This is a study for a performance I'll be doing in a few hours, at the 2025 PRFBBQ. This is all Max/MSP, using the Jaap-Vink-inspired feedback patch I've been working on for a while. To the Jaap Vink topology, I've added another ring modulator (on the output), another delay, high- and low-pass filters, two pitch shifters (one inline, one on output), convolution reverb, and yet another delay on the output. I've also made this into four channels, so it can be an arrangement of feedback. That's a lot of controls. Let's see how it goes.

This one doesn't use all of those filtering options, but it's both one of the shorter and more engaging of the studies.

The title comes from the IBM 602 Calculating Punch.

This one came together quickly, which tends to happen when the initial idea(s) are strong, they pull the different sections together easily. Without a strong initial idea, the music is more nebulous; it could be shaped in a number of ways, and finding the best alternative requires a lot of fiddling. This one, happily, fell into place, beginning with the first motif.

Three tracks of Univox hollowbody in Bf F C tuning, straight into the UA Volt. The usual convolution reverb send appears, as well as multiband compression/eq.

The title comes from a road that intersects PA-601.

Not technically a late submission for this year--I'm in before the deadline of midnight Eastern. Why so late? I was out of town to play a show for the solstice, and a tight travel schedule meant I couldn't finalize the recording until late Sunday night.

The sound source here is a Max/MSP patch I've been developing based on the feedback patch Jaap Vink developed at the Institute of Sonology in the 1970s. This Max patch is four channels of ring modulator > delay > ring mod > delay > level setter > low-pass filter > high-pass filter > reverb algorithm > graphic EQ (global) > back to the input ring modulator. In this case, there's no explicit input to the feedback loop, apart from clicks when values are set.

The sound and structure are a performance simply from changing the values of all these settings once the patch starts feeding back. It's a work in progress, but it's promising.

The title comes from the fact that 599 (the number of this weekly piece) is a twin prime with 601.

While the weekend was busy, I managed to make time to put together this intuitively structured piece. Initially I recorded a fingerpicked pattern that doesn't appear in the final piece, but which gave shape to it, as it was in 3/4. I'd recorded several other parts in response to it, some of which worked better than others. Some of the mid-stream rejects worked well together, and got pulled back into the final piece. And some parts ended up in 4/4, some of them together, and some against 3/4. Some transitions made more sense if they were a beat or a fraction of a beat shorter, or longer...so we have sections that start a little before or after I ordinarily would have had them.

Three tracks of no-effect PureSalem Mendiola, plus the convolution reverb send and stereo-mix compression/eq.

The title comes from Long Strand, off of Ireland's regional route 598.

This one's back in the three-track-of-guitar territory, though my tracking/composition process was a little different. For most of these, I'll record a motif, respond to it with two other motives. I'll mute two of them and then record two more in response to one of them, then mute that previous one and respond to the just-recorded others, repeating the process until I have as much material as I want, or want to create something different as a contrasting section.

For this one, I recorded a motif, responded to it in two other tracks, and then moved on to a new motif, without playing against the previous motives. The result...maybe had a little more variation and required a little more care in editing sections together. One interesting side effect was a key change between two motives and the other four.

This one's three tracks of PureSalem Mendiola, recorded straight to the UA Volt-1. There's a bit of convolution reverb send from each track, and compression/eq on the stereo mix.

The title comes from minor planet 597 Bandusia.

I'd started this week's piece late--Saturday night, recording some microtonal just intonation guitar figures...that weren't quite suggesting other sections, and which didn't fit together well.

Simultaneously, I'd been working on redeveloping a Max/MSP patch based on Jaap Vink's feedback patch at the Institute of Sonology. I'd been working on adding blend controls for modulation, some additional filtering, and a separate tremolo, remaking the UI, and...adding live audio input as a way of getting the feedback started. So obviously I should try the guitar as a feedback trigger.

So this is really a study toward some future work. Out of eight channels, I'd hooked up four, though only two work. We hear some guitar (microtonal just intonation Tele Deluxe) playing a few notes into one channel, and then into another. Everything else in this piece is the sound of those original few notes going through the patch, over and over, getting gradually degraded by inline reverb, some ring modulation, some auto-limiting, and a bit of eq.

The result...is interesting. I'll have some additional work to do to make this really playable, but it's a promising direction.

The title comes from Gurranes Stone Row, which is just off the Irish regional road R596.

Shaking off some of the restrictions I've had on myself, this one's more spacious, and makes use of long-reverb sustains into the quiet sections. I'd structured this one much more intuitively than other recent tracks, recording parts with long rests, not always syncing up the same way when they came around again. There's a kind of dream-logic to this, or maybe the feeling of allowing a warm summer day to pass by slowly, without obligations.

This is mostly three (and in a couple places four) parts for $60 Univox Coily hollowbody in Bb F C tuning. No inline effects, but two reverb sends on each channel: one theater-sized, and one with the Dan Harpole cistern.

The title comes from the Dún na Séad Castle at the western end the R595 road.

I've been getting the sense of changing things up a bit, and this piece is both a different guitar ($35 baglama-tuned Heit Deluxe) and the re-emergence of electric bass guitar. The guitar is tuned GgDDAa, so the outer courses are a fundamental + octave string, with the inner course at unison.

As often happens when I have an abbreviated time for tracking (short sessions Friday and Saturday nights), I end up with a lengthier editing session on Sunday. Still, it kind of hangs together. The notion of adding bass came to me Saturday after the first tracking of just guitar. With the octave courses and unison course, this guitar sounds fairly thick, and takes up a lot of the sonic spectrum in its range...but that leaves available frequencies in the bass range.

No inline effects, but there's a convolution reverb send from each track, and compression/eq on the stereo mix.

The title comes from minor planet 594 Mireille.

My working methods on this track have been consistent with the last few years--I like the immediacy of plugging in, the tonal variety of fingers on strings, and the ability to concentrate on melody, harmony, and rhythm. That said, I'm looking for opportunities to vary my playing here.

Given my limited time this week, there's not too much of a change...but there's more elasticity in a few sections, as I went with more intuitive timing, rather than click-driven timing. There are a few of these intuitively timed sections, and the piece is a full beat shorter than it would have been if I'd followed the click. This week's track required three short sessions: late Friday night, and two Saturday. Editing this one Sunday turned out to require more effort to make these intuitive pauses work.

This one's a bit late for the Weekly Beats UTC 0:00 cutoff, but at Streak Club, I'm treating 0:00 Eastern as the cutoff.

While I tracked a few bits with the Wardenclyffe, going for the effect of switching it in and out for emphasis...those sections became more of a distraction from the flow, so I took them out. As a result, there are no inline effects here, and only a bit of convolution reverb and multiband compression/eq.

The title comes from a little village in the Lake District, which is reached by the A593 road.

This piece started from exploring the Hungry Robot Wardenclyffe Deluxe pedal--a lofi dirty-up-your-sound pedal, which gets easily into noisy realms. It's a bit harder to make it sound pretty, but not impossible. This one stays more to the subtle end of the spectrum. Guitar: PureSalem Mendiola, three tracks. Recording was fairly efficient, but whittling it down into a structure took rather longer.

The Wardenclyffe is the only inline effect, and is just on one track (panned center). Mostly manifesting as a shimmery chorus or light vibrato. There's some convolution reverb send on each of the three tracks, and light multiband compression/eq.

The title comes from Altar near Schull, Ireland, which is on the scenic road 592.

This one goes back to the Univox hollowbody in modified Fahey tuning (Bb F Bb F Bb C). In a busy weekend, I recorded the first theme late Friday night, interrupted by a power outage. Saturday was a show, so I didn't write the rest until this morning. It's kind of a hypnotic wistful state--with everything going on, I've just needed some drifting.

The title comes from the Mizen peninsula, which is traversed in part by the R591.

This one came together in a couple quick tracking sessions with the PureSalem Mendiola. Notably some parts in tracking just seemed to stretch on for a while, as ideas kept appearing. There's a middle section that is a bit more in the direction of the spacious thing I'd been thinking of.

No inline effects, but some convolution reverb send and the usual compression/eq on the stereo out.

The title comes from Newtown, near the A590.

This one was tracked in a few short sessions in and among life responsibilities, back on the just intonation Tele Deluxe. Once again, I went in thinking I'd do something more sparse, but ended up filling in the spaces. As it came out, there are waves of more-busy and less-busy, moving between assured and wistful. Some of the measures flowed more naturally when truncated by a beat, or allowing the next measure to start earlier.

There's the usual signal chain: no hardware effects, just guitar into UA Volt with the convolution reverb send on each of three channels. There's also the usual stereo compression/eq.

The title comes from the town of Morecambe, where the A589 road leads to the shore.

Each week I think I'm going to do something very minimal and spacious, and each week I end up filling the rests with notes. This one's no exception, but given the busy tax-preparation weekend, I'll take what music shows up in the ether.

For this one, I impulsively did something I haven't done in five years: changed strings on the PureSalem Mendiola. Admittedly, I like the sound and feel of old strings, though this old set had a layer of oxidation and a ding in one of the plain steel strings, so it was time. While I did that, the neck wasn't under tension for a while, and it bowed back just a little...so there's some additional fret buzz in there. (I've loosened the truss rod a little; getting closer to ideal.)

The vibe here is contemplative, with some resolve. I'll take it.

The usual no-effects inline, though there's convolution reverb send from each track, and compression/eq on the stereo out.

The title comes from the Irish town of Clonakitty, which is at the end of R588.

A return to fingerpicking on the just-intonation microtonal Tele Deluxe. This one took two quick sessions, late Friday and late Saturday, with an editing pass on Sunday, I was lazy once again, doing guitar straight into the UA Volt.

This one started with the fast pattern you hear at the beginning, which shouldn't have been as difficult to play as it turned out--I was ahead of the bar lines, behind the bar lines, all over the place. Was this in some odd meter? Not that I could tell from counting it out. So I left the notes in place rather than trying to fix them.

Variations were a bit of a challenge, and I ended up varying the density and implicit tempo for different sections. Ultimately it feels natural.

There's the usual convolution reverb send for each of three channels and compression and EQ on the stereo out.

The title comes from Michigan's Port Crescent State Park, 587 feet above sea level.

Like last week, a slow three-guitar piece on PureSalem Mendiola. This guitar in particular invites barre chords, and I have a fondness for playing over a major/minor progression. Wistful, but finding some strength somewhere. This one came together quickly--rather more so than some recent weeks, so it's getting uploaded a bit earlier.

No inline effects, but the usual sonic profile: each channel is a different pickup combo. Each channel gets some send to a convolution reverb (theater sized), and the stereo mix gets some compression/eq.

The title comes from the river in Ireland, which at some points flows alongside the R586. Apparently its water is notably clean and clear.

Three tracks of PureSalem Mendiola, some of it through the Reuss Effects Understate clean boost pedal. This one's gentle and slower, after an intense week.

As usual, there's a send to convolution reverb on each channel, and compression/eq on the stereo mix. Also as usual, the panning is static--one track in each position.

The title comes from the meaning of the place name Cousane in Ireland, along regional road 585.

Another one-guitar fingerpicking piece, on the microtonal Tele Deluxe in microtonal just intonation. There's a nice sparkle to some of these intervals. No inline effects--just straight into the UA Volt, with one channel for bridge, one neck, one both pickups. There is an additional couple of chords from the bridge in two places when the original line was a bit sparse.

There is the usual convolution reverb, and some compression/eq on the stereo mix.

The title comes from the Lough Allua, near Ireland regional road 584.

This week's track is a return to the fingerpicking guitar trio thing, this time with the Just Intonation Tele Deluxe. Digging into the mechanics of performance, there are hammer-ons I'd like to perform, but find difficult--at the nut, the neck is narrower than a few of my more-fingerpicking-compatible instruments (parlor guitar, PureSalem Mendiola). So it's interesting.

This one was a bit tricky to edit together--many parts begin on an off-beat, and recording over two sessions meant that the feel between some parts ends up quite different.

In any case, there's a gentle, contemplative vibe to this.

The title comes from the minor planet 583 Klotilde.

This is a bit of a departure from my usual no-effects approach. This one uses the microtonal just-intonation-fretted Tele Deluxe through the Reuss Effects Understate and Moyo passive volume pedal to take off the string attack. From there, the signal goes into a patch I've been working with in Max/MSP. The patch uses some tone-shaping (AudioThing Reels) and eight delays set to different long values, usually over 20 seconds and less than a minute. I'll assign each progressive note to a different delay, so the next repetition will have them appearing in a different order. Each delay has a send to a convolution reverb, here using an impulse from the Dan Harpole cistern.

The title comes from minor planet 582 Olympia