The other EMS

360 Systems 20/20 "tremolo"

I am very fortunate to have a window of access to all manner of rare gear at the moment, including a full E-Mu modular system (!) and my favorite ring modulator of the pack, the 360 Systems 20/20 Frequency Shifter. Playing with the two earlier today, I managed to coax a downright beautiful tremolo out of the 20/20, which, sure, tremolo from a ring mod is nothing new-- set the modulating oscillator to sub audio and there you go-- but here's a bit of a twist:

The 20/20 has three outs: Low, Ring Modulation and High (the sum and difference have their own outputs (!)). Patching all three into channels of the mixer (with Low and High panned hard left and right) and playing their levels along with the dry signal, I was able to get these sorts of sounds:

360 Systems Frequency Shifter tremolo by Peter Speer

(the E-Mu photo = the drone patch you're listening to.)

New Speers tape!!

The new Speers tape is here!!


Edition of 50, blue cassettes, duplicated and packaged by the nice people at In The Pocket Tapes. We'll be playing a few shows in December on the East Coast, and will be dropping off a few copies in record stores while on the road, as well as beforehand here in Chicago. If you're not in either place but would like one, drop us a line.

There are two recordings on this one, both of which have been posted here on this blog: 7/5/11 and 10/21/11. They're both about 15 minutes long, and were recorded by Jess-- the Albini of Humboldt Park!

In proper Speers style, the cover art was taken from Dorothy Lathrop's illustrations in "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years."

Colonial Recordings USA #107!

My reverbs

Here's the reverb setup I have going on in my studio at school. Who needs a BX-20 when you have a piece of scrap aluminum? Well I do, sure, but until then, these will do:



Inspiration credit: Nic Collins.

"Silicon Valley Breakdown"

Speers Nov. 6th rehearsal

Our neighbor just moved and donated some gear to us on his way out.

Speers November 6th Rehearsal by Peter_Speer

We'll miss you Jeremy!