableton. Not too shabby. Take special note of the groovy drum solo break in the middle. I’m so nifty! 🙂

UPDATED!!!

I have decided that one Rush song was not enough to destroy, so I also diced up Mystic Rhythms and added a whole new segment mixing the drums from this song along with the song mentioned above (High Water).

I’m sure Neil Peart will be completely pissed, but I am learning a lot and having fun!  Let’s face it.  The man’s drum sounds, sound awesome! I basically sampled each of his drum sounds separately (to a very short wav file), then assigned each drum (wav file) to a button, then wailed away on the pads and tried to make my own drum patterns out of HIS sounds. I  put another nifty drum solo type break near the end.  THIS IS JUST TOO MUCH POWWWWWERRRRR! I’m blowing myself away here!

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio, silly

CHOB III

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chob3-cover

This is compiled from sessions recorded in 2016.  Bob and CeMeGo had things scattered all over the hard drives.  It has taken a while to compile all of this together.  Some you may recognize from this blog, others were created and never posted.

Track List

  1. Oh It’s a Harold Budd Start (2:36)
  2. Start The Reactor (3:11)
  3. The Surface (7:07)
  4. Overmodulated M F’er (3:45)
  5. The Big Test (0:52)
  6. A Serious Dialogue (Noise Your Dick Off at 300bpm) (4:24)
  7. Breakfast Project (1:56)
  8. Chob Gives Up (1:14)
  9. Our Own Girls (7:20)
  10. That Darn Delay Thing (4:42)
  11. It Builds to Something Special (3:44)
  12. Chobwahwah (3:57)
  13. Oh It’s a Harold Budd Ending (1:16)

Personnel

Bob & CeMeGo (and occasional Nguyen Chaney).

Tools

Ableton Live (The great learning curve)
Adobe Audition (too useful unfortunately!)
Korg Mini-KP
Korg Kaossilator Pro
Korg MicroKey
Korg MicroKorg
Sony Acid Pro 7
Korg Volca Bass
Korg Volca  Beats
Korg Volca  Keys
Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator PO-12

Click here to download the album in a zip file with cover art (46 megs).

We still don’t make money off of this crap. We do it for fun! The best compensation would be a comment or review right here on this blog again. Chob thanks YOU for your junk!

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio, silly, WMOM

With or Without Doobies?

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Douche
Bob and I took to MicroKorg and Monotron respectively, and improved the Doobie Brothers. The results are just incredible…. MY GOD we’re good.

Here we are WITH the Doobies…

Here we are WITHOUT the Doobies (SUBSTANTIALLY betterrrrr…)

Which is betterrrrrr?

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CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio

Start The Reactor !!

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reactor trump-dance

Nguyen Cha’ney came by last nite and we collaborated on this little bit. I’m not sure if I’m done with this song yet. I think there’s more that could be done/added/rearranged. Either way, I wanted to post it so I could hear it in the car.

Things used:

  • Korg MicroKorg
  • Korg Volca Bass
  • Drums from a phone app
  • Random audio bits (the “Start The Reactor” and “Play That Funky Beat” voices).
  • Korg MicroKeys
  • Ableton Live (also known as “the great learning curve”)
CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio

That Darned Delay Thing

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That Darn Delay Thing
Thought about playing with tons of Ping-Pong delay and chorus today. I hate working to a click or tempo at all. I like letting the spirit move me for timing. This is obviously not a good way to work. Once again, I went for that heaving breathing tempo I love so much because it’s in my head and it’s slow enough that I can follow it.

No drums/percussion here. Just 2 melody lines from the Microkorg ping pong’d delayed. Then crap thrown on top. There is a little odd alias’ing on the first melody as I have it washed in some digital chorus plug in that makes it ‘tinny’. I dont mind this. It may bother some.

Either way, this was fun to make. I’ve stopped making it, and you get to hear it. Enjoy.

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio

The Big Test Audio

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thebigtestimage


This is my first attempt at true digital multi-track recording using Ableton Live software with my new digital audio interface (Focusrite Scarlett 18i20). This interface has replaced the hummy, hissy, crackly old analog Behringer Mixer I’ve had for 13 years. I am by no means an expert at this, and I am still not a musician. Here’s what I did:

  1. I played a couple chords using a preset grand piano from Ableton’s instrument selections. (Cranked up the “hardness” and “brightness” of the piano to give it that Tony Banks/Genesis “Heathaze” kinda sound). Then added a bunch of digital reverb (also from Ableton effects racks) to create a ghostly big piano.
  2. I played the root keys of the chord sequence with one finger using the Volca Bass with a little cut off release at the end (a little knob twiddling).
  3. I played the same chord sequence using the MicroKorg on a retro strings synth setting.
  4. I played the same chord sequence using the MicroKorg on some waffle-esque arpeggio setting through the Red Box (Korg Mini-KP) with a stereo channel panner, with digital chorus (from Ableton effects racks) to make it pan a little harder.

This is by no stretch a musical masterpiece. It is, however, something to be heard simply on the basis of clarity. I like how the opening piano just emerges from silence. No hiss, no hum, no crackling, just clean audio like the true black of an HD TV. This makes me EXTREMELY happy.