Damogen Furies creative process, DAW, software system?

[psn]

 

 

Great work finding these, sir! Source?

 

 

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2015/april/squarepusher

[misc]

 

that's a great pic! love seeing stuff like this, cheers for finding

[awepittance]

it looks like a badass patch, i especially like how he didn't bother making GUI objects for it like half of the Reaktor community seems to be super into. Sometimes I'm blown away by how much time people spend making their patch look pretty (meaning not using default Reaktor 5 gui objects like this patch) to just release it for free online.

[weakmassive]

It's funny, in most of these interviews it's the only thing on his computer screen.

 

 

Here's a bit from the 2014 Future Music interview where he talks about using Reaktor/Eventide... he's talking about how he used them on Shobaleader, but still interesting.

 

A lot of the basslines on the album are composites… made up of lots of different sounds. I might start with an electric bass pat, then add three or four different synth bass parts. The 303 - set to sawtooth - is always good for exploring the sub-bass region, but there are also patches from Reaktor and the Eventide. I've got the vocodor running on the Eventide which is a totally experimental patch. You can use the various functions to generate a whole range of useful frequencies, which can be subsequently modulated. On some of the tracks, I must have 15 or 20 different processing bands - I think I might run out of memory at one point! I usually map the original electric bassline with a square wave and mess it up a bit with Reaktor. I've got a patch that looks at the input and generates a whole load of different signals using the frequency divider modular. You can then combine those signals(?) in various ways to create something else entirely. I have used that for some of the composite basslines. I know that might seem like a lot of effort for something as seemingly simple as a lead sound or a bassline, but I love twisting software - and hardware - into new shapes. Chances are that if I'm using anything from Reaktor, it will have been tweaked and updated countless times. A lot of the synthesized guitar sounds I've used in recent years were created on it… well, they were created 'via' the Reaktor.

[Guest capitan mission]

it super nice info, but in the actual live gigs, if hes not playing bass, how uses that patch? Or someway sends audio into the patch and modulate live as if it was live p´layed.
Or another patch, with lots of audio ins, and selectable live tweakable parameters.

[awepittance]

well the reason i thought he was still using the bass guitar is because a lot of the synth sounds on the new album and the last record sound like that same style of eventide-esque 'FM' processing. Maybe he actually is using the orville itself as a synth now like he said, either feeding it back into itself or just using a sine wave as a raw melody track and heavily processing it through the machine.
I get the vibe from even his newer stuff that it has a very similar automated FX setup to even the stuff he was doing back on Ultravisitor, but obviously more evolved and with a different sound pallette.

[psn]

I get the vibe from even his newer stuff that it has a very similar automated FX setup to even the stuff he was doing back on Ultravisitor, but obviously more evolved and with a different sound pallette.

 

 

In that WFMU mix he plays tracks that he explains are made using earlier versions of this system, ie Rotate electrolyte and Venus No. 17.

 

http://forum.watmm.com/topic/87431-squarepusher-radio-session-today/

it super nice info, but in the actual live gigs, if hes not playing bass, how uses that patch? Or someway sends audio into the patch and modulate live as if it was live p´layed.

Or another patch, with lots of audio ins, and selectable live tweakable parameters.

 

Yeah, he describes the setup as very malleable. But what other "sequencing" data goes into or is generated by the Reaktor system? The QY700 doesn't strike me as a very flexible "jamming" sequencer.

[awepittance]

it's possible the Qy700 serves as more of an event generator/sequencer rather than something inputting all notes and beats in the sequence. I would wager there is at least some aspect of that reaktor patch that is sequencing on its own

[weakmassive]

The QY700 doesn't strike me as a very flexible "jamming" sequencer.

 

I was wondering about this as well. In the NYC show, he certainly looks to be tweaking it alot... more than using the laptops.

 

I'd love to play around with one just to try it. I watched a bit of a QY300 tutorial on Youtube and it did not look fun at all, haha. The only thing I've used even remotely close to the QY is Yamaha's "Mobile Music Sequencer" app for the iPad, which apparently shares some concepts. Made a simple electro track on it and shelved it.

[weakmassive]

[bendish]

If all the notes are preprogrammed and its just effects/synth automation that can be changed on the fly as well as rearranging preexisting sequences then is it really 'live'...? Maybe its just being pedantic but live should surely be all notes being created in real time.

[Guest capitan mission]

If all the notes are preprogrammed and its just effects/synth automation that can be changed on the fly as well as rearranging preexisting sequences then is it really 'live'...? Maybe its just being pedantic but live should surely be all notes being created in real time.

pedantic is not the word i think.

 

anyway. I dont know about the Qy700, seems like a hardware renoise, so i dont know how he is playing it. but its cool that he s still taking the juice out of it and not simply using Live!

[weakmassive]

live should surely be all notes being created in real time.

 

What exactly constitutes as "live" is debatable and honestly don't want to get into it in this thread.

 

But.... I am interested in exactly what he's doing while playing "live" and how the songs are different than the released tracks. So I compared the "Rayc Fire 2 Live Session" with the released version... (lined them up in an audio editor) And they are very similar. Exactly the same length and the only real changes were that some elements were pitched up/down or dropped out. I realize this version might be a bit more less "live" than usual since it's basically a promo video for the album, but still... interesting. If more good Damogen live tracks surface I'll try another comparison.

[bendish]

The blurb that goes with the cd in addition to what he has said in recent interviews highly stresses the live aspect of the album and the diy nature of its construction. I'm sure there are live variations but I'm not convinced by the ambitious statements made.

[pizza]

he seems to mute different tracks on/off during live play, pitch stuff up and down, tweak the settings on effects, tweak parameters on the synths. that sorta stuff. I hope he actually changes things in the tracks, maybe make extended/alternate version of them and play that. that would be cool.

[caze]

he seems to mute different tracks on/off during live play, pitch stuff up and down, tweak the settings on effects, tweak parameters on the synths. that sorta stuff. I hope he actually changes things in the tracks, maybe make extended/alternate version of them and play that. that would be cool.

 

he also said he plans to edit the arrangements and sequences while on the road, back in his hotel room or whatever. by the end of the year the album might sound quite different.

[Lucas]

yeah I think that's what he said: at the beginning it should sound pretty close to the album but then he'll develop the tracks more and more across the tour. If the environment in which he creates the tracks is so live-friendly (and I don't see why we should doubt about what he said), there shouldn't be problems to make the tracks evolve spontaneously anyway. the album does feel spontaneous somehow I find.

[psn]

In the end he has the next album ready.