Krell Music No. D: Relax It's Only Pain

Track Notes / Motivation
In celebration of the public holiday for the King of Oceania, I set aside my serious investigations of the Audio Synthesis capability of the Krell Wave Modular Synthesizer and indulged in some some whimsical recording based on popular Terran music.

Communications between Earth and Altair IV are tenuous at the best of times, meaning that I am out of touch with Terran current affairs and popular culture. (Judging from the some of the snippets I do receive, I'm not certain that this is necessarily a bad thing.) My leisure hours are made more enjoyable by listening to the occasional piece of earth music that is transmitted successfully.

One notable example is the Boy Harsher song 'Pain'. I am struck by its bassline. It has a moody, introspective quality that evokes a sense of elegy or melancholy. Its minimalistic synths and emotive vocals might reflect a sense of disillusionment or introspection that resonates with contemporary Terran culture. The song's atmosphere can be seen as a commentary on the darker, more reflective aspects of modern life on Earth, as well as my own (Cartesian) isolation and search for meaning.

OG:    • Pain (Remastered)  



Patch Notes
The Trusty Behringer Pro-1 is doing the heavy lifting, playing the 'Pain' bassline 32 step sequence from its internal sequencer. The oscillators are both square waves, not synced and slightly detuned, and one octave apart. The tempo is much slower, as is obvious, than than Boy Harsher's original.

Oddly, but fittingly, the final 4 note flourish at the end of the mono-tonic sequence is almost obscured by the swirling feedback and reverb. Its almost as if one cannot hear it unless one knows the original.

Reverb: Strymon Starlab

Modulation of the Pro-1 and Starlab comes from various psuedo-random sources. Additionally, the pulse width of one of the Oscillators is modulated by the filter envelope as well as a long, slow envelope from Abacus.