NextStep 13 - Spivkurl

Thanks my friend for commenting on something other than a featured track! This one was sure fun to make, although I've been heading in different directions since then... too many different directions at once even! I've come to think of the title as a bit of humor related to "twelve step" programs, though it was really just a fluke. I'm happy you enjoyed listening. Thanks again!

Ha ha, I don't know if even I would describe this as smooth, but I take it as a compliment! It's funny, I seem to shape vocal clips into shapes which resemble my voice, as some thought that my voice was present in the mix. I don't hear as much glitch hop any more, so I feel open to being creative within the loose confines which I think of relating to the genre. Thanks for taking a listen, and leaving a comment, as always!

Thank you for the continued correspondence about "circuit bending." I'm interested to hear if you have experimented at all, or alternately if you have started any fires... ha ha. Speak and spell is definitely a pretty good candidate, and I've worked with the speak & * series a bit myself. Got to go visit with my dad now, but I will try to return the favor of the comment soon!

That is generally a very easy task, as long as you have a half decent soldering iron, a jack, and some bits of wire. Of course to put it on the case, you need something to make a hole. Usually my first step in a bend or mod of a toy, so it can be recorded in decent quality. Don't burn down the house! (unless you mean in the Talking Heads way!)

Yeah, I guess this does have a data bending vibe about it! Did not use any specific data bent samples (like running data files through audio editors directly), but I can hear what you mean. Yep, Labelwhore, who has briefly entered into the community recently posted a bunch of sample sets on the image line forum not too long ago. Among them was a set of samples from his MIDI controlled NES. It's nice of him to share them. Seems like they are still located here:

http://forum.image-line.com/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=158236&p=1128735&hilit=midines#p1128735

Some fun stuff to load up samplers with! Thanks for taking a listen to this and leaving a comment!

Ha ha, another entertaining comment from you! Yeah, that picture doesn't show the patch bay and other rack gear, or any of my MIDI stuff... so it's really just a "tip of the iceberg" photo. It also does not include my electronic lab which is moving locations presently. I assume you mean the Casio SK-1 (and not SH-1)... that was one of the more recent circuit bending/modification projects I did, and it has my first successful matrix patch bay. Fun stuff, I love casio gear of all kinds! The oscilloscope was recently brought into my studio, and has been sitting in the original box in the basement for years now. Sometimes it's fun to have visual feedback, and it helps when I calibrate various items. Yep, that's an echo mic... and while I have not used it much in recordings, I find that having various vintage toys around is very inspiring. I have some plans to turn it into a spring reverb/echo chamber project once I get the lab set up again. Back to working on painting my second studio and lab, so once that is set up I'll take pictures up there as well. Thanks for the reply comment!

Hey buddy! This is a nice comment to read! Like I mentioned to SupaFreakshow, that picture is really just the "tip of the iceberg," and does not show most of my bent and modified gear, MIDI gear, rack gear, electronics lab, and really most of my instruments... which could not be captured in a single photograph. Been building stuff for about fifteen years now. Phatkatz (The one building all the CBG stuff lately) has said that I was one of the inspirations to get into the work he is doing, most especially my "parallel killer" guitar which was built last year. We have spoke about a new collaboration, though my studio time has been rare in the past month or two. Rolling Stone would be cool, though lately it seems more likely that I will end up on the side of a milk carton, having disappeared... or possibly pictured in the "most wanted." Thanks for taking a listen, and leaving a comment! Have a good day!

Thank you for taking a listen to this one, even if it is out of your comfort zone. Choosing what gear to incorporate into my songs is becoming a real challenge any more, but I love having the tools to do what I wish. I appreciate you stopping by! Have a good day!

Hey there, thanks for the listen and the cool comment! What you are picturing is a pretty common sight in my studios, as you can see from this picture taken earlier in the year....

http://www.wearerecords.com/assets/DIYSetup_2-2-2016.jpg

The VC3T is in the modular synth cabinet, top row, second from the right... The one with the label, and the green and yellow buttons at the top. Definitely not made by EMS, ha ha. It began life as a Coleco Talking Teacher toy, made around 1986. I built some support circuitry, and made a panel for various input/output and some controls, and it was incorporated into the modular setup. Has some different modes, one where it talks, and one with just a synth tone. It can be voltage controlled for pitch and amplitude modulation. Gates or trigger signals can trigger words, or hold portions of words. Not entirely predictable at times, but loads of fun, especially when sampled or controlled with a MIDI-CV/Gate converter.

But, as you see, the wires and patch cables are there! This is only a small section of the studio really. I went through over 150 ft of shielded audio cable making the connections from the patch bay to most of my instruments in this room and the one next to it.

Thanks much for taking the time to listen! Have a good day!

Hey buddy, it's good to hear from you, even though I am late with my reply! The real adventure here is in accepting the underlying agenda of the piece, which may require repeated listening. Glitch hop was only the closest idea of genre I could associate with this, partly due to the lower tempo compared to my usual, and some other musical factors. I have lost all track of gaming for at least a decade at this point, so I have little reference, but I liked some classics in childhood, so games are definitely an influence back there somewhere. I'm really happy that you enjoyed what you heard! My influences when creating music are completely scattered and cracked wide upon these days, so even I have no idea what will come next. Thanks for taking a listen, and for leaving your words!

Not the sort of music which most people probably enjoy, but art is not often made with anyone aside from the artist in mind. There are elements in this which were specifically directed towards any mind which has a small opening in it. I will never know the effect that has, I'm sure. In general, it would be hard for someone else to fully duplicate a song such as this, since they would not have access to the one of a kind instruments I have made. That is as it should be... I don't need a bunch of Spivkurl cover bands hanging around after I die... ha ha. Thank you for listening and leaving your words!

Hey buddy! I enjoyed reading your comment, and I thank you for listening! Your last words "That snare though" had me wondering what you meant... is it positive or negative? It was hard to tell. It seems that I stamp myself into everything I am involved with, possibly too much so, much to the dismay of employers, government officials, police and doctors. Oh well. Thanks again!

Thank you Ed for listening at communicating here! Don't let the uplifting musical efforts fool you, this song has a very specific political agenda. Sometimes it is worth putting on a costume in order to slip in undetected. I do really appreciate your comments on the arrangement side of things! It was a pretty enjoyable one to work on. Thanks so much!

Thanks for being the first to comment on this one! There are actually four MIDINES samples in this, courtesy of Labelwhore. That may explain part of the video game vibe. Polyphonic use of samples from my circuit bent VC3T (Talking Teacher) module probably has something to do with it as well, since those were made in classic gaming times. It's pretty hard to explain how I chose what will go into a song... sometimes a certain instrument will shape the rest of the song, and sometimes I will chose an instrument for it's specific strong points. This actually combined both, in that it was two related projects brought together. The VC3T sets shaped one heavily, and the other one had Microkorg chosen to provide some pitched kick work. All in all, the song was finished due to ulterior motives, but I still enjoy listening to it. Choosing an instrument is definitely becoming more difficult from day to day, which is part of why some of my songs end up with instruments which some listeners find to be out of place, such as classical guitar or vintage organs. I have far to many instruments to know them inside out, in fact I have quite a few which have never been used or recorded. Thanks again for listening and downloading!