Download Dream Support 1.zip

Daydream 1-6

In most cases I started with a stereo track, then improvised the two remaining tracks listening to the initial stereo improvisation. Instruments were the Yamaha DX7 for the most part (yes, like many others at the time a sold most of my analog synths for this new wonder synth…), and some Minimoog Model D (the bubbling sound in Daydream 4). Effects were a Roland Space Echo, a Yamaha E1010 bucket brigade delay and Boss CE-1 chorus.

To not disturb the neighbors all recording was done with headphones. The next morning I curiously listened to the result of last night’s efforts, and then either mixed it on a Revox B77 or ditched it when I did not like it.

Although very different, these pieces share an atmosphere of tranquility. No time signatures or scales were in the way, although with hindsight they seem to follow a slow but certain rhythm.

Geert has made a video collage of Daydream 1 with some atmospheric pictures.

Daydream 1:

Daydream 2:

Daydream 3:

Daydream 4:

Daydream 5:

Daydream 6:

Purple Powder

This is a dreamy improvisation where I used a few special effects.

Somewhere half way you will hear a sound that starts as an inverted echo end the fades out with anormal echo. This was achieved by interchanging the two reels of the Tascam A-440 recorder, then run the percussive sound through a space echo and record that effect. Next, switch the reels to normal and add the same echo to the sound. Now you have an echo starting from nowhere and a normal echo after the original sound.

Also I manipulated the tape speed half way the recording process, so subsequent tracks could anticipate on the pitch changes. All in all a lot of tracks were used, achieved with sub mixes, bouncing from Tascam A440 to Revox B77 and back, adding parts during the bounce.

A bit an uncanny piece of music, maybe useful for accompanying a dystopic movie.

Geert has made a video collage from photo’s Nicole has made in Copenhagen, Denmark. The sometimes rather spooky mannequins in the shop windows matches the atmosphere pretty well.

Purple Powder:

Sleeping pill

A short dreamy Yamaha DX-7 based improvisation. Could have been a “Daydream” but was probably made on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Geert felt inspired to make a collage of photo’s from the evening sky above The Veluwe. Slow food….

Sleeping Pill:

Note: This collection of audio tracks in the order presented here were to be found on a very rare CD

(because I only made 5 copies…) called Dream Support 1. My mother loved it 😊.

Download Dream Support 2.zip

Satire

A short impro on an old upright piano. Testing microphones if I remember well.

Instant Impro 1-6

Improvisations on a Yamaha SY77 and Korg 01W (and very important: 2 sustain pedals). All done in one go, no further mixing involved as it all went direct on 2-track cassette. All six improvisations done on the same rainy Thursday afternoon.

Insane

A very weird 4-track recording exploring the 7-tone scales. All Yamaha SY77 and Korg 01W.

Impianosation

An instant improvisation on Yamaha SY77 piano. Going from here to nowhere…

DAF

An improvisation on Yamaha DX7 and Minimoog Model D. The Minimoog was also played from the DX7 keyboard via a Korg MIDI to CV converted. Spooky stuff… Single take recording.

Whats in a Monks Mind?

Well, eh, not so much actually. Just a dreamy 4-track recording with Yamaha SY77 and Korg 01W.

Note: This collection of audio tracks in the order presented here were to be found on a very rare CD (because I only made 5 copies…) called Dream Support 2.

Download Floating on a Paddo.zip

All tracks

Between 1994 and 1996 my friend Joost (guitar) and I (Yamaha SY77 and Korg 01W) regularly had a jam session, and those sessions were recorded directly on cassette. Before, during and after those sessions we enjoyed some substances, anyway, most of the recordings had a pleasant slow ambient atmosphere and we had a good time listening to it afterwards.

After a few years I had a few shopping bags full of cassettes. So we decided to make a compilation to put on CD. First I made a short list on DAT tapes (10 tapes to be exactly). Then Joost and I had some sessions to make a short list of the short list and finally Herman put it all together on CD, called Floating on a Paddo. A very rare CD, as only some 10 copies have been made.

The audio tracks have been numbered to indicate the original order on CD, you can burn one yourself if your like. This all together became a very ambient and still adventurous CD; the listening experience will certainly benefit from a spliff or two, as it would bring you in the same state of mind as the players at the time of recording 😊.

Download Illusions.zip

Track 1-10

Between 1993 and 1995 I had regular jam sessions with flautist Nies. She played various flutes, percussion and singing bowls. I played Yamaha SY77 and Korg 01W and singing bowls. All tracks were recorded and mixed in one go.

A selection of the recordings we made during that timeframe was later used for a CD, called Illusions. A very rare CD indeed, as only some 5 copies were made…

Ophelia, Sorrow

Ophelia and Sorrow are two tracks from a puppet play project we did for Felicia van Deth. Both tracks were created using the internal sequencer of the SY77 in first instance and then adding flute.

Download Moondance.zip

Track 1 – 9 (Fiep! Fiep! Hoera!)

Moondance was a band that existed in different formats and with different line-ups. Around 1990 it started as a band playing Herman’s songs, in first instance to just play one cycle of concerts, but it existed in this form, for several years with different line-ups.

Later, roughly between 1993 and 1999 it became a pure improvisation band, with Herman on guitar (and sometimes bass or drums), Pim on bass guitar, Swim on drums and myself on keys (Yamaha SY77 and Korg 01W). Over the years a host of guest musicians joined the jam sessions, like Joost (guitar) and Nies (flute).

Those jam sessions took place almost every week and were recorded via a 16-4-2 mixer directly on cassette. From the piles of cassettes I made a preselection on DAT tape, and Herman made a final selection for a CD called Fiep! Fiep! Hoera! This CD is not commercially available, we made just some 10 copies.

Track 10 – 14 (Instrumental 1-5)

Instrumental 1-5 (no specific names were given to those tracks) are part of a compilation Herman made years before Fiep! Fiep! Hoera!.

Moondance after 1993 was not a very pretentious band, it was rather about the fun of playing whatever we felt appropriate in response of someone who played whatever he felt appropriate at that very moment. Directly afterwards we listened to the recording of that evening before it disappeared in a big bag full of previous cassettes. Substantial quantities of beer helped to get it all down smoothly…

We did some concerts while we had no clue what we would play or come up with, but as we were used to improvise, those live events were received quite well. Some people in the audience had no idea that we were not playing anything prepared in advance. But finally we found that we were moving in circles and disbanded.

Download Felicia van Deth Puppet Show.zip

Around 1993 Nies and I were asked to create a sound track for a puppet show by Felicia van Deth who had a small theater at The Hague, Netherlands. Felicia had created a series of large marionettes which would appear in the show sequentially, without a word being spoken and without a plot whatsoever. The puppets each had a character of their own, a specific tempo and even a musical taste, as Felicia explained. For the soundtrack she had tried professionals before, but they did not catch the essentials, it was “too much”, “too overwhelming”, etc. and so a standard was set…

That meant we needed to come up with a working method that allowed Felicia to check separate tunes with the puppet it was intended for, and to give feedback. But before that process started, we went with a car full of equipment to The Hague to meet Felicia (also to shake hands with the puppets) and try out some tunes to get a feeling of her requirements. That appeared to be a crucial step in the process, as it soon became clear that the concept of “less is more” had to be taken very seriously.

Technically, all tunes were in first instance created on the internal sequencer of the SY77, mostly without a click track. That sequencer also controlled a Korg 01W. The result was then recorded on cassette, together with a flute or percussion part played by Nies. When all tunes were accorded for some 24 puppets, the whole thing had to be glued together, which was not easy as tuning and timing of the individual parts were not matching for a bit.

The version presented here is not the one that has been used for the puppet show, as the requested time for the “intermissions” (the time to musically glue the parts together and at the same time the time allowed for Felicia to switch from one puppet to the next) appeared to be too long. Also two puppets were removed at this stage as they appeared to be too melancholic (those tracks are also included on “Illusions”). Herman has later done a marvelous job to shorten these intermissions, and all was well and ready to go.

Unfortunately Felicia van Deth is no longer with us, as she had a fatal accident (hit by a motorbike) when she was hiking in Switzerland years after this project.

Download Sounds of Trumps.zip

Track 1 - 22

This music is based on the main cards of the Crowley Tarot, called trumps. It was a joint effort in 1996 from Herman, Nies and myself. We used different instruments and objects already available in my home studio or brought in by Herman and Nies to produce these tracks.

The process was both effective and great fun. We had a series of home cooked dinners together, and during such a meal we discussed our associations with two cards and how to “translate” the ideas we came up with into a musical concept. By thinking about how to put together a piece of music that fits the specifics of a given card without having an instrument at hand results in a very different approach. After the dinner we went down to the basement studio and recorded the tracks according to plan.

The Tarot music as you find it here was available on cassette only, I guess we never made more than 10…

Download Temple of Tones projects.zip

The Temple of Tones projects are a collaboration between Geert and myself. We were asked to provide music for the Biennale Nici 2014 exhibition. We decided to place a double quadraphonic installation in the exhibition space and play the music sequentially from a digital 4-track recorder in the weeks that the exhibition lasted. Before the music was created, we did interviews with the artists involved and created music taking into account the inputs we got. Also parts of the interviews have been processed and used in the music (in Dutch mostly, and German in case of Brita… Sorry!).

Of course it is impossible to experience quadraphonic play-back on a stereo system, so unfortunately most of the spatial effects are lost. Left you hear channel 1 and 3, right you hear channel 2 and 4.

Because the purpose of this music was to accompany the works without being distractive, while people were looking at the pictures, ceramics, etc., the themes are ambient mostly and slowly developing.

Later Geert has created collages of images showing the work of the artists and combined that with the stereo tracks. Both stereo audio tracks (for better audio quality) and the videos with music are available here.

These videos as well as other works under the umbrella of Temple of Tones can be found on YouTube as well. Temple of Tones - YouTube

Brita’s Mädchen

Brita’s Mädchen is inspired by the drawings of Brita Seifert, a German artist, living in the Netherlands. She makes beautiful and very realistic paintings, often using a Moroccan model. Therefore you may find some Arabic influences in the music.

Deep Dive

Deep Dive is inspired by Pieter’s photographs as displayed on the Biennale Nici 2014 exhibition. Pieter Rutten is an accomplished underwater photographer, his photos are extremely detailed and colorful.

Dragon Factory

Dragon Factory is inspired by the works of Juul Baltussen. Juul is an artistic blacksmith, making the most fantastic objects, check the video and you get an idea. A specialty is the dragon, in all forms and sizes. The music is in three parts, describing the magic creation of such dragon as in a fairytale. In the music various samples have been used from Juul’s machines, metal doors, as well as the sound of banging on some of his artworks.

Jo’s Bubbles

Jo’s Bubbles is music inspired by the surrealistic paintings of Jo Willems. In his paintings bubbles of all sorts appear, hence the bubbles in the music as well as in the title.

Jurassic Cows

Jurassic Cows is music inspired by the sculptures and ceramics of Georges de Groot. Many of his works have horned animals and bird’s beaks as subject, or at least as inspiration. A friend living near a farm said that the cows made noises like dinosaurs, so we went off to make a quadraphonic recording in the barn, which was used in the first part of the track, and hence the title.

Download The Singing Bowls.zip

Track 1-8

The Singing Bowls was a quadraphonic Temple of Tones project involving four persons (Nicole, Madeleine, Ton and Wouter) playing various singing bowls, gongs, tingsha’s and other percussion instruments. Each was having their own corner with their collection of instruments handy. Some basic compositional ideas were discussed and then the music was recorded in one go with 4 microphones. Geert did the recording, Wouter the mixing (in stereo).

The Singing Bowls was also the title of a CD containing track 1-8, of which some 30 were made.

40 Participants

A joke basically. What would happen when there would not have been 4, but 40 participants…

Liquid Singing Bowls

This is a very experimental track, freaking out with the Pitch Bender of an old program: Cool Edit. The source is probably one of the 8 tracks above.

Singing Bowls Improvisation (2013)

Found in the old shoebox; singing bowls improvisation with Geert and Wouter.

Download Collaboration 80's.zip

These tracks are a few of the surviving tracks recorded on a TEAC 3440 4-track recorder, sub-mixes via Revox B77), all music in collaboration with various other musicians.

All Care Aside (1984)

A song with John (vocals, guitar). Drum computer is Roland TR808, the synthesizer is a Sequential Pro1, bass is probably a Minimoog. This started as a technical experiment where the Pro-1 arpeggio went through a stereo 10-band graphic equalizer, were each frequency band was alternately mixed left and right. John came up with text and melody, and was able to double track his vocals almost perfectly.

Chanson (1983)

A song John (vocals, guitar) came up with. Drum computer is Roland TR808, the bass is probably Minimoog.

Instrumentals (1982, 1983, 1984)

A musical collaboration with Pierre (bass, guitar). Drum computer is Roland TR808, keys are Wurlitzer 200, Godwin string ensemble and Minimoog.

Chickensong (1985)

A strange song with many different themes, on which John took care of tekst and melody, Sytze played guitar and Roel played bass. Drum computer is Roland TR808. The “sax” is Yamaha DX7 with breath controller. Further keys: Wurlitzer 200, Minimoog.

It Ain’t Easy (1986)

This started as a test for the then new Yamaha RX5 drum computer. Just for the fun of it. Later, vocal parts from Paul S., at the time the singer of the band High Five, were added. Keys are probably just Yamaha DX7.

Desert Music (1985)

This is rather experimental music. It all started with a concept that I had used years earlier. Basically it consists of the following steps:

1. Create a list of random chords and note the ground tone and all notes in the chord (twice). For instance: the first two chords, A minor 7 followed by a D# major 9 followed by a G minor 7 would be written as follows:

2. Add number (seconds), in this example each chord will last 10 seconds.

3. Connect the common notes like I did in red, blue and green.

4. Now play the notes in the first chord one by one on a monophonic synth on different tracks (tracks may be reused) make a slow fade in and fade out around the 10 second mark (I used my counter on the tape machine, but you can also use the time indication in your DAW). You can use different sounds, but simple mellow sounds work best.

   In this example the low A (bass), and the A, C and E will last around 10 seconds, the G will last around 30 seconds, the on or more octaves higher the A, C and E will last again around 10 seconds, and the high G will again last around 30 seconds. Up to the next chord…

   When mixed the result will be slowly moving chords, sometimes with slowly evolving disharmonics around the 10 second boundaries. Other parts and sounds can be layered on top of this carpet (spacey filter effects from the Minimoog).

Anyway, my version of this experiment was about 40 minutes long, and pure magic I can tell you. However, unfortunately my only copy got destroyed by accidentally overwriting… So I asked Roel, who normally plays bass, to follow my recipe and make a new recording. Only instrument used is Minimoog. This is the version you have here, I did not play a note on it…

I used the same idea many years later in a section of W, W & P #1, also available from this site.

When you have time on a rainy day, you may try this recipe yourself, it always produces interesting results. You don’t need to know anything about chords, just play random chords on your keyboard and write down the notes. Let me know when you created your masterpiece, and I may add your version on this site!

Download 80's Solo Tracks.zip

This is a selection of tracks recorded in the 1980’s, which survived one way or another. They contain sketches with some interesting melodies, music for a film, improvisations, musical masturbations and experiments.

Analog Sequencer (1979)

This was a recording on a Tascam 4-track Portastudio. Instruments: Wurlitzer 200, Godwin string ensemble, Minimoog and Roland System 100 providing the analog sequence at the end (I had the complete System 100, including mixer, sequencer and speakers; for one reason or another I sold it for almost nothing a few years later ☹️).

Impro with Electric Guitar (1979)

This was a recording on a Tascam 4-track Portastudio. Instruments: Wurlitzer 200, Godwin string ensemble, Minimoog and Peavey T60 guitar. Clearly no click track or tuning device used (my Minimoog was terribly unstable… this also affects the following tracks). It contains some nice tunes and chord progressions though.

Impro with Electric Guitar (1980)

Another recording with electric guitar on a Tascam 4-track open real recorder. Instruments: Wurlitzer 200, Godwin string ensemble, Minimoog and Peavey T60 guitar.

Buurman Zuiger’s Synthi Dixo (1982)

One afternoon I visited my neighbor, and he played a Jean Michel Jarre album. He suggested that I should make something like that, and in my overconfidence I said that I would do it in one day. It kept me busy until 6 in the morning and the most of the next day, it was not as easy as I thought… Anyway, I kept my promise, next day I had made this little piece, although it is not very much like JMJ. Instruments: Roland TR808 drum machine, Minimoog, Godwin string ensemble.

Track with Clarinet (1982)

As the name says, I dug up my clarinet for this track which I had not played for 5 years or so. It was also an exercise to program the TR808, as the song starts off in 5/8, then to 6/8 then to 4/4 etc. Someone who has tried to program a TR808 for a relative complex arrangement knows what I am talking about. Instruments used: Clarinet, Wurlitzer 200, Minimoog, electric guitar, Godwin string ensemble.

TR-808 Experiment (1982)

A strange track, suffering somewhat from unstable Minimoog tuning. Instruments: Roland TR808, Peavey T60 electric guitar, Minimoog.

Hollow Head Parade (1983)

A song with vocals. The first and the last time I tried that… Instruments: Roland TR808, Wurlitzer 200, Minimoog and Prophet Pro-1.

Short Sketches I-V (1984)

Some musical ideas, most melodic and with unusual chord progressions. The first sketch can be played in such a way that the last chord equals the first chord of the next round. After 4 times it will be back at starting point. Without transposing, the chords will go lower with each cycle and the melody higher.

The last sketch was used as basic theme of the Chicken Song. Instruments: Wurlitzer 200, Minimoog, Sequential Pro-1 and Godwin string ensemble.

Daydream 7 (1986)

This daydream did not make it on the Dream Support 1 CD as it was too extreme (and probably it did not fit on the CD anyway). It is an experiment playing with purposedly drifting tuning. See how far you can go... Instrument: Yamaha DX7.

DX7 Sax (1986)

A short 4-track improvisation featuring the Yamaha DX7 with breath controller. A bit dreamy melody with just DX7.

Film (Movie) “Joost” – A selection (1986)

1986 I was requested to provide the music for a movie, which was someone’s final exam project. As it goes, the final film shoot and montage ran out and I had just a few days to create the music. The film is about a person “Joost” who loses his job, has to apply for unemployment money and more and more loses control over his life. These 5 pieces are a selection of the tunes made for the film. Instrument: Yamaha DX7 (with breath controller) and Roland TR808.

Stucwerk (1987)

This track was made in a series of improvisation sessions, all on Yamaha DX7. The concept was as follows: Start a random piece of music on 1 or 2 tracks then improvise using the remaining tracks (I used a 4 track Tascam 3440 open reel recorder). Then leave at the end of the piece one or two tracks that can be used for a next session to improvise a new section on and also here leave a thread for a next section.

The result is a slowly developing or rather evolving piece of music that reminds a bit of a long train journey going through slowly changing landscapes. Many years later this concept was also used with Wicher for W, W & P #1.

You may want to try this yourself using a DAW, or better, a simple multitrack recording device. And you can invite friends to help creating a new section for the piece. It is a good idea not to listen to what you have recorded in previous sessions, but just make a note from where to start next time. Also record any important effects like delays together with the instrument, don’t wait for he mix. Big surprise when you decide to stop and finally mix the result. You always get an interesting result. Let me know when you tried this concept and want to share your masterpiece.

Download 90's Solo Tracks.zip

This is a selection of tracks recorded in the 1990’s, which survived one way or another. They contain pure instant improvisations and some experiments with internal Yamaha SY77 and Korg 01/W sequencers.

Funky (1991)

This was an experiment to see how many tracks the internal sequencer of the Yamaha SY77 couldhandle without causing timing problems (not so many I remember). All sounds are from the SY77.

Kermis (Fair) (1991)

After I came home from a fair in my hometown, the sort of events that I usually avoid, I felt inspired to create the same evening this little funny piece on the Yamaha SY77, exploring some available options of its internal sequencer. All sounds are from SY77.

Instant Impro’s 1-12 (1994)

Those improvisations were all created on a single evening. I had a simple set-up consisting of a Yamaha SY77 with a Korg 01/W on top. By using the sustain pedals I could record the impro’s on 2 track directly. Despite some small mistakes I kept the tracks together. All in all an inspired evening…

Sequencer Idea (1984)

This was an experiment to explore the internal sequencer of the Korg 01/W. (It actually handled the internal MIDI data stream a lot better than the Yamaha SY77). Nobody uses internal sequences anymore but at the time I did not even have a computer, let alone a DAW… All sounds are from the Korg 01/W.

Noname 1 (2001)

This was a track using the internal sequencer of the Korg 01/W. There must have been many more Nonames from this time, but they got lost… All sounds are from the Korg 01/W.

Download W, W & P.zip

W, W & P #1

W, W & P stands for Wicher, Wouter & Pieter. Around 2008 Wicher and I spent a day on creating stereo samples for NI Kontakt from my collection of Tibetan singing bowls, other Asian percussion, all sort of noises and the sound of water splashing. The result was so good that we decided to use that in a piece of music. Wicher is not an instrumentalist as such, but he has great ideas and proved to be a quick learner. We agreed to keep things simple, no acrobatics on the keys, and working on an “everything goes” basis.

To avoid looking at the screen all the time and risking a mouse-arm, we used a Yamaha AW4416 16-track digital recorder (later the tracks were transferred to computer, where we added Pieter’s soprano sax, and to be mixed and finalized using Sonar).

It took about a year to finalize this project as we met in my home studio maybe twice a month, adding a new section with each session, based upon the last part of the previous section. We used mainly old gear like tape echoes, spring reverbs, Korg DVP-1 vocoder and integrated the effects in the tracking instantly. Instruments used were a Nord Electro 5, Yamaha SY99 and various other synths, but also two theremins, two djembe’s and many of the Kontakt samples we had made before.

Some “found sounds” were used as well, like sections of an old record with Russian language lessons, and a recording Wicher made in Bali of a flute player on a market, some street noises and a rooster (probably just before ending up in a curry).

In the middle there is a long section consisting of random chords slowly flowing from one into the other. This concept I had already used decennia earlier, you can hear it in “Desert Music” (Collaborations 80’s).

When we were finished and had a premix ready, I asked my nephew Pieter Ubbels, a professional sax player, to add parts on top of the music we had created. He is a busy man so he had no time to listen to the music in advance. So without further do we recorded two instantly improvised tracks of soprano sax. It fitted like a glove. From these two tracks I used parts and pieces, as I felt appropriate, then sent the resulting premix to Pieter, who at his turn advised to cut a measure or a note here and there, and we repeated that process until I felt we started hitting the bone.

The result is this piece of music that is hard to categorize but tells a story and meanders from one unlikely musical combination to the other.

W, W & P #2

This is another collaboration with Wicher. It started with a Moogerfooger delay fed by a Minimoog XL. Then we added some tabla, Nord Electro 5 electric piano and voices. Then Karlijn and Wicher’s little niece joined us to add vocals.

Like with W, W & P #1, Pieter Ubbels played his sax part in one go, without listening to the music in advance. Amazing!

Download Looper Music.zip

The results of three different approaches to use a looper or long delay as basis for creating music.

TC-Loops (2016)

These loops have been created in one day using a TC looper and the Vermona Lancet synthesizer. As more and more parts are played the result goes from “empty” to a complete mess. As the whole recording process was recorded it was possible to remove the first rounds of the looper if necessary and to make a fade-out where the sweet spot had been passed and the mess began. No additional tracks have been recorded, this is just a looper with a single synth.

Note: Some fragments of these loops have later been used in the quadraphonic Temple of Tones music.

DD20 Loops (2019)

These loops have all been created in one day, using a Boss DD20 with long delay setting (24 sec) and some 95% delay time Waldorf Pulse 2. Afterwards some more tracks without looper have been added (Minimoog, Odyssey and some sampled birds). The advantage of a delay over a looper is that parts slowly disappear (a low pass filter in the feedback loop helps as well), while a looper keeps repeating and adding parts.

S & W Loops (2020)

These loops have been created in two sessions. The experiment was to feed the looper with multiple sources, by connecting the looper to the outputs of a small mixer. Stefan (a.k.a. KOLLEE) took care of voice and guitar, I played a single synth (Sequential Pro-3). The looping process has been recorded and was later tailored a bit. Making loops with two persons is big fun, but also much more difficult, as it becomes easily too busy.

When you feel inspired by those looping concepts and used the idea to create a masterpiece, let me know and please share. Other concepts are welcome as well.

Download Various Solo Projects.zip

A selection of miscellaneous projects and improvisations created between 2015 and 2020.

Funeral variations 1-8 (2015)

This somewhat macabre name has to do with the fact that one of the variations has been used during a funeral. All variations have been made with exactly the same instruments and sounds, all in one go, directly tot stereo. The lead part is a rackmount DSI Prophet 8, controlled by a Yamaha Motif XS, the chords are played on a DSI Prophet 12. The sustain pedal of the Prophet 12 allowed for playing the lead sound with two hands.

Variation #8 is clearly different. I guess it was time for something else after the previous seven attempts…

Memorymoog & Electro 1-3 (2016)

These three instant improvisations have been played on a Memorymoog and a Nord Electro, using it’s internal phaser. They all have a rather sinister atmosphere, especially the last one.

Saturated Minimoog Improvisation (2016)

This what happens when you play a Minimoog through an overdrive pedal (not sure which one has been used).

I included this impro as it triggers an idea: run lead sounds from different synths through various fuzz, distortion and overdrive pedals, as well as through different guitar amps, and sample the results. This may become a new sample package in the future…

Wout goes Oldfield (2016)

This is a piece based on half random sequence of chords. I became more and more Mike Oldfield style, hence the title. All was played on a Yamaha Montage and Minimoog. DAW was Sonar.

Concorde – The Last Flight (2020)

This is a project based on the banter of the Concorde pilot with the control center when it was about to leave USA airport for UK Heathrow. Pierre plays the (glissando) guitar. Other instruments used are the Yamaha Montage, Minimoog, Fender Jazz Bass.

This is a work in progress, as the idea is that the Concorde actually never lands in UK but halfway disappears in another dimension. A fantastic story with plenty of opportunities for a long, spacey and varied piece of music… To be continued.

Download Circles.zip

Circles 1 & 2 are the result of a rather technical quadraphonic experiment with 4 Boss DD20 delays. The various instruments were merged with the outputs of DD20 #4 and input to DD20 #1. The output of DD20 #1 was split into a stereo input for the DAW and to the input of DD20 #2, the output of DD20 #2 was split into a stereo input for the DAW and to the input of DD20 #3, the output of DD20 #3 was split into a stereo input for the DAW and to the input of DD20 #4, the output of DD20 #4 was split into a stereo input for the DAW and to the input of DD20 #1.

In other words, the four DD20 delays formed a big feedback loop each feeding the DAW, and after a mixing stage the 4 delays would each provide the signal for a speaker in a quadraphonic set. Of course to make the tracks audible on a normal stereo setup I had to combine track 1 and 3 (L) and track 2 and 4 (R). Instruments used are Kawai MP9000 and Ensoniq TS-12.

The difficulty lies in the fact that each tiny mistake sort of gets amplified and starts circling around you. When that happens you can only stop and start all over. Anyway, I completed two sessions on the same day, and the result are long hallucinating tracks.