Desolation of the Odontomachus

[robojam]

Another one that probably fits into the ambient (dark) genre. I was reading about the Odontomachus ant and seeing what those things could do to prey it made me just sit with guitar and stack effects then just play:

https://soundcloud.com/michael-jm/desolation-of-the-odontomachus


It's basically distortion, some metallic reverb and some delay. I overdubbed a synth here and there to fill out the sound.

[windspace]

I really enjoyed this. More and more I appreciate the <organic?> nature of guitar played through stack of FX to create ambient soundscapes. It makes me really want a guitar!! Have you tried using any of the iOS amp/fx type of apps to do this sort of thing? It seems that they would fall short of the chaos that you can wring from actual electronic circuits, and I imagine they are most likely aimed at a much more mainstream sort of production.

[Heaven And Hell]

Great job, robojam!

[robojam]

Thanks guys.

No, nothing iOS - just VSTs on my Windows machine. Don't think I even used an amp sim on that if I remember correctly. I used Camel Crusher, Glaceverb and the simple delay from Ableton Live. I think the synth part was a slightly tweaked preset on Absynth

[S1gnsOfL1fe]

Oh robojam...this is magnificent!!! So dark, so much awesome feedback, the harmonics are full of life in here. Perfect!!!! :tu:

[GaryG]

Nice one Robojam.

More and more I appreciate the <organic?> nature of guitar played through stack of FX to create ambient soundscapes. It makes me really want a guitar!!

Ultimately I find guitar more satisfying than synths but you loose a degree of control so it it's a bit of a swings and roundabouts scenario. I'm a really lousy 'conventional' guitarist but it's a whole other skill set doing ambient stuff so don't be intimidated. I'm hoping sometime to build a rough 'lap steel' kind of guitar specifically for ambient use (not conventionally tuned, probably same gauge of string across the neck etc etc ) Really love some of the effects people have got with slide/lap guitars (Enos 'weightless', BJ Coles more out there excursions...)

[robojam]

I would love a lap steel or a table steel. Would probably tune to an open Dm, or with a table steel Dm and another tuning, maybe a C6 tuning.

[asteroid anxiety]

This is my kind of thing. Nice track with some great sounds

[Duckett]

Very cool- I'd just watched Super Fata's video for "Pulse", a dark organic piece, which features treated footage of velvet worms, springtails, etc. recently..
and now some more great dark ambient that led to an increase in my entomological knowledge!
Also, a (relatively) short sample I'd uploaded to ccMixter called "Ambient Improv" was used for someone's video of a leafhopper nymph crouching...
I for one welcome our new ambient insect overlords :P

[seismic1]

Nice work, robojam. I think I heard this about a year ago on KVR, but I just listened again and it sounds better this time around. I'm becoming more interested in using guitar as a sound source as I now have my Strat restored to working order and recently purchased a Zoom G7. Some of the sounds on here are great.

[robojam]

Thanks again everyone, glad to hear that this style is appreciated - might be digging out some more guitar based stuff that I found last night while looking back over my archived stuff that I didn't finish

[fate]

this is inspiring guitar stuff too, powerful 'terrible' [pretty savage in the ant world], well done.

[robojam]

Thanks! Not often I do that with a guitar, but it's fun to do.

[teezdalien]

Fascinating sounds robojam, inspired me to bust out my maton and experiment a bit.

[Hilyard]

This is just awesome! Creating music like this with guitars is just really fun. I'd like to pick your brain for some tips on guitar sound design at some point. Great work!