:::Sam Humans:::

Discography

2010-11-26T16:49:00.000-08:00

New/unreleased:
Wee See Colors
We see colors by samhumans

Abundance:
   Abundance by samhumans

Whispering Hope (traditional)
   Whispering Hope (traditional) by samhumans

   Live Free/Let Loose 10" - Greyday (2011)

The Burning Beard - Lucky Madison (2007)

Highwater Moonboot - Lucky Madison (2003)

...worms 7"

...worms 12" 45rpm

HEAD

2010-06-21T01:56:00.000-07:00

Fresh from the garage I bring forth head. 2 full range squarewave oscillators, 1 LFO w/ rate//depth//shape controls. Master volume w/ TONS of gain, on/off for LFO with selectable destination: osc 1, osc 2, or both. Rate goes from moderate to tight tight tight. Depth spans a larger gamut that usual, from a negative space noise crush to gentle pulse to hard hitting madness. Shape controls offer similar sonic flexibility; find your average square and saw forms, as well as less predictable more bit crushing wave shapes that send the two oscillators crashing into each. All in all a nose bleed inducing wall of sound headache for the drone aficionado. 9VDC negative tip powered.

The Aparatus

2009-09-26T00:16:00.000-07:00

The Aparatus is a bent Casio PT-10. Conventional wizdom is that there's not much to be done to a PT10 that'll make it really sweet, but having received this one (not working) as part of a deal with a few other things, I figured to give it my best shot. First of all, I re-housed it in an old portable record player that was almost exacty the right size. PT10's are teeny, so not the best for mounting switches and what not it, thus the necessity of the re-housing.

Upper right is the master pitch control. Basically, I replaced the tune knob that you can find on the bottom of most older casio with a pot of much higher value. As such, you can get deep deep tones out of both the rhythms and the built in sounds. Lower right is the output volume. The switches in the middle didn't come out as well as intended, but are a beat cancel, a hi-pass filter, a low-pass filter and a distortion.

On the left are 3 separate oscillators (with on/off switches), all reactive to each other. The combination allows the user to truly distort, pitch-bend, and "bring the white noise fury" into and out of every tone the PT10 offers. Used in conjunction with the master pitch, these 3 knobs can yield spectacular results. The oscillator controlled by the white switch has multiple functions. First, it changes the rhythms to tones, creating amazing tonal polyrhythms adjustable from hi to low pitch. Secondly, this is the on/off switch for the antenna on the far right.

Contrary to most first impressions, this in NOT a theremin like device. It is, however, a simple (and aesthetically pleasing) way of creating a movable body-contact. Depending on the setting of Oscillator 3, touching the antenna (and in fact any part of the metal strip on which it is mounted) changes the pitch of the current tone or beat. A light touch creates a slight oscillation, while grabbing it fully will dramatically affect the sound, from full-on pitch shifts to even the cueing of a snare sound. Also, mounted in the lower right panel (not pictured) is a small brass screw that is also a body contact. Touching both the screw and the antenna at the same time yields some of the best tones the Aparatus has to offer.

To the middle left is an added rate only optical LFO which affects the over-all output, a nice pulse-creation addition to the arsenal the Aparatus brings to bare. Finally, and most interestingly, the PT10 is equipped with a record mode that lets you play back something like 90 keystokes once activated. Using this feature, then pitching it down with the master pitch control, loops of 5 minutes or more can be created, freeing up your hands for oscillator manipulation or even other instruments.

Patient

2009-09-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

Patient is a bent Casio MT-70. The name? because that's what you must be to play it well. Designed to be played, not glitchy, bends were chosen both for their sonic bad-assitude and for their stability. Once learned, Patient is quite crash-proof (unless you take it there on purpose). Different switch combinations both at start up and while playing yeild different but learnable results. Includes a beat-glitch section of 3 mini-toggels on the back with a 2 way master glitch (crazy/craziest) set next to them. Truly a deep machine, it could take years to learn all Patient has to offer. Too much more and too random to describe, please check the video once I get around to posting it.

Super Chro-Bar

2009-09-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

The Super Chro-Bar gets it's name from the box i built it in - an old RCA test pattern generator. Seriously heavy construction, the thing is made of cast iron and over-built in every way... they just don't make things like this anymore. The Super Chro-Bar combines the now familiar elements of an optical theremin and a full range square wave oscillator with an assignable to either or both (musically and performance wise, a very very useful feature) rate-only variable LFO with ridiculously long possible pulse rates, making it a perfect addition to and drone arsenal.

Also thrown in for good measure is a relaxation oscillator (so named as it's similar to the way your heart beats at a regular rate as well as to some other nerve and nueral functions) and tuned to a very low 440 "A" so you can tune to it, or just leave it on and let it worm it's way into your brain. I might be trippin' here, but leave the relaxation oscillator on for 5 minutes by itself and then turn it off. The void left by it's absence creates a sense of vertigo. Rather strange, but rather rad.

Chro-Magnum

2009-09-19T15:41:00.001-07:00

I source housings from thrift stores mostly, though my good friend and ...worms bandmate scott sloan recently agreed to make a few wooden boxes for me in exchange for one of them being filled with noises.

I've taken delivery of one box so far and it has become the Chro-Magnum, an LED actuated poly-drone composer. It combines a light-to-frequency converter with 4 different color LEDs, all of them with variable rate and intensity controls. The Chro-Magnum takes advatage of the fact that the light-to-frequency chip has photodiode arrays that react to 4 different colors: red, blue, green and clear (full spectrum). The coolest part is that different colors create different tones. Musically, this means that 4 flashing LEDs become a juggernaught of poly-rhythmic tones. Pretty fucking cool, if you'll excuse the use of curse words for emphasis, but seriously, it's pretty f'n cool sounding.

The Chro-Magnum also has 2 variable full range on-board square wave oscillators, wired out of phase with each other to give the player a myriad of tone options, most inerestingly a ring-modulator esque tone sweep that plays nicely with the under or overlying polyrhythms. Photos and video coming in the next week or so, as I ramp this here blog up into the stratosphere.