"Beyond Pluto", by Spacedog (The Soviet Space Dog Project)

My thanks to all of you who visited Bandcamp and I hope that you found something to enjoy in the 47+ minutes. Whilst I'm quite a quick music-maker, the AE Modular definitely gave me some inspiration, which made the process even quicker.

mobius, you asked about the live/prepared balance and that's a good question for this piece as it was a bit of both for a change.

Buckle up if this stuff interests you... ditch out now, if it doesn't.

Usually, it's pretty much all improvised and recorded live; however, for "Beyond Pluto" I wanted to create some specific sequences and ambiences using the modular, to show it off a bit. This meant that I had to record several live improvisations and then stitch them together in Reaper in quite large chunks.

So, to make the answer more clear, I set up an interesting patch, with plenty of points that I can adjust in real time. I then work out what the live tweaks will do to the sound (separately and in combination) and then I fire various sequences of different step lengths (this is Berlin School, after all) in from my BeatStep Pro. At that point, I hit record and manipulate the sequence notes and sound in real time. If I have some other live parts ready to fly, I do like to record and tweak everything in real time to get that real sense of interaction.

Having prepared as many of these recorded-live set pieces as possible, I then prepare some of the other sections that I can hear in my head - again, I set them up and record hem live, with as much tweaking as possible. This usually requires the KeyStep.

Finally, for this long piece, I gather everything together and see how they flow and not necessarily anywhere near the order in which I recorded them. If I hear the need for linkage pieces I creat those based on what I have to move from and to.

This process comes out of the live playing that I used to do as part of the band Kubusschnitt, and before that as a guitarist in a Blues Band for several years. I like the interaction and the speed of moving on from something quickly, rather than agonising for way too long.

Everything I record has the effects recorded live also, that way I can manipulate those as well. Luckily, I have quite a few pedals breeding in my pedal farm. I like to set up a specific effects patch (i.e. pedal setup), rather than having everything connected all of the time. This also allows me to set up parallel routings that I wouldn't be able to do normally.

Finally, everything in the live setup goes to a small mixer with a stereo feed to Reaper. It's so much fun to have real things to affect rather than just software. I do use VSTs (for example, there's no way I could afford or house a real Mellotron) and they have their place.

Hopefully that was useful and not too much information.

I've been a victim of my own success (!!!)... Bandcamp allows 200 free downloads per month, which up until now hasn't been an issue. However, over the last week, I've used up all but four of my download allowance, which has to last until nearly the end of January. Once they're gone, I have the option of paying for the privilege of allowing free downloads, or I have to charge. As I do this for fun, I will put a nominal charge on the downloads - this does have the advantage that you can add it to your Bandcamp account. Some of you have bought the albums and I thank you very much, although it was never my intention to use this forum for marketing, only to share my sounds for free.

I will flush out my two Soundcloud accounts (currently both full up) and start to use those for more experimental/AE Modular specific items. That has better "free" capacity.

So, the bottom line is that where I have said items are free, they won't be for long, I'm afraid. So, if you would like to download some albums, you will have to be quick. As there are 12 there, and only four free downloads left, they won't last long. The last one "Beyond Pluto" has the most AE Modular on it, followed by "Ice on Mars".

[Copying to both threads]

Update:
Those four disappeared almost immediately and then I had to lower the auto-pricing down from £7 to something far more reasonable.