While reading about music theory, I came across the mu major chord. It was named this by Steely Dan and someone put together a big website about here. Lots of good info and always nice to get the chance to listen to some Steely Dan and get behind the scenes with what is going on.
Fireknife for Monomachine – Audio and Files
Now available – check out the info here!
Site sign-ups
Hey everyone – I was getting hit with a lot of weird user registrations. So if you registered on my website, please feel free to re-register. Sorry about that. Thanks and keep on grooving.
Machinedrum archeology – the RRine Machinedrum UW kit
Elektron-User Rrine posted these Machinedrum samples at some point many years ago. I am not sure whether these files were posted to his/her personal website, www.rrine.com, or to Elektron Users. The samples themselves seem to all date back to 12/28/2007.
Rrine only had a few posts at Elektron Users. The posts were around 2008/2009. Beyond the Machinedrum, he/she was also interested in buying a Monomachine.
The sample zip file Rrine shared contains 16-bit 48000 Hz samples. There are 22 samples in total taking up 1.75 MB of space. The general feel of many of these files is on the noisier, atonal side. Here are a few descriptions of some of the samples.
*Cik, chunky snare-like sound
*Cluster and cluster2, noise-oriented
*Crumble, paper crinkling
*Graindump, swoosh
*Rapple, sounds like vinyl record noise to me
*Teer, a zap-like sound
*Tone3, sci-fi sound
Given that RRine shared these files, I imagine he/she was making them available to other musicians. Repost available here. If of course I am mistaken, I will take them down. samples rrine-machinedrum-kit-1
Be My Devil
Hell actually freezes over… a fiendish new track from me comes out! Check it out on SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/catabolic/be-my-devil
Monomachine SuperPoly Waves Available Here
More info at this permanent page I set up here to host the files.
Of Kick Drums and Key Signatures – Choosing a Song’s Key based on Frequency/Pitch
When you are playing guitar, some keys are easier to play in than others. And singers may be more comfortable in some keys. For electronic music though, these factors don’t apply as much while the low end can be quite important. It can help to have the kick drum to be in tune with the rest of the song or else some wobbling/phasing can sometimes be heard/felt. So I thought I would look at some tunings for kick drum parts and the musical keys that would go with them.
If you assume that most speakers can’t do well below 40 hertz, then here are some keys that fit the bill.
| Frequency (hz) | Note |
| E1 | 41.2 |
| F1 | 43.6 |
| F#1 | 46.2 |
| G1 | 49.0 |
| G#1 | 51.9 |
| A1 | 55.0 |
| A#1 | 58.3 |
| B1 | 61.7 |
| C2 | 65.4 |
After B1 and C2 we are getting further out of the deep bass range. So for a song with deep bass or a deep kick, it might be better to stay out of the keys of C# to D#. Still, there are plenty of keys that would support a deeper bass/kick.
Not all speakers can go down to 40 hertz of course. I checked my trusty iPad as an example of a pretty bass-starved environment. Anything below Middle C (261.6 hz) started to get a lot quieter and by the time we go an octave below that to C3 (130.8 hz) the sound was mostly gone.
PS – Thanks Wikipedia – you’ve done it again 🙂 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_key_frequencies.
Most streamed on Spotify
Looks like my top two most-streamed tracks on Spotify are “Who Let the Freaks Out” and “Let Me Love You”. Thanks for listening!
New Music ‘On My Mind’ Out Now
Slow vibes for your summer rides … ‘On My Mind‘ is here for your late night listening. And change is always good so here’s the kickoff of a new artist name, |z|ρ.
Random Video of the Day
If you like offbeat beeps and boops, you might enjoy this. Only 35 views at the moment but deserves more…