our dignity notwithstanding
By DonutShoes on June 30, 2024 4:35 pm
I've been sick this weekend with little motivation, so I needed to do something that was both low-effort but also fun for this week. So here's a noisy experimental piece using an alarm clock radio that I modded a 1/4" output onto in college, the VVRONGER portable synth by ventla (https://ventla.bandcamp.com/merch/vvron
ynthesizer) and some Bitwig trickery.
The VVRONGER synth is currently out of stock and I'm not sure if ventla has any plans of making more, I'd recommend emailing them with interest. Also, I made a free sample pack I made with my VVRONGER a while ago containing some drum sounds, bass sounds, and SFX. You can get it here: https://itch.io/e/10918380/donutshoes-p
pack-vol-1
More in-depth production info:
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This was all recorded live, with the VVRONGER going into my mixer and into Inputs 1/2 on my MOTU M4, and the alarm clock radio going into Inputs 3/4.
On the radio track device chain I have Half-Time by Cableguys slowing the input down by 1.5x, Manipulator with Pitch up by 7 semitones, a little bit of the Alternator knob up with the Octave set to -1. There's some EQing that I'm not sure mattered, a bit of drive, and the volume is being modulated by one of Bitwig's modulators called Curve, which is bringing the radio in and out slowly.
On the VVRONGER track I have a Tool (like ableton's 'utility') with a Note Sidechain ADSR modulator which is taking MIDI from a separate track and triggering an envelope mapped to the Tool's volume knob, this is to break up the sound of the VVRONGER which with the way I set it up was just making a ceaseless tone. Next in the chain is Bitwig's XY FX, this is a container device that has 4 device chain containers that you can put any plugin into, stock or 3rd party, and crossfade between them using vector controls. I have modulators that are automatically changing the X and Y positions of the vector. In each container is an instance of aberrant DSP's Lair plugin, and a Filter+ from Bitwig, I'm using modulators on these plugins too for more movement. Then, using the mini-pots and switches on the VVRONGER I'm performing some tonal and timbral changes, it's an experimental device so I only barely know what I'm changing, but that's where the magic in this kind of music is imo