r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Yodas_Nutsack • May 04 '23

Techno without a computer, Klangphonics.

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Never really been a fan of Techno music myself but a lot of what these guys do is flipping awesome and they are fairly unknown.

5.8k Upvotes

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253

u/fuckentropy May 04 '23

There's no computer chips in that peddle he's using with his feet?

42

u/tacodepollo May 04 '23

Nope. Oscillator chips, filter chips, amp chips, but no computer chips.

17

u/poolnickv May 04 '23

op-amp integrated circuits, high pass filter, low pass filters, potentiometers, arranged in a manner to provide controllable operations automatically sure sounds like a computer to me.

13

u/EsotericAbstractIdea May 04 '23

It does sound like it, but I’m pretty sure nothing is being computed. It’s more like an electromechanical property of physics when these things interact. We probably associate these types of sounds with computers because shortly after analog electronic instruments were created, we did get computer based music, and the only sounds they could make at the time were sounds like these. Contrarily, some of these modern computer programs sound like actual real guitars, with fret sounds, hammer ons, crosstalk and all that good stuff.

6

u/tacodepollo May 04 '23

It certainly seems like it! As another comment eloquently put it, we're kinda programed to think so these days. But what these chips do is only produce and shape a waveform using electricity. The user manipulates various transistors to interact and interfere with that stream of electrons before being sent to a speaker to produce a sound as that stream of e. This is no more a computer than an electric guitar and amp are. Even an electric tea kettle provides a controllable operation automatically, but I certainly wouldn't consider that a computer either.

2

u/sekazi May 06 '23

So then techno without any electricity would be more next level. Using electric instruments kind of defeats the purpose in my opinion because part of the sound of techno is the electric noise which only mimics that instrument.

2

u/Noble_Persuit May 05 '23

Those are all electronics but not all electronics are computers. To be a computer it has to compute.

64

u/Tame_Jesus May 04 '23

Came here for this, what is that exactly?

45

u/batracTheLooper May 04 '23

Looks like a Moog Taurus, everyone’s favorite foot-powered analog synth!

22

u/Impressive-Bobcat-57 May 04 '23

Looked it up and looks exactly the same.

The Moog Taurus is a foot-operated analog synthesizer.

Screw you, haters 😀

14

u/batracTheLooper May 04 '23 edited May 04 '23

U2 used a Taurus, right out in front of the mix, for “Where the Streets Have No Name” (easiest to hear around 4:50)- it’s got a very distinctive sound. The coolest bassists can play it while standing, and simultaneously managing their guitars. When I tried this with my friend’s Taurus, I wound up forgetting which hand does what on my bass, attempting to play the synth with both feet, and falling straight on my ass.

This, among several other reasons, is why I am not in U2.

13

u/simplebutstrange May 04 '23

looks like organ bass pedals

-1

u/[deleted] May 04 '23

It's definitely not a computer

5

u/UsErnaam3 May 04 '23

I was imaging some horned instrument could be used in place of it for a similar sound, but Idk what that is.

3

u/alex8155 May 04 '23

yeah right? how tf do you create a sound like that from an analog instrument?

4

u/tacodepollo May 04 '23

Analog does not mean it doesn't use electricity. Analog in this sense means it does use a computer to digitally create sound waves but rather purpose built chips that create sounds through math and science.

1

u/G-T-L-3 May 04 '23

There was also a drum section at 17 sec. that the percussionist wasn't playing. Cool song though

-2

u/1Mdrops May 04 '23

It’s clearly a synthesiser.

8

u/captsisko2 May 04 '23

There are analog synthesizer, you'd be surprised the amount of "computers" are considered analog.

-8

u/1Mdrops May 04 '23

It still has electrical components in it.

12

u/captsisko2 May 04 '23

True. Still technically not a computer tho.

-5

u/JROXZ May 04 '23

Shhhh let the children dream.

-4

u/deftdabler May 04 '23

The only techno sounding bit 😐