The Amaranth Signal Live Track

Mohoyoho · Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 8:16 am Post subject: The Amaranth Signal Live Track

Here's an excerpt from our first Live CD. The track is called "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants."

http://users.chartertn.net/getpix/music/Standing_On_The_Shoulders_of_Giants.mp3

Comments are welcomed.

cloudscapes · Joined: Feb 09, 2004 Posts: 100 Location: Montreal

Thank you! I really enjoy your music. Smile

Mohoyoho · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 8:15 am Post subject:

Thanks Cloudscapes. We're busy putting together a third CD which will probably be out in Aug. or Sept. We already have one track that is probably our best piece to date. Also I will have a solo CD out in about one month.

mosc · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 9:10 am Post subject:

Great track!!! I like this one. Very beautiful...

Mohoyoho · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 9:34 am Post subject:

Thanks Mosc. We've been getting some airplay around the country with "Penumbra", our second CD. Now I'm thinking about sending out our first CD to some stations. We never thought about it getting played on radio, it was mainly for promotion of our live performance. But there are some really nice tracks on it like "Shoulders. . ."
Have fun at The Hague.

egw · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 10:01 am Post subject:

Moho, why don't you offer your CDs here on electro-music?
Then I can get one. Or, if you want to trade for one of mine, contact me off-line.

Mohoyoho · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 6:29 pm Post subject:

You know, I would love to offer our CDs, but the thing that keeps me from doing it is PayPal; not that I have anything against PayPal. I went to their site quite a while ago to see what it was all about, but I couldn't make sense of the procedure so I just kind of gave up on it. Maybe it's not as complicated as I think. And I'm still not quite sure what it's all about.

mosc · Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:23 pm Post subject:

Dovdimus Prime · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 9:20 am Post subject:

Hey there

Yeah I've bumped into your website before, before I started posting here. Yeah, this is cool, ambient's not a big thing for me but it sounds good, expansive, chilled, kind of "cosmic" if that's not too much of a cliche. Similar to The Orb and people of that inclination. Or maybe Tangerine Dream.

Hope the gig goes well tomorrow.

Cheers

Dovder

seraph · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 9:49 am Post subject:

Mohoyoho · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 10:38 am Post subject:

Thanks Dovdimus. We're looking forward to the show. We have a couple of more pieces we're going to try out featuring heaviliy processed guitar, and we're going to try out a new projection technique so we can be a little more visually stimulating. I once read somewhere that watching Emusic musicians is as exciting as watching someone read their email.
Seraph, I guess it's inevitable I'll get a PayPal account. When I first looked at the procedure it seemed daunting. Perhaps it's not as bad as it looked or the application is simpler. It's good to know they provide some sort of protection.

paul e. · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:06 am Post subject:

excellent

loved the track...

this is live Question

nice smooth recording

Mohoyoho · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 10:34 pm Post subject:

Yes, it's live. And recorded off the mixer with a walkman minidisc recorder.

paul e. · Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 10:37 pm Post subject:

i assume there was sequencers involved ?

can you elaborate on your live set up ?

Mohoyoho · Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 7:06 am Post subject:

No sequencers. There's an arp or two playing on that track. We have quite a bit of equipment, but we don't use sequencers (except for one time. At our first show we ran out of ideas, so on one tune we used a sequencer and jammed to it. It felt unnatural and we have never done it since.) Recently I have been using Reaktor step sequencers for odd-ball rhythms but no melodies, pads or anything like that; just rhythm. You can check our website for a list of our equipment. Until very recently I was the only one using a laptop. Now Roger has unleashed his and has been digging Rhino by Big Tick. But that has only been recently. Our philosophy has been to use a minimum of arps, and when we use any rhythm it is never to resemble conventional drums.
For some reason I have used the guitar, my strongest instrument, sparingly. However, I am starting to use it more frequently now. In our last CD, "penumbra", I have it on several tracks. We get a lot of positve feedback when I play it, probably because the audience sees some kind of movement with my hands. Inevitably somebody always asks about the Ebow. Incredibly, on my upcoming solo CD I use it only on one track, and it's mixed far, far in the background.
We rehearse usually once or twice a week. The Amaranth Signal is a democratic band in that there is no leader. Each of us comes in with some themes and we jam on them. Eventually we'll cull the best ideas and arrange them into a piece. Michael usually is the best at that. Roger is our earth ground. He tends to come up with very palatable, earthy melodies while Michael and I tend to be much more abstract (especially me). Roger reigns us in so we don't get too wacky. I tend to be the guy that bluntly says, "that's way too busy. We need less playing there." or "that's annoying. Stop it." Michael is our pad guy, and he comes up with some great melody lines as well.
Here's my setup: On my laptop I use combinations of Reaktor and Absynth via Chainer. A guitar with processors. Various percussion instruments which go through processors. An Alesis Ion. A Waldorf Q rack and a Waldorf Microwave XT. I don't always bring everthing with me. On tonight's performance I'll leave the Waldorfs at home, because I have not been rehearsing with them (although they are my favorite synths).
Michael uses a Novation K rack, Korg MS 2000 rack, a Waldorf MicroQ, and some kind of Roland rompler (an XP 10?)
Roger relys on his Yamaha Motif ES 8 and Alesis QS 71 as his main instruments. His laptop will have Rhino and CS80V via Chainer. He has others soft synths as well. He sometimes uses various rack instruments.
Recently we purchased a pair of Barbetta powered speakers. What a difference they make. (and light weight!) Eventually we will add a sub or two, but that's a low priority.
We record right off the main mixer (we use three) with a cheap Sony Walkman minidisc recorder. I am always amazed at the quality from such a little device.
I hope that gives you an idea of how we operate.

paul e. · Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 9:46 am Post subject:

very interesting ! Cool

sounds like a blast,,would be fun to watch/hear live

maybe you'll make it up to toronto and the ambient ping ?

Mohoyoho · Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:34 am Post subject:

I think there has been talk about doing a Spring Ping thing. But really, we are not all that interesting to watch. That's why we are trying to work more on a lighting and projection system. By trade I am a freelance videographer, and we will probably be working video into our show and eventually into DVDs.

paul e. · Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 12:03 pm Post subject:

ah yes i see

a. there is usually some guys that provide a visuals show for the live acts atthe ping

b. if not, we have a really cool projected visuals thing we do that we can arrange for you if you come to toronto

anyway, just a thought

Mohoyoho · Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2004 7:07 am Post subject:

Boy, that would be great to have somebody do that.

We had a performance last night. There was a pretty good turnout. We sold some CDs and made some new friends. Our projection system didn't work too well. Too much ambient light. I'll try and post a small audio clip in the next day or two.

elektro80 · Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2004 8:46 am Post subject:

This is a nice piece.. !!! Very Happy

For some reason this reminds me of some of the french mid 70s stuff.. ( NOT Jarre - the other stuff ) only this is much better.

Mohoyoho · Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2004 11:17 am Post subject:

Thanks Electro. We recorded that a year ago at our first performance. I have always liked that piece. It was an improv. We had just come off a break and were out of prepared pieces. There were about 35 or 40 people left in the audience (more than we anticipated). I turned to Roger and asked him just to start something. He came up with that low bleepy bloopy arp intro. I then added that organy lead from Absynth and some chimey bell from my Waldorf Q. Michael then started in with some pads and fills. Roger then added that chorus lead to set it off. The whole piece runs about 10 minutes. We all traded off leads. When we finished the audience gave us a nice hand. After that we we knew The Amaranth Signal could work. I think we have progressed quite a bit from a year ago, but I still feel this holds up pretty well.