wolfe with an e's blog
Let’s do the time, warped. Again.
Universal Time through Discomfort Designs Phantom Limb looper.
Shortwave radio is full of fascinating oddities: pirate radio, propaganda broadcasts, numbers stations, etc. Recent my friend Dan showed me a site that creates a simulation of the National Institute of Standards and Technology WWV Universal Time broadcast from Fort Collins, Colorado. After some digging, I found that the real thing was available by telephone.
For over 100 years WWV has continuously beeped the time every minute. Not sure where their funding comes from, but in this political environment of ineptly cutting US dollars from the budget, I thought maybe it’s a good idea to record something for posterity and turn it into a random composition before it disappears.
The star of this recording is the Discomfort Designs Phantom Limb. The live broadcast was processed through the PL’s nine microloopers with a little reverb added. These microloopers randomly play sections of the record buffer forward and reversed at unity pitch and four harmonious pitches. Other than trimming the ends, this recording is unedited. It’s full of happy accidents. The path is:
iPhone > AFX Pro EQ Mini > Discomfort Designs Phantom Limb > ZCat Big Reverb > TC Wiretap
Since we as taxpayers foot the bill for this service, I’m assuming it it’s fair game to offer this recording for your own personal use, whatever that may be. If you want to call the phone number yourself it’s 303-499-7111.
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