OP-1 Tape vs MakeNoise Phonogene for Concrète-ish things?

Oh wow I really dig those songs you put up @jshell!


I will have to look and see if I have any of my noisy stuff with me, I don’t think I do though. May be a couple days but I will post something here when I get home.

I watched all 4 parts of the Future of music….that vocoder saxophone thing he did was awesome!

@jshell These tracks are great, love what you’ve done with them! There are loads of moments in The Changing of the Light which sound like jazz to me. The Bridgeport track is my favourite so far - that overdriven saturation with almost bird-like chirps over a slow funeral marching drone is fantastic. It sounds up in the trees and underwater at the same time.


I’m currently working on a few tracks. I nearly have enough to float it out onto the internet and hope to finish it off next weekend if all goes well. I just can’t seem to nail an opening track. You’ve set the bar way higher than my doodlings can jump!

@thedrexl Totally, I love stuff like this. The train thing went very well! I caught a long screech as it slowed down on the tracks pitched it as slow as possible and started hearing all this weird burbling stuff - a bit like blowing a straw into water through a haze of static.


Its so much fun to experiment with this kind of music. I think of it like print making - you compose the image, drawing it out etc but you are never quite sure how it will turn out once its been through the press. All you can hope to do is gently direct some of the chaos.
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Oh just remembered, if you like noise you should check out this guy’s stuff . I have the dark interpreter and it makes some crazy stuff.

@wolflegjon opening tracks are hard. and strange. when things start to come together, I start to get a feel for what the flow should be. It’s almost intuitive. Sometimes it’s the most bracing/experimental track and part of me thinks “that can’t be first?” but the gut says “it’s the overture. it really has to kick the whole thing off”.


I’m actually facing the same situation. I’ve basically got an album together of ambient, almost new-agey stuff but I haven’t nailed the track order.

@thedrexl I love the dark interpreter. So much that I have two of them! I bought the cheapest model (only digital circuitry) and loved it so much I bought the big model with the analog circuitry and all the extra touchplates. (Funny thing is, I like the small one better. The big one is tough to control). It’s really fun to split a signal (video from iPad, samples from MicroGranny) to them both and turn the two of them into a stereo effect unit!

One day, and only once, the Dark Interpreter actually made something almost musical from Monotribe and Pocket Operator inputs. Oh man, it’ll be fun to run the new ones through them :slight_smile:

Slack Interpretations - YouTube


@jshell Thats pretty much been my thought process with opening tracks. The main track I have in 9mins long. Part of me thinks about just chunking the listener in at the deep end but I’d prefer to set the tone first even if its just 30-45 seconds of that illusive ‘something’.


The Dark Interpreter is crazy in all the right ways, thanks to both of you for pointing me to it as i’ve never heard of it before. Just checked the website, the writing is as nuts and the instruments!

Oh man. Now I’m wanting Martin Howse’s new very limited Black Death instead of the Phonogene.


Wow, thats also really really interesting! You should check out the Mute Synth ii from Dirty Electronics - I picked one up ages ago and its a lot of fun.

@wolflegjon have that one too! It’s awesome. I played a punkhouse basement noise show on valentines day last year and did a smell setup with everything being black or red: black MSII, black Microgranny, black Dark Interpreter, black MASF Osc.03 noise module (a eurorack noise module that can also run on its own via a 9v adapter), and a red Trogotronic tube noise synth :). It was a very fun and stylish setup with all those black circuitboards with touch control.


Have you tried syncing the MSII to anything? I found the clock point on its patch bay and found it didn’t work with Korg signals but I could sync it to my little modular setup. Then I could add envelope or external filters on it and it made it really cool. I’ve been wanting to revisit this idea, as it made it a good semi-autonomous bassline.

Or very percussive. This is the MSII into my little modular setup, generating a clock signal used to trigger envelopes or Optomix LPGs or both, into an old Metasonix waveshaper box.

https://sunhill.bandcamp.com/track/perpetual-oppression-machine

The MSII is such a cool thing for Mute to distribute. I hope more rivetheads pick it up and do strange things with it.

@jshell Totally agree, its an awesome piece of chaos. The only thing I’ve hooked it up to a few guitar effects (great through spring reverb) - I never thought to bring it into a modular context but that makes a lot of sense! I’d love to hear that thing through a PA, even in headphones it sounds like you might accidentally tear something in the universe.


Thats another great track, the bass at the start sounds more like a four string through a fuzz than a synth, really cool.

I have the large Dark Interpreter and it has been a while since I did anything with it….going to do so when I get the new PO’s which should be here tomorrow!!!


Here is something I did a while back using the monotribe, dark interpreter, PO’s 12,14,16, micro granny and then did a mix/shitty master in ableton:

https://soundcloud.com/bradclayofficial/dirt

@thedrexl very cool! I like it!

@thedrexl that’s some sexy jam. Reminds me of early Mr. Oizo. Nice work.

@thedrexl Great track, has a really good groove to it!

long time lurker here. I just recently got into the modular world (greatest thing ever) and this thread inspired me to dust off the op1 and play around with phonogene. thank you! :wink: op1 > clouds >phonogene >analog4 fx / overbridge > ableton (maths modulated phonogene) not very concrete thou…

id get both if i were you :wink:

https://soundcloud.com/jsable/sets/cloudygenes

@sable Those sound incredible! Is that piano patch coming from the OP-1? I’d love to get it

@sable dammit, you’re making my decision more difficult again!

@thankyoumisterspell yes, only sound source is the op1. I used the piano ancient patch from the op1 essentials keys pack. Never jelled with that patch till I ran it thru clouds and phonogene. :slight_smile:

@jshell you need both, but since you already have the modular set up. Look for a used phonogene. I swooped mine used for $400.

Thank you for the compliments. I’m anticipating getting the new POs tomorrow…can’t wait!


@sable….really great work!


One thing I quite like to do is sample some random old video from Youtube, find an odd snippet then pitch the sample really high. Then I'll use the tombola and put in a load of random notes and record it. Once I've got a decent chunk onto the tape I'll then slow the tape speed down and and build up from there. Its all just experimenting really, happy accidents are plentiful!

I finally figured out how to sample from Tape to Drum Sampler.


Sorry, iceritchie, but your OP-1 Cookbook instructions are wrong - doesn’t work.

The TE online manual is a little better but I had to connect the final pair of dots.

So now I have a “drum kit” made of samples autosliced from the Tape sample. Next, the Tombola!

Thanks again!