Wiardgroup

sorry for the delayed reply, I've been wanting to get back to Grant's 
comments here but have been really busy travelling for work (as is 
the norm....)
 
> The only groups I monitor are this one and Analog Heaven. The only 
time Wiard is 
> mentioned on Analog Heaven, is to explain how to replace the BASIC 
functions, with 
> cheaper modules. I have no problem with that, it's the truth.
> 
> Where ARE these news groups were Wiard is talked about? I'd like to 
read them, get some 
> feedback for a change. I'd do it anonymously so they can insult me 
all they want. I'm sure I 
> would learn something.

Well, there is www.modularsynth.net, http://www.electro-
music.com/forum/, Matrixsynth (more blog comments than email 
list/forum), and one other one I'm feel a little strange about 
bringing up, because it has never been promoted, and became a 'synth 
forum' quite by accident.... there was never supposed to be anything 
there, but something happened all by itself and oddly there is a very 
cool little community there, certainly the most active one I have 
seen in the whole online 'synth scene'.  www.muffwiggler.com/forum/  

I know you will find feedback on Wiard at all of these places - and I 
have never seen any that was NOT very positive and excited.  I also 
think you would be very much welcomed at all of these places - you 
mention going anonymously but I think all of the people at any of 
these spots would feel extremely lucky and gratefl to have you 
present. 


> As the song say's "Seldom was heard a discouraging word" Hamfests 
would have people 
> from 8 to 80 and it was a a ball.


The way it should be :)

> The attitude here has always been more like "Welcome, brother, you 
have begun the 
> adventure of a lifetime".

I love that - this is how I feel about Wiard, how I feel when I talk 
to Grant, and how I feel when I read the archives and information 
here at the Wiard Yahoo group.


> Early on we had some jerks who were so pathetic they tried to build 
themselves up by 
> being stupid and making beginners feel ignorant. They have all 
left, the talk here is too 
> sensible for their bullying horse shit tactics to work.


This is, after all, the Internet.  It's unavoidable.


> You shouldn't be embarrassed because you are just starting, you 
should be proud of 
> yourself for have the courage and intelligence to give this odd 
pastime a try. 

That is such a nice way to look at it.  And I really feel that way!  
Perhaps embarrassed is not the right word.  Perhaps 'humbled in the 
presence of great experience' is better.  But you are right, this 
reserved nature does not help!

> I was busy trying to do two years worth of work in one year. Didn't 
have time to chat, but I 
> love to normally.

I know you do :)  Me too!  It's OK, I didn't expect for a moment a 
response from you, I can only guess at how busy you are, but my guess 
has always been VERY BUSY
 
> I didn't start this group and I am not the moderator.
> But if my presence is a salt pancake on the body politic, I'll 
unsub.

I hope you didn't get that impression from my previous post!  That 
would be a tragedy - I *REALLY* do NOT think that is the case.  Most 
likely I explained myself poorly.  I mean simply to suggest that 
perhaps some people are a little more reserved in a 'company 
official' forum, than they are in some place that is not directly 
tied to a specific designer/company/etc.  I think one of the reasons 
my stupid little forum has taken off the way it has is that the guy 
who runs it says "hey I'm an idiot, be silly, share and have fun - 
just be nice to each other".  Perhaps it's not totally true that he's
an idiot, and perhaps some of this is by design, but the tongue-in-
cheek, lighthearted atmosphere is the opposite of anything 'official' 
and seems to set people at ease to relax and chat.  However, the 
community there really DID occur by accident so I cannot take credit 
for planning any of that proactively.


> I thought it was great! Do some more, who are you holding up as a 
standard, Autche, 
> Wendy Carlos, Morton Subotnick? Cut yourself some slack, they were 
beginners too.

You sir are far too kind. OK, Here's another one - this one actually, 
while a year or two old now, is one I am really proud of.  

I think this ties into the "unfair to music" debate 
going on in the other thread here at the moment 

(and to that debate I only want to add that the moment we label 
something we lose a lot of flexibility over what that thing can be 
and how we can understand it....).  

Anyway, this piece is not musical in the classical sense, not in any 
sense at all.  However personally I feel this recording is, to me, a 
great success.  

It was one of those rare times on the modular synth where I was able 
to go out and create the sound I had in my mind before patching.  
Usually the modular takes me on a journey - this time I had something 
very specific in mind before I powered on my synth, and I went ahead 
and realized it.  A really cool moment.  I cannot say it is exactly 
a 'sound' that I had in my head, moreso a feeling/mood/vibe 
that I was hoping to capture in the wires - and I feel that I got it, 
very precisely.  In my experience this happens rarely.

Some would say 'soundscape' or 'drone' but (and that really is an 
interesting debate!) but honestly as hard as I think about it, it 
really is music to me.  It what I wanted to express, exactly.  I hope 
some of you like it.

My M.O. on the modular (for complex personal reasons that I won't get 
into here) is to setup self-running things (I'm not really a keyboard 
player), and then record them in one pass, real-time.  No edits, 
etc.  That's what I do.

So what is this?  I don't recall everything that was going on.  
However two Wiard JAG's are being fed some things.  One is being fed 
a really slow sinewave from a VCO that is being FM'ed by a VCS 
module, as well as being fed the output of a MiniWave that is being 
clocked REALLY slowly.  The other JAG is being fed an LFO and a VCS.

A bunch of the outputs from the JAGs are going to different places - 
the CV ins of some VCAs, one or two is hitting a slew generator on 
the way to the VCA.  I believe the Attack and Decay CV Inputs of a 
couple of EG1 units are the targets of some of the JAG outputs.

The ouput of these bunch of VCAs is going to a mixer, the output of 
that is being slewed and then recorded.

The result is 4RG

http://www.muffwiggler.com/music/4rg.mp3


It's about 9.44mb.

Cheers everyone :)