more sketches

music of the month: the sound of bombing, the cry of innocent victims, the silence of the indifferent. 

back on track!

geared up for tomorrow's concert

Now that I do concerts again, I see how different it is since I started to get interested in gear. I spend almost as much time tweaking stuff as preparing music! Well I do improv, so I need to keep fresh, and it's a good way to stay focused, understand how sound is produced and try something completely new! 

I housed my Volcas in a crude wooden rack and put my LeafAudio DroneSynth in a wooden box. 

Here is the new Göldo roller bridge I put on the Jaguar - broke too many strings since I put the LesTrem. I'm not satisfied yet with it, the E strings jump easily out of the roller saddles - my playing style is quite enthusiastic… But I'm sure it can be set up somehow - have to figure out how.

And this is the pedal line for this project !

Do you want to see this guitar built?

This guitar has been selected for a design competition organized by ShonKy Musical Instruments in the UK, and if it wins, it will be built - wouldn't it be wonderful? The Epsilon is 2 months late and I have no idea of when it will be finished, and my partner and I are getting quite desperate - seeing this one built would cheer us up and get us ready for the next model (a carbon fiber neck headless guitar…).

This model - the Alpha - follows my usual guidelines: it's ergonomic - back cutaway, arm-rest -, convenient - light, with a handle -, slightly retro futurist in shape and gear, and undoubtedly cool with natural wood and metal plates...

But you must help it win the competition, for it's based on likes on Facebook, so please connect to ShonKy's Great Competition  and like this picture - it's before August 30th... Thank you!

concert

In the last months I started again to play music on stage with my band Soft Power Ensemble of Vienna, now it's time to go back to solo, it will be on August 22nd at the Klangfestival #7 in Gallneukirchen, Austria. 

I announced it as a free glam act, though I don't know yet what it means - it will be mostly improvised, so I don't exactly know what I'll play for now, I'm still currently trying different things with guitars, synthesizers, voice, percussions… So far I tend to do too much, now I must minimalize!

Plutoneium Chi-Wah-Wah and Hotone Skyline Wally

I recently expanded my pedal board with the acquisition of two great pedals…

First I finally put my hands on a Plutoneium Chi-Wah-Wah, and my life has changed: I'm now able to use a wah effect - to use it and abuse of it: one more week of practice and I can play all the parts in Acid Mothers Temple! And that's possible because the Chi-Wah-Wah isn't a classic wah pedal with a rocking system - something I find really unergonomic and that I'm unable to play -, but works with a spring system - that holds in a Boss-sized pedal!
So no, you cannot use it 100% like a rocking wah but I miss nothing since I never really used one, but it definitely sounds terrific. I've been looking at that pedal since its release in 2010 but it's made by a Singaporean company, is poorly distributed in Europe and is a little bit out of my usual price range… Actually the company seems to have recently collapsed, since the average guitarist will hold anyhow to his old dysfunctional Cry Baby, because, you know, Jimi played one or shit, and then it doesn't matter if there are better pedals now…

And since I managed to grab this wah in Germany for half its price, I used the rest of the money to get the yellow gizmo next to it, a Hotone Skyline Wally looper. I chose it over a Ditto or a JamMan for its 15 minutes loop and its slowing down / pitching down control - lots of potential for down tempo heavy baselines there, like I used to do with my old DOD digital delay's 5 seconds loop back in the days! And the gadget factor probably helped, this tiny pedal looks so cool!

I know I always say that, but I really should shoot a demo of these ones of these days...