Modular + Stick Up Boys Mashup

This is what happened when @stickupboys sent me some samples and I mixed and mashed them into my live modular radio show.

I even donned my Stick Up Boys t-shirt for the occasion!

Err, Ok TDC Tunes but what's going on with all those cables?

I love questions about Modular! Way too much to explain in one post but here's a start...

So - the majority of the sounds in my modular patches consist of 'voices' that are made from combinations of basic synthesis modules such as oscillators, filters and envelope generators.
Thus the sound is generally very 'electronic'.

However, I also have the ability to load up some samples (pre-recorded audio snippets) and use those as voices within a set. This can be anything, with short speech samples working particularly well but I've also used much longer samples such as 40s/50s radio broadcasts and Apollo mission control recordings.

Sometimes I do 'themed' sets - and for those, being able to use some samples is especially useful. In the past I've done zombies, tea drinking (hey I'm British after all!), the "Wheel of life" and the "Have you had your injection?" set.

So, last week it was time for Stick up Boys and I used 2 samples:

1. The "Stick Up Boys" spoken sample.
2. The "Feel the Beat" sample. This one I had to re-pitch to put it into the same key my modular is normally set up for/tuned to (C minor). I also chopped off the words "Can you" from the start to give a shorter clip that I could fit in more easily rhythmically.

In addition, I used 2 samples from my track Traveller's Path:

1. 3 chords of Rhodes piano
2. 3 chords of acoustic piano.
   These were triggered differently to how they are in the track so there's only a small hint at Traveller's path in the result...

Then there were 5 or 6 percussion voices and 3 main modular generated voices - together with the samples creating something completely unique (that I couldn't even repeat again if I wanted to!).

This was a complex patch to work with technically, which means I have lots to think about and remember so the production quality isn't quite what I'd like (e.g. problems in the mix like unplanned volume changes) but as with any improvisation it's more about the rawness and spontaneity. Most importantly though, I was really enjoying myself!

For tonight's show I'm going to load more samples from Traveller's path to make a special edition set to celebrate the release of the track. I may even play a bit of the melody on the keyboard!

If you have any audio or even just ideas for a theme that you would like me to create a modular set around, please get in touch - I'm up for trying most things and I love a challenge!

You can watch the show at 9pm UK time as follows:

Preferred: Vimm - here on hive!

https://www.vimm.tv/c/tdctunes

NB: I will attempt to stream to Vimm - though occasionally it isn't working for me and during the show I'm unable to keep retrying as I need to focus on the music. I will always try and kick it off on Vimm at the beginning though as I really want to support @vimm and doing as much as possible on Hive!

Alternatively

Regardless - the stream will always be broadcast on my Twitch channel:

TDC Tunes on Twitch

Have a great day Hive and I'll see you later for more modular improvised madness!