14 March 2021

Cloudspotting One by Used Soyuz

I wanted to make this one simple, so I could focus on practising with mixer channels, effects and automation in LMMS, with EQ and mastering in Audacity. The video has timelapse footage done on my phone with Stop Motion Studio and YouCut on my Pixel 3a, and was edited in Kdenlive on my Pi 400, which took ten times longer to render than my phone does.

I might make this track the first of a series of variations, or I might see sense.

21 February 2021

Choice and Chance - music and animation by Used Soyuz

I am learning more about what I can and can't do (next or ever) with Linux music composition. 

This is composed entirely on the Pi 400 in LMMS, using its bundled SID and Triple Oscillator synths (Mad Mind and Future Bass presets), and my first downloaded Soundfonts. There's a background drone sound from zapsplat.com, and I just used Audacity for final mastering. 

The music suggested the video style to use, which I have added to with some top-quality stop motion animation. I had problems rendering my multiple video sources in Kdenlive, so I've rendered it in WEBM instead of MP4 as an experiment.

17 February 2021

Return To Mars - music by Used Soyuz

Created to mark the arrival of three Mars missions (China's Tianwen-1, UAE's Hope and NASA's Perseverance) and in anticipation of a successful landing by Perseverance. Cobbled together on my Pi 400 using Audacity for vocal and telemetry samples, and LMMS for composition. The video (and captions) was originally by Science Fellow, edited with Kdenlive.


06 February 2021

Look Up (Lateral Flow Mix) by Used Soyuz

My first go at remixing one of my own tunes. Here's 'Look Up' pushed back through Audacity again on the Pi 400, with far too much reverb and wahwah. It's my tune, so I'll do what I like with it.

18 January 2021

Look Up by Used Soyuz

A year into the pandemic, this contemporary composer finally gets round to a lockdown song. Composed on my new Raspberry Pi 400 using LMMS, with Audacity for the vocal overdub. I also used the Pi to edit the video, using Kdenlive for the first time. I hope you enjoy it.

30 December 2020

Once Around The Moon by Used Soyuz

My first homemade composition on my new Raspberry Pi 400, using only LMMS. The lunar footage is from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and seemed to go with its mood. You can see it in 4K at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13537 .LMMS is great, but I might try out Reaper as well.

27 December 2020

My new studio under the stairs

Santa was very generous this year, and got me the brand new Raspberry Pi 400 (thanks again Santa), so I decided to try it out as a dedicated home music studio under the stairs. Here it is, plugged into an old VGA monitor via an HDMI adapter, with a basic USB sound card (just phono in and out) and my Akai LPK25 MIDI keyboard in a powered USB hub. I've installed LMMS and Audacity so far, and will see how far I get with these.

Raspberry Pi 400 in home studio setup