Analog synth direct to cassette direct to tin can album...

[jedblue]

I'd stuck a bit of this on SteveM's analog MIDI thread earlier today but I thought I'd stick it on here on it's own now that it's kind of done and I've decided to get it out.

Like I said there, I've got this old Yamaha CS30 mono synth that's the devils own spawn when it comes to running the thing given that you have to do everything by hand. But then I figured 'what the hell, I'll just plug it into my old Akai GX-95 cassette deck and start fiddling with it and see what comes out'.

So there are now two thirty minute free form synth pieces I've dubbed off to C60 and stuck in a tin can package and put out on hand_art_sound...

This is the synth again...

and, once again, this is the result...

Italian tomatoes, dymo labels, C60 blank cassettes and labels, metallic flower arrangers spray paint, blue spiral binder cover card, white paint pen and Pringles chips tube caps.

Or if you prefer it a bit more radioactive you can have it like this...

You can hear a bit of me battling with the SOB running on this MySpace I've created for it and whatever I manage next on it as a solo instrument...

http://www.myspace.com/ronknob

Or if you're brave and you can put up with it, here's the lot on mp3.com.au

http://www.mp3.com.au/Forms/MediaView.aspx?MediaId=134180

I'm going to use these tracks as a basis for an eight minute piece for Cassette Culture's third k7 cultuRE compilation by mixing up at least four tape decks all running this stuff at various different starting points into a mixer, some effects, and then out into the GX-95 again with a lot of fader and pan riding - a bit like Jeff's musique concrete stuff.

Sure beats the day job.

Geoff.

 

[SteveM]

I like the can idea. It's pretty neat.

 

[Beck]

Pretty cool!

Reminded me of two things.

1) The soundtrack from 2001 Space Odyssey

2) An old 1940's electric fan my dad still had around when I was a kid. It was always changing speeds and pitches... always on the brink of failing. When it finally did fail it flamed out like an old WWII fighter plane and I had to run outside with it, still on fire. Well, me dad was in the Air Force in WWII, so it seemed like it was just meant to be somehow.

Gives me an idea for a new movie… 2010 Space Oddity.

The can will be the space ship and Tommy Chong will play the part of the surviving astronaut.

This is the script I have so far.
[Dave (Tommy Chong) is locked outside of the ship by HAL the computer.]

Dave: I gotta go to the can, man!

HAL: I’m sorry Dave; I can’t let you do that.

Dave: I still gotta go to the can, man!

That’s all I have right now.

You should really do this on youtube or somethin’.

 

[stevieb]

...me dad was in the Air Force in WWII...

If you are a fellow yank, it was called the Army Air Corps during WWII.

 

[Beck]

If you are a fellow yank, it was called the Army Air Corps during WWII.

Yeah, I know it didn't become the separate branch of the Air Force until 1947... I just say Air Force because they're aren't many blokes like us left that know what the hell I mean when I say Army Air Corps. I always have to say Air Force at some point to clarify, So I just skipped that part this time.

I'm definitely a Yank... we've been here since 1680. And fought in every war since the French and Indian War, except WWI. I feel kinda left out. I was way to young so I missed Vietnam, and a little too old (technically speaking) for Iraq/Afghanistan.

I’m hopin’ to get a few licks in during Armageddon. My dream job is manning a Patriot Missile battery to defend Israel from incoming... we’ll see.

Anyway, my dad was in the China-Burma-India Theater in WWII, and later Korea. He didn't retire until the early 60's.