A quick mashup I did a couple of months ago with Jay Z’s “Forever Young” and Bassnectar’s “Time Stretch”

The Electribe was the first analog modeling synth I ever owned and I bought it soon after watching Orbital in the summer of ’99. I wanted something to complement my amazing Yamaha DJX keyboard and Korg DDD-5 drum machine (both of these have been sold and neither has been missed, too much). I bought this not really understanding what I was getting, thinking that I would suddenly be able to make Orbital caliber music with this funny silver and blue box with light up keys. Alas, it was not meant to be. Since the EA-1 is two monophonic synths in the same box, there is no ability to create chords or flowing soundscapes, or anything that would require more than one note at a time. I sold my first one around December of 1999 to get some money to buy my Yamaha RM1x.

Fast-forward a couple of years, about 2001. I have the RM1x, a mixer, and a Korg Karma now. I could get a lot more sound out but something was missing. At some point, I don’t remember exactly when, I stumbled across two used Electribes at Guitar Center, an EA-1 and ER-1 (a drum machine built in the same format as the EA-1, really easy, fun, etc…) and bought both of them.

I’ve heard that both of these instruments have been referred to as the poor man’s 303 or 808 and I have to agree. These were instruments that revolutionized the industry in ways completely unexpected when they were introduced. The 303 was created originally to mimic a bass guitar and had some success in its time but now sells for over a thousand dollars in online auctions. I don’t think that the Electribes will ever reach that level, but they do have a cult following. While not glamorous or glitzy, they have a mixture of nostalgia and functionality that make them very, very fun. The beauty of these machines are their simplicity, direct access to functions and aggressive sounds.

Long story short, and several songs later, I sold both of these in the summer of 2003 after graduating from college in order to buy my Access Virus A, probably the best investment I have made to date with regards to versatility. I have had no regrets with owning this synthesizer and would buy it again if I needed to replace it. But it just isn’t the Electribe.

Cumulatively I have spent enough to have bought two of these fresh off the shelf when they were new, or five at their current price. Either way, I hate to sell any equipment but in context, it was the right thing to do at the time. I’m just glad that opportunity shone on me from behind a glass counter-top the other evening (and that the unit worked when I plugged it in). Let the acid sounds commence!

We had some space open up in the back room of our house so I decided to move my production space into the vacant area. Where my desk was before, I had no place to setup any of my hardware synthesizers or hardware mixer. With this space open, I could finally put my A-Frame together and build it with all of my hardware on it. Once this was all together, I was finally able to get everything wired and start using everything again. It was great hearing the Karma and Virus in use again. The Karma is not functioning properly though and will need to be repaired soon.

Resonant Evolution

Convoluted Patterns

Raising Polaris

February Bells

I focus on music in the electronic genre: dance, soundtrack, atmospheric, break-beat. My background in this genre of music is informal, I played the saxophone for six years as a preteen/adolescent and took piano lessons in college along with some music theory and technique. I am mostly self taught beyond this.

Along with me, I have creative support from my brother, Charles a.k.a. 3am Insomnia, a talented pianist, saxophone player and DJ. Together we occasionally DJ parties together, with a gig coming up in the semi-near future for our former high school, Triton. Most recently we played Triton’s Gradventure boat ride, a substance free party on graduation night.

People have described my music as sounding like a soundtrack. I try to make music that doesn’t rely on the conventional song structure, but rather I try and create something that grows and evolves. I like to think of it as a progressive sound.