Category Archives: Cool stuff

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio

Yamaha CS 3 Project Note Sequence Smash 1

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Still not very “Musical”

The looper on the Yamaha Reface CS is a strange beast. I found myself amused by just cramming as many notes in it as I can, and just leaving the REC turned on so its recording anything I do with the keyboard while it’s looping. Although while it is looping, I’m doodling more with the sound itself and the effects.

This sounded better in my headphones than I thought. I just love sustain, delay, reverb,… anything with a tail. This is so fun!

NOTE:

Around just before 1 minute mark it gets crazy. It’s amazing how something cute and pretty can just fall apart on this thing. I think the ability to get full rich sound quickly on it, is the charm. Then, with one jiggle of a knob it screams like a demon and just crumbles. Go ahead, call it a toy. I don’t care. The track has a Fripp & Eno-Swastika Girls kind of vibe to it.

The “Yamaha CS 2 project Project” has interesting bits in it too, but I need to chop it down a bit. But this above? Only 5 minutes? Good enough!

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

How To NOT Be Musical

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Yamaha Reface CS

So I purchased a Yamaha Reface CS because:

  1. It was cheap on craigslist
  2. I always loved the Yamaha CS80
  3. There is no menu just sliders so its easy to torture sound

I brought it home and immediately plugged it in and hit record and just started blowing my mind.

AND NOW because you are lucky enough to BE THERE WITH ME (thank you Internet), you can hear 38 minutes of me messing with it.

Nothing sane, professional, or musical at all. Just making funny noises and pushing it around.

I am a sucker for Reverb, Delay, Sustain, and Pad sounds. This punches all those tickets… BIG TIME! I am quite happy.

Yamaha CS First Time Brain Explosion

OK I CONFESS! I like spending money just to press buttons that make funny noises. I ask so little from life.

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

5 Mystic Eggs

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Bob and I did a track with samples from Diamond & Silk. The reference source for this is a monologue they had about how “Socialist Cubans only get 5 eggs a month.”

This was too funny so we made a song.

Diamond and Silk
Diamond & Silk

Bitchin Bob’s birthday gift was used for this. He got a groovy drum pad. It’s a Kat Percussion KTMP1 Electronic Drum and Percussion Pad Sound Module. We were breaking it in and came up with this track. The timing is off and its very sloppy but MAN did we have fun and laugh while making it.

Bob's New Drum thingy
Bob’s new drum pad thingy.
5 Mystic Eggs

Click the play thingy and give it a listen. The orchestra hit at the very beginning was left in intentionally. It was triggered by Bob on the drum pad.

Also used:

  • Korg Volca Bass, Keys, & Drums
  • MicroKorg
  • Korg Kaossilator
  • Korg MiniKP (red box)
  • Zoom MS-70CDR Effects pedal (on the Volca’s)
  • Korg Minilogue XD

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio

It Catches Up Down The Road

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It has been quite some time since I posted anything on the blog. I figured I should put something here since I pay for it and the numbers (what little I get) are dropping to nothing.

Today I thought I’d do some drone’y ambient’y thing with the Volca’s and this new Zoom MS-CDR-70 effects pedal. I have it connected to the output of the mini-mixer that holds the Volca Bass, Beats, and Keys. It has a lovely shimmer effect that I over used on this track.

This track was really slapped together (as most are) with little edits. Everything here is a hardware synth (no MIDI or Ableton was used).

Ingredients:
Korg Volca Keys and Bass (through Zoom pedal)
Korg Minilogue XD with tons of Riser reverb
Korg MicroKorg with tons of delay from the Korg MiniKP (red box)
Korg Kaossilator Pro with 2 drum patterns and a little solo lead synth noodling.

I recorded the thing at 60bpm but things are triggered haphazardly and initially when the drums kick in, its off beat. But if you listen and let the trance wash over you, it sort of catches up (hence the quicky song title).

It’s about 10 minutes long. Probably TOO LONG, but enjoy either way

Angry Hot Dog, Cool stuff, Music Sound Noise Audio

The Chef Jeff 2020 End of Year Mix

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IT’S HERE! Mark your end of the year with the Chef Jeff mix of musical, danceable goodies. Enjoy 68 and a half minutes of pure bouncy jams lovingly curated by Chef Jeff.

Chef Jeff – 2020 End of The Year Mix

Mix includes the following tracks:

  1. Deeper Love – Aretha Franklin
  2. Fallin’ For You – Sidepiece
  3. Vibration – Don’t Blink
  4. It Is What It Is – Vintage Culture (feat. Elise LeGrow)
  5. International Thief Thief – Fela Kuti
  6. Cat Vibing To Levan Polka – Bilal Göregen
  7. They Frontin – Catz n Dogz (feat. Monty Luke)
  8. Lose Control – Darkmountaingroup
  9. Jesus Creates Sound – Marlon D
  10. The Sound Is Yours (Kerri Chandler Remix) – RiskSoundSystem
  11. Panic Room – Au/Ra
  12. Don’t Call Me Baby – Madison Avenue
  13. I’m Coming Out (Integer Bootleg Mix) – Diana Ross
  14. U Got My Love – Guz
  15. The Heat – David Penn
  16. Cloud Nine (Purple Disco Machine Remix) – Jamiroquai

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio

Unemployed Early rainy Friday Morning

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I woke up around 7:30am and did this 5 minute bit. It’s a repetitive 2 chord loop with hand pressed automated sustain pedal (had to figure out how to do that). Soloed another reverby/delay’y piano on top for fun. Then figured, I would just solo some foggy pad in the background in hopes to keep it together or make it more interesting. Recorded it without a metronome/clock so not a finger snapper or dance hit. (You should know by now).

This is what ya get. A futile musical brain fart. Hope you find this amusing and it sustains you for 5 minutes or takes you out of where you were.

Best in headphones.

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio

Formlessness (Updated With Bass Solo Re-pitched)

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Formlessness

This was started with an Active Step Recording experiment on the Volca Keys for the arpeggio that runs throughout the bit. I kept dropping out and changing the keys subtly for the duration. Note: There is no beat or rhythm even though the whole thing was done at 100bpm.

After creating this, I found a “Filter Delay” effect that allowed changing the sound filter per left and right channel of speakers so this arpeggio doesn’t just have a variance on the keys being played but also the timbre of the sound per channel. Essentially its changing notes then it changes quality per Left/Right speaker channel independently. So, IT’S ALIIIVE!

I added some space delay piano, a little MicroKorg here and there, and I actually noodled around on the bass guitar a bit.

Good murder of a Sunday.

UPDATED (Thursday June 25, 2020):
I learned how to re-pitch audio file SEGMENTS and fixed the sour notes on the bass solo at the end. I’m much happier with it now. I also did some volume changes on the bass solo. It starts at 1:45 if you are in a hurry to compare the two. Give it a listen if you want to challenge your ear a bit.

Formlessness Bass Corrected

AS ALWAYS, BEST HEARD IN HEADPHONES.

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio

Hozpitality – WaWa nurr nurr

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This is in NO WAY an ad for Wawa.
Wawa Nurr Nurr.mp3

OK. This is crap. Found this laying around my hard drive on an old Windows Desktop back up. This is where I move things on a hard drive when my desktop gets too littered with icons.

From what I can tell, I made this as a tester file (not unlike my Lowering of The Table tester file). It is dated 9/25/2016 and it’s 20 minutes of noodling that was clearly improvised. The multiple beats and timings don’t match up at all, except in rare instances (so settle down Bob).

There are some vocals near the end of me singing in the vocoder. I have no recollection of what I was saying/singing. If you can figure it out, let me know in the comments. I may make a song about YOU! ??

I didn’t know what to call it. It is labeled as “Wawa Nurr Nurr.mp3”.

I didn’t think it was worthy to make it public, but :

  • I’m getting old
  • I pay nearly $200 a year to keep this blog up
  • We’re living through a pandemic.

Might as well shake the tree of its junk onto the public stage.

Personally, I feel, I am MUCH BETTER than this track (lately), but see if you can live through all 20 minutes. It’s a challenge for me and I CREATED THE DAMNED THING!

As always, SOUNDS BEST IN HEADPHONES!!

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

The Lowering Of The Table

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Today I lowered the keyboard stand to match the height of the surrounding desks. This meant unhooking stuff and rehooking it which means ANOTHER TESTER TRACK TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING RECORDED. (Which also means, it was a scratch track, so dont think for a minute this is supposed to sound “good” or be “official”).

The Lowering of the Table Tester File

And now I can SIT at the keyboard stand instead of STAND at it. Thank you quarantine.

Used Microkorg, Volca Bass, and Kaossilator Pro.