Here is an example for the modeling organ cx-3. I only once had the chance to touch a B-3 and it has a unique sound no doubt, but…..
All sounds played with OASYS (organ, pad, “guitar”, snare and kick drum are samples).
Reverb = TC’s Reverb 4ooo
Audio File compressed with PSP’s Vintage Warmer plug in.
Viewed 10532 times by 3020 visiters
It was about time (!!!) that one of the best received the Oscar - congratulations to Mr. Morricone (although he was meanwhile hoping to remain without one).
Viewed 5047 times by 1424 visiters
blogasys: Eberhard, the classical opening question, can you tell us a little about how you got to where you are today in the music business?
EG: It started a long time ago… I think I was about 14 or 15 years old when a friend of mine got given an acoustic guitar. From then on it became more and more the central point of our free time together and began to jostle with football for first place in our interests. A little later I was allowed to call a guitar my own, and shortly afterwards, began to take “proper” guitar lessons. Unfortunately, the teacher was strictly on the classical rails, as was all music teaching in those days. It was not exactly what I had imagined. After a year therefore, I wasn´t really interested in taking the lessons anymore, and instead played guitar, drums and keyboard (it was some kind of Farfisa organ) with friends in various cellars. The drums that we bought second-hand were from a quality that you wouldn´t even pick up from a rubbish dump today. But that didn´t ruin our fun. Since then, and up to a few years ago, I have always played in a rock and pop band, and also synthesizer and drums in my own living room (torturing the neighbours).
During my graphic design studies at the High School of Arts in Berlin I developed a graphical composition set. I did it as my free project work, and well known musicians were put to the test. You could hang a graphically prepared 4 x 4 element matrix transparent sheet on a composition board, onto which were put translucent, coloured geometrical shapes. Among the shapes, in many different colours, were circles, arrows, piles of balls, etc. I think there were about 100 sheets in all. These sheets could be put next to each other, and while they were transparent, also on top of each other. In this way a sequence was put together that served as a starting point and orientation for musical interpretation and improvisation. Today I would of course do a similar project on a computer and use a beamer to throw it upon the wall and move the graphics.
So, short and sweet, the computer came too late. But it did come and how! With 64KB and looking like an over large glasses case; in indefinable beige and with chic brown keys.
blogasys: Let me guess?
EG: Exactly! The Commodore C64 it was. It held me captured for years. The first midi-interface
that I bought as soon as it appeared, looked like an uncompleted practice piece from a trainee. An open circuit board! O.K., so the whole music world was in the midi and computer development phase at this time, and had more important things to do. With this model a casing was obviously not thought necessary. Imagine, for example, the OASYS without the black serving panel…ah! I won`t go on. This thing together with my DX7 and Supertrack from Gerhard Lengeling made up my first step into the midi world. Before that I had a MS20, MS50, SQ10 and loads of fun.
Talking about the MS20, I remember an anecdote from the category, “How to interdisciplinarily abuse a synthesizer”. Ingredients: A little bit of electronic know-how, three photo resistors, a reflex camera, three colour extract filters from the reprotechnic (after my studies I qualified as a reproductions photographer). Other colour film would work I`m sure. You need something like a “primary switch photo resistor” which you can probably buy in any electronic shop. Every one of the photo resistors are wrapped in another filter film. The three prepared resistors are then put in transparent boxes, about the size of matchboxes. These boxes should be impervious to light and carefully placed in the reflex camera where the exposed film normally goes. Careful! Don`t ruin the shutter curtain! Fix the tension. The tension that has gone through will act as control tension for the CV entries in the MS20. And that´s that. After the work comes the real fun. The camera shutter is held open with a constant light exposure, the light is passed through the lens; it meets the three resistors and is spread onto the colour filters. Depending on the colour and motive that is captured by the lens, and on the movement of the “musician” using the camera, you get three different control tensions that, independent of the synthesizer program, can manipulate everything. Sounds weird doesn`t it? And it was too! I christened the whole thing “Optisizer”. About 25 years later (!) a Japanese company with the name Roland got the idea for a so called “D-Beam Controller” to be built into their equipment and patented it probably all over the world. This controller was familiar to me somehow, funny.
blogasys: … doesn`t happen often, but I don`t know what to say
EG: Fundamentally the parallelism between visual and acoustic expression, also in verbal communication has always fascinated me. Terms like light, dark, hard, soft, harmonious, contrast, loud, quiet, space, panorama, transparent you can carry that on yourself. You can communicate with these terms in both artistic disciplines. There are analogies whose written contents could be transferred from one expression to the other. In other words, you can look at a picture, describe it with the repertoire from an interdisciplinary dictionary and then use this description as a recipe or base for a musical composition.
blogasys: How does that come out in your music?
EG: I very often see pictures when I`m listening to music and vice versa. Hmmm…. I think Edgar Froese from Tangerine Dream once said that he hoped for an interface from the head to the music recorder. A kind of “brain to audio” interface. It`s a shame Edgar, I don`t think we will live to see that. But the journey there is, and always will be, exciting enough!
blogasys: How did it go on from there?
EG: Later I started with Midi-programming on the Atari ST. I programmed sounds for the DX7, wrote sound management programmes and also programmed on Editor for the ESQ1 from Ensoniq. The main point by the software was that, as an option, an old analogue user surface could be simulated. That allowed itself (thanks to the architecture of the ESQ1) to be replicated quite well on the Midi. After many years of programming abstinence I had the sudden urge to do another project involving Midi-programming. This time though, on the Mac. Of course! As I don`t unfortunately know the C++ language I have had to buy a license from RealBasic. The project is on hold at the moment. I want to first make some intense music this year, bring more keyboards in to the centre of the composition, away from the structure of a rock band, no positions that are usually found in a band. Oh, I think I´ve steamed over your question again and not answered the main point.
blogasys:.. 
EG: I think my previous musical career was pretty normal, and has probably repeated itself many thousands of times with other musicians all over the world. Playing band in the cellar, recording sessions in home recording studio, a few live gigs etc. I´ve played guitar, drums and keys without being able to play any one of them well or to any satisfaction today. Always in search of the best, the best harmony, the best groove, the best musical expression, the best instrument, the best sound etc. They are all actually means of getting to an end. In my opinion these ways are very overrated. For me it`s the fun involved and the ultimate kick in the right moment when everything works perfectly. Through friendship I developed my feeling for music, and the music developed new friendships. This is the most honest way in which I can perhaps describe my musical career, after all music is a very emotional way of communication.
blogasys: Which music and musicians have influenced you the most?
EG: Pink Floyd is definitely at the top of the list. Their concert (13th March 1970-Auditorium Maximum-Technical University Berlin) released a culture shock in me. Up until then I had only listened to the music that was chirping around in the hit parade on German radio, just so I could keep up with the conversation of my classmates. I had never been to a live concert before and then you hear for the first time in your life pieces like, “Be careful with that axe, Eugene” or “Set the controls for the heart of the sun”. Wow!!! That concert opened new doors in me and in my understanding of freedom of sound and music. I´ve already given a few examples of that when I answered the first question. The real achievement of Pink Floyd becomes clear, in my opinion, when you (as they always say) look at them in the musical context of popular music during the 1970`s. James Taylor, Santana, Jethro Tull, Can, Frumpy, Dire straits, Joe Jackson, Tangerine Dream, Sade, Mezzoforte, are also bands that I listened to a lot.
blogasys: What kind of music are listening to at the moment and why?
EG: Your question sounds so simple, but it`s not easy for me to answer. Hmmm… I don`t listen to much music, I turn the CD player or radio off when I notice that I´m not listening properly anymore. There are no favourites when it comes to a music style or musician. Depending on the mood of the weather or whatever, it changes constantly. Even when a song doesn`t emotionally knock me off my feet I can always listen to it analytically, and it`s fun to discover a piece like this and to understand it. Basically though, I find the music made by people like you and me much more exciting. Those who are passionately doing their thing without a 100.000 Euro budget. It is more comprehensible for me and surely much more honest. I simply don`t believe that stars who perform their number one hit for the 100,000th time are still having fun with it. It is only a few of them though who are honest enough to admit it openly. I personally hate it when I have to play the same piece for the tenth time after the official version is already on HD or CD. In my eyes that is wasted time! The possibility to exchange ideas with “amateurs” or “semi-professionals” with the same way of thinking as me is much more exciting, and the picture of the person behind the music is true and not just some abstract marketing icon who can be replaced as soon as the profits aren`t good enough.
blogasys: .. and now to your music, what was your last project?
EG: Until a short while ago I had been playing keyboards in a band for 15 years. I believe the group broke up due to old age. At the beginning we had a stock play and performed quite often. Later we did more improvisations, which I personally thought was better. Looking back, it`s good the band has broken up. I am looking forward, and am now really excited about new possibilities that will most certainly develop. The youngest project was compiled of many small soundtracks put together with short 3D animation videos, which had to be finished in a very short space of time. I get such jobs regularly as I am a small advertising agency for many companies.
http://www.mygroovehome.com/blogasys/moving.mov
Despite the stress factor I like composing soundtracks. You have to let yourself melt into the picture to start with as that sets the limits and dimensions of the thing. The music will be the turbo booster for the film message when you manage it properly. The musical drama and the timing, which should be supported by the picture and the piece of film, must sit exactly in the frame. That`s the difference in the performance when compared with sessions of free improvisations. Naturally when you are working to schedule you can´t just get up and go when you feel like it, just because sand has got into the works of your creativity. I do admit to doing this quite often when working on my own stuff.
blogasys: I´ll leave the usual question about your latest project out.
EG:- Why? You don`t already have information about my top secret project with the most well known OASYS lover and critic in the German speaking world do you? That would mean we have a leak!
blogasys: Which equipment do use and why have you particularly decided on these?
EG: At the moment I still own my Karma, a Triton Extreme and Motif ES as well as my OASYS. The Motif ES is up for sale though at last. As I was thinking about buying the OASYS I decided to reduce to the max. One more piece of equipment doesn`t necessarily mean more quality or output. On the contrary, with all the cables and synchronisation etc. it`s actually a detrimental waste of time and stress. I still have a Korg 05RW module and a Yamaha TX7 in my showcase. Also a Boss DR880 drum machine as I find it`s nice Easy Compose function completely cool. I haven´t turned the Roland VG2480 recorder on for a long time, although it is a super machine for multi track live recording. LogicPro, Live, Reason and the Stylus RHX all run on my (Intel) Mac. I don`t want to list all of the smaller bits together with obligatory 345,000 kilometres of cable spaghetti here. I got the Karma shortly after it came on to the market. The tip came from a friend as usual. He had tested it at a music trade fair and fell in love with it immediately. It is simply a classy jamming-fun-box that I would never give away! Thank you Stephen and Korg.
blogasys: Why did you decide on an OASYS?
EG: For me it was the hope of a self sufficient, good sounding, stand alone system for my Karma 2.0 and a few other pieces. Of course, the videos from Stephen Kay on karmalab.com had already made my mouth water. He has an unbelievable commitment to his own and other forums. The community in these forums is exemplary, just like Jerry and Dan, the guys from Korg USA. They have understood that an after sales service can be crucial to the decision to buy and they are always ready with tips and hints in the forums. Although my English is, unfortunately, not very good, it pays to take a look now and then. I`m wandering off the subject again! Back to the point. If the sequencer in the OASYS could accept me I would be almost at my goal. It`s got no chance compared to Live and Logic as far as the complexity, deepness and GUI go. I`m still convinced however, that it`s possible to do more with the OASYS than what is offered at the moment. Look at the hardware and screen of the good old Atari ST and you´ll know what I mean. I didn´t realise just how mega cool the OASYS sounds until after I´d bought it and got it home in my usual acoustic environment. The price is not actually that high when you think about it in terms of price per kilogram and compare it to other treasures from the musical showcase.
blogasys: What do you appreciate most on the OASYS and, apart from the sequencer things, what else do you miss?
EG: The basic sound and Karma 2, add to that the big touch-sensitive display, the number of modulations and the Real-Time controller. These features are right at the top of my “must have” list. I have already chalked up the out-dated sequencer as a short coming. I miss a FM extension and the DAW tie-up through Firewire which would allow the new Korg M3 Workstation to be used. Opening up the software for the suppliers of plug-ins would make a lot of things possible which at the moment we can only dream about. What I personally miss - and it`s almost embarrassing for me to admit it here - is an even simpler and more musical Karma interface. I know there are enough people who like to really go deep into the Karma technology. Right into the last corner of the parameter jungle of totally open GE editors and manipulate the very last byte. I admire and respect these users and their capabilities! But my intention is to make more music in a very short space of time. An interface with controls like Music-Genre, Tempo(half/double), Improvisations Intensity etc. Stephen could, for example, put the GEs on an Easy Page and then pack more into a virtual musical character. Imagine you´re working on a piece and you want a guitarist. You tell him how you want him to come in to the piece. If you and the musician understand each other then you only need six to eight basic terms to make it work. I hope to be in the position to do this with the Karma 4.0 version at the latest.
blogasys: Thank you very much!
_________________________
translated by Caroline Radolf
________________________________________
Some tracks of Ebse & Friends you can hear at:
http://www.mygroovehome.com/
Viewed 9938 times by 3381 visiters
Although online for quite a long time, this part of Stephen Kays forum is a good location to download some free sounds:
new free sounds from Nyquisto:
more about Nyquisto you can find here:
… although access to their webpage is not for the impatient, it is definetely worth it - nice loop!
Viewed 8796 times by 2766 visiters
Irishacts aka Sharp from korgforums.com is now offering sounds for OASYS and I am quite sure there is more to come….
see also “links” above for Eric J. Sawyers and KAROs OASYS sounds
Viewed 4748 times by 1406 visiters
