Category: Music

MadWaves MadPlayer – Generative music device from around 2003

I found one of these in a drawer whilst I was looking for something else. I think I have another one somewhere.

It has an apparently common problem of the rubberised paint becoming what can only be described as “slimy”. But for its time it is a pretty interesting bit of kit. Basically creates up to 6 part generative music in a variety of styles with pretty much (I think) infinite variation.Including an FM radio that can (it appears) be sampled from.

This is a recording direct into Logic of a “TripHop” track (which is completely randomly generated, instantly) with a bit of messing around at the end in terms of regenerating the drums. Which was done in realtime as the audio was recording into the Mac. Just with a bit of compression and reverb added in Logic.

It will save created tracks to midi but does so to a SmartMedia card – I have an order in for a reader. Which should really increase the potential. There is a USB interface but it uses a proprierty cable that is long gone.

I do have a bit of an idea that if it was, even now, repacked in a form that looked a little less like a children’s toy (and perhaps the inbuilt track themes were updated a little), with a normal USB port and SD card support, it would still stand up.

And losing the slimy paint would be good (off to wash hands).

Just like Nu:Tekt

This is a first play with a Korg Nu:Tekt synth (apart from the bass, drums and a tiny bit of strings at the very end that I don’t really expect will ever be heard). The idea was to see what could be done in an hour.

Bespoke Investment Fund + “Elenor Forte”

Download the whole E.P. as a ZIP file – BIF+EF-Road_less_Travelled if you wish.

Elenor isn’t really real. She is one of the voices in the rather amazing “Synthesizer V” an AI driven, artificial vocalist synth. See https://synthesizerv.com/en-US/

Although in some sense she is, as she is created by a real person (in Taiwan) who has no idea of how her voice can be used. As an example, the Radiohead track is not the “Radio Edit” version and has some (very convincing) limited use of the F*** word.

The tracks above are a little rough and the software does introduce the odd click and pop here and there. It is basically possible to edit the vocal on an individual word/syllable level. Other vocal synths are available but this one is very accessible, reasonably priced and straightforward. The next step is to see how she manages with a Glaswegian accent….

There are a few other examples online. Most are not in English. A noticeable one is an “acceptable” Morrissey alternative. More than acceptable in terms of vocals……