Archive for 2009

Posted By andrew603

Fantom XR Tricks: Guitar Amp Sim with “Flanger” Using 1 MFX.

This post has been in draft form for a few weeks now, I felt like trying to do something more with it, but now am just posting it as is…

I was working on a new guitar patch for my Fantom XR, generally messing around really, and I was shocked to realize that I can not apply a flanger effect to it after the “Guitar Amp Sim” effect in “Patch Mode”.  I knew that I could only use one MFX in patch mode, but I guess I am just used to my old faithful SC-8850 which could do true flanger using it’s ‘chorus dsp’.  Now some of you might say “well just use performance mode and do an MFX chain!”, that’s well and good only if you don’t plan on using the other MFX units for something else!

So, I came up with a workaround using Chorus on the Fantom.  It’s the same old trick, but it works.  Here are the basics of it:

  • Setup your Guitar Amp MFX however you like.
  • Set your Guitar Amp MFX “Chorus Send Level” to 127
  • Set your Chorus to “01:Chorus” and start with the settings below.
    • Output Level:  32
    • Filter Type:  off
    • Cutoff Freq:  8000 Hz
    • Pre Delay:  0.0 msec
    • Rate:  0.10 Hz
    • Depth:  54
    • Phase:  0 deg
    • Feedback:  72

I made a guitar patch based on the “Fingr Tap’n” patch from the SRX-03 Studio SRX board I called “Priest HiWay” using the technique above.

Here is a short clip of me screwing around on my keyboard with it.

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As you can see, it sounds pretty much like a flanger thanks to chorus being a pretty similar effect anyway.

Till next time…

Posted By andrew603

Andrew’s MIDI Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas!
Christmas Lights

Ho! Ho! Ho! After struggling for a while to fit this all onto one CD, I finished my Christmas MIDI album!  I have to say, I had a lot of fun making these recordings.  All tracks were recorded using my Roland XV-5080, Fantom XR, and occasionally D-550 or SC-8850 synthesizers.  The album is pretty much all orchestral, big band, and jazz music.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all: Enjoy the music! 🙂

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A special thanks goes out to Gary of GaryW0001’s MIDI Home Page for letting me use his excellent MIDI’s and post my remixed recordings of them.

CandlesTrack Listing / MP3 Download Links

  1. A Most Wonderful Christmas (7:35)
  2. Good King Wenceslas (2:37)
  3. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (3:32)
  4. The Bells of Christmas (6:49)
  5. Christmas in the Round (10:33)
  6. Jingle Bells Fantasy (4:09)
  7. The Wonder of Christmas (5:23)
  8. Santa Songs (1:32)
  9. Chestnuts Roasting (4:32)
  10. Now Rock, Ye Merry Gentlemen (2:38)
  11. Christmas -That Special Time of Year (6:17)
  12. Santa Baby (3:21)
  13. A Rhapsody on Christmas Carols (6:40)
  14. Greensleeves (3:44)
  15. Snow!  A Holiday Medley (4:11)
  16. White Christmas (3:35)
  17. Auld Lang Syne (2:40)

Download entire album as .ZIP archive.

  • Track length indicated in parenthesis
  • All source MIDI’s used with permission by their author or are considered public domain.
  • If you enjoyed this album and would like to show your support, feel free to make a donation of any amount to my hosting bills.
Posted By andrew603

Busy working on a new Christmas MIDI album.

I’ve been laying down track after track on my Christmas MIDI album for 2009…

I made one back in 2004 that the family seemed to really like, that was using only my Roland SC-8850.  This time around I am using mostly my XV-5080 and Fantom XR, with some D-550 and other synth’s thrown in the mix for some tracks as well.  It is shaping up nicely so far.  At the time of this writing, I have 12 tracks completed.

Here is one track to give you a taste of what’s coming:  Now Rock, Ye Rested Gentlemen, a ‘big band’ take on God Rest, Ye Merry Gentlemen.

This song was re-mixed and recorded using my Roland XV-5080 and Fantom XR with multiple SRX Expansion boards each.  Enjoy!

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The source MIDI file was used with permission from Gary of Gary’s MIDI Home Page.  So be sure to check out his website for some more great MIDI music.

Posted By andrew603

Quick update…

Borderlands, WoW Raids, Job Hunting, and the holidays have put a damper on my previously frequent updates.  I’m still here though, and plan on having some cool new stuff for the upcoming holidays.  So check back here soon!  🙂

Moving along, Borderlands is pretty good, despite it’s many flaws, and the co-op play is awesome.  It reminds me of co-op Quake in a way.  The annual New Years Eve LAN Party I have with my friends ought to be great this year with Borderlands and Left 4 Dead 2 (which I should have by then).  Now that I’m thinking about it, I think I want to repackage my modded builds of Quake, Doom, and Duke Nukem 3D too…  We’ll see.

~Andrew

Posted By andrew603

Minor site changes.

I’ve been doing some back-end changes to the site lately, mostly in the spam removal area.  I use the Akismet plugin which catches pretty much everything, and now I also let the spam folder build up a week or two, check for IP’s that tried to post spam more than once, and ban them from accessing the site at all.  I will have to add a new HTTP 403 error page with email address or something just in case a legitimate person gets blocked.  Though I might do better to just clear the ban list every few months.

I also removed the glossary plugin, it was causing some php warnings and I don’t feel like trying to correct it.  I might go back to the idea when a newer suitable plugin is developed.

What else?  I am also still working on some new audio material to post and I’ve started work an a Roland Sound Canvas page, I’m just waiting to arrange all my SC’s on a nice table and take some neat pictures first.  I suppose I should also take some photos of the inside of my XV-5080 with RAM and it’s new expansion board and my Fantom XR also.

Posted By andrew603

Torchlight: The best Diablo game since Diablo 2!

Main Menu

Main Menu

In town with me transformed pet.

In town with my transformed pet.

Close-up

Close-up

This game is great!  It’s the best Diablo clone since Diablo II IMO!  If you are looking for the purest clone of Diablo ever, or something to tide you over until Diablo III, I think this is it.
The gameplay is right out of the Diablo playbook in all the best ways.  Torchlight was developed by the team that made the original Diablo, Diablo II, Fate, Mythos, and Hellgate: London.
I think my favorite thing about the game is probably the music.  It was composed by Matt Uelmen, who has worked on the soundtracks for the original Diablo, Diablo II, and much of the soundtrack for World of Warcraft.
The blend of orchestral sound and driving percussion rhythms with acoustic and pedal steel guitar is simply magic.
Another thing that’s pretty cool about Torchlight is the infinite dungeon maps.  Once you complete the main storyline, or during the main storyline, you can purchase maps that open portals to randomly generated multi-level dungeons with bosses!  Really cool!
Torchlight is also very easy to modify.  The editor has not been released at the time I am writing this, but even without that I have made some of my own mods to the game.  It will be really fun once they release the real editor!
There is talk about a non-subscription MMO version of Torchlight in the pipeline which would be lots of fun I think.  Some class and game balance issues would have to be worked out though.
Either way I look forward to delving deeper into the darker and darker dungeon corridors of Torchlight, and if you made it down this far too, do you have a torch?
It’s dark, I could use a light!!
Oh, you can get Torchlight at www.torchlightgame.com or from Valve’s Steam service.
Posted By andrew603

Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 4

Quick little comment about this one.  As expected, this episode was great.  I won’t write much about it as I don’t want to ruin it for anyone that has not played through it yet.  If you didn’t, GO BUY IT!

I will say this, in the words of Dominic Armato, “we’re really starting to get into some meaty stuff”!

I can’t believe there’s only one episode left!  I really hope the LucasArts License Gods™ renew, or extend, or whatever the Secret of Monkey Island Franchise™ license to Telltale Games for another season, or two, or three, or more!

Also, a new full blown 40+ hour epic adventure game would be nice too.  Hey, It’s possible!  I can only hope that the games are selling a thousand times as much as I’ve enjoyed them.  That way we got a chance!  Right?  Right???

Posted By andrew603

Praying Mantis in the Backyard!

I have not seen one of these things in years! Pretty impressive insect!

Below are some photos I took of it. Enjoy!

A Praying MantisA Praying MantisA Praying Mantis

A Praying MantisA Praying MantisA Praying Mantis


Now, for good measure, here are a few photos of Herman!
Herman posing for the camera.

Herman posing for the camera.

He loves the sound of the camera!

He loves the sound of the camera!

He didn't quite expect this last shot LOL!

He didn't quite expect this last shot LOL!

Posted By andrew603

New Gear: Roland Fantom XR

Check out my new Fantom XR page with photos and demos!

The Screen of the Fantom XR

The Screen of the Fantom XR

Posted By andrew603

Wurlitzer 4150 Fun!

Sorry for the lack of updates, I’ve been preoccupied as of late.  Moving along, I have a Wurlitzer Organ.  Model 4150, circa 1958 I believe.  It was passed down to my father by his uncle when I was little.  Anyway, I decided on a whim to try to record some new samples of it, with the goal simply being to record some sounds I like.  It was not my intention to do any sort of complete sampling of the organ.  Maybe some day though… 🙂

So, I took my MacBook armed with an M-Audio MobilePre USB downstairs, hooked into the organ’s phono plug, installed the latest version of Audacity and started recording.  In total I got roughly 12 minutes of sample data.  So far, I’ve only gone through about 2 minutes worth and made 3 SoundFont patches for myself, one being the ‘background noise’ you can almost hear while the tubes are warming up, which I amplified.

I wrote a weird little track using ONLY the samples that I’ve created, and some reverb.  Have a listen:

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Download the MP3: Wurlitzer_4150_Fun

I will be sure to add a dedicated page to this organ in the future, with photos.  Also, I may put up a copy of my completed sample pack eventually.