Listen To The Music

Robert McCay

Mrs. Gikou had really hit the jackpot with that strange "vending machine" in the warehouse, as far as Robert was concerned. A brand new Minimoog synthesizer! Damn, those things were expensive. He'd had one on his wishlist for a while, but was never quite able to justify the purchase. What the hell was one doing here? Who knows... but Robert wasn't gonna look this gift horse in the mouth. After reassuring Suzune that she or anyone else could borrow it any time they liked, he carried it off to a table in the back of the dining room and set up shop.

Hearing the warbling from the speakers as he turned up the volume and played a few keys just about made him cry. Music! When was the last time he'd heard music that wasn't just him singing to himself? The keyboard wasn't his primary instrument, but he was proficient enough to pick stuff out by ear and improvise a decent solo-- and boy, did he have the time to practice now. Hah.

He started to tinker with the various knobs and buttons, playing little riffs as he dialed in the sound he wanted. It wasn't intended as a performance yet, but he'd set up in a public area for a reason, and he'd be glad to entertain anyone else curious about this marvel of audio engineering...

Chula - Suzune

Suzune had figured if anyone knew how to play and love that synth, it'd be Robert. It didn't stop her from messing with it for a little while before handing it over, out of a mild desperation for a little entertainment in this place, but it thankfully made it into the right hands now.

By now, she'd seated herself comfortably in what could be called "front row seats," as possible as that could be, and swayed side to side as she soaked in the improvisation. Ah… She missed this. With a lack of even CDs or MP3s to listen to, one of her core hobbies had become inaccessible. Robert graciously giving that back was enough to bring back a little bit of that spring in her step, what with the disappointment of her verdict results.

Even if it was intended as a warmup alone, Suzune found herself applauding at the improvised solo. "Woooo~! Oh GOSH this is so exciting!! You know, I, like, wasn't too sure if you actually played any piano, you know? I'm SO glad you do!!" He'd asked for a guitar, after all. It was a shame that was more or less off-limits while the wardens were gone, huh?

Sylas Grey

What in the dickens is that noise? Sylas has heard many types of Noise in his life and he'd like to think he's an expert on Noises, particularly those found in this prison, but this woobling is a new one. Well, like, he's heard synthesizers before, but not in the context of prison. Prison woobling is new.

So up he wombles, entranced by the noise like a hot pink rat to the Pied Minimoog Piper, and claps a little when he spots Suzune and Robert and identifies them as Ground Zero for The Woobles.

"Whoa! What's that you've got there?!"

Robert McCay

Time for another Robert infodump. Something about Sylas just brings these out in him, I guess.

"This baby is a 20XX reproduction of the classic 1970 Minimoog Model D~. It's an analog synthesizer, meanin' there's no computer brain back here, yer basically just playin' electricity! We don't think about it too much nowadays, but it's some real sci-fi stuff."

"So the basics of it is, on the left y'got yer oscillators, the doodads that make the soundwaves-- this knob here changes the shape, and this'un changes the pitch. There's three a' them, which you can stack on top of each other..."

He played a few middle C's, switching between the waveforms before settling on a square wave, then added the second and third oscillators at different pitches to play a chord with just one key.

"And then all a' these knobs on the right are fer the filter, which cuts out different parts a' the sound, changes the tone and the timbre and the shape of it over time. Here's a lil' filter sweep, low to high..."

With one twist of a knob, the sound shifted from a rumbling bass to a warbling lead to a tinny hiss… and back down as one hand flew across the controls and the other played the keys. The synth drifted from one tone to another hypnotically and Robert noodled out snippets of songs that matched each sound, a rare unbridled grin spreading across his face. He seemed to have forgotten the part where he should've been explaining what he was doing, but-- that's okay, it's music, it's vibes, he needed the break.

So lost did he get in this impromptu jam session, though, that when the sound died down into a quiet but funky little Stevie Wonder bass riff…

"You can get all kinds a' sounds outta this thing, ahahaha! And that's not even getting into the glide or the LFO or the mod wheel or the patch cables..." They waggled their hand, implying the list of features went on indefinitely. "Too bad we don't have a drum machine or something, though. Then we could really get a groove going!"

…Was this still the same guy? There was a little too much energy happening here.

Chula - Suzune

"Oh, hi Sylas-san!" In between her applause, she turned to greet the new arrival with a grin.

Wow!! Suzune unfortunately didn't understand what most of the music terms meant, but hearing the sound adjustments beside the explanation was telling in itself. Robert wasn't too bad of a teacher, huh? She trotted over beside him to get a better look at exactly what knobs he was spinning, just to add some extra visual aids to the explanation. His expression certainly elicited a giggle from her. Maybe this was kind of like the good vibes crowd all gathered up? Though they were missing Emily, at least. Emily also would qualify, in Suzune's mind.

"Gosh!! That's really, like, um… versatile, actually! You could play something for any mood, huh? This looks toootes expensive, too, so it's really nice to have gotten that as just a strange machine gift." Not that money was much of an object for someone like her. "Hehe, I wish I could offer to make a beat for you on a table, but I've never really played anything before! I doubt I could do it justice." She glanced to Sylas. Could he? Sylas could be a secret musical man in hiding, for all she knew.

Sylas Grey

"That's…"

Sylas clearly hasn't understood any of that, but he's struck a certain pose. Ah, shit.

He's white guy dancing. He's white guy dancing to the synthesizer tunes.

"Sick!!!!!! Hey Suzie!! Can ya dance too?" implying he, sylas, can dance