Synth Setup for improvising "A Galaxy Named Orvonton"

A Galaxy Named Orvonton by Nicky Bendix

The beginning of the track is played on orange alone, up till the point where the piano sets in (Red). More infoon the what an how follows here:

OK, setup for the improvisation ”A Galaxy Named Orvonton”

This relatively simple setup illustrates very well the basic techniques for playing and controlling multiple sound generators at the same time, while still staying in full control in a hands-on, go-with-the-flow kind of way:)

First a describtion of the setup and then a short elaboration on the trick that makes this a very flexible setup.

Red: P-90, is playing the Piano sound that later is layered internaly with a string sound also coming fom Red. From Red there is a midi connection to Blue running on midi channel 1 and merged with a midi connection from Orange, also running on midi channel 1. These are merged into one signal in Blue (still channel 1) and routed to Green - more on that later..:)

Orange: Super JX-10, only functioning as a midi controller on this track. Feeds a midi signal running on midi channel 1 to Blue where it is merged with the signal from Red. And send to Green...

Blue: MCS-2 Midi control station, merges the midi signals from Red and Orange into one midi signal running on channel 1 and transmitting all note info to Green. Everything played on either Red or Orange will therefore go directly to Green.

Green: N5, recieving note-info via midi from Red and Orange and feeding those to its internal Arppegiator playnig a soft Electric Piano sound, with very soft attack and running a three octave cylce. The sound is transposed down one octave relative to the notes coming in, More later:)

Cyan: K1, sound module. Recieving note info from Greens internal Arpp. via midi, running midi channel 1. Playing a percussive sound in the original octave of the notes coming from Red and Orange, meaning one octave higher than the Arpp on Green, further seperating them and broadening the sonic picture.

Now the trick:

The fact that Red and Orange both feed the arppegiator on Green means that I can play the piano sound and improvise there while the soundmodules follow what I play AND I can manipulate the Arpp independently by playing on the midicontroller, Orange, without playing the piano sound at all at the same time.

If I play with both hands on the piano (Red) I get the full ”orchestra” and if I play with my left hand on Orange and let my right hand play lines on the piano (Red) I get a thiner sound because the pianos deep notes are not there. BUT the overall deep arppegiator sounds are still running like before and following the music, so you don't feel that ”something” is suddenly missing! And I can play on Orange alone and only get the moving, organic arppegiator cycles without any piano.

From Red there is a midi connection to Blue running on midi channel 1 and merged with a midi connection coming from Orange, also running on midi channel 1.These two signals are merged into one signal in Blue (still running on channel 1) and routed to Green where the notes played on either Red or Orange are fed to Greens.

The notes coming into Green are the fed to it's internal Arppegiator playing a 3 octave pattern using a soft Electric piano sound with a tweaked attack to make it smooth and soft. This sound is transposed down one octave relative to the notes coming in from red or Orange. This has the effect that the soft arpp from Green is ”heard” more because it is not in frequency conflict with what is played and send to it - and it gives a warm, calm feel to the whole sonic picture.

The Arpp infomation generated by the internal arppegiator in Green is send to Cyan, playing a percussive and clear sound one octave higher than Green. This sound has some delay effect also and generally gives some ”space” and sparkle to the track since it runs up three octaves higher than the notes played on red or Orange.