sprag clutch
By wangus on March 27, 2022 11:58 pm
week 2 of the OP-1 administration.
Mad scramble this week; even more compressed into the final hours than last week.
OP-1, recorded one take to internal album, _tiny_ bit of touchup EQ in post. (no time to make it very good...). The OP-1 on-board headphone output often sounds different from album-recorded takes on a different device. Dunno if it's the amp electronics, or some subtle discrepancy in the firmware. The reverb is too high in this recording as a result.
The core idea of this track is ascending chromatic movement that's _not_ really dominant function. I was riffing on a keyboard to get the F-Eb-F-Ab-A-Bb motion (sorta ambiguously major/minor third slid in there), and extended that to 16 steps with some more chromatic action. Some goofy harmonization of that makes a hectic texture that comes in near the end. The same harmony slowed way down turns into the intro; the chords re-harmonized with different bass notes makes the last section before the outro.
I really like the drums here; OP-1 DBOX is a mysterious engine. I still don't really know exactly what it's doing. The "waveform" and modulation parameters are definitely complex macro-sweeps of parameters, so every notch in their range can have a pretty distinct tone. NITRO filter with pretty high envelope following adds even more punch.
Other fun details:
* The OP-1 synth sampler engine built-in presets are pretty trash IMO. But one acid-ish bass note sample is featured prominently here, with snarly CWO sizzle, and RANDOM LFO for grit. Some goofy idiosyncratic ENDLESS sequencer combos to dial in "slides" in a pattern.
* Drum sampler VALUE LFO "timestretch" as usual. Reminder that you can set the effective "timestretch" depth per individual drum, because the forward/reverse (shift blue) is not binary (you can bias it more toward reverse for a more aggressive stretch)
* 7-on-4 polyrhythm just for fun? Some places tapped in live (it's like triplets alternating with straight eighths, only sloppy); other places achieved by ENDLESS sequencer with math on the global tempo (set it to 7/4 or 7/8 of the main 106BPM)
* Envelope-following NITRO on chords can make a cool warbly tone. I wish it wasn't tied to the tape record level (red) though. Adjusting the recording volume affects the filter envelope following.
* lmao I exported the wrong region so there's a little extra silence at the start/end, and the glitch blip that appears at the end of OP-1 internal album recordings. Oh well...
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