No more mention of the ANS, then? Artemiev’s choice. It’s hard to think of a more impressive and mysterious electronic instrument. I was going to mention a BBC docu-podcast that I heard about it, and the Virtual ANS app. And so I will.
UK link:
Everywhere else:
The app’s by Alexander Zolotov, the developer of SunVox (the man’s a genius):
Incidentally, ANS stands for Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, who was a total rock star at the beginning of the 20th century and a famous synaesthete. On YouTube you can hear him play his own work, since he recorded a bunch of piano rolls in 1908 and 1910.
I’m torn. On one hand, I think it’s within my grasp to DIY the whole thing from schematics available on the internet. On the other hand there is no way my build would look that nice.
Edit: actually, not torn at all. My SO only just tolerates my drone work and there isn’t any way to keep that thing confined to headphones.
I’m going to have to build my own anechoic chamber.
I love the timeless and unique sound of the ANS! I have a couple of Artemiev’s soundtracks for the Tarkovsky films on vinyl and the combination of these two geniuses is pure art. And of course you have to mention the ANS album by Coil:
OK, i’m gonna throw in a traditional instrument here. It’s not a mystery how this instrument’s dynamics work but still it just baffles me who in their right minds did gave a though on this and invent such ‘drum’
It’s Cuica. I’ve been noticing this ‘hooting’ sound on mostly Latin American traditional tunes (especially samba). As I was listening a very old samba tune it just clicked to me and I was like ‘hey, this thing isn’t electric powered wtf’ (I listen way too many different genres)
So after digging a bit I’ve found out it was a drum with a stick on it. On. Literally on the drum. So this is how it looks like when it’s played.
Instructional (I guess)
Festival
If someone knows the history of this device, please enlighten me
A handheld digital audio recorder with high quality condenser mics and a plug in contact mic is an extremely underrated toolset for discovering and interrogating cool sounds.