Pittsburgh says Hello!

[Narse]

Hi there! I'm new to the forums, and to the Virus. My name is josh and I currently live in Pittsburgh, I've been making music for the past 10 years in various styles, from ambient/noise to traditional folk. I just acquired a used Virus B and am looking forward to how it will improve and reshape my music. So then, what I do:

Narse (http://www.myspace.com/narse) 2005-present
Vocal based electronica, from darkwave synthpop, to trip-hop and everything in between. This is the project I bought the Virus for, as that I had switched from an Alesis Micron to the Korg Karma (which is a far more playable board, but the sound engine isn't what I'm looking for). I hope the Virus will fill out some of the weaker sounds, and with the editor software, be able to shape things the way I want them.

Pancreatic Aardvarks (http://www.myspace.com/pancreaticaardvarks) 1999-present
My longest running project, mostly ambient and abstract music, from harsh noise to swirling guitar ambience and anything else I feel like doing. In the past two years I've done two separate 3-hour pieces that I've performed live. I've used a wide variety of synths over the years; recently I've been using a Roland MC-909, which will likely be the sequencer I use to control sounds off the Virus.

The Good Neighbors (http://www.myspace.com/goodneighbors) 2007-present
Traditional Celtic melodies done as techno/trance electronica. I started this as a strictly instrumental project (doing traditional jigs and reels), but last year I was joined by my usual musical partner (Virginia, the other half of the aforementioned bands, whose background is classical voice and opera) to do some traditional vocal songs. I started this on a Korg EMX-1, eventually adding the MC-909 and now the Virus.

Gallows Tree (http://www.myspace.com/gallowstree) 2003-2007
Possibly of less interest here. Acoustic traditional music. I started doing Celtic, but then moved to Americana. Honestly, I'm less interested in this these days and haven't done a show since 2007, but I do love the songs and one day might get around to doing some decent recordings. Though through this project I learned to play a lot more instruments, including mandolin, harp, dulcimer (hammered and lap), psaltry and fiddle (which I play on the street every day as a lunch break from my day job...collecting tips from this is what gave me the money to buy the Virus)

So that's me so far. I'm currently exploring sounds and building soundbanks that I'll want to use. I've had it for 3 days now and I'm absolutely in love with it!

Synths past:
Sequential Circuits Prophet 600
Roland JP-8
Roland SH-32
Red Sound Darkstar

Synths present:
Roland MC-909
Korg Karma
Korg MicroKorg
Korg EMX-1
Korg ER1mk2
Alesis Micron
Access Virus B