Music:
Member Since: 6/20/2005
Band Website: myspace.com/insectoidcontrol
Band Members: Loren (exosynthesis, insectoid vocalizations)
Joe (entopercussivization)
Influences: Pink Floyd, Parliament/Funkadelic, Black Sabbath, Kraftwerk, Clutch, Dr. Octagon, Morphine, DJ Shadow, LSD, Radiohead, Tricky, Stanley Kubrick, Portishead, Steely Dan, Flaming Lips, James Brown, Sun Ra, Mr. Bungle (California!), Faith No More, Frank Zappa, Fela Kuti, The Doors, Jaguar, David Bowie, Air, Tool, Beck, Low, Tortoise, The Mars Volta, Prince, J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, Stevie Wonder, Soul Coughing, Can, Isaac Asimov, Star Trek, Star Wars, Sonic Youth, Daniel Quinn, H.R. Giger, genocide, nuclear weapons, warfare, space travel, androids, robots, time, immovable objects, irresistible forces, insects, prehistoric and post-historic lifeforms, data, sub-atomic particles, ancient runes, plasma, lasers, electricity, humans and other hominids, invertebrates, Philip K. Dick, molecules, genetic engineering, chameleons, neurons, relativity, religion, reproduction, radioactivity, radar, resonance, cruelty, chemical imbalances, Ray Bradbury, physics, Microcosmos, Charles Mingus, mathematics, ancient civilizations, ancient civilizations of the future, Dune, brutality, fractals, computers, geometry, architecture, quasars, pop culture, hive minds, herd mentality, Led Zeppelin, zeppelins, engines, change, constants, variables, simplicity, complexity, subtlety, humor, skeletons, exoskeletons, diatoms, parasites, evolution, revolution, convolution, synthesis, behavior, ions, waste, time travel, target acquisition, magnetic fields, networks, spores, control panels, propulsion, telepathy, telekenesis, superconduction, absolute zero, quanta, superstrings, black holes, the Borg, ...
Insectoid Performance Setup:
Insectoid performs using no pre-recorded parts (no backing tracks, no samples, no sequences, no looping) and does not play to a click. Everything you hear at an Insectoid performance is being played live. Without a net.
The keyboard setup, or “hominid-machine exosynthesis interfaceâ€, consists of three controllers, two CME UF-7 76-key keyboard controllers, and a 25 note MIDI pedalboard of my own design. The outputs of the controllers are input to Cubase SX3, where keyboard splits, octave shifiting, velocity shifting, aftertouch gating, etc, are performed, and the resulting MIDI notes are distributed to the various hardware synthesizers through an 8 channel MIDI interface. Audio interfacing is accomplished by two Presonus Firepods, providing 16 audio input channels and 16 audio output channels (all 16 inputs are used, but only 7 or 8 outputs are used). All audio mixing and signal processing (i.e. effects) is done in Cubase SX3. We send 6 DI channels to the mixing board: Stereo vocals, stereo keys, and stereo drums.
Insectoid’s synth setup is a hardware/software hybrid, utilizing several hardware synthesizers and software synthesizers. My hardware synths are a Moog Voyager Rackmount Edition (RME), two Korg MS-2000R’s (synth/vocoder), a Novation Supernova, two Roland MKS-50s (rackmount Alpha Junos), a Waldorf Micro Q, and a Muse Receptor. Receptor is basically a specialized rack-mount computer designed to run software instruments and effects. (For the uninitiated, software synthesizers are basically software emulations of hardware synthesizers, reproducing expensive vintage synths in software form or completely new software synths). Receptor allows me to run more and better software synthesizers than my laptop alone would be able to handle. I also use a Digitech Genesis 3 amp modeler and a Dunlop Crybaby 535Q wah on a pre-fader send/return, so I can send any instrument through the wah and amp modeler to create guitar-like distortion/wah tones. For softsynths, I mainly use Minimonsta, Novation’s Bass Station and V Station, Korg’s Polysix, NI’s FM7, ImpOscar, and NI’s Pro53. I’m also using Big Fish Horns, and Kontakt 2. For effects plug-ins, I use Masterverb for reverb, Quadrafuzz to add crunch to synths and drums, Vintage Warmer on all 3 sub-mix outputs for compression, crunch, warmth, and loudness, Steinberg’s chorus and delay, and Tube VST to warm up some tracks. I also use Autopan plug-in quite a bit, and other plug-ins to various degrees.
The drums, or “hominid-machine entopercussivizationing interfaceâ€, are a custom 6-piece Pintech e-Session electronic drum kit with a Roland TD-8 module and Visulite cymbals. The stereo audio outputs from the drum module are run into a Firepod, processed and mixed in Cubase, and sent back out a Firepod to the DI box.
Video is provided by three (sometimes four or more) TVs fed by portable DVD players. The footage is video collage compiled mainly from documentaries and sci-fi flicks. Three different video tracks were created for each song to reinforce the song’s theme (each song has its own set of videos, and all three TVs have different video in each song). Most video is edited on a 1.8GHz PC using Adobe Premiere 6, though I’ve recently upgraded to a 4.3GHz quad-core running Premiere CS2.
Loren
Insectoid
Sounds Like: Rocksynthefunktronica
Record Label: Currently no Earth-based distributor.
Type of Label: None
