Відео

Thank you! The really fabulous one in the intro and appearing throughout is Bb minor diminished, if you want to play along. Freeze the intro for the notation, although I spelled that Bb wrong on that sheet (E natural instead of Fb). The descending scale is a 'whole tone' scale which I only picked up on recently. It sounds amazing and I will be using a lot.

Fixed - thank you!

I'm a fan of both of those albums. You've reminded me that the Journey to the centre of the Earth has quite a bit of narration with the music, I'll have to give that another spin. Thank you!

@@midi_in Wakeman's Journey.. is one of my fav _comfort albums_ I rarely tire of listening to! 😌 Both are available on UA-cam & Google Music for anyone who wants to give them a listen

LOL! yeah that's how it happened. Next time I'll pluck up the courage to ask the real Snorkers to pose for me.

lol that picked bass is my go-to bass, I think I use it for everything. I've been wanting to do something with the organ intro, inspired by Mr Crowley for a while and that came together with Theme One this week. I did say a while ago that I didn't know what my style was but I'm very pleased with this one and I do seem to be settling into something. (Sorry for stealing "happy Sunday morning"!)

@@midi_in LOL. I'm pretty sure I didn't create the phrase "happy Sunday morning" so I won't sue. 🤣 I'm happy to see anyone doing regular videos whether it's on Sunday, Monday, or whatever. I'd like to think I had something to do with that but I know the idea predates me by a long shot.

@@musicalmiscellany I was watching your Sunday morning videos before I started posting regularly on a Sunday. I feel like I'm part of a little club now :) Seriously, now that I'm in the habit and I'm setting that time aside for doing it, I'm achieving a lot more musically, and enjoying it.

Thank you, I"m glad you liked it. I didn't know Clive Barker, so thank you for that. Insanity is a common theme in Lovecraft's stories too.

Thanks for reminding me of that story. There are so many good stories that I've not heard for a long time, I must go through them again. Since I've been reading parts aloud, I'm really appreciating how good the writing is and how much is in there that's easy to miss.

I hope my old friend has a lot of life left in his old frettin' fingers yet. Even if I had the talent that you credit me with, I don't think that (as you do) I could do something creative at someone else's bidding. Someone else's brief, the pressure of a deadline and a blank sheet of paper? I'm enjoying this very much, probably because I'm not answerable to anyone else.

I'll tell you what makes it difficult, reaching around the camera tripod to try and get the first-person POV! LOL. I'm enjoying creating these little grooves way more than I expected, and I really do find the tongue drum more natural to play than the kalimba version (when my hands have a bit more freedom!) Thanks for watching.

I'm really glad that you've seen this and that you spotted the makeup. That idea was entirely down to you.

@@midi_in An excellent idea, excellently implemented. Adds verisimillitude!

@@WhatHoSnorkers well I've learned a new word today! 🤣

I'm so pleased that you've seen this and that you're a fellow Lovecraft fan. It's not the most accessible stuff, but really rewards effort. I don't know how many times I've heard this story in its entirety but after working on this part, I understand it better now.

Thanks for watching, I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I think I enjoyed making this one, possibly more than anything I've done before. I'm sure a dram would have helped! Shame I didn't think of that!

Thanks so much for watching. I'm not really a believer in jumpscares, so that wasn't intentional, I just needed the clatter to be noticeable because it's brief but an important part of the score. I'm really glad you spotted the scratches. I did seriously think about doing the performance in a white nightie against a padded wall backdrop. I think that might have been too much but I still enjoy being a little bit theatrical. The hand movements just happen, that's not conscious at all but I think it really helps me to get the expression into the voice. I enjoy keeping the video diary too. Still wondering whether to split that out into a separate video.

@@midi_in For what its worth, I thought the flow was really good. I like going from the story to the performance to the process. I love the theatrics so voluntary or not, they add to the video.

Thank you very much! I remember my first cassette recorder too. I don't remember recording sounds from nature but I did write and perform some sketches that I can vaguely remember. I hope you enjoy recording sounds whether for a movie or just to enjoy for its own sake.

I woudn't have heard of her, but my friend Mitch has built something along the same lines, I had a play with it last year. ua-cam.com/video/nZ8-vmFa1Oo/v-deo.html I've been experimenting with 'drawing' a waveform on a touch-screen and hearing the sound, but that's still a breadboard prototype.

@@midi_in She was a significant British electronic music pioneer. A few years ago the Science Museum had a reconstruction of her studio.

and just as tasty!

Thank you! People do have this concern with e-ther (being able to carry it around without damaging it). They're pretty robust, being made of copper-clad fibreglass. But am thinking about a super-robust version of e-ther housed in a metal guitar-pedal type case. The e-ther already has a CC mode. it suppresses the 'note on / off' messages leaving just expression or modwheel on the left hand (on my to-do list is to add filter cutoff to that list) and pitch bend on the right. If this isn't what you meant, please explain in more detail

It's a convention, I'm not sure why, possibly because it sits on top of the Raspberry Pi. The Pi has a long connector, lots of boards exist which plug into that, sit on top of the Pi and add functionality (in this case a screen, DAC and buttons) and they're called hats.

I just had to look it up. Apparently HAT is an acronym standing for 'hardware attached on top' . Sounds like it might be a backronym but there we go. Every day's a school day.

Thanks Kevin. I thought this might be a stepping stone to a cleaner surface-mount design, but after building this (using nice domed soldering 😎) I'm really pleased with how it looks. I hadn't thought as far as other software that I could run on the pi but I'm totally up for trying the DX sounds (I hadn't realised that Dexed was a play on DX - D'oh!)

Also - I've just realised that the electrolytic (and the other caps for that matter) could totally go on the underside of the board (I might reverse that tomorrow) for an even cleaner look. I see this going in a 3D printed case anyway.

That's a feature that e-ther is about to inherit from MIDIKalimba. I'd not envisioned using e-ther this way (it has its own audio after all) but it does work very well and gives you some fantastic sounds in a portable device. Without sending a program change, though, I'm not sure that there is any way to change the instrument.

I'm not really sure where to point you. Do you mean the MT32Pi side or my midi controllers?

@@midi_in the MT32 and all it’s friends 😜

@@midi_in is there an overarching term to describe the Raspberry/Arduino/MT32 little computer tech?

@@midi_in it's ok I have just had a frantic Google session and think I'm up to speed now :)

@@AntonyNorthcutt Excellent! if it's the MT32Pi stuff, then we're into open-source territory there but Dale Winham's excellent software is extremely well documented.

Thanks Kevin, appreciate it. I love odd time signatures, so I only need half an excuse. You're right, Richard Rodney Bennett, I had a listen to that when I did a piece inspired by Gormenghast a week or two ago. It is wonderful stuff. The solo boy soprano doing the main title was a bold move and worked well. The casting in that TV series was spot on - a real all-star cast and all perfectly selected. You're right, there's a lot to go at there, one of my favourites (and alter ego) is Irma, played amazingly well by Fiona Shaw. I've been thinking about doing her next.

Thank you Kale. You are right. I know from my own viewing habits that ten minutes of waffle is a serious commitment. I'll do it if it's someone or something I'm interested in. Your idea about putting the music first followed by the vlog is a very good one and I'll probably do that.

@@midi_in I've learned a thing or two about behavior from my channel. The net... people have very short attention spans. 😆 Personally, I like to engage and learn something from videos but that's not the pervasive phenomenon these days.

@@musicalmiscellany I believe that. I don't like it but I believe it.

thank you very much. I enjoyed documenting it and I enjoyed spending more time with it. I'm not sure how much to include with the piece. I could put all of that in a separate video. Thanks for your response.

Thank you for your thoughts. Now that you've mentioned articulation, I realise that I could use my Artinoise re.corder which is a midi controller with expression, and the Logic Pro bassoon does respond to that. (there's no substitute for the real thing though is there?) I may go back and record that part, just for my own fun. (The twins may appear in future episodes from this book, so the tune might get a reprise anyway).

Thank you so much for the suggestion. This isn't the most exciting passage from the book but now that I've done this, I want to do lots more from the same book. I wanted to be a bit more clever, putting the narration in the middle and each of the twins panned to the left and right. But since it switches around pretty rapidly, it probably would have sounded a bit bewildering, plus I was too lazy to do all that chopping up.

I’m currently -thanks to you - enjoying Irma Prunesquallor’s romancing of the headmaster (so brilliantly portrayed by the Beeb). Our reading out loud of Titus Groan is one of my happiest memories. I foresee a new musical reading of the books by you, beating audiobooks hands down. 😇

I haven't yet explored what else is available. Am I right that Android also just lets you plug in and use a USB MIDI device with no hassle? Listening to Tuxedo Moon now.

@@midi_in no tears for the creatures of the night. And yes when you plug into Android, it gives a little menu, including midi, video Etc.

As much as I love the idea of being a witch, it's all illusion. I may have acted that part about three times and you only see the take where it went smoothly. Of course no-one ever gets that right first time 😆

@@midi_in Yeah, it's try once, it doesn't go in, try the other way, NO that's DEFINITELY wrong, try the first way again! :)

I'd never use it in preference to a desktop, but it's a nice-to-have when you're away from the office because it's what you already have in your pocket. It has more possibilities than the MT32Pi and I think the thing I was most pleased about is that it happily powers the device from its own battery, eliminating the need for a separate powerbank.

I'm glad you like it! If you were waiting for it to become available, it is now listed for sale - see peacockmedia.software/kalimba for options.

I appreciate the comment but I don't think I'm any kind of composer. I'm not so happy with this and nearly didn't publish it. There's only so much you can do in a few hours and this was too ambitious. It needed more time on the writing and more time getting better takes on the playing. I enjoy setting aside Sundays (originally Sunday morning) for this but I've either got to limit what I aim for or spend more weeks on one thing. Not sure. As for the TV series, every single character was cast perfectly. My favourite character and alter ego, Irma, was played by a woman who has delighted me in so many different roles, also notably Caroline in Killing Eve. Gormenghast is pretty special to me for all sorts of reasons :-)

Considering you took only a single week it was awesome, Pea. I’m sure Richard Rodney Bennet took more than a week to come up with that theme tune. The brass was exceptional. Take your time and it’ll come. Mebbe try the comedy and tragedy of Falstaff from Henry 4 parts 1 and 2 and Henry 5. Use the beeb’s version with Hiddleston as Hal. Well worth a re-watch for pure pleasure. Or give us Clarice and Cora’s madness. You are ever an inspiration.

@@hoppers13 It would have been a lot better if I'd spent a week. This was less than a day. The original idea of Sunday Jam was to get up with no idea what would happen and see what I could do in a morning, and that was more fun.It's a bit of a community, there are others that do similar. But you get beyond wanting to do a few bars of some groove. It started to take the whole of Sunday (half of that being making the bloody video) and I"ve been doing stuff beforehand just to manage to do what I want to do. In this case I started writing dots late on Saturday night. I'm going to have to start thinking about it earlier and put more of the week into it.

@@hoppers13 and thank you for the suggestions. I LOVE the idea of 'the madness of ladies Clarice and Cora'!

Yes, that really sticks in my mind. They spend all year on their work, the Earl picks one (and probably doesn't care much for it) and the rest are burned. All futile!

@@midi_in and they age so quickly too. They live normal lifespans, but spend so much of it as really old for some reason.

I don't tend to make time for reading these days but the TV series is very special and I can watch that over and over. The casting is brilliant and all-star. It's all here on UA-cam - I grabbed those screenshots from YT because it was easier that way. And better quality - my digital copy is ripped from a VHS which was recorded from the telly!

Thank you very much. One trick I use with some parts - guitar as well as these acoustic instruments is to record the part twice, as tight as possible, and then pan one left and one right. It's a natural chorus effect that really gives more fullness. Obviously I use a bit of reverb and ambience too, but judiciously. To start with it took me a long while to get a natural sound with instruments. I went through a lot of USB mics before getting my first audio interface and a real mic. The brass gives real trouble because of the sound pressure. With USB mics and some mic-USB converters you can't avoid clipping or distortion. I watch a producer called Glen someone, whose catchphrase is "leave it the f*** alone!!!" and it's true - the less you do, the better it sounds.

Actually, with the brass, I use a little mic which is designed to clip onto the bell - it has an XLR on the other end. Out of all the mics I've tried, that one gives the best sound. Unfortunately, clipping it to the bell means that it picks up clunks through the instrument when you use the valves! (possibly designed for sax or something which has quieter keys!) So I use that, but clip it to my music stand just in front of me. For recorder, it's the SM57 and I've gradually got better at knowing the 'sweet spot' for the distance and angle.

Forget the hat I showed in the video, as you say it is designed for use with the mister so it's not suitable for our purposes. (though it's only missing the DAC, so it might be possible to tap the Pi Zero for PWM output which doesn't sound bad.) I have tried my full-size hat (which I'm using in the video) with a Pi Zero and it worked like a charm. That hat contains the traditional MIDI circuitry which isn't needed for midi over USB, so I've designed a PI Zero-sized hat with the screen, DAC and buttons, which is all we need. Prototype boards are on their way to me, so watch for details on that front.

@@midi_in Oh I'll be looking out for those then. Could you update me perhaps when they are there? I'll subscribe anyway. But def interested.

@@ibendiben I'll probably be showing it here on UA-cam but you might also like to join MIDIKalimba's mailing list - I'll very probably send out a message to that list when the PI Zero MT32Pi hat is up and running. peacockmedia.software/kalimba

I'm glad that you liked it. This was a bit different and I decided that the comments would decide whether I did more (I'd like to do more). Wow, yes Gormenghast is a great idea. Fuchsia and Steerpike is good. I also think the Steerpike / Lady Clarice & Lady Cora is very powerful. Also some comedy potential in my alter ego, Irma. I will look into submitting to the BBC.