Mark Mosher: Experimental Electronic Musician from Boulder, CO. Synthesis | Synthesist, Composer, Keyboardist, Performer

New Song "Primeval 01" & First to Be Released Using Percussa Improvisor

 
Yesterday the company Percussa in Belgium released a brand new music production tool called Improvisor. I downloaded it last night and used to to produce a brand new song. I was so excited by the results I just had to release this as a single for others to enjoy. Note this is is not a song from the next "Signals Universe Album" but more of an spinoff improvisation. I also hear that it's the first piece to be released using this technology.

Primeval 01 by MarkMosher

Composer Notes

In "Primeval 01" I transport you to a primitive place. I use hand crafted synthetic sounds (subtractive and additive synthesis) to create stange tones, textures. and rhythms which give you a sense of how primal this world.  Fast note-runs, and radical tempo changes will creep you out. Remember to look under your bead tonight before turning in :^)  I numbered the song "01" because I might do more pieces from this world.

Produciton Notes

I used Improviser to program original notes, velocities, and semitones into patterns. I then performed with these patterns interactively using Percussa's AudioCubes controllers. In other words it's a generative improvization based on notes I programmed. I routed four streams of note patterns into discrete MIDI channels which were routed to four virtual synthesizers. I used Waldorf Largo, and three instances of Image-Line's Harmless. Every patch was hand crafted from INIT. The synthesizers were hosted out of Ableton Live which was used to record all the incoming data which I then further manipulated prior to producing the final song.

Links

• Percussa AudioCubes
• Percussa Improvisor

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Boulder, CO
Official Web Site: www.MarkMosherMusic.com
Listen/Download Albums: www.MarkMosherMusic.com/music.html

 

I HEAR YOUR SIGNALS Album Turns 1 - Thanks for Your Support - Next Album in the Works

I HEAR YOUR SIGNALS Turns 1

One year ago today I released the second album in the science fiction Signals Universe concept album series I Hear Your Signals. Time for some reflection and thanks.

I want to thank all those who listeners and bloggers who shared links via Facebook and Twitter. I huge thanks to all those who bought this album (which tells the invasion story from the alien point of view), and REBOOT (which tells the story from the human point of view)!!! Your support means a lot to me as an indie artist. Also thanks to the Spellbound radio show for airing my music and to the Redfaux Transmision for groking the album and then taking the time to review it :^) Thanks to my family for being patient while I make them listen to endless revisions of the music.

If you did download it and now would like to support the art with a purchase visit my Music page where there previews, links to iTunes, Amazon, and Bandcamp.

Spin Off

In the last year, the Signals Universe has grown in other ways. In December I released a free sound set called “Sounds from a Distant Outpost” so I and other other artists could take a trip to an alien outpost and compose with sounds and instruments from this world. Checkout some compositions here. This sound pack has been downloaded over 2,000 times!

Thanks for Support at Live Shows as Well

Watch embedded video

I simultaneously composed and arranged songs on I HEAR YOUR SIGNALS for live performance. I spent a lot of time working on a portable laptop-based rig that would allow me to use keyboards, grids, antennas, and AudioCubes to pull these songs off live – so thanks to all those people who came to private shows, and shows at the Electro-Music Festival in NY, the Microsoft Store in Denver, The University of Denver Digital Media Studies Black Box, and the Art Institute of California/Sunnyvale.

Thanks to the Geniuses Who Made My Studio and Live Rig Possible

• Controllers: Percussa AudioCubes, Moog Etherwave Theremin, Novation keys, synths, grids, Tenori-On
• Software, Virtual Synths: Ableton, Tone2, Camel Audio, SonicCharge, U-He, FAW, Waldorf

A Special Shout Out to Ableton Colorado User Group

I want to give a special shout out to Marc (djnsm) and the entire Ableton Colorado User Group for being great test subjects for new tracks and offering me the opportunity to play tracks on awesome PAs between shows ;^) Below is a video of the fist time I performed “First Orbit” live 4 months before album release (video shot by David Henderson)!

Watch embedded video

Next Album In the Works

Your support has encouraged me to continue with this concept album series so the next album will pick up where the last two left off. I’ve got a narrative and nice collection of songs that I’ve composed and been rehearsing over the last year to support the soundtrack to the story. I even played some of these songs in recent shows. Over the next few months I’ll start finalizing arrangements and start mixing the album down. Subscribe to RSS feed for this blog or join my email newsletter to stay informed.

Pass it On

I’ve created an easy to remember vanity URL http://www.SignalsUniverse.com which links my artist web site. If you know of any fans of electronic music or science fiction please consider passing this along.

Thanks again!

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Boulder, CO
Official Web Site: www.MarkMosherMusic.com
Listen/Download Albums: www.MarkMosherMusic.com/music.html

Improvisation with Custom Sound: Alien Strumming/Percussive Instrument Care of Blofeld Hardware Synthesizer

More often than not when I compose, produce, and perform, I'm using virtual instruments running off a laptop. Lately, I've working on a new piece using only the Blofeld hardware synth and a digital recorder.

I've spent a few hours custom programming a crazy sound that responds to after touch (pressing harder on a key once it's down) allowing me radically change the rhythmic speed of the sound. After some practice it's quite expressive and I can control what sounds like strumming, but with a VERY unique sounding stringed instrument from another planet. However when I strike notes at higher velocities, they sound like a percussion instrument.This sound leverages the Blofeld's unique features and I don't think I could pull this paticular sound off on another synth.

Perhaps this will make it on the new album in some form :^)

While the Waldorf is white, it appears red in this photo because when I'm composing I tend to use stage lighting to help me get into a performance zone.

Mark Mosher
Electronic Music Artist, Boulder, CO
Official Web Site: www.MarkMosherMusic.com
Listen/Download Albums: www.MarkMosherMusic.com/music.html