W10: Citizen of Sol
By boorch on March 10, 2024 11:38 pm
I've been exploring how to integrate Orca more deeply into my workflow. I'm a
big fan of Orca, and my current setup involves a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
connected to an iPad Pro 11. My goal was to get Orca-c running to sequence
my iPad synths. Figuring out how to SSH into the Pi Zero over USB took some
effort, considering the Pi's USB port is meant to function like an Ethernet
port. Eventually, I achieved a stable system, though I spent quite a bit of
time customizing themes and fonts in Blink (my go-to SSH client on the
iPad), tweaking my tmux, and adjusting some Bash scripts. No regrets,
though.
My next challenge was to configure the Pi Zero's single USB port to serve dual
purposes as both an Ethernet and a MIDI device. After two days of effort, I
managed to get it working last Thursday. The following nights were spent
developing two new operators for Orca (scale and midichord). Completing these
allowed me to finally craft a semi-generative ambient piece with this setup,
which I'm uploading just 20 minutes before this week's submission deadline.
It carries subtle influences from the background music of Eve:Online,
especially those 'idle' tracks that were the backdrop to countless hours
spent navigating the in-game market and plotting routes that challenged my
jump drive's limits. It’s a game I haven’t touched in over a decade, but it
seems the experience of idling in space has firmly embedded itself in my
mind.
The entire piece features Moog synthesizers: Model D, Model 15, and Animoog,
with all effects sourced from the Moogerfooger bundle. The recording was done
in AUM, then transferred to cassette, and finally from cassette to PC.
It's been a busy yet fulfilling week. I'm hoping to dedicate the upcoming
weeks to just producing music with this setup, moving away from the endless
cycle of software adjustments. Hope you find this experiment interesting!
Audio works licensed by author under:
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