cracklebox

While it only arrived this morning, I'm enamored with it. I brought it to work in my bike bag, and so far Steve has proven the master of low-end gurgling sounds. Moses is working on his pinky technique.

In short, the cracklebox is a portable noisemaker from STEIM. When you touch the metallic parts of the printed circuit board (including both the stems and paddle like parts), you complete the circuit. Each person's sound is different, and even the same person cannot recreate exactly the same sound.

My main sound is closest to that of a kids toy grenade launcher sound (minus the little granulated explosion at the end).

Having spent half of my lunch hour with the cracklebox, I find I can get a droning midrange tone using three or four fingers at the same time. Happily though, it didn't play along when I tried to steer the note toward a conventional, Western pitch. The echo of our nearly empty fourth floor added a lot to the sound.

Also, the first two one/one tapes are finished. If you read this and you're interested in one, let me know.

delay

In writing about music this spring, I looked for a space between audiophile tendencies of some listeners and, for the lack of a more concrete term, the listening for distraction of others. I guess this stance could be scene as a justification of my own place as someone who listens to a lot of music but has neither the funds nor the inclination to put together a high-end stereo.

That said, I find myself staking out a similar spot when it comes to playing and recording. While I understand those who prefer analog equipment with its warmth and limitations over digital and its perceived flatness and nearly endless possibility. I won't be sketching out a whole argument here; I'll proceed with an anecdote.

A few weeks ago, I sat in my living room talking with a close friend of mine about his painting and my playing. His work impresses me and even more so, his ability to work with little feedback on it.

In explaining my music to him, I realized something that I hadn't articulated before. I play with a digital delay pedal so that I can hear what I've just played back several times with some space between repetition. Those repetitions and that space together allow me to hear and react to what's already there. It slows the process down.

The pause the pedal creates allows me to interact with my own playing in a way that seems far from the impersonal, cold tags that analog fans put on digital technology.

set-up thoughts

Is it alright to say that the only clean tones I like are the ones that come from my guitar? I've had a phaser for a little while now, but it's about to go in favor of either an eq or another distortion pedal. Staight delay I can deal with and, in fact, use as one of the main elements of my sound, but choruses, tremolos, and, I now can admit, phasers leave me unsatisfied. Also, I had been staring at small noise synths online, but I decided to stick with contact mics instead.

The first one/one tape is nearly done. The process has been slow, but it has made me rethink my set-up in productive, more utilitarian terms.