[session] Sunken Funk (OGG)

[Sam_Zen]

I call this a session because it's tracker-related, but with other people involved too.
For quite a while now I'm exploring the possibilities of using a complete tracker-module as a realtime instrument. As being a musician among other musicians. In this recording I use a laptop with W98 and OMPT, running my tracker "Sunken Funk".
Nothing has been rehearsed, it's an excerpt of a recorded improvisation.
With at the center Paul Dunki Jacobs on electric guitar, and on the right Ludwig Petersen on electronic guitar.
First I'm playing the KB with one of the present samples inside "Sunken Funk", then I start running the module.

[apple-joe]

Nice nice. I enjoy the general craziness. Oh, seems like a steady beat is about to establish itself around 1:45, didn't expect that one.

Could you do a couple of more like this? Doesn't hurt if you make them last quite some minutes.

[Sam_Zen]

Hi apple-joe !
Check the link again. I've directed it to the complete recording.
Call us crazy, but we're just three serious musicians.
Around 1:45 the actual tracker was started to playback the pattern row. With a preset of muted channels in the patterns.

[apple-joe]

Yeah, well, I meant crazy for your approach to tonality basically. I - more or less consciously - compare the music I encounter to traditional music based on one scale standard scale, I think. Hence, music which has an alternative sound may receive descriptions like that - ie. I'd probably call Miles Davis' Bitches Brew 'crazy', and it's among my favourite albums these days.

Looking forward to the complete recording, great.

[Sam_Zen]

Very interesting aspects you bring up here.

traditional music based on one scale standard scale

This is indeed a situation where every single instrument of the ensemble is tuned to a basic common frequency inside some scale.
Why only one ? I stumbled upon this question, because it is possible to have a sample of some recorded instrument-sound playing a note, importing the sample in OMPT, place it in a pattern with the code A#, while the actual sound could be an F-note.
Another option is to deliberately place different scales parallel to each other. Which simply means not one common ground-tone, but four different ones at the same time. Not necessarily connected in a numerical sense qua harmonics. Four prime numbers could be.
In the end it produces four, one could call, 'out of tune' notes, but this also can can result in a new kind of harmonic settings.
In stead of one common octave, every instrument has another octave. Because these are constants, they will give a specific 'sound-flavour' to the overall song. Just like in nature, where the basetone of a frog is not tuned to the base-tone of the bird nearby.

Amazing you mention 'Bitches Brew' here. This meant to me a breakthrough in my thinking about this kind of ensemble-playing.
I once made an electronic model of this with my analog synths, called Witches' Woe
Stil it is a main inspiration concerning the things I'm now experimenting with.
Most recordings are stil too premature to publish, but here is another example of running more than one ground-tone :
http://www.samshuijzen.nl/sam/kukel/27_2/2_272_censor.ogg

[xaimus]

This was pretty cool.  I really enjoyed everything from 8:22 onwards.

[Sam_Zen]

Which one was cool ? I've passed on 3 tracks in the meantime.

[Relabsoluness]

A technical question: In the 'sfunk_0.ogg' quite precisely at 4:21, there is a little 'jump' in the drum loop. Is that intentional or could it be due to bug in OMPT? I've also used OMPT for a bit of live playing (improvisation) session, and I've noticed that every now and then there occurs some 'jumps' in the playback, which can be very bad for example if that causes rhythm to fall apart. It would be great to have it fixed, but I've no idea what is the cause, and even though it happens quite often, I've not found a certain way to reproduce it.

[Sam_Zen]

You have sharp ears.
It's not intentional and not a bug. It just happens sometimes, that, while playing, to make a jump to another pattern in the row, I release the Ctrl key already before clicking on the next position. So the jump happens instantaneous.
Such mistakes are the risk of playing live I guess.

[xaimus]

Which one was cool ? I've passed on 3 tracks in the meantime.

Oh!

sfunk_0.ogg.

[mrvegas]

Ah yes, it finally starts to gel after a few minutes.  I should have known it would come together.  Pretty cool recording.  I think the Bitches Brew Analogy is a good one.  I used to have that on vinyl.  Don't know where it is now.

Nice work.  And thanks for the samples and all of your advice on the forums.

[Sam_Zen]

2 xaimus
I see. I checked 8:22 and that's where some text begins, done by one of the guitarists. This is part of the improvisation concept :
Any player has physically the ability of making an extra contribution with the voice at the same time. Spoken text or sung lyrics are seen as just one of the instruments available. So maybe the next session-take of Sunken Funk another text could be performed, or the same text in another language. It depends on the choice of the player how to participate in the piece.
If the musician decides to play his part in the next performance of a certain song exactly in the same way as before, it's a choice.
(I was writing this not yet having seen mrvegas post due to a late refresh)

Pretty cool recording

During these sessions in my studio I use 2 seperate system-soundcards with stereo line-inputs, so a four channel recording.
So the OGG-file is the derivate of editing and mixing afterwards.

I think the Bitches Brew Analogy is a good one

Very nice you recognize this. (I still do have it on vinyl, in the Sony Quadrophonic version)
Following and practising this concept, I've come to the conclusion to call it something like "organized random".

thanks for the samples and all of your advice on the forums

I'm pleased to hear that, but it's just part of the responsabilities as being part of a community.
And of course while offering gathered data, I will use it to emphasize my own perspective as well on some issue.