Chapter 12 - Kaossilator

Kaossilator - The other off

After all the explanations about WAVDJ, I like to go now into this little korg.
Kaossilator is a Dynamic Phaser Synthesizer.

Specifications

• Programs: 100 sounds
  
• Program Categories: “NOTE” Sound = LEAD: 20, ACOUSTIC: 10, BASS: 20, CHORD: 10
  “SE” Sound = SE: 20
  “DRUM” Sound = DRUM: 10, DRUM PATTERN: 10
  
  
• Musical Scale Patterns: 31
• Key Range: ±12
• Types of Gate Arpeggiator: 50
• Connectors: LINE OUT jacks (RCA phono jacks), PHONES jack (Stereo mini phone jacks)
• Sampling Frequency: 48kHz
• DA Conversion: 24-bit Linear
• Power Supply: four alkaline AA (LR6) batteries (6 V) / AC Adaptor?Sold Separately?
• Battery Life: approximately five hours (with alkaline batteries)
• Included Items: Owner`s Manual, parameter sheet, four AA “test” batteries
• Dimensions: 106 mm (W) x 129 mm (D) x 29 mm (H) / 4.17" (W) x 5.08" (D) x 1.14" (H)
• Weight: 154 g / 5.43 oz. (without batteries)
  

Options

AC adapter ( DC4.5V )

I have a look in youtube and I choose this video just to show,how the kaossilator work.



Thanks to Bratenstein
http://loops.bratenstein.de


Later I will try to make a video of  the all happening and post on youtube.
For now, my mission is to get background sounds to add to the wavdj and make drum loops.

Kaossilator have drum loops already but I am making the drum loops direct in the wavdj software, this way I am able to drop the drums and the background sounds in and out any time I want and they dont need to be repeating all the time

The background sounds, I get from websites with free loops and samples and I am making a choice of the more similar sounds I need to make this music project.
This Background sounds (loops) I am doing with the help of ableton software before I add them to the machine.
Like that, I can make the loops long as I like and I can add different patterns and other sounds.

Back to Kaossilator
A part of all the technical explanations above, I have to specify something for people who dont know about this techy stuff:

The kaossilator have 
7 sound category's
1- Leads
2- Acoustic
3- Bass
4- Chords
5- Se (FX)
6- Drum (single beats)
7- Drum (Patterns)
This is the basic 100 sounds

Scales (key)
Kaossilator have 31 different keys, like C / C#/ D / E #/ E# / G/ G# etc...
Some examples are:
Chromatic
Ionian
Dorian
Majore Blues
Major Pentatonic
Gypsy scale
Arabian scale
spanish scale
Egyptian Scale
Octave interval
And go on, and on, and on..........

Gate Arpeggio Patterns
This is effects that can be ad to the sounds a part from the normal effects wish cut the sound into short beats
The kaossilator have 49 different arpeggio patters

Mush more can be say about the kaossilator but for now, I think I did explained the best of my knowledge.


More about this in the next chapter ;)

Chapter 11 - The software

The Software

This is Horrendous...
This is where the beauty turns into a monster !!

The software is separated into 4 parts
1- Edit Window.
This come as default with 16 channel Instruments. I never used this but here is where all the music can be composed.
Its here where I can create the blocks and create the tracks... iffff (urggg)
* I do not use this

2- Mixer window.
Here is the mixer display, any time I move a button from the machine will show in the screen.
This have a cd room control and I can record outcome sounds into the (Edit Window) plus the machine just work, when I have this mixer window on, If I switch off the software windows, the sound in the machine stop!
* This is the only window open wile I play. (Machine do not work without the software).

3- Style Window.
Here is the Drums and the Korg settings. I can choose the instrument sounds for each button in the korg and I can set up the drum loops as long as I want or change the loop patterns, include more sounds in the drums etc...
* I use this one to make the drum patterns that I will use in the machine and setting up the sounds for the korg.

4- Sound Effect window.
900 sounds can be replaced in this board :) unless !
* This is where all the background sounds are uploaded.

And here is the machine connected...

As you can see, the display and the program are not helpful !

Anyway, if this was a very professional sound Equipment, I probably was not making this blog and I was not much interested to make something different with this machine.

This is the only thing I touch wile I play. I do not need the software after everything is set up in place.

Cool, for less than 20 pounds I get an original toy and I can mess about !!

Chapter 10 - Connections

WAVDJ Connections

Here is where the problems start in the first place .
The wavdj work with a very old software program and the connections are design to work with old PCs.
So, here the first problematic connection I talk about...

This one, connect the WAVDJ to the mouse connection in the PC, some of the new PCs dont have this connection anymore.
I buy a adapter for this but was there where the problem start, the machine didn't work properly !
If you read this blog from beginning, you know , I have to change the wavdj from my music PC  to my older home PC for this to work.

Here more connections...

This is where the wavdj connect for sound on the back. All this have to be connected with the PC or the machine and the sound will not come out as it should be.

All this are the normal PC connections and they have to be all connected with the PC sound card or will not work properly.

And on the side...

The user connections are:

1- line in (here is where I connect the Kaossilator)
2- Audio output (where is where I connect the output cable to my Amplifier)
3- Mic input (I don't use for now but can be useful later to connect something else)
4- Audio output (I try to connect the headphones on this one but the sound volume is cut by off !)
5- Mic input (The mixer have space to just 1 mic , I dont know why I have 2 mic input... )

As I say before, now its all connected and working fine ;) uffff....

Chapter 9 - Drums pad

Drums Pad

A Part from the drum loops in wavdj, the drum pads are other of the cool features of the machine.

They are 6 (pad) buttons
1- Tom 1
2- Tom 2
3- Crash
4- Hi Hats
5- Snare
6- Bass Drum

Very nice and can be useful if the buttons are working fine... but not !
When press, the pads give the sound late (as happen with the korg too)
I click the button and 1 second later, the sound is listen.
No way to make something with this...

If this was working as it should be, it would be great fun.
Again, after I know the machine very well, it is possible to play around with this faulty buttons too, is just a matter of time ;)

I can understand why this WAVDJ was discontinued !

Chapter 8 - Sound FX

Sound FX

The sound FX part of the WAVDJ is what excite me to make something with this.
Here I can have 900 sounds in wav and I can upload samples and loops into the machine.
This can be a FX wav file or a melody or a all track...  I will use this part of the machine to upload the (background) sounds for the tracks I will be constructing.
(More about this later, for now I am just showing the parts of the machine)

The display show 30 FX buttons, each one of this buttons can have 30 sounds, wish makes the 900 sounds all together.
As default from the software, this effects are simple sounds like, BIRDS,  this have 30 different bird sounds and etc...
Again, basic sounds but the good news is, this can be changed with any .wav sound file I want.

If I press BIRDS button for 5 seconds, The 30 buttons turn into 30 bird sounds , If I press SPACE, the 30 buttons will turn into 30 different space sounds ,etc...

Its a total of 900 different .wav music files that can be changed one by one.

Chapter 7 - Display

LCD Display

This part of the machine is not very useful.
The only information display in the LCD is numbers showing the time the machine is on, and have a (kind of) spiral that show the tempo just moving over and over ,don't stop.
This is what I call a display with un-useful information !!

This other part of the machine is where is suppose to be writ the music blocks ,copy and past into the software, if I was interested to make the music and record the patterns into the program. I do not want to work that way !

This can be useful if I was doing tracks in the software program but I save myself of that nightmare.

My plane is to use the machine to play the music not the software program to make the music ;)

Basic, I can make a patter and record in blocks and then play all together.

This is the main point of this music program, wish is old and not useful at all.

Chapter 6 - Mixer

Mixer ins and outs

The 6 volume of the WAVDJ mixer are:
1- Microphone
2- fx
3- Keyboard
4 - CDroom
5 - Line in
6 - seq (drums volume)
All of this are individual volume channels and they can be switch on or off.
On the side of this, is the master volume, this one command all the sound level of the machine.

At the moment , I am using just the FX , Key, Line in and Seq.

I can connect something else in the MIC line in or use the CDROOM to add other sounds but that will be too much for just 2 hands and 1 head :)

Ideas ? Suggestions ?

Chapter 5 - Keyboard instruments

Keyboard Instruments

The keyboard instruments have 18 buttons, each one represents a channel on the keyboard.

This is the midi part of the software program wish work in conjunction with the korg!
In the software I have 16 channels, each one represents a sound in the channels buttons of the keyboard.
For example, I can choose 1 instrument for the first channel but I am able to choose from 127 different instruments for each channel.

Means , I can have the sound I want in the keyboard if I put the instrument in the channel button.
Again, this 127 instruments are fix sounds but this time, because is to be played with the keyboard, I can change the octaves of the keyboard and get different sounds.

They are 18 buttons and 16 channels for instruments, the 2 extra buttons are:
(see image 1)
1 - enter silence (wish stops the Fx sound from the WAV Effects panel) and the
2- is the FX button, this one trigger the sound of the WAV effect playing and pass it to the keyboard,wish alou me to play the FX sounds in the korg.
3- Channel 10 is always Drums. I can trigger the drums in the keyboard too but in this case the octaves do not change the drum sounds.

This is not my favorite part of the machine.

1-I am not brilliant with keyboards.

2 -the keyboard have a off tempo. He just do the sound after I have pressed the keyboard tab.

This part is the FX channels and the wheel  to make pitch bend and scratch

 

I do not plane to make much with the wheel scratch of the machine , unless I need to add some extra sounds wile I am changing the background sound or other.

So, on this part of the machine, (korg and wheel scratch I do not plane to use much. Unless for now)

Chapter 4 - The Drum Loops

 The Drum Loops

 By now and wile I was waiting to have my hands on the kaossilator, I start to re-construct some drum loops from the machine software.

WAVDJ have12 different drum loop button styles:
funk, techno, rap / hip hop, dance, jazz / blus, rock, country, alternative, pop, reggae, ragtime, world / new age, and March / polka.
Each one of this styles have 6 different drum loop patterns, this make 36 configurable drum loop patterns in total.
This drum loops are made in 64 bars but can be stretch to 128 bars or how long I want hem to go, as I can change the tempo (bpm) wile I do the beats or in real time wile I play.
Means , I can make a drum with percussions long as I want and will always loop in the bpm I want !
 Fine :)

The sound of the Drum loop is limited to 47 Percussion sounds and is no way to change this sounds, the only thing I can do with the sounds in the drums is change the volume up or down or change the patterns.
I can re-construct all the drum loops in the machine or I can delete all and start from scratch but that is a very long time consuming work !
The drums sounds are very basic, they have the basic kick , hit-hats,crash, tom, etc... and the percussions are basic like : ride bell, cowbell, vibraslap, stick, bongo, triangle, etc... but they are all inside of the same drum board and I just can use this instruments... or not, depending of the patterns I create !

You can see the drums part of the software :

And here you have the drums part in the machine, this, as you may have guest, its all working with the software but the main point is to trigger the sounds in the buttons, the software just carry the sound files to the machine, the trick is to put the sounds inside of the software program to be activated any time I click one of this buttons :)
Basic, I click the button and will play the drum loop I set up in the software ;)

In the case of the drum loops , is no other way than re-construct the drums, beat by beat !
I can not add drum loops from other sources.

 This Drum loops part is versatile but is no way to change the sound of each instrument.
The sound of drums and percussion will have to be always the same sound, I mean... the beats are different but the drum sounds are always the same .(
The only way to change this is to have drum style files in  (.sty files) or .osm files, this (.sty files are used by Yamaha korgs) but I have been looking in the web for some time and I dont see a way to get this files with drum loops other than salsa, pop, rock and other styles not applying to me.

ABOUT THE .STY FILES
This files are pre made with all the sounds and instruments.
I need this files with much more instruments and sounds.
This is the big limitation of the program (machine)

I upload 1 of the .sty files (rock) for reference in case some one can help me out.
If you have any knowledge of this type of files just let me know:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/f9aqkq

Chapter 3

THE RETURN OF THE BEAST

Mean time, I was waiting for my Birthday present :) I get my hands back to the machine and start to connect everything back to the PC, this time, I didn't connect with my music PC, I connect to my personal PC, a old IBM.

This time was no problems at all  !
I did exactly the same installation of the program and the drive for XP and the program + machine start to work perfect.
So, what the reason I ad so much trouble to get this machine to work on my music PC and on this one was working fine ?
The problem was because the mouse socket was connected with a usb adapter and the pins of the plug from the machine didn't get exactly the same effect and provoke bad function...

Luckily, I found 1 of this Machines for sale on ebay and I get all the images to post here.

Again, the sale of this WAVDJ (machine) was without the software !!

So, here is the plugs I talk about. Many of the PCs on this days do not have this connection, now is all in USB.

All its plug and working fine for now :)

Chapter 2

THE OTHER OFF...

1 month later, I visit some friends and one of my friends show me this little korg (kaossilator) .
I never hear about this new toy ! When my friend connect the kaos in to the Amplifier and start to make sounds and loops, I connect 2 x 2= 4.
Better than 1 loop machine is 2 loop machines working together :) and kaossilator make everything that WAVDJ dont do... better, the WAVDJ have things that the kaossilator dont have.
I trough ... they are the perfect partner !

Sure I start to look in the web for this new gadget (kaossilator) people say its good fun and the price is not that high, so I wait for my birthday to get it (Girlfriend did:)

Chapter 1

THE MEETING WITH THE BEAST !

I was looking around in a shop in town when I see this box with a software program and a console to make music. The look of the box was old and I believe they have this for long time in the shop shelfs.
Looking at the box images, I see this is a program to connect to the PC and you can make music with wav files.
Very plastic looking.
The price was fine (15 pounds)

I have many music systems at home + amplifiers, mix cd decks , monitors, sound cads etc...
As I am a DJ/ Music producer, I like everything related with music and I have a temptation for experimentalism and bizarre objects.
I found this a strange music object so I ask about and  they told me, this was a discontinued product.

I get back home and I did some search in the web but I didn't found nothing about this, a part from some people in forums looking for the original software program.
Without the software the (machine) don't work !!

So, next day I get back to the shop and pick one of this machines to see whats happen.
I get a box ,come home, and start to instal the machine in my *music computer.

The program software and machine are from 2001 and no more updates have been made.
The guy from the shop told me, inside of the box was an  XP driver for the program.
I open the box and there was the original program software PLUS a recorded cd with the XP driver.
This software uses a old ActiveX driver and this driver is not available in the web anymore.

I set up everything but first, I did have to pass some challenges:
The cable of the WAVDJ connecting the machine to the PC, is a old mousse socket together with a 6 pin socket for image, my PC is not that old and just have a usb mouse connection, so I have to go out and get an adapter.

After that, was all the sound connections and get the software install.
Work fine at first but have many problems.
The sound some times was coming grumbling, some times didn't get any sound and later didn't want to start the software, coming up with some stupid errors.
Between all this happenings, I did have about 1 week to play around and see what kind of stuff I can do with  this toy.

The Software program aloud me to change all the FX sound files as they are all in wav.
The drums have 72 different loop patterns and they can be all changed and reconstructed beat by beat.
The software aloud me to construct tracks or change the sounds and rhythms independently on each button.
He have connections in and out + mic.
The keyboard instruments can be all changed and is tooo many to count.
Have a scale with 8 octaves in the keyboard
Interesting things for a toy !!

After the problems start, I decide to put the machine back in a box and get the box on the side...
leave it !

Intro

 WAVDJ (The Machine)

Hello .
I start this blog to register a experience I am doing with WAVDJ -VM-108.
This machine (as I like to call it) is discontinued from the market and no much information is found in the web.

This wavdj is a (Oregon Scientific) product and was released in 2001 as a console to make music with WAV files + .sty and .osm files.


It is a really limited machine to work with but on other hand, can be very fun to change things around, alterating sounds and create something different.
You can read more about WAVDJ  here:
Jornal Article

http://amplifiers.annonz.co.uk/amplifiers/wav-dj--74896

 http://www.trademe.co.nz/nz/auction-177550236.htm

http://www.positive1.com/reviews/toys/osci/dj/index.html

If you like to download the manuals , you can make here:
http://safemanuals.com/user-guide-instructions-owner-manual/OREGON%20SCIENTIFIC/WAV%20DJ



Now... Why to get a thing like this to make music ?
I have 2 PCs at home and 1 is just to make music as I work with Ableton music software and I have been around other music programs too !
The problem I found (if is a problem) in this software music programs, is the many options they give, can be good but can be damaging too.
Some times, I get no felling to make a musical track and I start to work automatic, as I get no vibe making music just by putting all the sounds together and click a button to synchronize beats or spend hours searching for a sound or making a sound.
Its good, its professional but some times really take my vibe away !!
Its ok to do music with software, is like playing a game where you have to put the images in the right places but I much like to fell the music and play with the sounds :)
Yes, I can make the same in Ableton but again, all is synchronized.

I am doing this project for fun and I am not looking to make a professional life of this, so I am free to play around as I want and experiment without the conscience of be attach to some music style ...
we all have a shelf , is it ??
DADA DO ;)

Soo,,, here and there, some of  the reasons I set up this machine and why....

1- I can set up specific sounds and know where they are when I press a button,
2- Is lots of  fun = work,
3- I can make something really different,
4- I will not need to click a mousse,
5- I can have just the sounds I made or need in each of the buttons of the machine,
6- I don't need to look at 1000 of  sounds to find a sound to make a track,
7- I can improvise with all the sounds,
8- Any track is a new creation and never the same,
9- Its all in real time ... live,
10- No synchronizers, just my fingers,
11- All the sounds are made individual and put together,
12- I can fade sounds in and out as the machine have a mixer with 6 channels,
13- I can improvise sounds or melody's with the keyboard instruments wile I can make some fx with the FX wheel doing scratch and pitch bend,
14- I can regulate the BPMs in real time,
15- I can jam in a 6 pad drums,
16- PLUS.... I can add 992 sounds to the wav effect buttons panel, that Im using to store samples and sounds. on this wav effects part of the machine, I can have more than 1 hour of a sound or a sample in each button and will keep playing.

This will take me long time to set up but will be a 1 time job.
Main problem (for now) is that , I can not change the drum sounds... I can change the drum loops... but not the sounds of  the drums; to make this ,I will need .sty files or .osm files (still around with this ones... grrrr) If you know something about them, just let me know.

But what I really want to do ?
I want to make a Psychedelic ambient experimental music project with this machine, plus I want to use a Kaossilator to spice the music.
This machine and kaossilator are loop machines, this can create a hypnotic ambient music capable to go into the mind and really give you a psychedelic experience as I have been notice.
For that same reason ,I start this blog.

Am a bit late on this intro and chapters as I start some weeks ago working on this machine but I will update regularly and hope by the end, I can leave you some tracks for your experience.)

02/12/2009