Well, what can we say about “new moon rising”? It was an attempt to get at least one taurus1 track on one of the various ambient compliations that were being put out by small independent record labels in the early to mid-90's, in the hopes of a full CD. It was a natural progression from kens 70's influences in electonic, ambient, and world music.
What is most notable about “new moon rising” was the gear used, as compared to what is available and what ken is using today for the taurus1 project, and how the limits of that gear were stretched to capacity:
Roland W-30 workstation - served as the sequencer and main sampler, sound module) 12 bit, maximum sample time of only 12 seconds. Featured sounds from Roland D-50.
Ensoniq mirage – rackmount version, 8 bit floppy disk driven, grungy sounding sampler
Chroma Polaris - analog synth from 80’s, the filter effect is used quite heavily on this recording
Casio CZ101 – classic mini keyboard from the 80’s
Simmons SDS-V (5) brain – the original analog brain of the first Simmons drum kit ever released in the 80’s. Since purchasing it used, ken has tossed the drumpads (what a shame…since the neighbors loved the loud sticking sound)
Roland TR 707 - ancient 80's drum machine
Alesis Midiverb – the first consumer reverb on the market, 8 bit (yike)
ART multi-effects processor – now deceased, used mainly for stereo delay effects in this recording
All of this was mixed through an analog Tascam 6 track mixer...scary...
Needless to say, a remastering treatment in 2008 through the TrackS software and Cubase Studio 4 breathed some life into this recording, which was originally recorded to DAT in 1994
Track listing
01 – new moon rising
02 – louisiana(73 miles)
03 – evolutionize
04 – seventeen
05 – slow burn(remix)
06 – ritual
“bonus tracks”
07 – eclipse
08 - somnambulist
- for more info, send an e-mail to "taurus1@xd238.com"