Finished a show season last night in the Darwin Festival the XITE-1 was flawless. B2003, three-o-three, Flexor modular patches, reverbs, Sonar as host for samples and EPs, all mapped to a Nektar P6.  That's me on the right. You gotta visit Darwin! Lots of culture up that way.

The insects tried to eat me, but cans of repellant saved me.  Had to go two coats of spray around sundown.  The laptop is a T510 I5.  Cheap and effective.

In the picture to the right and below the bloke in the middle 'Makuma Malalung' is from Elcho Island, part of the big group of Yolngu Matha speaking countries across the top end. These folks invented what you know as the didgeridoo - its actual name is Yidaki.  It became a unifying presence across the rest of Australia well after white settlement.

Yolngu people are the ones who use the Yidaki in ancient ceremonies.

 
     
 

The Yolngu are spread across a large area at the top of the Northern Territory - a bit like a nation with many smaller states, many dialects but same language group. Elcho is one part of that.

With Yidaki/didgeridoo - it's as if Germans invented and named the tuba and the rest of the world called it the giant bonghorn.

The local word for white fella up there is 'Balanda'.  I refer to the tuba as the 'Balanda Yidaki'.

JoPo: So, if I understand well, the Yidaki is the real name of what everybody here call didgeridoo? And it was used just in Elcho Island before white people arrived in Australia?   And each Yidaki is tuned in a note?  Does they exist for a full 12 semi tone or more?  I was sure to learn a lot of things in Australia, that's why I dreamed to go there. Here in Europe everybody believe it's used by all Australian native people!  Amazing (or I didn't understand, which is also quite possible).  I'd like really to listen to the part with Yidaki and Tuba !
     

Wayne:  I needed a Yidaki in F for the show, so my other mate Renato called up his people in Groote Eylandt and I bought this one, beautifully crafted by his uncle. It's a mean axe.  Malalung and I had a bit of a Yidaki / Tuba throw down at one point of the show.

Dante: How did you get involved in the Darwin Festival, and how often does it run (the Darwin festival) ?

 Wayne: My music career has been half theatre, half live/recording with bands, I've been active since the early 80's, and most of my work I obtain through word of mouth. This gig was handballed to me by another MD who thought it suited my skill set.

My job was to help develop the show, arrange the tunes, hire a couple of musos, teach the songs to the cast, and run the music onstage. And play bass, tuba, trombone, keys and guitars.

Darwin Festival is an annual arts festival, in early August when the weather is at it's most bearable.

Dante: The three-o-three - is that a Roland Bassline clone?  How do you use that ?

 Wayne: Three-o-three is indeed an old 3rd party Scope monobass by Orbitone. It was made by S. Baan, J.S.Cooper, J.Bowen and Assaf Dar. These folks are Scope royalty. I used it for a hiphop bassline and also in conjunction with the B2003 for some obese organ in the middle 8 of a calypso/2nd line number.

Dante: Did you make your own Modular patches and how do you use them ?

I only needed one patch in one song - I used an old Flexor factory patch called 'Guitar Riffer', slightly modified with glide and used as a scratch percussion instrument in another hiphop tune.

 Dante: Any other info about what you do with Scope ?

 Wayne: Scope is the backbone of my sound - live or in my home studio. In this show I used Sonar to host an electric piano and a sample player. At home I use Sonar as a multitrack recorder/VST host and stem everything into Scope to mix. I almost never use VST effects these days - since upgrading to the Xite-1 I have the headroom to keep it all in Scope.

  

Dante, JoPo and Wayne September 2015