"Cloud Deck" new electronica from Seen From Space

New August Moon - Octatrack remix

Some dubstep-influenced drum & bass. Remixed on Elektron Octatrack and Analog Four. Recorded in one take.

"Everanything" remix on Octatrack and Analog Four

Another in the series of remixes recorded "live at home"...

"Rare Bird" by Seen From Space

A remix of a piece I did some years ago, recorded in one take as usual on the Elektron boxes.

"Old Earth" - new Berlin School track by Seen From Space

A bit of a homage to Ashra Temple's "New Age of Earth", a classic Berlin School album that I used to play obsessively long ago. Not that I buy all that cerebral "New Age" stuff - hence the "Old" in the title - but the musical influence is massive.

Two new "Berlin School" tracks from Seen From Space

Both recorded in one take using the Elektron boxes. Some loops recorded in Logic with sounds from Virus C, Supernova II, various soft synths etc.

56 degrees north - winter slideshow with dubtronica

Recorded in one take on Elektron Octatrack and Analog Four. Loops created in Logic Pro 8 with sounds from Supernova II, Access Virus C and the synths in Logic.

Photos taken in and around Edinburgh, not all this winter.

Octatrack + Analog 4 tutorial: How to make them work together

My latest tutorial shows how to set one machine to follow pattern changes on the other. Plus physically connecting them up.

This is something that took me quite a long time to get right, thanks to the sheer complexity of Elektron machines, and some (AHEM!) gaps in the documentation.

"Berlin School" jam

From the Wikipedia entry: "The Berlin School was a style of electronic music that emerged in the 1970s. An offshoot of Krautrock, Berlin School was so named because most of its early practitioners were based in West Berlin, Germany. It was shaped by artists such as Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, and Manuel Gottsching. Innovative Berlin School recordings were a precursor of ambient music."

I'm using sounds from: Access Virus C, Supernova II, Omnisphere, Korg MS2000BR, and remixed on the Octatrack. The Analog 4 comes into its own in part 2!

Elektron Octatrack tutorial 1 - How to work with Scenes

The basics of setting up Scenes in the Octatrack, and then into more creative territory. Of interest to the advanced Elektron person as well as the beginner I hope.

Mutable Braids / Make Noise STO meets the Malekko Dual Borg

A sequenced modular jam from TheBuchlaMongo. "Little random Noodle with the Mutable Braids, Make Noise STO, Malekko Dual Borg. Braids is on Channel one in the Manhattan Mix, STO Sub on Channel 2 and the Shape out from the STO on Channel 3. Sequence from Elektron Octatrack, Fx from Eventide Space/Pitchfactor."

Elektron Analog four & Octatrack - ambient system i1

Unusual to hear these boxes used in purely ambient context. Beautifully done I have to say, even down to the sleepy sounding livestock that wander through after about 3.00. (I use these same two boxes for my own live rig.)

From dakitanmonkey.

Emilienstraße (Dub Techno) by Phelios

Phelios says: "My old Atari ST is back! All sounds are triggered by Notator SL using the Log-3 Midi interface. I created a nice pattern chain and did a 1-take recording."

In the Seen From Space studio

Just updated my website with a montage of the studio hardware; of interest perhaps only to hardware geeks like me! See a larger image and more info on the website.

"Silent" concert at Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, St Petersburg

From Nicholas Lem.

This concert is silent in that the live audience wear wireless headphones. Lemnik is one of the recognised masters of these very complex Elektron instruments (from Sweden) and one of the top exponents of "dark ambient".

"Human at Last" - title track of forthcoming multimedia show

The title is a quote by Kim Stanley Robinson, from "2312", one of his near-future novels. Humans (at least the majority) are finally are able to enjoy an existence free of scarcity and violence, replete with whatever cerebral or sensual pursuits that attract them.

Sounds a bit utopian doesn't it? And maybe it could only be fully realised for those able to populate the solar system in the way he imagines in the book. The phrase stuck in my head as a nice shorthand for an optimistic take on our future as a species.

Live at the Atomic Institute 08.06.2014

"Circuit Shaker - Number 8". From Zeropage.

Octatrack meets Roland Aira and Korg Volcas.

Live music ahead for Seen From Space

Forgot to mention I'll be broadcasting on numubu.com at some point soon too!

Ambient dub techno

Pheliopolis gets sparse and expansive.

The Fall of the House of Usher, 1928 (Seen From Space soundtrack)

I first came across this film on Super 8 about 30 years ago. For its day it was highly innovative, and pioneered many in-camera special effects. It remains a powerful piece of expressionist cinema, although some of the acting is very much of-its-day.

Was intending to do this soundtrack live, but totally failed to get hold of a projection-quality copy! Licensing is a bit complicated. This is the public domain lo-res version.