The Doepfer Dark Time sequencer was a recent rediscovery for me.  Using just the switches and knobs was a refreshing alternative to more sophisticated options that I now have.  I'll probably always keep it just because of it's old school design.

Hey all, been busy these past few weeks and I'll be doing an update "Talking" video next and discuss my new career field, current soundtracks I'm working on, thoughts on new gear, old gear, what I've sold, what I'm interested in and in general just a rambling video talking lol

In the meantime while I work on the soundtrack for Delirium 13 I'm also doing some sketches and compositions on the side and this is one of them.

Although it's not a cover, it's inspired by Harry Manfredini's score for Hills Have Eyes Part 2. I have a soft spot for the film for a number of reasons and believe it or not, I saw it before I watched the original. One thing I loved was the character of The Reaper and I really believe he would have been bettered served in a standalone film rather than shackled to a sequel that was thrown together haphazardly. The Reaper was played by John Bloom who I was a big fan of. A giant of a man who was no stranger to playing monsters, in fact he was the tallest actor to ever play Frankenstein's Monster in Al Adamson's epic Dracula vs Frankenstein. Other credits include, The Dark, The Incredible Two Headed Transplant and Brain Of Blood.

More on the music, I wanted to approach this as Manfredini would around this time. While he incorporated electronic elements in his music prior, it was his use of the DX7 that I worked best in my opinion. You can hear it in his other scores for Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter and House. I used some user sampled DX7 patches in my Prophet X to pay tribute to this and used them for some "stingers" alongside orchestral elements.

Soft woodwinds, menacing brass, electric bass guitar, frantic quartet strings and exotic percussion were my main focus here. I wanted to imagine that I had a smaller orchestra and didn't want to be a gluten with the amount of instruments/players but simply focusing on what each of these instruments could do and how they would compliment each other. Sometimes, less is more.

Hope you enjoy!

P.S. I loved the dog flashback. I guess given my new field, I'm more touched by it than dismissive of it.

© Everett Dudgeon 2024
℗ Everett Dudgeon 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzBqZH_RBN8

After long period of longing for P6 module, I finally got one from a buddy for decent price. Sound's majestic!

My main criteria for getting analog poly was at least some MPE support. And although I knew the MPE modulation is kinda limited on P6/OB6/T6 trinity I went in and so far no regrets here. Deceptive modulation simplicity is weighted out by directness of controls and combinatorial complexity that is hidden behind.

In certain moment I got little sad that the Y-axis (CC74) in MPE mode has just one, max. 2 destinations and expressivity felt little limited. Having a hard value range of 0-127 mapped to i.e. LPF was not really practical. And then it struck me!

My MPE controller is Roger Linn's Linnstrument. Fabulously flexible piece of kit! I configured the Y-axis to generate aftertouch that has much more destinations and most importantly the modulation amount! Linnstrument's Z-axis is then generating CC74 that I've assigned to PW1 on P6. It's awesome! I have more expressive dexterity with Y-axis than with pressure. This way the synth really comes alive!

I encountered two bugs that seem to affect MPE mode only (FW 1.7.5):
- The arpeggiator is not working in MPE mode at all. On/Off button lights up but arp is simply not activated.
- Pitchbends in Unisono mode are broken. Only one voice responds to pitchbend. Also the bent voice remembers the pitchbend value until the next voice retrigger cycle and sounds out of tune (you need to trigger the note 5x if you use all 6 voices in unisono) . Ideally all unisono voices should respond to PB at the same time and they should reset to 0 after Note Off message.

Anyway, I'm very happy with P6 and LS pairing. Still hoping for the remaining MPE bugs being resolved in future FW updates. Big thanks to Sequential team for ongoing work and support!

Quote from: Manbird on September 14, 2024, 04:01:46 PM

Quote from: LPF83 on September 14, 2024, 03:43:05 PM

I recently created another thread about the joys of rediscovery of a specific synth I hadn't used in a while, and Soundquest pointed out that this could be a great topic to share experiences on.

Have you recently rediscovered an old synth or piece of gear that you've stored away because it's too good to let go?  Or maybe repurchased something you owned in the past that you realized you shouldn't have let get away?

Talk about it here!

Oh, no... I've been found out!
I'm on my third Micromoog, but I've posted about that one elsewhere.

I grabbed a Casiotone 201 not long back, my second. My dad bought me one when I was 13 and it changed my life. I don't remember letting that one go, but I probably traded it towards one of my early "real" synths. Anyway, mostly out of nostalgia, I bought one for a modest fee a couple years back, while my dad was still alive. He was happy to hear that that thing still meant something to me. And turns out, it's a great sounding keyboard, in its way. Had a rehearsal with a new band the other night... bass, drums, clarinet and me on Casiotone. It held its own... such a basic tone, but the "horn" sounds worked perfectly with the clarinet. Really, a lovely keyboard.

I do have other demons in the closet - a Casiotone SK-1, say - that I'm tempted to sell, just to clear up psychic space, mostly, but digging things out and plugging them in seems to count as a genuine "thing to do" sometimes, no?

I had to look the Casiotone 201 up because I wasn't familiar... but man, the wood alone is gorgeous.  The tone is definitely niche and not for every situation but as you said it really has something to the tone and your history with it and connection to your dad is another reason I personally probably wouldn't let it go.

I have been very tempted to buy a Roland S10 again.  This was the first sampler I ever owned (at a time when computers weren't very good samplers).  I think I paid $400 for mine used in 1987.  I had only owned it a couple of weeks when I showed it to my dad (was a pro guitarist) and he and I sampled his Les Paul into it.  That was so much fun, the samples that came out of that were probably not something that would wow anyone today but exploring that technology at the time with my dad (who is still to this day not a tech guy) was meaningful.  Not only that, but the S10 has something special in the sound (retro lo fi crunch that's hard to replicate), Espen Kraft talks about this all the time highlighting it as one of his favorite samplers.

It's touching to note how many synth-supportive dads there seem to be amongst the Forum peeps. Of course, I told my dad "For my 16th birthday, instead of a car, can you buy me a Prophet 5?" He made clear that he had no intention of buying me a car - or a Prophet! That might've been the year I got bongos, though!

I kinda missed out on samplers back in the day... used them in the studio, but as much to repair tracks that had lost a tooth or two. It's only since I switched from PT to Logic that I've become a sampling fiend. That said, not having a history with such, I'm not as tempted to purchase hardware. Sounds like your Roland would be worth a re-own...

One blast from the past that's turned out to be as fab as I remembered is the Effectron II delay. It was another of my first bits of teenage kit and I grabbed one for sale not long ago. Every time I see someone in a forum panic because the Prophet 5 has neither in-built fx nor stereo outs, I pat the Effectron on the back for the fine job it does. My P5 runs through it full time... In the same way that the Prophet has that "beautiful blur," so does the Effectron, despite it being a digital effect. It never feels like it's doing a specific task, it just sorta does a thing that always works/sounds good...

I really love my Trigon 6 - it can cover so much ground.  And I like that it's distinctly characterful, like both the OB6 and P6.  I can also understand there's some territory it doesn't cover, especially when used next to another outstanding ladder filter synth, the GS Music e7, which seems to have a (hard to describe) clearer, more precise, less rough-edged or growling characteristic than the T6.  The e7 just sounds so damn good.  Both synths could use some resonance compensation.  But I'm super glad to have them both, as they compliment each other very well.  The Trigon 6 is what goes on stage though, with its great keybed, onboard FX and arp/sequencer.