For days I've been trying to make an "Oceans 11 - Complete Walkthrough" video, but I keep getting distracted by the sounds. So I gave in and made this first. Originally I was going to just take a few seconds of this but I like drony dirty choiry things and thought you might enjoy it too, especially as it was so simple. The danger with a giant multi-tier stand of vintage polysynths is that you might feel obliged to use several of them at once. Less is more. At about the halfway point (as mentioned in the video) I add in some FabFilter Pro-R "Cathedral" reverb at 50% mix. But there's no other DAW fiddlings.<br /> Since I blab endlessly in the video I won't repeat all the info here but merely add that the FM knob on the DB-01 is very useful but could perhaps be great. Imagine if it could be somehow locked to the chosen scale? Now that would lead to all sorts of good things.<br /> <br /> Lots of downloads for supporters on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/richarddehove<br /> Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free<br /> My website: https://richarddehove.com/<br /> My other channel "IntraCosmos" of long-play dark ambient textures: https://www.youtube.com/@intracosmos

Not depressed enough about everything yet? Maybe this can help! Here's the DB-01 synth in a single take with a little help from some pedals. No other music or processing. Sampled voices are from the brilliant 1984 UK movie "Threads" a harrowing, grim and completely believable movie about the lead up and aftermath of a global nuclear exchange. There's no happy ending.<br /> (And yes, for anyone who saw my last video this is exactly the same setup - I was noodling afterwards and this just fell out).<br /> <br /> Lots of downloads for supporters on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/richarddehove<br /> Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free<br /> My website: https://richarddehove.com/<br /> My other channel "IntraCosmos" of long-play dark ambient textures: https://www.youtube.com/@intracosmos

It's the one trick grammy award winning dentists don't want you to know - yet nine out of 10 cats agree!<br /> Seriously though there are functions on some machines that you just never get to unless you go digging. I'm a big fan of the DB-01 arp, especially jamming over the top of existing sequences. And recently I made a huge discovery. Well, actually, a tiny and insignificant realization, but it was that in the DB-01 arp section "PIA" stands for "piano" and "STP" stands for "step". For two years I was guessing at that acronym. A cosmic ray must have nudged a defective neuron aside. Yeah, obvious to you but not me. It turns out that "step" is a fantastic auto-slicing jamming function.<br /> In the comments a while back someone said they enjoyed my "crusty" take on things. That means "a little bit grumpy". I like that. I am a little bit grumpy - about a lot of things. One thing I don't like is demos with too many machines. What tends to happen is that one (or more) machines get latched onto some never-ending-16-step-loopy-thing. Or maybe more than one. I don't like that (but of course I've done it lots of times). I get irritated these days when just one machine is endlessly repeating a 16-step pattern. Did any of the great composers just mindlessly copy bar after bar after bar of the same sludge just to fill out supporting instruments? Of course not. (Although I do like Phillip Glass)<br /> OTOH modern machines usually present you with a 16-step grid. So what can you do?<br /> Which brings us back to STP "step" mode on the DB-01 arp. A single, boring, 16-step pattern can be sliced up on the fly and made into endless variations. Possibly the best use of this is recording it as audio and slicing it up in the DAW. Or perhaps live performance. Whatever you do it's a good way to make 16-steps a lot more interesting.<br /> The quick version of this is to take an empty pattern, go into the randomizer and "randomize all" (the button on the far right). Now you have an unplayable mess. But with the "step" arp (latched) you can probably pick out selected parts and make something coherent. In any case it's entertaining. What do you think?<br /> <br /> Lots of downloads for supporters on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/richarddehove<br /> Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free<br /> My website: https://richarddehove.com/<br /> My other channel "IntraCosmos" of long-play dark ambient textures: https://www.youtube.com/@intracosmos

Strymon's El Capistan tape delay version 2 pedal has configuration options that need to be adjusted if you're using line level instruments or MIDI. There are also secondary sound tweaking controls that can make a huge difference to the sound. Happily everything is either set-and-forget or very straightforward.<br /> This is part one of a two-part tutorial. Part 2 will explore the looper and more advanced MIDI functionality.<br /> <br /> 0:00 Intro<br /> 1:00 Time controls<br /> 2:37 Front panel overview<br /> 3:32 Config overview<br /> 4:35 Input type<br /> 5:34 Spillover<br /> 6:30 Bypass mode<br /> 7:30 Activate MIDI<br /> 9:38 Set MIDI channel<br /> 10:54 MIDI Clock<br /> 12:35 Trails test<br /> 13:06 Clock sync changes<br /> 14:55 Wow & Flutter, Tape Age<br /> 17:44 Secondary functions<br /> 18:38 Tape Crinkle<br /> 19:37 Low End Contour<br /> 20:55 Tape Bias<br /> 22:18 Boost & Cut<br /> 22:44 Secondary defaults<br /> 25:06 Audio outro<br /> <br /> This pedal was bought by me at full price.<br /> <br /> Lots of downloads for supporters on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/richarddehove<br /> Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free<br /> My website: https://richarddehove.com/<br /> My other channel "IntraCosmos" of long-play dark ambient textures: https://www.youtube.com/@intracosmos

Add Violence is a fuzz pedal but I prefer the sub-heading from JPTR-FX "Planetary Disorder Unit". With just three knobs and a switch they've managed to create a very tweak-worthy machine. At first I put an EQ in front of it but soon took it away - the pedal does a better job by itself. An EQ after might be better but I haven't got that far yet. I've only been using this for a day and was so impressed by the sound I thought I'd better record it before any of the magic evaporated.<br /> I bought this as a pre-order a few months back and am sorry to say I'm the kind of guy who constantly messages "Are we there yet?" Sorry JPTR-FX, my excuse is I'm keen. In truth I wasn't expecting too much. I've tried a lot of overdrive, distortion and fuzz pedals and at least half of them are woeful on synth. I don't know what it is but some of them do almost nothing except add an annoying insect-like buzz. So I was overjoyed at Add Violence - it loves synths and drum machine. Even better, it's silent. My dearly beloved Dark Glass B3K overdrive fizzes and hisses like crazy, but the Add Violence is silent. And when jamming I was torn between constantly turning up the volume and being worried I was going to vibrate the cones to destruction - this thing can really amplify the low harmonics.<br /> There's still more to explore with this pedal since you can open it open and turn it into an octave fuzz. Until then I hope you enjoy this sample of its powers. I was going to blab and blather on this video but the sound seemed to warn me off - the dirt and filth must remain pure. Instead I added a few sampled quotes just to add a little color. Other than them the sound is as you see it: raw from the DB-01 into the Add Violence and a little delay every now and then from the Boss DM-2W. With the LXR-02 I took one channel from the stereo out into the pedal, the other straight into the DAW, then centred both, so the original dry sound is still there. The on-screen waveform is from the effected channel only.<br /> If you like this format - no talk with a few little sample enhancements - please let me know so I can do more, especially since you're one of the good and true people who've read the full description :)<br /> <br /> 0:00 Drums 1<br /> 2:32 Doom keys<br /> 3:46 Drum 2<br /> 4:49 Arp<br /> 5:18 Pattern 1<br /> 5:47 Arp 2<br /> 6:31 Doom keys 2<br /> 7:22 Drum variations<br /> 8:25 Pattern 2<br /> <br /> Lots of downloads for supporters on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/richarddehove<br /> Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free<br /> My website: https://richarddehove.com/<br /> My other channel "IntraCosmos" of long-play dark ambient textures: https://www.youtube.com/@intracosmos

How "sweet" can the DB-01 sound? Can they gently float through the fairy grotto sprinkling magic pixie dust? Well it's certain they didn't want to, and they fought against the visit the whole time, and wouldn't play with the fairies at all unless they had help from some heavy effects. In the end they were probably rightly regarded as a couple of intruding goblins, but they behaved themselves and might yet get another invitation.<br /> Here we have three short little sketches. Each DB-01 gets the effect next to to it: The Strymon Timeline on the left and either the Strymon El Capistan V2 or the DBA Rooms reverb on the right. Absolutely no other effects or processing are used. The Keystep-37 is central to the setup and you'll notice the different key modes on the DB-01 in each piece, either "key" which means the Keystep is playing the unit directly, or "arp" which means the Keystep is triggering the DB-01's own arpegiator. This gets most interesting where the Keystep is in strum mode and each strum note is in turn activating a restart on the arpegiator.<br /> The MIDI chain is simply out of the keystep into the left DB-01 then MIDI Through to the right DB-01. All three units (and the Timeline) are receiving their own feed of an external MIDI clock (the ERM MIDI Clock).<br /> <br /> 0:00 Silky's Theme <br /> 1:41 Midnight<br /> 2:56 Dame Slap<br /> <br /> Lots of downloads for supporters on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/richarddehove<br /> Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free<br /> My website: https://richarddehove.com/<br /> My other channel "IntraCosmos" of long-play dark ambient textures: https://www.youtube.com/@intracosmos