Modular track

Kosmiche Drei by recompas

More Telephone mics

I got a few really ancient handsets off Ebay recently and have made some microphones out of them. They sound a bit more lofi and gritty than the Bell Model 500 handsets I've been using and I had to put the jack in kind of a unique place. I like it. These are for sale, $100 each.

Email me if you are interested.

Schau

In November I got to spend some time at the Watermill Center working on sound material for a production being created by Alexandra Sachs. Selections from the performance were presented as a work in progress at the center on Nov. 20th and here is some video from the performance. I really enjoyed using live sound elements in the compositions - in particular the 'zoo' scene records audio from the audience, processes it and then plays it back into the environment as a sort of feedback loop.

SCHAU / work in progress / watermill center 2010 from Alexandra Sachs on Vimeo.

The Shrine of Native Rites for Electric Winter

Saturday night myself and Mikael Jorgensen created some ambient music as part of an installation at Eyebeam for their winter mixer. We performed inside of a structure built by some colleagues of mine that was meant to create an atmosphere of meditation and calmness. Up to 6 audience members at a time could tune in on headphones, sip peppermint tea and realax while we played and videos were projected on the ceiling of the structure.

The Shrine of Native Rites for Electric Winter @ Eyebeam 12.11.10 by recompas

LoFi Telephone mics updated

Been making a few of my LoFi Telephone mics for clients lately and have has some custom work as well. This one was an input for the earpiece and an output from the microphone (this time using the active mic element scheme). More info and pricing is on my site.

DIY Volta - Max/MSP + Audio interface CV output

The main reason I put together the little portable modular rig in the post below was to have something that would be easier to travel with than my tb-3031 rack but still get the live tweak-ability and sound of the 303. One of the biggest sonic features of the 303 is the envelope control over the filter and the accent circuits which are responsible for the punchy, funky acid basslines. I was using Massive through Ableton Live for my basic oscillators and then running the sound out to the waveform processor and wasp filter, with the LFO doing some modulation. I got close, but not quite what I wanted. In order to get the filter accent and envelope working I created this max patch that takes midi in and splits the notes depending on their velocity, to trigger a line~ object connected to my soundcard's output. I'm not sure if this will work with all soundcards, but I'm actually using the built in output of my MacBook Pro and it generates a nice little ramp voltage that I can connect to CV1 or 2 of the filter. End result - not a perfect 303 by any means, but punchy, funky acid basslines for sure. The large rotary control changes the length of the envelopes and the slider at the bottom controls the total amount of output.

mini modular rig

mini modular rig, originally uploaded by recompas.

getting ready for ATL/London/Utrecht/Amsterdam tour, bringing some Doepfer modules for live knob turning.

Steiner VCO + Buchla 292c LPG Clone

Steiner VC Oscillator with square wave PWM from Doepfer Variable Waveform LFO and Saw waves going into a Buchla 292c Lopass Gate Clone. LPG modulated by Serge VCS. Drums from Jomox XBase 09.

All working and sounding totally awesome!

Steiner + 292c by recompas

Watermill Center

Large Gallery, Watermill Center from Travis Thatcher on Vimeo.

Last week I spent some time working on music for a few performance pieces at the Watermill Center in the Hamptons. An amazing place, filled with an incredible art collection. Hopefully I'll have some videos of the performances soon.

Native Tekno dream machine guts

Steiner VCO 99% working

So I finally finished building David and Nyle's updated Steiner VCO. Initially I used some 25k trimmers where there were meant to be 5k ones. I figured since they were basically just voltage dividers that it wouldn't cause any trouble, but I was wrong. Once I replaced those I was able to get all the different wave-forms working. My only issue now is scaling the thing to v/oct, but it sounds fantastic! The sync and pwm modulation inputs are super useful. I'll post some video of it being controlled by a VoS sequencer soon.

Sawtooth:


Square:


Tri:


Sine:

components in Manhattan

Today I needed to grab some standoffs for my Steiner VCO project and in looking around online I finally found an awesome place in Chinatown. Check out this review on NYC Resistor's blog of 269 Electronics on Canal St. At first glance its another crappy storefront with knockoff sunglasses and headphones, but in back is a great little shop with the owner apparently being well known for fixing all sorts of electronics!

DigATL Circus - 10.28.10

Next Thursday at the Star Bar in L5P Atlanta, there's a killer show being put on by 4thWardHeroes. I'll be DJing and there will be some rad free masks that I designed based on the Voice of Saturn schematics, printed thanks to Mindzai.

Tragical Misery Non-Tour (USA 2010)

A few months back - or maybe longer - Blake Helton and I and some of our other musical compadres said goodbye to his gorgeous Mellotron M400 with some fantastic improv sessions. Read the great post and download the tunes on HLFP, my favorite space music blog!

recompas and Voice of Saturn tracks on HLFP sampler!

Check out the new Homemade Lofi Psych sampler that just came out HERE! There's a recompas/visitor track on it, as well as a Voice of Saturn (I believe what I'm calling my solo work for now) track. Its full of great music. HLFP is a really fantastic blog based out of Berlin with a wealth of killer music.

Music in NY

This last week was insanely busy. Here's the mix I did for Friday's Lorick New York fashion show at Tela Design Studio. It was a lot of fun coming up with something that would compliment the collection.

DJ Mix for Lorick New York show - 09.10.10 by recompas

I'll have an excerpt from Wednesday's Siki Im fashion presentation where I did a live minimal electronic soundtrack to a choreographed fashion show.

Next up: playing with Zoroaster on Wed the 15th at Webster Hall and Sunday the 19th at the Knitting Factory!

The Voice of Saturn in NYC!

I've been in Brooklyn for nearly a month now and it looks like I'll finally be able to set up shop soon. Lots of interesting things happening in the next month. Look for the Voice of Saturn VCF in Eurorack format at Analogue Haven very soon! Also, I'll be doing some live performances for fashion week for Siki Im and Lorick New York. Analog modular synths and fashion - who'd have thought!

That's all for now. More noise soon!

T

LIL CHUD

Finally got this built for mr. Visitor before I leave Atlanta for NYC. He made a video, I'll get some photos up soon. Its a really fun little modular consisting of an MFOS VCO, a Thomas White Buchla LoPass Gate clone, 2x Voice of Saturn Modulators (LFO sections) and a Voice of Saturn VCF. Lots of noise in a nice little compact unit.

lil chud cvm modular from blake helton on Vimeo.

Voice of Saturn synth in good company!

Check out this post on Matrixsynth about the Sydney Fringe Festival.

We've been busy

Finally, the new Voice of Saturn VCF is nearly ready. We'll be selling it through Analogue Haven soon. I'm really happy with the way this one came out, visually. I'll be doing a panel for the synth soon!








We still have a very limited amount of the Blacet/Frac versions, so get them while you can here, at the Curious Inventor store.

In other news, at the end of this month I'll be moving up to NYC for a while. Looking forward to setting up shop in Brooklyn/Williamsburg and making a lot more music!

-Travis