Introducing Hollow Sun Records - Esoteric Electronica

For those not familiar with Hollow Sun, they are known for bringing a number of incredibly rare instruments into our sonic palette that we would otherwise not have access to. They brought us the Hammond Novachord, vintage valve/tube oscillators and noise generators from the 40s and 50s, and a number of conventional but rare synthesizers, string machines, and more. See the Hollow Sun website for the full list.

They are now launching Hollow Sun Records which will showcase experimental electronic music.

"Hollow Sun Records brings esoteric electronica from a broad range of experimental sonic artists from across the world on modestly priced, high quality downloadable albums you can buy directly.

Hollow Sun Records offers considered, abstract soundscapes and thoughtful sonic tapestries brought to you by leaders in their field of modern (and some retro), offbeat electronica.

We pride ourselves on the slightly odd and weird and tend towards the unconventional. Many strange noises are to be heard reverberating around the crumbling, musty corridors and labs here at Hollow Sun Towers so it seems only logical to release the work of friends who are exploring new (and sometimes revisiting some old) sonic territories for others to enjoy."


The current line-up includes ATOMIC SHADOW, who's vintage oscillators and noise machines have been featured in some of Hollow Sun's instruments, BOB TAVIS, and MATTHIAS SCHUSTER. Bios follow.

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"Atomic Shadow is at the forefront of modern abstract electronica using as he does true retro equipment from the 50s and 60s ... test oscillators, reel-to-reel tape machines for feeding in tape loops or tape delays, etc.. His music invokes influences from the likes of Tod Dockstader, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and others.

Atomic Shadow's electronica is moody and dark, sometimes challenging, sometimes whimsical, always intriguing."

---

"Bob Tavis started with experimental music in the late 60s when all he had was a test oscillator, two tape recorders, a Hammond and Farfisa Duo organ, a spring reverb and a tape echo.

Bob studied under electronic music pioneer, Vladimir Ussachevsky, in the 60s and has also worked with Boris Kovalev on developing two software synths, psyBox and Ambitron."

---

"Matthias Schuster's prolific output is forever fascinating with the various projects he and his Thereminist wife, Trautonia, are involved with. From Das Institut to Geisterfahrer, his unique brand of music always challenges.

But Matthias dates back a bit and is as adept at 'Berliner Krautrock' with sweeping Mellotrons backed by his PPG modulars and all the other crusty old analogue gear he has as he is at more angular experimental material."

http://www.hollowsunrecords.co.uk/

Hollow Sun SHANGRI LA

via Steve Howell on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

via Hollow Sun where you'll find audio demos on the top right of the site.

"Our intrepid explorers have done it again!

They have returned to HS Towers, tired and weary, khakis ripped and pith helmets slightly the worse for wear, from an arduous expedition in the far east. There, they discovered an ancient machine buried deep in a derelict temple in the Kunlun mountain range of the Tibetan plateau. This immediately proved ideal to re-purpose for Matthias Schuster's Tibetan bowl samples.

With 61 different bowl samples of varying kinds and sizes and made of copper and bronze, there is a remarkable amount of tonality in their own right. However, each one is individually editable with each sample able to be tuned and EQ's and filtered by the multi-mode filter and shaped by two envelopes as well as modulated by an LFO and and envelope. Distortion and bit crunching round off the sonic processing for each of the samples before being passed to the multi-effects...

With chorus, phase shifting, flanging, echo and convolved reverb with a wide range of impulses, the effects complete the processing to transform the raw samples.

Although this is something of a slight departure from other MLMs in the series with samples of acoustic instruments, the organic, naturally 'ring modulated', inharmonic tones of Shangri La will complement the others in the series with the atonal nature of the raw samples.

But don't expect solid basses and soaring leadlines - this is one for abstract soudscapes ... or a sound in a regular track that will make people ask "What the hell was that?" as its subtle impact is felt. This really is a sublime soundset for anyone looking for something out of the ordinary.

CREDITS
Samples : Matthias Schuster
Sample Editing : Hollow Sun
Scriptmeister : Mario Krušelj
Programming : Hollow Sun and Mario Krušelj
GUI design : Hollow Sun
Graphics : Hollow Sun
Audio Demos : Hollow Sun"

Demos on site.

Hollow Sun Pulstar / ZapZorn Elements Pre-Sale Promotion

Hollow Sun Pulstar / ZapZorn Elements Pre-Sale Promotion from ZapZorn Composer Tools on Vimeo.
"From November 30th to December 3rd, ZapZorn Composer Tools and Hollow Sun are joining together to promote their two new products ZapZorn Elements and Hollow Sun Pulstar. This Pre-Sale offers ZapZorn Elements at a special rate of $119 for Elements (regularly $139) to Hollow Sun users."

via Atomic Shadow

RIP Stephen Howell of Hollow Sun

We lost another. Some sad news in via Atomic Shadow:

"I learned this morning of the passing of my best friend, Stephen Howell. Many of you know of his work as Hollow Sun. He was a well respected sound designer who had worked for Peter Gabriel and many others. He was a long time fixture at Akai Professional where he designed the UI for many of their top products as well as producing the sample content.

Stephen was my mentor and gave me the nudge to take my music in to a totally abstract direction. Without him there would have been no Atomic Shadow project. I plan to write a bit more about him when I can think more clearly. I am closing down yesterday's world of tomorrow, at least for now.

We only produced one piece of music together. I always tried to get him to do more of his own music, but he said that making music did not pay the bills. He was correct of course. I cut together a video to go with it at the time. Please enjoy it and share it with anyone that you know who may have known Stephen, or had their musical experience made more alive by using one of his instruments."


Mid Century Electronica from Atomic Shadow on Vimeo.

"A short piece featuring my vintage, tube HP sine wave generators, tape loops and ring modulators with a photographic homage to the early pioneers of electronica.... Daphne Oram in twin set, the impish Delia Derbyshire of the early BBC Radiophonic Workshop, several tweedy boffins in their music labs, Karlheinz Stockhausen and so many others. A different age when innovation and ingenuity triumphed over the many technical limitations of the age.

Abstract music soundtrack re-mixed and produced by Stephen Howell of Hollow Sun using traditional techniques in a digital age."

You can find an interview with Stephen Howell on SoundBytes here.

"I was always huge fan of early electronica and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (Dr Who, Delia Derbyshire and all that as a six-year-old), Louis and Bebe Barron (who did the ‘electronic tonalities’ for the classic sci-fi movie ‘Forbidden Planet’) and loved the weird old gear they used to make/use, so Mario and I were able to design and create, using Kontakt, weird and wonderful things that flew in the face of, shall we say, more ‘conventional’ modern synths and sampler instruments..."

Indeed. Click here for all posts featuring Hollow Sun on MATRIXSYNTH. Each post is a tribute to his spirit. He will be sorely missed.

Update: Failed Muso has set up a condolence page here.

And on KVR here.

Update2:


Stephen Howell and the Subharchord from Ina Pillat on Vimeo.

"December 2011 at the Museum of Technology (Deutsches Technikmuseum) in Berlin. Stephen Howell takes recordings of the instrument. Per Platou, founder and leader of www.pnek.org, has invited him to create a sound library and helps him with the recordings. Inventor Gerd Steinke in conversation with Stephen Howell.

Photography: Jenny Barth
Sound: Johannes Schmelzer-Ziringer
Director: Ina Pillat
Production: Norwegian Arts Council // Per Platou, Ina Pillat"

NOT NAMM: Free Hollow Sun Novation BassStation Sample Pack

Available at Hollow Sun's Freepacks page.

"Our featured download features some fantastic bass synth samples from the Novation Bass Station created by my Hollow Sun cohort, contributor and friend, Dan McCullough.

Released in 1993, the Bass Station was a monophonic analogue synth designed to emulate the Roland TB303 'BassLine' which had gained immense popularity in the dance music genre of the time. Whether it succeeded or not is debatable but the Bass Station was (and still is) a pokey little analogue monosynth - in fact, the 'Bass Station' monicker did it no favours because it was equally good at leadlines and other synth duties.

Lacking extensive facilities (basically just two VCOs feeding into a lowpass resonant filter and into an amp with two ADSRs and a single LFO to service them - no noise generator or fancy modulation) meant that it wasn't a terribly flexible synth (unlike, say, a Pro-One) but it made a good sound and one that's been captured well by Dan.

What's on offer here are 30 excellent synth bass sounds that cover a wide range of genres, uses and applications and which Dan has looped and programmed to perfection. Nothing fancy - just 30 solid synth bass sounds that sit nicely in a track.

But they cover the full keyboard range from C1-C7 and are therefore equally as useful as fruity analogue polysynth sounds and lead lines and the raw samples are open to much abuse by the more adventurous amongst you.

And in keeping with the Hollow Sun ethos, all the sounds have been carefully optimised by Dan to have minimum impact on RAM and disk storage and CPU strain making them fast and efficient"

"A Sad Day for Sound" - Tribute to Hollow Sun's Steve Howell by Richard London

via Richard Londonsoundlab on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Featuring: "the shell, the novachord, newtron bomb 3 (the mellotron), and i think some cathotron"

"(C) Richard London, 2014

Remembering Steve Howell of Hollow Sun, a sound connoisseur's sound designer. In the modern world, where we can have any sound imaginable at our fingers, few sound designers stand out. My music changed when I discovered the world of quality virtual instruments. One of my first experiences was with Hollow Sun. Thank you Steve for doing the impossible and putting a Novachord at my fingertips.

www.hollowsun.com

Steve Howell's sound design has inspired me countless times, and though I never knew him, I will sincerely miss receiving news in my inbox from him with the latest treasures from Hollow Sun."

Hollow Sun's BROKEN and INTERFERENCE

via Hollow Sun
"As dysfunctional as it looks, 'Broken' [demos online] is, errmmm, well .... broken! It makes the sounds of dying valve audio machinery squealing and writhing in pain. And you can add further torture to the sounds with the application of the 'Mangle' functions as well as low and highpass filtering, envelope shaping, multi-wave LFO, phase shifting, echo and convolved reverb including vintage springs."

"Wow, It is great..!!! It is going to be very useful... Thank You... All the best, Jean Michel Jarre"

Interference
"Remember those days when we wrestled with mains hum, component and tape hiss, etc.? Well now, in our santisied world of digital audio, you can put all that crud back into your recordings, the turd back into your polish, with the flick of a few switches.

Broken and Interference are available now, priced $8 and $4 respectively. "

This one in via Atomic Shadow
"The Broken instrument started out as samples from my malfunctioning Hammond Solobos." You might remember Atomic Shadow's HP Oscillators featured in Hollow Sun's OSCILLOSINE. See the Hollow Sun label below for more.

Atomic Shadow & Hollow Sun Featured on Sonic Talk

As most of you who visit the site know, Atomic Shadow has become known as an experimenter of the more esoteric synthetic noisemakers including vintage oscillators, tape machines and more. He recently came in second place for the Oramix Oramics contest judged by Brian Eno, DJ Spooky, and The Wire. The official post is now up on The Science Museum blog here. His instruments have been featured in Hollow Sun's catalog of experimental instruments and he is one of the first artists to be featured in the new Hollow Sun Records (announced here on MATRIXSYNTH).

Sonic State recently featured Atomic Shadow on their March 8 podcast Sonic Talk. The full podcast is 53 minutes and can be found here. For those tight on time, you can find the portion featuring Atomic Shadow and Hollow Sun here. It's a good listen, so do check it out. The following is the recording referenced followed by a link to the video.



Video posted here.

Hollow Sun Steampunk MUSIC LABORATORY MACHINES SUITE

via Hollow Sun

"As the popularity of the Music Laboratory Machines continues to grow, many have requested the facility to buy all of them as a bundle so this is just such an opportunity with the advantage of a modest discount on buying them individually.

The bundle includes Oscillosine, Organa, Broken, Interference Generator, TriOsc, Techtron, Shangri La, Novalite, Modular Toolkit and Cognosphere and, as a special bonus, the Dotcom Xmas Special is also thrown in for good measure. A total of eleven unique and intriguing Kontakt 4 instruments. This represents not just great value but provides a massive palette of sounds to be exploited in your music.

Despite their unashamed and bold oddness and eccentricity, the Music Laboratory Machines are suitable for almost any genre of contemporary music and are a sound designer's wet dream with the sonic capabilites they offer. They are also ideal tools for movie, TV, library music and games scorers to bring something different to the table.

Hollow Sun's Music Laboratory Machines represent not just innovative GUI design and sound design possibilities but are also great value for money. This bundle brings all of these instruments into one neat 1.5GB package that'll also save you a few of the Queen's shillings as well....

Which is not to be sniffed at in this day and age!"

via Hollow Sun's Steve Howell on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

HP Oscillators Used for Hollow Sun's Oscillosine

HP oscillators used in Hollow Sun's new Oscillosine, first posted here.

Pic via Atomic Shadow, posted in The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge Photos.

"I am recording a series of pieces using this equipment for the next Atomic Shadow project."

Update: on the oscillators:
"For the upcoming Oscillosine, from Hollow Sun, two Hewlett Packard oscillators were mutli-sampled at mini thirds for their across their audible range. The 200ABR model provided continuous tones. The 201CR model was malfunctioning at the time and was beeping so that was sampled at minor thirds as well. These sounds were used to create the two demos that are live on the Oscillosine site. Full Moon 3 will probably be on the next Atomic Shadow collection.

The smaller generator in the photo is B&K 301B Sine/Square transistor oscillator. The square waves were also sampled and may feature on a future Hollow Sun Kontakt instrument."

Update: one more pic here

Mid Century Electronica

Mid Century Electronica from Atomic Shadow on Vimeo.

"A short piece featuring Hp sine wave generators, tape loops and ring modulators. re-mixed and produced by Steve Howell at Hollow Sun."

via Atomic Shadow:
"Entitled 'Mid Century Electronica' the piece made use of my dusty, tube HP sine wave generators, tape loops and ring modulators. I am very pleased that Stephen Howell of Hollow Sun agreed to produce and re-mix the track. Any day that you can collaborate with a man who has done sound design for Peter Gabriel is an outstanding day.

Here is how Mr. Howell described the piece...
'A short piece featuring vintage, tube HP sine wave generators, tape loops and ring modulators with a photographic homage to the early pioneers of electronica.... Daphne Oram in twin set, the impish Delia Derbyshire of the early BBC Radiophonic Workshop, several tweedy boffins in their music labs, Karlheinz Stockhausen and so many others. A different age when innovation and ingenuity triumphed over the many technical limitations of the age.

Abstract music soundtrack re-mixed and produced by Stephen Howell of Hollow Sun using traditional techniques in a digital age.'

Stephen has made some really unique Kontakt instruments using samples from my vintage equipment. Check the Music Laboratory Machines section at his web site.

http://www.hollowsun.com/

TriOsc, Oscillosine, and Broken all started out as samples from the Atomic Shadow lab."

See http://atomicshadow.bandcamp.com for the latest two releases by Atomic Shadow. A future album titled "Twelve Full Moons" is due shortly after the first of next year.

Oscillosine - Coming soon from Hollow Sun - Vintage HP Oscillator

"Almost as though it was found in the back of a damp garage after decades of neglect, Hollowsun has created Oscillosine. Reminiscent of an oddball inventor's strange homebrew creation, Oscillosine is designed to conjour the sights, sounds and smells of a 1940s experimenter's laboratory... glowing valves, otherworldly audio and maybe a hint of pipe tobacco.

The samples for Oscillosine are taken from a vintage tube Hewlett Packard sine wave test oscillator estimated to date back to the 50s or 60s, maybe earlier.

The more voices (or notes) the thing tries to play, the circuitry seems to strain slightly and the valves glow brighter which is visible through the front panel aperture.

Oscillosine offers serious abstract synthesis for the adventurous to bring something different to your productions whilst also providing more conventional sounds for more mainstream work.

For safety reasons, be sure to wear a white lab coat when operating Oscillosine."

http://www.hollowsun.com/

This one is in via Atomic Shadow.

Hollow Sun · Oscillosine - Sine

"Demo of 'Oscillosine', a new Kontakt 4 instrument from Hollow Sun using the valve generated sine oscillator samples from a Hewlett Packard test oscillator thought to date back to the 50s. Demo created by Atomic Shadow."

Free Polymoog Sample Pack via Hollow Sun

You can find the download on Hollow Sun here.

"The featured download is a truly excellent set of samples of the Strings 1 and 2 presets taken from a genuine PolyMoog Keyboard by Joeri Peeters.

This FreePack is available in three formats - Kontakt 3, Akai S5/6000 and Fusion. The K3 version should be compatible with the new Kontakt Player 3.5 and the S5/6000 version is also compatible with MPC5000V2, MPC4000 and Z4/8 and some soft samplers.

The K3 and Fusion versions have complementary effects assigned to them to augment the sound and the K3 version is also 'themed' in the style of the original instrument."

Be sure to see Hollow Sun for more including PPG, Oberheim M1000, Yamaha FS1R, and KORG M0/1 samples.

Hollow Sun Promotes Bob Moog Foundation with Atomic Shadow

via Hollow Sun Records

"Atomic Shadow shares the same birth date (May 23rd) as the late, great Dr Robert Moog. inventor of the Moog synthesiser.

In recognition of this coincidence, for a limited time, we've decided to make The Shadow's first two albums, 'Project Berna' and 'Creatures From Beyond', available for just £3 each with all proceeds to be donated to the Bob Moog Foundation.

The Bob Moog Foundation ignites the innovator in us all through exposure to interactive educational experiences that draw from Dr. Bob Moog's legacy of groundbreaking work at the intersection of music, science, and imagination.

Maverick electronic explorer, Atomic Shadow, is at the forefront of modern abstract electronica using as he does true retro equipment from the 50s and 60s ... test oscillators, reel-to-reel tape machines for feeding in tape loops or tape delays, etc., and a hint of modernity with MoogerFooger pedals. His music invokes influences from the likes of Tod Dockstader, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and others. Atomic Shadow's electronica is moody and dark, sometimes chilling, sometimes challenging, sometimes whimsical, always intriguing.

He was recently runner up in the London Science Museum's 'Oramix' remix competition judged by Brian Eno, DJ Spooky and The Wire.

He also recently won the 'I Dream Of Wires' modular synth award with exemptions and exceptions that although his wall of retro gear isn't exactly a 'modular synth' per se and pre-dates Dr Moog's classic designs, it represents instead the kind of music laboratories of the early pioneers which Bob Moog rationalised into the synthesisers we know today


The Shadow says of his contribution...

'The futuristic sounds of the early pioneers of electronic music captured my imagination as a child and continues to influence my work to this day. Dr. Bob was one of these pioneers. From his early love of the Theremin to his ground breaking modular instruments, through the innovative keyboards that have appeared on countless classic and modern recordings. This legacy must be preserved for our children and I am happy to give the Bob Moog Foundation my support. Through their efforts, the next generation of music and engineering pioneers may be inspired to dream, innovate and create the sounds for an entirely new world of tomorrow...'" Catch the full post and the releases at Hollow Sun Records. And of course, Happy Birthday Bob Moog and Atomic Shadow!


The following is a composite sampler of Atomic Shadow's "Berna Suite".




"Compilation/remix of Atomic Shadow's 'Project Berna' album which, along with his 'Creatures From Beyond', is being sold for a limited time with all proceeds going to the Bob Moog Foundation.

The Shadow shares the same birth date as the late, great Dr Bob so what better way to mark that coincidence.

@AtomicShadow

Please buy these albums (a mere £3.00 (approx $4.5) each) to not only contribute to a great cause but to also have two fantastic albums of abstract electronica in your collection."

http://www.hollowsunrecords.co.uk/bmf/
http://www.facebook.com/BobMoogFoundation

Hollow Sun Blog

Hollow Sun started a blog: http://blog.hollowsun.com/blog

via Failed Muso who writes something new is coming.

Two currently released items from Hollow Sun mentioned are Reaktor Korner and Vintage Samplers which contains "Classic sounds from the samplers that started it all."

Hollow Sun Hohner Organa and Oscillosine Product Pages Now Live

The product page for Oscillosine, first posted here, is now live. You'll find an additional sample and more info. Regarding the image immediately to the left: "The samples for Oscillosine are taken from a vintage tube Hewlett Packard sine wave test oscillator estimated to date back to the 50s or 60s, maybe earlier."

On Organa:
"Little is known about the Hohner Organa other than it was an electric reed organ from the 50s/early 60s with a fan that blew air through reeds that were opened and closed with the keys. In many ways, it's like an electric harmonium where a motor rather than manually pumped pedals pushes the air around.

It has a distinctive sound which is harmonically rich and somewhat 'wheezy'. It certainly has 'character'. It is only capable of a few basic tones but Hollow Sun's 'Organa' takes this a stage further by making them available simultaneously and mixable using drawbars which allow a far greater range of sounds to be created than the original is capable of. The phase innacuracies of the layers add to the overall richness of the sound when the various 'ranks' are combined."

Organa is available on the Hollow Sun website here.

via Atomic Shadow

Hollow Sun on MySpace

myspace.com/hollowsundotcom
You might remember Hollow Sun from these posts including this one on the free Polymoog sample library. You will find samples of his work and a list of synthesizers on his myspace page. Be sure to check out hollowsun.com for more. via Rod. According to Rod, Steve Howell of Hollow Sun worked with Peter Gabriel on The Last Temptation of Christ soundtrack.

Hollow Sun Oscillosine Sample

Sine by Hollow Sun
"Demo of 'Oscillosine', a new Kontakt 4 instrument from Hollow Sun using the valve generated sine oscillator samples from a Hewlett Packard test oscillator thought to date back to the 50s. Demo created by Atomic Shadow."

See this post for screens, details and comments.

Hollow Sun $1 YULETIDE GIVEAWAY and A WEE $1 HOGMANAY GIVEAWAY

"As we welcome the start of not just a new year but see the end of the 21st century's first decade, what we have on offer here are some multi samples from the rare Polivoks.

Manufactured in the 80s in the then communist Soviet Union, the Polivoks is a two oscillator synth with low and band pass filter, two ADSR envelope generators and an LFO with a chunky cosmetic design that looks like it might have come from the Soviet Ministry Of Defence!

This is thought to be the first 'proper' sample set from this unusual sounding analogue synth. It contains a variety of distinctive basses, pads and leadlines and is available for a mere $1 throughout January as a gesture to welcome the new year in.

And on that note, let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy 2011."


"Now that Waldorf have released the magnificent PPG Wave 3.00, it has been decided to discontinue the Hollow Sun 'Definitive PPG' library as it makes no sense to be in competition with 'the real thing', so to speak.

But before that happens, here's an opportunity to grab it for a measly $1! That's about 64p in real money or roughly €0.75!!

And in fairness, HS's PPG lib is quite old now as well but it IS a 'real' PPG Wave 2.2 with all its quirks and sonic foibles and covers most of the characteristic sounds from this classic digital/analogue synth hybrid from sweeping wavetables to glassy and mellow pads, from delicate chimes to razor sharp textures that can slice through butter plus chunky and solid basses, digital vocal pads, analogue leadlines and much more in 50 Kontakt 3.5 programs containing around almost 300MB of multi-sampled data, much of it stereo directly from the PPG's outputs."

Both available on Hollow Sun.

Hollow Sun DRUMBOX

"Audio demo of Hollow Sun's new 'DrumBox' for Kontakt 4.2.4...

55 classic, rare, obscure and toy drum machines with a unique GUI that allows you to mix and match and layer and balance and pan and tune them, add saturation and lo-fi, route them to individual outs or send them to internal effects.

http://www.hollowsun.com/HS2/products/drumbox"

via Steve Howell of Hollow Sun on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge