The Roll
Recent posts
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In 1983 YAMAHA Corp. released DX7, the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling electronic instruments in history, selling more than 200,000 units. DX7 and its derivative models utilized the Frequency Modulation sound generation technology developed by John Chowning at Stanford University and previously deployed, although with little commercial success, by Don Buchla.…
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Second cinematic library for KORG WAVESTATE NATIVE plugin and hardware WAVESTATE synthesizer is coming – with a bonus.
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The latest gig was kinda alright, although the venue left a very unpleasant impression due to an abundancy of trashed barflies who appeared to be dying to put on some cheap-sounding muzak right after our performance. One of them – a particularly drunk and probably stoned – slammed us loudly for the refusal of playing…
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…If/when you do right, every gig is a celebration. At least it should look like the one for the audience. It’s nice if it feels like the one for the performers – a better rapport with the audience is invoked then…
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With Sombra Del Mar band. Same place, later time: Sinori Pub, Batumi; starting at 21:30. Hopefully it will be as fun as it was last time. Besides, I’m going full steam ahead with completing Phi Mu Labs II library for Korg wavestate AND FM-based synths that can read SYSEX from Yamaha DX7. This is pretty…
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It was a year of hardships for me. Don’t expect them to go away next year either, but somehow under pressure I’ve yielded more than, probably, ever: Written in memory of my friend Manticore, who suddenly passed away in late October last year. I knew him for 20 years… A sort of chronicle of the…
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The independent web-label ‘The Day of Life Forgotten’ (Rus) have just released its seventh VA compilation from ‘Journeys, Wanderings and Immersions’ series. It features a track called ‘1000 Days’ by black-sided sun. The composition had been created using only custom-made timbres for Dexed (a Yamaha DX7 emulator), SurgeXT, Full Bucket WhispAir, and NI FM8. Below…
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For some of my projects I used (somewhat maligned, occasionally) Z3Ta+ 2 synth by Cakewalk. The migration is always painful, but with this thing it is a whole new dimension of torture and misery. :-) Thing is, activating it is a very non-straightforward process, and having proper CD keys for Steam-based version in my case…
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In May 2006, i.e. just under 19 years ago, I self-released the second LP with my project Decembered. It was called ‘A Treatise on Eschatology’. I was pretty much into Gnosticism back then, and basically that’s what the album was all about. Re-listened to it recently. Although those weren’t the brightest days of mine, the…
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…Those are totally great about gigging: first is seeing people burst into dance to a classic rock music – I didn’t expect the old rock-n-roll is still that popular. Second – a blissful hush afterwards. A relative one, of course, – in the streets even past midnight there are still cars, some people and the…
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Will play tomorrow late evening with Sombra Del Mar band in Batumi. For the first time. Wish me luck. We start at 21:30. Sinori Pub, 14, Marjanishvili str. Come to see us and listen to some real rock’n’roll!
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A photograph surfaced at Facebook, dating 12 years back. 2012 wasn’t easy for me. Two creative endeavours I’ve invested a lot of efforts in crashed, I’ve lost an ability to sing and compose music for many months, and it had become totally evident that I wasn’t going to become a professional actor. Even though later…
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Just read somewhat a troubling news that My Dying Bride seems to have parted ways with their vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe. Or, rather, they are coming out of their hiatus (which saw them cancelling all the shows in 2024) next year and doing at least one festival with Swallow The Sun‘s frontman Mikko Kotamäki. It is,…
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Joined a cover band as a keyboardist. The Beatles, Joe Cocker, Pink Floyd, Stray Cats, etc. I guess 20 years ago I’d object doing something like this out of pride – and illusions. Now it’s just another job to sustain myself in emigration. And by all means, the good and honest one.
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Going full steam ahead with making the second installment of my Phi Mu Labs – the FM-based timbres library for Korg wavestate. Cherry-picking or dialling up the timbres are fun, adapting them for the synth – much less so. Basically I render 14-16 .WAV files – two per octave (C and G notes). Some timbres…
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Finally looked a bit more dilligently into a bunch of SBI files on my hard drive, and discovered a ‘golden lode’ – a number of timbres from Dune II: Building a Dynasty (aka Battle for Arrakis), the ‘mother of all real-time strategy games’. SBI stands for Sound Blaster Instruments: those are tiny files of instructions…
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Will improvise some dark ambient with my #blacksidedsun project later tonight. If I get lucky, I’ll be able to record some stuff too. Not sure yet, though.
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Here goes the first demo for two dual packs of patches for Yamaha DX7/TX7 and all of their ilk provided those are 6-operator+ synths, hardware or software. I’ll make them available later this year, separately and with Korg wavestate version of these timbres.
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…Dialed up yet another double bank for DEXED. Also should be loadable to any hardware or software FM synth capable of reading Yamaha DX7-compatible SYSEX. Surely, the demo will follow soon. Probably these sounds will be offered separately from Phi Mu Labs 2 pack for Korg wavestate. Although I’m still thinking what’s the best source…
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I’ve owned Yamaha DX7 for many years. Got it second-hand in a working, but cosmetically drastic condition. For a time being it was one of the keyboards I used religiously both on stage and in studio, considering it much more of an ‘honest’ synthesizer than any ROMplers I owned aside from that. However, since discovering…
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A demo to LUMINOPHORE pack had been uploaded on Youtube. And I’ve started working on a new pack – this time for DEXED. It will be, most likely, compatible with Native Instruments FM8, Arturia DX7V, Plogue Chipsynth OPS7, SynprezFM, and every DX7-compatible 6-operator hardware synth that can read DX7 SYSEX files.
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Finished my first pack for Surge XT synth, and must I say I’m incredibly impressed with this synth’s capabilities. Tried to employ them at depth. Earlier today I’ve cooked up a 16-minutes long ambient demo featuring some of the sounds. No other synths, no external effects except for a featureless limiter on the master bus…
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Increasingly surprised how any software synths worked at all like 10-15 years ago. For one, I’ve got an old Core i7 with 2.81 GHz cores, and Surge XT hits the roof with RT CPU values unless the patch is optimized heavily. On the other hand, it’s a reason to actually optimize things there. I have…
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Will go live with my black-sided sun project. A semi-improvised program: a laptop, keyboards, maybe some recital. Hopefully will make some distraction from the darker thoughts and moods. Hopefully.
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I didn’t list it among my works for two reasons: first, I forgot, second, it stays incomplete, like quite a few of other my projects. I hope to finish it one day, but it will require a Herculean effort. Missa is dedicated to memory of both my godfather and father. They both have departed in…
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Yet I’m trying to shed the thought I’m doing it all wrong and the effort is rather pointless – there are so many premade patches for Surge XT already, who would even take a look at the newer bunch. To hell with that, anyway. While making these patches I’ve actually learnt a thing or two,…
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Will play keyboards with a quickie band, performing some bluesy-rocky stuff. Not much of a deal. In fact, expats musicians are largely playing for their kin, locals ignore such events for a few reasons. Shame, really. Also, shame that it’s mostly about playing covers, not some original music – people largely want to hear what…
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