A BIG THANK YOU to traveloguefans

I know that message forums go in waves.  Even for topics that I care a lot about doesn't mean that I will check on forum posts and discussions on a regular basis.

I wanted to state that I am deeply thankful for people who read this blog. Thank you.

I also wanted to say thank you to the persons responsible for keeping up www.traveloguefans.com as long as they did.  I was deeply moved that the forum was started by fans - especially since I am very bad at self promotion.  I know that posts had faded and I started using other forums (Facebook or this blog, for example) to post updates.  I hope that those who were involved with traveloguefans know how much I appreciated their commitment and questions over the years and I hope that they continue to comment or reach out through emails, comments, and support.

Now that a new album is on it's way, I will be posting most of my updates here.  Please feel free to comment, share questions, or direct email me any thoughts or discussions regarding this.

If there is a place or space where you would like for me to  share thoughts on, or promote the new album, please let me know.  With such a big world wide web, it is easy to forget or neglect sites and places that are important.

ANOTHER NEW SOUNDCLOUD CLIP!

Here is another insight into the song 'Boldly Speak' from the new album.

https://soundcloud.com/jon-sonnenberg/boldly-speak-the-process-of-writing-a-song

Enjoy, follow, share, and comment.

thank you!

A NEW SOUNDCLOUD CLIP

As some of you know, my new album "Death of Conversation" is completed.  Here is a clip for the process in writing one of the songs from this album.  The song is called 'Black and White'.  The link is here:

https://soundcloud.com/jon-sonnenberg/black-and-white-the-process-of-writing-a-song-with-commentary

Be sure to share, like, comment on, etc - and keep checking in:  there will be more to come.  Enjoy!

My Involvement with Earthquaker Devices Afterneath and Interview

Through connections with several friends who work at EarthQuaker Devices and my work at Circle Prime Mfg., Inc. with electronics, I was asked to be involved with the Earthquaker Afterneath translation into a Eurorack module.  Having worked on revising some PCB layout for earlier versions of the Afterneath for them, I was already a huge fan of the pedal and what it does.  In fact, I own 2 of the Version 1's.  I had this idea that quantization over the drag control would be really cool and useful.  You could, for instance, have the reverb tail shift into another melody as it decays, have an envelope or LFO shift the octaves around, or have a sequencer play the reverb in complimentary and interesting ways to your melody lines.   Here is a nice video that EQD put together where I am interviewed about this along side Jamie Stillman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qc94AL2HF0

Here are some example sounds/patches that I made for Wave Replacement Synthesis.  For more details view descriptions on Youtube and be sure to subscribe to my channel.  thanks and enjoy!

NEW TRAVELOGUE ALBUM

My new album, 'Death of Conversation', is complete and in the manufacturing stages now!!!  The record plant that I am using for this is fairly backed up though and I won't see vinyl copies until sometime in August.  Will there be a digital release as well?  You bet!  But I probably won't release any format of this album until I receive the copies of the record.  Here is a teaser image for the label that will be on the A-side of the record.
    

Sensel Morph, Seaboard Rise, Linnstruments, and Continuum are still in the Dark Ages

I purchased my iPad2  with an Alesis iDoc in 2013.  Because I am very cautious about updating and not wanting to render any app or program useless, I tend to buy all software that I possibly intend to use, then freeze updating unless I am certain that the update will still work with my OS.

This all being said to point out that I am not updated any iPad programs since about 2015. Even with this accounted for, I am still blown away with how amazing the Bit Shape TC-11 is.  Bit Shape takes the concept of an XY multitouch system to whole new levels where anything is possible. I am amazed that other control devices – especially ones that support MPE- have not implemented any of these concepts into their device.  XYZ controllers such as Roli Seaboard, Sensel Morph, Linnstruments, Hakken Continuum, etc seem like they are in the dark ages when you compare how the TC-11 implements XY control in comparison.    Don't get me wrong.  These devices are great and I own a couple of them.  What I am saying is that these companies think that they are innovative because they have an XYZ controller but all they allow is control over X, Y, and Z - which is not innovative considering inventions like the Theremin (yes, I know this is not the same type of controller - but bear with my argument) have been around for nearly 100 years now.  What IS new and innovative is multi-touch surfaces and they are not being exploited to the level that they could be.

If these companies want to really be forward thinking (which they think they are, but clearly can still learn a lot from Bit Shape) then they need to implement some of these concepts into the XYZ control surface market. 

In other words, it is not enough to just simply have X, Y and pressure (or surface area in some cases) control.  With multitouch controls, you could just as easily add angle or distance between 2 points, average/centroid position of multitouch, distance from center, distance from edge, etc.   All you need is to compute simple formulas using things like Pythagorean Theorem, etc., and then take the result and assign it to modify a parameter.  One could divide an area into multitouch zones or the differnt points could register and track in order of contact.  Another example could be the area of a triangle made by three contact points. The TC-11 also tracks things like velocity and movement from point A to point B.

My suggestion is simple:  in your configuration interfaces, add functionality to allow the user to input formulas based on XY and Z(or pressure), and make them assignable to any MIDI CC of choice.  This way, the configuration can be loaded into the device (like the Sensel Morph) and used with any MIDI application. 

Without doing this type of implementation, these companies are really limiting the possibilities of what their controllers can do. 

Unless Bit Shape has a patent on using distance, velocity, area, or angle in a controller setting, which I doubt they do, then implement these things already!!  what are you waiting for!!!

Even in a non-MPE environment, in multi-touch situations (example playing a chord), having a parameter that would change based on the interval would be useful and open up new worlds of possibilities.  You could have, for instance, a filter that opens up (brighter sound) when you play a major chord (based on root position and perfect 3rd in lowest 2 notes) and a duller sound when diminished or minor chords are played in root position.