All being well, and purely for my own amusement, I should be recording an “in the spirit of a @showhomebrew.bsky.social session” set in the next few days :-) Four songs; two new and a pair of VPP oldies - from Alexander “Greek” Thomson to the Pyrenees and even a hint of EBM (involving a #QY10) …
A white painted interior wall, with two clocks (also white, including the numbers, but with black hour & minute hands and blue second hands) placed one above the other. Underneath each clock is a place name, in black capital type on gold rectangular backgrounds. The upper place name is Ramsgate and the lower Margate. The Margate clock indicates a time of 12.59 whereas the Ramsgate one shows 13.04. The edge of a white-painted window frame is visible on the right edge of the image.
The cover shot for #walktowalkstation was taken in Margate (one of my #QY10 rail destinations) and I was back there today, to see @danthompson33.bsky.social. At Marine Studios he showed me these clocks. Ramsgate has its own meridian and there must be a song in that…
‘QY10 Ditties’ by @ireless.bsky.social is such an overt celebration of the instrument, I decided just to trigger other MIDI instruments from the doodlings I’d composed on my #QY10. This led to outline structures for seven possible songs… #walktowalkstation ireless.bandcamp.com/album/qy10-d...
The working method for #walktowalkstation - writing on public transport - was inspired by the work of #Deerful (see her @wiaiwya.bsky.social LP ‘Peach’) and my choice of a #QY10 was purely practical. Thanks to @frbhrecs.bsky.social & @ireless.bsky.social that practicality took a creative turn…
#walktowalkstation songs in hashtags (3): In Posters Printed #Nodrums #roundels #ManRay #RosemaryEllis #CliffordEllis #Kauffer #LauraKnight #TFL #adventures #LondonUnderground #QY10 #QY100 #BassStation #OptimisticEscapism voltagepoetryproject.bandcamp.com/track/in-pos...
#walktowalkstation songs in hashtags (1): Ghosts Of The Boat Trains #telephonevocal #FolkestoneHarbour #FehmarnBelt #LadybirdBooks #BelleEpoque #QY100 #QY10 #BassStation #BriefEncounter #StructuralFunds #Couchettes #OptimisticEscapism #synthsky voltagepoetryproject.bandcamp.com/track/ghosts...
The #walktowalkstation EP is here. This post is the start of a thread on its making, including intros to each song by hashtag alone and a few thanks to folk who helped on the journey that started with me and a Yamaha #QY10 on a train…
voltagepoetryproject.bandcamp.com/album/walkto...
Funnily enough @purplerhapsodyx.bsky.social & @hartshornmusic.bsky.social I’m on a train just now … on the way back from a long day at work, though sans my #QY10!
Yes, it all started out by taking a Yamaha #QY10 on some train journeys a few months ago. Four songs that are indeed “fifteen-minutes of optimistic lo-fi electronica escapism”; I’ll tell something of their stories here once #walktowalkstation is released on Friday :-)
No new release from me for #BandcampFriday but some results from this endeavour - all starting with a Yamaha #QY10 - will be out soon: dreams of night trains, adventures in Essex, subterranean Antwerp and an exponent of photograms all feature… #lofi #synthsky
First mixes of the four songs made this afternoon. No panning, delay or further effects applied just yet but everything seems to be going in a constructive direction :-) #qy10 #walkstationtostation #railwaysongs #lofi
Having revealed a North Berwick (thanks @frbhrecs.bsky.social) influence on new songs I’m recording, I can say two of them contain riffs I tapped into the #QY10 en route to seeing @danthompson33.bsky.social at Marine Studios in Margate (which he writes about here), also on this isle’s east coast…
Part of a Novation BassStation II control panel. Black backing with pale blue lines delineating various sections (arpeggiator, Porta, LFOs identified in this image) and white text. Some small circular red lights show whilst a digital display panel features a red-illuminated number 82 (in “calculator style” text.) At the bottom of the image, starting a third of the way along, the top of the low end of the musical keyboard is seen. The run of these keys - starting with a white “C” note - is white/black/white/black/white/white/black/white (thus a “G” note is at the edge of the image.) A headphone lead trails across the image, from three-quarters of the way along at the top to the bottom left corner.
Patch 82 (a self-programmed one, created in the past few days) on the #BassStation responding nicely to a trigger from the #qy10 this evening. May make it to a #walkstationtostation song about an Essex itinerary or another referencing Alexander “Greek” Thomson…
A #walkstationtostation update. Hopefully I will grab a couple of hours in the coming week to start some recording. There are now two fully-written songs, three further with reasonably progressed lyrics and a couple of very rudimentary instrumental works. #qy10 #qy100 #lofi #synthsky
youtu.be/7AT2suPzbfc?...
#QY10 をPCに繋げて曲作ったから聴け！！
Yamaha QY10 walkstation (a VHS cassette-sized sequencer and sound module formed of a black plastic box, with one octave keyboard of rubber keys, plus tiny black and yellow buttons for an assortment of functions and a green backlit electronic display screen) on a black & white striped stair carpet. The stripes run vertically in this image, at right angles to the rise of the stairs.
Tapping ideas into this #QY10 en route to places such as Rotherhithe, Margate, Bristol, Colchester and Keswick in the past six months has been a fun way to make music. Now some songs are taking shape. Welcome to a new #walkstationtostation thread… the paths and rails to a single, EP or album?
Most of the front panel of a Yamaha QY10 Walkstation. Black plastic with a single octave piano-type keyboard (made of black & white rubber buttons.) 12 further black buttons above these and four yellow to the left. A clear plastic display strip above partly reflects some nearby trees. Behind are a blue and white painted wall, pale brown brick shed and base of a chimney stack. There is a grey sky and trees that are in full (green) leaf, beyond and above the wall, shed and chimney.
#VoltagePoetryProjectAtoZ (Q): #QY10. Given my current writing project is #walkstationtostation this is a very obvious inclusion! The photo shows mine outside the #Brunel museum in Rotherhithe. One riff and a bassline idea from the train ride there are part of two “underway” songs as of today :-)
Detail shot of part of a BassStation II synth. Black & white plastic keyboard fills much of the image, with a small part of the control section towards the top - this is black with pale blue vertical and horizontal lines separating different sets of controls on the synth. The Porta, LFOs and Envelopes sets are seen in part.
#VoltagePoetryProjectAtoZ (N): Novation BassStation II. The fanciest synth I own; it is monophonic but nice to create patches on and really quite expressive. It’ll almost certainly by triggered from the #QY10 as part of #walkstationtostation.
#VoltagePoetryProjectAtoZ (I): IK Unosynth. My newest instrument - albeit second hand from a friend who lives at the edge of the Forest of Bowland. It may be triggered from my #QY10 as part of the #walkstationtostation project. Has anyone got good views on it? www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ik-m...
#VoltagePoetryProjectAtoZ (F): FRBH Recordings. The #walkstationtostation project is based on doodles tapped into my #QY10; discovering this @frbhrecs.bsky.social got in touch to share the Ireless ‘QY10 Ditties’ release! The label is based near the best looking #volcanicplug in these islands too :-)
As it is now January, the time has come to sift through riffs & bassline ideas tapped into the #QY10, plus some field recordings, and see if I can write any new songs by the 31st for the #walkstationtostation project. Looks like I could be writing at least 5 songs after today’s playback! #synthsky
Yamaha QY10 walkstation (almost exclusively a black plastic box, size of a VHS tape (!), with some white buttons, a single orange one and four tiny yellow ones… plus a green LCD screen) placed on the black & white striped stair carpet at Marine Studios, Margate.
A final #walkstationtostation post for a little while. I’ll still be working on it (also keeping a diary of what I put into the #QY10 and where (so Rotherhithe & Margate will be added to)) but shall report back a few weeks after my debut album is released via #monochromemotif :-)
Yamaha QY10 Walkstation in front of the engine house at the Brunel Museum. The base of the latter’s chimney - largely in light brown brick - rises to the right.
Day 1 of #walkstationtostation. The station traveled to was Rotherhithe and here’s my #QY10 outside the Brunel Museum, nearby. Limited time so I only came up with two bassline patterns, a rhythm (not drums) part and a piano motif. It’s a start though :-)
