Alpha Wave Movement (established in 1992 in Miami, Florida) is the electronic music project of Gregory T. Kyryluk. Alpha Wave Movement's musical style can be classified as ambient, new-age, some space rock, the classic 1970s German electronic music style known as Berlin school, as well as the ambient aesthetics of Brian Eno and Steve Roach. Releases such as A Distant Signal and Terra contain more ambient space elements compared to other Alpha Wave Movement works. Beyond Silence incorporates more space rock elements and features a more rhythmic feel in its overall musical compositions. In 2007, Alpha Wave Movement released The Mystic & The Machine, a musical exploration of 1970s romantic progressive rock performed on synthesizers, with the addition of UK musician Steve Hillman on electric guitar. The influences of Genesis, Ozric Tentacles (1980s era), and Camel are quite evident and intentional, showcasing yet another facet of Alpha Wave Movement's compositions. Alpha Wave Movement's music is semi-electronic, utilizing digital synthesizers and MIDI to create its sonic explorations.
In addition to musical influences, nature and natural landscapes serve as continuous sources of inspiration for compositions. Alpha Wave Movement has performed at Ambient Ping in Canada and at the Gathering Room in the USA. The project has released music on several labels, including Groove Unlimited (Netherlands), Silent Records (USA), Waveform Records (USA), Spiralight (USA), Anodize (USA), and the private label Harmonic Resonance Recordings. Alpha Wave Movement's other projects include Thought Guild (a vintage synthesizer improvisation project with synthesist Christopher Cameron), Open Canvas, Subtle Shift, Biome, and a solo release as Gregory Kyryluk.
The latest release from Alpha Wave Movement is titled "Soniq Variants" (2011). This release is conceptually based on the exclusive use of Ensoniq synthesizers for the compositions. Ensoniq was an American manufacturer that pioneered early affordable synthesizer workstations, the first of which was the ESQ-1 in 1986. Music on this release was primarily composed on the ESQ-1, VFX-SD, SQ-R, and DP4, all of which were made by Ensoniq. Additional use of a Novation synthesizer was also incorporated to enhance the timbral texture.
In 2012, Gregory Kyryluk launched a new electronic music project under the alias Subtle Shift (with early releases under the alias Within Reason). This new project delves deeply into ambient dub. It features a more sublime percussive foundation and environmental soundscapes, drawing on the influences of pioneering spirits from Detroit and Europe, such as Rod Modell, Yagya, and GAS, while also incorporating 1970s electro aesthetics. To date, there are four full-length releases by Subtle Shift on the Anodize and Harmonic Resonance Recording labels.
In 2014, the electronica world fusion project Open Canvas (essentially Gregory Kyryluk) featured a track from the Waveform Records release Indumani in the internationally popular gothic horror show True Blood. The Open Canvas track "Ojopati" was highlighted in the final season, episode 3.
Additive synthesis is a sound synthesis technique that creates timbre by adding sine waves together.
Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It is often "peaceful" sounding and lacks composition, beat, and/or structured melody. It uses textural layers of sound that can reward both passive and active listening and encourage a sense of calm or contemplation. The genre is said to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual", or "unobtrusive" quality. Nature soundscapes may be included, and the sounds of acoustic instruments such as the piano, strings and flute may be emulated through a synthesizer.
Digital music technology encompasses the use of digital instruments to produce, perform or record music. These instruments vary, including computers, electronic effects units, software, and digital audio equipment. Digital music technology is used in performance, playback, recording, composition, mixing, analysis and editing of music, by professions in all parts of the music industry.
Wavetable synthesis is a sound synthesis technique used to create quasi-periodic waveforms often used in the production of musical tones or notes.
The MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in programmable sound generator chip of the Commodore CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, and MAX Machine home computers.
In electronics, ring modulation is a signal processing function, an implementation of frequency mixing, in which two signals are combined to yield an output signal. One signal, called the carrier, is typically a sine wave or another simple waveform; the other signal is typically more complicated and is called the input or the modulator signal. A ring modulator is an electronic device for ring modulation. A ring modulator may be used in music synthesizers and as an effects unit.
The tanpura is a long-necked, plucked, four-stringed instrument originating in the Indian subcontinent, found in various forms in Indian music. Visually, the tanpura resembles a simplified sitar or similar lute-like instrument, and is likewise crafted out of a gourd or pumpkin.
Ensoniq Corp. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-1980s and 1990s for its musical instruments, principally samplers and synthesizers.
Dark ambient is a genre of post-industrial music that features an ominous, dark droning and often gloomy, monumental or catacombal atmosphere, partially with discordant overtones. It shows similarities with ambient music, a genre that has been cited as a main influence by many dark ambient artists, both conceptually and compositionally. Although mostly electronically generated, dark ambient also includes the sampling of hand-played instruments and semi-acoustic recording procedures.
Ensoniq ESQ-1 is a 61-key, velocity sensitive, eight-note polyphonic and multitimbral synthesizer released by Ensoniq in 1985. It was marketed as a "digital wave synthesizer" but was an early Music Workstation. Although its voice generation is typically subtractive in much the same fashion as most analog synthesizers that preceded it, its oscillators are neither voltage nor "digitally controlled", but true digital oscillators, provided by a custom Ensoniq wavetable chip. The signal path includes analog resonant low-pass filters and an analog amplifier.
Phase distortion (PD) synthesis is a synthesis method introduced in 1984 by Casio in its CZ range of synthesizers. In outline, it is similar to phase modulation synthesis as championed by Yamaha Corporation, in the sense that both methods dynamically change the harmonic content of a carrier waveform by influence of another waveform (modulator) in the time domain. However, the application and results of the two methods are quite distinct.
Murcof is the performing and recording name of Mexican electronic musician Fernando Corona. Corona was born in 1970 in Tijuana, Mexico and raised in Ensenada. He was for a time a member of the Tijuana-based Nortec Collective of electronic musicians under the Terrestre project name. In 2000, he returned to Tijuana. Since 2006, Corona has been living in Barcelona, Spain.
DreamSTATE is a Canadian ambient music project known for their soundscape installations and early live ambient performances in the Toronto, Ontario area. Their soundscapes combine electronic music processes with field recordings and range from light to dark ambient and drone music.
The Korg DSS-1 is a polyphonic sampling synthesizer released by Korg in 1986. As Korg's initial entry into the sampling market, the DSS-1 combines sampling, additive synthesis, and waveform drawing with an analog signal path. The DSS-1 was released a time when major synthesizer manufacturers like Yamaha and Casio were beginning to explore sampling, an area of sound design dominated by companies like Fairlight, E-mu, and Ensoniq. Korg did not stay long in the sampling arena; the DSS-1 was the company's only sampler until 1998 when Korg introduced sampling options on their Triton and Trinity series of workstations.
The Ensoniq SQ-80 is a digital/analog synthesizer manufactured from 1987 to 1989. It was Ensoniq's update to its first synth, the Ensoniq ESQ-1.
Biomusic is a form of experimental music which deals with sounds created or performed by non-humans. The definition is also sometimes extended to include sounds made by humans in a directly biological way. For instance, music that is created by the brain waves of the composer can also be called biomusic as can music created by the human body without the use of tools or instruments that are not part of the body.
centrozoon is a German electronic improvisational music group. The core members are Markus Reuter and Bernhard Wöstheinrich. The group's music is flexible and has altered from album to album, but frequently-used elements include ambient music, improvisation, electronica, progressive rock and IDM.
Petri Kuljuntausta is a Finnish composer, musician, sound artist and author of three books on electronic music and sound art. Since the 1990s he has belonged to a new generation of composers in Finland interested in experimental and electronic music.
The PPG Wave is a series of synthesizers built by the German company Palm Products GmbH from 1981 to 1987.
Robert "Bob" Yannes is an American electronic engineer who designed the SID audio generator chip for the Commodore 64 and co-founded digital synthesizer company Ensoniq. He designed the Ensoniq 5503 Digital Oscillator Chip (DOC) which was used in both commercial synthesizers and the Apple IIGS home computer.
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