Part of the reason I really haven’t had any significant updates in the last week is due to work, part due to my writing for Yes, We Cook!, and part to the fact that I have finished off Demo track number three for “Arrangements for Sex, Vol 2″

I finished off “In Your Arms (Hold Me)” late yesterday evening, and with a few minor tweaks this evening, I’m ready to call it “go” for the official demo.

So, here you go: In Your Arms (Hold Me) <—- the bold is a link, if you didn’t know

Here is the second demo track from the Arrangements for Sex, Volume 2 set of songs.

This second track is another “close your eyes and relax” type of track… one that I really enjoy… I haven’t really had a direction as far as the musical ‘feel’ on the second Arrangements outing, it has just kinda fallen into place.

Ok, enough talk, here is The Way of Truth and Love.

As usual the “this is unmastered” warning must be given.  I expect that songs 3 and 4 may be done within the next week as well….

A number of years back I started a project music by the name of Arrangements for Sex (The E.P. can be found here, and the ‘Naked’ remixes can be found here) that was background music for, well, sex… actually, it was more for relaxing than anything.

Truth be told I simply couldn’t skip the name.

My intent for the project was to have a continual catalog that would be created, all of which could blend together/be interchangeable, that would eventually create on giant “album”. As the arousal of the mind to create music doesn’t always happen on command the project has gone through periods of hiatus; however, I’m back in the writing mood and “Arrangements for Sex, Volume 2″ is now under way.

The first demo off the next E.P. brings the return of the strings I love so well, and provides a glimpse into what will be coming in the next several weeks.

So, without further delay, here is the 1st unmastered demo track - Thoughts of Reality in a Never Ending Moment of Denial

Back in December I started to do some tracks that were a bit more dark and aggressive than I had in the past.  I lost the desire to do anything ambient and went full bore into a new style for me.  

The first track, Enhanced, was done over a short period of time.  Then life got in the way, I simply didn’t have time or motivation.  Finally, I got back into the studio and re-started my production efforts and the next demo just came out…

As always, this is purely a demo.  Nothing mastered, sound levels are off, the full FX were not applied to the mix.  If I ever actually do record this for some type of release, it would end up sounding significantly different… much more polished.

So, here you go, the demo for Enhanced.2 

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And you can download it from here (right click and save as…)

As you may know, I do a bit of music production.  Years ago I actually created some amazingly good stuff and had discussions about 12” distribution in the EU for a few songs.  Mainly trance/ambient trance.  One thing leads to another and I simply let things go.  Roughly a year ago I started to get back into it.  While I have not put much thought and effort into production, I have placed one or two good demos out, songs that could really be something if I tried.

Anyway, this post isn’t about those songs.  It’s about my Roland M-480 line mixer.

The Roland M-480 is the largets rack mount mixer made by Roland.  The production time was from 1990 to 1992 and is great for electronic music producers as the multiple send/return busses allow for very complex sound routing in the mixer.  

As I’ve been attempting to explorer the details of the mixer, I realized I’m really under utilizing the true power of this unit.  So, I turn to the manual… wait… I don’t have the manual.  DAMN.

After utilizing the wonderful search power of Google, I realized that the manual for the Roland M-480 is hard to find.  Like “end of the rainbow” difficult. I almost thought I was chasing some mythical creature, but I was able to track down a copy.

If you are looking for the manual, look no more.  Here you go – I’ve uploaded it to the server for everyone who is in need.  Thank you to the original creator, whoever you may be!

Since I suck, apparently, with my promise to get pictures of the new setup posted you will need to live life and be happy (DAMN IT!) with the latest gear list:

Keyboards

• Roland Juno 106
• Roland SH 2
• Roland SH 101
• Korg Wavestation EX
• Alpha Juno 2

One day, some day, I will get the pictures out.  It really feels good to be creating new music once again….

I’ve never had a problem with Roland gear – quality is topic notch.  I have synths over 30 years old produced by Roland Japan that are just as stable today as when first purchased.  As technology advanced in music production more variables were added to studio gear in order to “get the most” out of the device but user interface design did not keep up with the cutting edge technology.

Translation: As gear got more advanced, UI became less intuitive.

Need to change MIDI channels, get out the manual.  Need to change to a different sound bank, get out the manual.  Need to route the EFX differently, get out the manual.  

While a user adapts and becomes familiar with the device(s) as more time is spent with the device, it’s still a serious pain in the ass.

/done ranting

On another note, I’ll post the new ‘mini’ studio pictures later.