More fartin around (acid)

Swapped the VCF303 for my Polaris to see how a different filter sounded and with a bit more modulation capabilities, also trying something new with the MSCL, interesting module 🤔 This is an excerpt from a longer jam but I like the structure of it ok even if it starts out a bit slow, hope you enjoy!

Bundled the last couple tunes I made with this (along with the @TumeniKnobs collaboration) onto a mini EP which you can check out here https://stevehand.bandcamp.com/album/september-acid

Made with:

This one really takes me to a certain time and place. You’ve definitely captured the vibe of the rave era. Well done as always.
It’s really interesting to watch the progression of your rack as well. You get a lot out of your well curated choice of modules.

Thanks for the kind words @farkas, that's an interesting perspective too re: the rave era as I just missed it being in the States and a little young too. From the outside looking though in there's definitely something special about that time so it's cool connecting with it somehow.

Re: the rack, it's been fun focusing down to 208HP, which I find more manageable, and trying to really solve the problem first and foremost of making good, interesting, and evolving tunes (vs long running live sets which had been the goal for awhile). I also think I'd gotten a little emotionally attached to some of the choices in my Serge rack so this has been a good opportunity to iterate fast and try new things out, and so far I've been happy with the results.

One note on this track, it's the first time I've recorded with live compression and wow I noticed the bass is off the charts. Adjusted EQ mix hopefully on the way.

EDITED Sep 18th 2021, 22:09

re: the rave era as I just missed it being in the States and a little young too. From the outside looking though in there's definitely something special about that time so it's cool connecting with it somehow.

Re: the rack, it's been fun focusing down to 208HP, which I find more manageable, and trying to really solve the problem first and foremost of making good, interesting, and evolving tunes (vs long running live sets which had been the goal for awhile).
-- troux

Yeah, I'm in the States too, so I guess I meant what passed for the "rave era" in the Midwest during the early and mid-90s. It was a nice time and place even if it wasn't the British second summer of love rave era. Haha.
And, I think I mentioned I've been working on songwriting and slower tunes a bit too, steering away from the full improv minimal, glitch, and noise stuff. I think the recent quality of your tunes definitely reflects your focus.

That is, it was nice until sketchy promoters and janky drugs got into the Midwest scene, followed by a lot of the wagon-jumpers we came to know and "love" as "candyravers", which then brought in the corporatized feel. It really WAS nice before then...load up the car, drive to some odd location, then set up and let it rip.

But after? Well, if someone of the likes of Juan Atkins can put together an incredible record shop in Tha D, only to eventually close it because the REAL music didn't sell and those sorts above were all coming in and asking for pop-rap and booty house, yeah...you can say that things really didn't end well.

That was all just a bit before my time, but I hear you @Lugia with one exception: this is an officially pro-booty house thread, please respect the rules 😜

Hi Steve,

Nice to hear you did a collaboration with TumeniKnobs! The first 1+ minute of this above track, that filter sound of the... I assume Polaris sounds quite nice! I am considering the Polaris too, are you happy with it any pros & cons you would like to share?

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us and kind regards, Garfield.

@GarfieldModular the Polaris is super solid, great modulation capabilities and a nice range of sound. Unlike some of the other filters I've got (VCFS, VCFQ, QPAS) it isn't exactly too "characterful" which you might think is bad but that can be nice at times too, it doesn't dominate or stand out and is really responsive to what you put through it. Definitely worth checking out. I should also note that @farkas recommended it to me in my very first post on this forum, good suggestion!

EDITED Sep 19th 2021, 03:08

Hi Steve,

Thank you very much for the information regarding the Polaris, it's good to hear it's super solid, I like that from modules. I will move the Polaris higher up on my wish list :-) Kind regards, Garfield.

Swapped the VCF303 for my Polaris to see how a different filter sounded and with a bit more modulation capabilities, also trying something new with the MSCL, interesting module 🤔 This is an excerpt from a longer jam but I like the structure of it ok even if it starts out a bit slow, hope you enjoy!

Bundled the last couple tunes I made with this (along with the @TumeniKnobs collaboration) onto a mini EP which you can check out here https://stevehand.bandcamp.com/album/september-acid

-- troux

Nice track! I missed the whole rave thing (living in Tokyo from 90-95), and I won’t even pretend to know what “booty house” is… Haha! And that’s very cool dropping the collab version on the ep. Thanks for credit and the link. :-)

Cheers

EDITED Sep 20th 2021, 23:29

Slappin! That Akemie's Castle is quit a lovely machine, keep it coming troux : )

Your contributions really killed it @TumeniKnobs, I'm glad we put it together. And thanks @Gworn, you're right about Akemie's Castle, it really is a special machine.