I've been enjoying trying all sorts of themes for my 3 times a week Twitch shows and this week it was the turn of... frogs!
When I do a themed stream, normally I start out by searching for relevant samples. Usually from free sound effect sites or sample sites. Sometimes though I record my own of even use samples sent in from some of my followers. This time I used 6 samples of various croaks, some short stabs and some longer ones for atmosphere. And one of my Twitch followers recorded themselves making "ribbit" sounds and I used those too! They all go into Ableton Live for editing to cut out the most useful bits, make them mono and normalise them and then get exported as 16bit 44khz wavs (that's what my sampler in my modular requires) and then loaded into the modular. (Ableton is not involved during the actual stream, and my computer is only used for running the stream, not for making the music)
I started out with a "generative patch" which means once set up it plays itself and never repeats! This is achieved with various modules and techniques that implement elements of randomness - anything from notes triggering with a probability through to slow LFOs and random noise generators generating control voltages for various aspects of the patch. I actually let this generative patch play on a voice channel on my discord during the afternoon for several hours for people to listen to as background music as a kind've warm up.
Here's a short clip of it:
And then for the main steam, I started out with that generative patch and gradually experimented with it, taking it slowly from generative ambience into more 'intention' performance. All my modular performances have some elements of unpredictability and improvisation though so no two sets will ever be alike!
You can watch the full stream back here:
And I'm still using the frog samples (some unrecognisably tweaked!) all the way through it!
If you like this kind of experimental music, I play every week on Twitch - current times are:
Monday and Wednesday: 9pm BST / 10pm CEST / 4pm EDT / 1pm PDT
Friday 2pm BST/ 3pm CEST/ 9am EDT / 6am PDT
or check the schedule on my profile for times in your timezone.
The Friday stream typically starts out as more of a patching session where I'm actually creating a modular synth patch and talking through how I do it.
I'm always open to ideas for new themes!!! Animals have been pretty popular (I still get asked to bring back the llamas!). But I do all sorts including movie themes (Back to the Future, Stranger Things, 2001 being recent examples). Anything I can make a sound out of basically. There are also custom modes in my channel initiated by viewers interacting with my Twitch bot. Anyone can invoke these and they range from people being able to start rain, make the lights flash in my studio or throw fireball at me! Sometimes I enable 'modular control' which is a control panel that lets viewers give commands that actually make changes to my modular synth (bringing elements in and out and even modifying sounds live and remotely!)
Hope to see you sometime on Twitch or elsewhere. Have an awesome day!
TDC Tunes
TDC Tunes is a Live Modular Artist and experimenter with sound. He plays several times a week on Twitch and gigs around London.
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Website: https://www.tdctunes.com/
I guess it was a bit more old school when they did this :) Blimey, this was 40 years ago! My sister had the picture disc.
hahah yeah I remember this!
How did you manage to capture the frog sounds so clearly? I bet this adds a unique texture to your tracks. I'd love to hear more about your process and any challenges you encountered while integrating these sounds.
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ah they were mostly samples from free sound effect sites. But even then I think a lot comes down to the editing of the samples (which I do in Ableton) - carefully selecting the start and end time of the sample around a clear part of the sound and then normalising the volume.
Thanks for your question and curation- have a great day!
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