Post Your Thomas Henry Sound Samples and Compositions Here

[Scott Stites]

There's a reason we all do this - hunt for parts, seek out schematics, sit before an unforgiving breadboard or spend hours soldering tiny bits of metal onto tiny bits of fiberglass and copper. We do it because we share a common love for electro music and the instruments that enable us to make that music. We are not only artists, we are that peculiar breed of artist that eschews the preformulated tubes of paint in the art store, instead choosing to grind his own pigment. Of course, in the end, it's not about the paint, but what it is he puts to canvas.

Howard has given us this wonderful environment to share this work; to be inspired and feed off of each other's creativity. I believe that was one of his goals when he founded electro-music. The MFOS forum already has done it, and I would like to do the same in the Thomas Henry Designs forum: provide a sticky thread for those of you who've made any kind of music with your Thomas Henry designs. I'd like to see people describe, if they wish, what instruments or circuits they used, and, just as much, I would be curious to know what they were thinking or why they made the music. These things interest me; I think they interest us all. Everyone has a reason for what they do, and often it is as important to them as the piece itself. So, if you have anything you'd like to share, please feel free to post it to this thread.

I'll start it off with a piece I recorded tonight instead of doing what it was I thought I was going to do - that's usually how I end up recording. It seems when I sit down to do compose something specific, I more often than not come up empty. If I have something else to do, that's usually when inspiration will strike.

In this case, after a fairly frustrating day, my son pestered me for a walk I had promised him a couple of days ago. This walk had been postponed twice in a row because of rain here. Today it was not terribly sunny, but it wasn't raining, either. I'd just sat down to breadboard the next exciting TH circuit in the chain, but knew I had better fulfill my promise.

It's a rather small town I live in - it doesn't take but maybe fifteen or twenty minutes to walk from one end to the other. We walked to where my old grade school had stood on the other side of town. It was nice, cool weather, and I found the walk a welcome change. I began to think of how some things seem important and how some things are important. I thought of this eight year old boy who adores his father today, and I thought of how, in a few short years, he would soon grow out of this current phase and enter the phase in which he wouldn't be caught dead chumming with his father.

It being our memorial day weekend, I thought of people I wanted to talk to, but could never again converse with in this life. I thought of the impenetrable gulf that separated me from them and how one day, like all living creatures, I too would cross that gulf. I thought of the next soldier who would die and wondered what he was thinking. I thought of the people who had no choice, and wondered what they were thinking. I realized I'm a very lucky person.

So, when I got back, and I sat down in front of the breadboard, I still had the VCO-1 through Mankato filter patch set up. I was still of a mood and figured before I started on the breadboard, I'd play with the patch just a little bit more. I usually run from the synth/breadboards into my Lexicon MX200 reverb, then into the D8. On the Lexicon, I can set up a long delay, enter notes and then set delay time for infinite, effectively turning it into a looper. I entered a few notes of the VCO through Mankato, then switched the delay to infinite so no other notes would be captured by the delay. This signal, and my live signal were then passed through the second stage of the MX200, which was set up as more or less a blanket of reverb. The VCO-1 signal was PWM, modulated by a Ray Wilson LFO, and another LFO was connected to the Thomas Henry keyboard to provide vibrato. The keyboard voltage was controlling the VCO-1 and the Mankato filter cutoff, and trigger/gating a Ray Wilson ADSR which was patched to control the cutoff of the filter. When I had the first VCO/Mankato notes notes recorded into the Lexicon delay, I then adjusted the live signal level relative to the repeating delay 'accompaniment'. I reached over, flipped on the recorder and let it run until it ran out of disk space (I'm always close to full, so this doesn't last nearly as long as I actually played). As I played, I adjusted things like PWM rate, portamento, vibrato level, filter cutoff, filter resonance, and how much effect the EG had on the filter. This is what was captured by the D8 before the dreaded "disk full message" appeared, warts and all - there are no overdubs or anything like that. The only editing is the fade in and fade out (the fade out was necessary to prevent the song from abruptly stopping once the disk in the recorder had been filled).

Cheers,
Scott

[bitmonkey]

That was *really* nice! This little ditty is a myth buster; it blows away the notion that you need a lot of gear to make good sound, and it shows just how rich a single VCO can sound. One VCO, 2 LFOs, one VCF, one digital delay, one reverb unit... these are simple ingredients that you have used masterfully.

Above all, your musical taste and talent really shine here. Well done, Scott! 'nuff said.

[Scott Stites]

Why, thank you John

I forgot to mention the power supply is also a Thomas Henry affair - it's a Midwest Audio Platinum Power Supply. Every recording I've made since spring 2005 has used that. I would bet it's essentially the same power supply that's in the "21st Century Synthesizer" project.

Germaniac once mentioned that even a leaf blower would sound good through my Dim C - I'd have to say the same thing about the Mankato. Whenever I use it, I tend towards more of the "classic" analog synth sounds. Actually, the Mankato does have a tap at 12 dB that renders a more plastic type of response that inspires me towards some different form. In any event, I don't want to 'pigeonhole' the Mankato with the 'old skool' label.

In any event, the sample was one of those things I recorded but will probably never "use" because it's all on one stereo track and I can't edit it very easily. It's got a number of keyboard flubs that I'd want to rework. It's one of those samples that ain't perfect, but still frustrates me because I'd like to share it just for the sound of the thing.

So, if anyone has anything they've recorded that's cool - a sound, a blip, a passage that falls into that category of "I like this, but don't know what to do with it" please post it here! I love listening to that kind of stuff.

Cheers,
Scott

Edit: Leaf blower, not snow blower. There is no snow in Germaniac land.

[goodrevdoc]

Excellent work as always, scott. BTW, if you're really crafty, a leaf blower can sound simply sublime on its own... Think of it as a PCO: a petroleum controlled oscillator
-justin

[Scott Stites]

[Blue Hell]

I like that piece you made Scott.

Such walks are important for a young man. I remember the one I had 40 years ago with my grand father quite clearly. He then opened my eyes for trees and plants and such, which is a joy still.

[Scott Stites]

Hey Jan,

My father was really good for walks. He was a biologist and could name the Latin genus & species for all of my questions. So often I would ask him "Hey, Dad, what kind of tree is that?" "Oh that's juglans nigra" or a beetle would be coleoptera this or that. He'd answer me and I'd still scratch my head

Your story about your grandfather made me think of a short story written by, surprisingly, Stephen King. No, it wasn't about something popping out of a sewer gutter and eating one's liver - this was actually one of his non-horror works. IIRC, it was called "My Pretty Pony" and it was a story of a boy and his grandfather on a walk. It really had a profound effect on me, because it was the best description on the nature of time (from a human viewpoint) I can recall reading. The grandfather talked about how time moved so slowly when one was young, and he called that "my pretty pony" time. Point of the story was that as you got older, the pretty pony turned out to have a very mean heart. Quite a beautiful story, really.

[Tim Servo]

Well, I posted this in "Still a Dream" but I think I should have put it here instead

This is a sample of the 6dB output of the Mankato VCF. Given how smooth the 24dB output sounds, I was surprised by the bite of these sounds. Very 'wet' and squelchy. The tone source is my (t)rusty Odyssey (it's the drone you hear at the very beginning of the sample). I used a Mankato VCF driven by another Mankato set to work as a VCLFO, and the VCLFO is driven by a standard LFO. The VCLFO often goes up into (and through) the audio range, which creates a neat "splatty" sounding heterodyning tone. Anyway, here's the 6dB output of the Mankato!

Tim (let's get splatty with it) Servo

---

Mankato_Test_05-30_10.mp3
Description:	Mankato VCF 6dB output sample. Six different takes, spliced and diced in Audity. - reloaded!!	Download
Filename:	Mankato_Test_05-30_10.mp3
Filesize:	3.65 MB
Downloaded:	2183 Time(s)

---

[Scott Stites]

Oooh! Hot Mankato on Mankato action there! What a cool sample.....

The 6 dB output is certainly a side of the Mankato I have never explored (I don't have that output on my breadboard) - and what a cool side that is!

It's a more agressive, techno kind of thing - the wild, untamed side of the Mankato - I would have never believed it was the same filter! Even more versatility!

Thanks for posting that!

Cheers,
Scott

[The Alison Project]

Not a pure TH patch obviously but it does make use of my two SN Voice's in the sequenced part of track...

the point of my Torn Envelopes recordings are to patch up my synth, no keys just let it self run, record and twist knobs... 100% live, no cuts, no overdubs, no second takes.

http://www.thealisonproject.com/Torn_Envelopes_XV.mp3

a picture of the patch for this track can be found here
http://www.thealisonproject.com/images/15.gif

modules used
- Blacet VCO's x3
- Blacet Miniwave
- Blacet EG1's x2
- Blacet Binary Zone (as clock)
- Blacet Improbability Drive
- Blacet Time Machine
- CGS Programmer Sequencer
- CGS Sequential Switch
- CGS Infinite Melody
- CGS Psycho LFO
- CGS Super Psycho LFO
- Thomas Henry SN Voice x2
- Tellun Neural Agonizer
- Modcan Diode Filter
- LFO's, Mixers, Mutliples
- MOTM Ultra VCO
- MOTM VCA
- MOTM MS-20 VCF
- MOTM S&H

Chris
www.thealisonproject.com

[Scott Stites]

[The Alison Project]

[germaniac]

[Scott Stites]

Why thanks, Ong Germ.

I'd like to hear that sn....er leaf blower through a Moonwave sometime, too.

Cheers,
Scott

[Thomas Henry]

Hi gang,

Here's a trial run of a new song I'm recording. This is my practice version, so I've made no attempt at noise reduction, final mix or tone balance.

Anyway, I thought you all might like to hear what the XR-VCO and the Mankato VCF can do. I use them for the bass part.

Thomas Henry

---

octavia.mp3
Description:	"Octavia," (c) 2007 Thomas Henry practice tracks---mp3 format	Download
Filename:	octavia.mp3
Filesize:	4 MB
Downloaded:	1858 Time(s)

---

[23isgood]

Great bass Thomas. What is that other sound you got going in there? It sounds like poly mod or something. Its nice and grungy. Cool stuff.

pete

[Scott Stites]

I wish my finished products sounded that "rough". That is an excellent piece!!

Mankato+XRVCO does indeed make a nice bass combo.

Holy cow!!

[Thomas Henry]

[23isgood]

Oh man! I thought it was a Prophet 5 or something. I'm impressed a sound blaster could do that sound, wow.

[Scott Stites]

Hmmm.....I've got a 286 in my garage with that same exact card....

Unless, of course, my wife hasn't thrown it out, that is.

[aerogramma]

a sample from one of our magsmoke TH 201 - Mankato

it's pure mankato... no external audio mixed in, no reverb, compression, eq.. no nothing!

just the filter resonance being modulated by two CVs in


beautiful


aero

---

mankato cv resonance.mp3
Description:		Download
Filename:	mankato cv resonance.mp3
Filesize:	2.22 MB
Downloaded:	1630 Time(s)

---

[Blue Hell]

[aerogramma]

all right moremankato samples... this time is a drum loop going into the mankato and being modulated by the cv input [i plugged a realistic moog into cv1]


at some point in the audio file you'll hear the drum loop 'clean'... what this device can do, especially if not taken as a straight VCF filter, doesn't stop to amaze me

beautiful device... thanks tim and thanks henry!


aero

---

battered mankato.mp3
Description:		Download
Filename:	battered mankato.mp3
Filesize:	1.52 MB
Downloaded:	1673 Time(s)

---

[Tim Servo]

Crunchy! Very fun stuff. Was this done with the 6dB out?


Tim (has his crunchy moments) Servo

[aerogramma]

hey tim,
no it was the 24dB out

aero