MP3 MGF - Bitcrunch Swirl

Circuit-bent electro hyper-edits with crushing beats, organic melodies, and acoustic treatments frequently juxtaposed by cascading ambient bliss.

14 MP3 Songs
ELECTRONIC: Experimental, ELECTRONIC: Techno



Details:
MGF stands for Mobile Glitch Factory, formerly known as Morning Gold Fix.

"This CD represents a culmination of events that began in 2001, when I circuit-bent the Casio SK-1, a common target in the circuit-bending community. I also bent a speak & spell, and destroyed a TR-505 drum machine, but it wasn't until the summer of 2004, when I found a german webpage about bending the Yamaha PSS-790, which I happened to already own, that I decided that circuit-bending was the future, or at least, my future. That's because, after being probably only the second person in the world to bend the PSS-790, I realized that with the additional controls provided by circuit-bending, cheap instruments that were regularly quite limited could be used to create fully developed, exotic, interesting music, not just weird random noises or sound-effects for sampling. I also noticed that with circuit-bent controls I could make complex sounds very quickly that were similar to sounds that I was already using in my music, but it would normally take me a long time to program those kinds of sounds using the traditional programming interfaces of synthesizers. Using circuit-bent instrumentation allowed me to acheive the unique sounds I wanted quickly, so that I could devote most of my time and attention to other aspects of the music, such as the composition, orchestration, tonality, mood and flow. So I began seeking out suitable instruments for modification and over the next few years I amassed a vast arsenal of unique circuit-bent equipment. In the process I became a leading pioneer in the field, being the first to bend, and sometimes destroy, many different electronic instruments. And I documented them in a yahoogroup I started in order to share my findings with others, to try to save them from experiencing the agony of destroying good equipment, which is a necessary drawback of pioneering circuit-bending. Another drawback was that for several years there was always another item arriving on my work-bench for modification, preventing me from ever finding time to play with, make music with, and ultimately record the fruits of my labor. I think my debut CD showcasing this technique, _bitcrunch swirl_ demonstrates that it's all been worth it, though! I finally managed to put the soldering iron down long enough to begin the recording of this CD in October 2005, and mastering was completed by October 2006. " - Caffeine Charlie, Jan 02/2007, Vancouver BC Canada

Instrumentation:

Track 1 - Casio CT-670 *, Casio SK-1 *, NcNally Strumstick recorded with dual piezo contact pickups and Rode NT4

Track 2 - Yamaha PSR-48 *, NcNally Strumstick recorded with single piezo contact pickup

Track 3 - Yamaha PSS-480 *, Yamaha SY-22 *, Yamaha PSR-48

Track 4 - Yamaha PSS-140 *, Yamaha MU-5 *, McNally Strumstick recorded with dual piezo contact pickups and Rode NT4

Track 5 - Madwaves Madplayer, Yamaha MU-5 *, electric guitar direct with COSM amp simulation

Track 6 - Toshiba T3200sxc laptop (CPU:386sx/20mhz/RAM:9MB/OS:Windows 3.11/Software: Cakewalk 3.0, ICS Wavefront Synthesizer) 16-bit ISA slot fitted with Turtle Beach Maui wavetable soundcard (onboard RAM:8MB) with WaveFront synthesizer custom-programmed and manipulated in real-time (performed at the 2nd Annual Vancouver Laptop Battle, Oct 2005, the oldest and least-powerful laptop ever featured at an official Laptop Battle)

Track 7 - Casio SK-1 *, Yamaha MU-5 *, Yamaha PSS-480

Track 8 - Yamaha PSS-790 *, electric guitar through overdriven Radio Shack mini-amp and Danelectro Grilled Cheese distortion pedal *.

Track 9 - Casio SA-21 *, Casio SA-65 *, electric guitar direct with COSM amp simulation

Tracks 10,11,13 - Casio CT-360 *

Track 12 - Casio CT-360 *, Yamaha MU-5 *

Track 14 - Casio MT-100 *, Casio SA-21 *, electric guitar direct with COSM amp simulation, Coleco Electronic Quarterback

* - Denotes instrument being used with circuit-bent modifications in the form of extra switches, knobs or patch-bays.

100 DIGITAL - NO ANALOG SYNTHESIZERS WERE USED IN THIS RECORDING!

All instruments modified, programmed, manipulated, played, sequenced, arranged, recorded, edited and mixed by Caffeine Charlie

All tracks recorded, mixed and mastered at 24bit/44.1khz through a Roland VM3100pro interface except track 7, recorded at 16bit/44.1khz through a Digital Audio Labs CardD+ and mixed and mastered at 24bit/44.1khz. All tracks mixed/rendered in SawStudio and dithered and mastered in Steinberg Wavelab with Waves L3 Multimaximizer. Master CD image compiled and burned with Sonic Foundry CD Architect and duplicated with Alcohol 120.

All engineering and mastering by Caffeine Charlie

Fractal programming to produce exclusive original cover art by Caffeine Charlie, using FractInt

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"I hear a LOT of perfectly boring music these days that sounds the same as a thousand things I've heard a thousand silly times before, but this music does NOT fall into that category."

Kramer (NYC), 2006
(former ShimmyDisc producer/owner and fellow Skeptic)