500 WORDS, DAY 110: Working With Waves

There’s something about the whole process that comes with working with audio hardware, which includes connections of all kinds going back and forth to and from different places, each one with its own specific function, all working together to create something new, blending together in so many infinitely different and unique ways, making the possibilities truly endless. Signals you have to work with when it comes to audio equipment, for example, are audio itself, and midi. These are the most common at least. Audio refers to sound, of course. Audio comes from anything from a synthesizer to a DAW on a PC, or a groovebox or sampler, in which case the audio can come into the sampler first through the process of sampling itself, which entails routing and output from something back into the input of the sampler you’re working with, or into whatever interface or mixer you’re using it with. In my case, I have both my MPC and my PC hooked up by USB to a Tacam Model 12 mixer, with a USB switch to switch between the two devices and record anything into either one of them, since all my synths are connected into the mixer. I don’t have too many synths at this point, but the ones I do have are more than enough for now, because they open up a world of possibilities for me, speaking creatively. Between them, there’s so many different workflows, that I could probably write about it forever. Anyway, apart from routing of audio itself, Midi is a standard for routing things like notes and clock information, things like BPM and when to start and stop. Certain machines can control other machines. Apart from the standard Midi-Din cables, there is now midi through USB on most modern synths and grooveboxes, so Midi can really be sent any and every way. Just today I got a device that is, from here on, meant to act as the main midi brain for my entire studio setup, and it definitely looks promising. I’m probably going to be making a YouTube video about this device soon, because it really has simplified my workflow so much, and apart from standard midi functions, it offers so much more, like the ability to filter either notes or clock or whatever else from the midi signal itself, so it’s basically an advanced midi router. Now, a third type of connection that gets routed around quite a lot is control voltage, or CV, as it is most commonly referred. This is referring to making music, or sounds at least, with modular synthesizers, meaning putting together modules in order to create one’s own ever-expanding synthesizer, so to speak. What’s so cool about modular synthesis is that all parameters are able to be controlled, and the way the parameters on every individual module is controlled, is with control voltage, or electrical currents. These electrical currents are different kinds of electrical waves, from sine to square waves, some more complex than others, and whatever signal, whether of audio or of electricity, that they affect, will be affected by its shape. One can basically modulate any parameter with another wave or electrical current, and so on and so on, shaping the sound at hand to one’s taste. Needless to say, it’s all super fascinating to me, and there’s something about the routing of all these currents that makes it all really fun, and building a studio seems more like building a playground in my room, with connections going here and there, with hidden connections of sound and modulation at every corner, affecting each other in various ways. Anyway, I’m excited to continue with this, and I thought I’d share my excitement with you all. I appreciate you reading!