September 29, 2022
This album is my return to using LMMS rather than VCV Rack. (I figure I should adjust to writing music more intentionally.) I generated a bunch of samples using a slightly dodgy VCV Rack patch. The randomization constraint this time around is that I'm picking groups of four samples from that bunch, and I have to use all (and only) those samples in the song.
This is also the first day album in a while to have been made over a non-consecutive 24 hours. I should've expected it; weekdays aren't great times for day albums, given that school's started back up.
This gimmick is kind of a bust. The samples were made by generating random settings on VCV Rack's Macro Oscillator 2, an emulation of Mutable Instrument's Plaits. It's a good module, and I've used it in a lot of patches, but it's not well suited to bulk generation like this. You end up with a lot of samey sounds, and the randomization method means you end up with an uneven balance of melodic and percussive samples, which makes arrangements tricky. Still, it was a neat exercise, and I'm curious how it can be done better.
The samples used (and many extras that didn't come up in the shuffle) are available for download along with the album on itch.
Samples Used: Waa.wav, Twang.wav, BrushyHat.wav, MakesMeThinkOfCelery.wav
Apium graveolens is the scientific name for celery. I don't know what about that last sample reminded me of celery, but surely there was a good reason to name it that.
Samples used: VeryInharmonicStickChimeThing.wav, InharmonicChord.wav, ToneBowedInward.wav, Bomp.wav
Music for when you're fighting a giant beetle.
I don't know why I named that last sample "Bomp". That's a really bad description of what it sounds like.
Samples used: HarmonicPthunk.wav, BeeChorus.wav, SimpleTone.wav, ChordStab.wav
None of these samples are very drum-esque, so I took SimpleTone.wav and used pitch automation to turn it into a kick and a bloopy thing.
Samples used: Bloop.wav, ShortBellSegment.wav, PickedBass.wav, StringPluck.wav
A song named "Been Here Before" being repetitive is, if nothing else, truth in advertising.
Samples used: JustWeirdSound.wav, DissonantTone.wav, Squip.wav, Squarp.wav
I dunno, man, you try making a cool song with these samples.
Samples used: DeepToneThing.wav, LowBell.wav, WoodenHit.wav, HeldVowelTone.wav
My sample-generating patch produced a lot of long, nasally vowel tones. I might've left some of the duplicates in the zip file. Sorry!
I feel like I've used this chord progression before, probably. Chord portamento is just really cool, is the thing.
Samples used: MouthNoiseNonsense.wav, TinyBoop.wav, SnarishHiss.wav, Something.wav
Samples used: OminousChordThing.wav, TrashCanTypeThump.wav, HighCrashySnare.wav, RoughHat.wav
Nothing better than a bitcrushed sample.
Samples used: DigitalNoisyThing.wav, JawHarpKinda.wav, PlasticThump.wav, Plonk.wav
It was really hard making that noise line not suck to listen to. Still not sure I succeeded.
Samples used: VeryWhiteNoiseSnare.wav, WeirdMouthyArp.wav, HighPitchedOddity.wav, CatPurring.wav
Samples used: ``DeepPossibleChord.wav, BellishKick.wav`, `CrunchyKick.wav`, `ForgotWhatThisOneSoundedLikeSorry.wav`
The tool I made for bulk renaming samples didn't support playing them again, hence the name of that last sample there. I think this song's title should be fairly uncontroversial.