Wilderness Soundscape Challenge (August 2024)

Here we go…

The original version of this was a lot more cluttered. I used a recording of it to open a play, “Wyrd Sisters”, being an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Terry Pratchett. I was “Sound Engineering”, “Sound & Lighting Operation”. It opens with three witches having a discussion out on a blasted heath about when they would meet next. (Sound familiar?) When the house lights went down and after the reminder to turn off phones etc, the first part that sounds like whistles starts up in the dark, then it turns to a wind-like noise, and fades out in the middle of the track as the dialog starts up. At the end of the play, the three witches are on the blasted heath again, and I had the track start in the middle, going from the whistles to noise. Actually, it was a quicker transition than the version in the video, so as to maintain the pacing required by the director.

https://patchstorage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/August-2024-Wilderness-Soundscape-Blasted-Heath-66ac61e89079b.vcv

Note: the “second button” referred to in the Fermata module text got deleted before the video was made, but I forgot to edit the text.

And how about some Credits, eh?

Venom: Venom (https://github.com/DaveBenham/VenomModules)
    Poly Clone
VCV: VCV Recorder (https://vcvrack.com/Recorder)
    Recorder
VCV: VCV Free (https://vcvrack.com/Free)
    Noise
    VCA
VCV: VCV Core
    Audio 2
Surge XT: Surge XT (https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/)
    Reverb2
Studio Six Plus One: Studio Six Plus One (https://github.com/StudioSixPlusOne/rack-modules)
    Zazel
Stochastic Telegraph: Stochastic Telegraph (https://github.com/mahlenmorris/VCVRack)
    Fermata
Squinky Labs: Squinky Labs (https://github.com/kockie69/SquinkyVCV-main/blob/master/README.md)
    Comp
QuantalAudio: QuantalAudio (https://github.com/sumpygump/quantal-audio)
    Daisy Mix Channel STEREO | 2HP
    Daisy Mix Channel VU | 2HP
    Daisy Mix Master STEREO | 3HP
NYSTHI: NYSTHI (https://github.com/nysthi/nysthi/releases)
    PolyVoltageMeter
    Single Slim VU Meter
Little Utils: Little Utils (https://github.com/mgunyho/Little-Utils)
    Button
HetrickCV: HetrickCV (https://github.com/mhetrick/hetrickcv)
    Phasor Shaper
    Scanner
Grande: Grande
    Merge8
Count Modula: Count Modula (https://github.com/countmodula/VCVRackPlugins/blob/master/README.md)
    Fade-in/Fade-out and Record Controller
    Manual CV Generator
Bogaudio: Bogaudio (https://github.com/bogaudio/BogaudioModules/blob/master/README.md)
    OFFSET
    REFTONE
    VCF
    WALK

What did I learn?

HetrickCV’s “Scanner” works somewhat like a switcher, but has this handy “width” feature, which lets you control how many and how much of the adjacent signals show up in the poly output. The “Phasor Shaper” is a handy accessory for it too.

6+1’s “Zazel” makes nice long ramp CVs

You can never have too many of NYSTHI’s “1M” and “PVM” meters.

PS. In the middle of the play, some characters are wandering through the woods, and one of them says “I think we’re lost!” That’s when I hit them with the call of a Red-tailed Hawk. Nothing says “wilderness”, “desert”, “lost”, and “nobody can help you now” better than a Red-tailed Hawk. See Red-tailed Hawk Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology - They get a lot of uncredited work in Hollywood as voice actors for Eagles, other kinds of hawks, Falcons, Vultures, Condors, Hoatzins, mutated bats, gryphons, pterodactyls, small dragons, and just about any sort of flying predator. It’s always a Red-tailed Hawk, and it’s the same stock field recording used over and over again for decades, much like the “Wilhelm Scream”.

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