Bach Cello Suite No.1 Courante on Moog Synthesizer
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ต.ค. 2018
- Playing the Courante from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 on the Moog Minimoog Voyager Old School. Most people know about the Prelude which is quite famous, but the Courante is equally beautiful in my opinion. The cello suites are a beautiful goldmine of haunting melodies hidden behind a deceptively simple shell. They were intended for solo cello but I find that monophonic synthesizers lend themselves well to this kind of music too.
The cello is capable of playing multiple notes simultaneously and this piece does have some octave intervals from time to time, so you'll notice in some cases I play a quick octave 2-note arpeggio to mimic this effect.
I decided to take a bit of an exaggerated approach when it comes to the synthesizer patch, and employ heavy use of filter cutoff modulation via the mod wheel as well as vibrato via aftertouch. The result it probably a little too "funky" but I wanted to try something different than my Aria video in which I took a bit of a safe vanilla route timbre-wise. The reverb is ValhallaDSP Room (added in post). The performance is not perfect, and it took many takes, but I decided to post it regardless with its flaws intact in hopes that it makes it a bit more human than were it played by a MIDI sequencer. In either case, I hope you enjoy it.
If you want to hear some good cello versions, some of my favourite performers are Mischa Maisky, Pablo Casals and Pieter Wispelwey. But there are obviously many others and interpretations are usually a matter of personal preference so definitely listen to a lot of different ones until you find the one that resonates with you.
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Hey everyone, thanks for watching and providing feedback! I know this patch is a bit controversial. When I made my Goldberg Variations Aria video I also got some feedback that the patch was too "instrument-like" and that I should try more of a "synthesizer" patch. So in this case I decided to experiment with that. I totally get that it doesn't sound like a cello or any approximation of an acoustic instrument, but that's sort of the fun of synthesizers in my opinion, that you can create something that no other instrument would have done. In retrospect I see that the patch might have been a little too filter-heavy or juicy/funky. The mod wheel was played more rhythmically and I think with more practice I could have gotten it to a more subtle place. I practiced this piece on piano for weeks, but I should have spent more time practicing on the synth as well since it's a completely different playing experience. Anyway, on to the next one! I'm thinking maybe the prelude from the second suite...
The patch is great fun! Bach, as sung by an electric snail. :) Can't help but think of Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade and Jean-Jacques Perrey. It's a joy to see you rock out to this stuff.
I LOOVE the second prelude! Yes please!!
The patch was a risk worth taking. I want to hear a good synth be a good synth, not a bad cello. Anybody who really doesn’t like it can probably find another version to listen to. Brb, checking out your other vids (subscribed).
Second prelude would be dope. Excited to hear what you make out of those long notes
I totally agree with you. Synth should do synths, not acoustic instruments. They're instruments of their own, which can do things that any other instrument can, and should be used with this philosophy.
The spirit of Wendy Carlos....beautiful
Contrary to popular opinion I think the patch sounds dope!
This is so good
Really enjoying it
The cello suites are just gorgeous
For some reason this sounds like a dream when closing my eyes, a mesmerizing performance I must say.
Some of the beauty of these old pieces is that there are so many gorgeous ways to repurpose and reinterpret them. Sure this isn't a 'traditional' sound but it's engaging and the filter drags your ear along to the next note in interesting ways. Great performance!
I think Bach would think this is so cool :)))
You blown my mind. I play the harpsichord and you inspire me to jump to my syntethizer
I think the patch is great!
The synthesizer was created to sound like no other instrument ever heard. To spend hours on perfectly replicating the sound of another instrument is to defeat the purpose of a synthesizer!
Imagine the day when a whole orchestra could be comprised of synthesizers.
Classical orchestrated music on a synthesizer.
Sounds lovely.
This is so beautiful. It's amazing how the synth promotes a whole new life into this piece!
Bold and appropriate patch choice. Really musical playing, I think
One of my favorites from his suites. Beautifully played and interpreted. Thank you.
I find this is incredibly inspiring as a newbie monosynth player. So cool. Thank you!
Brilliant, keep coming back to hear...
OUSTANDING. We want more!
Good work i am glad is not Midi seq recording
is alive Bravo!
Very excited to see you doing what you do 😎
Perfect. Thank you for posting!
This is brilliant man! ❤️
Great stuff 👏👏👏👏
Awesomely rendered.
Beautiful
Beautiful. Your Aria performance is exquisite.
I love the idea of synths playing classical music!!! especially love the goldberg variation episode - and your use of that mellow tone. pls make more!!!
that's really COOL! I like the patch it's very vintage sci fi, and squishy which is FUN!!!
Great play master!
Very good cover, I like this different taste !
Muy bueno¡¡¡¡¡¡ si señor¡¡ GRACIAS POR TOCAR BACH ¡¡
We want more!! Well played man
thanks! I definitely plan to do more
Absolutely beautiful. So inspiring. Reminds us that electronic music covers all genres. Also very reassuring to see talented musicians use synths in this way, and to show us what can be produced, and teaching others new music.
I really liked it keep doing what you do I can hear 🤗
Great skills!
this reminds me of the moog vinyl records i have of this kind of music, so good
Soo cool
Amazing!
Thank you!
Invention of analog synth was like creation of living being which can mimic almost anything sound and has it's character in the same time. Tame it and you have music, FX, therapia.
Memorized, with repeats, yeah!!! :D
Really love the patch because it is good fun and brings the funk that Bach undoubtedly would have brought had such technology existed in the 1700's. 👍 😍
lol I would have loved to see what Bach would come up with if he were alive today. He'd probably be composing an 8 part fugue on a massive Buchla (Bachla?) modular.
@@onceuponasynth haha omg, bachla! You win pun of the day for sure!
Also check out our uploads to hear a new Bach on Volca Bass track (it's the video with the chess board).
If bach had wanted something funky or pop-y all he had to do was reach back a century or two from when he was writing. Not to be a downer; i think this kind of sentiment is the product of an under-appreciation of historical music that actually does slap. Bach's music is pretty clearly meditative and academic.
Sometimes a bit of fun is just a bit of fun.
Holy Shiet...! That was insane!
Great patch, I can still listen to a cello too 🙃
Awesome
Brilliant
Brother you are a very special mix of true electronic designer and a damm good performer. You should do this live. People need this. Peace Christo 👽
Thanks man. I am not good enough to play live lol, I get too nervous. This recording alone took many takes.
once upon a synth baloney! Start small at a coffee shop or during a lunch break at a college . This is amazing. And yet I understand. Peace Christo 👽🐕🎶
Hah this is freakin sick!
Very brave, classic Once, bravo
Great experiment. I like this patch..sounds good for an animation, or for an abstract visual art project.
There’s always artists, production houses and project managers in those fields looking for sound designers & composers.
that would be me dream job honestly lol (making music for art pieces or indie/artsy animations/short films/games. etc).
I love the patch! the squelch replaces the need for acoustics :)
Brilliant! If you're going to play a classical piece on a synthesizer, this is the way to do it Some great expression brought to it with the modulation - Clearly channelling some Wendy Carlos!
I think this is excellent. The imperfect patch or sound makes it more fragile or human, and less superhuman or God like as so many recordings of this type of astounding music often is.
Bach on the sky with diamonds! 👍
bravo
Really enjoyed this. Hope you do not mind the reference, but it was the then Walter Carlos' Switch on Bach albums I bought as a teen in the 70 that got me interested in classical music. Glad to see the analog synthesizer is still being used creativelly.
Come back. We miss you.
Hi, very good playing. Indeed the cello suites are well suited to be played on a synth.
I try to play the Prelude (of course) with a Roli Seaboard. I try to put more non-keyboard expression with the Seaboard into the playing but I'm not satisfied with my playing at the moment.
The patch is very unusual. ;-)
I missed that you have a Voyager.
Switched on Bach - Wendy Carlos
Nice Thank you!
Bach is switched on again!
Classical music on a synth? Not only have you earned a subscriber, but you've also earned a fan
❤️
Reminds me of A Clockwork Orange. Nicely done! Maybe some Ludwig Van eventually?
My former piano teacher Angela Lear definitely wouldn’t have approved (!) but personally, I think this is beautiful - Bach’s music should simply be enjoyed, who cares how it is played, as long as it continues to be played.
I liked it and was impressed by you getting more feeling into the piece using the mod. wheel. Only thought would be also doing the same for dynamics, I don't know if a volume pedal is an option? Great job!
*Sips cyber blue milk out of hyper wine glass while listening*
😂
Switched On Bach!! Nice
hpointe just remember...always finish on the bach, never on debussy
A noter qu'il utilise en temps réel la molette de modulation.
Plus cette "pointe" de delay, qui est un effet numérique, c'est absolument genial.
Alain.
Programmateur sur synthétiseurs analogiques et numériques.
Niiiiiiice!
Pay no attention to what some people would say... Synthetizers are some of the most expressive intruments out there
Excellent. 👍 Now you have to try to record all tracks
BWV 847 Prelude and Fugue next, please :) Preferably poly and less squelchy reso.
heh I'm actually learning that fugue now. Maybe one day I'll be ready to play it with synths. I find playing these things on synths much harder than on piano for some reason. It's hard to build a patch that doesn't "get in the way".
When the Moog One arrives I plan on running through Bach's two and three part inventions.
that would be awesome
(polyphony required)
We have in Holland The Bach society. Then real instruments from that's time of Bach. I have see them many Times.
As a cellist, I appreciate your interpretation (musically) but the patch sometimes got in the way of the music (especially the bubbly parts where the filter bubbled down). I liked the vibrato, though, and the way your hands moved on the keys as if you could add vibrato that way.
Jamie synthesizers are fascinating! This particular one features something called « aftertouch » which does in fact allow the player to add vibrato or modulation by moving his or her fingers on the keys!
Very tastefully done
- testostetron
Very nice, were you using aftertouch to control vibrato?
Thanks! Indeed I am. I will post a video shortly explaining the patch, stay tuned!
Great! Looking forward to it.
Would love to hear BWV 547!
Very good job!
Il s'agit bien d'une des 6 Partitas pour violloncelle de Jean-Sébastien Bach?
La partition est respectée, de même que le tempo.
Alain.
Pianiste classique.
Hey thanks, that was cool. I didn't know you had the Voyager Old School, that would be an amazing review. Also, while I'm requesting, was also curious about another video on Maths with more musical examples. Also wondering why you're not on Patreon? Maybe you prefer not to be.
Yeah I've had this voyager for a long time but haven't been giving it much attention, so I'm hoping to use it more soon. Another Maths video could be cool, I'll try to find some musical examples that haven't been done. I'll probably open a Patreon soon, I'm just not sure what to offer for the different tiers yet lol.
do a pachelbel's canon, i wonder what will it sound like?
I wonder if you took on doing "Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major" (BWV 1009)?
Yes ! More music, less gear :)
Has a very reedy timbre. Made me imagine someone playing a regal-portative while raising and lowering a decorated cover-plate, to add modulation. XD
You should’ve done the prelude man
I saw the VCS 3 in the intro .... do you have one😔
naw man I wish lol.
Reminds me clockwork orange
Beautiful. I'm still waiting for someone to replicate Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2 and 3 in C Minor (In full) If only I had the talent...
Il s'agit bien d'une des six suites pour violoncelle de Jean-Sébastien Bach?
Do you think so too?
I would have loved if you just used keyboard tracking for the filter cutoff and then used your left hand control for vibrato. I feel like it would have taken a bit of the “synth for synth’s sake” vibe out of it, but instead you’d have a little more contextually appropriate expressivity. Awesome performance though. Bach is right at home on a good monosynth.
You like Satie?
This is nice... but I wonder what you'd do with like a Gnossienne!
...or Sibelius man!
Satie is glorious, but the Gnossienne depends on polyphony, so I think the choice of a solo string piece on monosynth makes sense. I also think the patch is fine, but the mod-wheel use a little too excitable! Maybe use it to imitate the broader phrasing of the cello, and add some quasi-dynamics. But a great performance.
•the Gnossienne *S*
...were written for Piano. Who said anything about "a solo string piece on monosynth"?
Get your own thread. Or at least make an attempt to be polite. Acting like you're correcting me, only to demonstrate your ignorance & veer off topic isn't a good look.
No one said anything about the patch either.
I love Satie! But never played his stuff. I'm going through a Bach phase at the moment, but maybe when (if) that dies out I'll explore Satie.
@@onceuponasynth you know I'll be keeping an Ear out :]
@@CaalamusTube Who said anything about "a solo string piece on monosynth"? That is a merely a description of the video you're posting on. Therefore, if like Audioneiromancer said Satie relies on polyphony, then it would be inappropriate for the gentleman in the video to play it on a monosynth, such as the Minimoog Voyager, which by definition is incapable of polyphony.
Looks at the side of the art of the moog in UK they are playing Bach live 3 men and a woman.
Clockwork Orange vibes...
that was really great XD fun and beautiful at the same time ; The reverb is a little too exagerated to my taste, but it still sounds really good
I also play famous classical music on both analog and digital synthesizers and sometimes with original orchestration and/or arrangement so you might like my channel
I dont really like the patch, but I guess that's depends on taste, well played anyway!
I like the patch, reminds me of Rick Wakeman, and a bit of Jean-Michel Jarre.
Negli anni 70 qualcosa del genere (molto più armonizzata fatta in studio) la fece Walter Carlos, divenuto poi "Wendy" .. Comunque bravo !
This reminds me of certain pieces off the Katamari Damacy soundtrack lol
If you're talking about the fugues then those pieces are 100% written to imitate Bach
Very well played but must agree the sound although nice in areas was lacking in others. Still enjoyed though as Hey, it's a Moog!
As a working audio engineer my thought process regarding the description was "I mean you could've just comp'd all those takes" -> "comping might not be in the spirit of this piece". Just food for thought
In a cello concerto the mod wheel should modulate pitch, not filter. Set your Modulation Mix toggle to LFO instead of FILTER EG and you're cooking. Well played other than that.
Anyone else getting katamari damacy vibes from this?
Bach needs at least a paraphonic synth...
He did just fine with monophonic music written for cello! (ok, mostly monophonic... there are some chords here and there in some of the suites...)
Yeah, for strings and horns the mono approach may work most of the time. Being a keyboard player I am thinking of The Well Tempered Klavier.
True. I had to do some awkward quick 2-note arpeggios to get those octaves in lol.
Oooo... Imagine this piece on an arp odyssey...
This guy is so creative! How could he think to do bach... but switched on? ...Wait a sec..