Zerosum Inertia

Berserker battles

2011-12-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

Winter music

2011-12-15T02:25:00.000-08:00

Opening A New Door(72811 mix) by Zerosum Inertia

S-1000 multimode by zerosuminertia

Finding A Comfort by Zerosum Inertia

dark ZeR03
Mold
holedriller
I breath fire
I am losing control
Black holes of annihilation theme 1
Black holes of annihilation theme 2
Black holes of annihilation theme 3

Soon...

2011-12-15T01:58:00.000-08:00

New device from Zerosum Inertia coming soon.....

6136

2011-11-29T13:24:00.001-08:00

The 6136 is the industrial strength battle proof version of the 6AU6.

While previously used in devices to communicate with humans, I am using these to build a filter to communicate with Aliens.

TX 1 2 3

2011-08-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hacked together sounds made with hacked together prototypes:)

TX1
Tons of Gain. Master destructor. SledgeHammer.

Q106 square wave to TX1, MOTM 800 modulating TX1 CV input
TX1ified guitar
TX1 drums

TX2
Even more gain. Master squealer. Tablesaw.

Q106 square wave to TX2, MOTM 800 modulating TX2 CV input
Again
Guitar TX2
TX2 Drums

TX3
Lower Gain. Broken batteries. Master shrieker. Icepick.

Q106 square wave to TX3, MOTM 800 modulating TX3 CV input
TX3 breaks guitar
TX3 drums
Icepick

G1000 needs a blog post

2011-08-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

So about this time last year, I had the opportunity to build a fucked up guitar amplifier with my friend Eric Barbour.
The agreement was: "Pay for the parts and I will teach you a black art. Yes, you can build a Fucking Fucker."
And so I did! :)
I populated the PCB's, cut the stickers for the labels on the front and back panels and various other tasks that go with building a deviant beast, while Eric helped me with the power supply, final assembly and other technical stuff.

Here are some recordings:

Modular boat ride with Capt. J(featuring James Cigler)
BREATH FIRE!
Bulldozer
D1000 G1000 with modulation
Sludgehammer
Stereo guitar fucker
Swamps Of Despair
These magic hours(featuring Eric Barbour and James Cigler)
Throat
Wretch Fucker
Wretch G1000 howl

My favorite photo is This one taken by the talented Mr. George Macklin!

Broken Sounds From A Broken Organ Vol.1

2011-08-03T09:42:00.001-07:00

Broken Sounds From A Broken Organ Vol.1 by Zerosum Inertia

Gear used on this album:

SCI Pro~One
DSI Evolver
Roland Juno 106
Korg Z1
Korg ER-1 MKII
Access Virus b
Waldorf Pulse
Yamaha AN1X

Frostwave Resonator
Frostwave Sonic Alienator
Sherman Filterbank
Metasonix TM-1
Metasonix TM-7(I miss you)
Metasonix TM-3
Metasonix TX-1
Electro Harmonix Wiggler
Electro Harmonix Flanger Hoax
Electro Harmonix Small Clone chorus
Line6 POD XT
Effector13 Truly Beautiful Disaster
Effector13 Vintage Fuzz Maker
Effector13 TorN's Peaker
Effector13 Soda Meiser
Boss OC-2 octave(first pedal. had it since I was 12! gift from a girl!)
Pro Tone Pedals Boombox

Blacet/Wiard Miniwave
Blacet Binary Zone
Metalbox/CGS Psycho LFO
Blacet EG-1
Future-Retro Mobius

Toontrack EZDrummer
Propellerheads Reason(Malstrom, RedruM, NN19)
Propellerheads Rebirth
Native Instruments Reaktor
Korg wavestation(legacy collection DE)
Korg M1
digi/AIR/AVID(whatever it is now) Xpand

Mackie VLZ pro 1202
Mackie Onyx 1220
Digi 002r(nearly everything I have recorded has been with this thing)
Emagic unitor 8 MKII

Written, recorded and conceptualized 2005-2007 in Minneapolis, MN.
Poked and prodded 2008-2011 in New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

released 29 July 2011
Art and music by Brian Kirby.

Howling kitty orchestra on "Alienated Away" conducted by T. Wells. Screams by Christopher Jon/I, Parasite.

Voice on "View Through The Heart Hole" by Ang.
Scream sound at the end made with a Korg Z1.

TM-3 TX-1 and TM-1 swarm of bees sound on "Opening A New Door" provided by Muff Wiggler. Voice by Ang.

2011-08-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

The numbers album

2011-07-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

The numbers/snow/new years album that has no name other than the dates recorded was released in February 2008.
Recorded in Minneapolis December 31st 2006 and January 1st and 2nd 2007.
Package contained hand painted canvas and CD jacket housing a red CD-R.
Limited run of 10 were made.

Artwork and packaging by Devi Ever.

12.31.06.1.01.07 by Zerosum Inertia

Talking to myself

2011-07-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of hype and there are a lot of hype chasers.
When people should be reading up on basic signal flow, they are concerned with being told which magic little box they need to make them sound ______(insert whatever you want here).
Instead of always being on the hunt for the most sensationalized whizbang gadget, people need to focus on what is inside. What kind of transformers? What kind of circuit? What kind of tubes? What other tubes will work? What is the signal path?etc....
Not "some respected guy told me I need this to sound like this..." blah... That is just being a lemming fallowing the current trend right off another cliff with other lemmings.

Instead of asking "what brand of gadget gets this sound," observe what exactly the sum of the ingredients are that are needed to get what you are after.
Most of the time "that sound" you hear is the artist, not the gear.

The gear I choose to use has little to do with the sound,
Obviously it has something to do with sound because we are talking about musical instruments, but what I am getting at is that there are lots of choices out there and I find inspiration in the smaller companies like Trogotronic, Metasonix, blacet, Malekko.

The saturated market(and shoppers) of Guitar Center aren't getting my support when there are others out there that are less parasitic.
I hate the "one size fits all for really cheap" market, I would rather spend a little more on a rare artifact, supporting an individual instead of supporting a fat greedy monster corporation.

Stop being lazy and experiment with what you have.
When the time comes to get new gear, get the best you can afford that works the best for your situation, just because it doesn't work for someone else doesn't mean it won't work for you and vice versa.
Stop looking for presets. Stop looking for that ________ sound on ________,
If your making your own music, doesn't it make sense that you should be trying to create your own sound and not mimicking someone else?

I do find it very fascinating to study the production techniques of others and discuss with others what they like to use, everyone should do that.
But when it gets to the point where people just want to be told what to do and how to do it so they can be like their "trusted respected bro in the biz that makes cool records", that's disgusting.(to me)

When you finally do go out on a limb and try out some strange piece of gear that isn't sold in guitar center and isn't written about in guitar world and the others,
Give it some time to understand and explore before writing it off as "crap" and selling it.
The Buy/Sell/Trade addiction of countless golden carrot chasers is getting depressing.

conclusion: Use what you got and use it well. Build what you can and learn something in the process.

7.26.11

2011-07-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Red Lake For A Bloody Island

2011-07-17T06:50:00.000-07:00

Red Lake For A Bloody Island by Zerosum Inertia

Download includes 6 track bonus album.

three six eleven

2011-03-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

Sounds from a long session recorded March sixth 2011.

Swamps of Despair(26:02 16/44 wav)
Swamps of Despair(MP3)
Breath Fire(3:20)

I got some new pedals from Malekko that are making the world of amplifiers and effects loops more interesting.
Pedals used for this session are:
Digitech whammy>Malekko omicron FUZZ>Malekko Omicron PHASE>EHX Flanger Hoax>Malekko 616.

These magic hours...

2011-02-23T06:19:00.008-08:00

The hard drive has some golden eggs waiting to be edited, chopped and manipulated into the great unknown.
Until then, Click here to listen to a raw, untouched, unedited live jam left as it was recorded live Sunday night 2.20.11
16 minutes.

Those responsible:

Felix: Modular Monster, guidance.
Eric Barbour: Big Ass GREEN Modular,Acid bubbles.
Zerosum: Voltage Controlled Amplifier, Patch wrecker, Super dork.

What you are hearing are two modulars synched to a common clock, then fed to a mixer.
The mixer aux send is sent into the Metasonix G-1000.
Various modulations and patching and unpatching occurred, I sent various signals through a digital delay, fun happened.

Wretch Machine adventures

2010-03-24T00:53:00.004-07:00

............So these last few months I have been getting to know the Metasonix Wretch Machine.
Prototype number 2 keeps me warm on cold nights.
This creature is insane, but quite inspiring and unique.
It screams and howls and has an attitude problem(I love it).
It can also be quite polite when bribed, but I'll get to that later.
Lately I have been inspired by the unpredictable behavior of the modulation bus,
these examples show a very unruly side of the Wretch, but trust me it is capable of so much more than what I have to show you.
The D-1000 has proven to be quite a useful companion to the wretch,
both as a filterbank providing haunting vowel/vocal timbres and as a rhythm companion.
My latest inspiration comes from triggering the Wretch with the D-1000 main beat clock output, then exploring the modulation bus while the wretch drones and howls away.
Then to add even more mayhem, the wretch is fed into a D-1000 filter then a spring reverb.
With the remaining two D-1000 voices, I pan one left and one right then let them howl and resonate without any audio being passed through them, just them screaming in a choir with the Wretch.
I think it sounds like fire and nightmares and things that make me want to lock my doors.

Play this loud:

Disc 1:
RESONANCE(3:39)
ONE(8:36)
TWO(4:33)
THREE(4:22)
FOUR(12:18)
The mourning(8:31)

Disc 2:
Pyromantic Ritual(13:43)
Alien Sacrifice(18:07)
Separation by friction(7:56)
Freeze to death(8:25)
Febuary 24th take 5(4:02)

Metasonix D-1000 audio demos

2010-02-01T16:40:00.006-08:00

After spending some time getting to know and understand the D-1000, its now time to show the world what it sounds like.

Drums/percussion:

The preamp overdrives nice after about 75%, patch the the individual outputs into the individual CV inputs on various voices and things get crazy.
Overdrive the preamp!(4:00)
Thump thump..Bump bump..(13:28)
Gabber(:29)
Rubber n Wood(1:54)
short thumpy(:56)
Roll switch is fun(:34)

Things get fun when you start modulating the tuning CV,
In this case I used a Blacet Binary Zone slaved to the D-1000 clock,
with one out of the BZ feeding a d-1000 voice CV, and the Inv out feeding another d-1000 voice CV:
modulate voices(:30)
Thats okay by itself, but a lot cooler with delay:
Modulated voices with delay(:30)
ADD dElay.....((6:10))
ADD dElay 2.....(2:57)
Delay settings for digirack mod delay II can be downloaded here.

Sound design/weird/effects/sequences,etc:

Using the individual outs doesn't cut them from the master output,
so the master output can feed the board/recording interface while the
individual voice outs can feed into eachother through the individual voice gate inputs which will pass audio to the bandpass filters.
Run 3 bandpass filters in series for formant effects.

Frogs(3:52)
slow long dark sequence/drone(17:00)
Wretch Machine through D-1000 drone(7:56)
Sounds like things freezing to death, cold icy wind....Wretch Machine and D-1000 wind drone(8:25)
Bl00d(2:48)

Fun with fast external clock, Blacet Window Comparator triggering 2 voices, Blacet Binary Zone triggering one voice. CGS/metalbox Psycho LFO feeding ramp CV.
Melting, burning, dripping(5:33)
Bouncy balls and marbles hit the floor(1:50)

Aliens dancing, puddles, rain, dripping(3:41)
modulating the voices for More wet drippy sounds(6:13)
3 big voices(4:51)

www.deviantsynth.com

2007-08-21T01:16:00.000-07:00

Check it out
http://www.deviantsynth.com/

minneapolis at night

2007-07-03T01:29:00.000-07:00

Im going to be moving soon, So I need to start taking pictures.
I should probly do it in the daytime as well.
Its summer now, so everything is so dark, everything is burried
behind leaves,shrubs,trees, it really scared the hell out of me not being able to see much while walking, just shadows.
My mind was definitly playing tricks on me....shivers..

Give you the feeling that your stuck in the bottom of a well?

Looks kinda scary at night...Then again I was feeling wierd already, jumping at every little sound.

I use to practice here 2001-2002.
Not much was recorded but a lot of jams took place there, I actually lived there
for 5 months during a strange awkward time. It had a shower:)
Silly jams like This and This are what got recorded...
Of course most of the more amusing and strong moments didnt get recorded, which is part of the reason I am so obessed with recording every little thing now all the time.
Someday When I am in a position that I can, I will get back into drums and actually
make some decent recordings, I miss them but they had some complications.

Demonstrations of sound creation tools??

2007-06-27T15:14:00.001-07:00

Matrix did a poll for what people look for in demos.(click it)

I was happy to see that 57% of 577 votes wanted to hear what the gear sounds like as apposed to hearing music made with the synth.
I like both, however What someone else does with gear isnt what Im going to do with it most of the time, so why should I care what kind of music they make? I dont really.
I want to see what "this knob" and "that knob" do and what they do together, and what happens when you combine them, and what happens when you add other gear into the mix.
I want to see unusual behaviors and hidden tricks, I dont want to see the same stuff I see on Gearwire and the others all the time, I know what a Phaser sounds like howabout you show me how to make a phaser sound like something else?
That goes for anything, Show the chameleons that the gear can be.

I've seen some great music being made with some great gear, I like that too.
But I feel its better to see how the gear functions, and hope that there are enough people out there who stop and think about how that sound is being created.
"That sounds like crap, some middle aged noodler making noise..."
They need to stop and think about the how the sound was created,
again focus not on what your hearing but how it was created thats what makes it beautiful...Doesnt it??? I think so..

This is the perfect example of a good demo(Plexuss):

Blacet and Metasonix videos

2007-06-10T20:23:00.001-07:00

So I have cross posted this all over the place.
Best place to find it is at the home base of my
synthmaster sensei MuffWiggler's Forum.

Have a look:
Google Videos embedded and audio of the TM-1 TM-7 frostwave Resonator and blacet modules

If you run a clock out into the TM-1's Ringmod Carrier Input you get great tremolo behavior. If you use the waveshaper you get a beautiful sound!
This is proof that the TM-1 can be used in very beautiful ways and not just shrieking and grinding(which I also love).
SCI Pro One into TM-1's audio in.
TM-1's audio out into TM-7(which can also be more than just chaos sounds).
TM-7 into Mackie ONYX 1202.
Blacet Binary Zone clock out into TM-1's ringmod carrier input.

MP3 Audio

If you want to controll the TM-1's oscilations you can use the VCA and an Envelope Generator. That jack is there for a reason, use it.
Blacet Binary Zone sequencing Frostwave Resonator(used as an osc) ran into Blacet/wiard miniwave ran into TM-1 audio in, with TM-1 audio out into TM-7. Blacet EG-1 gets inserted into VCA CV in.

MP3 Audio

Here's 2 more examples of the TM-1 being used as a VCA with Blacet EG-1 no MP3's were recorded for these, but you get the general idea.

Heres a fun one!
Future Retro Mobius Sequencing Frostwave Resonator LP Freq ran into TM-1 with TM-7 at the end.
Blacet EG-1 is inserted, and audio is ran into the BEAM CV too.
Different holes for different sounds. This one is my favorite:

MP3 Audio

Heres the ER-1 getting run into the TM-1 being modulated with an EG-1 and Psycho LFO with the TM-7 on the end.
This one definitly needs to be heard in audio form.
The VCA CV in works wonders with an EG.

MP3 Audio

Heres one with the ER-1 ran into the TM-7.

MP3 Audio

Heres one of the Mobius sequencing the TM-7 ran into TM-1.
Mobius clock out is ran into Binary Zone clock in, Binary Zone is
ran into Resonator LP freq to act as an LFO which is being fed into TM-1's BEAM CV in.
Blacet EG-1 gets inserted to VCA CV in on TM-1 too.

MP3 Audio

Heres another Mobius TM-7 sequence to TM-1.
:lol: I get a little disoriented in this one, its embarassing.

MP3 Audio

And heres a closing MP3 of some more fun!

2007-04-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

XP DAW setup

2007-02-14T19:57:00.000-08:00

Might as well blog about the puter.

C drive: Western Digital Raptor 36 gig 10K RPM SATA.
Boots up in 10 seconds, or atleast around there ive never timed it.
This is where the OS and the Programs are.
Even though i have been advised a million and one times not to,
I still keep my samples on this drive in the program folder because its faster.

D drive: WD caviar 160 gig 7,200 RPM SATA.
I have thought about getting a new 16 mb cache drive,
but from what i have read 8MB cache is plenty for audio.
Id like to get a larger Raptor, the 150 gig 10k, but i have
other things to spend my money on. I still might do it eventually.
This is where all the files are stored-templates,patches,backups,projects,etc.

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 northwood core.
Stock is 2.4 ghz, 800FSB,
I have had it at 3.0 GHZ, 1000 FSB 1:1 ratio for a little over a year with no problems.
Im pretty sure that this is the 30 Capacitor CPU, but i havent looked at the
thing since i installed it august of 2003.

Motherboard: ASUS P4P800 Deluxe
Intel 865 PE chipset.
Rock solid, great board.
At the time this and the p4c800(intel 875 chipset) was THE board(s) for
UAD-1 users as well as recommended board(s) for windows digidesign pro tools systems.

RAM: Corsair XMS4400C25 DDR.
1 GB matched pair.
This RAM will run at 275 FSB with 2.5-4-4-8 latency timings.
Ive got it in dual channel mode at 250 with 2.5-3-3-7 latency timings.
Its a well documented fact that running Logic 5 on the pc with more
than a gig of RAM will cause problems.
However i have read 1 or 2 success stories with logic users running more than
a gig just fine.
I never wanted to find out so i stuck with a gig.
This RAM is great if you want to overclock.

My system stays pretty cool to, boots up at 38 degrees C,
under heavy load the highest i saw was 44c.
not bad.
This is all done with 2 intake fans on the front,
one of which is blowing strait on the hard drives,
and one below,
2 outtake fans on the rear.
Thermaltake Spark 5 cooling the CPU.

Power Supply: 500 ULTRA X-Connect.
Overclocking requires a lot of juice,Get a good power supply,
Even if you dont want to overclock.
The power supply i had before this was way better-a Vantec stealth,
but i needed more wattage.
This thing is pretty cool, it has a window on the side and its
got wonderfull green lights inside and the cables are detatchable
to reduce clutter. They are also UV reactive green.
I have some doubts about the companys product control
as there have been some users that have had horrible luck
with ULTRA power supplies.
So far i havent, Neither has a friend of mine that has one powering
his AMD FX55 rig.
Eventually I'll probly get a new power supply just for comfort,
but the only ones that are illuminated that i see at the moment
are boring ass blue. Everyone has blue leds/blue illumination...yawn...
I supposed i could just get a sweet power supply and get some LEDs and
UV reactive cables.

Drives: Plextor CDRW.
Yeah i know its not really audio related, but I wanted the best
CDRW there was in 2002. Wow this thing is old and it still works
flawlessly.
A-open DVD drive.its a DVD drive.

Now for the important part, the part people should pay attention to:

-Processor scheduling is set to background services.
Seriously you need to do this.

-Control panel>power options:
*power schemes: Always on
*turn off hard disks: never
*system standby: never

-Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services
I turn off the following:

*Automatic updates: disable
*error reporting service: disable
*human interface devices: disable
*internet connection firewall: disable
*messanger: disable
*print spooler: disable
*remote accesss auto connectio nmanager: disable
*remote access connection manager: disable
*remote desktop help session manager: disable
*routing and remote acess: disable
*smart card: disable
*smart card helper: disable

SPEED UP BOOT TIME:
Run>type in regedit
navigate to:
HKEY LOCAL MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
right click EnablePrefetcher and select Modify
Under Value data, change the value from 3 (the default) to 5

Test your PC health:
http://www.memtest.org
Prime95