Voltage-Controlled Gaming: Pittsburgh Modular's Game System

Over the last year, I have developed a keen interest in the world of modular synthesizers.  Between learning the inner workings of synthesis from friends, building a system of my own in the Eurorack format, and exploring forum pages and manufacturers' catalogs, I can proudly call myself a synth geek.  Now, I could write an entire series of articles regarding the topic (as it is indeed that expansive), but in keeping with the spirit of the blog, I will instead shine the spotlight on one specific module that I find as uncanny as I do entertaining: the Game System, by Pittsburgh Modular.

Simply put, the Game System spews out control voltages, which can be used to modulate other modules.  Its beauty, however, lies in its interface: it works like a basic gaming system!  Its screen is an 8x8 grid of LED-lit squares, with multiple inputs (including a button and CV inputs), some of which move the "player character" pixel.  The module itself has six different modes, some of which resemble basic games (such as "Meteor Shower" and "Time Traveller"), while others opt for more conventional synth module functions (sequencers for both music and percussion).

So what does this mean?  Using the Meteor Shower game as an example, the pixel representing the player character would emit a voltage every time it touches a meteor.  This could be used in conjunction with other modules to create the potential sound of this game, or left as a random CV generator to trigger whatever you wish.  The sequencer games can be used along with multiple modules to create a musical sequence or drum sequence, with the additional CV inputs allowing for a more chaotic sequence to unfold.  As is usually the case with synthesizer modules, the possibilities are limited by your imagination... even more so for an avid gamer like myself!

The "400 Hz or 432 Hz" Debate

A school of thought in the music world believes that a certain note in the musical scale is tuned to “warp the consciousness of the masses,” perpetrated by the Nazis for mind control purposes.  Worst of all, the Nazi influence has made its way into the record labels of today, which still utilize this hypnotizing frequency.  Of course, this school of thought happens to fall under the umbrella term “conspiracy theorists,” but the tuning conundrum is indeed real, and rooted in history dating back to the era of classical composers.

The note in question is the A just before middle C, known to audiophiles as the frequency 440 Hz.  Sure enough, this precise quantity has been subject to variation over the years: 19^th century France and Austria tuned the note at 435 Hz, composer Giuseppe Verdi advocated an A at 432 Hz, and Pleyel pianos, most notably used by Chopin, tuned their A at 446 Hz.  The most divergent of the now-standard 440 Hz is Mozart, whose A was tuned at approximately 421.6 Hz – almost G sharp!  This erratic tuning eventually led to the adoption of an official standard imposed by the American Standards Association in 1936.  Since then, the A has been set firmly at 440 Hz.

At this point, the question still stands: which way is better?  Ardent believers insist that music with A tuned to 432 Hz gives off positive energies, not to mention it made classical compositions more wholesome and chromatically-rich.  Some even go as far as to examine the harmonic overtones!  The author of the source article actually conducted a listening test: utilizing software that automatically tunes the 440 Hz frequency down to 432 Hz, he listened to an assortment of songs from a variety of genres.  His findings note that the lower tuning suited softer music, while the higher tuning worked well with louder and harder songs.  Music made prior to the 440 Hz standard sounded (for the most part) better at 432 Hz.  Of course, it’s all subject to opinion, as most listening tests out there on the Internet leave the frequency preference to the interpretation of the viewer.   Feel free to try for yourself!

Reference:

Gioia, T. (2015, June 6). Are We All Mistuning Our Instruments, and Can We Blame the Nazis? Retrieved June 7, 2015, from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/06/are-we-all-mistuning-our-instruments-and-can-we-blame-the-nazis.html

 

The Sony MiniDisc and Why it Failed

Rewind back to the 90s: both the cassette tape and compact disc were in the market, each offering perks that the other didn’t (smaller size of the cassette, versus the spacious memory of the CD).  Enter the MiniDisc, a device that had the best of both worlds: the reduced physical space and the expansive storage space.  Moreover, it was highly touted by audiophiles as a superior alternative to the older formats in the categories of audio quality, lower skipping propensity, and the ability to re-record (the CD-R was yet to be released).  In more ways than one, the MiniDisc was cutting edge… so why did it fail?  Mainly, it was too expensive.

Sony priced the MiniDisc player at approximately $550, and that’s just the playback-only version; for $200 more, you gained the ability to re-record.  While overpricing is typical of new technology, it wasn’t the first time Sony tried that trick, and people weren’t biting this time around.  It didn’t help that Sony’s target audience for this product were teenagers, who neither cared much for MiniDiscs, nor could even afford it if they did.  To add insult to injury, record labels weren’t buying into the new format either, meaning that the catalog of pre-recorded MiniDiscs was limited only to Sony artists.  Setbacks aside, it would be just a matter of time before the technology became commonplace, cheaper, and more readily available, right?  Wrong, because it soon faced competition that completely erased the MiniDisc from the equation.

Much like the Nintendo DS completely overshadowed the nifty Game Boy Micro, the MiniDisc was left in the dust when a certain company based in Cupertino released an MP3 device that shook the nation.  That’s right: Apple’s iPod entered the scene and stole the show, which was terrible timing for the failing MiniDisc.  To make matters worse, the CD-R lowered in price enough to become a better alternative than the MiniDisc, effectively dooming the format for good.  Strangely enough, there was enough of a cult following for Sony to continue selling the MiniDisc and its accessories all the way up to September 2011.  At that date, the format bid the world farewell.

References:

Faulkner, J. (2012, September 24). MiniDisc, the forgotten format. Retrieved May 25, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2012/sep/24/sony-minidisc-20-years

Parsons, J. (2013, February 1). MiniDisc: The format that failed. Retrieved May 25, 2015, from http://www.t3.com/news/minidisc-the-format-that-failed

Peckham, M. (2013, February 4). The Ides of March: Farewell, Sony MiniDisc Player. Retrieved May 25, 2015, from http://techland.time.com/2013/02/04/the-ides-of-march-farewell-sony-minidisc-player/

Bobby McFerrin and Our Subconscious Understanding of Music

The TED talk I chose for this assignment isn’t much of a talk - I’d classify it as an experiment with a statement.  In the 3-minute clip, renown musician Bobby McFerrin set out to prove a point about expectations.   He started by jumping in place while humming a note, C#.  Once the audience hummed along with him, he stepped to the side, now humming D#.  The audience now followed along as he jumped between C# and D#.  Bobby finished his jumps at F, a note that he hadn’t hummed up until this point; the audience hummed it perfectly.  He continued jumping between notes, adding A# at the bottom, all the while singing his own melody as the audience harmonized for him.  Bobby finished his presentation by stating that everyone subject to this experiment behaves in the same manner.

The message Bobby McFerrin sent with his experiment is that humans are hard-wired to collectively understand music at its most primal.  The scale used was a Pentatonic scale, a scale containing five notes that serves as the framework for other scales.  It’s the kind of thing where we humans know what notes are the core of a scale (at the very least on a subconscious level), and so when asked to follow along in an experiment like Bobby’s, the notes just come naturally.  It’s very much possible that all humans have a subconscious understanding of music; Joel Zimmerman (aka deadmau5), known as the definitive EDM musician, stated in an interview that although he has no formal music education, “I know what music should sound like in my head, and I think that’s enough for me.”

That being said, this subconscious understanding can be and has been distorted beyond recognition by the current music industry.  Not only is it valuing cheap pop acts over legitimate musicality, but little effort is being made to educate people on music.  To prove my point: as I was writing this blog post, I was listening to The Four Seasons on Spotify, only to be constantly interrupted by commercials of mainstream hip-hop and commercial pop.  Fortunately, Bobby McFerrin’s experiment shines a light of hope that maybe people still know what music is… even if it’s on a subconscious level.

Gear Overview: EL-8X Distressor

Personal experiences have led me to conclude that every audio engineer passes through a “gear slut” phase - a variable period of time spent ogling and comparing audio gear.  A silver lining of sorts from this phase is the exposure to the spectrum of gear selection the world offers.  In my case, one of these items is the EL-8X Distressor, a compressor whose name is short for “Distortion Compressor.”  Not only was it visually unique, but closer inspection revealed functions not present in any other compressor I’ve come across.  I won’t dawdle any further; let me show you what it can do:

The Distressor lacks a knob for ratio, instead offering pre-selected ratios in the form of buttons.  Interesting to note is that the 10:1 ratio uses an optical detector not featured in the other modes, and the “Nuke” ratio is a variant of the 20:1 ratio that features a different knee and envelope shape.  Other unique features the Distressor offers include buttons to change the detector, which changes the way the Distressor works by altering how it detects audio, and buttons to add either 2nd order or 3rd order harmonic distortion to allow tape saturation and tube distortion, respectively. 

The Distressor is unique in that it can emulate other iconic compressors with the right knob-tweaking.  Compressors such as the Teletronix LA-2A and LA-3A, as well as the UREI 1176LN, each of which cost several thousand dollars, can be easily emulated by the Distressor, with its much more promising price of $1,500.  Even more unique is that the standard Distressor has a variant with two new features: British Mode and Image Link.  British Mode emulates the 1176’s “British Mode” (or “All Buttons In” mode), and Image Link allows for an alternate mode of linking Distressors.

In short, the Distressor is a nifty tool to have, offering different compression modes and emulating Holy Grail level compressors for a fraction of the price.  Moreover, its distinct distortion qualities make it a must-have, even after acquiring the compressors it emulates.  It’s a must-have for any studio, and one that I’ll certainly own in the near future.  For those who are interested, a review and comparison test between the Distressor and the compressors it emulates can be found here, and the Sweetwater page for the Distressor with British Mod and Image Link (my personal choice over the default variant) can be accessed here.

The Shed - Quite Possibly the World's Smallest Home Studio

Home studios have a peculiar charm to them; their limited space forces audio engineers to equip themselves with only the bare essentials to produce high-quality audio recordings found otherwise in a fully functioning recording facility.  As impressive as it is to know that similar results are achieved in a fraction of the space, fitting such an extensive facility into a standard bedroom or living room space is commendable, especially as the room decrease from the standard size.  That being said, one Neil Shaw managed the seemingly impossible by fitting a studio setup in a 66 square feet room.

Having moved from Pennsylvania to New York, Neil was initially denied entry by his landlord, as he brought an upright piano along with him.  The landlord relented under the condition that the room the piano rest in be soundproofed.  To do this, Neil used various soundproofing techniques that reduced the already-minute room's dimensions to a mere 6x11 feet.  What resulted is The Shed - a room so quiet that "even with a baritone saxophone wailing, Shah gets no complaints from downstairs."

While the room's size is worthy of an award, Neil's choice of outboard gear is not to be discounted.  An Avalon AD2022 preamp and Neve 1084 preamp / 2257 gate combo are just some of the "toys" in his rack.  Of particular interest is a custom analog summing box, through which Neil passes eight channels out of Pro Tools to mimic a sound found in recording consoles.  The resulting two channels go into the Avalon preamp, used for gain staging purposes.  When working on the computer, Neil uses a Digidesign 003 as a control surface.

If you're interested in looking into The Shed, look no further: this video offers an interview with Neil Shah himself as he showcases the key features in his studio, whereas this article goes into more detail with the soundproofing of the room, as well as the choice of outboard gear.