Hardware jam w/ Octatrack MkII, Micromonsta 2, Minitaur, and eurorack drum skiff

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A live, semi-improvised synth jam performed entirely on hardware.

The quest for a live setup continues. My last setup was versatile and powerful, but felt too big and complicated for actually setting up in a live venue. (Though who knows, maybe I'll go back to it!) As such, I decided to strip things down to the essentials, and try a few new ideas.

The essentials: The Octatrack and Minitaur. The Octatrack gives me stereo sample playing/mangling with time-stretch, eight separate tracks of sequencing for other hardware, a mixer for other audio in, effects, and performance macros (scenes). The Minitaur gives me the bass sound; there's just nothing else that can compare, let alone in such a compact package.

The new ideas: The Audiothingies Micromonsta 2 and eurorack drums. The Micromonsta 2 is a bitimbral digital synth with a tiny footprint, lots of options on filter and modulation, effects, and more. I must confess, though, that I struggled to make a sound I loved with it on the first pass, though it may just require some further exploration. The eurorack drum skiff is a modification of the setup I used for two live albums this year, repurposed exclusively for drum sounds. It's got plenty of hands-on control, glitchiness I can tweak, and a fast sequencer. However, it took more fussing than I'd like to get it set up where I wanted it. Ultimately I'm not sure if either the Micromonsta 2 or eurorack drums will stick around, but they were super fun for this jam.

Elektron Octatrack MkII - sampler, MIDI sequencer, mixer, effects
Moog Minitaur - bass
Audiothingies Micromonsta 2 - pad and melody double
Eurorack skiff:
- Prok Drums (kick, snare, hats, clap) - drum sounds
- ALM Busy Circuits Pamela's New Workout - clock, LFO, euclidean, etc.
- ALM Busy Circuits mmMIDI - MIDI to CV converter
- Mutable Instruments Grids - drum sequencing
- Intellijel Mixup - mixing
- Happy Nerding FX Aid XL - drum compression
- Qu-Bit Data Bender - glitch business
- Intellijel FSR 1U - CV control of snare fills
- Endorphin.es Golden Master 1U - compression and EQ
- Intellijel Mixer 1U - final mix output
Kenton MIDI Thru - splitting MIDI output from Octatrack to devices
Octatrack samples created in the box, using various synths and samples from Reason 12, Native Instruments, and Arturia

Performed live and recorded to a stereo output, with EQ, compression, and limiting on the master.

Thanks for listening.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com