So I’ve got some bad news: The Optic Nerve single is being delayed.  The holdup is a remix I’ve been doing of the title track.  None of the mixdowns I’ve done so far have sounded right, where they either lack punch or lack definition.  So rather than hastily patch things up with a bunch of sonic bandages and put out something sub-par, I’m simply delaying it.  In a way, this is annoying; I really like how the song turned out overall, but I’m also eager to get back into my normal sound.

The Optic Nerve (the song) was something of an experiment, where I played with harsher sounds and some new plugins I had found to create something closer to EBM/Industrial than my normal style.  This is why it’s appearing on a single instead of an album.  I really like how it turned out, but I’m ready to start taking what I’ve learned and applying it to my more usual style.

Wow, things have been incredibly busy lately!  I’ve had a lot going on in life that has kept me from updating this.  Sorry everyone! Thankfully things are starting to level out, though.  The work on the new single is progressing rapidly.  If everything goes well, I should meet my original goal of having it done early next month.  However, don’t hold me to that.  There’s always the chance I might get some crazy idea for it at the last minute ;^)

Outside of that, I’ve been doing some more experiments with granular synthesis.  This is a synthesis technique where you take an incoming sound, sample a small slice of it (say 10-50ms in length), apply a volume envelope to that slice, loop it, and then pitch shift it.  These small slices with the applied envelope are called “grains”, and you can layer multiple ones on top of each other.  You can also adjust where you sample the sound in real-time, creating a sort of morphing timbre.

Well, one idea I’ve had is to take a sound normally considered harsh or mechanical, pass it through a granular synthesis engine and some effects, and turn it into a warm or lush sound.  Reaktor comes with an instrument called Travelizer that I’ve been taking apart to use as the granular synth, and so far it sounds awesome!  I did a test of it the other day where I sampled my vacuum cleaner turning on and off, then applied an LFO to the start position and length of the slice.  It had this really airy sound that kept morphing over time.  I’m still not finished with it, but when I am, I’ll be sure to post an audio clip.