ArcSin by Takla Makan (words by Takla Makan)

The ArcSin project started on 11th September 2001. The tragic events on that day saddened me and for some reason I decided to go out to my studio and record some music. The track that came out of that session was the first part of the Sto Helit trilogy. This piece was selected to appear on the compilation CD 'Latitude' on CEM recordings. It was the first time I had actually recorded anything for nearly four years, but after that I had been bitten by the bug. The rest of the album came easily.
I used a variety of instruments on this CD, and for the first time I made use of a multitrack hard-disc recorder. This allowed me to use more analogue instrumentation, and I would probably say that there is more analogue synths on this than any other recording I have done in the past.
Why was the album called ArcSin? Absolutely no reason whatsoever, the name just popped into my head and I liked it.

Track Listing (click on the links for sample snippets!)

Integral This was recorded back in 1997, but has been remastered for this CD. Some of you with the very first 'burns' of the Drumlin CD, with the printed white labels, will have an early copy of this track. Sample sequence: Roland D-50. Chords: D-50. Drums and all other synths: D-110.

Shimmer Jarresque theme to this one. Solo lead line and bass line: Oakley modular. Choir sound and drums: Korg 03r/w. Chord chops: TX-7 marimba.

Sto Helit 3: Susan Sto Helit is a three part piece inspired by the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. Susan's grandfather is 'Death' othewise known as 'The Grim Reaper'. The three parts to Sto Helit are 'Grandfather', 'The Dark House' and 'Susan'. All drums Roland MC303. Bassline: Oakley TB3030. Sequence: OB-Sx through Equinoxe phaser. Chords: Roland D-50. Electric piano: TX-7. Singer: Rachel Allgood.

Tangat This is a bit of a Korg monster. Virtually all the parts played by a multitracked Polysix with the exception of the choir, strings and piano being done so well by the Korg 03R/W. A little Oakley Modular line tinkles away on the top during the second and third sequence parts.

Drone Contrary to some reports this one is not made solely using the Oakley modular at all. The modular only provides the deep bass drone that comes in half way through this track. The bulk of all the audio magic is provided by multitracking the Korg 03R/W again and again. This is the only track on the CD not to utilise midi.

Merlin Very much a musical homage to Jarre's first album 'Oxygene'. This one uses Oakley modular to produce the wonderful phasing noise heard throughout the track. A sound sample collected from somewhere on the net of a real Korg Minipops drum machine was tidied up and then replayed by an Akai S01 sampler. The chords are from a Polysix played through a smallstone phaser pedal, whilst the sounds of the merlin are from the Oakley modular. The brass line is a OB-Sx, while the haunting flute is played with a Roland SH2000.

Jedec This is different to the rest of the tracks. I decided to write a Robert Miles type trancey number. Running at 140bpm, it ends up being the fastest track on the CD. The piano part is played on the Korg 03R/W. The bass line is the Oakley Modular, whilst the TB3031 takes pride of place doing the 303 bit. The drums are created in the PC program Fruity Loops, then individually sampled and replayed from the Akai S01. The hats are from the drum set in the 03R/W. The soft chords are from the Polysix, and the arpegiated line is the OB-Sx.

Other stuff...

My sequencer is still the Atari MegaST 4M running Cubase V3.0. Mastering was done with a variety of methods. Integral used two track tape, while Tangat and Sto Helit used MiniDisc. All other tracks were recorded direct to PC. All postprocessing was done on the PC. The two snippets of natural sound backdrops are originally derived from a BBC Sound Effects CD. And the other odd noises come from a mucked up sample from a Future Music cover CD.