The first two 'vocoder experiments' were done around the same time as 'water,' I found this one program on this cheapie little behringer reverb/delay unit called a 'vocoder.' I had never really played with one before. I read in the docs about what it was supposed to do and the idea of one signal modulating another really sounded enticing. I was terribly green about analog synths at that point, and I probably still am (but at least now I can sort of talk the language), but what I ended up doing was some experiments using a QY20 Yamaha sequencer (kind of like the 'walkman' of sequencers if you're into composing in MIDI, I tried, and I'm not terribly thrilled about how much time it takes to program the things) as an arpeggiator, which worked great because it allowed me to program the sequencer to play the same arpeggiation (in this case two different lines in two octaves that alternate every other note) with it switching to different instruments every so often, for the sole purpose of just seeing what different sounds I could get out of this combination of gear. You hear the original sound of the arpeggiator mixed in just so I could later tell what instrument of the QY worked with whatever instrument I had going on the casio of which I played similar chord progressions. I did this sort of for documentation purposes as I found right away that this combination of equipment had nearly infinite possibilities as I would fiddle with the thing for hours every time I sat down in front of it. The only thing even remotely 'composed' is the arpeggiation from the QY. Even that was done without much forethought. If I remember right I just picked a key and started punching up notes and alternating the octave button in between with the thing set in step recording mode. What resulted was two different lines in two octaves as well as serving as a metronomic rhythm (which I found quite hypnotizing while I was playing the casio over it). Also, for extra control of the equilization and thus tone I put a cry baby wah pedal between the casio and the vocoder. People familiar with the effect will hear it pleanty on these tracks. So there you have it, the two 'experiments' (both of which are around 14 minutes, which is how long the sequencer program is).

This set up was similar to the above only the arpeggiator doesn't change instruments and isn't mixed in. the resultant drone is the modulation of the root notes of the key played on the casio while playing a melody (of sorts) on the upper register of the casio. I found, quite accidentally, that if I held down the keys of a chord on the lower register with my left hand and changed programs on the casio that I could play the upper register with my right hand with the newly selected sound while the left hand held down the root chord with it's previously selected original sound program. I made use of this in this piece by holding down the lower keys (sometimes even with duct tape) for the rhythmic drone while I was free to change programs and noodle out a melody on the upper register. There was about a month or so in winter/spring 2001 where I was constantly playing around with this odd little keyboard set-up. I put tracks on a roommate's tunes and tried to compose entire songs using these type of rhythmic tracks as the basis with limited success. One funny memorable moment; I was helping my roommate Cosmo record one of his songs (he was on a big wilco kick, as they were quite popular back then) and after he had some guitar/bass/vocals and drums on it I followed the rhythm guitar chords with one of these vocoder keyboard tracks and made a rough mix, he liked it and then played it for his friends, who endlessly commented on the keyboard track, and not so much his tune. Thus, he began to hate the track after awhile and never let me do any others. Most people who hear these tracks for the first time are reminded of the analog keyboard sounds of "the who" during the "who's next" era. This includes myself, a long time fan of pete townshend and the who. I believe I had just watched videotape 'the making of who's next' put out by rhino which was a documentary full of interviews and film footage about that album. Just seeing pete in his home studio of that era where synth manufacturers were just giving him equipment was very inspirational to me. And although I wasn't looking to copy his sound (almost impossible given the fact that there are at least as many analog keyboard set ups as there are people that try to set them up) when I first started playing it with this huge church organ sound on the casio, it definitely reminded me of the arpeggiated organ sound on 'baba o'reily,' although not nearly as harmonically complex (I'd still love to figure out how he did some of those arpegiation with sample/hold sounds). In the video, townshend himself tried to describe how he got that sound and demonstrate it, with limited success, however it did make me want to mess around with that vocoder like never before, as it showed me that true analog synth sounds aren't just dialed up on one machine, and most good ones come from using the equipment well beyond it's intended use. I mean, who would think to take a cheapie casio keyboard, put it's output through a wah pedal meant for a guitar signal, then put through a vocoder (probably meant for voice) from a reverb/delay unit being modulated by an arpeggio pattern from a yamaha QY sequencer? The only reason I did is because that's what I had around.

This one was made backwards from looping some samples and composing (via editing) the original organ track. The track is so metronomic that it was pretty simple to play a predictable drum overdub (yamaha DX series pad kit). Then, to my surprise, cosmo, my roommate at the time, came home drunk early one night (he was usually late) and said he was ready to do it, and so we put it on the deck and mic'ed up the little tube pignose amp I have and he played this blistering bass track. I was surprised because I never suspected he'd want to put a track on that one because I wasn't really sure where I was going with it to begin with. I tried putting some reverse guitar over this, but it seemed like a lot of work that bore little fruit. I liked some of it and kept the tracks but never mixed them in, at least not yet. I still enjoy listening to the vocoder/panning effect on the organ, in this case sort of a Leslie effect. Organs still make the best sources for synth sounds.