RGB waster - a drone piece

[offthesky]

just wanted to share this experiment... hopefully the process explanation and tools list will be helpful to somebody!

http://soundcloud.com/offthesky/rgb-waster-abridged


this started out as a performance test using an old 2nd gen ipod touch as a portable tracking/composing device (with the "multitrack DAW" app) and an iRig input device. i initially wanted to find out if the antique ipod could handle playback of 24 simultaneous stereo tracks of 16min+ recordings(i had to record in mono, then convert to stereo within the app). the app performed amazingly sans glitches or crashes once i had all 24 tracks going (i ran out of disk space in the middle of doing this test and had to delete some apps!). the original version of this piece is about 16.5 minutes and is a very 'indulgent drone' so i figured i'd spare you with this short version...

for the sonic content of this sketch, i mainly used the amazing "animoog" and "moog filatron" apps on the ipad for some nice old-school analog-ish synth melodies and effects. not my usual taste in sound sources but those apps just sound 'so analog' i couldn't help but indulge for a bit with them. btw, i think the ipad makes a much more 'playable' instrument than the ipod touch due to it's size and cpu. i also used the keyboard sampler module within "beatmaker" 2 and "sunvox" app run through various distortion patches on my korg px5d effects box. finally, i used a granular-esqe effects patch i made in the jasuto pro ipad app - running my acoustic piano through a stereo mic and into jasuto then out the ipad and through the px5d for added texture and reverb (most obvious at the end).

the vinyl sample is the only outside sample i imported - surfing the web using the "goodreader" app, i got downloaded the free sample from http://www.freesound.org/ and imported it into multitrack DAW directly from goodreader...

this experiment was made half in my bed and half in my living room. it took about 8 hours total to make, and was made all with batteries. using less than one charge for the ipad and 2 charges for the old ipod touch. a little post-mastering production was performed on the song in ableton live. the overall idea is to take this rig outside and enjoy the nice weather while subtly making music inspired by the various natural spaces.

gear used: ipad 2, ipod 2nd gen, iRig(for the ipod), iMic stereo soundcard (with a camera connection kit, for the ipad 2), korg px5d battery effects, a mini stereo microphone, a buttload of little adapters (thanx radioschlack!)
mobile apps used: multitrack daw, animoog, filtatron, jasuto pro, sunvox, beatmaker 2, hokusai, goodreader

[CougarFool]

I enjoyed that piece! It is very impressive what can be achieved with so little, and cheap, kit. Thanks for posting the technical details: as a beginner it really helps me to understand how to achieve a certain sound.

Thanks.