biomechanical ... Torso Electronics S4 ... ambient

Another ambient improvisation with the Torso Electronics S4.
Recorded in one take into Zoom M4
Mastered in post.
As always ... music and project file on my Patreon.
/ substan
The great support from my patrons makes all of this possible ... thank you so much guys !!
Substan Bandcamp Page: substan.bandcamp.com
Substan sound packs:
SUBSPACE - for Minifreak (V) substan.gumroad.com/l/subspace
Syntopia - for Syntakt: substan.gumroad.com/l/syntopia
HydraSphere - for Hydrasynth: substan.gumroad.com/l/hydrasp...
DigiSphere - for Digitakt: substan.gumroad.com/l/digisphere
DigiTales - for Digitone/Keys: substan.gumroad.com/l/digitales
Affilate links:
My Perfect Circuit Artist Page (buy via this link to support me) bit.ly/3NdLCmv
Gear List:
Modular:
big case: www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/v...
palette case: www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/v...
Synths/Sampler:
Elektron Digitone bit.ly/3FQ2dpw
Elektron Digitone Keys
Elektron Digitakt bit.ly/3uqvxkC
Elektron Syntakt bit.ly/3OHLs5E
Elektron Analog Four MKII bit.ly/3guZMP2
Elektron Octatrack MKII bit.ly/3HpIezT
Neutral Labs Elmyra 2 bit.ly/4a16Ywn
Roland JP8080
Korg Monologue bit.ly/42oK6CG
Behringer Neutron
Arturia Minifreak bit.ly/3ESAwOm
ASM Hydrasynth bit.ly/3oQPBJt
Polyend Play+ bit.ly/493UoLR
1010music Blackbox bit.ly/3PoYSFS
1010music Lemondrop bit.ly/3J1mTgk
beetlecrab.audio Tempera
Sequencer:
Squarp Hapax bit.ly/3TqFoBD
Effects (Pedals):
Source Audio Ventris bit.ly/3rv3MW2
Hologram Electronics Microcosm
Soma Cosmos bit.ly/3JCfh67
Elektron Analog Heat bit.ly/3WTaKSL
Computer:
Apple 14“ MacBook M1 Pro (2021) 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD
DAW:
Ableton Live Suite 12
Audio/Midi Interface:
UAD Apollo Twin Quad bit.ly/3qvDncQ
Behringer Ultragain
iConnectivity mioXL bit.ly/43BMwyU
Monitoring:
ME Geithain ME25NAD C268
Genelec 7040 APM (Sub)
RFT BR25
Presonus Monitor Station bit.ly/3qyztzF
Mixing/Mastering Gear:
Fredenstein Bento 6 S bit.ly/3viKO9X
Elysia Xfilter 500 bit.ly/43nXOI2
Elysia Xpressor neo 500 bit.ly/4ckb707
SPL Big
Headphones:
Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 32 Ohm bit.ly/3IYdQPS
Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro bit.ly/3IY4WBR
Mixer:
1010music Bluebox bit.ly/3J0YPds
Behringer XENYX 1002B
Microphones & Fieldrecorder:
sE Electronics sE2200a
Rode NT5 (mached pair) bit.ly/3Cg8wDM
Sure SM7B bit.ly/45MxGHy
Zoom M4 bit.ly/3oGQJT3
Zoom H2 bit.ly/3MW38dI
Midi Controllers:
Arturia Keystep 37 bit.ly/3Lead7O
Korg nanoKEY Studio bit.ly/45PUMgA
Camera & Lense:
Blackmagic Design Pocket 4K
Samyang MF 14mm
Canon EOS MCanon EOS M50 MKII
Neweer 1:1.8/25 mm
Video Editing & Creating:
Davinci Resolve
Videosync
#dawless#torsoelectronics #ambient

[@tricks-and-tips]

Sounds great. I'd love to see a 'how I use this thing' video!

[@TheBurdenOfHope]

100%

[@lexnels]

+1 - can't believe all of this is coming out of one box. Beautiful.

[@magjo665]

simply great. looking forward to getting my hands on one. good work.

[@jimmac]

You would get brilliant drones out of a toaster. great stuff.

[@moolder]

This 💯

[@HousePlant_Ambient]

Definitely up there on my wishlist. It is incredible what they have accomplished, I really was looking into a sampler/granular device that not only can layer up samples, but mixed them beautifully. Very melodic unlike Morphagene, or Arbhar or Beads, this is beyond all of that together but beautifully well built.

[@St-Airs]

I had kept gear lust limited to my trusted Monotribe, OP1-OG, and the OctaMKII. Now thanks to you, I sense my desire whetted again. Your work is brilliant, as always.

[@SonicVibe]

This machine looks and sounds great

[@indigomaterie]

Sometimes the youtube algrothim just works. Great sound, nice device. Looks like a great machine for sound design.

[@patrickcorcoran889]

So beautiful, thank you.

[@internalreality]

amazing performance! im thinking about pairing this machine with my digitone.

[@scatman65]

I think so, too😅❤❤

[@fxtreffer]

Very atmosperic sound! Fine ... 🙂

[@georgemartinez1334]

Indeed, this is an outstanding piece of ambient music!!!

[@mentat7984]

Gorgeous, well done!

[@JosuaKarlson]

That bass sound!!! Love it. Nice distortion, sounds very warm, but still somewhat mechanical …

[@substan_music]

Thanks mate !!

[@willswitchcraft]

wow, what magical offering (the gear and the upload)............a world of sound in a box........deep and complex............juicy with a crunchy centre.........masterful manipulating skills...

[@substan_music]

Thanks a lot Will !!

[@CiabaMusic]

Keeping back here to soften the wait for my "second batch" unit This is truly an awesome journey into sonic soundscapes. I can see a new sample pack just out of this video alone! 😊 Speaking of which, I hope to see a new one for the Digitakt II, as I'm really enjoying your work on the Syntakt

[@substan_music]

Thanks !! Yes DigiSphere II is definitely coming .. but not very soon .. still need some time and want to let the DT2 mature a bit first.

[@CiabaMusic]

@@substan_music fair enough ;)

[@InFamousProductions]

amazing. really great. I wonder how diverse the sounds can be out of that thing.

[@MauricioPiomboChanel]

Muy bueno!!!

[@000aleph]

love it

[@NicolasMelis]

well done

[@dirkkeersmaekers4343]

A combo with the Teo-5🤩

[@studentuser2920]

Lush and powerful!

[@ulakanakulot]

🐜 …oh, and great stuff!

[@psyco2486]

Frischer Sound aus de Heimat .. geiles Gerät ... find Ich auch mega interessant als Elektron´er Hammer Track wieder mal Keule

[@NH-gz2kh]

De heimat? Sorry?

[@psyco2486]

@@NH-gz2kh eifforrbübsch bin au n Saxe

[@rafa787]

sweet

[@blush_response]

nice one

[@substan_music]

Thanks mate !!

[@tendingtropic7778]

lovely, would want to see a tutorial or a walkthrough how you made this!

[@FlyingPetschman]

no way ... wow ... shut up and take my money

[@g3cd]

Note that all of the sounds in the video come from samples and are not generated by some "synthesizer" oscillator within the S-4. So you gotta come up with some suitable samples first that go along with each other and record them into the S-4. And THEN you can apply some crazy granular effects and reverb and stuff to them.

[@wbs2017]

looks simple enough

[@internalreality]

Hey Substan, how is the S4 currently? I ordered one but ive seen some people complaining about various bugs and whatnot. Can you elaborate abit on that? Thx in advance, keep on being awesome❤

[@substan_music]

Unfortunately, not much has changed since the release. They have fixed an annoying bug where the settings of the LFOs were not saved correctly. But still the tape only loads about 10-15 seconds of a sample and not 6 minutes which should be possible (you can record 6 minutes). It's actually ambivalent for me. On the one hand, I can understand the users' complaints and the S4 doesn't really feel anything like a finished device ... not even like it's in the beta stage. It's strange when (it feels like) half of the buttons only lead to a comming soon message and essential things like midi clock sync are not yet implemented. It somehow feels like a teaser. On the other hand, what is being teased is really great. The whole concept of this device makes total sense to me and I really enjoy what you can already do with it. When this box grows up (having multiple modules per slot to choose from / changing the order of the slots / and of course all buttons actually doing something) it will be an incredible playground for sound experimentation ... somehow it already is, but the flexibility leaves a lot to be desired. The filter bank is great and I don't have a comparable tool. The granular part is the weakest point for me and not very spectacular ... I would have liked a granular synth but it's really just a very simple granular effect. To summarize ... I'm absolutely not totally disappointed and I'm already enjoying playing around with this alpha version. But I can't wait for torso to deliver (and they seem to be taking their time) ... and there's A LOT to deliver just to get the device out of the alpha. Until we get more than what has already been promised, we will probably still have to wait a long time.

[@mitofragstein7515]

Sounds really great! How does it compare to the tempera?

[@substan_music]

Thanks !! I also had the idea that the S4 would be somehow comparable to the Tempera... but they are actually two fundamentally different devices. Tempera is a full-blown granular synth. Very deep in terms of synthesis with chorus, delay and reverb. ... the S4, on the other hand, is more of a sample mangler / effects box. The granular possibilities are more of an effect than synthesis.. more towards microcosm / clouds. You can play samples polyphonically and then pass them through a granular "effect". Loads of LFOs and modulation options... sort of modular in a box. Both are absolutely great... S4 is still in its infancy... Tempera has grown up so much now.

[@mitofragstein7515]

@@substan_music thanks a lot for your feedback! will stick to the lovely tempera vor a while.

[@user-fi4yd2kf6g]

So how do you like it? What are your thoughts on this? Anything that you like or dislike in particular?

[@substan_music]

On the one hand, I can understand the existing criticism because overall the S4 still feels like it's in the beta phase and a lot of buttons just say "coming soon". On the other hand, I REALLY like the basic concept and what it can already do. When this box grows up it will be absolutely magnificent... you can really feel where the journey will go. The amount of modulation options and great effects per track already make the S4 a sound design dream. It's like a modular specially designed for ambient in a box.

[@Hessencemusic]

it sounds great! how easy to play is it? are you using it as a looper?

[@substan_music]

Thanks !! Playing with it is pretty self-explanatory. You have 4 tracks (like tape) available on which you can record loops up to 6 minutes long. As an alternative to the tapes, there is a simple but polyphonic sample player. You can then send each track through a variety of effects and a filter bank (different PER TRACK) and modulate any parameter in a variety of ways with 4 LFOs per track.

[@Hessencemusic]

@@substan_music thank you for the detailed answer!

[@shaneturner9336]

Did you just record the sound of nature and then morph it into this drone ?!

[@substan_music]

No .. You can actually get very far if you work like that... but of course it has its limits. I also recorded a few longer loops with patches that I made for the minifreak.

[@G0nz0uk]

Beautiful ambient tune, what do you think of its workflow? Even though this device is in its early stages you wouldn’t think so after hearing this. I wonder what is next for this device as much is still in development (based on Discord). Looks like an ambient dream box.

[@substan_music]

Thanks a lot Andy !! The workflow is almost self-explanatory. I only had to look at the manual for a few details. But it probably has something to do with the fact that a LOT of functions haven't been implemented yet. But what's already there is already a lot of fun.

[@Taketaketak]

Heheheeeee wtf. ❤

[@adamdoran235]

Can someone explain to me what this achieves that Octotrack can't? Thanks!

[@substan_music]

I think S4 and OT are difficult to compare and have very little in common. The OT shines through the integration of sampler and sequencer... the S4 is a sample mangler that the OT cannot hold a candle to in terms of effect quality, type of effects and type of operation. Both use samples... but that is where the similarities end.

[@tendingtropic7778]

how did you make the drones?

[@substan_music]

These are patches I made for the Minfreak ... Of course I also made extensive use of the S4's effects

[@wbs2017]

turn knobs right