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Cloudy Cloud Calculator
''Cloudy Cloud Calculator'' is the third studio album by Japanese musician Takako Minekawa. It was released on December 10, 1997 by Polystar. The album was released in the United States on November 17, 1998 by Emperor Norton Records. Minekawa played almost every instrument on the album and wrote, produced and arranged nearly all its songs. Minekawa toured in the United States to support the album. The EP ''Ximer... C.C.C. Remix'', released on September 23, 1998 by Polystar, features remixes of tracks from ''Cloudy Cloud Calculator'' by various artists. Critical reception Heather Phares of AllMusic described ''Cloudy Cloud Calculator'' as one of Minekawa's "finest and most unusual moments" and "highly inventive, restrained pop". Christian Bruno, writing in ''Metro'', referred to the album's songs as "wonderfully cute, all-synthesizer musings". Track listing Personnel Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. Musicians * Takako Minekawa – vocals, acoustic guitar, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takako Minekawa
is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and writer. Career In her childhood, Minekawa acted in film and television. Minekawa's first musical venture was playing in Lolita, a band she formed with several college friends. Afterwards, she performed under the alias Mamene Kirerie in the duo Fancy Face Groovy Name with Kahimi Karie, backed by Flipper's Guitar, and under her own name in the band L⇔R. Minekawa debuted as a solo performer in 1995 with the release of her first album ''Chat Chat'' by the Japanese label Polystar, followed later in the year by the extended play, EP ''(A Little Touch Of) Baroque in Winter''. With her second studio album, ''Roomic Cube'' (1996), Minekawa began pursuing a more refined musical style rooted in influences from bossa nova, French pop music and experimental electronic music. It increased her popularity in Japan, while also crossing over to listeners in North America, where it received airplay on college radio stations. She released her third ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telstar (song)
"Telstar" is a 1962 instrumental by the English band the Tornados, written and produced by Joe Meek. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in December 1962 (the second British recording to reach number 1 on that chart in the year, after " Stranger on the Shore" in May). It was the second instrumental single to hit number 1 in 1962 on both the US and UK weekly charts." Stranger on the Shore" did make No.1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the ''Record Mirror'' and ''NME'' weekly charts and also topped the end of year charts. Later in 1962, Meek produced a vocal version, "Magic Star", sung by Kenny Hollywood. It was released as a single by Decca Records (cat. nr F11546), with "The Wonderful Story of Love" on the B-side, written by Geoff Goddard. The musical director for both songs was Ivor Raymonde. Background "Telstar" was named after the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched into orbit on 10 July 1962. Written and produced by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phonograph
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue recording and reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a spiral groove engraved, etched, incised, or impressed into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc, called a "record". To recreate the sound, the surface is similarly rotated while a playback stylus traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it, very faintly reproducing the recorded sound. In early acoustic phonographs, the stylus vibrated a diaphragm which produced sound waves which were coupled to the open air through a flaring horn, or directly to the listener's ears through stethoscope-type earphones. The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison. Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory made s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theremin
The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named after its inventor, Leon Theremin, who patented the device in 1928. The instrument's controlling section usually consists of two metal antenna (radio), antennas which sense the relative position of the thereminist's hands and control oscillation, oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (Loudness, volume) with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplifier, amplified and sent to a loudspeaker. The sound of the instrument is often associated with wikt:eerie, eerie situations. The theremin has been used in movie soundtracks such as Miklós Rózsa's ''Spellbound (1945 film), Spellbound'' and ''The Lost Weekend (film), The Lost Weekend'', Bernard Herrmann's ''The Day the Earth Stood Still (soundtrack), The Day the E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minimoog
The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popular with progressive rock and jazz musicians and found wide use in disco, pop, rock and electronic music. Production of the Minimoog stopped in the early 1980s after the sale of Moog Music. In 2002, founder Robert Moog regained the rights to the Moog brand, bought the company, and released an updated version of the Minimoog, the Minimoog Voyager. In 2016 and in 2022, Moog Music released another new version of the original Minimoog. Development In the 1960s, RA Moog Co manufactured Moog synthesizers, which helped bring electronic sounds to music but remained inaccessible to ordinary people. These modular synthesizers were difficult to use and required users to connect components manually with patch cables to create sounds. They were a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestration in that the latter process is limited to the assignment of notes to instruments for performance by an orchestra, concert band, or other musical ensemble. Arranging "involves adding compositional techniques, such as new thematic material for introductions, transitions, or modulations, and endings. Arranging is the art of giving an existing melody musical variety".(Corozine 2002, p. 3) In jazz, a memorized (unwritten) arrangement of a new or pre-existing composition is known as a ''head arrangement''. Classical music Arrangement and transcriptions of classical and serious music go back to the early history of this genre. Eighteenth century J.S. Bach frequently made arrangements of his own and other composers' piec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was invented in 1938 by Homer Dudley at Bell Labs as a means of synthesizing human speech. This work was developed into the channel vocoder which was used as a voice codec for telecommunications for speech coding to conserve bandwidth in transmission. By encrypting the control signals, voice transmission can be secured against interception. Its primary use in this fashion is for secure radio communication. The advantage of this method of encryption is that none of the original signal is sent, only envelopes of the bandpass filters. The receiving unit needs to be set up in the same filter configuration to re-synthesize a version of the original signal spectrum. The vocoder has also been used extensively as an electronic musical instrument. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Six-Trak
The Six-Trak was an analogue synthesizer manufactured by Sequential Circuits in San Jose, California and released in January 1984. It is notable for being one of the first multi-timbral synthesizers, equipped with MIDI and an on-board six-track digital sequencer, hence the name. It was designed as an inexpensive and easily portable 'scratch-pad' machine for trying out arrangements. You can latch the arpeggiator and play along with sequences in real time. Also available is a unison mode which renders the keyboard monophonic but allows for very rich sounding timbres. The Six-Trak is prominently featured and can be heard on the 1998 minimalist space music CD release ''The Dream Garden'', by musician/composer Dane Rochelle. More recently it has been used by composeChristopher de Grootfor the 2012 soundtrack to Australian feature film "Sororal". The Six-Trak's more famous sibling is the Prophet 5, widely used in much of the 1970s progressive rock. A number of other synthesizers ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moog Prodigy
The Moog Prodigy was a monophonic analogue synthesizer produced by Moog Music from 1979 to 1984. Of the 11,000 produced, versions released after 1981 included a control voltage/gate input on the back that allowed the VCF to be triggered and controlled by an external source. These later versions began at serial number 4610. The official model number of the instrument is 336. 336A would indicate a domestic (US) model, while a 336BX would indicate an export unit. The housing is all metal except for the wooden side panels. The power supply is inside the instrument and the mains cable is detachable. The Prodigy featured two Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCOs), one with a sawtooth waveform, a triangle waveform, and a pulse waveform, the second with a sawtooth, a triangle, and a square waveform. These waveforms could be detuned up or down by more than a fifth, allowing for the creation of thick pads as well as atonal sounds. The two oscillators could be synchronized as well, then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minimoog Voyager
The Minimoog Voyager or Voyager is a monophonic analog synthesizer, designed by Robert Moog and released in 2002 by Moog Music. The Voyager was modeled after the classic Minimoog synthesizer that was popular in the 1970s, and is meant to be a successor to that instrument. History In November 2001, Moog Music (then Big Briar) announced that they planned to release an updated version of the Minimoog. The new synthesizer promised to have modern features, yet continue to be authentic to the original sound quality. The company offered a new synthesizer to the customer who could come up with a name for the project. In 2002, they announced that the synthesizer would be named the "Minimoog Voyager". Late in the summer of 2002, Moog Music began shipping the new Voyagers. Occasionally a new system software release is made available, which can be downloaded from Moog Music's website and sent to the Voyager via MIDI. Recent software versions allow complex internal patching of control v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI. Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century with instruments such as the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, RCA Mark II, which was controlled with Punched card, punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The Moog synthesizer, d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Güiro
The güiro () is a Puerto Rican percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines (see photo) along the notches to produce a ratchet sound. The güiro is commonly used in Puerto Rican, Cuban and other forms of Latin American music, and plays a key role in the typical rhythm section of important genres like son, trova and salsa. Playing the güiro usually requires both long and short sounds, made by scraping up and down in long or short strokes. The güiro, like the maracas, is often played by a singer. It is closely related to the Cuban guayo, Dominican güira, and Haitian graj which are made of metal. Other instruments similar to the güiro are the Colombian guacharaca, the Brazilian reco-reco, the quijada (cow jawbone) and the frottoir (French) or fwotwa (French Creole) ( washboard). Etymology In the Arawakan language, a language of the indigenous people of Latin America and sprea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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