Thursday, July 30

How dirty can a dubstep wobble bass get?



I've been looking for a dirty dirty dubstep wobble bass to jam with in Reason for a while. Something illicit, smacking of grit and grime that's thickness covers the frequency bands. Now I dig a cleaner patch called "Bass Dub Steppah" included with TrackTeam Audio's Thunderbox demo. And, of course, I've made a few dubstep patches myself, aided by YouTube. Heck, even the Reason Factory Soundbank has a pretty cool patch called "DnB Growler Bass", but it doesn't have the wobble control that I'm looking for... so today I decided to combine all the one's I like together into a monster we'll call the...


dubstep frankenbass

Wednesday, July 29

Some of them call it Ganja O/T

With no end in sight, the economic crisis has many Americans talking out about legalizing the nation's #1 cash crop, so it can be taxed and regulated:









What are your feelings concerning legalization? Is marijuana a "gateway drug"? And is keeping the nation's "moral integrity" more important then funding drug cartels and gangs? And what does this have to do with music? Well in the words of Peter Tosh, "Singers smoke it and players of instruments too." Not that I'd know, of course.

Tuesday, July 28

Combinator Backdrops



This morning on Propellerheads forum someone was looking for combinator backdrops and I thought I'd share the links here to some of my favorites:

Willbe's Reason Page

Wendy Dunham's Combinator Backdrops

Tom Mosler's Flickr

Marco Raaphorst aka Raapie

AI Joe's Flickr


Monday, July 27

New Flatpack on the way?


One of my very favorite refills made for Reason is Lapjockey's Flatpack 3. It has pads, leads, basses, beatboxes, textures and a beautiful design scheme. So this afternoon when perusing Lapjockey designer Simon Sherbourne's twitter I was stoked to see his post:

"We've got 2 new Flatpack packs ready to go. Just waiting for some behind the scenes tech from one of our hosts."

Hells yeah! I can't wait to see what they've come up with this time. As some of you may remember the blokes from Lapjockey were part of the great Sound Designer Roundtable story on the Props website. In the article they described their sound:

"We like analog synth and drum sounds, and also tend toward dark, film-style textures and atmospheres... We try to build patches that are like new instruments rather than flat sound presets, so we like to make patches that can be tweaked over a wide range. We like sounds that are usable in a mix; sounds that can be easily layered, rather than being in your face."

Album Cocktail

The Financial Times this morning reported that Apple has joined forces with EMI, Sony, Warner and UMG for an on-line album sales deal that is being worked on under the name "Cocktail". It appears iTunes will begin selling these new album packages in September and they'll include liner notes, artwork, lyrics and videos. Sounds like Apple and the major record companies have finally realized why everyone illegally downloads songs and how to possibly combat it. I for one am excited that on-line sales will finally include liner notes and artwork. Perhaps it's time to sell off your CDs while they're still worth something.

Sunday, July 26

Saturday, July 25

New Ned Rush YouTube Tutorial!

Mr. Ned Rush posted a new YouTube tutorial about using Dr Rex's Gate Output CV for Fx. In a similar vein to the one he did about Ableton Gate FX, which was one of the videos I posted here. Anyhow with no further ado:

Ning



Social networking sites pop up daily, this need to connect is perhaps a by-product of industrialization and the TV eye worldview. But I digress, Ning is a new site that enables anyone to start or join a group. They have a few groups already set up dealing with music production... here's the best of them:

Propellerhead Reason Collaboration allows members to upload music, browse other's content, and find compatriots to collaborate with! Very cool idea.

Learn Ableton Live appears to be Dubspot sponsored (or at least has a lot of their info), so you know they are going to have great content.

Abletonville offers tips and tricks for beginners.

Ableton Freaks states "get the most out of Ableton Live in the community."



And it's not just for music production.

Happy Birthday Hugo!




Goldbaby, arguably the best sample producer on the planet for classic drum machine sounds is offering a special 25% discount until the end of July for his birthday. That's right, he's giving you the gift. Speaking of which, I highly recommend his Tape 808 and Vinyl Drum Machines sets. The coupon code is huggiebirthday09.




And while you're there, you should also check out all the great free samples available on Goldbaby's website.
Jump on it....... there's only a few days left in July to take advantage of this great offer!!!


Friday, July 24

Voltage

Saw this on CDM today, and while I normally hate to repost, this video by Brazilian based Bam Studio is amazingly cool; and of course, I didn't want any of my readers to miss it! From vimeo:

"Just like modular synthesizers, people connect with each other in order to achieve diverse objectives. In Voltage, robots, half-human and half-synthesizer, powered by a huge amount of energy, connect to each other in an electric and chaotic trance."

Voltage from Bam Studio on Vimeo.








Oh, and by the way, Logic Studio, the 9th version of Logic came out yesterday. Evidently Apple is so impressed with the upgrade that it didn't even warrant their front page..... So why should I acknowledge it with it's own post? The difference between 8 & 9 is the complete convergence of Garageband and Pro Tools into one program. Yawn. Bring on Propellerhead's record!

Thursday, July 23

YouTube Tutorials

When it comes to music production tutorials on YouTube, Mr. Ned Rush is one of the masters. His videos are always informative and delivered with that biting wit the English are famous for. If you're on the Props board you probably recognize him by his handle, Rangoe. It's always a cause for celebration in my apartment when I see a new video by Ned, because I know I'm about to learn something new that'll help in my music production. Here's some of my favorite videos by the man:





Wednesday, July 22

Rex Files Redux



Last time we spoke a bit about exploring Rex files in Reason and this evening I'd like to delve a little deeper. One thing I didn't realize when I first started to use Reason was that you could play Rex files with an NNXT sampler. This enables you to do a couple of things, most importantly - looping! The easiest way to set this up is to create a Dr REX and search for the file you want to mess around with. Once you've found a good candidate, go ahead and set your L and R markers for length and copy to track your file (using the "to track" button on Dr Rex, see above.)
Now you'll want to create a NNXT and load the rex file (using browse patch button, just left of NNXT's fake LCD). All you need to do to play the rex file with the NNXT sampler is drag the track in the sequencer from the Dr Rex to the NNXT.



Okay, this is where the fun begins. When the NNXT is expanded (triangle on bottom left of sampler) you have access to each step in your beat and can use the myriad of options available on the NNXT sampler to play with your audio.

Trick #1 is grouping sounds to different audio outputs. To do this highlight the clip you want with your mouse and choose the desired output with the output knob at the bottom right of the LCD panel. And by the way, if you aren't sure about which clip, clicking on the name of the sample while pressing "option" will play the file. I generally will drag and drop the files I want together to the bottom and top of the lcd panel, so I can assign the outputs all at once, by pressing "shift" while clicking on them. Why would you want to have separate audio outs? One reason is to have different effects on different samples. How about a delay on the highhats. A Scream distortion on the snares. Another Scream emulating a Tube amp on the kicks. The possiblities are endless.

Trick #2 is my favorite of all... Using the "loop start" and "loop end" knobs to creating clicks, cuts and glitching effects. Now you'll need to highlight the sample you want to play with again and turn the "play mode" knob to "FW-LOOP". Try different settings to get anything from buzzes to flams to stuttering rolls. I've found for drums you generally want to set the end for something under 50% and even lower for glitching sounds. Unfortunately there's no edit automation for the knobs directly under the LCD, so you have to set it up for the track, or use a couple of NNXTs loaded with the same files for different glitching effects on the same sample.



Trick #3 is using the LFO section (bottom left of NNXT remote editor) to create filtering, tremolo, and pitch-shifting effects. As with the last two, you'll want to highlight the sample you want to edit and then try playing around with these settings. There's no hard or fast rules here and the easiest way to find something you like is to tweak the knobs while you have the beat looping. The LFO has 5 different waveforms to choose from, the saw and square being my favorite of the bunch. Keep in mind the rate can be tempo sinked up to 1/32 if you are looking for a fast tremolo or warbling pitch effect. Of course you can choose free run on the LFO's rate as well.

Reason Tip - Rex Files



Dr Rex is an often overlooked instrument in Propellerhead's Reason Software. At first glance it looks like a mere sample player, but it's the things you can do with it that are the most interesting. One of my favorite tricks with Dr Rex and Rex files in general is to take one file's pattern, another file's sound, and combine them. Now when doing this the main thing you need to look at is the number of slices in the patterns. Are they similar? You don't want to play the sound from a file with 8 slices on a pattern with 16, obviously. You also want to be aware of the kick and snare placement. Do they match? The easiest way to check these things out is to find the pattern you like, copy it to track and press play; while the sample is playing browse for your new sound file (with auto-play disabled in browser).

For the audio example, I took a free loop I downloaded at Ryan Gruss.com and matched it up with a Rex file from the Reason Factory Soundbank. The first 4 bars is the Gruss loop, followed by the 4 bars of Drb30 from RFSB, and the final four are those two added together.




And speaking of Gruss Loops, if you love Rex Files as much as me, you really should sign up for Gruss Packs!

ryangruss.com - loop pack demo from Ryan Gruss on Vimeo.

Glitch Machine V3



A new day, a new Glitch Machine! We're up to Version 3 for those of you keeping track. A while ago Koshdukai presented a video on Youtube of his new effects device, "Regrainzer". This combinator used keys to play different effects, in a fashion similar to Sugar Bytes' Artillery 2. In the video he doesn't really show the secret behind his technique and I spent a good week trying to figure it out. (Turns out I was wrong, but that's not really important.) This combinator is the result of my struggle. The Glitch Machine V3 has 3 effects, activated by C1 (distortion), C#1 (flanger), D1 (loop). The Mod Wheel adjusts the effect being played, while the PitchBend does resonance. Button 3 adds a delay on the effect (except for on the looper), and Rotary 4 controls the Frequency. Why does this have a filter? Because I love Low Pass Filters. Anyhow, this is no where near as complex or as impressive as the version that Koshdukai will be releasing in the near future, but I thought some of you would get a kick out of it. Link:


glitch machine v3




Click here to check out a demo rps version of Koshdukai's Regrainzer!

Tuesday, July 21

SampleBasement Song Contest



SampleBasement, the creators of the TekkBox groovebox refill are throwing a song contest in anticipation of their new product, the Electric Avenue refill. I finished my track this afternoon for it and man was it a blast trying to come up with a piece using only one Sound Designer's creations. Here's the blurb form SB's website:

"SampleBasement Song Contest!

I'm very interested in the music you produce with the SampleBasement ReFill's. That's why i thought of a little contest where you get the chance of winning a copy of Electric Avenue when it will be released. The plan is that you create a song using nothing but SampleBasement sounds. It doesn't matter which style the song is in as long as it's original and creative. Feel free to tweak the sounds to fit your track (you can use EQ, effects, alter the filter, envelopes, etc, etc). And yes, you are allowed to send in multiple songs!

Every sound needs to come from the SampleBasement free ReFill's. I will be giving away free copy's of Electric Avenue to the 5 best entries. I will be looking at production, creative use of the sounds and originality. I will start judging the submissions the 15th of August so make sure you send it in before that date!

Send your song in RPS format to:

dave@samplebasement.com"


For more information on SampleBasement and to download their free refills for the contest click HERE!

Monday, July 20

CV DELAY COMBI



Here's a glitch/dub combinator I've been working on for a while for Propellerhead's Reason software. I love effects in my music, especially on drums and this one excels at glitchy dub delays without venturing into beat repeater territory (because we've been there before, both here and here.) I recommend this combi for dubstep, reggae, and d&b.

Here's an rps example:

CV Delay Example

And the combi alone:


CV Delay v2

Sunday, July 19

The State of Pop in the USA

When it comes to Pop music I love female singers. The female voice range really lends itself to this style of music and the United States used to be at the epicenter of it all. From Donna Summer to Madonna, the world looked at the USA as the ambassador of culture when it came to the sugary Pop music confection. But as of late it seems all we spew out of here is shite. Granted Gwen Stefani and Fergie's songs are catchy, but after hearing them twice I want to throw my radio out the window. And mind you it's a Grundig, so it's nothing I take lightly. Perhaps this is the first sign of the decline of the American Civilization. Don't believe? Compare Kelly Clarkson to these foreign exports:









speaking of music from around the world, National Geographic has a beautiful website featuring World Music:

Nat Geo Music

DS-10 Plus



The makers of the fantastic DS-10 for the Nintendo DS have updated it for the new DSi. The new DS-10+ is like having two DS-10s together! Double the tracks, double the drums. It also enables the user to edit the drums and synthesizers live, which will be fantastic. Granted you could use the Kaoss screen to control some of the synth parameters live before, but now everything is available for live tweaking! I love this synthesizer and hope it will encourage other developers to jump on the DSi platform for music production software. With the touchscreen it really is perfectly suited for music. Maybe Korg will take notice and make a Kaossilator for the DSi. No mention about whether the step sequencer has been expanded.





And don't forget to check out my drum samples from the DS-10 posted here:

DS-10 Samples

Friday, July 17

New Moogerfooger Midi Murf



My favorite effects pedal of all-time is getting an upgrade! Many people on the Moogerfooger forum were asking for midi control on the Murf and MoogMusic listened. With the Murf 105M you get the regular Murf, the Bass Murf, and midi control! Here's the blurb from Moog:

"The evolution of the MuRF continues with the MF-105M MIDI MuRF. The MF-105M combines Bob Moog’s classic MuRF and Bass MuRF to make one powerful Moogerfooger. Its warm, resonant, 100% analog Mid and Bass filter bands bring you everything from shimmering timbral morphing and rhythmic stuttering to deep bass grooves, and like all Moogerfoogers, it’s built like a tank to stand up to the toughest touring and studio use."





MoogMusic.Com

And don't forget about my Murf recreation for Reason available here.

Thursday, July 16

DUB ECHOES

Anyone seen this? Looks killer:



DUB ECHOES SITE

Wednesday, July 15

Moderat

Modeselektor + Apparat = Moderat

Moderat "Rusty Nails" from Pfadfinderei on Vimeo.

Bent in Osaka

Came across this "Highly Modified Roland TR-505 Circuit Bent Drum Machine" while carousing Ebay this afternoon. What a beauty:

Bent TR-505

05rmm+ from r.e.division on Vimeo.



4 sale+ from r.e.division on Vimeo.

Made in Italy



One of my favorite cheap drum machines is the Siel MDP-40. It's sounds are harsh and beats are steady. Now, I've heard people slag on the Siel MDP-40 for it's generic sound, these people obviously don't run their drums thru effects. Try running these one shots thru a ring modulator or some distortion with a HPF. Or best yet, if you use Reason try out Nucleus Soundlab's "Filter Research" refill for some great effects for them. I really dig the Bit Crusher effect in the Distortion and Saturation folder for these sounds. I'll be posting Rex files of the on-board beats sometime in the near future... so stay tuned.

Siel MDP-40 one shots:

Siel MDP-40.zip



For more information of Filter Research:

NSL Filter Research

Tuesday, July 14

record

I'm what is commonly referred to in musicians' circles as a "gear whore". I love finding out about new software and hardware - how it works, and if it will in any way help in my music production. So in May, when Propellerhead's Software announced a new recording program, called "record", I was interested and immediately signed up as a beta tester. Now, probably the most talked about thing in "record" is the mixing console. Based on the legendary SSL 9000k mixing desk, this baby has master bus compression, channel dynamics, and an eq section that is just lovely. It really is something to behold...



I'd love to go into more detail about this amazing new software, but Propellerhead's are asking all beta testers to keep their mouths' shut until the release date of 9.9.9. However, I do have a few Beta invites available to any of my faithful readers that want to try it out. Just leave a comment or send me an e-mail...



For more information:

Propellerhead's record page

Monday, July 13

Alva Noto

Alva Noto from maximumlens on Vimeo.

DS-10 to the rescue!



About two weeks ago my Macbook Pro's screen started glitching out like an old television set losing it's reception on a stormy night. Needless to say I was distressed and contacted Apple Care, who promptly sent me out a box and shipping label, so I could mail my laptop to Memphis to get fixed. Now my MBP is the center of my life... I have no television, no ipod and I'm not the most sociable guy (which is a nice way of saying I'm a loser). So while my laptop was getting fixed I remembered that I had recently picked up the DS-10 for my Nintendo DS Lite. If you're not familiar with the DS-10 it's a recreation of the analog MS-10 monophonic synthesizer with a 16 track sequencer for the Nintendo DS. With my computer gone, it gave me ample time to play with the DS-10 and man is it fun! I really like the drum sounds that can be made with it as well as sound fx. Only real gripe is that I wish the sequencer was at least 32 steps long. Luckily the Pattern window has a lot of steps so there's a work around. Anyhow, I spent the majority of the weekend playing with it and came up with some pretty good sounds that I really wanted to try out in Reason. So as soon as I got my computer back I fired up Propellerhead's record and made wav files of my favorite drum and glitch sounds from the DS-10. I haven't gotten to good at editing with record yet, so I used Audacity to cut the files down to size and now they are available if you are so inclined:


DS-10 Beat L.72.zip

Tuesday, July 7

Art History


As a respite from the recent Reason postings this evening I'd like to share with you one of my favorite jazz musicians of all time, Mr. Art Pepper. Art played with the same intensity that drove his life and lifestyle. Mr. Pepper spent a large portion of his adult life behind bars from drug related arrests. His playing conveys this... chasing the melody, chasing the dragon. Art Pepper and his widow, Laurie wrote a wonderful book on his life, called "Straight Life":

Straight Life

If you've never heard Art before I'd highly recommend starting with his seminal recording:

Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section

If you already have this cd, do yourself a favor and pick up the brand new release "The Art History Project". On Laurie Pepper's own "Widow's Taste" record label. 3 cds of some of the best jazz you'll find anywhere, played by a master:

The Art History Project

There's a great movie out on DVD called "Notes of a Jazz Survivor" on Art Pepper, here's a clip:



for more information check out:

Straight Life

Monday, July 6

Copy Machine



Here's another one from the Props board I'm putting up here for posterity. Text from the board:

Made a new combinator this morning! Originally I was trying to make a Reason version of Squarewave Parade's "Teaspoon":

Square Wave Parade

After I started making it I incorporated some of my favorite elements of Shuriken's Copy Shop:

Shuriken's Copy Shop

Hence the name Copy Machine. Probably nothing new to a lot of you, but I thought I'd share...

It has a basic repeater in the blue section. Some pattern alterations controlled in the red section (courtesy of Malstrom's Mod A section controlling the CV of a DDL-1's feedback.) And finally the grey sections are controls for the filter that only works on the repeating sounds. The Pitch-bend controls the frequency (and a bit of resonance) while the Mod Wheel controls the rate of the filter - because the filter is being controlled by Malstrom's Mod B. Here's an RPS example:

Copy Machine.rps

and the combi:


COPY MACHINE

Murf Refill



Continuing with the Reason theme, today I'm posting a refill I made a few months ago and posted on the Props forum. This is for those of you that missed it the first time round. I'm feeling lazy today, so I just copied the text from the Props board (sampling myself, if you will):

My favorite effects pedal of all time is the Moogerfooger MuRF. MuRF stands for "multiple resonance filter array." Basically it has 8 sliders that control whether or not you'll hear the sounds in those bands. However it isn't just an equalizer because it plays patterns of those bands (22 different patterns.) Very analog, sequenced fun. Great for drums, ambience, pads. Why am I telling you this? Because I made a Refill based on this pedal. And while it isn't perfect, I think it gets the job done. Here's a link:


MuRF Style


Now you'll want to open up the combi and change the sliders around to suit whatever you are running thru it, along with the "Rate" knob. Also on the backside is an easter egg of sorts. Rotary 2 is plugged into LFO2 of Thor (which is being used as a filter device), turning this pass the zero mark controls the patterns and can make some glitchy fun at faster speeds. Inside the "Murfswing" folder are patterns from the Bass Murf pedal, and (hence the name) have the swing enabled - try bigbeat or slowbeat with some drums. The other folder, marked "murf", are the patterns from the regular Murf pedal. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this refill and any feedback would be great.

For more information and samples of the Moogerfooger Murf, check out the Moog Website:

Moog Music


Sunday, July 5

Reason: Patch A Day

One of my very favorite blogs is featuring a couple of my combinator patches today! Here's the link to check it out:

Reason: Patch A Day




A little about Reason and Reason: Patch a day. First off I love that this blog has a premise and does one thing and one thing only. And it tells you what that one thing is in the title. When I was thinking of starting a blog this is one of the blogs I looked at as an example (the other blog I looked at is the blog that got me into reading blogs, the now dead, MusicThing.) Sound itself is why I got into music in the first place, so a blog on creating sounds is right up my alley. And it uses my favorite software in the world, Propellerheads Reason! I'm a late comer to Reason, having only been using it for under a year- before that I was using NI's Reaktor (which is also great.) I'd made the mistake of listening to naysayers that spoke of its interface as a gimmick, "look the cords on the back move", and never bothered to try it. Instead I went to the modular environment of Reaktor, which is great fun, but not the best music making tool. I believe with Reason, I've found the perfect combination of a software that I can tweak to do anything I want, while at the same time pushes me towards making music. Believe me, Reaktor certainly allowed me to tweak, but that's about all I did/do with it. Maybe your experience is different, I know people that swear by Cubase and I can't fathom why. (Although that new Loopsmash does look like fun.-) Reason has a reputation as being the platform for hip-hop music and I can understand why - combined with a pad interface it's very similar to using an MPC! But I don't make hip-hop and I know so many people like myself that enjoy using Reason for all types of music. So if you aren't happy with your current music making platform check out Reason's Demo. Just don't play on a cracked copy or I'll come into your house and slap you silly. Alright, sermons over...

To try out Reason, go the the Propellerhead Software website:

Propellerhead's Software

Oddulator

L.L. Electronics is a boutique synthesizer company, based in Europe, that's famous for making the Rozzbox, an all tube analog synthesizer. This past winter at Musikmeese they debuted their newest offering, the Oddulator. The Oddulator is a smaller, digital synthesizer geared towards live performance. And features function knobs with labels like "lo-fi", "glitch", and "aliasing". Needless to say I'm stoked! And you should be as well, because with a list price of 450 euros almost anyone can afford this beauty. The man behind L.L. Electronics recently posted a Youtube video going over his new creation, so grab some popcorn and dig in:



For more information check out the website:

Rozzbox

Saturday, July 4

ALVA NOTO

Here's an excerpt from Scanner TV on one of my favorite artists, ALVA NOTO aka Carsten Nicolai. His Xerox albums and recent work with Ryuichi Sakamoto are some of the greatest electronic pieces ever made. I dig his approach to sound and space. Like if Thelonius Monk had a laptop.

Alva Noto: Tarkovski Revisited from scannerFM on Vimeo.

Carsten Nicolai estuvo en Barcelona para ponerle música a su particular versión del "Solaris" de Tarkovski, y de paso nos habló de sus proyectos



And here's a recent live clip, courtesy of playgroundmag.net:

SONAR09 Raster noton presents: ALVA NOTO from Playgroundmedia on Vimeo.



If you're an American, Happy 4th of July! If you're not, I personally apologize for my country's foreign policy and rampant colonialism.......

Friday, July 3

Buchla Music Easel


For me, the holy grail of synthesizers is the Buchla Music Easel. It's the perfect size, built in it's own aluminum road case and looks like it's assembled from a rector set. I can only imagine how great it would be to run a Music Easel thru my Moogerfoogers. Bleeps and blurps for days! To think this synthesizer's first incarnation, the Buchla Music Box, was built in the 196os is astounding... If you'd had one of these, back then, blasting thru an amp in your garage, the neighbors would have thought they'd entered the Twilight Zone! Now, I had seen pictures of the Music Easel on-line for a number of years but only heard it for the first time last year, when I ran across a movie posted on Vimeo of Charles Cohen playing one. Needless to say I was transfixed. It sounded even better than it looked and immediately surpassed the EMS Putney on my gear lust list! So if any of you happen to win the lottery and want to make me forever grateful, you know what to get me...

CHARLES COHEN AT THE BUCHLA MUSIC EASEL from ∆LEX on Vimeo.


From Vimeo:

"/ / / / / Viewing with headphones or a stereo source is highly recommended / / / / /

This video features sound artist Charles Cohen improvising on a 1970's Buchla Music Easel. This extremely rare instrument is one of Don Buchla's 200 series. Buchla (a pioneer of audio synthesis) only manufactured 14 of these units. The entire film was edited from an hour-long set of free improvisation, with audio was taken directly from Charles' mixing board.

All of the photography and editing was produced by Alex Tyson, a sound and video artist from Pennsylvania. The film was shot in 16:9 720p High Definition format, using the Letus35 Extreme and a 35mm LensBaby 3GPL. "



For more information:

Buchla Music Easel

Charles Cohen

Thee Gristleizer




*Thee Gristleizer is an effects box built by Chris Carter of Throbbing Gristle fame. The device was based on a kit and schematic in 'Practical Electronic' by Roy Gwinn. The original unit had a switch to choose between a VCF (voltage controlled filter) and VCA (voltage controlled amplifier) setting. It also had 'Speed', 'Depth', and 'Bias' controls. You could choose the waveform with the 'Shape' knob. The 'Speed' and 'Depth' knobs controlled the LFO (low frequency oscillator). Simply put, Thee Gristleizer could be thought of as a sound destruction unit with a tremolo like setting. But it is so much more than that in the right hands. Recently a company based out of Asheville, North Carolina, have started making an authorized version of Thee Gristleizer and Throbbing Gristle used the new version on their recent reunion tour. If you'd like to pick one up, here's a link:

Endangered Audio

However, if like me, this recession hasn't been so kind to you, and dropping $375 on an effects device isn't currently feasible, maybe I can interest you in my version built for Propellerhead's Reason 4. This effects combinator routes sound thru Reason's Thor synthesizer. Using it's LFO's and sequencer to approximate the original. And for the dirt I used a Scream, "Sound Destruction Unit". This squelching bad boy can be yours for the low price of $374. No just kidding. It's free. Here's an RPS file to check it out:

Gristleizer.rps

If you'd like a copy of the combinator:


THEE_GRISTLEIZER


(If for some reason that link doesn't work, e-mail me thru the blog or on the Props forum ~ lewis72)

Here's Chris Carter himself, playing two Buddha Boxes thru a couple of Gristleizers:

Two Gristleizers Modulating Two FM3 Buddha Machines from Chris Carter on Vimeo.




* All product names used are trademarks of their respective owners, and in no way constitutes an association or affiliation with resonantfilter.blogspot.com. Thee Gristleizer and Throbbing Gristle trademarks are solely used to identify the products whose sound was studied during L.72's sound modeling development.

** To those wondering how I can afford to release this product at such a low cost. One word = volume.