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Xerian, Part 2 (take 1) by tapewolf

Xerian, Part 2 (take 1)

Xerian, Part 2 (take 1)

tapewolf

EDIT: The panning was a bit off-centre, fixed and re-uploaded. (2020/03/02 19:58 GMT)

This is the second song in my Xerian saga. There will probably one final entry in the series to wrap things up.
The previous song can be found here: https://www.weasyl.com/~tapewolf/submissions/1870136/xerian-part-1-take-1

Xerian is a Synth, the robo-dragon race created by Vader-San. Realistically a Synth would probably have a far less robotic-sounding voice, but I've been waiting for a chance to use the VC340's vocoder and this is it. The song is far more complex than its predecessor, and required 5 tape edits to link the gaps together and fix various botches in the mix. As before this was recorded on 2" tape and mixed to 1/4". The background voices however were digitally edited and assembled with Audacity before being printed to tape. Thanks to sofox for playing the part of Niall.
EDIT: Getting the vocoder to express emotion for Xerian's spoken lines was an interesting challenge. By default a vocoder will use the pitch of the carrier, giving him a monotone voice. To express surprise and inflection, I had to manually mess around with the pitch lever while speaking. I think it worked pretty well, though it did take a few punch-ins to get it right.
And yes, the reel of tape in the thumbnail is the multitrack for this song.

Instruments used:
*Steinberger XT2 bass
*DSI OB-6
*Hammond XM-1 and SK-1
*Manikin Memotron
*Korg M1R, N1R and Triton Rack
*Alesis DM10
*Roland JV1010
*Cheetah MS6
*GEM RP-x
*Yamaha Reface CP
*Waldorf Streichfett with Jurgen Haible triple chorus
*Behringer VC340 string machine and vocoder
*Moog Voyager
*TRAN speech synthesizer ("Mehmory Pahrity Ehrar, System Haltet")

Something bad was clearly wrong as he crawled out of the wreck
As his vision glitched again he performed a systems check
There was damage in his brain and it spread throughout his core
Xerian gave a cry of pain and collapsed upon the floor

MEMORY PARITY ERROR
SYSTEM HALTED

"Floating in an endless void I assumed that I was dead
No sense or feeling just these voices in my head
A flood of colours shapes and textures swam before my line of sight
One of the Voices spoke a curse and I fell back into the night..."

"As my sense of touch returned I was lying on a slab
Like the natives took my corpse to dissect inside their lab
I tried in vain to speak and let them know that I was still alive
I hoped and prayed they'd stay their hand until a rescue could arrive..."

"When my vision finally cleared, I could see the creatures plain
They had got my visor off and had tampered with my brain
I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, and yet they seemed to understand
They probed and pulled my mine apart, these monsters from another land"

"Blink if you can understand me, Mr...?" "Xerian."
"You've been badly damaged but we've done the best we can
Sorry if the operation caused distress or pain...
I also have to warn you that we've just replaced your brain."

"You're in a land where magic works but it can act like radiation
It cooked your brain and left you in this situation
We used our spells to move your mind into a brain of our design
You're still the same guy as before, so just relax it will be fine."

"But what you're saying can't be true!
I feel like I'm still me, as sure as you are you!"
"We've done this kind of thing before.
So just relax, no need to worry anymore."

"If you insist, I'll walk you through the gory details.
I have the power to steal your soul and all that entails
The hardest part was matching up your senses to our interface
It took a while to give you sight but now we're talking face-to-face!"

"I find this all hard to believe!
I'd like to trust you, but it makes me feel naive..."
"We'll do our best to ease your mind.
Now can you flex your arm, if you would be so kind?"

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