‘Eloquencer Sessions’ (2018) |l ALBUM RELEASE |l

[radiokoala]

Today is the day.

After trimming all the peaks, mastering & normalizing audio files, as well as wirelessly transmitting them to a mysterious server, I'm proud to announce the release of my latest album, Eloquencer Sessions!

Four years of hardware live sets & improvised dance music. Six years of eurorack twiddling and browsing Muff’s. Two more on top of recording tracks and experimenting with sounds. Phase-modulation madness, synthesized bagpipes & throaty vocalizations — all coming out of nowhere in the middle of the sessions via happy accident of setting knobs just right, — joined by fire alarm systems clamoring over the techno grooves. Mixed & mastered outside the box for intensified submersion and mordant decibels.

Modules Used: Sputnik 258C, Steady State Fate PTG, Warps, Tides, L-1 2180 VCF, Telharmonic, A*B+C, 4ms PEG, Eloquencer.
Drums Courtesy Of: KORG volca beats; KORG volca sample OKGO. Recorded to / Mastered with Zoom R8. Mixed on 1002B.

Patch notes

A1: Tribal Tech-House. Starts with programming tELHARMONIC H OUT melodic sequence. When the bass comes in, it's Tides. FM bells at around 6:20 come from x-modulated Sputnik. Pads (at about 8:21) are Warps. Whenever you hear triads in mix, it's tELHARMONIC, with solo appearance at about 22:00 and on, all those bent phase permutations (23:00) and Nintendo-ey chord stabs (24:18). I really like where this session is heading at about 12:00 mark, some tropical bongo-ey accrescent madness taking best from cumbia, tech-house, and tribal electronic.

B2: Bell Tower Operation. What defines this track are very deep fm siren-like sounds coming from cross-modulated Sputnik oscillator pair. It's easy to recognize them very early in the beginning, but at some point (like on 0:32 and maybe couple more times) they change to slow sweepy bleeps, this is due to lowering the modulator frequency. As a rule, the most harmonically rich & edgy sounds come from Sputnik, unless they are CZ-ey / polyphonic, those would be tELHARMONIC (its “P” mode demo’ed for good four or so minutes, sounding particularly nice at 8:00). Then everything sinewavey is Sputnik also (lfo type sweeps) or self-oscillating filter (envelope pitch sweeps, PTG+ to filter fm, 4ms PEG OR output VCreso). The 16:47 screechy bagpipes originate from tH Phase modulation, I like this moment so much, think it's a highlight of the entire session. And so is 29+ minute mark bass sequence, this 6-minute part is close to being my favorite ever session ending!.. Coming from Tides through L-1 LPF.

The album is available on “NYP” (name your price) basis, effectively: FREE D/L. Here is the first place I announce the release: I wouldn't be nowhere near completing this record if not for all the years I have spent here.

[bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=1383559942 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 track=3123366920]
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[Trebbers]

I like the 1st track. Don't make techno, but still pretty inspiring coming from a relatively small setup.

Are you sequencing the Volcas internally or externally?

[radiokoala]

Trebbers
Thanks! I used to play live sets with (up to four) volcas alone then transitioned to more & more modular, 3U at first – and sequenced by Korg SQ-1, – then 6U. Have only played one Eloquencer live so far, but made a bold move already this year, of only leaving drum machine dept of volca and devoting modular to 100% of synth duties. If I'm being honest, it suits me fine at this point: less trouble setting up, with daisy chaining and plugging in, plus it makes for more raw and gritty sound, with more focus on rhythm section. And, having 7 tracks of euro synthery at this point, 3+1 more volca voices (of up-to-six note polyphony) would get me someplace orchestral & certainly less techno.

To answer your question, I use internal sequencing only, but if you catched an odd-meter moment or two, this might be due to using stutter effect, which I mostly use for quick one bar fills and like, however.